Ok, Back to Paris!

Tuesday, July 28

So, to recap. The last blog entry on Paris was that Scott and I went to bed after a beautiful, romantic night touring the City of Lights. Fast forward to 8:00 am (that's 2 am KY time for all you who are keeping track) HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER SAW SAW SAW DRILL DRILL DRILL HAMMER SAW DRILLL BANG BANG BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's what we woke up to. In hindsight, yes, we had noticed the ominous steel scaffolding literally right outside our window, but we thought, maybe it won't be so bad..... famous last words!

Since our banging, sawing, wake up call woke us up so early, we figured it was a good excuse to finally get out of bed before 11. So naturally, the first thing we did was go to the front desk and complain :) After our room was changed from the top 4th floor street view, down to the lower 2nd floor garden view, we went out on the town.

We stopped for breakfast at "Le Pain Quotidien", and had a delicious, light breakfast:

Scott: Soft Boiled Eggs with Toast Points Jenn: Roasted Pepper, Eggplant, and Zucchini on Toast

Afterwards, we decided that we needed some after breakfast drinks. I mean, we were on vacation, in EUROPE! Hello! So we stopped at a cafe and had some champagne. Mmm, mmm!

After the champagne, we walked and shopped for most of the afternoon.

We walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral; it was magnificent

Afterwards, we sat on a boat/restaurant, sipped a glass of wine, and admired the beautiful Notre Dome from a view from the Seine River.

We had made dinner RSVP (which thanks to our stay in France, I learned that this means, responde s'il vous plaît ...Response Please. I never took French, give me some slack!)

We went to dinner at a restaurant called Le Pamphlet. For the Entree (starter), we shared some Duck Foie Gras. It was exquisite! So velvety smooth, it just melted in our mouths. For the Main, Scott had seared sea bass on a bed of artichokes and tomatoes (the picture turned out blurry so I'm not posting it). I had filet of beef with potatoes. It was devine!

For dessert, Scott got a plate of Goat Cheese with Balsamic Vinegrette and a Spring Mix Lettuce. I was too stuffed to even look at the menu. After that, we were served a complimentary dessert tray of various small chocolates and currants dusted with powedered sugar:

Even though we were completely stuffed, we still took the Metro over to the Eiffel Tower. Looking at the Eiffel Tower, all lit up at night, was indescribable. It was so breathtakingly beautiful, I decided to forget being mad at Scott for dragging me across town with a full belly when all I wanted to do was go back to the hotel and go to sleep. It was worth the 20 minute commute to see the flickering lights and realize "Holy crap, that's the Eiffel Tower! And I'm right here in real life, looking at it!"

Us underneath the Tower (the camera is on the ground, on automatic timer to capture this).

After another wonderful night in Paris, we went back to our Hotel Beaubourg happy, full, and content.

A Break from Europe...

Ok, I know this is right smack in the middle of the Paris stories, but we ate at this FABULOUS restaurant last night and I wanted to record it since it is fresh in my mind!

Mike and Brandy Skelton were in Louisville last night for her step-dad's work convention. Since her parents were available to babysit, Mike and Brandy asked Scott and I if we would like to have dinner. We said yes of course, so we went to this new restaurant, 732 Social.

When we walked in, it instantly reminded me of the type of restaurant we'd go to in NYC. Their menu consisted of local produce and organic wines. Check them out: http://www.732social.com/

We knew we had hit the jackpot when we read that they specialized in "french inspired comfort food". The French know a thing or two about good food, so we were so excited to try out several french inspired dishes!

732 Social is a tapas style restaurant, so they encourage guests to try a couple plates per person and share them. As a starter, we got a cheese course for an appetizer. However, had we really been in France, they would never offer a cheese plate first; cheese is served after the meal, either before dessert, or as dessert. We were glad to have it first, as we were all starving, and it was SO delicious!

Here is the cheese we ate:

Bucheron; Goat, Loire Valley (the white rind, far right)

Blue Costello;Cow, Danish Triple- Cream (in the egg cup)

Idiazabel;Sheep/Spain, Soft (the flat, thin cheese in center)

Ossau Iraty; Ewe, Basque Region (the yellow rind, far left)

Accompanied by Candied Black Walnuts, Watermelon, and Honey Comb.

Yum yum yummy!

Next, Brandy and Mike got a watermelon salad. I didn't take a picture of it, but here is a cute one of them after they've enjoyed eating it:

Scott and I got a small plate of Ratatouille

A picture is worth a thousand words, so you can tell by looking at it how unbelievably delicious it was!

For our entrees (or "main" as the French call it... entree actually means an appetizer plate!)

Mike and Brandy shared a plate of Mussels in a Garlic, Fennel, and White Wine Sauce

Scott got the Beef Short Ribs with Root Vegetables and Roasted Bone Marrow

And I got the Roasted Organic Chicken, with Heirloom Carrot, Split Pea, and Duck Crackling:

The chicken was so moist; it was a fabulous dish.

After dinner, we wanted to hang out a little more, so we went to Jeff Rubys for an after dinner drink. We had a great time with Mike and Brandy, as always, and are looking forward to the next one!

Ah, Pari!

Monday, July 27

Bonjour! We took a train from Amsterdam to Paris, and arrived at 6:30 pm. We checked into our hotel, the Hotel Beaubourg. It was a cute boutique hotel, with each room varying in color and style. Ours was very chic, and the bathroom was nice, new, and clean.

After setteling in, we walked to dinner at a restaurant called Le Mesturet. Scott had Steak Tartare, which looked completly disgusting. It was literally a pile of raw steak pieces, served with a raw egg yolk in the middle. I did not try a bite of this; he said it was just OK, not great. I had Veal in a white wine sauce, and it was FABULOUS! I am hungry right now just remembering it, mmm mmm!

Veal with delicious white wine sauce

Steak Tartare with egg yolk... YUCK!

After dinner, we walked to the Louvre. It was so beautiful at night, all lit up. Everything was, in fact. I understand why it's called the City of Lights.. every building was lit up and they all looked magnificent.

The Louvre (just one teeny section of it- it is so huge!)

Over looking the Seine River

The Pompidou Centre, a contemporary art museum across the street from our hotel

The Eiffel Tower in the background

Paris at night is so beautiful. The perfect ending to a wonderful first evening in Paris. Bonsoir!

Another day in Amsterdam... now what?

Sunday, July 26

As if this wasn't expected... yes, we slept in late again. From now on, I'm just going to create the assumption that yes, we slept in every day, because we pretty much did. Moving on...

We woke up to another beautiful day in Amsterdam. Scott read in the tour book about a place we had to go to for traditional Dutch Pancakes. We walked down to the restaurant, and secured a table for 4 outside. We thought this was a friendly, quaint place, until Ben went to the restroom to wash his hands, and the attendants (or bathroom guards, some would say) demanded 30 cents for entry. So of course, Ben was not happy about this.... he was still not over having to pay 9 Euros for water on Friday night. But, he calmed down when he read the menu filled with various kinds of pancakes and sweet treats. He and Megan got milkshakes for breakfast, Scott got an espresso, and I got a latte. Megan and Scott both decided to try an official Dutch pancake- Scott got one with currants and raisins, and Megan got one with just cheese. Yes, I said cheese on a pancake. Also toppings to note were bacon and apples; (I went online to look at the menu for more toppings but it was all written in Dutch) Ben and I decided that we were more in the mood for brunch, so he got a club sandwich, and I got some delicious herb encrusted goat cheese, served with toast points.

After our satisfying brunch, we walked around Amsterdam. And walked. And walked. And pretty much just kept walking around, kind of aimlessly, for most of the afternoon. There aren't many sites to see in Amsterdam, and unless you are getting high or getting a hooker, the town is pretty quiet. We took many pictures of beautiful canals, quaint buildings, and general "Take a picture of us, we're on vacation" shots.

"Take a picture of us, we're on vacation!"

A Beautiful Canal

Quaint Houses

After admiring all the scenery we could stand, we decided it was time for a wine and cheese break. So we went to a cheese shop and sampled some delicious cheese. We finally decided on a couple different ones, and also bought a bottle of wine. We found the perfect spot to have our picnic; a bench that overlooked a canal. We had a nice time watching the boats cruise up and down the canals. Sadly, it was time for Megan and Ben to leave for the train station, so with heavy hearts we walked back to the hotel to get their luggage, and then walked with them to the train station. We saw them off, then thought, "now what?" So, we did what we always do on vacation... walked around. We stopped at the occassional pub for a glass of Heineken, then walked around some more. When we finally got back to the room around 11:30, we were happily surprised to find.... Megan and Ben! They had missed their train, and had to stay another night and catch the early train the next morning. So, we had another fun night in the hotel, just talking and planning the next weekend together when we would meet in London.

The Land of Wooden Shoes, Coffehouses, and The Red Light District

Saturday, 7/25

We woke up late (this seems to becoming a trend...) and went to brunch at a cute little locally owned place. We all had really delicious food! I got a "Biba", which was a sandwich with gouda, lettuce, tomato, and basil mayo (oh, how I love you, basil mayo!) Scott got a 3 cheese omlett with truffle oil- yum. Ben got a BLT sandwich, and Megan got a sandwich made with raisin toast and "old cheese" (some sort of parmasean, we think). Here are pictures of our fabulous food:

My "Biba" Scott's Omlett Megan's Raisin Toast & Old Cheese

(Ben's BLT looked just like mine, so picture mine with Bacon)

After brunch, we decided to explore Amsterdam. We walked around, did some shopping, and bought some little wooden shoes for souveniers. They were so cute, and EVERYWHERE! Here are some pictures of a souvenier shop shop with a ceiling literally covered in wooden shoes

Aren't these cute? There were some houseshoes that looked just like wooden shoes.. I wish now that I would have bought some. They were so funny!

So, after the wholesome shopping, we decide to shop for something else... hookers! Ok, we just window shopped. We went to the Red Light District (the tour books say it's the #1 tourist attraction!) There were girls (all shapes and sizes) just standing in store front windows in their lingerie. They would look at you as you walked by, some would even motion for you to "come here" with thier finger. We were all looking around us, saying "is this really happening?" It was so weird- like being in some sketchy movie. It was eye opening to say the least!

Afterwards, we decided since we were apparently in the Land of Sin, we might as well make our trip complete with a visit to a Coffeeshop. This is where you can go and buy weed and smoke it there. We walked inside one, checked out the weed menu (who knew there were that many kinds!), noticed the smoking room with the patrons sitting around enjoying thier menu selections, and quickly left. Whew! Amsterdam, you are a wild, weird place.

Since Sunday was Ben's 24th birthday, we decided to take him and Megan out for an early birthday dinner on Saturday night. We went to this Indonesian Restaurant called Puri Mas. It was delicious! We all got to share 14 dishes, including lamb, chicken, beef, and various vegetables. It was really fun to share and talk about the food, and to rate it on Ben's "1-10 Scale" of deliciousness. All in all, it was a fabulous end to a fun filled day.

Amsterdam, here we come!

7/24 Friday

Scott and I slept in late, again. We really can't seem to get used to the time! When we got up, we went to town and walked through the shopping district. They had lots of big name designers that we can't afford, so we went instead to my favorite, H&M! Oh, how I wish we had them in Louisville! So cute, and so cheap! I helped Ben pick out a couple of outfits for Megan, and made Scott try on clothes. I loved this look, but he said he doesn't want to put off the wrong vibe!

After shopping, we walked over to this outdoor market that had all sorts of fresh, delicious looking food. We noticed some people eating what looked to be a small, lightly fried fish sandwich, so we asked them first "sprechen sie english?" (a little), and pointed to the fish and asked where to get that. They pointed right behind us to this lengthy fresh fish booth. So we walked up to the counter and told them what we wanted, and they fried us up some fish right there. Talk about made fresh to order! It was called Backfisch, and was served on a warm baguette. Words can't describe the sweet, flakey tenderness of that fish... oh, my gosh was it good! Here is a picture of the fish market, and the fish sandwich:

The 3 of us split the sandwich, and Scott and I each tried the beer of Germany, Alt beer (bier). If I lived in Dusseldorf, I would eat this meal at least once a week. Yum yum yummy!

Next, we walked around and looked at all the wonderful fresh food. There were boths with cheese, tomatoes, potatoes, fruits, olives, flowers, and chocolate. (I am attaching these in the photo gallery, check them out!) We did a cheese sampling, and finally decided on 2 different cheeses to buy. We also bought some olives, a couple loaves of bread, and some wine (later at the grocery), and decided to pack these for a picnic on the train to Amsterdam. Afterwards, we walked home to wait for Megan's work day to end. When Megan got home, we grabbed our luggage and our picnic, and hopped on the train!

We arrived in Amsterdam, and were instantly greeted by the distinct smell of weed drifting through the air. It was then that I learned that my sweet, innocent little baby sister had no idea that Amsterdam was known for legal marijuana smoking. So her and Ben definitely had their eyes opened to the ways of the world. We checked into the hotel, and wandered around, taking in all the sights and marveling at the constant smell of weed in the air. It was quite an experience for all of us. I felt like we were on Planet Marijuana; it was e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e! So sureal. We found a restaurant serving late and had a late night dinner. It wasn't very good, so I'm not even going to describe it. Except for the fact that Ben ordered a bottle of water that cost 9 Euro. That's like, $15 bucks for water. Boy, they saw us dumb Americans coming from a mile away! We told Ben that should be his lesson to always just order wine with your meal, it is much cheaper. And tastes better! Afterwards, we retired to our plush American hotel, the Marriott, for some much needed sleep.

Hello, Germany!

I am going to tell the tales of our European 'holiday' (as the natives call it). All of these posts will be back dated, so pay attention to to dates I am writing, not the date of the post!

While in Germany, I emailed myself this entry:

7/22/09

So, to recount our German adventures yesterday. After we woke up and got ready for the day (around 12:30), Ben gave Scott and I the tour of the neighborhood. They live in the cutest, most quaint little area... it looks like something from a postcard! It feels a lot like NYC, in that you walk to do everything, and there are shops/restaurants on every block. Despite the abundance of people and businesses in the area, it still feels very safe. There are parks all around the area with little ponds filled with ducks and swans. There are so many people walking and riding bikes, it doesn't make you feel vulnerable to be on the street instead of in a car, like it does at home.

We walked through the park to this area called "Old Town". It is this very quaint district that is completely filled with restaurants and pubs. It is like a suped-up Bardstown Road.. tons of shops and restaurants, pubs, people EVERYWHERE... but instead of having to choose between 2 or 3 good restaurants like we do at home, the selection here is endless. It is amazing! So we of course walked around and looked at various menus, trying to select "the best place" to eat. Well, being that we don't speak the language, and that Ben and Megan don't go out to eat that much, we were all out of our element. So Scott chose this place (of course I can't remember the name of it) to eat. We sat outside at the tables on the sidewalk and watched all the Germans walking around. The server brought the 3 of us out little (tiny, actually) glasses of Sherry, for an aperitif (a drink to prepare you for a meal). The waiter spoke a little English, and brought us an English menu. Being as it was almost 2:00 and we didn't want to eat too much and ruin our appetites for dinner with Megan later, we decided to all 3 split a plate. We ordered lamb with fries and green beans. The lamb was smothered in this delicious brown sauce with mushrooms. The fries (pommes frites) were delicious, so fresh and potatoey.. nothing like the fries here. The green beans were laced with ham (ew!) so we gave all those to Ben. The meal was delicious, and we were excited to have experienced our first authentic German meal. (Later on that day, we looked up the place we ate in our tour book and discovered that the restaurant was actually Argentinean, not German! Shows what we know! lol). After that, we continued to walk around and explore the town. We went to the grocery (Aldi's- ha! We have those at home and never realized it was German) and got water and some chocolate and wine. The wine was only 2 euros, which is like, $3 bucks! So we bought 3 bottles, of course! Afterwards, we took the groceries home, and by that time it was time to meet Megan at her tram stop.

After Megan got home and changed out of her work clothes, we walked back down to Old Town for dinner. Megan took us to this actual authentic German place (she knows stuff!). It was fabulous! Scott and Megan both had the Sourbraten, which was 'sour' beef with brown sauce and a bowl of cooked red cabbage. This description does not do it justice, (and actually sounds kind of gross)- I can't describe how fresh and delicious it was. Here is the picture of it, but the picture actually looks kind of gross too! But it wasn't, it was amazing! I had boiled beef with an apple-horseradish sauce, and pommes (potatoes) on the side. It was very good. Ben had the pork knuckle (he would!) lol!

We left our restaurant feeling very satisfied and happy with our authentic German meal. Megan wanted then to show us the night life at Old Town. We walked through the streets and looked at all the people milling about, just hanging out on the streets. It was packed! All the pubs were open, and had tables lining the sidewalks. It was definitely the hot spot, as all the hip young crowd was out socializing. We then walked a few blocks to the edge of town to look the Rhine River. There was a fair on the other side of the river, so we sat on the steps and watched lights of the rides. It was very pretty, with the glowing lights glistening off the water. We walked home after that, having had a full first day. What a great start to our vacation!

7/23

Well, Scott and I finally woke up today. And it's uh, 1:30 pm. Oops. This time change is hard to get used to! We only slept a few hours Tuesday night on the plane, then when we got here on Wednesday morning, we took a 2 or 3 hour nap. Then last night we all stayed up till midnight (which was only 6 pm KY time). So that means Scott and I got 13 hours sleep, and are still basically on U.S. time. dang! Tomorrow we will just have to get up with Megan when she goes to work so we can force ourselves to get acclimated.

Today was another fun filled day. Ben took Scott and I to his favorite lunch spot, a place right down the street where they sell Doners (pronounced Derners). It is a delicious sandwich that is filled with either lamb or chicken, and 4 different kinds of fresh salad, which is green cabbage, red cabbage, lettuce, and then a cucumber, tomato, lettuce, purple cabbage mix. Then it is topped with feta cheese, a yogurt sauce, and a spicy dijon mustard sauce. The whole thing is wrapped up in a warm flatbread, and served in a foil wrapper. Ben got a chicken doner, and Scott and I split a lamb pizza doner, which had everything I just listed, but the flatbread was covered in italian seasonings and tasted like pizza. Oh, my gosh, was it ever delicious! I took several pictures...mmm mmm mmm!

After lunch, we walked back to the apartment, and looked through the tour books for things to do. We decided that now we needed ice cream, so we walked down to this Gelato place a few blocks away. We all got a cone with 2 scoops of ice cream; Ben had strawberry-yogurt and banana, Scott got peppermint and coconut, and I had cinnamon and truffle. I know those all sound like weird combinations, but it is all so good, it doesn't matter how you combine them, they are cold little scoops of heaven! We then walked back to the apartment, eating our cones, and waited for Megan to get home from work.

When Megan got home, we waited just long enough for her to change clothes and we ran out the door to catch the Tram. We still missed it, but luckily there was another one that came 8 minutes later. We took the tram to the train station, where we then got on a train to Koln (pronounced cologne). It was a scenic ride, and we enjoyed the windy tracks through the country. When we arrived in Koln, the train station deposited us practically right on the doorstep of the ancient Dom Cathedral. Talk about a majestic site! Again, pictures are worth a thousand words, so I will let the pictures do the talking. Words cannot do justice the amazing beauty of this breathtaking landmark that is literally thousands of years old. After we toured the cathedral and took a ton of pictures, we left for dinner. We went to this place that Scott had looked up in his Michelin tour book. It was called Heising und Adlmann (I have no idea what that translates to). The ambiance was picture perfect... the waiter took us to an outdoor terrace in the back that was lined with canopies, colored lights, and dotted with overhanging trees. It looked like a place out of a movie, it was so quaint and so peaceful. There was even a barrel sitting by the door filled with blankets, so that if you got cold you could get a blanket and drape it over you! Now that is a great idea! Why don't we have a restaurant like that in the States? Anyway, the ambiance of the place was already enough to ensure that the experience was going to be fabulous, despite what the menu held. But, it did not disappoint, and even only had 1 dish that contained pork! That in itself was an amazing feat as pork is the German meat of choice. The waiter had to translate the menu for us as Megan could only decipher some of the words. In the end, Scott ended up getting the Sea Bass with an Olive Risotto, and I got the duck breast with gnocchi. Megan got lasagna, and Ben got a pasta dish with shrimp. We all loved our meals, and each rated the dishes from 8-10 on the deliciousness scale.

We had a fantastic day, and are excited and ready for another one tomorrow!