Now I Understand All the Hype

I had the great pleasure of seeing Paris through the eyes of a local. I went to visit a friend who moved to Paris last year and I had the greatest trip! Her apartment was literally in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and of all the sites I have seen in the past year and a half, the Eiffel Tower was the site that held up to the hype the best. I have been disappointed by other sites on my trips, but the tower was truly amazing. Just the shape makes it so pleasing to the eye and then at night when it is lit up and sparkling it is breathtaking.

Not only is the Eiffel Tower beautiful, but all the buildings in the city are exactly my style. I started playing a game where I tried to find a building I didn't like and well, it took a while!

One of the great things about staying with a friend is that we could enjoy the days. The first morning she picked up a fresh baguette and croissants for breakfast and we just took our time with breakfast looking out the window at the Eiffel tower. Then we headed out for a bit of site-seeing: the Opera, the Galleries Lafayette (with the most amazing ceiling in any shopping center in the world, heck just about any building in the world!), Sacre-Coeur (but the rain blocked the view of the city), Place du Tertre (artist square), some macaroons & cookies, and then to lunch at a nice little organic cafe. Then on for some more: St. Germain des Pres, the Palais du Luxembourg gardens, and the Latin quarter.

Then that night we headed to the Great Irish Houses (yep, that's right the Irish Culture Center) for a concert in this tiny chapel. It was really well done. Then we went to dinner with friends of my friend who we had met for the concert. That night when we got home I got to see the 1 am lights of the tower where they only leave the sparkling ones on. Gorgeous.

The next morning we got up and she made a fantastic, big breakfast and then we headed to the Grand Palais for FIAC. It is a huge international contemporary art show in Paris once a year. I really enjoyed (most of) it, but by the end I just needed to sit. All that contemporary art can be exhausting. Plus it can be hard to be judgmental all day, I mean let's be honest, a huge block of taxidermy animals is not art. Sorry.

The highlight of the day though was dinner. We went to dinner at a man named Jim Haynes's house. For the past 30 years he has been hosting dinner at his house every Sunday night and has between 50-60 people over. You call to get on the list for the night and then you go and just meet people. It was so amazing. I met an author working on her 2nd book, a model in town for Fashion week, a few retirees, a poet, some students, and more. All ages and all walks of life. We ate amazing food and met all sorts of people. Jim was involved in the theater and whatnot and knows all sort of famous people and just loves to connect people. Check out the website (http://www.jim-haynes.com/index.htm).

The next day my friend went to work, so I did the tourist thing. I went up in the Arc de Triomphe for a perfect view, down to the Louvre, then to Notre Dame (loved the stained glass inside), and then to the Shakespeare and Co. English bookstore. Then I wandered around the Latin Quarter (ok, I admit it, the first 15 minutes was wandering, the next hour was trying to figure out where I was). Then to the Rodin museum which was closed, although I think I saw the back of "The Thinker" when I peeked through the gate and bushes.

Then I grabbed a fresh baguette and cheese for dinner and headed to the airport.

Observations:

- People only have those tiny "non-dog" dogs in Paris

- Every person in a service industry speaks English (a far cry from Lyon)

Ah, the Discos

Last week I had the great pleasure of showing my sister, brother-in-law, and niece around the southern portion of this wonderful continent we call Europe. Because we had such a great time and did so much, I am not going to try to write everything but will make this a very high level, bullet-point type recap.

They arrived just in time to catch the last day of Oktoberfest. After dropping their things off at my apartment we made the venture down to the Wiesn and so did the rest of the entire city. The day was beautiful so it makes sense that the rest of the city (and more) were there, but still. We went through a fun house (which would not be legal in the US based on safety concerns) and then Carli and Ava went on a roller coaster and the swings. We had all the Oktoberfest food: sausage, chocolate covered fruit, candied almonds, magenbrot, and good old cotton candy (which it turns out Ava does not like).

Next morning we picked up the rental car and headed to Switzerland with a nice little stop in Liechtenstein. The more countries the better! Not only did we see the beautiful snow capped Alps but we discovered that Ava gets carsick. Poor thing, she was such a trooper and even managed to make it outside of the car before, well, you know. Our hotel was at the end of a long, insanely narrow and winding road and it had a view from the movies. Not even the movies, it looked fake. Let's just say that the view from the restaurant (directly below our room, so the same view) had to be the best view I have ever had while eating (and playing I spy).

Next day we explored the area of Davos and rode the gondola up to the best petting zoo I've ever experienced. Big open pens with 2 types of goats, pigs, chickens, and llamas. The animals were actually fun and not as pushy as normal petting farm animals.

The next day we headed down to Florence where we ate our way through the city. Between the spaghetti, pizza, and gelato I think Ava was as much in heaven as the rest of us. Speaking of which, the Fiorentina steak was actually worth the hype. You must try it.

During those 2 days we saw all the sites, did some major shopping, and even got to see 'David.' He was much more impressive than I had imagined. Ava was so good in the museum and insisted on getting not only a face shot postcard (which she could take to school) but also wanted the full body shot postcard. That's my girl.

Then we headed to Siena for the day. There we got to see more of a medieval Italian city with a bit more character. This was the site of the astounding occurrence where a 5 year old child asked to go to a museum and the adults didn't want to. This was the first (and probably last) time that will ever happen. It broke our hearts to say no, but we really didn't want to go.

Then that night I am quite certain we sat next to the Florence mafia at dinner. I mean who else would get their food so quickly. It took us forever just to put in our order. Plus every person walking by stopped to say hello.

Then it was on to Lake Garda. I now understand why it is the German vacation destination. It is a beautiful, huge lake with mountains all along one side and it is only about 3.5 hours from Munich. It was such a fun night. We played foosball and bocce ball, which Ava was oddly amazing at. She won 3 out of 4 games! Then we decided to be lazy and just eat at the restaurant at our little hotel and what do you know, not only was it reasonable priced, but it was one of the best meals of the trip!

The next morning we headed back to Munich and then they spent their last day here exploring the city. We of course hit all the churches and then had a nice traditional Bavarian dinner. My favorite was when we were in St. Peter's church and Ava said that "the 2nd disco is my favorite disco." Not bad, I mean who's heard of a fresco anyway?!