Memorial Day Weekend

I got off early on Friday. Yay! Summer hours means I get out at 3:30 on most Fridays. I'm going to try to take advantage of that. I was a little hungry, so we sat at the bar at Kobe and had a drink (dirty martini, three olives), some sushi and conversation with and without the bartender. Then we went to Ulta, where I got a (very) red lipstick and new sunglasses, then we went to Ann Taylor Loft to spend the gift certificate 'Los gave me for my birthday. I got three tank tops and an adorable cropped jacket from the sale section, and treated myself to a robin's-egg blue dress. (Hey, I have a wedding to go to next weekend!) And to make up for my wild ways, I made us a great dessert of raspberry crumble, baked in individual ramekins and served with a bit of ice cream.

Saturday, we slept in a little, M made breakfast (which we did NOT eat outside, ahem.) then cleaned up and watched Blue Planet for a while, then worked up the resolve to tackle the back yard. And by "tackle the back yard," I mean I sat reading Vogue and M dug up some over-grown bushes. Though to be fair, I did some planting afterwards:

Six cabbage plants, five tomato plants (none of which will grow because we have NO sun in our yard, but I can't help trying), two cayenne pepper plants (not likely to grow), a watermelon plant (also doomed for failure), five types of basil (cinnamon, lemon, purple, sweet and genovese), two types of mint (peppemint chocolate and Kentucky Colonel, the mint julep mint!), chives, curly parsley, Arp rosemary, pineapple sage, French thyme, and Alaska nasturtium (I love the idea of edible flowers in a salad but failed my attempt to grow this last year).

And a tiny lavender plant out front. Lavender holds a special place in my heart.

After all that, we took showers and I threw on a dress and we sat at the bar at Olive Garden to use up gift certificates from Christmas. My pasta plate was so big, I ate it for dinner and we BOTH had it for lunch the next day. After dinner we went to Lowe's to look for cilantro (they didn't have it) and to get a rain gauge and a hummingbird feeder. Mainly to attract bees! Then I baked cupcakes to take to Sunday's cookout.
Sunday morning, M got Panera take-out so we could have breakfast in the back yard. And it's a good thing we did! As part of our usual bird-watching adventure, a baby starling flew onto the back deck and started fussing at M. He tip-toed in the house, got some bread, came back (who'd think the bird would still be there?), and offered him some. The bird seemed pretty offended, and FLEW ONTO M'S ARM to tell him off a little better.

I, of course, ran in the house for the camera.

The bird hung out there for quite a while, squawking angrily. M made me dig up a worm for him; he ate it right off of M's arm. Then flew on me. Of course, I ate that right up. And after baby-talking to my new friend for a few minutes, the neighbor from two doors down came out, saw us, and announced that was the baby bird he had rescued two weeks ago! After some coaxing and offerings of worms, the bird eventually flew to the neighbor's, had some more tasty little worms, then went off exploring the world.

Bird adventure aside, I dyed some icing and decorated the cupcakes with flag designs,
then freshed up and headed off to Aunt S's. The drive took a little more than an hour and we were pretty much the last to arrive. J's kids were actually braving the pool. My grandmother? Yeah, she braved a ride in the sidecar of my uncle's Harley. Too funny!

We left S's around 7pm and went to Grandma's to meet her new cat, Buddy. Buddy is about six years old, and the perfect companion for Grandma. Of course, I don't think he's nearly as cute as my Alex (Angel is more devious than cute), but he is a lovely, fat, happy tabby. We visited Mom for a few more hours before heading home at around 10pm.

Monday... a day off!!!

Lundi, 12 Mai

We got up around 6am Monday morning and gathered the bags we had begrudgingly packed the night before, checked out, and caught the shuttle to the airport. The flight to London was about an hour, and we ate at Pret in Heathrow. (They need to bring Pret to America if they expect me to stay here.) Heatherow itself was a major pain, completely disorganized. I couldn't wait to get in the plane and off the ground. During the flight, I watched Juno and read the book I bought the day before, and flipped through a few magazines. It was hard to make myself stay awake, but it's the best way to beat jet lag, considering we were coming from a six-hour time difference.

I wanted to cry when we came back to Baltimore. For one, the weather was nasty so the last twenty minutes of the flight was a little rocky. For another, it wasn't Paris. And when we got off the plane, it was FREEZING. But we got our bags, got through immigration and customs, found the car, and headed to Whole Foods for some supplies, right around the end of the downtown work-day.

So there you are: my Parisian vacation. I let my mother know right away that, since she refuses to travel very far and I won't go anywhere without my Mommy, as soon as she dies I'm going to cremate her, stick her in a jar, and move to Paris.

I'll forward you the address. :)

Dimanche, 11 Mai

We met Stine and Marc in the hotel lobby around 9:00 and went to the breakfast buffet at the hotel. It was pretty good... and a challenge to keep portions down! After breakfast, the four of us went to our room again to freshen up and to drop off the gifts Stine and Marc had brought (chocolates that didn't last long at home, handmade paper ornaments, and hand-blown, double-walled glasses).

We had more Metro fun on the way to the Ile de la Cite, but once there we hung around Notre Dame

and went to the Flower Market (where they have birds and other small pets for sale on Sundays)

and wandered in front of St. Chapelle, across Pont St. Michel,

through the city (detouring at Starbucks) and to the Jardin du Luxembourg.

I'm so grateful to Stine for suggesting we go there! It was amazing. In the middle of the garden, there was a square-ish pond with a little duckhouse and a vendor renting little toy sailboats.

It was a shame we didn't have a book or magazine or something. We stayed there ages, anyway. It was insanely relaxing, and we were entertained by the baby ducks in the duckhouse and the half-dozen or so males chasing a frazzled female duck. It was heat and hunger that finally drew us out of the garden and to a smoothie shop that offered sandwiches and a shaded patio.

We ate slowly and talked and wandered to the souvenier shop next door and then to the Panthenon

and then just aimlessly around Rue de Rivoli. We hoped a nice brasserie would jump out at us, but it was a bookstore that ended up calling us. We browsed and skimmed, and eventually, Stine and I said goodbye and she and Marc went on their way.

I ended up getting Two Lipsticks and a Lover, a memior from a woman who had moved to France. From there, Matt and I decided we couldn't leave France without having had a cheese-plate, so we wandered back to Angelina's. We allowed ourselves to be seated, but it was too hot and crowded and the cheese-plate was only a choice of one of three cheeses, so we excused ourselves and, remembering Marc's strawberry dessert from the night before, headed back to the Welcome Cafe. We had a waiter with slightly more limited English, but he was darling and cheerful and our cheese plate was stacked and the Reisling was just right and we must have had a gallon of Perrier. We had been seated in the absolutely best spot, just outside the brasserie, under the awning and M and I sitting side-by-side, facing the street. The waiter tried and tried to give away the table next to us, but everyone wanted to sit inside. The waiter and I joked about them not knowing what is good!

And, M and I shared the strawberry dessert Marc had ordered the night before. Thank goodness! They tasted like strawberries should but rarely do at home, fresh and sweet and wonderful. The evening, our last in Paris, was perfect.

Samedi, 10 Mai

I woke up as the sun was rising and made M get up and take some pictures, then we both fell back asleep.

We slept in again, and when I woke, I read and ate a macaroon from Angelina's. Once we deemed ourselves good and ready, we wandered into the mall attached to our hotel and had lunch at a great chain that served sandwiches on baguettes. There was a gourmet grocery store in the mall as well. The produce section was amazing; I got a fig just to have gotten something there, and we picked up a few gifts for those back at home. We dropped the stuff back off at the hotel, called Stine and made dinner plans, then took the Metro to Sacre Coeur.

We approached it from Place Saint-Pierre, and it was on a hill-top. A big hill, with lots of short stairs. There was a carousel and lots of street vendors and people everywhere and LOTS of beggars. The church was beautiful, and more strict than Notre Dame and St. Chapelle, despite the touristy area and obscene amount of litter. No pictures were allowed, and the only memory that stand out to me now is that the foot on the statue of St. Peter was worn down to a sock.

We didn't do much walking in Montmartre; it was packed full of people (it was, after all, Saturday) and decided to try to hit Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise. We walked in and jotted down the sections in which some famous people were buried, but the place was so large and crowded and illogically numbered, we couldn't find anything. I approached someone who had a map and she told me she got it at the main entrance, so we headed out the way we came and walked the blocks and blocks to the entrance... and found out it was closing in about 15 minutes, at 6pm.

We decided we'd have to come back to Paris and try again.

In the meantime, we went to an ice cream stand and I ordered for us and we sat outside and watched the locals, enviously. Refreshed, we took the Metro to the Bastille, but there was nothing left to see so we got back on the Metro and went to the Pompidou.

There were street performers on every side of the museum, and crowds standing, sitting, or picnicing, enjoying the shows. Since it was so late, we didn't bother getting tickets but did go in the atrium and spent a while browsing in the bookstore.

We met Stine and Marc at the Tuileries Metro stop and after lots of squealing and hugging, went to one of the brasseries on the Rue de Rivoli.

Stine and I chatted and chatted and chatted, and fortunately, Marc and M got along well and kept one another entertained. After dinner and dessert, we all went back to the hotel and hung out and talked some more. It occurs to me now that we should've ordered a bottle of wine from room service!

We made plans to meet for breakfast, then Stine and Marc left and we read for a bit and went to bed.

Vendredi, 9 Mai

Yeah, we slept in. And had a somewhat leisurely morning. I read in bed for a bit and then we walked to the Harley shop we spotted on the way home last night. It was an interesting little bitty shop. We went down a (you guessed it) spiral staircase to the basement, where they had all kinds of T-shirts and such. We got one for My Bob and one for GJ and a long-sleeved one for M. We put our goodies in the messenger bag I snagged from work and marched off to the Arc du Triomphe.








Note how small the car in front of it is, and the huge French flag in the middle of the Arc.



They call the site Place de l'Etoile (Star Place) because all the main avenues stretch out from the round-about encirculing the monument, like points on a star. You have to take an underground passage to get to it or risk being run over on said round-about.

Napolean had the commissioned but didn't live to see its completion. It's a shame because the Arc is awe-inspiring. So is the view! I am shocked and pleased that I made it up the stairs without stopping. Thank goodness there is a little gallery and gift shop before you go the rest of the way to the top. The gift shop was one of the better ones we went to, though we only got a pen with a pull-out metro map (where was THAT at the beginning of the week?) and a towlette with the same. We're planning on using that as a placemat when we breakfast outside on Saturdays.

Then up a few more dozen steps to the observation deck. And wow! I think it was the best view in Paris (although we did miss a few opportunities the day before). We stared and stared and took a lot of pictures and stared more and finally wound our way back down the stairs.


This shot is of the Champs-Elysees, ending at the Louvre. Notice how the Louvre makes an upside-down "U" -- the place is huge. You can also see Pompidou on the left and Notre Dame on the right.

Beneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There are guards from the different branches of the military stationed there, and the WWI soldier's flame gets relit every evening. I think this is where they got the idea of for Kennedy's eternal flame.

And now that we saw the Champs-Elysees, we had to walk down it. We didn't go into may stores but we did stumble into a chocolate shop, Maiffret. We each got a piece of candied fruit, a bottle of water, and when the shopkeeper mumbled something about the young (probably American) girls who came in, complained it was expensive (on the Champs-Elysees, imagine that) and left... in French... I told her they just don't know what is good. In French! She seemed pretty amused, and I was rather pleased with myself. And the candied fruit was utterly amazing. Like nothing I'd had before.

After walking the majority of the Champs-Elysees, I decided I was hungry and we HAD to go to a little place I had read about, Angelina's. So we hopped on the Metro and headed back to Rue de Rivoli.

Thank goodness.

For one, it has a pastry shop in the left window, and the restaurant's dessert case on the right when you walk in. Then, it has the type of elegant decor that will never go out of style. Think classic murals and lots of moldings and marble tables and great wood and leather chairs. And the waitstaff wear black and white uniforms. This might be a good time to point out that in France, working in a restaurant is serious business. They do NOT get minimum wage, and the cost of food typically includes gratuity. And it's been around since 1903, so they must be doing SOMETHING right.

We had the perfect waitress. She took her job as serious business, but had an underlying warmth while we ordered in a mix of French and English. We left her a tip typical for good service in an American restaurant. When we left the dining area to make a few purchases at the pastry counter, she approached us to thank us and tell us how much she loves her job, and the food.

The food? Oh, MY. I ordered a quiche lorraine and M (upon my prodding) got a Croquet Monsiour. Both were served with a bit of lettuce (this was true nearly everywhere we went, and I've begun the practice at home). And both were better than reasonable for a ham sandwich and what amounts to an egg pie.

And then we ordered the legendary hot chocolate.

It came to us in a little pitcher with a side of whipped creme. It wasn't hot at all, just lukewarm and thick, like the highest-quality chocolate, melted down. I don't want to try describe how good it was. M was willing to give up chocolate for the stuff. And the whipped creme was like a cloud. I will say that the serving size -- enough for us both to have about two cups -- was a bit much for how rich it was. Angelina's will certainly be a place I return to, should I return to Paris.

The rest of the day was spent walking off the hot chocolate. We walked back across the street and through the Jardin Tuileries and to the Palace de la Concorde. This is another major round-about with a fountain each on the north and south end
and an obelisque in the middle. From there we hit the other end of the Champs-Elysees and walked north-west until we saw all the things we missed earlier that day, and then got back on the Metro and back to the hotel.

After a brief rest, we went to dinner at a restaurant close to our hotel. It was probably the kind of place that doesn't get a lot of tourists; while the food was very good, the waiter was less than enthusiastic. But my high-school French at least communicated what we wanted and we ate our veal (M) and scallops (me) and drank all of our bottle of wine and still had a good time (I loved being somewhere that wasn't full of tourists) and we walked back to our room and had another blissful night of sleep under feather blankets, and lulled by the city sounds.

Jeudi, 8 Mai (a very busy day!)

We breakfasted on the Starbucks from the night before, then dressed and got on the train to the Île de la Cité. We had a bit of a situation when the train stopped, a long FRENCH announcement was made, and the native speakers disembarked. My French had it's first challenge asking the gentleman at the station which platform to go to. But we figured it out and headed to the little island where it is said that Paris began. (The Parisii tribe of Gallics lived there around 52 BC. Well, that or a now-sunken island. But I'm sticking to the former. Can you imagine??)

We came to the western facade, and I'm realizing now that we never walked all the way around!

The line to get in was pretty reasonable. (In fact, we had little trouble with lines or weather our entire trip.) The inside is huge. It has countless naves and alters. The church is a Gothic structure, began in 1163 and still used as a Roman Catholic church. In fact, a mass began during our visit. We took entirely too many pictures to choose a reasonable amount, so instead, I offer some candles:

The access to the tower is from the outside, and we got ourselves some crepes and decided NOT to get in the line. Instead, we walked to the front and watched a gentleman hand-feeding sparrows. I approached him to see whether they liked crepes (!) but I didn't speak enough French and he didn't speak enough English, so instead he handed me a piece of bread from his knapsack and held my hand up. Sure enough, moments later I was surrounded by greedy little sparrows, who perched on my fingers and picked at the bread. It was a wonderful moment.

The Crypte Archeologique was closed that day, so we headed to St. Chapelle via the flower market. St. Chapelle ("Holy Chapel") is another Gothic chapel, built to house a rather important religious relic, the Crown of Thorns.

It is a much smaller, much different experience than Notre Dame. And unfortunately, a lot of what we saw was recreation, considering the destruction it faced over the centuries. But there were colors everywhere: paintings, . sculptures, patterned columns, blue vaulted ceilings, stain-glass everywhere, and even the stonework was painted with medallions of saints and martyrs.

We climbed a narrow circular staircase to get upstairs, past the tall narrow windows that once allowed archers to protect it
and walked out to the second floor. It was a bright, colorful, open room with chairs on either side and a man who'd come out every now and again to shush us. I'm not sure if it's still in use for religious services, but they did have posters outside advertising a Vivaldi concert.

Next, we walked across the Pont Neuf. The Pont Neuf translates as "new bridge" but is the oldest bridge in Paris.

Next, we got back on the Metro and went to the Panthéon, originally a church and now a famous burial place for national heros.The inside is completely open with a few interred people and a LOT of statuary. There was also a pendulum in the middle of the room, busy marking off the time along with the rotation of the earth.

This time, we went DOWN a circular staircase to the crypt. It was a large room with smaller rooms spidering out.

Among those interred there are Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Émile Zola, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Louis Braille and lots of counts and cardinals and French historical figures. Some rooms you could walk into and others you could not. Some of the very old vaults had fresh flowers... it was quite an experience.

We had evening plans and didn't want to wait for the next tour up to the top of the building, so we walked around the Latin Quarter, and got a scoop of ice cream and then back to the metro to transfer, transfer, transfer and go back to the Paris Vision office for our one planned excursion.

At around 6:30, we took a bus to the Eiffel Tower and had dinner at Altitude 95, the restaurant on the first level of the tower... 95 meters above sea level. We sat at a less crowded table with an Austrialian woman, a young couple from Denmark and an older married couple from Pittsburg. After dinner, we all walked across the street to take a cruise on the Seine. It was amazing, the number of people on the banks, having picnics, hanging out, doing whatever. And the majority of the personal boats we saw had tons of plants and flowers; the French seem very into nature.

As the boat pulled back up to the dock, the Eiffel Tower light show began. It was another truly incredible moment. There were gasps and cheers from everyone.

Back on the docks, it was back in the bus to head to the Moulin Rouge. There was quite a line for that, and the inside was packed. (One thing M wasn't crazy about during our trip is the close proximity in restaurants and similar establishments.) The "Red Windmill" is a caberet in the red-light district. It's famous for the performances of the traditional French Can-Can. (Yup, the one with longish, filly skirts, high kicks, splits, cartwheels and other acrobatic tricks, accompanied by squeals and shrieks.) Frankly, I thought that was the best of the dance performances; I tended to enjoy the acrobats, jugglers, puppeteers, etc. that were in between musical numbers.

We left the Moulin Rouge at around 1.30 and took the tour bus back to our hotel. It was our most heavily scheduled day: busy but wonderful. I wouldn't have traded a moment of it.

Mercredi, 7 Mai

We got up around 8.30 and had the leftover bread and butter with Perrier for breakfast. It felt very French and luxurious amidst the feather blankets with the city buzzing outside the open window. Once dressed and ready, we went to the lobby and through the revolving door to the adjoining mall to exchange our currency then we took the Metro to the Paris Vision office to pick up our two day museum passes and to confirm tomorrow's excursion.

The office was on the Rue de Rivoli, which ended up being one of my favorite streets in Paris. We decided to walk to the Musee D'Orsay, and thank goodness! To get there, we crossed the Jardin des Tuileries.

It's more or less in the very heart of Paris, had been around since the 16th century, and was one of the first parks to open to the public. It has several fountains and tons of sculptures and you can see the Louvre and the Arc du Triomphe... I was quick to name it my favorite place in Paris. I was to have a lot more favorites before the week was out.

We walked over the Seine across Pont Royal, the third oldest bridge in Paris,

and into the Musee d'Orsay. It was breathtaking.

It was originally a train station, built in 1900 then in the 30s converted into a parking lot, a theatre location a reception center for prisoners of war, and all kinds of other things. It was abandoned in 1961 and in 1978 the decision was made to turn it into a museum. It has an amazing collection of Impressionist works from most of my favorite painters: Jean-Léon Gérôme, Édouard Manet, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It also has an impressive amount of sculpture, and the building is a work of art in itself.

Midway through, we climbed to the top of the museum and had lunch in the Cafe des Hauteurs. It was my first real opportunity to attempt some French. M had beef lasagna and I had quiche. Both were served with bread and fresh greens, and we had Perrier and iced coffee. There is a terrace attached to the cafe, and we had some fresh air after our lunch. My favorite room was the one with all of the Renoir, salle (room) 39. They have tons of Renoirs, and not all exhibited. I'll have to go back if they ever do an exhibition! We got some postcards in the gift shop, and Matt bought me a book on Jean-Léon Gérôme, which was wonderful since I've never come across one before.

After hours of walking and hundreds of pictures, we drug ourselves out of the d'Orsay, got a drink from an outside vendor, and walked back across the Pont Royale and to the Louvre. We walked in through the Porte des Lions, through a bit of the Jardin du Carrousel, past the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

and into the famous glass pyramid entrance.

The Louvre has been around in some form since the 12th century and one of the most interesting parts of our visit was the Medieval Louvre which had the remains of the moat and original fortress. Although that was obviously not our first stop... that would be the Mona Lisa. We also made a bee-line for the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory,

Ancient Egyptian collection and Greek and Italian statuary. Seriously, you could spend a week in the Louvre and not see everything. And I have to say, the floorplan was pretty confusing! We spent a lot of time walking back and forth and up and down. Perhaps M's favorite view was when I walked over a rather brisk floor vent and had my skirt blown up!

It was nearly closing time (and we came on the night they are open late!) so we went to a few of the museum shops, then the post office for some postcard stamps, and then (I admit it) Starbucks where we got coffees and pasteries for breakfast the next morning.

We walked through the mall (that we didn't realize was attached to the Louvre!) and saw the inverted pyramid (remember from The DaVinci Code?) but the foodcourt was closing so we walked out and back to the Rue de Rivoli and stopped at a wonderful brasserie, Carousel (there are brasseries on every corner on that road). I got roasted chicken and fries, and M got a ham and cheese crepe. The waiter was very kind to let me practice my French, even though he spoke wonderful English. And the woman sitting next to us told us that she worked at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 60s. Small world! We got back to the hotel around midnight and absolutely collapsed. Happily.

Mardi, 6 Mai (arrivee, et l'hotel)

No jet lag, thanks in part to M having our tickets upgraded a class. We had no one in front of us for the flight to London's Heathrow, and I managed to get some sleep. We landed at Charles de Gaule at 2.15 Paris time and took the shuttle to the hotel. Watching the city go by duing the shuttle ride was like driving up I-95 through New York City: there was a lot of graffiti on apartment buildings and billboards.

The hotel shocked me when we pulled up and walked in. It could've been a Ritz or something. It is one of the largest in Paris, and 33 stories high. Our room was 2323: a great view of Sacre Coeur from the 23rd floor.



As soon as we unpacked we found the metro station and purchased five-day passes. Then we went straight to the Eiffel Tower. We got off at the approprite stop, walked around a building, and there it was. Unreal. I hardly reacted, and later realized I must have been a little shell-shocked. Our hotel seemed huge; if this were a hotel it would be about 81 stories.

There were tons of people just laying around in the sunshine; we were to discover that to be the norm. But seeing them next to the tower really gave some perspective to how magnificent it is.

We got some tickets to the top and got in line for the lift. There is a queue for each of the four pillars; we took the North one up, by the bust of Gustave Eiffel. We didn't realize the first floor was two levels; we were on the top of a double-decker lift. But on the second floor there is a gift shop and a restaurant and such. The view was amazing. We got in another lift to go to the top. There was a neat display of Gustave Eiffel in what was his receiving room in the tower, showing wax figures of Eiffel, his daughter, and Thomas Edison.
The view was amazing, but I think I liked the lower floor better.



From there, we walked all over to try to find the currency exchange that Expedia instructed us to use. We never did find it, but it was a great introduction to the Paris metro system! Once back in our room, I noted on the only English-language channel (BBC News) that the exchange rate was about $1.55 to the Euro. Yikes!


We had room service for dinner, and it was terrific. M had a club sandwich and I had a lovely omlette. We saved the spread of breads and butter for breakfast the next day.


The night-time view from our hotel room was even more amazing than the day-time view. The lights twinkled and it was nice enough out that we left the window open and fell asleep in Paris, with a glow in the window and night time sounds in the air.

Bébé canards

At the entrance of our neighborhood is a clubhouse and a community pool. M and I have been in the neighborhood for five years but have yet to join it. I'm not sure why; perhaps part of the reason is too many kids. But right now the pool is full of kids, and I'd LOVE to get in there.

Baby ducks!

M and I walked to the pool when I got home yesterday and took some pictures. The babies were zipping around, making heart-melting chirps and leaping up to gobble up bugs. I was worried they'd get tired and drown, but a neighbor came by with her little white terrier and told me the mom will decide when swim-time is over, then collect a few ducklings on her back and climb the stairs, then go back in the pool for another load. Love!

Another neighbor came by and told us that this was the fourth or fifth year there have been duck families in the pool at spring-time. How did I miss this??? But I love that I have another thing to add to my list of the joys of spring.