Friendly Little Lisbon (Country #9)

Well once again, after a rough start (British Airways cancelled our flight the day before) we had an amazing trip. Lisbon, Portugal would not have been high on our list of cities to visit were we not living in London, which is a mere $100 and 2-hour flight away from this historic, SUNNY city. Remember my friends, at one point Portugal ruled the seas and their sailors “discovered” all sorts of new sea routes and lands. At one time, they controlled half of South America and parts of Africa and India. It wasn’t until 1988 that Portugal finally gave control of Macau over to China, crazy. Prior to all this exploring and conquering, Portugal was under the rule of the Celts, the Romans, and then the Moors. Thus, there is some cool historic crap in this town.

I couldn’t help but feel comfortable in Lisbon. There was something familiar about the place. It reminded me of a combination of San Francisco (on a warm day and WTF there is  a mini Golden Gate Bridge as shown in the collage above), Naples (but cleaner), San Diego (mellow vibe and waterfront), and Capri (hills and red tile roofs). Perhaps it was the gorgeous topography with green hills and blue Taugus River, or the low crime rate, or historic castles, or the blast of vitamin D to my system – but I liked this place. I’ll just give you a few highlights......

Look - it's Dave. He is at Vasca Da Gama's tomb in this last one.

Hotel: We stayed at a place called The House, which I found at Trip Advisor (of course). It is a small, locally owned hotel with just a few rooms. We immediately got upgraded upon arrival. There is a rooftop patio overlooking the entire city - with an honor bar. We spent a good bit of time up there. The staff was just outstanding, and I think Dave had a crush on one of them. They recommended local bars and restaurants, made us dinner reservations, gave us directions and advice, and the owner even had breakfast with us one morning and told us about the history of the building.

Taking a break on the rooftop at the hotel.

Cool Lisbon/Belem Stuff: The Moorish castle and churches in Lisbon, the CATHEDRAL in Belem, and the museums and monuments in Belem were all super cool. Pictures speak louder than words.

 

Monastery cloister in Belem.

San Jeronimo Church.

Monument to explorers, and Dave.

Belem tower.

At the castle.

So freakin cool

Thanksgiving Dinner at Cervejeria Ramiro: This seafood restaurant was a haul from our hotel but WORTH it. There was zero English anywhere, oh mother we are in trouble. Luckily, the family sitting next to us saw us struggling. Dad spoke English and basically proceeded to order us all the best stuff on the menu, including barnacles and steak sandwiches for dessert – apparently that is a big thing there, steak for dessert.

Dave is so excited!

Sintra: We took the 30 minute train to Sintra and checked out the Moorish castle, gardens, and palace. We decided to hike up to the castle (shocker) and met an Aussie from San Jose along the way – small world. 

Dave thinks he's the Pope, or at least the queen.

At the castle, lots of climbing.

So stinking sweet.

 
Cascais: From Sintra, we took a bus to Cascais (why does mass transit rock in every European country, I love it), which is a small coastal town that is mobbed with tourists in the summer. We walked around, enjoyed the beach, and had more seafood for dinner. It was a nice day-trip for sure.

Saturday Dinner at Chao de Pedra: This tiny restaurant was recommended to us by our hotel, which generally makes me nervous. However, from the second we walked in I knew we made the right decision. It was crowded with locals, all cave-like and cozy, and none of the wines on the menu was more than $14. We had a cheese and pear appy, divine pork cheeks and beef for a main course, chocolate for dessert, along with a bottle of wine, and the entire bill was less than $40. 

Portuguese Champers at the Four Seasons: It had to be done. No description necessary, it was delightful……and very hot waiters I might add.

Favorite Oh Shit Moment: On the first day, we were looking for a place to have lunch. We got our courage up and tried to walk into a tiny, buzzing local place. And after several tries to open the door (pushing, pulling, looking for a latch, trying the other door), everyone was staring at us and we were so embarrassed that we walked away. Fun.

While the trip was cool - to be completely fair, we probably spent one day too many in Lisbon. Our flight got rescheduled for an early morning departure, rather than our original evening departure - so we had a full extra day that I hadn’t planned on. In hindsight, I would have scheduled another day trip in the area or something. I think we will go back to Portugal, perhaps to the coastal towns or the Port region next time though.

It Must Be Love

Dear London,

Why do you make me love you so much? I had a perfectly happy, quiet little life in Palo Alto until you came along…... 

This was the first weekend we went really “out”. We had a group so you can be more courageous and go into places that I might normally be too intimidated to go to. On Friday, J.S. (a friend who just moved here from the Bay Area), D.C. (a friend from the good old HMH days), and the Ashtons all went out to a tapas dinner at Barrica - yum. Then, we were off to the fabulously cool basement bar - The London Cocktail Club. The music there was super badass, but no dance floor. So we were off to the Notting Hill Arts Club to get our dance on. It was funk night, N.M. – you would have LOVED the old-school DJ! Apparently, it might have also been gay night……but it can be hard to tell because men in London dress so cool generally. Are you gay or hip, I am just not sure. Dave didn’t know if this one dude was starting a fight with him or hitting on him. Sorry, no photos of our exploits.

The quote of the night from our cabbie to D.C., “I don’t allow George Michael to be played in my cab.” Don’t ask me why D.C. was playing the song Teacher on his Iphone. At least the cabbie didn’t stop the cab and throw us out. 

Saturday was a recovery day…….nothing to report here. Though I did volunteer at a cross country race at the Hampstead Heath, which is just a gorgeous place with views down over the entire city. I will be running there soon and often. It makes me miss the hills of the Bay Area (and Rancho, sniff sniff). We also stumbled upon the Camden Town Markets. While a cool area, it is generally a bunch of trinkety junk on sale at the market. Still, it was worth a visit and I am sure we’ll go back and explore Camden further another day (preferably while not hung over).

On Sunday we had to redeem ourselves. We woke up and went over to the Shoreditch area and Spitalfields Market. The market itself was nothing to write home about. The real action was in the neighborhoods surrounding the market. It was like a multicultural/fashionable giant street fair – imagine Cuban, Moroccan, Burmese, Spanish, Indian, Ethiopian, Lebanese, and Mexican food stands next to the coolest vintage shops, tiny artist galleries, clothing designer shops, Halal butchers, record shops, and bagel bakeries. We wandered for hours!

Dave had Cuban food for lunch.

I am not sure what game this is but it was being played in the street here at the market.

A million small businesses with tiny storefronts.

 

My favorite store! It makes me wish I had brought my sewing machine with me to London.

This photo is for you Kait.

This store housed 30+ small designers and their clothing.

More vintage than you can imagine, but you can't take photos. I got yelled at for snapping this one.

Yeah dudes, the world is not your toilet.

The 99% movement should come on over here to London where they would be considered conservative.

After all that walking, we decided Champagne was necessary – why? Well why not? First stop, St. Pancras Champagne Bar, which is in the giant St. Pancras train station. Not exactly what we were looking for, but what the hell.

 

Second stop, the Library at the Lanesborough. Oh yes!!!! This a Swanky Mc Swank hotel that has an old fashioned Britishy feel. Lots of dark leather, big comfy chairs, old books, a big fire – so nice! Check out the photos at the link above. We will be back there sometime very soon.

 

Well we are stoked for Portugal this weekend. I have been practicing my Portuguese and I am ready! After that, we are in the lead up to Christmas in Austria and New Years in Scotland. Last night we were trying to plan the next few months. Dave REALLY wants to go to Iceland this winter for the aurora borealis, but we also need to get to the states and spend some time there. Ugh too much to fit in! Later in 2012, we are hoping to ride the Camino De Santiago (maybe in May) and go to Palio in Siena in June/July. Anyone want to join?!?!?!

This one is for the gorgeous force that is Mrs. T.D. I saw the photo on Facebook or something. Wouldn’t it just complete your bicycle bathroom!

T.D. I expect to see this at the next book club meeting I attend at your house.

Gimme those tomatoes.......

  

I asked my awesome sister-in-law  to do a little guest blogging to tell you all how Sammy is doing, see below. Sam is living with their family now. I miss him more that you can imagine, but I know he is much loved and well cared for. Look at the cute photos after all. I love the one in the middle. It is Sam in the backyard stalking the tomato plants because he wants to eat them; however, they had already fenced-off the vines because we warned that Sam would eat all the tomatoes...... 

__________________________

I can tell you guys (especially you) miss Sam a lot. I know he misses you but I think he is fairly happy here with us. I hope so, anyway. As for Sam's daily life, here are a few insights:

• The kids STILL argue EVERYDAY over who gets to feed him and hold his leash when we take him on a walk.

• Gwen (her nickname is Ding Dong) calls him Sammy Sam and loves him a little too much. I don't think he loves her quite as much as she loves him though.

• She likes to chase him through the house with one of those annoying ball popper push toys (http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Brilliant-Basics-Corn-Popper/dp/B00000IZOU) that are loud and should be outlawed for any kid to own. Poor Sam hates it and we tell her every time that he doesn't like it and that he is going to bite her. And we will let him. Probably a major reason he doesn't return her love.

• The kids think it is hilarious when he gets one of his bursts of energy and sprints around in circles in the backyard. The laugh and laugh while they try and chase him. It usually only lasts about 2 minutes but it's a good time for all.

• When Sam poops while we are out for a walk the kids start yelling "Poop alert! Poop alert!" so I can make sure to pick it up. Dexter claims he isn't old enough to pick up dog poop yet. We will definitely be working on that.

• Sam walks with us every morning to take Dexter to the bus stop. All the kids know him by name now, even though he still barks at them sometimes.

• Whenever Ding Dong (aka. Gwen) is eating something while she is walking around she will hold it above her head and say, "Sam not get it." She learns fast. And Sam knows she is his best target for getting food droppings or handouts. We tell her EVERY time to stop giving him food off of her plate but she doesn't listen. This may be a reason he has gained a little bit of weight. Sorry. We are working on it. But I think it also helps him not hate her so much with the torturous popping toy. It is definitely a love/hate relationship between those two.

• Dexter wants Sam to sleep on his bed SO bad but Sam isn't really having it. Instead he chooses to sleep upstairs in his bed or on the futon downstairs in the office. I can't tell you how many times we have gone down to check on Dexter after we have put him to bed only to find him asleep and snuggled up with Sam on the futon with a blanket and a couple of his stuffed animals. It's pretty damn cute. 

___________________________

Well that is all on the Sammy front. 

Today I finally caught up with D.L. and H.L., who moved here in January from the Bay Area. We had a lovely lunch near their house in Hampstead. First off, they are amazing. Dave and I barely made it here in one piece and they moved here last January with two kids (who are just two and four years old). OMG you are my heroes. I hope to see them again very soon.

So Portugal on Wednesday!!!!! I am getting really excited to see a sunset over the ocean again. Plus our hotel looks like it will rock - AND it is only like $70 a night. Check out the reviews: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g189158-d1818282-Reviews-The_House-Lisbon_Estremadura.html.

Playing Tourist Again

Today I was a big dork and took a $3 guided tour of Westminster Abbey, with a very short Verger. That place was WAAAAYYYYYY cooler than I thought it would be considering the Protestants/Anglicans have been in charge for so long. You know, they are a little less down with the ornamentation and frescoes than the Catholics. I was really impressed by the overall structures and gardens, yet embarrassed that it took me 4 months to get over to the abbey when it is only a mile away from the house. Sorry no pictures, prohibited thank god.

Our tour group only had eight people (well, we ended up with seven because the guy from Chicago couldn't make it through the whole tour without a cigarette) and it was a slow day at the abbey generally. Thus, we got to go into several gated and roped off areas and see the really cool old stuff from the 12th century. I love old stuff, especially in churches, and I asked a lot of annoying questions about everything. What I really wanted to know was WTF a Verger is, but figured that I was looking stupid enough with all my Reformation pestering and could just Wikipedia that when I got home. By the way, a Verger is: a person, usually a layman, who assists in the ordering of religious services. 

The abbey history is just amazing with all the former kings and queens that are interred within the side chapels and such. I need to study up on my British history so I know who they all are. Though, I was a bit disappointed with the volume of stuff in there. I do wonder if all the monuments and memorials just got to be too much in the early 1900s and someone just said, that's it with the statues people - we're done now. While I was being annoyed with all stuff in that place - I had a revelation. Wait a minute, Shakespeare isn't buried here. Hold up, why are there huge memorials to Winston Churchill, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, and Oscar Wilde if they aren't buried here. False advertising if you ask me.......

  
On another Shakespeare note, someone put huge stickers that say "NO" on these posters in all the Tube stations for the movie Anonymous - right below the Was Shakespeare a Fraud question. I think that is hilarious! 

Madrid Knows What's Up (Country #8)

  

Where do I begin...... Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by a city. You hear so much about the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain) being in economic turmoil. I was thinking there would be lots of empty storefronts, homeless, crime, general dirtiness, etc. Nope. Madrid seems really just OK with itself, thank you very much. Granted, I was there for a weekend just next to the Plaza Mayor in a rather touristy area. We will definitely go back for another long weekend!

 In the spirit of our friend S.J. and his famous Sayulita report card, I am going to do a report card for Madrid:

• Eating tapas and drinking wine at four different bars each night. A
• Jamon, oh the glorious jamon - BUT you are a close second to prosciutto. B+
• The Retiro, a huge park on the east side of the city. On Sunday a million people were just walking around the park, no cell phones and no hurry. It was really amazing to see that kind of unstructured time for kids and families. It seems like in the US all those kids would be in 8 million different weekend sports leagues with no time to just go to the park and play around. A+
• Very little fast food and associated fast food-related trash. I love a country where people sit down, eat, and actually talk to each other, it feels civilized. A
• Wine, Campari, and beers at San Miguel Market on a Friday night - until 2:00 a.m. when we got kicked out. A for the night and D- for the hangover
• The Metro (subway) to the airport - cheap and clean but not linked to the area where we were staying. B+
• The Prado, sorry Madrid and art lovers out there but there is just to much "dark and brooding" in your paintings for my taste - and a bit too much Jesus. C+
• Running into K.M.'s friends Phillip (from the USA but living in Germany) and Helena (from Helsinki but living in Germany) on the street and sharing drinks, tapas, and stories with them. I love impromptu meetings like that! A+
• The kind folks with Iberia Air that put me on an earlier flight home because I was at the airport so early - though it took a million years and two passes through security to find an open desk. B
• The weather, almost 70 degrees every day we were there and sunny! My vitamin D supplies have been replenished. A
• The Hotel Plaza Mayor was charming, cheap, had a good location, but staff was really hit or miss. B 
• No veggies, really none. C- 
• San Miguel Market on Saturday at 1pm. Kill me now it was crowded. C

Daily cafe con leche (do NOT order a cappuccino in Spain).

Drinks at my favorite tapas bar/cave.

 

Jamon at a stand at the Mercado San Miguel behind the Plaza Mayor. 

 

Throngs of people in the streets over the weekend. The weather was unseasonably warm and SUNNY!  Everyone was out and about.

Me and the always lovely K.M.

Our Retiro picnic on Sunday, more jamon of course.

Madrid made me hungry for a little Rome. As much as I enjoyed Madrid, it isn't Rome because it lacks that decidedly Roman attitude and history - and food. Like I read in a magazine article last night, "Rome knows more than any other city in the world." So I am going to have to get our Roman Holiday booked. These weekends are filling up though, and our 2-year trip is already 1/6 over. Time flies when you're serving fries.......

We will have a guest blogger this week for you all - who's excited!?

German = My Language Nemesis

 Dudes - German is hard. Really hard. I have never been so confounded and frustrated by a language. I am taking a class twice a week for the next few weeks. After the 2 hour class, my brain HURTS and I think I start drooling. I am taking a class through Cactus Language School. I have taken language classes at small schools in the U.S. like this one, loads of them actually, and most were pretty mediocre. This one has been really good so far, really good structure and an organized teacher - did I sound German just there?

I am talking the class because we are headed to Austria over Christmas to do some skiing at St. Anton am Arlberg. I HATE that I cannot even say hello, where is the bathroom, do you have anything on the menu involving a vegetable that is not a potato......important stuff like that. I can order a beer at least so that got us through our last trip, actually I think Dave taught me how to ask for a beer. Anyone surprised by that - nope. 

You would think German would be in my collective unconscious somewhere. I am a Glaser after all, the pronunciation of my last name has been murdered by countless people (Ashton is so amazing, everyone can say and spell it). I should be able to speak a little bit - right. Well I can't. French - yes, Spanish - cool, I am studying Portuguese on my own right now on my Ipod (Pimsleur Language System) and that is no problem.I will be able to discuss the financial crisis when I am there in a few weeks (that is a small lie).

Anyway, I will keep at it. I have about 40 pages of homework to do on the plane to Madrid today. Maybe something will click in my brain.......

Here are some pics from my book that I thought were entertaining:

 Eek - nice shadow and glare......sorry folks. But come on, Restaurant Glaserhof on Glaser Street!

 

These are directions (or something) to Glaser Street. I'll be able to tell you what that says in a few weeks, gulp - hopefully.

A Weekend at HOME!

 OK so I originally typed out a really fantastic blog entry and then my computer crashed. I am too tired to retype so you are all going to get the bullet point abbreviated (non-edited) version:

Friday

• Opera, crappy $13.00 seats - they were not kidding about the whole "partial view" thing. Still, it was the Royal Opera House for $13.00 so I am just going to say that it was a lovely night and a very cool experience.

Saturday

• 5 mile time trail/race with the running club, running fast (well fast for me, which wasn't really) hurts - there are no two ways about that. 
• We had a lovely post-run breakfast at the Lido Cafe in Hyde Park, where we ran into this guy.....

He was talking on his Iphone while his Ipad was resting on his copy of the Steve Jobs biography. I bet there are a dozen of him at Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto.

• SURPRISE visit from our lovely friend J.S. who is moving to London for a year or two!!!! YAY we have another friend here. So the three of us caught up and bar hopped at Dave's favorite Cask and Kitchen, and my favorite The Orange. We had a lovely French dinner at Le Poule Au Pot, because one can never get too much cassoulet as far as I am concerned.

Sunday

• We took our sweet bikes out for a nice long ride! This bit of exercise was essential given what came after......

 Dave and I out on our awesome bikes!

•  That's right, we went to St. John's for a 2:45 leisurely lunch. If you are not familiar with this place, it is somewhat celeb (depending on who you ask) chef Fergus Henderson's restaurant. They specialize in "nose to tail" cooking. The philosophy/premise is that no part of the animal should ever be wasted. I can get behind that, some the cheapest most uncommon cuts are the fattiest and tastiest after all. We started with the bone marrow and parsley salad, which is what Anthony Bourdain said he would have as his last meal if he were on death row. I am not sure it was that good.  

Our first and second courses at St Johns, Dave started with the bone marow and faggot and swede for a main course - not kidding there. I had a salad with eggs and beets and rabbit for my main course. Lovely!

On Thursday, we leave for Madrid to see the beautiful Mrs. K.M. Oh man, I can feel the hang over coming on now but I am very excited for Spain. I am really going to have to woman up to keep up with her and Dave......

By the way, have you all seen this - I almost peed my pants laughing, "is that what I asked you": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeOTo3hqNHA

Gettin Cultured and Such

First the big news, I got a new bike!!! It is a folding bike so I can take it on the Tube and trains, check out the beautiful picture below. It is awesome. Of course we are in for 3 days of rain so I can't take it out just yet. I have a feeling that little bike and I are going to spend a lot of time together.



Tate Modern
So today I took in the Tate Modern Museum. It is essential that I get out and accomplish/do SOMETHING each day (since I work from home, it can get a bit lonely). Knowing Dave's distain for modern art, it was something I had do do alone. OK yes, there was the odd paper-mache sculpture that looks like something my 4 month old niece could do, but there were also some really great Picasso and Dali works, a Diane Arbus photography exhibit, and cool historic posters. Plus the museum is free, well they ask for a $4 donation.

Symphony
Tonight we are headed with a few of Dave's coworkers to see the Philharmonic Orchestra at the Southbank Center. Should be cool, I know nothing of nothing about classical music really - except that I like it and there is a ton of it here in London.

Flying Dutchman
OK this is going to be a weird stalker story. I have been swimming this month with a really fast guy. We met a few weeks ago, he had on a blue swim cap with a big "M" on the side. So I asked if he was from Michigan - nope, he is Canadian. He told me he was in London for work. After a few swims, I learned that he was actually a professional opera signer, no shit. He told me that he was signing with The Flying Dutchman at the Royal Opera House. He is like one of the lead guys, which I found out after internet-stalking him. I looked at tickets for he show a few days ago and they were literally hundreds of dollars, but I checked again yesterday and they released a few "partial view" tickets for $13 each. For $13, I don't care where the hell I sit since I may never go to the Royal Opera House again in my life! So we are going to see the show tomorrow, at that point the guy may get a restraining order against me - but whatever.

Guy Fawkes' Night (aka. Bonfire Night)
We will be celebrating our first official British holiday this weekend. I don't quite understand exactly what happened and why we are celebrating, despite reading the Wikipedia page a few times....... Apparently in 1605 Guy Fawkes (the scary dude to the right there) got a group of his Catholic friends together and tried to assassinate the Protestant king of England at the time, James I. Well the plot was thwarted and now we will celebrate that fact by burning things and shooting off fireworks. They even burn and effigy of the Pope in Lewes, UK - wherever that is. Scandal!

Getting Ready for Madrid and Portugal
Madrid is next week (leaving on Thursday) and Portugal is at the end of the month. Today I started my Portuguese language CDs and bought a Lisbon book at the charity shop down the street - man I love those stores! More trip reports to come......

Countries?

In our quest to hit 24 countries in 24 months I decided I needed to set some ground rules. As we've started making our way through this journey a few conversations with people made me realize two things.

1. Do previously visited Countries or repeats count?

We measure a country visit from the date of move going forward. July 1st 2011. If we had visited that country prior to that date we treat it as "new" for this blogs purpose. For example, we had been to France before so last weekends trip counts as one of the 24 since it is "new" since July 1st. When we go back to France now it will not count again. Technically we could then count the US under these rules but we won't since that also feels like cheating.

2. What constitutes a visit?

Generally speaking I like to use the Eat, Fuck, Piss Test (EFP - I may need to site this in future blogs). If you've done any ONE of those things in a county you visited. Exceptions include airports. Layovers in airports don't count. It would be like visiting an Embassy and saying you've been to that country. Consider airports the twilight zone, they exist but in a parallel universe where they exist but don't.

Drive throughs...if you drive through a country even if only briefly does it count? There is a sliding scale. You drive over the border into a country for 20 min and pass back out have you been? Well this may be a good time to see the guidelines. Time does matter here but to be safe get out piss on a rock to mark your territory have a snack and a quickie (EPF Trifecta) and be on your way. Passport stamped you've been there.

3. What the hell counts as a Country?

This actually becomes harder. Many conversations with many people from different parts of the world gets very different answers, some with threat of violence. It can be very sticky if you chalk up a "Country" as a territory or other inadequate label. I'll start with what to an American seems like easy logic. England is a Country but the UK currently contains: England, Norther Ireland, Wales, Scotland. So upon entering Scotland I'm willing to chalk up Scotland as a Country (why they gave themselves back to the UK after William Wallace fought so hard I'll never know) but for some reason Wales doesn't seem to cut the mustard? If you go to Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland can you count each on separately (remember the threat of violence if you get it wrong, both from the Unionists and the Republic). Some people say no to Northern Ireland since it is just part of "the UK".

To help us here we have Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country

"England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (in the United Kingdom) are examples of entities that are not sovereign states, but which are commonly regarded and referred to as countries.^{[11][12][13][14]} Former states such as Bavaria (now part of Germany) and Piedmont (now part of Italy) would not normally be referred to as "countries" in contemporary English."


Yeah, that clears it up.


I'll give you some other examples to stir your head.


Vatican City - City, Country or Papel Lodge?
Puerto Rico & Guam - Been US territories since 1898
Monaco - Tax haven and general James Bond hang out or Country?
Taiwan, Nepal, Palestine - Politically not recognized depending on if you ask China or Israel.
Canada - 51st State - Just kidding, wanted to see if Mary, Peter and the Gosselin's are paying attention.


UN recognizes 193 and the USA recognizes 196:


Let me know what you think? Using the vague rules of engagement on criteria #3 our list then looks like this so far:

England #1 (EPF)
Northern Ireland / Republic of Ireland #2 and #3? (for now this counts as one) (EPF)
Holland #3 (EPF)
Poland #4 (EPF)
Denmark #5 (EP) - I was cranky.
Hungary #6 (EPF)
France #7 (EPFFFF) They don't call it the city of love for nothing.
Spain #8 - coming in two weeks.

Until we get a ruling from you all we'll err on the side of conservancy.....at least until we near the end of our journey and we have to revise like mad to hit the 24.

Paris, France (Country #7)

Chunnel

After a minor bit of confusion (I took us to the wrong train station– no I am not kidding), we made it onto our train. Well, it was the slightly later train, but the bottom line was that we made it courtesy of a very nice woman at the Eurostar desk who helped us out….… So with the weekend-ruining tragedy averted, we hopped on the Eurostar and traveled under the English Channel to France. That train hauls, see the photo of Dave's GPS application showing our speed - 181 mph. I am definitely booking another tip on that train soon!

Lodging

We rented a flat, as usual, here: http://www.chambredhotesparisruedebretagne.com/englishversion.html. That is the only way to go in Paris – or any other city where you can/want to be more independent. We stayed in the Marias this time (3rd Arrondissement - Marias). I love the Marais because it is so incredibly historic, hipster-ish without douchiness, and easily accessible from the train stations and Metro. So our apartment rocked! It was small but very comfortable and had everything you could need – I highly recommend it. Our host, Christophe Bonvin, met us at the apartment, gave us a quick tour, left us coffee and breakfast items, and left us on our own to enjoy the city.

Walking

We once again did the usual…….walked about 8 million miles exploring the city enjoying the unseasonable warm October weather. We chatted, enjoyed the changing leaves and colors, stopped for coffees and cocktails, and generally just effed around. Thank god we had been there before and didn’t feel the need to go to museums or the big attractions this visit (Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, San Chappel, Eiffel Tower, Louvre, etc.) because the city was MOBBED. The tourist attractions were REALLY crowded, WTF it is the end of October. Turns out it was the “mid-term break” all over Europe and families travel during this week or two their kids have off of school. Seriously, it made me realize how lucky we have been in the past having NEVER waited in line for anything in Paris (except the Louvre but that was only for five minutes until another American told us we could buy museum tickets at the Metro station and walk right in). The Sacre Coeur and Eiffel Tower were the worst, see Dave’s sad face below.

Kill me now.

Eating

Here is just a summary of where we ate. I would recommend all three for sure! We will definitely go back to all of these places at some point.

Bacteria Alley: This is an assortment of generally trashy and cheap restaurants in a touristy area near the Notre Dame on the Left Bank. We always have to go to Maison De Gyros (we are so classy) and get a Gyro and frites for lunch at least once during our visit. It is a kitchy ritual and freakin tasty goodness and worth any food poisoning risk!

Restaurant Astier: (http://restaurant-astier.com/) I found this place in a magazine. It was really reasonable, $35 per person for 4 courses. The food was quite good, but the best part was the choose-your-own dessert from the most beautiful cheese plate I have ever seen!

Chez Paul: (http://www.chezpaul.com/) This was a very crowded locals-only type of place, and not a lick of English anywhere......which means it is probably going to be damn good. They have a sense of humor at least, I made a reservation that afternoon over the phone for two and the restaurant thought I said ten, shit ("deux" versus "dix" probably sound the same on a cell phone with my crap American accent). Luckily, a guy came in RIGHT after us and asked for a table for nine. I had my ass saved and his large group got a table at an overflowing restaurant.

Gaspard De La Nuit: (http://www.legaspard.com/) This was a great place to finish the weekend. The restaurant had just a few tables and was very cozy. Our servers were so sweet and friendly, they even humored my French efforts and brought us a French menu and an English menu. Dave finally got his seared fois gras with an obscenely tasty Sauterne and was very happy.They had lovely cheeses also. My fingernails are going to grew 2 inches after this trip with all that cheese.

Look how happy he look with all that cholesterol coursing through his veins.

Best dessert ever, fromages!

On another note, knowing even my sad bit of French allows for such a different travel experience. Instead of being worried about messing up or looking stupid because you are doing the wrong thing, you can just ask what to do! I Those simple questions from folks around you are no longer intimidating: what would you like to drink, how do you want your lamb cooked, please open your bag (before going into the museums), simple crap like that is so much easier to deal with. This was a very timely lesson for me given our upcoming trips to Portugal and Austria. I am ordering my Pimsleur language lessons in Portuguese (I SWEAR by Pimsleur) and am signing up for an evening German class this week!