Paris - Day 3

Finally, on our last day in Paris, we got up to the Eiffel Tower, but of course not without a story to tell. We got to the tower at about 9am and there were about 20 people in line before us. Ever the competitive pair, Jon and I schemed to find a way to the front of the line. As I recalled, there were two lines the day before and today there appeared to be just one. We risked it and went to start the trend for the second line - and it paid off! We were the second ones in on the individual line and got the pleasure of nearly being stampeded by a group of Japanese tourists. On our way up the lift, they were all oohing and ahhing so much that between stifled laughter, Jon joined in - I actually think he was the loudest in the end and I almost died of embarrassment before I realized that no one thought a thing of it.


Afterward, we made our way to the Musée du Louvre, which as you all know you could spend a week in if you had the time. I appreciated their queuing technique more than the other museums in Paris; they move you along quickly outside the pyramids and then you are pretty surprised to see you haven't waited in a line for tickets at all, just the security screening. In our usual style, we had to speed through the Louvre for lack of time but we hit the highlights, only getting lost a few times in the process. It is a really overwhelming museum, not only for the amazing art, but also just the sheer size of the building and paintings around you. The Mona Lisa is much more of a generic/touristy process than Jon and I remembered; they've moved it into a side room and have two guards posted by it barking at the crowd to move along.

After walking down several flights of stairs to leave the museum, Jon discovered that we were umbrella-less (not the best discovery for this rainy day). Here's a picture of Jon with the umbrella shortly before its disappearance:

I'm OK with making that donation to an institution like the Louvre - I hope someone enjoys our new umbrella! Good thing we both have hoods on our rain coats :)

We stopped by the Jardin des Tuileries on the way to Goyard, before making a mad dash to another fabulous Ellen suggestion: Gerard Mulot - this is a patisserie to end all patisseries - she suggested the sour cherry clafouti tart, which of course we sampled, along with um a couple other treats :)

Paris - Day 2

Today, we made our first attempt to head up the Eiffel Tower - totally unsuccessfully. We got there and the place was swarming (and I mean swarming) with tourists. There were lines for each elevator that actually crossed each other because they were so long.

Instead, today we walked through the gardens in front of the tower, walked by Hôtel des Invalides and ended up in Musée Rodin that has a nice sculpture garden as well as a museum. It started to rain while we were in the sculpture garden, but we decided to push on to Musee d'Orsay and grab a quick bite on the way.

It's quite well known that much of Paris shuts down on Sundays - well we got a taste of this after wandering around aimlessly trying to find a reasonable place for lunch (i.e. not €30 pp). It started pouring, so we compromised and ran into a bakery for a baguette and a mini quiche, which would have been a bit better if:

a) we could walk and eat sans the rain or
b)there was somewhere in the bakery to stand and eat our lunch

Given neither A nor B was a feasible option, we went on our way in the rain, crossed the Seine and Jon had the fabulous idea of eating under the bridge which worked out quite well.

Evidently everyone else had the bright idea of going to Musée d'Orsay, so we spent about one hour in the rain waiting to get into the museum, so by the time we got in Jon was in this state:

The museum is in a beautiful old train depot and despite being exhausted, we explored quite a bit.

We focused on impressionists and there was no shortage. Lots of impressive sculpture in the center and surrounding rooms focusing on French masters like Monet, Manet, Gaugin, Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gough Seurat. We pretty much struggled through the rooms with pastels as they are so dimly lit, it makes you want to nap! I've always loved Degas, so that was a fun room filled with a combination of his paintings and sculptures of ballerinas.

Of course, again we totally tired ourselves out and we took a great nap before heading out for dinner. Ellen recommended a place on Ile St-Louis (the island at the center of Paris) called L'ilot Vache where we had another great dinner in a really cute neighborhood - cobblestone streets, cute shops, what you think of when you say Paris. One interesting thing about Paris is that it stays light out even longer than it does in London - the sky gets dark at about 10:15. So even though dinner was scheduled for 9pm, we got to enjoy a view of Notre Dame in day light :)

Paris - Day 1

Waking up when it is completely dark is not very easy. Because our flight was at 7:25am out of Heathrow, we decided it might be a bit tight to take the tube, so we got the name of a car service from who else but Rachel and Dave.

I dragged myself out of bed at 4:20AM and we were in the car before the appointed time (impressive, I know). We were in the airport before 6am so we had plenty of time to vegetate. And needless to say neither Jon nor myself had any trouble dozing off on the hour flight to Paris.
We've been a bit bummed all week that the weather forecast predicted a chilly and rainy weekend, but we packed for it and arrived prepared for the worst. We got to our hotel and were certainly surprised that we were greeted with beautiful, sunny skies. We're never keen on sitting and relaxing, so instead of waiting 20 minutes for our room, we opted to get a move on and walked over to Trocadéro, the plaza across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. We enjoyed a rollerblading competition before making our way up the stairs to enjoy the magnificent view... there was a couple taking wedding photos - pretty tough to match that background!

We walked through a local food market on our way to the Champs Elysees, and a gypsy lady walked up to Jon and asked do you speak English - let's just say I had to pull him away. After braving it through some pretty scary looking meat (identifiable animals, some with feet), we walked toward the Champs Elysees and enjoyed the view of L'Arc de Triomphe.

After a good lunch in a side-walk cafe that was clearly a tourist trap (clue: bill arrived with each coke charged at €5), we browsed through some shops, in search of shorts for Jon who was feigning signs of heat stroke and of course tracked down a Le Petit Bateau shop - because no trip to Paris would be complete without replenishing my t-shirts.

Later in the afternoon, we walked around the Le Marais district. I read that you should follow this route and we really did try:

Follow the rue des Francs-Bourgeois, the perfect source for unusual gifts, and peer into the Cour d'Honneur, the astonishing main courtyard of the Archives Nationaux. Then take a detour along rue de Sévigné, where the Musée Carnavalet and some quirky fashion boutiques are located. Cross lovely place des Vosges and walk through the two courtyards of the Hôtel de Sully

We enjoyed the XXX, a beautiful neighborhood park and stumbled into the Cour d’Honneur that was indeed very special. Finding the rue de Sévigné proved to be quite an adventure - but we did find it in the end :)

By the time we stumbled back to the hotel, we were due for a nap and just made it to our 9pm dinner at La Ferrandaise, a rustic restaurant near the Luxemburg Gardens. We started a trend (which really is not so surprising) of eating, extremely well while on our trip to Paris, by ordering the 6-course tasting menu (after verifying that it didn't include the evening's special, lamb's head).

Spring Bank Holiday in Paris

Jon and I are off to Paris for the holiday weekend. We are staying at the Hotel Square... here is our tentative itinerary (more to come when we return):

Saturday May 26th
5:15am: car to Heathrow
7:25am (BST): leave London (British Airways Flight #304)
9:40pm (BST+1): arrive in Paris
11am: arrive to hotel and drop off bags
Walk around:
-16th Arrondissement(Trocadéro/Bois de Boulogne): place du Trocadéro / Jardin du Trocadéro
-The Seine’s open-top Bateaux-Mouches riverboats are a popular way to see the sights; most depart from Pont de l’Alma. Word of advice: stick to a one-hour trip and give the touristy dinner cruises a miss
-7th Arrondissement: la Tour Eiffel / Musée d'Orsay
-3rd Arrondissement (Le Marais): one of the best-loved Right Bank neighbourhoods. Old Jewish quarter (rue des Rosiers) / Musée Picasso...Follow the rue des Francs-Bourgeois, the perfect source for unusual gifts, and peer into the Cour d'Honneur, the astonishing main courtyard of the Archives Nationaux. Then take a detour along rue de Sévigné, where the Musée Carnavalet and some quirky fashion boutiques are located. Cross lovely place des Vosges and walk through the two courtyards of the Hôtel de Sully
9pm: dinner at La Ferrandaise (8, rue de Vaugirard) near Luxemburg Gardens

Sunday May 27th
8am – 1pm: Versailles
-4th Arrondissement (Ile de la Cité/Ile St-Louis & Beaubourg): Ile St-Louis and its aristocratic town houses, courtyards, and antiques shops / Ile de la Cité's two Gothic churches (Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame) / Centre Pompidou
-5th Arrondissement: Quartier Latin
-Sacré-Cœur Basilica
-7th Arrondissement (Eiffel Tower): Musée Rodin
9pm: dinner at L'ilot Vache (35 rue de saint-louis-en-l'ile on ile st louis in the middle of the seine)

Monday May 28th
-1st Arrondissement: Musée du Louvre/ Jardin des Tuileries/ place Vendôme
-Pont Neuf
-6th Arrondissement (St-Germain): stroll with an unwrapped loaf of sourdough bread from Poilâne at 8 rue du Cherche-Midi. Jardin du Luxembourg
o From Ellen: Pastries--Gerard Mulot (76 rue de seine): the clafouti tart (esp sour cherry)
7:20pm: leave Paris (British Airways Flight #325)
7:45pm: arrive London

Tiger Wedding

Of course, the main reason for the trip to New York was Mike and Rachel’s wedding. After the rain on Saturday, I was a little worried about how things would turn out, but the weather cleared up perfectly and they were even able to do cocktails outside – skies opening up to the sunshine ain’t a bad way to start a marriage! We had a wonderful time – caught up with some friends from CBS ... of course, lots of dancing and catching up with Iris and Joe F.!

Congrats to Allison

We were lucky to be in town to celebrate Allison graduation from NYU’s nutrition program – her celebration at Punch & Judy left us stuffed to the brim with delicacies and yummy treats (we’d expect no less from a Schulman extravaganza!). It’s all about the smoked duck and brie with cherry compote.

I wish I could be injected with sushi

Finally got my sushi fix – have I mentioned we haven’t found a good sushi option since moving to London. We went to a great place called Sassabune with the Schulmans.

History in the Making!

We’ve been talking about this for quite some time, but today Jon took a huge step! He’s left Traffix and will be starting his own shop. Details to be shared as they before 'more public.' We celebrated with the Doumars over Chinese takeout and a lovely bottle of Dom Pérignon we’ve been saving for such an occasion. The kids even got Jon his favorite cake (strawberry shortcake) from Crumbs and sang “Happy Quitting Day” to Jon.

Back in NYC

I’m back in NYC for Rachel and Mike’s wedding – after 28 days of being Jon-less (along with of course everyone else), I’m ready to be back! I got off the plane and stood on the immigration line for about 20 minutes before I got to the point where I could see the sign that American citizens could bypass the whole process! How annoying! I got my bags and headed out to find an ATM machine when all the sudden someone grabbed my arm and pulled me in for a kiss. What a huge surprise to find Jon waiting in the airport for me!

May Bank Holiday Weekend

This weekend was a long weekend in London, so I had three days to pitter around town. Saturday morning, I got up early and went to Camden Market. I had pretty high hopes that I might find something interesting, but unfortunately I left very disappointed! There was not really much interesting around and the surroundings were, well, not the most beautiful in London. Thought I did find a little corner of London that might be mistaken for Venice?



Sunday, I walked around the neighborhood for a bit of retail therapy on the Kings Road. Today, I had a lovely brunch at Maria's house and in the afternoon, I went to Top Shop, much talked about London shop, to see the new Kate Moss collection - after trying to squeeze into a pile of clothes, I finally put together that UK sizing is different than US sizing - good to know before I try things on in the future! Anyway, the collection was interesting but there weren't a lot of sizes, so I'll have to search things out in another shop :)