A few good meals

My favorite things about Paris are the fashion, food and sights, that is no secret. 

On Monday, we stopped for lunch along the Champs Elysee after visiting a brochante with Delsa. The restaurant was fairly new and was right on the busy street so we decided it looked good enough to try and boy was it!  I ordered a chicken club. 

They substituted the bacon for egg and am I glad that they did. Its funny, it didn't taste much different than the ones we are used to at home other than the fact that it melted in my mouth and had the perfect amount of crisp on the toast. The crowd was perfect for people watching as well.  Also, the potatoes were served in a little crock pot in the middle that the server took the top off of it when it was presented. Love the details here. They tasted great but I could only eat two after that huge sandwich. The french aren't scared of carbs like we are in California. I think they think that carbs make you skinny because they are served in abundance with every meal and everyone here is thin.  The table spaces at restaraunts are smack next to each other, I have practically served my ass as a course on a table next to me on accident trying to get up to leave.  It might as well have the American flag plastered on the back of it.  

All right, on to the next meal, and hence probably why the size of my keister is in question, I love good food!

Today, we were out walking all day and went to see the Eifle Tower which was gorgeous with the sun shining right on it. 

We came back and were starving from walking and g

etting lost and ended up in a cab because my feet were killing. I remembered seeing a girl chowing on a burger and fries at a cute restaurant down the street with heaters outside and purple chairs, it basically had my name on it!  

So we headed that direction, sat down to order 2 burgers, which we were a little sketched out on because we were warned about eating red 

meat in France, but when you need a burger, there's no stopping.   We decided to go for it, despite the hefty price tag of 17 euros each.

Ty and I both agreed, they were one of the best burgers we have ever had.  Are you hungry yet???

Our first Museum Trip!

2 days ago (Oct 15th) we decided to go out and find a museum.. At first, we went to Luxembourg gardens, but it started to rain and we were coatless, so we ran back home!

After having a quick bite, we decided instead to go to a museum. Picking a museum in Paris is like picking your favorite song.. So many to choose from! C and I have already been to quite a few of them, so we wanted to go to one we hadnt been to. We picked the "Orangerie," which sits in the shadow of the Louvre!  We didnt know what exhibit was there, but we decided to take a shot and just go!

We got lucky!

The exhibit was impressionist painting!! The top floor was an amazing 2 room display of Monet's water lillies! Not just any paintings, but Huge, Long canvases.. The rooms were oblong in shape and joined, and each only had 4 paintings in it.. But they were HUGE.. probably 7 feet high by between 6 and 9 meters long.  Monet himself designed this exhibit, because he wanted the viewer to feel like they were completely emerged in his work. 

It is hard to describe, and pictures couldnt even do it justice, but here are some pics I grabbed!

(You can see C standing in one, for reference!)

The French Laundry

Today I got my first real taste of trying to do something that I always took for granted in the US.. Doing a load of laundry.

The washer here is small, and this is a weeks worth of clothes  (about a pillow case worth).. So I needed something bigger. I knew where a Laundromat was, or so I thought.. So I packed all of our clothes and took off  (Court stayed behind to unpack her stuff)

To start with, I got lost. I eventually figured out where I was though, and found "Club Lav" or whatever the name of the place is..

There are a lot of numbered  (and small) washers there.. Nowhere to put Euro or get soap, and a box on the wall with French instructions. Usually, I try to ask someone with my limited french for help, but I was stuck.  I saw a guy in there with a map of Paris in his back pocket and I said "Parlez Vous Anglais?"  He replied "It's my native language!" 

Bravo!

He had just figured out how to do it. You put the clothes in the washer first, then go to the machine and type the washer number, then pay. then type the number for the soap dispenser, get soap, and put it in. 

Not bad. I had to use a big washer ( a small washer equivalent in the US) and I entered the number.

8 euro. Thats like 10$ for a load.  PLUS, another euro for soap!!!

I figured I had no alternative so I paid and waited. A half hour went by and the cycle stopped. I put everything in a dryer and repeated the steps before. 

Oh sweet! Only 1 euro to dry!!!  I figured this was to offset the cost of washing. Nope. I watch my clothes tumble, then 10 minutes later STOP. Still soaking wet. I guess its 1 euro per 10 minutes of dry time. 

At the end of the day  (2 hours) I had spent 12 Euro to come home with a small bag of clean (yet still damp) clothing!!

I find it ironic that if I had been hit by a car on the WAY to the laundromat, my medical bills would have probably been covered my the govt. However, if I simply want clean clothes, I'm out a 20!

Bullet Train!

I dont know if anyone is interested, but this is some video of the Provence countryside I shot on the bullet train!

The 'Mas' - - Our 4 day home in Provence

Sorry to be repetitive, but we spent the past 4 days in Provence at our friends house..

"House" is an understatement... The pope used to visit this house, and the church on the property is one of the 2 oldest in France  (Tourists were stopping by all the time to take photos) 

The church is so old, Pagan services were done there before catholicism came to that area! 

(aka - It's probably haunted)

I have talked about this house to a lot of people in the past, even though I have never been there, so I wanted to dedicate a posting to "The Mas" so everyone can see what I am talking about.

('La Mas du Chapelle St.-Sixte' is the official name of the house)

 

This is the church that sits on the Property

The church is 'La Chapelle St. Sixte'
This is the house we stayed in

Close up of the house

The oldest part of the house -

Built in 1150

Looking from the oldest part into the 'newer' section,

built in the 1600's

The Kitchen where James (our host) cooked us 3 amazing meals a day.

(He went to 'Le Cordon Bleu' and everything he cooks shows it)

Outside in the evening

Court and I with our gracious hosts

(Left to right: Court, James, Jennifer, Me)

That was QUITE a way to start our vacation. We haven't even been here a week and it feels like we have done so much!! Jennifer and James were the most gracious and generous hosts I have ever had the pleasure of staying with. I would try to describe their level of hospitality, but any attempt would not do it justice! Thank you again James and Jennifer! That was a stay Courtney and I will honestly never forget!

Aix En Provence

Yesterday we visited Aix En Provence.

Aix is a fantastic college town in Provence, and is where Court and I would have actually lived if the job had gone through.  

We weren't there very long really, just long enough to have a first class lunch at "Le Deux Garcons" and walk around a bit... It was very bittersweet. It was fun to see the town, but also kinda bummed both of us out knowing that it is what "could have been."

Here are some pics:

This is the middle of the main street. A fountain in the middle

with an umbrella of trees covering the road.

A building on the main street built in the 1600's

A HUGE fountain at the head of the main street

Close up of the lions on the fountain

Tyler messed this blog up!

Hi All!

Sorry but I screwed up a bit.. If you are reading, the 3 posts directly below this are all new, but out of order..  We have limited internet time and we have been writing posts in word, to post later...  Well, I was posting them, and I did it out of order.. I tried to label them as such...

Sorry about that!

Ill try harder in the future!