Au P'tit Grec

Au P'tit Grec on Rue Mouffetard is hands down the best place in Paris to get crepes. One of Marie's colleagues brought us here one night after we met them for drinks. It's very popular, so you almost always have to wait in a line, but it's definitely worth it. After getting crepes here we just stopped looking anywhere else because they were so good. On the savory side, you can get almost any combination of various meats, cheeses, spices that they have. We stuck with the classic "jambon fromage," which is just sliced ham and Emmental cheese. But they put a ton of cheese on each one, along with a few slices of ham, lettuce, tomato, onion. It's almost like a hoagie rolled up in a pancake. Delicious. The portions are huge.

Then they've got the sweet side covered too. You can get a crepe with chocolate sauce, Nutella, strawberry or apple preserves. Get any of those with bananas and/or topped with chocolate powder or crushed almonds. The "Nutella banane amande" is fantastic (Nutella, bananas, almonds). It's all amazing.

Their crepes are twice the size of any other crepe we saw, still reasonably priced, and they somehow always get the crepe to the perfect crispiness, which is huge in my book. Watching the guys make it in front of you is like getting a free show while you wait. Can't recommend enough. I'm going to dream about these crepes for a long time.

Barcelona

Barcelona is beautiful! We stayed in an apartment in Ciutat Vella, which was just inside a maze of small passageways. It was far enough from the super-touristy Las Ramblas that we weren't surrounded by other tourists, and there were plenty of shops and restaurants in the immediate area that we didn't have to go far most of the time. The Gaudi art/architecture throughout the city is all amazing. It's the most colorful and lively architecture I've ever seen, and he makes even little things like streetlamps beautiful.

Sagrada Familia is on a whole other level. It's still being built from Gaudi's original plans and won't be finished for another 30 years or so. But the inside is done, and it is incredible. The church is enormous, and full of intricate geometric shapes not found anywhere else. Gaudi was inspired by nature and wanted his buildings to have a similar feel. In Sagrada Familia the columns are like giant tree trunks, splitting into branches at the upper levels and connecting to the ceiling. All the windows are unbelievable stained glass that lets various colors of light in to create different moods in an atmosphere where people could relax and meditate. In the basement there is a crypt, where Antoni Gaudi himself has been laid to rest.

The Park Guell is a large park in Barcelona, with a section dedicated to Gaudi's work. It was originally supposed to be a housing development, and Gaudi was commissioned to work on it by Eusebi Guell, who also commissioned many of Gaudi's other works. The plan fell apart at Guell's death, and only two houses were actually created. It was then turned into a park. Gaudi's influence is seen everywhere, from benches of his signature broken tiles to sculptures of the same style, to walkways constructed out of smaller rocks, to the complex architecture of the buildings on the property. As you go higher in the park there are incredible views of the city, and although it's crowded it's a beautiful place.

On our last day we hiked over to Monjuic, which was the site of the 1992 Olympic Games. There are many buildings and structures leftover from those events, such as a large stadium and Olympic center. The area also houses the Joan Miro Museum and Castle Montjuic, as well as a couple other museums and gardens. The top offers a great view of the city, and on the castle side a great view of the harbor and ocean below.

We didn't make it to a Barcelona soccer match (football to these Europeans), but watched one in a bar. We'll definitely have to plan ahead and get to one next time. We had a lot of good tapas food, which is great because you get to try a bunch of different dishes. It's more like endless snacking than a large meal, which is right up my alley.

Barcelona is definitely one of our favorite cities visited on this trip, and we'll have to go back, especially if they ever finish work on Sagrada Familia.

Check out some of the too many pictures I took in the gallery.

Rome

Rome is the oldest city we've visited, and also the most crowded. Once off the plane we headed to the hotel, but our room wasn't ready yet so we wandered a little. We had a nice hotel room, right off the main street, Via del Corso. It was a great location, with tons of shops and restaurants nearby, and was also within walking distance of many attractions. We had our first Italian pizza, and it was fantastic! They also came with a croquette type fried ball of rice and cheese and meat. Once we were able to check in and put our bags down it was easier to explore, although we mainly stuck to the Via del Corso area. The city isn't too large, so we were able to walk everywhere and didn't have to worry about the metro. There was a lot to see, and to be honest I didn't know the significance of a lot of the monuments, but they were nonetheless impressive.

We saw the Piazza del Popolo, the Trinita dei Monti (AKA Spanish Steps), Palazzo Montecitorio, Castel Sant Angelo, and a number of other sights. One of the most incredible sculptures was the Trevi Fountain:

The Vatican was awe inspiring (as was the line to get into the museum!). The dome of St Peter's Basilica is visible from a number of other points in the city, and the structures in the main square are massive. The museum is free on the last Sunday of the month, so we luckily were able to take advantage of that, although the line to get in took a couple hours. Once in, however, there is plenty to see. Being the Vatican, there is mostly religious art, but there are other items as well. For example, there was a pretty interesting hallway dedicated to old maps, some of which were huge tapestries. There are also a number of other works given to various popes and added to the museum.

The halls and rooms are crammed with people, and nearly everyone makes a beeline through the galleries to the Sistine Chapel. The Chapel itself is amazing, and pictures don't do it justice. Michelangelo's work on the ceiling is incredible, as is the artwork of other artists around the room. One of the most impressive parts of all of it is the attention to detail and 3D shading of the borders. The trim and columns look like they are jumping out of the wall, but it's all flat in reality. It creates an optical illusion that I wouldn't have thought possible for the time it was created.

We took a walk down to the ruins of the forum and other buildings of ancient Rome. For a lot of it, there isn't much to see, but it's still amazing the structure that they had so long ago. As an American, many things on this trip are changing my perception of time. Even though I knew from school the disparity in age between countries, it really hits home just how young all of (westernized) North America really is. We climbed Palatine Hill, which has many ruins, including palaces, a stadium, and vineyards, and gives a great view of the Coloseum. The main reason I wanted to climb was that it's also supposed to give a great view of the Circus Maximus, an enormous racetrack, but unfortunately that side was closed off.

The Colosseum is very impressive, especially when you consider what technology and materials they had to work with. It is enormous, and very aptly named. When you look into the arena, the floor you see is actually the tunnels that ran under the stage. The stage itself was made of wood and covered with sand, so it rotted away a long time ago. Of course, having watched movies like Gladiator, I could imagine it full of Romans watching a match between warriors. I was impressed by the tunnel system and the stage's trap doors and other triumphs of ancient ingenuity.

Another awe-inspiring place is the Pantheon, which is still the largest unsupported concrete dome in the world. The building itself is one room, and the ceiling is composed of the great dome, which has a large hole in the center that lets in sunlight. The Pantheon is dedicated to the gods of ancient Rome, and is also used as a tomb.The painter Raphael is entombed there.

At all of the sights, and actually throughout the city, there were street vendors selling little things like sunglasses or souvenirs or toys. They were super aggressive to the point where they were really an unpleasant nuisance. We saw the police chase them away a few times, but it looked like a never-ending game of cat and mouse. They just pick up their things, run away until the police leave, then come right back.

On trying to leave on Monday night there was a problem with our plane tickets, so we couldn't get on our flight. To make matters worse, we were supposed to be on the last flight of the day and would have to find a flight out the next day. The train back to Rome is expensive, takes an hour, and we didn't have a place to stay anyway, so that led to the three of us sleeping in the airport in Fiumicino. I've never slept in an airport before, but apparently it's not that uncommon; there were at least fifteen other people who also stayed the night in the same area. We slept on metal benches and the tile floor, although we didn't get much sleep. After being in the airport for about eighteen hours, we finally made it on a plane back to Paris. It was a rough night, but we made it back alive.

Gallery for more.

Catacombs, Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge

Our friends Melissa and Caitlin came to visit, so we got to do some extra sightseeing around Paris. We went to the Eiffel Tower a few times and got to relax a little without having to get prepared for a weekend trip. Caitlin had to leave early Saturday, but Melissa stuck around for the weekend and knew of some cool attractions we hadn't been to yet.

One was the Catacombs, which is a huge collection of underground tunnels where the bones of thousands of people are kept. It was originally a mine for the rock that built some of the older buildings in Paris. As the city grew, land was at a premium so they started moving the bones from different cemeteries into the tunnels. Each cemetery has its own section. It became an official ossuary and the bones and skulls are stacked very neatly in designs along the tunnel walls. It's a very cool place and you get a combination of geology, history, and mining knowledge. And bones. Lots and lots of bones.

Way up on the hill in the northern part of Paris is La Basilique du Sacre Coeur. It's a beautiful church and takes a ton of steps to get to. It took almost 40 years to build and is one of the most impressive churches I've seen. There's an amazing view overlooking Montmartre below and the rest of the city beyond.

Then going down the hill you transition from the Montmartre section to Pigalle, where many famous artists used to live, such as Picasso and Van Gogh. The main boulevard has a number of adult shops and theaters, and it's here that you'll find the legendary Moulin Rouge. It's a bit less impressive than the movies make it out to be:

There's so much to see and do in Paris that it was nice to have another weekend to spend here.

More pictures in the gallery.

London

Last weekend we took a train over to ye olde Londontown. Of course we got stuck on the train for an extra two hours because there was a problem in the Chunnel. We finally made it to our hotel in the late afternoon and went to a nearby pub to get some food. The food wasn't great, but I finally got some fish and chips with mushy peas.

Then it was off to go sightseeing! From our previous experiences, I already knew that many things in Europe look much cooler at night, so we weren't deterred from going to see some of the things on our list. We started at Big Ben and Westminster, and made our way over to the London Eye. We were walking on the bridge across the Thames when it started raining. It wasn't too bad at first, but by the time we got to the pedestrian bridge to get back across it was raining sideways really hard and we got soaked. The kind of freezing rain that hurts when it hits your face. But we didn't want to just sit in the hotel all night, so we pushed on along a path that followed the Thames, and saw many of the bridges and buildings we wanted to see. The rain stopped after a while and it turned into a nice night. But the sights were farther apart than we originally thought, so after a while we called it a night and went back to the hotel.

Sunday we finally saw the sun! We started off at Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately they weren't doing a changing of the guard that day, so there wasn't a whole lot to see.

We headed through the Horse Parade to Trafalgar Square, with it's impressive obelisk, lion statues, fountains, and giant blue rooster.

 We saw London Tower, which has some great history to it, then spent a bit of time on Tower Bridge with its wonderful view of the area around it. There's such a contrast between the older stone castles and bridges and the new huge glass buildings like the Gherkin and the Shard and City Hall. It's an interesting combination of very different architectures but really shows the history of the city and how it's changed over a long period of time.

Then we headed over to St. Paul's Cathedral, which was beautiful. I've been in more churches and cathedrals on this trip than I've ever seen before in my life and they continue to impress me with their amazing architecture and construction and history.

We had a late train, so we killed some more time near Big Ben and Westminster Abbey and enjoyed a nice little break by the Thames before heading to the train station to catch our ride back to Paris. Next time we'll have to spend more time doing things. We were a little rushed and there's so much to see!

Many more pictures in the gallery!

Eiffel Tower & Sgabetti

Last night was the first really clear night since we've been in Paris, so we went to the Trocadéro to see the Eiffel Tower light up. It's really an amazing sight, and the tower sparkles every hour on the hour. The Trocadéro has a perfect unobstructed view across the Seine and is the perfect place to take pictures. The last time we visited, the top of the tower was lost in the fog, but last night was crystal clear and we could see the beacon at the top.

After that we headed a couple blocks away to Sgabetti, just off Place de Mexico. It's an excellent little Italian restaurant, and the food is delicious. It wasn't very crowded and we had good service. I had Ravioli Sgabetti, which was awesome raviolis with spinach and ricotta in a mascarpone sauce with mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and arugala; and Marie had Linguine Mare, which was linguine with tomato sauce, baby squid, clams, mussels, and shrimp. Both were amazing and we definitely plan on going back.

If you're looking for Italian food in Paris, I highly recommend this place.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is awesome and I've never seen so many canals and bicycles before in my life! The city itself is amazing and the integration of bike lanes everywhere is impressive. Of course, as unwitting pedestrians, we had to pay special attention to where we were walking, and look for bikes and mopeds as well as cars (we had a few close calls).

When we arrived it was a rainy, cloudy day. As we started walking the rain was just stopping so we decided to take a canal tour, as we had read that it was a great way to orient yourself in the city. Long story short, it wasn't what I had expected; it was more of a ride around the city than the 'tour' that I had wanted. I was a little disappointed but still got some good pictures, and it was a good way to see a lot of Amsterdam quickly. We were very short on time and would never have seen some of the things we got to see from the boat, such as the EYE Film Institute of the Netherlands:

After the tour we went to the Rijksmuseum (National Museum), which was nearby and has the big 'I amsterdam' sign. Of course, this was the most crowded place we saw. The line to get into the museum was super long, and it was difficult to get a good shot of the sign because everyone was trying to get a picture up close. There was also an ice skating rink right behind it!

After getting some pictures (the line for the museum was too long) we wandered off and happened on a restaurant called Little Buddha for lunch. We were the only ones in the restaurant, but it was spacious, beautifully decorated, and had delicious food. We could tell it's the kind of place that gets very crowded later, but it was nice to have the place to ourselves.

We went to the hotel to check in and drop off our bags. The hotel was very nice, and next to what looked like a business district. The only problem was that it was almost at the end of the line of one of the trams, and took a good 20 minutes to get to a station where we could transfer to another tram to get into the city.

Trying to figure out the tram system was tough, although we finally figured it out towards the end of the trip. If you're going to any place that's off the main island (museums, our hotel, etc) you'll probably need to take the tram. They don't come nearly often enough, and the station names aren't listed on the maps at the stops or on the tram, so it's hard to tell which station to get off at sometimes. We spent as much time on the trams as doing actual sightseeing. If you have to transfer lines you could end up waiting a while, especially later at night.

We made the trek back to town, stopping at Rembrandtplein, which has a huge statue of the artist, as well as a bronze representation of his famous Night Watch painting. The square is surrounded by restaurants and cafés and is a nice place to hang out for a while, although we didn't have time for that leisure. (Note: know the difference between café and coffee shop so you don't pick the wrong one. Cafés have coffee and food and coffee shops have drugs. Of course, some have both.)

Then we headed into the main island to grab a bite to eat, and went to check out the Red Light District. It's certainly an experience you won't get in America: there were tons of novelty shops, coffee shops, clubs, sex shops, and, of course, prostitute window shopping. We wandered a few of the streets, which were packed with people, but didn't go into any of the places. It's a little overwhelming since we weren't sure what to expect, but overall it's not an evil, dangerous place that some make it out to be. Everything is tightly regulated by the government, and aside from drunk tourists we didn't see anything gross or threatening in the street itself. Many coffee shops have impressive neon signs, like this one we passed on Rembrandtplein:

Getting back to the hotel took a couple hours, since we were still trying to figure out the trams. If you ever plan a trip to Amsterdam, make sure you're close to one of the lines that goes directly to Centraal Station and doesn't require a transfer. Also, they won't let you bring your late-night falafel with you on the tram.

Sunday, we got to the Van Gogh Museum shortly after it opened and didn't have to wait in any lines, which was nice. The museum is four floors of Van Gogh's work and work by other artists that inspired/were inspired by him. I won't even attempt to describe the artworks, as I have no basis for doing so, but I learned a lot about Van Gogh's techniques and inspirations, which were very interesting. Unfortunately, his most famous works are all at other more prominent museums, but this one had a lot of his early work and many lesser-known works from similar collections as the famous ones. Strangely, the museum skipped any discussion of his personal life or mental issues, simply referring to a time that he voluntarily checked into a mental institution. They focused on his artistic techniques, but his art was greatly influenced by emotion and ignoring it takes away some insight and understanding of the works.

We had a relatively early flight, so we didn't get to explore some of the areas we wanted due to lack of time. After Van Gogh, we made our way up the main island to Centraal Station to catch a train to the airport. Amsterdam is a wonderful city (although the trams are frustrating at times), and I already want to go back to get to more things on my to-see-in-Amsterdam list.

As always, there are many more pictures in the gallery!

Bruges

This weekend we took our first trip outside of France to Bruges, Belgium! It's a beautiful little storybook place full of history, chocolate, beef, mussels, beer, and windmills. The city itself really is amazing. From the narrow cobblestone streets and the sleepy rows of houses that line them, to the incredible architecture to the canals that run through the middle,  to the bridges and windmills that border the city, there is tons worth seeing. And the best part is that the city is so small that you can literally walk everywhere, although most of the locals ride bikes. I hope they have good saddles for those cobblestones (ouch!).

Our hotel was right next to the train station, conveniently located at Marie Popelinplantsoen.

We got to town around lunchtime, and stopped in a nice little place on Markt square. Now, in Paris, when we order a 'large' beer, it has always come out at 50 cl (half a liter). In Bruges, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that 'large' means a full liter. Bruges' beers are twice as big as Paris' beers! I wish I had gotten a picture of Marie's face when the waiter brought them out. It was totally unexpected but delicious.

There are a few main streets where there are lots of restaurants and shopping stores. Once you get to the center of the city there are two main squares, a large one called Markt and a smaller one named Burg. The Markt square is ringed by restaurants and shops in old buildings with beautiful facades and is the site of the enormous Belfort (Belfry) that dominates the entire city.

Burg is near Markt, still in the "city centrum," and houses the Basilica of the Holy Blood and the Stadhuis, which used to be Bruges' City Hall.

After lunch we went to see a free concert by harpist Luc Vanlaere. He was amazing, playing all original compositions on a bunch of different instruments. He had a grand harp, a celtic harp, harps from China, India, Japan, a few harps he built himself, singing bowls from around the world, and a really cool steel drum kind of percussion instrument called a hang. He offers his concerts for free because he just wants to share his music.

Sunday, after walking to the Humpty Dumpty Tea Room for delicious waffles, it was time to tackle the Belfort, 366 steps of madness! Actually, it wasn't bad at all, there are different stops along the way where you can see old bells and items from the site's history as it changed over the centuries. At the top there is an amazing panorama view, totally unobstructed since it's by far the tallest structure in the city and surrounding area. Here's a view of the Belfort from the inner courtyard:

Then we moved on to the Basilica of the Holy Blood, where they have what is claimed to be the actual blood of Jesus Christ. The building is small and has beautiful stained glass windows. It's kind of like a mini cathedral. The blood itself is kept in a glass cylinder with gold trim under a glass case, watched over by a woman standing less than a foot away, and only a couple people are allowed to see it at a time.

Taking a walk along the canals that run through the city, we got a better view of the less touristy side of Bruges, which was very relaxing and enjoyable. Not much is open on Sundays, so we had a lot of streets to ourselves as we wandered the cobblestones towards the outer edge of the city with it's bridges and windmills.

Before heading back, we stopped off for lunch in the center of the city, where we had Flemish stew and Flemmish rabbit. Both were delicious, and it was a nice end to our short visit to Bruges. Of course we also made sure to get some local beer and chocolate before heading back to the train!

Don't forget to check out the tons of other pictures in the gallery!

Café Varenne

Last week we went to a nice little restaurant called Café Varenne, the next stop on our never-ending hunt for the best french onion soup. It was a very nice restaurant and the waiter spoke some English, so we weren't completely lost. We had heard good things about the soup, but when it came the cheese came on the side and you added it and the croutons yourself. It was still a delicious onion soup, with awesome large pieces of onion, but the thick layer of baked cheese is what really makes a great french onion soup in my eyes and this just didn't have it.

It was the first time we had seen it, so of course we had to try the beef tartare (raw ground beef)! It was good, but cold. I think it would have tasted better a little warmer. Then we also had the steak with pepper sauce, which is always good. And everything comes with fries!

I'm not sure it lived up to the hype of some of the reviews, but still a good place I would recommend. The search for best french onion soup continues...

Sick!

Marie was pretty sick the past couple days, probably caught something on the metro. Don't worry, she's already doing better. Nothing a ton of vitamin C from a liter and a half of 100% OJ and a viewing of the Art of Flight can't fix (yes, they use liters here, not gallons)!

We took it easy Sunday and went to lunch near Notre Dame, then wandered over by Sainte-Chapelle. Unfortunately all you can see is the spire sticking up because the whole building is wrapped on the outside for renovations. Then just relaxing at the apartment, put on the Art of Flight to soothe the soul, and enjoy a home-cooked meal with some wine.

Versailles

This past weekend we went to Versailles, just a 40 minute train ride away to the south of Paris. When you pass through the enormous golden gates you enter another world. This is a world of gold, perfectly manicured gardens, gold, beautiful murals and paintings, gold, polished marble, gold, impressive statues, gold, intense history, and more gold.

Front gates of Versailles:

The main chateau is enormous, with bedrooms, drawing rooms, dining rooms, a chapel, and an opera house for the king's amusement. Learning the history as we went through was amazing. Each new king added more and more on to the complex, depending on his interests.

The chapel:

Most of the furniture was sold off at the time of the French Revolution when royalty fled to Paris for a while, so many of the rooms were pretty bare. Some had been arranged with replica furniture and others had certain pieces that had been recovered. But the artwork on the walls and ceiling was still very impressive. Almost every room had a mural on the ceiling and each had a specific theme. And royalty is always fond of artwork that features themselves.

The grounds behind the main castle are breathtaking and enormous. There are tons of intricately designed gardens, groves, and fountains throughout the property. There are a couple reflecting pools and an enormous Grand Canal.

The king's backyard:

Towards the back, about a 30 minute walk, there is Marie Antoinette's Estate, which started as a summer home and became a place for the royalty to get away from the government goings-on at the castle and relax. There were two main buildings, the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon, each with its own gardens, fountains, and pavilions.

Grand Trianon:

Petit Trianon:

Out past the Trianon palaces, Marie Antionette had the Queen's Hamlet constructed, and used it to teach children about agriculture and dairy farming. There were a number of guest houses, a mill, a lighthouse, stables, and farm buildings. She never stayed there herself, but threw a bunch of parties there. They still have animals there, and we saw rabbits, pigs, cows, goats, roosters, ducks, and a peacock! This was my favorite part of the property, and we wandered around the area for a while.

Farmhouse in the Queen's Hamlet:

The visit was a lot of fun, but boy were my dogs barking by the end of it. Check out more pictures from Versailles in the gallery!