Trip Report...

I'm sorry that I didn't do as well as I'd hoped in the updates. Needless to say, we had a fabulous time, especially after the unfortunate incident involving Carrie trying to jump off a bridge...

This was just before we discovered that her ankle had mysteriously swollen to grapefruit sized proportions. Mysterious because she didn't fall or sprain her ankle.

Let me fill in some gaps that I left out...

Provence:

Our home base was in Avignon. It's a great town that's pretty convenient to everything. Here, I discovered (instead of in Burgundy like I'd hoped to) that I loved a certain bottle of wine from Chataneuf de Pape. YUMMY.

***forgot to mention...we picked up some hitchhikers*** ok, it's really not what you think. We went into the Tourists Information office to look around and see what information they had...not much so we took off...we must've mentioned something about getting back to Avignon because 3 minutes after we left the office, this NERDY Chinese American guy with the biggest bandaged up hand I've ever seen (never did find out why he was wearing it) came running after us. He and his 2 friends told us their sad story about how they were stranded because they didn't check to see the bus return times and there were no more buses that day. They had classes the next morning and couldn't miss it...yadda, yadda, yadda. Carrie & i couldn't leave them stranded so we agreed to drive them home. Oh, good god. what a mistake. For those of you who know Carrie & I, know that we're no intellectuals. Well, these guys were at school studying some poet who "ironically" wasn't even french. Carrie pretty much left the conversation after those first few words. Well, the conversation wasn't any better after that and I couldn't WAIT to dump them off. After we got rid of them, carrie said, "watch...it'll be just our luck...we'll run into them in Avignon tonight." Yup...you guessed it...we ran smack into them. head on...no running and hiding. *SIGH* ****

Some of you may think of Provence and think of lavendar fields...well, that's what carrie & i assumed. Non! You actually have to drive up this mountain road to get to the lavendar fields (at least we did). i was scared crapless (did I mention I was driving??? With a GPS system...voice name "Richard" which we promptly nicknamed "bitchy richy" because he gave us such attitude and didn't always give the correct directions...our hitchhiker friends used richard as well and it almost lead them off a cliff...bastard TomTom). But the results were worth it. The fields that we found were amazing...and BUZZING with bees.

We spent some time in Cannes as well...beautiful ocean!! The sand literally sparkled like glitter! We enjoyed some delicious Bouillabaise there!! Afterwards, we headed up to Grasse for our perfume making class! This was a definite highlight of our time. Carrie, it turns out, was "floral/fruity". I was "floral/Oriental" (like no kidding, right??). Anyhow, I'm looking forward to trying my new perfume in a week (you have to let it sit for 2 weeks before it is ready for use!). If carrie and I stink, please be kind and not tell us so.

After our time in Provence it was time to head to Burgundy region (Beaune). Along the way, we discovered the many, many fields of sunflowers that I had tried to find in Tuscany last September.

Beaune:

We stayed just outside the historic walls of the city. There were no taxi services since the town was so small (i could've used that on our way to the train station!!) so Carrie & I walked back from where the car rental place was (i'm still hoping that they haven't discovered that it was ME who nearly ripped out the clutch out of the car...geeez...i was JUST aggressive enough to drive like a frenchwoman. At least that is what i assumed when I saw carrie clutching at the car door and seat, with her good leg up in the air to brace for impact.). We ate our fill of amazing Burgundy cuisines including Escargot (snails!! YUM!), Beef Bourgnion (sp??) and coq au vin. this was where I realized that Carrie was truly a food savant. Nothing she picked out was bad (unlike the unfortunate Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo fish soup incident that I had back in Avignon). I still gag at the thought.

We went through a wine cave called Marche Aux Vin - total tourist trap but I loved it. 1.) it was on the honor system so you poured your own tasting at each "station" set up throughout the caves, 2.) You poured your own tasting, 3.) it was only 9 euros for like 16 tastings, 4.) did I mention that you poured your own tastings??? We each ended up buying a bottle of Creme de Cassis (which sadly, was poured by someone at the end...).

We headed straight to Zurich from there. Unfortunately, the seats we pre-booked were next to a very, very naughty child named "Abdallah". At least that's what we assumed his name was judging from the fact that the parents would scream "Abdallah!!!" at him when he got too over the top out of hand. Needless to say, it was the longest 2 1/2 hours of our trip.

Zurich was rainy and expensive. Emphasis on EXPENSIVE!! I paid $15 for a freaking Caipirinha drink. highway robbery, anyone?? When we finally took off for a day trip of Lucerne, we had fabulous beautiful weather. I even made some friends while i was there...

Great time going home with the exception of the unfortunate incident where the guy next to me had his hand down his pants and a guy standing in the aisle kept shoving his butt in Carrie's face...

The end...

Sorry!!!

so getting (cheap) internet access is not easy. carrie paid for this one for me. :)

let us see. I have had a wonderful time in france. after we left paris, we took a train to avignon. Provence was WONDERFUL!!! we made our own perfume, which we think was our highlight of our european adventure. We stayed in Cannes - too expensive for words, but fabulous nonetheless.

The worst meal thus far was mine...(carrie is some sort of savant when it comes to food ordering)...i had fish soup...i thought it would be more like bouillabaise. it was not. it was fish placed in a blender in fish stock. UGH!! i was thinking of the movie "the gigolo"...will think of the actual name later...

Beaune was fantastic - quaint little village but not a lot of stuff to do. We went through a fabulous wine cave where the pour is on the "honor" system. luckily, i did not care for the wine...we would have had problems, otherwise.

We are now in Zurich...changed our minds about stopping off in Lausanne - we realized it was too much moving around in one trip. We are headed off to Lucerne tomorrow...very exciting.

Sad news is that carrie is walking around in a bright red bandage around her ankle. she does not know HOW she injured it...just that it is swollen twice her normal size. quite sad.

I just tried absinthe for the first time so am currently feeling a little weird. especially since i am typing on a european keyboard. not quite convenient....

will update with photos upon my return...

Day 3...still alive...barely...

I do not remember a time when my body hurt as much as it does today. I seem to have left my advil/aleve at home so I have no relief and every store we have walked into has not carried anything that may resemble acetaminophen. I think we've completed a full circle of walking around the city.

I love Paris! It's such an awesome place! We've shopped (window) at Le Bon Marche, Printemps, Monoprix, and various smaller boutiques along the way. We've seen the Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge (disappointing), and the Montparnasse Cemetery (beautiful!). It's been a bit on the rainy side and i've managed to leave my brain at the hotel, along with the passport necessary to buy a higher ticket item (my new purse) so we had to come back to pick both of these things up.

Katie had recommended Fish La Boisson but sadly, it's closed Sunday & Monday so we're off to try:

La Robe et Le Palais
13 r Lavandieres Ste Opportune
75001 Paris
01.45.08.07.41

This is probably our last post for awhile since we won't have easy internet access for the next several days...

Day 2...

has come and gone! we went to see the Luxemburg Gardens, many, many closed stores (made me cry...especially in the face of all the "soldes" signs), Arc du triomphe, Louvre (ok, the OUTSIDE of the museum), Notre Dame (i gave up the urge to walk around like quasimodo in an effort not to embarrass carrie), almost lost carrie as she attempted escape into the Seine (will post photo later). Lots and lots of walking. I was hobbling to dinner. We went up the montparnasse tower...amazing view of the city. I almost flew off the top of the building due to high winds.

today: SHOPPING!! :)

I forgot...

the best thing that happened to me yesterday (besides FINALLY meeting up with carrie, of course...)!!

I was on the RER to the city when an older french gentlemen starts asking me questions in French about the train route. The deer caught in headlights look worked well enough for him to move on to my seatmate, a young, cute james dean type of french guy.

Well, it turns out that the train i was on ended at Gare Nord (which is about 10 stops away from my desired destination). I felt better because we were all shocked by it [locals included!] because we thought it went on [i understood enough french to know that everyone's direction to the old french guy was that the train would continue on after Gare Nord].

I pulled off to the side to start unravelling my rail maps to figure out what trains I should jump on when the cute french james dean guy came up to me and asked me if I needed any help. I'm no dummy...i had a map and could figure it out on my own but hell, a CUTE FRENCH GUY WAS ASKING ME IF I NEEDED HELP. How often does that happen?? Ok, for me...NEVER. I almost snapped a photo of the guy just so that I could post it up here and prove that he was real.

So I stuffed my map back into the bag and said in my best helpless voice, "Yes...I'm lost...can you help me??" ok, so i didn't really say that but the intent was the same. Anyhow, being the social retard that I am, I thanked him after he walked me to a map and showed me which line to catch, and walked on realizing after he had left that I had no idea where the heck i was supposed to buy tickets from. Well, the best news is that the bull about the french being rude is completely untrue!! LOVE IT HERE!!!

finally here!

I missed my 3 hour connection in Cleveland. Carrie had to come out to France on her own. First time out of the country. My parents were wondering if she'd be ok. If it was anyone else, I'd be worried but carrie had smooth sailing in

Me...not so much. After being delayed in LA, we (the gate agents and I) were trying to figure out if it would be best for me to go straight to newark then to paris or if i should stay on and cross my fingers. Clearly, I lost.

the good news is that the flight attendants felt so sorry for me that she refilled my rum and coke (at 10:00am) twice. I was so miserable...by the time I got to the hotel, I was tired, hadn't bathed in over 24 hours, and sweaty from having to change trains mid-ride over.

On the flip side, we've already had the best cheese EVER, went on a backstage tour of the eiffel tower, and already had a great meal!! We walked from the eiffel tower to this restaurant...ok, it was more of a run but we made it in about 40 minutes. If i keep this up, I'm hoping to lose some weight.

Be sure to make your reservations early enough as this place gets very crowded during the 2nd seating (2 seatings per night). It's a set meal, seated and served family style, perfect for people like Carrie & myself who tend to be a bit...well, anti-social. It really forces us to at least try to speak to those around us.

One other tip is to buy a bottle of wine and share it with your table mates. This ensures that even if you don't speak French, everyone will speak the language of a toast...

La Cave De L'os a Moelle
181 Rue de Lourmel
75015 Paris
01.45.57.28.28
Metro: Lourmel

cooking class

I had the opportunity to take another one of Jaden Hair's (steamykitchen.com) cooking class last Thursday. Assisting her was Jeni (oishiieats.blogspot.com)! I had a fabulous time - i can't figure out if I liked making the summer rolls more or the lettuce cups! Both foods are light and healthy! I think I need to put them on my diets. Jeni - the cashew butter dipping sauce was FANTASTIC!!