Churches, Champagne, and Chocolate!

Weekend 3: August 30^th – August 31^st 2014

Wednesday, August 27^th

                This week was pretty calm, but an old ALLEX was visiting Paris, so we had dinner with him, his friend, and Rachel. We decided to meet them on Rue Mouffetard for some drinks and dinner. We ate on the little square (Place de la Contrescarpe) and then found a nice place to eat along the street. Stevie had the most stereotypical French meal, French onion soup and crème brulee for dessert. Stuart had some steak and fries (steak-frites).

Saturday, August 30^th

                We woke up very early to French standards and caught the 8AM train over the Reims in the northeast side of France. The TGV (high speed train) got us there in about 45 minutes. Once we made it there, we walked into the city’s center to check out the cathedral Notre Dame of Reims. This small-ish town of Reims was pretty much demolished by WWI and was reconstructed in 10 years. The Rockefeller’s donation helped renovate the cathedral.  The cathedral itself was very plain on the inside but it had some beautiful stained glass windows. You could see some burn marks and shell marks from being on fire from WW1. They say that you could see the lead from the cathedral’s roof pouring out from the gargoyles’ mouths because the fire was so hot.

                After the cathedral, we went next door to see the Palais du Tau, or the archbishop’s place of residence. The princes of France would stay there before their coronation. On the day of their coronation, the princes would have a have a big parade over to the cathedral, get sworned in as King of France (several hours and multiple rituals), then head back over to the Palais to have a banquet. The Palais held a lot of the royal jewels and since Charles X (younger brother of Louis XVIII) was the last person to get coronated there, most of the jewels were his.

                We wandered around the small city center for lunch and to check out the sites. During our wanderings we stopped at Porte Mars, a super old ancient Roman triumphal arch that dates back to the third century AD (Wikipedia claims it to be the widest arch in the Roman world). You could tell it was Roman from some of the statues and markings in and on the arch.

                Around the corner from Porte Mars, we stopped by the Boulingrin covered market to check it out. It looked like it was closing up shop after a Saturday morning rush.  There was fresh produce, fish, meat, and of course – cheeses of all sorts being sold.

                That afternoon, we had booked a nice champagne tour to one of the local champagne houses. The three hour tour took us all over the countryside close to the city where there were several small villages that made their own champagne. We were able to stop by one of the houses (Dumont) and got a tour of their fermentation areas, cellars, and of course, got to taste the champagne. This house was run by 6 family members ONLY and made about 90,000 bottles/year. We were able to see how they turn the bottles during the second part of the fermentation process (where the yeast eats the injected sugar to make those bubbles we all know and love in the champagne). I (Stevie) would love to tell you more about this chemical process, but most of the tour was in French, soooo you can refer to this quick guide J.

                We made it back to Paris around 8 that night and had a great night sleep to rest up for the next day’s activities!

Sunday, August 31^st

                Today, we didn’t really have an agenda, but I (Stevie) wanted to explore the Montmartre neighborhood and possibly go to church there. The Montmartre neighborhood of Paris has the infamous Moulin Rouge and the beautiful basilica of Sacre-Coeur .  Click the link if you want to see pictures of the inside of the church as we were not allowed to take pictures inside the church.

                Once we got off at the metro in the neighborhood, we took a round-about type path to get up to the basilica to see the last two remaining windmills on this hill of Paris. (That’s why there’s a windmill for the sign of Moulin Rouge.) Apparently Van Gogh also lived along the street we walked, but we didn’t realize that at the time.  We also passed by the St. Vincent cemetery and the tiny vineyard of Clos Montmartre on our way up to the church.

                Once we got to the church, we took a tour around the inside. The church is beautiful, but we couldn’t get pictures (sorry!). After the lap around the church with the 983749843250 other tourists, we got our crypt and dome tickets to see the basement of the church and climb to its dome. The crypt was extremely less crowded than the main floor of the church and had various tombs and relics lining the inside of the chapel in the crypt.

                After the crypt was the ascent of 300 stairs up the dome of the basilica. We had a great panoramic view of Paris from on top of this church on a hill. The pictures describe it a lot better than we can J.

                We decided to wander down the tourist-y road to get back to the metro and discovered a superb chocolate shop. We got some dessert there (amazing liquid chocolate and whipped cream from Maison George Larnicol Chocolaterie) and headed back down the hill to enjoy the rest of our Sunday afternoon.

                That’s about it for this weekend! Trains, churches, champagne, and chocolate!

The agenda for next weekend: TBD, but possibly Amsterdam!

Bises (lots of love),

Stevie and Stuart

Our rental car adventure through Normandy and Brittany France!

Weekend 2 Normandy and Brittany, France: August 23^th – August 24^th 2014

Saturday, August 23^rd

                        So we woke up nice and early  to get to the train station were we rented our nice little mini two door manual transmission European car. Getting out of Paris at 8 in morning was not an issue… Our first stop on our weekend Normandy journey was to the cliffs of Étretat along the northern coast of France. The landscape was beautiful and quite treacherous at the same time. See facebook for pictures J.

                After Étretat we drove to the quaint little seaside village of Honfleur to see the town. This little port city was a great a great decision for some gasoline and a nice walk along the docks. The walk was lined with restaurants serving very fresh seafood (a great picture on facebook to come!).

                Then we made our way over a HUGE bridge that was bumper to bumper waiting for the tolls to be paid at the bottom. (This tall bridge was quite a challenge for the driver, but she never stalled on the bridge!! Thanks mom!) We finally made it to our Airbnb where the host was very kind and spoke English. We dropped our stuff off and made our way to Omaha beach to see where the allied forces landed in Normandy (aka D-Day).  By the way, this year is the 70^th anniversary of D-Day (June 6^th 1944) so American’s felt very welcome at this little town near Omaha beach. There were a lot of decorations celebrating the anniversary.

                For dinner, we stopped in the cute old town of Bayeaux in between Omaha beach and our Airbnb location just outside of Caen France. Stevie was the only one who braved the FRESH, TENDER, JUICY, DELICIOUS mussels cooked in the Noman crème fashion.  We all had some of the cidre (cider, stronger than American cider) and tasted the calvados that the region is known for (apple brandy).

                On the way back to our middle-of-nowhere airbnb – a bat hit the car. Stevie was pretty proud of not hitting anything during the trek around France this weekend, but unfortunately this bat hit us in the countryside of northern France. Also to note, the drive pretty much looked like the drive from Indianapolis to Purdue despite the different markings on the road (so much corn).

Sunday, August 24^th

                The next morning we left bright and early for Mont Saint Michel off the northeast cost of Normandy France. Mont Saint Michel has been home to a monastery since the 8^th century. This little island town is also on the list of the UNESCO World Heritage sites. This monastery is located on an island that is not able to be accessed during the highest tides of the month. We were able to also celebrate mass in the little chapel near the basement of the monetary that morning. The mass has a really great acapella choir that filled the chapel/small church.

                After Mont Saint Michel, we drove over to the nearby walled city of St. Malo in Brittany France. Another cute old city surrounded by a wall that was built in the middle ages (?? It’s pretty old).  We stopped for some famous butter produced in the town made by in the Jean-Yves Bordier.  I (Stevie) ordered a butter cake for dessert at the lunch place we ate at. The butter cake is called kouign amann and it’s like a circular croissant that has been sitting in hot melted butter overnight (that’s probably not how it’s made, but it tasted like it!)

                After a nice and buttery lunch we booked it back to Paris to return the rental car on time. Don’t worry, we made it on time and left the car in perfect condition. There were some scary moments on the road back to Paris (cell phone batteries dying and losing GPS signal as well as the round-about laws in Paris being slightly different than those in the US). It is recommended to look at this website at least before you drive around in Paris. Other than that, the roads were in perfect condition in the countryside of France (pretty much everywhere) and people actually respect the left lane and turn signals in France as opposed to Houston. The drivers are very friendly and courteous. We only got honked at once (which was our fault) where as in Houston it might have been 12345324532 times that.

                But overall it was a pleasurable weekend where A LOT was accomplished (930 kilometers or 578 miles) safely and enjoyably.

Coming to a blog near you: Next weekend’s adventures– TBD (but probably something related to wine and trains)

Bisous (hugs and kisses),

Stevie and Stuart

Our first weekend in Paris.

Weekend 1: August 15^th – August 17^th 2014

Heads up – there will be pictures associated with this blog post and labeled as such on Facebook!

Also – feel free to vote on (on the side of the blog -->) where we should go for our first anniversary of being married coming up in November!

Friday, August 15^th

                Friday was a Holy Day, so being in France, it was a holiday. Friday morning we went to a small catholic church just about a 10 minute walk from our apartment to celebrate the Assumption. This little Anglophone (English speaking) church (St. Joseph’s) is about a stone’s throw from the Arc de Triomphe, so naturally, that’s what we explored next.

                The Arc de Triomphe is a war memorial, but also has a memorial/tomb with an eternal flame going for the Unknown Soldier. We were able to climb up to the top of the Arc and take in a great view of the city (pictures will be on facebook!).

                After the Arc we wandered around Champs-Élysées, which is pretty much the Rodeo Drive of Paris and extremely touristy and crowed. But we were on a mission. Ladurée One of the oldest patisseries in Paris (pastry shop) was just down the street from the Arc. We stopped by and got some of their famous macarons (macaroons) as well as a chocolate éclair (<also the word for lightning…maybe because they’re gone in a flash?).

                We then went to a tourist office to get some tickets to Disneyland Parc Paris for Saturday. After that we went on a walk just to explore the city. We walked down the Champs-Élysées and checked out the Grand Palais (a historic museum hall) and then walked along the river heading to the Louvre.

                We then decided to check out the Louvre’s park, which happened to have a carnival and live music. After getting a delicious carni-snack of a hot gaufre (waffle) with chocolate poured all over it, we decided to walk back home. On the way back we walked through the Jardin des Tuileries and saw the Place de la Concorde.

                (If you look at all this on the map, it doesn’t look like a very long walk, but for some Americans…it was!)

Saturday, August 16^th

                DISNEYLAND PARC PARIS!!! I (Stevie) really wanted to check out Disney Paris so we took the train outside the city to see Disney. Disney here only has two parks, Hollywood Studios and like a Magic Kingdom type park.

                We decided to start our day with the Tower of Terror in Hollywood Studios and go from there. The Hollywood Studios park is very very small compared to Orlando, so there wasn’t too much to see there (of course Rockin’ Roller Coaster was there!). There was a really awesome ride  - Crush’s Coaster- based on Finding Nemo. You sat in this turtle shell of four people with two people back to back and the ride would spin the shell so at some points you were going forwards or sideways or backwards. It was all indoors, so you had no idea where you were going. It was based off Marlin’s ride down the EAC (East Australian Current). It was by far the smoothest and most unpredictable ride I (Stevie) have been on in a while. It was also very cute!

                When we got to Magic Kingdom, we decided to start at the back of the park and work our way around. Stuart was very happy that there was an Indiana Jones roller coaster that we got to ride on. Pirates of the Caribbean was also a must as well as the tea-cups, Space Mountain, and Star Tours. We’re pretty sure we picked the absolute worst day in the year to go to Disney though; because everyone is finishing up their long August vacations before school starts here. The park is not as big as Orlando, so the narrower sidewalks and floods of people didn’t help navigating around.

                The main differences that I saw between Disneyland Paris and Disneyworld are the size and language. The rides would be half English/half French. It was pretty great to hear C3PO in a robotic French accent. Also, there aren’t as many food stands around and they closed up pretty early. I don’t think there was a firework show or parade at the end of the night either. We stayed until 30 minutes to close and no one was lining up the main street like they do in Magic Kingdom Orlando. And by the way, Sleeping Beauty’s castle is here, not Cinderella’s.

                It was quite a fun filled day!

Sunday, August 17^th

                Originally we had planned on going to the Château de Fontainebleau for a day trip, but we decided to just explore other parts of Paris. We got up and went back to St. Joseph’s for church and then took the commuter train (RER) across Paris. We wandered the arrondisment (neighborhood/zip code) and eventually ended up at the Museum of Natural History/Jardin des Plantes. We ate some crepes for brunch (nutella for Stevie and ham and cheese for Stuart) and wandered the park. Within the park was a zoo, some museums, and the school for botanical gardens – or something like that. It was a really nice, quaint, pretty little park with a lot of families out on Sunday walks.

                After the park we just happened to walk across a Superhero exhibit at the local art/design school. The exhibit was housed in this really cool, modern artsy type building that houses a lot of other artsy stuff. The building is called Wanderlust. We were able to see A LOT OF COOL STUFF! We got to see some original cover drawings, movie props, and models. Some of Stevie’s favorite items include: the shield Chris Evans uses in Captain America 1, the Iron Man helmet/head from Iron Man 2, and the Smithsonian exhibit of costumes on display were Captain America steals back his old uniform in Captain America 2. Stuart loved seeing all the original artwork of various comics, artists, and covers. The museum exhibit had stuff on Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Spiderman, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Guardians of the Galaxy, and so much more (all Marvel- of course)!!!!!

         We plan on going out to dinner somewhere in Paris tonight – but that is to be determined.

The agenda for next weekend…also to be determined

Affectuesement (love from),

Stevie and Stuart

Week One: Sunday, August 10th – Thursday, August 13th 2014

Sunday, August 10^th

• Last day in the fabulous extended stay hotel (NOT. <About the fabulous part. I wish we were joking about staying there. Let me give you a nice taste of what this great hotel had to offer: suspicious blood looking stains, even more suspicious stains from a leaky AC unit, burn marks and holes in the comforter, a nice mildew smell, a nice smokey smell – nicer than the mildew smell TRUST US, rumors of prostitution happenings, and a fabulous breakfast of…granola bars and muffins.)
• Our LAST AMERICAN DINNER! Burgers and milkshakes with Rachel, my ALLEX partner in crime this rotation. J

Monday, August 11^th

• We arrive in Paris at around 8:30 in the morning (aka 1:30 AM Houston time).
• Got our bags and taxi ride to the apartment.
•  Lugged ALL of our three ~20 kg (44 pounds) large suitcases and four carryon bags up 6 flights of a beautiful stairwell only to discover…it wasn’t our stairwell.
• Carried the suitcases back down (actually there was a really creepy elevator shaft that could hold two suitcases) 6 floors.
• Carried the luggage back up 6 flights of stairs into our nice little apartment (~200 square feet, plus or minus some with pictures to come).
• Unpacked and then walked around the city with Rachel and stumbled upon the Eiffel Tower.
• Stuart and I were pooped so we came home and took a nap.
• One of an older ALLEX’s friends is working in Paris so we met up with her and her two French friends for dinner near the metro stop Bastille (first real French meal: fish and steamed veggies and beef Carpaccio for Stuart – very thin slices of pretty much raw steak). 

Tuesday, August 12^th

• Tuesday we slept in (a whole 13 hours for Stuart!).
• We ventured into the city to get some French SIM cards (<success!!!).
• As a reward – savoury crepes on Rue Mouffetard (egg, cheese, ham, and chicken crepes – we’re talking like a whole bag of mozzarella on these crepes!).
• Our first adventure in the local grocery store (also a success!!! – But mind you, we have to carry these groceries up the 150 stairs to our apartment).                                                              

Wednesday, August 13^th

• First day of work for Stevie!!!! Including coffee- of course, lunch with Rachel’s coworkers in the canteen (cafeteria), and editing an English training module.
• Stuart made a lovely dinner of spaghetti.

Thursday, August 14^th

• Another day, another euro.  None of my (Stevie’s) team was at the office as tomorrow is a Holy day/Holiday off here in Paris. Nevertheless, I was able to get a lot of work done in a very quaint and quiet office.
•  Some more grocery shopping (in case nothing is opening this weekend to get some food).
•  TBD

More to come later!!! We will post some pictures on either Google+ or Facebook and let you know!

Thanks for reading. Hopefully we will have some more details and entertaining stories for you all from this three day weekend upon us.

Bises (hugs and kisses),

Stevie and Stuart