April in Paris

We saw, we ate, we drank....we enjoyed every second.

Old Country Fairytale

You know when you think of Germany, you think of timbered houses, quaint villages with cobblestone roads, and in general just cute?  Well, that's where I took Mom when she visited....to France.  To be fair, it's that portion of France that changed hands so many times between Germany and France that it's a little of both.

We went to the Alsace region of France and drove along the wine route.  It's made up of those quaint villages with cobblestone roads.  The required phrase was "awww, how cute."  We visited Obernai, the Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle, Riquewehr, and others that I can't remember.  But they were cute.

It turns out that the emblem of the Alsace are storks.  There were stork nests on the tops of buildings, at the tops of poles designed for stork nests, and it seemed everywhere.  We got a few good pictures of these storks in their nest. 


 













I took Mom to Heidelberg on Friday so she could see the castle with the views.  There's an American base near by, so there tend to be a lot of Americans there, but it's a nice city and the castle, the grounds, and the view are beautiful.

The trip was relaxing and not the run-around of trying to see a bunch of things all in a week.  The weather couldn't have been in any better.  It was sunny and in the low 60s every day.  I think almost every single one of our lunches were outside in the sun.

Girls Like Us

To the land of escargot and foie gras for Thanksgiving!!  That's where Jen, Kim, and I went, without husbands (I think they preferred that more than I, plus I wanted to use that word).   Unfortunately the Christmas market wasn't open and the weather was cold and wet, but France has wine and food and wine and wine.

Strasbourg is only about 2 hours from Wiesbaden and it's in the Alsace region, which at several points in history, couldn't figure out to which country it belonged--to France or to Germany.  Once it was decided and because of the winners, they speak French, but their food is influenced by Germany (think pork knuckle and potatoes with a delicious sauce, like Jen learned), and many people speak at least a little German.

We had fabulous food and some great wine.  When we arrived and were walking in no particular direction, Kim was about to pass out from hunger and we stumbled upon a very nice restaurant.  Everyone was very friendly and it helped we were willing to try without being demanding.  Jen asked our waiter a recommendation for food and what arrived looked very much like corned beef.  We were told it was pork, but it didn't taste like pork.  Later that night, we figured out from someone else's plate at another restaurant that she probably had pork knuckle.

For Thanksgiving we had dinner reservations at a restaurant apparently popular with dignitaries.  I got my escargot and foie gras.  The foie gras was a little sweet for my taste, but the escargot was wonderful--not Petit Louis wonderful, but still wonderful.  Our waitress was so nice.  She only spoke French, but didn't do in an elitist way.  She was clearly much more comfortable in French, but understood English.  I can't explain it.

Thanksgiving appetizers: escargot and foie gras

The next day before we left, we stopped by the Strasbourg City Hospital, which has a wine cellar that was built in 1395 and contains ancient wine barrels and wine from the 17th century.  We also did some clothing shopping and got some wine from the grocery store to take home.

French Navy

Yesterday, 7 friends and I headed to the Champagne region of France. It's been on my list of places to visit for a while now. I can even remember the year I spent in Austria wanting to go. So I made the arrangements and took care of most of the logistics for the trip.

My friends, David and Rita, who are stationed in Mons, Belgium and who speak fluent French helped us so much with this trip. They suggested visiting a smaller champagne house, away from the bustle of either Reims or Epernay, and then visiting a larger one for the underground tour. So we took the suggestion and we were lucky enough that they wanted to join us as well.

We all met at the champagne house Gobillard in a small town near Epernay, where we probably could have tasted as much as we wanted, all at no cost. They figure that the more you drink, the more you buy. It was really good and I liked that it was a small place. I bought 4 bottles and David and Rita, who are leaving in July, stocked up because they recently found out you could ship alcohol home to MD in your household goods and MD only taxes you 40 cent/gallon. That's nothing!

David was so sweet to make reservations for lunch for all of us at a 1 star Michelin restaurant in Epernay. The food was AMAZING. We ordered off of the 3-course menu, which was only 17 euro. I had snails in a cream sauce over an artichoke, then salmon lasagna, then a cheese plate for dessert, all with a glass of champagne. (Thank you David and Rita!!)

After lunch we said our goodbyes to David and Rita, then headed to a large champagne house, Mercier, for a tour of their underground tunnels where they age the champagne. The tour consisted of a movie, a snails-paced elevator with animatronics, and then the laser-guided train through the underground tunnels.
We went for the 3-glass tasting instead of the 1, but none of us liked the champagne at all. Good thing we had some at Gobillard.
By the end of the tour and tastings, we were exhausted. It had been a long day. We checked into the hotel, which was the nicest, cheapest place I'd ever stayed--60 euro for a 4-person room, and then we went to the grocery store for French wine and champagne. We had no idea what wines we were buying, so my criteria were 1.) French, 2.) under 6 euro, and 3.) that I like the label. I bought a bottle of decent champagne and a couple other cheap ones too and a bottle of creme de cassis for kir royales.
As always, I laughed a ton and I'm glad I was able to accomplish something on my list. I'm just grateful I have the ability to do these things and with some really wonderful people. I'm a lucky woman.

I Want to Ride My Bicycle

On the 25th of July I took a train that left before the buttcrack of dawn. Dawn wasn't really even thinking of getting up yet and I was already on a train to Paris at 5:22. The purpose of my trip was to see the last stage of the Tour de France. Even though I wasn't very thrilled to be going by myself, I knew I'd be kicking myself if I didn't go and see Lance Armstrong race. I had a friend tell me about a hotel that was close to the Arch de Triumph--I could see it out my window!!
I was only carrying a small backpack, but checked into my hotel and was off to find lunch and to find the starting point of the free walking tour of Paris. I figured if I wandered around by myself, I'd just see the sights I saw 10 years ago with my parents, and that this tour would give me some cool tidbits. I had a crepe with nutella and banana for lunch--oh la la--wandered over to Notre Dame for a bit, then back to the meeting point for the tour.

The tour was about 4 hours long, including about 30 minutes for a food break. It was a general overview of Paris, stopping by some of the common spots, but some not so common too. And the guide told some interesting stories and was pretty entertaining as well. The group consisted of mosty people in their early 20's, who were staying in hostels. That meant I felt old and rich.

The tour ended, luckily, near the Champs Elysees, and even though my feet were killing me (that's the old part) and I was dying for a good meal and a glass or two of wine (that's the rich part), I went ahead and staked out a few places some people told me were good to watch the Tour on Sunday. I found the spots I was told about and ended up walking the entire way up the Champs Elysees to the Arch de Triumph back to my hotel and didn't hitch the Metro, even though I had a day pass (that's the stubborn part I forgot to mention).

I thought about going to this place for dinner that another friend recommended, but I was so exhausted and I was starving that I took the recommendation from the front desk of a place a couple blocks from the hotel that I think was called Chez Fred. The restaurant didn't seem much of anything, but I'm really glad I went. They had a menu in English and the waiter spoke English, which was great for me (now I know what my friends feel like in Germany), but the best thing was that everyone in there was a local. I sat just inside the door at a small table with a view of the chairs set up on sidewalk. I told the waiter what sorts of wine I like (shiraz) and he chose a French wine for me. You paid by the glass and I had two. I had a steak with shallots and fried super garlicy potatoes. Everything was delicious!!
The next morning I was up pretty early, since I went to bed pretty early (old again). I stopped by the Arch, then wandered down the Champs Elysees to see how many people were actually staking out their positions on the race course. I saw a few with chairs right up on the barrier fences, but not too many, so I decided I had enough time to go see the Eiffel Tower.
After that, it was time to find where I was going to stand. At this point, it was probably close to 11 and I knew I was going to need water, which I had, and food if I was going to be standing somwehere all day waiting for the race that probably wasn't going to arrive until around 3. I went checked out the spots I was told about again, but ultimately decided on a position where the cyclist would be heading right at me out of a tunnel, up a small hill, where they would make a left. It was perfect!

I ended up standing there for close to 7 hours, but it was entirely worth it! Luckily, an American woman, who was also by herself and who was a cyclist and huge cycling fan stood next to me. So we made small talk the entire day. It would have been an even longer 7 hours had I not had someone to talk to.

When the peleton (largest group of the racers) hits Paris, they do 8 laps on a circuit. I think they finally came around to where I was standing at about 4:30. Prior to their arrival, all of the sponsors and the team buses and vehicles paraded by. But when the racers came by, it was all I could to not to bounce a little, I was so excited. Never in my life did I think I was going to see the Tour de France.

I took video or photos of every lap, so if you set it on a slide show you won't see the video. They're probably pretty boring for anyone who doesn't follow cycling, but know that it was awesome.

Team Columbia making the chase to the sprinters.Lance is on the left in the dark socks, dark glasses, and the funky-colored bike.

Lance on the left and his teammate and overall Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador, is in the yellow.
Lance finished 3rd overall.