I got to learn the secrets to French cooking today when our team dinner turned out to be a make-your-own dinner near Versailles. We made some chicken with asparagus and cream sauce, and then she had some some pre-prepared macrons with whipped cream for dessert. It was delicious and a great experience!
My first experience with the infamous Paris train strikes was today. Luckily its only lasting the one day, but it particularly affected the RER B line I use to get to work, so only 1 out of the normal 4 trains ran, meaning you had to wait a lot longer to catch one. I also noticed they didn't announce the stations at all, which is kind of odd since it's all automated, so apparently the ones that still stayed on were striking against pushing the button to turn on the announcer voice. In the meantime it meant I spent 30 minutes waiting out in the cold for the train to come.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Ile Saint Louis
Today we visited the lesser known of the two islands on the Siene which divides Paris, Ile Saint Louis. It's very close to Île de la Cité which is where Notre Dame is, but this island is mostly residential with no major tourist attractions nor metro stops on it, and apparently is where all Parisians wish they could live.
We started by having yet another delicious meal at Cafe Cassette, which while a bit pricy by Austin standards, we have yet to have anything that wasn't phenomenal there. I got the roasted chicken and Kara got the risotto and both were fantastic. It's also huître (oyster) season here so I'll need to try some before they disappear.
We then took the metro to Saint Michel to see the Christmas Tree in front of Notre Dame. I have to admit, while the tree was fairly large, the lights seemed strewn almost haphazardly on it, especially compared to previous years. But Notre Dame is so pretty at night it didn't matter. From there it's a quick walk down the bank to the small Saint Louis island, where we had some of the famous Berthillon ice cream for dessert and walked down the pretty streets. We found a really cute stationery store on the island called Marie Tournelle where Kara got some pens and paper, but they had all kinds of neat stuff.
I took a bunch of photos, and then we finished watching the 3rd Harry Potter movie. Thanks again Unotelly for letting us have Amazon and Netflix in France!
We started by having yet another delicious meal at Cafe Cassette, which while a bit pricy by Austin standards, we have yet to have anything that wasn't phenomenal there. I got the roasted chicken and Kara got the risotto and both were fantastic. It's also huître (oyster) season here so I'll need to try some before they disappear.
We then took the metro to Saint Michel to see the Christmas Tree in front of Notre Dame. I have to admit, while the tree was fairly large, the lights seemed strewn almost haphazardly on it, especially compared to previous years. But Notre Dame is so pretty at night it didn't matter. From there it's a quick walk down the bank to the small Saint Louis island, where we had some of the famous Berthillon ice cream for dessert and walked down the pretty streets. We found a really cute stationery store on the island called Marie Tournelle where Kara got some pens and paper, but they had all kinds of neat stuff.
I took a bunch of photos, and then we finished watching the 3rd Harry Potter movie. Thanks again Unotelly for letting us have Amazon and Netflix in France!
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Christmas Time in Paris
Today we decided to check out the other side of the Champs de Elysees Christmas Market since we'd only done the one side. But first we stopped off at the Vavin metro stop to try and found the crêpe stand where I had my very first authentic French crêpe 5 years ago. And we found it! It was every bit as good as I remembered, and had some poulet (chicken) crêpes.
Afterwards we went into Église Notre Dame des Champs which is one of those many European church's which are FAR more beautiful than anything you would ever find in the US, but aren't in any guide book because there are ones even more impressive (such as the famous Notre Dame). There were some really pretty murals inside though, and was definitely worth the 5 minute stop to peek inside.
Then we took the metro to Concorde to go up the Champs de Elysees. Though as we exited the metro station, we saw that looked like millions of ants swarming all around the traffic circle and up and down the avenue as the entire place was completely packed with people. I was quite a bit worried about being pick-pocketed since I had my SLR camera on me which typically screams "tourist" (though to be fair, quite a few Parisians also carry SLRs since there ARE a lot of very pretty things to take photos of) so I was mindful to keep my hands around my front pockets as much as possible. We got about a quarter of the way up the Christmas Market before admitting defeat since it was just way too crowded. And I love crowds! But this was just insane and you were just shimmying your way through. So Saturday early evening in December is not a good time to go.
Though we did pass a skating rink that would be fun to try out. When I read in a guidebook that you could go ice skating on the Eiffel tower I got really excited, until I then read somewhere else that it was closed this year (2013) because of improvements they're making on the 1st observation deck, which is where the rink usually is.
We then fought the crowds to get on the metro to check out (what I believe to be) Paris's biggest Christmas tree at the Galeries Lafayette Paris near the Opéra metro station. My Google-fu worked since there are two shopping areas with that name, but it's the one near Opéra that has the giant tree. It was really pretty, and as a bonus I got to finally see the Paris opera house. They also had some really intridcate mechanical store-front scenes, but again it was insanely crowded on the sidewalk in front of them, so we only saw it from a distance. We plan on coming back during a weeknight to see them better.
Speaking of Christmas trees, when I asked at work about mounting the tree in a log and not watering it, they all seemed confused why I would ask. "It's already dead, it doesn't need water" they reply. So I guess that's just not a thing here. Maybe the trees are a different species so they last? In the meantime the tree's been holding up so far, so we'll see if it can make it another 3 weeks. We also got Christmas lights for it finally. Well we got Christmas lights the first time, but they were the flashing kind so that's no good. Then the second one we got were very bright white LED lights which kind of hurt your eyes after a while, so that was no good either. Luckily Monoprix took the returns without an issue, and so this time we got some multicolored LED lights that work well, except they were really really short strands (about 10 feet each). And they don't piggy-back on each other like US Christmas lights, so we had to find two plugs, and then do some creative arranging to get the tree to look decorated. But all in all it worked out and now we have our very pretty lit up super-flocked Paris Christmas Bush.
Afterwards we went into Église Notre Dame des Champs which is one of those many European church's which are FAR more beautiful than anything you would ever find in the US, but aren't in any guide book because there are ones even more impressive (such as the famous Notre Dame). There were some really pretty murals inside though, and was definitely worth the 5 minute stop to peek inside.
Then we took the metro to Concorde to go up the Champs de Elysees. Though as we exited the metro station, we saw that looked like millions of ants swarming all around the traffic circle and up and down the avenue as the entire place was completely packed with people. I was quite a bit worried about being pick-pocketed since I had my SLR camera on me which typically screams "tourist" (though to be fair, quite a few Parisians also carry SLRs since there ARE a lot of very pretty things to take photos of) so I was mindful to keep my hands around my front pockets as much as possible. We got about a quarter of the way up the Christmas Market before admitting defeat since it was just way too crowded. And I love crowds! But this was just insane and you were just shimmying your way through. So Saturday early evening in December is not a good time to go.
Though we did pass a skating rink that would be fun to try out. When I read in a guidebook that you could go ice skating on the Eiffel tower I got really excited, until I then read somewhere else that it was closed this year (2013) because of improvements they're making on the 1st observation deck, which is where the rink usually is.
We then fought the crowds to get on the metro to check out (what I believe to be) Paris's biggest Christmas tree at the Galeries Lafayette Paris near the Opéra metro station. My Google-fu worked since there are two shopping areas with that name, but it's the one near Opéra that has the giant tree. It was really pretty, and as a bonus I got to finally see the Paris opera house. They also had some really intridcate mechanical store-front scenes, but again it was insanely crowded on the sidewalk in front of them, so we only saw it from a distance. We plan on coming back during a weeknight to see them better.
Speaking of Christmas trees, when I asked at work about mounting the tree in a log and not watering it, they all seemed confused why I would ask. "It's already dead, it doesn't need water" they reply. So I guess that's just not a thing here. Maybe the trees are a different species so they last? In the meantime the tree's been holding up so far, so we'll see if it can make it another 3 weeks. We also got Christmas lights for it finally. Well we got Christmas lights the first time, but they were the flashing kind so that's no good. Then the second one we got were very bright white LED lights which kind of hurt your eyes after a while, so that was no good either. Luckily Monoprix took the returns without an issue, and so this time we got some multicolored LED lights that work well, except they were really really short strands (about 10 feet each). And they don't piggy-back on each other like US Christmas lights, so we had to find two plugs, and then do some creative arranging to get the tree to look decorated. But all in all it worked out and now we have our very pretty lit up super-flocked Paris Christmas Bush.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Mexican Wrestling... in France!
A few days ago my co-workers sent out an email on the internal Paris office mailing list asking if anyone would like to join them in "catch Mexican". As a person with Mexican background, I was a bit concerned when trying to read this in French, until Google Translate told me that "catch" is French for wrestling.
So of course I said I was interested. I'd never been to a wrestling show before, but come on, Mexican wrestling... in Paris... with French people, I had to check it out! It's held twice a month at La Lucha Libre in the 5th in a very crowded bar. You have to get there early (by 8:30) to pay the 5€ entry fee and get your hand stamped, and then the show starts around 10:15 in the basement. Kara got to meet some of my co-workers and their significant other's, and then we all packed the basement area where they had a small wrestling ring setup. There were 3 "matches" and it was every bit as cheesy and ridiculous and fun as you could imagine WWF-type wrestling to be. And it's all in French! Even though I couldn't understand much of anything, I still had a great time and my co-workers were able to tell me that the main "good" guy was French for "Drinks too much", which is why he has a drawing of a beer on his spandex onesy. It was definitely one of the most interesting Friday nights I'd ever experienced, and that's not even considering that it was in France!
Afterwards we got our first McDonalds of our stay since I always crave McDonalds for some weird reason in foreign countries after a long night out, even though I never eat it when I'm in the States. It was très bon though!
So of course I said I was interested. I'd never been to a wrestling show before, but come on, Mexican wrestling... in Paris... with French people, I had to check it out! It's held twice a month at La Lucha Libre in the 5th in a very crowded bar. You have to get there early (by 8:30) to pay the 5€ entry fee and get your hand stamped, and then the show starts around 10:15 in the basement. Kara got to meet some of my co-workers and their significant other's, and then we all packed the basement area where they had a small wrestling ring setup. There were 3 "matches" and it was every bit as cheesy and ridiculous and fun as you could imagine WWF-type wrestling to be. And it's all in French! Even though I couldn't understand much of anything, I still had a great time and my co-workers were able to tell me that the main "good" guy was French for "Drinks too much", which is why he has a drawing of a beer on his spandex onesy. It was definitely one of the most interesting Friday nights I'd ever experienced, and that's not even considering that it was in France!
Afterwards we got our first McDonalds of our stay since I always crave McDonalds for some weird reason in foreign countries after a long night out, even though I never eat it when I'm in the States. It was très bon though!
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
French Socialized Medicine
Kara still wasn't feeling better this morning, so I got my first taste of 100% authentic socialized medicine (Kara already had lots of experiences with it during her travels in Spain/Italy/New Zealand, etc). According to some politicians in the US, this meant Kara would soon die, which always amused her and visiting foreigners.
Instead it meant we call SOS Medicins, an English speaking doctor arrived AT OUR APARTMENT within an hour, and the total cost was less than what a doctor's visit would cost in the US. Had we actually gone to the doctor's office instead, it would have been 23€. For anyone.
But of course we let asinine fear mongering keep the US from joining every single other 1st world country in the world in providing much cheaper, and better, healthcare for everyone. Unfortunately for us, we aren't eligible for socialized tax-payer supported medicine in the US until we turn 65 when the most popular (based on surveys) and cheapest (for the age group) socialized healthcare in the US kicks in: Medicare.
Instead it meant we call SOS Medicins, an English speaking doctor arrived AT OUR APARTMENT within an hour, and the total cost was less than what a doctor's visit would cost in the US. Had we actually gone to the doctor's office instead, it would have been 23€. For anyone.
But of course we let asinine fear mongering keep the US from joining every single other 1st world country in the world in providing much cheaper, and better, healthcare for everyone. Unfortunately for us, we aren't eligible for socialized tax-payer supported medicine in the US until we turn 65 when the most popular (based on surveys) and cheapest (for the age group) socialized healthcare in the US kicks in: Medicare.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Mersay
Today I worked from home because of a serious accident on the RER B line I use to get to work. But there was never any further news coverage on what it was and why the trains were completely stopped for 2 hours. I've noticed this seems to be a trend where I can't seem to find any details on breaking news stories of the day. I don't get it. Luckily I was running late otherwise I might have been stuck on that train and/or involved in accident.
Also remember that plumber we were calling a few days ago? Well he didn't show up on Thursday. Nor on Friday. So on the 3rd reschedule, he finally came around 4pm today. It turned out it was just a hair clog, but the drain is very weirdly designed which is why we couldn't get it fixed on our own. But now we know the secret that there's a plug that you can pull out, and so hopefully we won't have to resort to this again.
I also seem to have forgotten everything I ever learned in French while ordering lunch today. It was one of those "This all feels hopeless" moments when I can't even say "Merci" right. Some how my brain decided to take the day off and think that the most basic word ever is "Mersay". ::le sigh::
Also remember that plumber we were calling a few days ago? Well he didn't show up on Thursday. Nor on Friday. So on the 3rd reschedule, he finally came around 4pm today. It turned out it was just a hair clog, but the drain is very weirdly designed which is why we couldn't get it fixed on our own. But now we know the secret that there's a plug that you can pull out, and so hopefully we won't have to resort to this again.
I also seem to have forgotten everything I ever learned in French while ordering lunch today. It was one of those "This all feels hopeless" moments when I can't even say "Merci" right. Some how my brain decided to take the day off and think that the most basic word ever is "Mersay". ::le sigh::
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Lazy Sunday
Today we didn't do much. I mostly tried to start sorting through all the photos that had been piling up since we had done back-to-back-to-back trips to Vienna, Champagne, and Copenhagen, and then was out and about in Paris this weekend. So I had several thousand photos to go through (I'm very much of the shoot first and sort later variety). I'm still finishing them all, but expect to see a massive photo update soon.
Kara's also not been feeling well, so we may get to try out the French medical system soon. Which is ranked #1 in the world (compared to the US at #38) while spending less than half per capita what we do. I obviously have some strong opinion about the ridiculous state of the US healthcare system compared to every single other 1st world nation who does it better and FAR cheaper while covering everyone, but that's another topic for another day.
Kara's also not been feeling well, so we may get to try out the French medical system soon. Which is ranked #1 in the world (compared to the US at #38) while spending less than half per capita what we do. I obviously have some strong opinion about the ridiculous state of the US healthcare system compared to every single other 1st world nation who does it better and FAR cheaper while covering everyone, but that's another topic for another day.
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