Lisa and Brad's April in Paris

Friday 20th 3 hour Chocolate Walk

2007-04-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

Today I went on a 3 hour "Chocolate Walk" given by David Lebovitz http://www.davidlebovitz.com/tours.html
The tour was through a company called Context
http://paris.contexttravel.com

I was contemplating whether or not I should do it as it wasn't cheap, 90 euros, but i decided i needed to learn something. I know you are thinking, learn something on a chocolate tour?
After not working for 3 weeks, I gotta tell you I really miss my job!

We went to 8 different places, 5 of which where chocolatiers.

We met at the St. Germain De Pres church at 10am. Believe it or not, I was 15 minutes early!

First stop was Laduree. Famous for their macrons. They opened in 1864 (i think).
Brad and I are going to go back here for tea, as Brad is coffeed out.
I was really excited to come here, to Eric Kayser Boulanerie. He is suppose to be the new hot baker. YUMMMMYYYY!!!

Thur. Avril 19, Marche Place d' Aligre and La Defense

2007-04-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

Brad just appeared after reading Stephen Clarke's second book, " Merde Actually" while
I have spent the past 3 hours updating "our" blog for the past week. His first comment to me was that I was logged in as him not me. I don't know why this is a big deal since it is VERY obvious to tell the difference between my writing and his....

Today, I went to an open air market called Place d' Aligre. It is located in the 11th and I did not like it. All the males selling things kept on bothering me, speaking either English or German to me.

Then I took a picture of the back of a woman's stroller and she came out of the store yelling at me in French. This is very common theme for me. If I speak French to someone, they respond to me in English. Actually this is great because i won't be able to understand them if they responded to me in French. However when they are mad at me, that's when i get the french...
So this woman is Muslim and you aren't suppose to take pictures of Muslim woman when they are in "their" section of town. I wasn't taking a picture of her, but she thought i was. She then followed me for a few blocks (still yelling at me) until I lost her by ducking into a store.

I stopped to pick up a baguette and a couple items for dessert. I asked for a bag, and the woman responded to me that she could put the dessert in a bag, but the baguette is NEVER to go into a bag! She handed me the fresh baguette which wax tissue over the middle for me to hold. Well long story short after holding the baguette in the center for so long, it started to go limp. Plus it was very annoying as I was also caring a bunch of other bags. So, while no one was looking i followed the baguette in half and put it into one of my bags. I'm sure I just offended all of France.

Onto La Defense with Brad. Then a movie, Mr. Bean's vacation (actually it was really funny)
dinner at Chez Nenesse (a great local mom and pop restaurant)

Avril 18th A bottle of Champagne and the Eiffel Tower

2007-04-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

(Written by Lisa, logged in as Brad, again by mistake)
We started our day by going to the Carnavalet Museum. I really won't recommend going here unless you are in Paris for 1 month and you are running out of museums to see. Seriously though it was a great museum and full of tons and tons of art and furniture but it took a long time to get through it all. I was kinda over it soon after we started looking around.

Next stop was Maison Europeene de la Photographie. This was a really good photography museum except for it had 5 or 6 different exhibits, but no permanent collection on display.
Some of the exhibits were these crap video displays. There were 2 GREAT exhibits, one was one titled, TRASH. Basically these 2 guys went into about 15 different celebrities trash and photographed it and made a show of it. NOTE- everyone's trash except Jack Nicholson's had at least one diet coke in it. (his just had booze) Which brings me to another point, i have almost given up Diet Coke. I have only had 4-5 d.c. since i've been here.
The second exhibt was of Richard Kalvar who is a Magnum photographer. Really great!!

For dinner we packed a picnic and headed to The Eiffel Tower. Nothing more romantic than a bottle of champagne, really smelly cheese, bread, strawberries and a chocolate eclair.
The bread and eclair are from our favorite Boulangerie, Gosselin on rue St. Honre. This shop was the Grand Prix winner of the city's Best Baguette in Paris award, supplies bread and croissants to Jacques Chirac and the Elysee Palace. (all according to T&L magazine)

Jill this is for you :-)

Tuesday 17 Normandy

2007-04-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

This is posted by lisa, not brad, again a mistake...

We took the 8:30am train up to Normandy today. It was a 2 hour train ride to Caen.
We rented a car for the day to tour the beaches of Normandy and go to The Memorial Museum.
The Memorial Museum was on the outskirts of Caen. It was a great museum on WWII showing events leading up to D-Day, a 35 minute movie on D-day with real footage, and events leading up to the end of the war. Not being a war buff, I learned a lot!

One of the many villages we drove through trying to find our way to the American Cemetery.
Perfectly trimed trees at the American Cemetery.

The cemetery looks over Omaha Beach. You can't really see it in the picture of the beach but those little black dots are people walking on the beach.

Monday 16th shopping, High Tea at Mariage Freres on Bourg-Tibourg

2007-04-21T11:53:00.000-07:00

lisa not brad......

Today was my shopping day. First stop Mora, a GREAT cooking store.
I got a bunch of items that you either can't get in the U.S or they are super expensive.

Next stop was the chic shopping area by La Madeline. I thought i would save time by jumping on the Metro. Wrong. As many of you know I have NO sense of direction. I can get home from a place because i visually see where i am going, however even with a map i can't get myself anywhere.

After exiting the wrong exit from the Metro I ended up in front of Fauchon.
Actually this was perfect because i wanted to go there. Next I was trying to find Longchamp.
I could go right or left and of course i chose the wrong direction. I was dressed right to go into all these stores and I was even wearing high heels. (i was wearing flip flops and then i would change before going into the store) I didn't want to look like a stupid american.

Tres Chic Shopping

OK enough shopping, time for High Tea. I called Brad and he met me at Mariage Freres. This is a lovely tea salon. I think there are 3 or 4 in the city. The funny thing is the French think they invented tea. After sitting down they give you a book in English and in French explaining just how "they" invented tea. So of course I had French Breakfast tea and some YUMMMY food.

The picture at the top of this posting was my lunch.

avril 15th Luxembourg Garden, shopping, dinner at Languedoc

2007-04-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

surprise lisa logged in as brad, yet again

Today we had a great day. We slept in (a common theme on our vacation). We headed to the Bastille Market, which is suppose to be the biggest open air market in Paris. We got there as it was closing, so we headed off to the Luxembourg Gardens.

This park is beautiful. However I got a major problem with the parks in Paris. You can't actually sit on the grass. There are a bunch of chairs and benches for you to sit on and LOOK at the grass. On a day like today when it was almost 80, all you want to do is sit on the grass and have a picnic. So we sat in our uncomfortable metal chairs, that I had to beat an old lady to get to (just kidding, but they are hard to come by) and ate our picnic. I would love to show you some beautiful pictures of the gardens however I realized after caring around my 10 pound camera for hours, that my battery was dead. I did take some pictures on my treo, but i have no idea how to get them off the treo.

Tonight we had dinner at our one of our favorite places, Le Languedoc. This is the place that we have a huge photograph in our apartment (i gave it to brad on our first anniversary)
Everything was the same and perfect! We each got 9 escargo to start, i had what else but steak w/ pomme frites. yummmyy!! oh and of course a bottle of wine.

Finishing our meal at 11:30 we then headed for a romantic walk along The Seine. This was my favorite part because i made Brad hold my hand the whole time (which he hates).

Saturday April 14 Marche aux Puces de Clignancourt, dinner Chez Janou

2007-04-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

lisa not brad.....

Our street. Our street is the Chinatown of Paris. EVERY shop on the street is a bag shop where you can purchase bags, bags and more bags for wholesale.
The antique market.

I have wanted to come to Marche aux Puces de Clignancourt for a long time!
This is a huge antique market where i would like to buy lots of furniture for our
house. I guess we'll be back when we buy a house ;-) Brad was a good sport and after lunch he stayed and read his book at the restaurant while i shopped. no purchases :-( i might have to go back next weekend!

Friday 13th Sainte Chapelle and Pompidou

2007-04-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

posted by lisa not brad.....

Day 2 of our 2 day Museum Pass. The Museum Pass is a great idea. It's 30 euros for 2 days and it allow you to cut the lines (but not the security bag check lines) to most of the museums.

So, first stop Sainte Chapelle. Beth (my sister) told us to come here when we were in Paris for our honeymoon. We loved it so much we wanted to come back. The church was built in 1242-1248. This picture does the stain glass no justice! It really is an amazing place!

FYI- the museum pass is great here because the line is so long to get in!

Walking past Notre Dame to go get some lunch (and of course an ice cream) on Ile St. Louis

My second favorite museum in Paris (brad's too) is the Pompidou Center.
The top floor has a modern art collection starting at the impressionists and moving on.
The floor below has the modern modern work. Brad and I spent over 3 hours here.
We loved the top floor. I must say i didn't really get the other floor.
3 white canvases... art?

keeping with our theme of taking pictures of ourselves in front of major monuments, we thought we would get a little arty.
Thought i would be like Monet and show you the same view at different times a day.

Thursday April 12th crepes & cafe, The Louvre, Paris at night

2007-04-14T03:34:00.000-07:00

Wednesday April 11th napping infront of the Louvre

2007-04-13T15:09:00.000-07:00

Breakfast anyone?

Picking up a view items before our picnic.
Brad tasting our lunch time treats. This was followed by a 2 hour nap on the lawn.
It doesn't get any better than this view while eating our picnic (the louvre and the Eiffel Tower in the distance)

Everyone and all dogs relaxing at the local cafe. (including me while brad was in the apartment working)
View outside our 4th floor walk-up apartment. Euh, that last set of stairs is a killer!

Rue Raspail market, Poilane, David Lynch exhibit, and cooking school

2007-04-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

Today, I did something I've wanted to do for a long time. I took a cooking class. Yes, in French and no I didn't understand much of what was being said, but the good thing about cooking is it's all visual. Seriously, the chef actually spoke English very well and she translated a few things for me. This school was recommend to me by my friend, Melissa Ceria. The class was only an hour and 1/2. The class was on Macarons. We made 3 kinds; chocolate, caramel and strawberry. Yum, Yum and Yum!
Macarons before they go into the oven. These are the ends or as Brad calls them the buns to the mini hamburgers.
Thanks Melissa for such a great recommendation!

My final product! There was a third kind (strawberry) but someone ate them ;-)

Musee Piscasso and Brasserie Bofinger

2007-04-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

Brasserie Bofinger. I'm sure Brad will go into more detail, but it's not all it's cracked up to be. They did give us each a glass of free champagne for seating us at the wrong table.
Best oysters I have ever had. I forgot to take a picture before I ate them. In France they rate the oysters #1-5 for size. #1 being the largest. These are #2, even though I asked for the smallest. (that goes without saying due to my french skills ;-)
You must be creative when you want a picture of both of us in the restaurant.
On our walk home after visiting the Picasso Museum. It's only 10 blocks from our apartment!
It also happens to be my 2nd most favorite museum in Paris (musee d'orsay being #1)

Saturday around the Ile la cite and the latin quarter

2007-04-10T02:11:00.000-07:00

The master crepe man, 3 blocks away right next to The Pompidou.

The flower market at cite.

Back side of Notre Dame. I like this better than the front.

typical bike parked next to a cafe. i don't know if you can see the kids seat in the back.

we are trying to get better about taking pictures of us in front of major attractions.

ah, oui bonjour

nothing like some wine in the middle of the day

pantheon

Easter Sunday

2007-04-10T01:47:00.000-07:00

Dinner at . We got to eat outside as the weather has been so nice!
trout for me, lamb for brad.

High tea at Hotel Crillon. Our friend, Kelly told us to go here.
She was right, it was amazing. I had a great picture of Brad in a suit and tie, but
the guy in the background was picking his nose.

Jardin des Tuileries, ahhh Paris in the Spring time!

Yes, even the police are cruz'n around on rollerblades.

Samedi 7 Avril

2007-04-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

Today, Saturday, we slept in a bit, with no real plans.

We had some left over baguette and jelly (like the French do, or used to anyway) at the house, then headed out and south to Isle de la Cite. Our house is actually about 7 blocks directly north of Notre Dame. There's a famous flower and bird market on the Isle de la Cite, where Notre Dame is, we started there.

After, we walked by Notre Dame, and Sainte Chappelle, which we'll probably visit later, perhaps when there's a concert going on inside. Lisa loves ice cream from Berthillon, just across from Notre Dame on the adjacent island to the east, Isle Saint Louis, so we made a quick stop there before walking around that small little neighborhood for a while.

Tourists out in droves this day, apparently the combination of nice weather (it's beautiful and warmer now) and being the long Easter weekend is doing the trick. So as to avoid them, we headed south into the Latin Quarter.

I wanted to go to this old Roman era arena, called Arenes de Lutece, about 2000 years old. We then decided to put down the map and totally just get lost. We ended up in this really neat little square called Place de Contrescarpe. We had a lazy cafe there and Lisa spoke with her mom for a bit on her cell.

From there we continued around the Latin Quarter and stumbled into the Pantheon.

We traversed back over into the right bank, had a crepe (oeuf, jambon, gruyere) near Pompidou, then started our 2 hour trek in search of... un petit ventilateur. Yes, yes, the stupid little fan. That I can't sleep without. That I'm miserable without. Mine (yes, I brought it with me) died at the hotel where I tried to run it without a transformer.

We figured we could get *anything* at the Forum des Halles- a huge underground shopping mall where a largest open air market used to be many years ago. We tried a store called "Darty"- where obviously the American retail efficiencies haven't caught on yet- it was like Service Merchandise (anybody remember those?) all over again. First get the label for your item here. Then pay here at the caisse. Then go to the back of the store to pick it up. For crying out loud, it takes 1 hour to purchase a hair dryer. Ah, French efficiency. Gotta lov'em for it though, really.

Alors, it wasn't a fan we were buying but a European-wattage hair dryer for Lisa. No fans. :-( The employees at Darty suggested another store, BHV, which was a quick walk but near the Hotel de Ville, so we scurried there but... it was closed. And tomorrow is Sunday when everything is closed, and because of Easter everything will be closed for the bank holiday Monday.

Unsuccessful (except for the magnificent crepe), we headed back to our apartment, where we decided to chill for the night and watch Babel, which we had rented before leaving SF.

Btw, I found a temporary solution to the white noise / fan problem: put the radio on a channel with no reception: close enough.

Congratulations are in order for our friends Joan and Brad Buyce, in New Jersey, who are now the proud parents of a healthy baby boy, Sam Buyce. All are healthy and doing well at home in NJ. Congratulations with love.

I need to catch up on my posts, as I'm writing about 2 days ago. Will try to catch up tomorrow, as well as add some more photos (oui, mon frere, j'ai regarde ta commentaire- je prendrai des photos de notre apartement).

Until tomorrow....

Brad

Vendredi 6 Avril

2007-04-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

Today I woke early again and went for a run, on a slightly different route but ended up again on Avenue Foch because there aren't many stops. Lisa slept in.

We checked out of our hotel around noon, and took a cab to our new home in the Marais. It's on Rue de Gravilliers, between Rue du Temple and Rue de Beaubourg.

We got in with no problems, and we have high speed Internet and WiFi too. We also heard from our French counterpart, who's staying in our house, in SF, and he was very happy with our place.

We decided to just bum around our neighborhood and get the lay of the land. We're not far from the Pompidou center, or from Les Halles- easy walks both. We had a cheap lunch at a little cafe/restaurant nearby. We found a few good boulanger's, patisseries, and supermarche's, etc, and picked up a few supplies like OJ, bread, cheese, yogurt.

After returning and a quick nap, during which Lisa went out to find a good outdoor open-air market on Rue Bretagne, we went out exploring and ended up having a late dinner at a nice little bistro in the lower Marais, near the college Victor Hugo. Tons of people out late and it's a great area, right on the edge of the 3rd and 4th arrondissements. We searched around for some jazz clubs but most of the gigs had already ended (we ate pretty late). We walked back along Rue des Rosiers, known for being an old Jewish street but also has many small boutique stores.

A fairly mellow day, but we're in our place and all is well.

Some photos from the 16th

2007-04-06T15:57:00.000-07:00

16th Arrondissement

2007-04-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

This morning, with our schedule slightly out of sync with Paris time, we were wide awake at 7am. So, we went for a run. We ran up to the Champs Elysees, past the Arc De Triomphe, along Avenue Foch and down into the large park west of Paris, the Bois de Bologne. Not bad things to look at for a morning run, IMO.

After our run, we had no plans today so we initially thought we'd explore more of the neighborhood we were currently in, the 8th, but it's mostly hotels catering to tourists and shopping, and we weren't into it. Lisa wanted to check out the Monet museum down in the 16th, as well as explore some streets known for hidden shopping secrets, so we started walking.

We stopped to have some lunch at a famous bakery/sandwich shop, Bechu. After a sandwich and some coffee, Lisa had a pain du chocolat that she loved.

Walking down into the heart of this mostly residential district you pass by many embassies. We walked by the Place d'Etats Unis, with several monuments, I believe commemorating our WW 1 help.

The Marmottan-Monet museum was a nice change from the crowds of the d'Orsay yesterday. We had about 50 Monet's practically all to ourselves. They had a large dedicated room for these Monet's and displayed them in mostly chronological order. It was interesting to note his progression from his earlier, more impressionist work, into his later work where his strokes and use of color are (to me) almost abstract-like. The museum also contained many other impressionist works, including some from Renoir, Caillebotte, and Pissaro.

We walked back up through the heart of the 16th and Lisa got to explore Rue de Passy, famous for its shopping, and the area in general known to have the most expensive real estate. *Very* nice homes here.

We ended up at the Trocadero, a huge square with several museums that open up and frame the Eiffel Tower. Huge and amazing. I think we'd like to come back here and go to some of these museums, or maybe just enjoy a bottle of Champagne some evening and view the Eiffel Tower all lit up.

We headed back to the hotel, rested for a bit, then went to a nearby bistro on Rue Marbeuf. It wasn't bad, but they can't all be memorable experiences either. Definitely catered to the tourist crowd, in this neighborhood, so that probably had something to do with it.

Tomorrow we leave the hotel and move into the apartment-swap in the Marais, so our home-base will have a totally different vibe.

Day 2 Photos

2007-04-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

Lisa across the Seine from the Louvre.

Picnic.

Post-picnic food coma, Musee d'Orsay.

Hotel lobby. We leave it tomorrow and move to an apartment in the Marais.

Monet. For you, mom. :-) Musee d'Orsay.

I thought this was pretty cool. A painting (at least conceived) from a hot air balloon in 1880(ish). Notice no Eiffel Tower (built in 1887, I think). Musee d'Orsay.

Day 2 and the Musee d'Orsay

2007-04-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

Today we slept in a bit and then walked to the Musee d'Orsay. The weather today is very clear but a bit chilly and very windy. Because we bought tickets yesterday, we were able to go right in without waiting in line.

We purchased the audio guides, in English, then we started on the ground floor. To those of you who've been, the Musee d'Orsay is located in an old train station directly across the Seine from the Louvre (Paris' most famous museum). The building itself is magnificent, let alone all the objets d'art inside it. On the ground floor they have many sculptures by the likes of Rodin, etc.

The period of the art in the Musee d'Orsay starts where the Louvre ends, around 1850, and ends around 1915. They are especially known for their Impressionist collection. We had seen some of this before, in our previous visit in 2003, but at that time we only had time for the "Griswald Family" style tour, so we really wanted to pace ourselves this time.

We first saw the few temporary exhibitions: one on early photography, where most of the photographs were dated early 1850, another by a post-impressionist painter.

We broke for lunch before heading to the big-hitting impressionists on the 5th floor. We had our cheese, saucisson, fruit and wine that we bought yesterday, and so we left the museum, bought some fresh bread (une baguette de tradition francaise, bien sur), and walked to a little secluded square a few blocks from the museum for a picnic.

Back in the museum we viewed all the paintings by the major Impressionists and Post-Impressionists like Monet, Renoir, Toulouse-Latrec, Pissaro, Manet, Van Gogh, Gaugins, Cezanne, and Degas. Amazing. I think my favorites are probably Pisarro for his technique, and Van Gogh overall. Van Gogh definitely hinted at being more expressionist- diverging from Impressionism and imposing his own reality. I suppose he was a bit like Beethoven in that regard- a period-crossing master who influenced many that followed.

I found myself getting de-sensitized a bit though, as you walk by masterpiece after masterpiece. You find yourself saying, "yeah yeah, whatever, another Renoir, so?". Ya. Induced by post-lunch food coma, I actually fell asleep in one of the galleries as Lisa looked for me for about 10 minutes. She snapped some photos of that funny moment. My father's son, I suppose.

After the museum, we walked over into the Marais, past the Louvre, Les Halles, the Pompidou Center. We were to be meeting our house-swap partner, a young guy named Olivier, to exchange keys. We had a quick cafe to wait and re-energize.

Olivier seems very nice. I'd say he's probably 28 or so. We discussed various things about each of our apartments, exchanged keys, and said goodbye. We'll move in there Friday afternoon, as he leaves for San Francisco on Friday morning.

We took the Metro (from Arts et Metiers stop) back to our hotel, where we ended up taking a nap that lasted through dinner... and the rest of the night. Lisa awoke around midnight hungry for a crepe and she went out in search of one a few blocks around the hotel but wasn't successful.

Another great day. We'll post some pictures from today a bit later.

Tomorrow we don't have any plans at all, so we'll probably just explore this neighborhood, around the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe, etc.

A tout a l'heure,

Brad

A few photos from the first day

2007-04-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

Unbelievable that they didn't kick me off their Steinway at the Four Seasons...

Dinner at D'Chez Eux.

Mmmm, saucisson... (yes I've "suspended" my pesce-vegeterianism for the month...)

Blossoms are out...

Random first day cafe (Cafe Francais, I think), view not too shabby. Corner of Avenue George V and the Quai.

Our first day

2007-04-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

Well,

We're in Paris!

We arrived, into Charles de Gaulle airport around 1pm, and took a taxi into town to our Hotel, the Hotel de Gaulle, on Avenue George V, right next to the Four Seasons George V.

We had no plans really, other than to try to eat dinner at our favorite restaurant from our honeymoon, Le Languedoc, a small neighborhood bistro in the lower 5th arrondissement. Unfortunately, they were closed today, so the concierge recommended another place with a similar vibe: D'Chez Eux.

Having no plans, we decided just to walk a bit. We stopped at a cafe where Avenue George V meets La Seine, right on the edge of the right bank, with an unplanned yet perfect view of the Eiffel Tower. We had some coffee, hot chocolate and sparkling water to refresh ourselves and then took off walking East down the right bank quai.

We crossed over and stopped at the Musee d'Orsay to buy advance tickets for tomorrow (so we won't have to wait in line), then sort of strolled our way down into the Saint-Germain des Pres. I wanted to buy some dress shirts from this store, A Bon Marche, where I bought a shirt last time. I got a few.

We then went to the food market portion of the Bon Marche, a sort of Whole Foods on French Steroids (they had a foie gras *section*, go figure). Anyway, we bought some items (cheese, saucisson, wine) for a little picnic tomorrow, hopefully in the Tuilleries, before we hit the Musee d'Orsay.

It was about time for dinner so we walked on to D'Chez Eux, near the Hotel des Invalides for dinner. Just a little classic French neighborhood bistro, but the food and the service especially were spectacular, for not too much $$. Yeah sure, the other diners laughed at my French- but the waiters appreciated my efforts and went above and beyond to please us. Perfect.

After dinner we walked back to our hotel, but decided to have one last digestif at the George V next door. We sat right next to their bar's piano player. She was tremendous, mixing old jazz standards with Chopin effortlessly. As she went on break, I decided to see if they would throw me out for sitting at their Steinway. Apparently most Parisians (although most of the crowd at this Four Seasons were probably rich tourists) don't have much taste in music because they let me play for as long as I wanted, which was about 10 minutes. Now many of you know I can get by on the electric guitar. On piano I just fake it. Anyway, the piano player came back and we talked with her for a bit. I think she was happy just to have someone interested in her playing.

All in all, a great first day.

Will post some pictures tomorrow.

In a few days we move from the hotel into our house-swap in the Marais, the 3rd arrondissement.

My French is coming back to me pretty fast- if I could just get them to speak a little more slowly!

Brad