Paris, France, August 29th - August 31st, 2009

To get shat on by a bird once is considered lucky, but twice in one weekend? Perhaps you’ll be blessed with the Midas touch? Who wouldn’t want to go to Paris in the hopes that it would happen?!

We arrived Saturday morning via the Eurostar and walked to our hotel- Hotel Mathi’s which we thought was Mathis up until the day we left. It was one of those , leave the hotel, look back for one last glance and (after seeing the name multiple times during the weekend) finally noticed that there was an apostrophe and it was in fact the hotel of a guy named Mathi. Regardless, it was a nice hotel near the US Embassy and the Champs Elysee. The room was nicely decorated (although very small) and I could have done without the booger on the bathroom wall and the used band-aid stuck inside the top of the garbage can. The complimentary bath salts made up for those two negatives, but yeah right as if I would ever bathe in a public tub. One word: CRABS!

After a quick wee, we rented our first (of many) bikes and made our way to the Eiffel Tower. Of course that is an obligatory tourist attraction and 'must-see' but I love it. I love it more at night, but it is just such a cool structure.

After a quick ride-by, we navigated our way to Rue de Mouffetard (pretty much our favourite street in Paris) to have a market lunch. Bread, Compte cheese, 2 chorizo sticks, peaches and a Coke Zero later, we headed to the park at the end of the street where we experienced a wedding procession and Eric experienced his first dollop of bird poop on his back. The food was really good and no bird poop was going to dampen our spirits.

The bird might have gotten scared and/or agitated by the woman aggressively shaking a branch of the tree we sat under. Picture this: somewhat homeless looking woman (but not) with ratty hair, chicken legs, and a beer belly shaking a (somewhat large) branch bearing what I can only guess were acorns, and her then proceeding to collect them. Discuss...

After strategically placing the messenger bag strap over the poo, we were off headed to Jardin du Luxembourg for a stroll. It was a lovely day so we decided to pull up some of the ridiculously heavy iron chairs and read for awhile. Yes, we pretended to be locals. Reading was exhausting so we headed back to the hotel to rest before heading out for dinner.

Because we liked to pretend we are locals and know where we are going, we asked the man with the guyliner at reception for a recommendation. We were willing to go wherever, even willing to stay near the hotel. After about a 2 minute struggle of giving us NO recommendations, he handed us a book to peruse by cuisine. Although helpful, it really wasn't because we were just looking for some basic steak frites that wasn't going to break the bank.

I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but the rump steak was a bit fatty, but good and just what I was hoping for. We then went for our customary after-dinner walk and just so happened to catch the Eiffel Tower light show. We walked to the tower and sat nearby to enjoy the view. I then got tired so we hailed a cab back to the hotel.

On Sunday morning we went for a run along the Seine. We don't do it as often now (because my old labrador hips and knees can't take it), but I really enjoy these runs in foreign cities. The views and surroundings you see while running are usually off the beaten path and somewhat soothing. We arrived back at the hotel sweaty and starving so had breakfast at the hotel. Very minimal, but satisfying for about 2 hours. Bike-riding Round 34 ensued with a journey to Invalides to catch a train to Versailles. We probably could have walked to the station because it was so close, but when the first 30 min on a bike are free, why the heck not?

Arriving at the gates of Versailles was nothing compared to the awe-inspiring gardens out the back. They were massive!! I much preferred wandering through the gardens than touring the palace. The palace looked like any other and really didn't excite me much. And, even though I am not a museum person and Eric is, he even agreed with me! For a tour of the palace, the gardens and the Marie Antoinette farm which is also situated on the grounds, the admission charge was £50 for both of us. So 'spensive!

After a few hours of walking around, Eric and I left Versailles, turned left out of the entrance, and decided to sit at a cafe for a glass of wine and afternoon snack. Whatever you do, don't go to the place to the left with the red awning. The wine tasted like vinegar, the potatoes were hard and cold (despite a good zap from the microwave) and the croque monsieur was dirty. Dirty as in, mushy and tasted like plastic. We really should have walked out as soon as we walked through the door, noticed the self serve and the overall shadiness of the establishment. Oh well, shame on us. The only two upsides were the sunsoaked sidewalk area and the bee that fell into my vinegar glass and proceeded to get hammered. Right before we left, we poured him out onto the sidewalk and watched him stumble around for a bit.

We headed back to Paris, hopped on the bikes and headed back to the hotel for a rest. Dinner that night (again with no help whatsoever from the guyliner man) was at an Italian place near Mouffetard that we (of course) biked to! The restaurant was called the Latin Quarter and it was quite good. I tried something that tasted like a tuna steak and Eric had a pizza. The olive oil, I think, was maybe the best I'd ever had? It was a sundried tomato, garlic, delicious concoction.

After dinner we strolled to get some ice cream before hopping on bikes and taking a night time tour to the big sights. We 'stumbled' upon the Louvre at night which is absolutely stunning. After a quick ride by the mini Arch, we headed back to the Champs Elysee area hoping for one last drink before calling it a night. We anticipated that drinks near our hotel would be quite expensive given the area that we were staying in, but we weren't prepared to pay 15 euros for a drink. Our next option was a fast food place that served beer, but they stopped serving at midnight (probably for the best). So, one drink lighter, we headed back to the hotel.

Monday, we decided to have a quick breakfast in the hotel before heading out to do some shopping. So off we biked. It was a pretty unsuccessful trip, but nice to bike around the city. We had worked up an appetite for lunch a few hours later and sat down at a sidewalk cafe to have an omelet and a goat cheese salad. We then raced to find some bread and cheese to eat on the train, before having to get to the station in time for our trip back. Unfortunately, we had luck only finding bread! Our bad luck continued as we struggled to find empty bike racks to ditch our bikes near the hotel. Luckily, in the end we did find two spaces and raced back to the hotel to grab our bags and head to the train station via Metro with only 40 minutes before our train was set to depart.

Our luck turned around as we caught the right Metros and arrived with about 20 min to spare, then we saw the line to get through passport control. We had remembered it being painfully slow when we were in Paris in March with friends, however the line that day had nothing on this one. It snaked back onto itself and was a sure sign that we were going to miss our first plane or train ever. If you know us, which you likely do, each trip we take, it is a race to make our flights or trains. We've come as close as you can come to missing them without actually doing so. This time, there was no way we were going to make it and like good sportsman, we accepted defeat and knew that this time we had been beaten. UNTIL, we learned that 3/4 of the people in that line were actually on our train! A slow 20 minutes later, we were on the train, with everyone else in the line and on our way back to London.

It was, yet again, another great trip to Paris...

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Amsterdam, Netherlands - August 21st - 23rd, 2009

A chance to go to Amsterdam for a quick weekend with two friends and get 1 of 2 tickets paid for? Sign us up! Eric had a few meetings out in Amsterdam (and the surrounding areas) at the end of last week. He, along with two good friends of ours that he works with, also had a few meetings (maybe coincidentally?) out there as well. Since the three of them were going to be out there and work was paying for the flight, I decided to buy a last minute ticket and enjoy the weekend with them.

I flew out of City airport Friday night after work. City airport is fabulous. Since I am already east, I just take the tube to Bank and get the DLR which takes me right there. It took about an hour from Russell Square and within about 15 minutes of getting to the airport, I was checked in, through security and sitting in the lounger near the gate. They board the planes (which are generally small) about 30 minutes before takeoff and they tend to take off on time and land early – bonus!

 I arrived in Amsterdam, uneventfully, and was surprised to see Eric waiting for me at the arrival area. He decided to come pick me up at the airport – which was really sweet. We stopped quickly at our hotel – Eden Square then headed to grab some good. The Eden Square has a great location near Rembrandt Square which makes the city very accessible on foot or by bike. The rooms are smaller, but the beds are really comfortable and the bathrooms are very ergonomically designed and have nice toiletries. Anyway, I digress. We stopped for a quick falafel at a chain – Maoz before meeting up with Ciara and Ashley for drinks. We started in Rembrandt Square, then wandered off to a side street for a few more. Towards the end of the night we made our way to a very very very local place where the local tranny population frequents. The swinging chandelier, the Dutch pop music we couldn’t understand and the clientele made for an interesting last drink. We then headed back to the hotel and proceeded to raid the vending machine for some Toblerone, waffle things, and some weird rectangle-shaped, puffed rice bits that tasted like fake bacon and cheese. They were deliciously disgusting.

 One of Eric’s favorite activities when visiting Paris and Amsterdam is riding bikes so early Saturday morning we got up, rented bikes from the hotel (which were brilliant because they were proper bikes without the big signage that generally comes with rentals) and cycled our way to breakfast at Pancakes! Amsterdam. The pancakes were delicious! Eric had a sweet one and I had one with goat cheese, pine nuts, garlic oil, and spinach. After breakfast we cycled to the big windmill – which I had missed on our last visit due to illness, then back to the hotel to meet up with the Searles. The Searles were just rising for the day and we decided we would cycle a bit more and meet them later in VondelPark.
 About an hour later we met up in Vondel Park. Eric and Ashley took the bikes and were set to meet Ciara and I (who were on foot) at the Farmer’s Market, Noordermarkt-Boerenmarkt. As you know, Eric and I love a good market and were able to get some fixings for lunch (bread, cheese, olives, artichokes, and a delicious muffin with pesto, sundried tomatoes, pine nuts and feta cheese. How incredible does that sound?!

We ate our goods with the gang and had a nice rose and a beer to wash everything down. We then strolled back to the hotel (we being Ciara and I); Ashley took the bike once again. Although he said he really didn’t like bikes, he definitely wanted to ride mine an awful lot. We met the boys near the square and had a quick rest before heading to the hotel (for an actual rest) before dinner. Dinner that night was at an Indonesian place called Long Pura. The experience was authentic as it was about 100 degrees in the restaurant, and we were given orchids as a greeting. It was almost as if we were in Bali!

Canal party - the water is there somewhere

The food was good. We got a rice table which included many small dishes of local flavor. My favorite was the spicy pork; my least favorite was the spicy egg (which I didn’t try because the concept disgusted me) You better believe Eric tried it though; although he didn’t like it!

Following dinner, we walked through the red light district (which I am completely fascinated by). I think it is because those women have a profession that is so completely different from mine. I remember the first time I visited this part of Amsterdam; I was surprised by the gross unattractivenss of many of the women. I remember expecting them to be much better looking and a lot less trashy. The ridicule and judgement that goes on in my mind when I see men approach them is astonishing.

When I was satisfied with our red light visit, we headed back to the square and had one (or three) for the road at a cafe. It was great to spend quality time with the Searles.

On Sunday, we pedaled to one of our favorite (or my favorite) bagel places for breakfast - bagels and beans near the Van Gogh museum. After a quick tour around the area, we headed back to the hotel, because we had to check out (and sadly) relinquish the keys to our bike locks.

At noon, we boarded a train to Odejk to visit Kirsten Namesnik and her kids, Austin and Madison. Kirsten (for those who don't know) was the wife of one of Eric's former swim coaches in college. Snik passed away in January of '06 and just last year Kirsten moved the family back to her hometown to be nearer to her mom and sister. We had a great (although brief) trip to see their home, the school where the kids attend and the neighborhood in which they live. It was great catching up with her, meeting her sister and having lunch with the kids. They are still as cute as ever and Kirsten a gracious host. Sadly, it was then time to say goodbye and head back to Schiphol.

Amsterdam Round 2 - different from Round 1, but equally as good.

Pics here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=hj0zhyv.9lwylztr&x=0&y=p1hp8b&localeid=en_US

Southampton, England, UK - August 15th-16th, 2009

As Nic and I became closer workmates, I was curious to know where exactly she grew up. Given that she has lived here all her life, I figured she grew up in a quaint country village – proper English-style. Eric and I were about to find out.

We took the train down to Southampton Airport Parkway on Saturday afternoon. The train took a little over an hour and was very straightforward. As soon as we detrained, Nic was waiting to take us to the small town of Romsey to meet her brother and soon to be sister-in –law. We walked around the cute, cobblestone streets stopping to hear the history of certain landmarks along the way. The convent where Nic went to secondary school was one of the stops along the way. It is no longer a school and the nuns have been shipped out due to unsafe building structure. The school sits on a really lovely little park with a winding path. The path crosses a creek that then leads to one of the main streets. Set-back from the street that leads into town lives a famous chef. Any guesses? Gordon Ramsey! He wasn’t home, but his gardener was there and apparently his gardener gets paid quite well; he drives a Mercedes!

We grabbed some olives and artichokes just as the farmer’s market was closing up for the day and headed to Wellow – Nic’s hometown.

Jan and Calvert were so welcoming and made us feel right at home. Their home on Chichester Road was close to what I imagined - a quaint country house, but in a neighborhood. The houses were rather close together, but were not cookie-cutter like the neighborhoods that I grew up around. We spent the early evening enjoying the unusually sunny weather and playing croquet in the backyard. It was then time to feast on more meat I have ever had on my plate along with a variety of salads. Everything was so yummy! The rest of the evening we chilled outside until the temperature dropped. We then moved the party indoors and played Articulate until the early morning hours. Articulate is similar to Taboo (but there are no words that you aren’t allowed to say in order to get your partner (or team) to guess the name, object, place, etc. written on the card. The game proved quite challenging for Eric and I since many of the people and places were British specific and so of course we had not really heard of them. It made the game that much more fun and interesting though!

Sunday we took a long walk through the New Forest which is right outside of Nic’s village. The New Forest is huge at 93,000 acres and interestingly enough, it is neither new nor a forest. It is over 900 years old and less than half of it is actually woodland (courtesy of The New Forest website). A few horses were the only animals we saw on our trek even though pigs, cattle and donkeys can be found roaming freely in the forest.

Our lunch at The Lamb following the walk was much deserved. We soaked up more of the English sun as we swallowed down cider, beer, a ploughman’s and a salad. After lunch, we made our way back to the Douglas’ for tea, a delicious cake and one (or ten) last round of croquet.

Fully satiated, beaten at croquet by Graham yet again and tired, we headed back to London Sunday afternoon after a great quick trip to Southampton.

The BBQ table and a few croquet action shots:

National 3 Peaks Challenge (Scotland, England, and Wales) - July 12th-13th, 2009

Before Eric and I left NY, we had bought used bikes (more like 80s ten-speeds) from a tiny repair shop in Brooklyn in anticipation of doing a few triathlons. Once we arrived here, we soon realized that the bikes would not be good decor for our guest bathroom and that leaving them out in the ever-changing elements would quickly make them unsafe for riding.

The whole group in good spirits at the top of Ben Nevis

Once the hopes of competing in triathlons were shot and my ability to run proved feeble, we decided to climb some mountains. One of Eric’s colleagues told him about this challenge called the National 3 Peaks. The National 3 peaks challenge is basically attempting to climb the three tallest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales in under 24 hours. It was intriguing, and we knew it would give us the chance to see some new areas of the UK (which we are not so good at travelling to) so we decided to join the team.

The team consisted of 11 team members, some of our friends, friends of friends and then a work colleague of mine and her siblings, all led by Eric’s work colleague.

Jon (Eric’s work colleague) had organized the trip and hired a pair of trained guides who acted as our drivers for the weekend. They were professional guides who made sure we were driven between the mountains, fed, and remained safe throughout the journey.

We all flew up to Glasgow on Saturday morning and began the 1.5 drive to Ben Nevis – our first point of ascent. After a pub lunch and a stop at Morrison’s for some last minute supplies, we were given a map, an emergency tent, and snacks consisting of Scotch eggs, pork pies, and sausage rolls, chips and chocolate bar. We later found that this was our breakfast and lunch on each of the mountains.

The weather forecast for much of the weekend was rain and windy, some torrential. However, as we began to climb Ben Nevis, the temperature was warm and soon our layers began coming off. The incline was quite steep at the beginning and reminded me a lot of the climb on Table Mountain with big boulders forming the steps. About halfway up, the climb became a bit more of a steady incline, but the drops to the right of us just kept getting scarier and scarier. The pace was slow, but steady but soon the group split into two based on speed. We regrouped near the top and decided to push for the summit all together. Once we got above the grass line, the views were spectacular. The sun was slowing starting to set and was casting the most breathtaking reflections on the lake down below.

As we got closer and closer to the top, there were about 4 false summits that toyed with us, the weather began to get very cold, very windy and very blustery. We scaled a snow patch and a few winding paths before making our way to the top. We celebrated at the peak for about 10 minutes, took the obligatory group photo before heading down. We had about a half hour’s time to make up as the estimate climbing time to the top was 3 hours. Fun fact: both a piano and a Model T Ford have been brought to the top of the summit.

Should have spent less time taking pictures
and more time hiking

The descent was thought to be much easier than the ascent so we figured we could get down in about an hour and a half which would have been ideal since it was getting dark. About a quarter of the way down the mountain the ‘fast’ group took off and said they would meet us at the bottom. The ‘slower’ group, which we were hanging back with, were really angered by this and cursed the other group the entire way down. Unfortunately, we didn’t pick up the pace much and ended up finishing the last hour or so in the dark. Luckily, head lamps had been packed so those helped us get down. Oh yeah, did I mention that the ‘fast’ group took the map with them? Yeah, pretty sweet.

The Boulder field near the top of Scafell Pike

We made it down the mountain and met up with the other group at the van after about 3 hours which brought the total time of the climb to 6.5 hours (the approximate time it was supposed to take was 5). Dinner was provided by the drivers and consisted of rice with either boiled Bolognese or stew. Although I wasn’t really hungry, I forced down the food since I hadn’t had much of the ‘snacks’ that we had been provided before we started the climb. After a quick change, we all started to doze while the drivers began the trip to Scafell Pike in the lake district of England.

I’m not sure about anyone else, but I was able to sleep relatively well between mountains. The journey time was estimated at 4 hours, but it took us 6 (because of bad weather) so we ended up starting the second mountain an hour and a half behind schedule. The 24 hour goal wasn’t looking too promising. And, oh, did I mention that it was raining, hard?

We thought we would get breakfast when we got out of the van, but we were sent up the mountain with baggies of the same range of pork products and snacks from climb number 1.

Scafell Pike proved to be a much more technical climb. In the rain and wind, we traversed waterfalls, scaled rocks, crossed streams, and navigated boulder fields. There was one section in particular about 30 minutes from the summit where we were climbing up a 60 degree incline on really slippery shale near an edge in blustery conditions. I feared the descent and thought for sure I was going to fall off the side. Once the ‘slow’ group made it up this part of the mountain, the fast group was nowhere in sight. It was very misty and foggy as we were in a cloud, and the fast group had taken the only compass and map. Luckily we each had a radio so we called the fast group for directions. Good teamwork, guys.

As soon as we made it to the top, we basically touched the point on the summit and started our descent. It was really cold up at the top of the mountain, and we just wanted to get the heck out of there. The descent was much like the ascent, very slow , very wet and very technical. It took us about 7 hours to climb this mountain; it was a bit frustrating with how slow we were going and how that 24 hour mark was now pretty much impossible. Oh yeah, and the fast group took off and left us yet again.

Soaked, and just starting our second climb

We drove to the final peak in Wales – Snowdon, and were going to begin climbing it at the 24 hour mark so that challenge had proved too much for our group. Our next goal was just to summit the 3 peaks. We arrived at Snowdon and we all started the climb together - all 11 of us. Supposedly, this is the easiest of the three mountains, can be climbed in about 4 hours and has a path where you can even ride up the mountain. (I’m still very sceptical of that).

The first 3 miles or so of the climb is a relatively flat marked path that is easy and where you can go quickly. Unfortunately, and almost immediately the groups split and the fast group took off with the map and compass, again. We walked to a point where you had to walk straight up over this rocky waterfall thing and it was at that point where we couldn’t' see the rest of our slower group so we decided to wait for them while the fast group took off out of sight.

I had two wicked blisters at this point, but not even those two open wounds rubbing on wet leather were going to stop me from summiting this 3rd and final mountain. Once the slower group caught up, we tried to follow another group in hopes finding the summit since we had nothing to guide us there.

We carried on following these people for another 10 minutes or so but then they were too quick and got away. Eric went ahead a bit to see if he could see our group and see if they were waiting for us over the ridge, but they were gone. This time, they had officially ditched us. At this point, two people were coming down and stopped to tell us what it was like on the summit, about how far it was, and if we would be able to navigate our way there without the necessary navigational tools. Apparently, we were only a mile from the summit, but one of our team members wasn’t feeling great, and with the terrain we had just crossed, we would have never been able to summit and then come down the mountain in the dark safely and we would have likely been coming the entire length of the mountain (about 2.5 hours worth) down in the dark and wet, and it would have been really scary.
It was at this point that the decision was made to turn around and start our descent without having reached the top. I cried a little (because I knew we were 110% capable of succeeding), but then sucked it up and started walking down.

Once we got to the bottom, the other group appeared about a half hour later. They had summited and of course said it was hard and it was probably better that we hadn't tried. I wanted to kick them all in the face. It was then that Lucy starting puking regularly (from food poisoning we are guessing) and continued to do so about 13 more times on the 5 hour drive back to London in a wet, cramped hot van. We arrived back to London at 5 a.m. on Monday morning. We slept for 3 hours and got into work at 9:30. It was a long, rough day at work, but overall wasn’t feeling too bad.

Given the circumstances and the terrible team dynamic, it was an experience. But, all that aside, I loved the challenge (both mentally and physically and the scenery and would happily do it again in the future. I know that we can summit those mountains, and possibly in 24 hours so I’m determined to try one more time.

Pics of the experience can be found here:

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Ann Arbor, Michigan and Highland Heights, Ohio, USA June 11th - 17th, 2009

Our annual summer trip back to the states was fabulous as always, but a bit too short this time. We arrived in Cleveland on Thursday afternoon just in time to celebrate Lydia’s 4th birthday. I can’t tell you how nice it was to spend time with the family again. It had been a year since we had seen Lydia, Chris and Kate and it was the first time we were meeting Neely so to immediately spend an evening with them (with some of my favourite foods) was really special.

Friday we headed up to Ann Arbor, as the wedding of ex-Michigan teammate of Eric’s, Nick Douville and Lindsey Wertzel was the main reason we planned our trip back. We spent much of the day wandering around campus, seeing the renovated buildings, new additions and stopping at the apparel shops to update our Michigan wardrobes. It was so nice to be back on campus and spend some quality time there. The last time we had been up was for a brief visit last summer for about 3 hours. This time, however, we were able to go to Zingermann’s for lunch, visit old coaches and meet the new ones at the pool and just take our time reminiscing.

In the early evening, we headed to Cristie’s, where we were staying, for a nice dinner with her and Ron. We wanted to cook for them since Cristie was so hospitable in offering to put us up for the weekend. It was great to spend some quality time with them again. They then said that they were planning a trip to see us in London in October; yay!

Following dinner we headed to Charlie’s for old-times-sake. We met up with some of the wedding party (including the groom to be) and Lesley and Heath! I’ve missed them so much since they left after their visit in March so I happily spent the night sipping vodka and coke and chatting with Lesley.

The next afternoon we headed to Saint Mary’s Student Parish for the wedding. There were so many ex-swimmers there, it was absolutely wonderful. Not only did we get to see Jeff and Steph, but there were so many that we hadn’t seen in quite some time, and were anxious to catch up with. The bride looked stunning and the church was packed. Austin and Madison Namesnik were also part of the wedding party as ring bearer and flower girl, respectively.

Following the ceremony, we headed to an old stomping ground, Grizzly Peak, to have some snacks and a pint or two. It was then time to head to the reception.

Reception highlights: beautiful location, good food, blue blinking plastic glasses, Urby’s annual speech, a whole lotta dancing and a classic - Dan falling asleep as we waited for the bus.

We had a fabulous time with a lot of old and dear friends.

Jean arrived in Ann Arbor that night and much of Sunday was spent catching up with her and playing with Luke. It also included obligatory (and much anticipated) trips to Angelo’s for breakfast and a Pizza Bob’s milkshake for the drive home.

The next 3 days were spent catching up with the family and Lisa, playing tennis, seeing various doctors, and enjoying time at home. One of the highlights was seeing my grandmother whose visit from Florida overlapped ours by a day. It had been about a year and a half since we had seen her.

We boarded the red-eye flight on Wednesday night with an extra bag full of goodies and a very fulfilling week stateside. It continues to get harder and harder to leave each time!

Cristie's pictures from our visit:http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=hj0zhyv.7ouuy6vb&x=0&y=-sncok8&localeid=en_US

Our limited pics: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=hj0zhyv.92j2ez1b&x=0&y=-wffio6&localeid=en_US

Mom's pictures to come:

Aix & Apt en Provence, France, June 5th - 7th, 2009

The wedding of Ashley Searle and Ciara Vlanderaan brought us to the south of France at the beginning of June. Seeing as this was going to be our first trip to that region, we were definitely up for the long weekend trip.

Our hotel in Apt

Kathleen (Eric’s boss and also an out of work friend) and her husband Bruce accompanied us to the airport for our stupid-o-clock flight to Marseille. We arrived quite early and had a heck of a time finding the rental car and then getting out of the airport. It was good that we found it when we did though, because in true Wilson-style, it began to pour.

We spent the day up in Aix-on-Provence as that had been recommended as a cute, French town that is quite chic. It didn’t disappoint. We strolled the narrow, cobble-stoned streets and took in the sights of a few of the old buildings before we stumbled upon a small square with a fantastic market! Eric and I love markets and to make our own meal with fresh market food is a definite must in each city that we visit. The language barrier here was a bit more of an issue as most of the people in this tiny village didn’t speak much (if any) English. It gave me a chance to practice the French that I had been learning for the past 5 months or to hide behind Eric as he tried to order. I successfully did a little of both.

Towards the end of the day we headed back to the Marseille airport to pick up Jimmy and Jason who were arrived late afternoon. As we drove through Marseille, we were a bit disappointed that we had been told to skip seeing the city. I love water (and boats) so it seemed like a cute little port town waiting to be explored. However, we had been told it wasn’t worth it so just did a drive-through on the way to the airport. Big bummer, but gives us another reason to come back in the future.

We picked up the boys and headed northwest ( I think) and arrived in Apt a few hours later. The journey there (via Tomtom) was quite scenic and a bit windy (not windy, but windy like curvy). It was so windy that we nearly had a sicky in the backseat. Upon arriving in the quaint, little town of Apt, we quickly found our Hotel Le Couvent (exactly as it sounds, an old convent). It was such a cute place with the nicest owners. They spoke a little English and were able to recommend a nice place for dinner – I think called Paris (oddly.)

Wandering Apt

The four of us navigated the tiny streets to the center of town – the center being a few restaurants and one little bodega type shop. The restaurant was pretty empty so we ended up picking a table outside, just as it started to rain, hard. The waitress was really sweet and tried hard to translate the menu for us, but got it a bit wrong when it came to Eric’s order. There was a specialty on the menu that was a local delicacy. The waitress pointed to her backside and said, ‘Rognon.’ Eric took this to mean ‘rump steak’ and thought he would give it a go. About 15 minutes later, the chef delivers Eric’s order personally and says in broken English, ‘I hope you like.’ You could see on the chef’s face how excited he was that someone actually ordered this dish. After about 30 seconds of the chef departing, Eric then realized that the plate before him (which looked like a pile of mushrooms in brown sauce) was actually a big plate of kidneys. Poor Eric was such a good sport. I’ve never seen him complain about food, ever. He didn’t want to be rude especially after how proud the chef was so he scarfed down every last bite.

Post- dinner, we met up with Maggie Buggie (another wedding guest staying at the convent) and her boyfriend Chris who also happened to be having dinner at the Paris Restaurant. We tried to meet up with her pre-dinner so that we could all dine together, but no luck in connecting. We made our way to the one bar that was still open. The looks that we got when entering the biker, tattoo, and raunchy bar were priceless. I felt like I needed a Tetanus shot just to be sitting in the booth. The time between when we got our drinks and finished the last drop was absolutely excruciating. I though the clientele were either going to break glasses over our heads or feel up Maggie and me. What the atmosphere lacked, the amount of alcohol in the drink made up for. Following the dirty, scary bar, we made our way back to the hotel and had another drink. They had both an ‘honesty’ bar and a decanted bottle of wine waiting for us upon our return. In additional to the decanter full of wine, we managed to finish off a few other bottles that were bought by Maggie and Chris on their trip to the wineries earlier in the trip. Soon after, Eric and I retired for the evening knowing we had a big day ahead.

Massive cheese wheels at Apt Saturday market

The next day we were told that the entire town of Apt turns into a big farmer’s market every Saturday. It was amazing! There were selling everything from fruit to goats! Maybe not really goats, but there was a goat and you could pay money to touch him I think. We decided to make a meal out of the goods (and bought an antique-looking clock in the process) and made our way back to the hotel to enjoy our haul.

Later on that day we left for the wedding which was the real reason we were in town. The wedding was in the town hall of Apt – a cute little building that held about 50 people seated and 15 standing. The wedding itself was performed, in French, by the Mayor of Apt who gave a lovely little speech about Ciara and Ashley and how lovely it was that they chose to have their wedding their and how they would always be welcomed back with open arms. The ceremony itself lasted about 15 minutes and the bride looked absolutely beautiful.

Following the ceremony, the guests walked for about 15 minutes to Ciara’s parent’s country house that was beautifully decorated and had a giant tent (or marquee as they call it) in the backyard. The cocktail hour lasted for 3 and was a great way to start the evening’s festivities. Since we had actually started drinking pre-wedding around 1:30, I knew we were in for a long night.

Waiting for the ceremony to start in City Hall

I don’t remember a ton of the details from the reception, but I can confirm the following: beer, wine and champagne were a flowing, every course of the meal was round (and delicious), the dance floor was packed, and Eric became best friends with one of the men at our table who lived in China, but had lived in Chicago and all over the world. I began to dislike him as soon as he offered my husband a cigar. About halfway through that cigar, I got mad at Eric for acting funny and actually used the phrase, ‘You’ve changed; I don’t even know you anymore.’ The Brits that were in earshot of this phrase thought it was quite funny and evidently told a lot of people I said that. Now that quote precedes me whenever we see mutual friends both who were there and not there at the wedding.

Ciara

Ciara and Ashley know how to throw a party so it was no surprise that their many guests knew how to enjoy said party. The reception lasted until 6 a.m., but, luckily, I was able to convince Eric that he had had enough around 4 so we got a taxi back to the hotel.

I don't even know who you are any more!

Sunday was spent recovering and enjoying a nice leisurely lunch in town before heading back to Marseille to catch our flight home. We dropped J&J off at the port and made our way to the airport , but not without some bread, cheese and cherries to nibble on. The food alone would make me visit France time and time again. Thanks Ciara and Ashley for giving us a reason to visit the south of France and many happily married days ahead!

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Madrid, Spain, May 22nd - 25th, 2009

In part due to our love of Barcelona last June and also because we had another bank holiday to take advantage of Eric and I decided to travel to Madrid at the end of May. A friend of a friend hooked us up with a hotel arrangement that was right in the center of town. It was a no-frills, truly authentic place; so authentic in fact that we had to confirm 24 hours before we arrived and no spoke English. Eric's Spanish is quite basic and mine is only what I learned from Sesame Street so when they became over-booked and tried to send us to their sister hotel near the airport, our arguing skills in Spanish weren't really all that effective. We said, 'thanks, but no thanks' and at the very last minute, ended up finding another hotel that was quite aways outside of the city, but seemed nice and was really cheap (which is our style).

We arrived late on Friday night and took the metro from the airport to our hotel. The hotel was nearer to the airport than it was to the city center which was nice because it was so late. However, once we got out of the metro, the walk to the hotel was about 10 minutes or so and one guess as to what the weather was like...a wee bit of rain until we actually were inside the hotel and then the heavens opened up. Luckily we were inside when that happened. We watched the most spectacular lightening show from our room. I think we may even have some video footage of it. Didn't do too much that night except go to bed. Nothing except for some really sketchy Chinese place was open for dinner and I was so hungry I think I may have had some canned potato sticks from the mini-bar.

One of Eric's colleagues, who is from Madrid, was kind enough to write out an itinerary for us. We love taking recommendations from locals and were so grateful to Gonzalo for taking the time to share his favorite places with us.

Our first day was spent seeing the major sights of Madrid. We started out first at a coffee bar/tapas bar to get us going. We then took in a few gardens and a few of the main squares, Plaza Mayor (where bull fights and Spanish Inquisition-related executions used to take place) and Puerta del Sol (the official center of Spain). We also wandered into a random market down at the end of Cava Baja, a street we would return to many times. The market was definitely for locals, not tourists, which means it was gritty looking, but great. There was everything you could think of to eat, at least in terms for fruit, veg, meat, fish, etc. Spaniards, at least those who shop at this market, don’t waste any parts of the animal. Strangely, looking at raw cow snouts made us hungry so we went to lunch next. We chose Prada a Tope on Calle del Principe from our guidebook. At 3pm, it was just starting to fill up for lunch so we were lucky to get a table. The hostess/waitress was very friendly and helpful. Her English was about as limited as Eric’s Spanish, but she closed the gap by bringing over an English menu. Then, in case we were still confused she brought us a picture menu, presumably to be used for people who lack both English and Spanish. Well it worked and we had the first opportunity to sample the highly built-up manchego cheese and Serrano ham. Verdict? So so. Sorry, just being honest - go easy Gonzalo!

Makes a good stew?

After lunch it was time for the Prado Museum. If you know me, you know my attention span in museums is pretty short, so we only stayed for about 2 hours. The audio guide, as always, was worth the extra €5 or whatever. The Prado was full of works from artists we tend to see at all major museums throughout Europe (and the Met in NYC), but it’s obviously heavy on the big Spanish names such as Velasquez, Goya, Picasso – these were our focus and they did not disappoint. We then took a little nap on the steps on the way out because it was finally not raining and because it was siesta time. (Aside: Thank you to the inventor of siestas! Siestas son muy buenas. Please come visit America and England and introduce the beauty and rationality of your invention to our ignorant populations.)

A surprisingly nice, quiet drink in Plaza Mayor

After El Prado, we wandered through the Royal Botanical Gardens where we were tempted (successfully) by Edward Scissorhands trees and (unsuccessfully…for now) by the rent-a-boats in El Retiro. We slowly wandered back into town via Gran Via, taking in tons of various pre and post-Franco architecture. Eric’s favorite was the grand art-nouveau Metropolis Building. Since our hotel was so far out of town and we had a few hours to kill before dinner, we wandered the triangular shopping area between Gran Via, Sol, and Plaza de Callao. For dinner we went to a well known and highly regarded place in Plaza Santa Ana called Cerveceria Alemana (‘The German Beer Bar’). Eric’s calamari was a bit rubbery and the ham and cheese was again so-so, so we quickly moved on for a drink along Las Huertas. I can’t remember the name of the place, but it was good enough for people watching and cheap vino. It was relatively late by that point and since we had a long Metro ride back to the hotel we called it a night after a brief and fruitless search for ice cream.

On Sunday morning we were able to move into the Hotel Emperador on Gran Via. We also stopped into the Hostal La Macarena to argue (in Spanish) our case about being unfairly charged for cancelling our reservation (when in fact they had run out of rooms and tried to move us to a different hotel!) Eric later challenged that Visa charge and the case is still pending as of the editorial deadline of this blog entry.

San Gines was flooded with visiting students and visiting
family members of visiting students.

Rastro Market on Calle Ribera was a priority for us, because we love a good market, but this one was more ‘flea’ than ‘antique.’ No purchases made. If nothing else, though, it drew an interesting crowd and the people watching was reward enough. After a lot of walking, we were starved. We went to Orixe on Calle de Cava Baja, a tapas place we had walked enviously past a few times before. Eric had a little trouble ordering the tapas. Image yourself at a popular bar/club, trying to shout drink orders to a busy bartender. It was kind of like that, but instead he was competing with a bunch of Spaniards, all of whom were shouting orders for a few different plates of food – keep in mind that there is no menu and some of the items had already been picked over. Not easy. Thankfully, just about all the different tapas dishes are really good so as long as he could avoid the anchovies, we were all set. After lunch we went to see the main cathedral (Almudena), the Royal Palace (Palacio Real), and the royal gardens (Jardines de Sabatini.) All were very impressive from the outside, but we didn’t venture into any of them, per recommendations from our guidebook and Gonzalo. Between the Palacio Real and the Opera was an amazing statue by Galileo in the Plaza de Oriente. It is supposedly the first ever statue of a rearing horse. The horse is being ridden by Felipe IV, who is mostly associated with the decline of the Spanish Empire. The statue is impressive not only for its size and power, but also for the fact that Galileo was successfully able to make it balance on the horse’s two hind legs.

View from the hotel roof

Before our last dinner we decided to go for a drink in Plaza Mayor. Expecting a typical “Main Square” experience of extremely overpriced drinks and rude wait staff, we were pleasantly surprised by our €3 glasses of decent Rioja, it left enough for us to tip the accordion playing duo who serenaded us with same repertoire they probably suffer through every night of the year. Dinner a Casa Lucio was a good one. The build up to the churros con chocolate from San Gines near Calle Arenal were probably set a little to high, but the experience was fun. There must have been 30 people in line (mostly study abroad students and their visiting families) for the same thing. That churros machine earns its keep.

Rowing in El Retiro

We started the last day of our bank-holiday extended weekend desperately trying to catch some rays on the roof of our hotel, but alas the clouds rolled in. Once we got moving, however, the sun came out and the call of the row-boats on the pond in El Retiro proved irresistible. We rowed ourselves around in circles in the perfect sunshine for about 45 minutes. On the way there we had picked up some incredible manchego at a deli and we devoured it in the middle of the Estanque pond despite the “no food” rules. That’s right, we’re rebels. Gonzalo’s last recommendation took us to a Sushi restaurant up to the business district, past Plaza de Colón (Columbus). It was a bit businessy considering we were in shorts, t-shirts, and sandals, but whatever. The sushi was really good. Eric liked it so much that he “accidentally” ate most of the stuff I ordered. Formal sushi was an odd finish to an otherwise great weekend excursion to Madrid.

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