Day Something: Paris

We are home again, about to head back to the airport to collect our luggage.  This morning I had no problem loading pictures on our desktop, hooray!  I did get a response from Blogger's help forum in regards to my earlier issues, but haven't really had time to look at it.  In the meantime, you can finally enjoy this journal entry about last weekend!

We arrived in Paris via Eurostar on Friday evening, June 24th, with my sister-in-law and the three kiddoes, aged 4 to 12.  We spent our evenings separately, getting to hotel and apartment, finding dinner, etc.  My brother came in later that night, and then we met here to start our first day together:

Arc de Triomphe

We climbed all the way up, on a narrow, spiraling stone staircase.  It was disappointingly hard for me, but not unbearable.  I am happy to have two strong healthy legs to be able to have all these adventures!

My brother and his kids in front...Cuddles is hiding for some reason.

Then we hopped the metro to Hotel de Ville, stopped for a café lunch...

...which somehow ended with an arm-wrestling tournament.  I have to say, we ran into a bunch of very friendly, helpful waiters as we made our way around the city (the snooty bar by Invalides notwithstanding).

Anyway, we were making our way to Notre Dame, which happened to be closed in preparation for a concert (I think).  So we ended up milling around with the other hundreds of disappointed tourists, taking turns at the good photo spot by the barrier.

That's my brother on the right, and his son I've nicknamed Cuddles (for obvious reasons).  My sister in law loved putting everyone else in front of things for pictures...so much so that Miss Chef and I had to take a few pics of her!

Our niece, who is as big an animal lover as I ever was, had to go join this crazy pigeon-feeding lady who was having the time of her life feeding the birds in front of Notre Dame.

They were a little nervous about the birds, as well as Crazy Pigeon Lady, who kept hollering at them in accented French, "They won't hurt you!"  I forgot they couldn't understand her, so they just had this crazy lady hollering nonsense at them while being attacked by birds.  Pretty brave, if you ask me.

Since the cathedral was closed, I was thrilled to have the chance to lead everyone over to the Sainte Chapelle, which I've already posted a picture of below.  (I just had to re-post CPL to give you the whole story.)  Then I force-marched everyone to Berthillon, past about eight other ice-cream shops while my brother rolled his eyes behind me.  But in the end, they all agreed it was worth the walk and short wait.

Somehow, I managed to not get a shot of anyone enjoying their ice cream.  Oh, maybe because I was too busy enjoying mine!

That was the end of my planning for the day, so after some dithering, my brother decided to force march walk down to Jardin de Luxembourg.  By now it was about 80 degrees and sunny, and it was a long, tiring walk.  And when we finally found a playground for the kids, it had just closed!  (The kids may or may not have climbed the fence anyway, luring several other kids in, and may or may not have been chased out 15 minutes later by an angry, whistle-blowing gendarme.  I'm not confirming anything.)

In spite of the inconveniences, the jardin can hardly fail to please.

And the kids did find something else to interest them, in the end.

I didn't get any photos of the rest: the long walk back to the area near St. Michel, finding a cheesily cheerful Greek "traditional French" restaurant, and being surprised by a couple slices of apple tart ordered in secret by my brother, delivered with a forceful rendition of "Appy Beursday."  Yes, it was Flartus' birthday in Paris, and what more could I ask for?

Day Something and One: Eiffel and Rodin

Blogger Sucks

I have been trying for two or three days to post more pictures from Paris, but Blogger won't load them.  I cleared my cache, and got two to load no problem, but then it stopped.

I've fired off an angry and probably useless message to the Help forum (apparently Blogger has no staff), but does anyone have any other suggestions for me to try??

Your reward for your help is more pictures from Paris! :-)

Some Paris Pics

Waiting for Miss Chef to get out of the shower, thought I'd upload some randomness.

the kiddos and I at the Arc de Triomphe

Crazy bird lady at Notre Dame corrupts the children,

Interior of Sainte Chapelle

Our very own gargoyle



Miss Chef and I and Notre Dame

 Today (Monday) is Museum Day: Louvre, Cluny and Pompidou.   I think our feet may revolt soon.  Onward!

Day Five: London Again

Whoo-whee, I am way behind.  We've already been in Paris for a day and a half, and I still haven't posted my last London pictures.  So here are a few...

The Old Borough Market:

Yes, it's real.

Miss Chef buys lunch.

Then a short walk over to the Globe Theatre.  We had tickets to see All's Well That Ends Well.

It was amazing being in such a faifthful reproduction of a 500-year old theater, with the beautiful wood and painted stage around us.  Yes, those people stood for 2+ hours, through a rain shower and all.  The performance was wonderful, the actors excellent.  This is not a cheesy money-making scheme, this is a great way to fully appreciate Shakespeare's work.

Afterwards we walked across the Millenium Bridge--the one destroyed in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Princ--to St. Paul's Cathedral.

There was a service in progress, so we couldn't do the full tour, but it was beautiful to be in there with the music echoing in the nave.  After a quick look inside, we hopped a bus to Fortnum & Mason, where we got rid of a few pounds on luxury foods.  Mustards, chocolate, wild strawberry jams....and we haven't had a chance yet to taste any of it!

One of the window displays...it's like the Sak's of food!

Look kids, Big Ben...

...Parliament...

...and a panaroma of the Thames with the London Eye.

There.  Now, I have to get ready to go; we've got an appointment at the Eiffel Tower this morning.  Ta-ta for now!

Day Four: The Artichoke

Wednesday we went off-schedule.  We spent the day at home watching the kids while my brother and sister-in-law fulfilled some business obligations at Wimbledon (aw, shucks).  Although we had to scratch Stonehenge from our list, it was a bit of a blessing.  It was high time for some down time, and we both ended up inadvertently napping at different points of the day.  We also got to play some wiffleball between downpours.

However, that evening was Miss Chef's big night--reservations at The Artichoke, an up-and-coming restaurant in Amersham, west of London, which is angling for its first Michelin star.  We went with my brother and his 12-year old son, who acquitted himself admirably through an eight-course tasting menu including things like crayfish foam and rhubarb granita.  He even got a compliment from the chef! 

So, without further ado, here is our evening in pictures (non-foodies may enjoy the intro photos).

Entering Amersham.  You can see the village at the base of the hill.  Also, notice everyone driving on the _wrong_ side.

A building across the way from the restaurant, which was much less...historic looking.

The menu.  We did not opt for the cheese course, as we were ready to burst by then. .

Beet & goat cheese course.  Like a circus on your plate!

Seared scallops with pickled, coriander carrots & toasted coconut.  Succulent.

One of the mains: lambe with spelt, radishes & turnip

Fillet of rock salmon on bok choy, with a square of cauliflower mousse and the aforementioned crawfish foam (which hid some surprisingly delicate crawfish tails).

The other main: hazlenut- and truffle-crusted wood pigeon, with more mushrooms and some salsify.

One dessert was peach sorbet with barley and some other stuff I don't remember.  I got the strawberry dessert, whose photo didn't some out so well.

Our reservation time was 7:00, and we didn't leave until after 11:00.  Yeah, we had a really good time.  Thanks to my brother, who drove us all there and back, and allowed us to enjoy the full set of paired wines with each course.

Needless to say, Miss Chef and I slept in a little the next day.