Adam

I managed to meet up with a friend yesterday. I actually know Adam through my brother Dean. They used to work together and became good friends, but I've known him for awhile too. Lori and I have pretty interesting lives but it's nothing compared to Adam. He just spent a year teaching in Korea and he's in Paris for a vacation before heading to Cameroon to volunteer at a school for special needs kids. Very cool.

We toured around for a bit and then ended up in an English Pub for a few pints. Our time in Paris is full of new adventures but one thing we miss is having a core group of friends to hang out with. It was great to see Adam and hang out with him for an afternoon. Good luck in Africa!

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Back to Normal

Lori made it home safe and sound this weekend. It's so nice to have her back. We spent yesterday planning our upcoming travels and it's proving to be more difficult than we hoped. We thought traveling by train would be the best option because airports are outside of cities and train stations are usually right downtown. This would alleviate the hassle of getting to and from the airports. The downside is trains take longer and when we are traveling on weekends we can only go so far by train or else we spend too much of our time in transit. Not to mention that trains are more expensive.

There are discount airlines that offer great rates but most seem to operate out of secondary airports. Ryan Air for example has great deals all over Europe, but they fly out of Beauvais Airport which is an hour and twenty minutes by shuttle from Paris. When we get to our destination we would have a similar problem. Renting a car would be the best idea for some of the places we would like to go, but I was hoping to avoid driving in Paris if at all possible.

Anyway, we may not be going away as much as we imagined but there is still lots for us to do and see in Paris. Our next trip is to Brussels in a couple of weeks. I have a wonderful wife who is willing to go along on a brewery tour with me, even though she hates beer. I'll have to make sure she gets plenty of chocolate while we are there.

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Musée d'Orsay

Things have been quiet here this week with Lori in Mexico. I've been watching movies and working on my French lessons but I needed to get out and do something different, so I went to the Musée d'Orsay yesterday.

I thought it would be quiet on a Tuesday morning in February but I was wrong, it was very busy. The building itself is stunning. It was originally a train station built in 1900 and was converted to the museum in 1986. The museum claims to have one of the largest collections of impressionist art in the world, which is not surprising considering most of the artists lived in Paris. They have works by Monet, Renoir, Degas, Gauguin and Van Gogh. It was an impressive collection.

I've also been planning our next weekend getaway and I think we're going to Brussels. It's only 1 hour and 20 minutes by train. I think we need a break from airports for awhile. Anyway, Lori is back early Saturday morning and I'm really looking forward to it.

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All Alone

Lori left for Mexico City this morning so I won't have any exciting blog posts this week. This will be her last trip to Mexico until we return to Calgary. So that means I'll be on my own for the week. I'll keep plugging away with my French lessons, read a little and maybe hit a museum or two. I've figured out a way to use Netflix so I can watch a few movies as well. The only time I'll get to talk with a real person is when I bump into the elderly gentleman from across the hall as we take out our garbage. He usually talks my ear off while I smile and nod. Right now I only catch every third word but hopefully I'll pick more up as we go along.

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City of Love

You might expect us to have a romantic Valentines Day while we're in the City of Love, but no. Lori is working late and Valentines Day was never a big thing to us. Besides, I've lost my true sweetheart Coco.

Don't worry, Lori isn't jealous. The real man of her dreams was Jake anyway.

Hope everyone has a great day.

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Alsatian Cuisine

Before we left, Lori spoke with a colleague and got some great advice on what to eat in the region. She told Lori about a casserole dish called a Baeckeoffe which loosely translates to Bakers Oven. The story we heard at the restaurant is housewives used to prepare this dish the day before laundry day. They would drop it off at the bakery in the morning so it could be cooked all day while they did the wash and pick it up on their way home.

It's made with layers of potatoes, onions and various kinds of meat. The one Lori ordered had beef, pork and lamb. It's sealed with a layer bread dough during cooking.

I went for a sauerkraut dish but in the Alsace it's called Choucroute. Where I come from you get sauerkraut as a one of the trimmings when you order sausages or ham hocks but here the sauerkraut is the star and the sausages and other meats are the trimmings. This restaurant put juniper berries in theirs and they gave it a great flavour.

When I tried Lori's I said that it was good, but mine was better. When she tried mine she said it was good, but hers was better. I guessed we ordered correctly.

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Rough Start but a Strong Finish

Our weekend getaway didn't start out as we had hoped but we still had a great weekend. Once we got to Strasbourg and dropped the bags off at the hotel, we instantly relaxed. You can see the German influence on the town right away by the timber framed buildings.

We wanted to take a canal tour but the water was too high. It's been a very wet winter. Strasbourg is in the Alsace-Lorraine Region and from 1871 until 1945 it changed hands between France and Germany four times. It is a French town now but the food is also very German influenced. I'll have more about that tomorrow.

There is a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Strasbourg that began construction in 1015 and wasn't completed until 1439. Although architecture changed during its construction, it definitely looks Gothic. It's hard to get a panoramic shot of the entire cathedral but here is some of the detail around a side entrance.

Strasbourg is also known for it's Christmas market. I'm sure this town would look beautiful at Christmas time.

Our trip home was fairly painless. We had a bit of a delay due to some snow overnight but nothing like our misadventures on Friday night. We'll be looking at the train schedules a little closer next time.

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The Bloom is Off The Rose

I am not in love with Paris this morning. Our weekend getaway has gotten off to a disastrous start. We were to take the train to Charles de Gaulle airport and fly to Strasbourg. Our train wasn't running however, due to an accident on the line. We listened to the announcement, read it on the screens, looked at the map and decided a taxi was our best option. Unfortunately so did thousands of other people.

I'm not sure if traffic is like that every Friday evening or if it was because two train lines weren't running, but it was unbelievable. I've been in big cities before (New York, Mexico City, London) and I have never, ever seen a mess like that. It took also most an hour to find an empty cab and that was only because Lori weaved through four lanes of traffic to grab it before someone else (fortunately traffic was stopped at a light). Then it took almost an hour to get to the airport. Needless to say, we missed our flight and we couldn't get another one until this afternoon. I couldn't bear the thought of getting back into a cab and going back into that mess just to do it all over again today, so our first night away was in the airport hotel.

I'm sure once we get to Strasbourg and I calm down, everything will be great and my post on Monday will be much more upbeat. I'm just very frustrated right now. It wasn't all bad news though. The woman at Air France was very nice and very helpful. We had a great meal at the hotel restaurant as well. Sometimes life happens and you just have to deal with it.

Lunch

I found a nice, little cheese shop a couple blocks away from us. I stopped in yesterday and picked up a couple different types. Then I stopped at the bakery on my way home to get some good bread. I'm not much of a cheese expert but I can tell you one is made from goat's milk and the other from cow's milk. I am an expert on what tastes good though and they were both delicious.

I bought a sampling of Pâté as well. It may not have been the healthiest lunch I've ever had, but it was one of the most enjoyable.

We're going on our first getaway outside of Paris this weekend. We're going to Strasbourg, which is in the northeastern part of France in the Alsace region. Some people are interested in Museums and Art Galleries but I'm interested in beer and sausage. I'll have an update on Monday.

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Neighbourhood

Since we've been here, we've been focusing on getting to know our neighbourhood first. We are in the 3rd Arrondissement. An arrondissement is an area or district and the lower the number, the closer you are to the city centre.

The 3rd and 4th Arrondissements make up the Marais District. This used to be the aristocratic area of Paris. The French Nobles built their urban mansions here. They were called Hôtels and today many of them have been converted into museums or art galleries. Just around the corner from us is the Picasso Museum in the Hôtel Salé.

I haven't even seen this building because it's behind a tall gated wall. In fact all the buildings are tall and the streets are very narrow. It's very easy to get turned around and lose your bearings because it's impossible to get any sort of visual reference. It's a cool neighbourhood and it's starting to feel like it's ours.

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Saturday Afternoon

After being here for a week, we finally had the time and decent weather to get out and about in Paris. Or so we thought. Once we were as far away from the apartment as we were going to be, it started to rain. We stopped to buy an umbrella and the rain changed to hail. Then the gale force winds blew out our new umbrella. Luckily for us that all took place in about 30 minutes and the rest of the afternoon was fine.

Just outside our neighbourhood on Rue de Rivioli there was a skating rink set up in a public square. There was a pick-up hockey game in progress. Some of the guys knew what they were doing but others had never held a stick in their hands before.

We made our way along Rivloli until we came to the Louvre. We didn't go in but even the outside of the buildings were impressive. Here's the glass pyramid over the entrance.

Then we walked up the Champs-Élysées until we reached the Arc de Triomphe. Which is when it started to rain.

We were wet and cold by this time so we didn't go over to the Eiffel Tower but we had a very good view of it.

Other than the brief interlude of nasty weather it was a great day.

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Unwritten Rules

Hi everyone, Lori here.  Thanks for following along with us. 

We've been in Paris a week and are slowly finding our way through this new adventure.  Here are the unwritten rules I've picked up so far. 

On the Metro
1.  Folding seats near the doors can only be used when the train is not full (that means never).
2.  The bendy bits where the cars connect is the only uncrowded place on the train.  They are generally occupied only by men, as they are treacherous for anyone wearing heels.  But I've weighed my claustrophobia against danger in heels and have opted to stand there anyway.  I have learned that I can stand on my toes for 20 minutes.  I'm calling that exercise.

On Escalators
3.   There are always two lanes - you stand on the right and the passing (walking) lane is on the left.  Do this even if you are the only one on the escalator.  
4.  The stairs next to the escalator are always faster.

On Elevators
5.  When you get on you must say Bonjour.  When you get off you must say Bon Journee.
6.  Like Calgary, men will let women on and off the elevator first.
7.  Like the Metro, maximum occupancy is a lot more maximum than I'm used too. 

Good manners are very important here!

LMB