Salute to Amelie

When Torie and I saw a Photomaton dans le metro, how could we resist? Nous adorons le film, Amelie!

Paris - Day Six (The Final Hours)

Coffee at Cafe Gambetta to start of our last full day in Paris. While we were a little sad that our week was already coming to a close, the weather decided to look up - sunshine!

To Sue's dismay, we decided to spend some of our last day at the Louvre. We sped through though, and picked out what we most wanted to see - the Apollo Room. Tucked just behind Winged Victory, the Apollo Room is quite a spectacle. Every inch of the room is decorated with gilding and frescoes. Even the floor has an intricate inlay pattern! And the objects displayed within the cases are among the most beautiful I have seen - rock crystal serving ware fit for kings fill the room. At the far end is an elaborate case holding the Coronation Crown of Napoleon - very sparkly! We had a quick lunch at the Louvre (and a not so quick search for the bathrooms!), and we were off.

After lunch, we visited the Musee Cognacq-Jay. A small museum of pretty little things collected by the founder of La Samaritaine, a once famous department store in Paris. The objects, mostly 18th and 19th century decor, are extraordinarily beautiful. It was a quick and fun little museum.

We then went to the Musee Carnavalet, a museum dedicated to the history of Paris. This museum literally collects anything and everything related to the city of Paris. There is a neat collection of shop signs, showing how shopkeepers would boast their wares to an illiterate public. The museum also has a large section of period rooms, and a large collection pertaining to the French Revolution. The collection was neat, but very dusty. As a museum professional, I was strongly tempted to close the (open!) windows, open the cases and start cleaning!

We headed home for drinks at Cafe Gambetta, and a quick costume change into our nice clothes. Then it was off to Chez Francisse for a very fancy dinner at the foot of the Tour Eiffel! Dinner was absolutely amazing, and the view was spectacular. Torie and I ran outside to take pictures of the sparkling Eiffel Tower when it went off (true tourists). It was a wonderful evening, and a great way to end our lovely trip.

The next morning, we had our last coffee at Cafe Gambetta, and headed off to the airport.

Paris - Day Five

Another morning coffee (yum!) at Cafe Gambetta. This morning we decided to visit la Maison de Victor Hugo. But the line was already incredibly long by the time we got there. We decided that seeing the Place des Voges was enough, and moved on.

We headed off to C&A, a department store were we tried on fun lingerie. I'm not telling ;-) We also found a chocolate store featuring chocolate-covered apricots, which were a must.

From there, we headed to "Mom's FAVORITE place" - Laduree. Laduree specializes in macarons and hot chocolate, but they also have a very nice restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious lunch. Mom and I each had club sandwiches. The French really know how to do it right: chicken, bacon, and egg on thick slices of toast. That was the best club sandwich I have ever had! Torie and Sue had omelettes, which were also food to be taken seriously. And since we were at a confectioner, we all ordered desserts! I wound up with this enormous pink thing, that can most closely be described as a large macaron with rasberries all around the perimeter of the icing. It was SPECTACULAR! All of our desserts were as pretty as they were yummy. We left very full, but not before making some to-go purchases. Mom needed more boxes, of course.

After Laduree, we did a little more shopping at Bon Marche. Torie and I got matching Longchamps bags. I don't think we intended to be twins, but the blue was too pretty to pass up. We also visited the food hall side of Bon Marche (because we needed more food?) and got some fun things to take home.

We had a light dinner of frites, cheese, and our second gallete de roi at the apartment. Mom found the feve.

Paris - Day Four

Today started off, once again, with a stop at Cafe Gambetta. After a delicious cup of coffee, we were off! We went to these covered passageways, filled with funny little shops. There were shops filled with knick-knacks, toy shops, shops for specialty clothing. All very fun to poke around.

Right at Noon, we sat down for lunch at A Priori The, a tiny restaurant famous for its good food and special teas. It was a fairly chilly day, so Torie and I treated ourselves to a pot each of fragrant tea. And our lunch could not have been more delicious. Torie is still raving about her quinoa and brocolli mash! After lunch, we made our pilgrimage to Fauchon for macarons. Mom had her eye on a fancy box - and got the last one they had!

We then popped into the Opera National de Paris, a spectacular old opera house in the heart of the city. The sculpture and gilding up the grand staircase were amazing; I couldn't believe the beauty of the frescoes on the ceiling. And then I saw the ceiling of the theatre. It's breath-taking! Most of the building is in the Neo-Baroque style, but this ceiling was frescoed by Chagall in 1964. The ceiling is strikingly different from the architecture around it, but still incredibly beautiful.

Following our visit to the Opera house, we had the lucky opportunity to be given a special tour of the Hermes Collection. The Hermes Collection was started as a cabinet of curiosities by the grandson of the founder of Hermes. He meant the collection to serve as a source of inspiration for Hermes designers for the scarves, jewelry and accessories they created. The collection, primarily 18th century objects, is still maintained as a private collection, and is still used by Hermes designers today. I found the history of the collection to be as fascinating as the collection itself! And the curator who met with us was fantastic. I was impressed with her knowledge of the collection, and her interest in future preservation. They are currently undergoing a renovation of the storage area to install better temperature and humidity controls. The wonderful objects (a pheasant feather parasol! a sideways looking spyglass! a lobster claw wine flask!) are in good hands.

We followed our fantastic tour of the Hermes collection with cocktails at the Cafe Gambetta, and dinner at Il Pinnochio, an Italian restaurant - a few feet from Sue's apartment!

Paris - Day Three

Another morning at Cafe Gambetta for coffee and croissants. We took care of a little grocery shopping right after breakfast. We do like our international grocery stores - so many fun things that can't be found in the States!

This morning started off a bit gray and drizzly - a far cry from the lovely sunny days we'd had the two days before! Not to be deterred, we set off umbrellas in hand for Les Jardins Zoologique. The zoo was really neat. All of the animal enclosures really seem set into the gardens, and are quite pretty. And the animals themselves are crazy! There were some animals I have never even heard of before! We even got to see a snow leopard.

We next went to L'Orangerie to see the enormous Water Lily paintings by Monet. They are indeed very large. The space built to house them is neat too - the ceiling allows natural light into the room. Lunch at a cafe followed.

The highlight of the trip was next: we went to the Musee de la Poste! How could I not visit the Postal Museum?? It was actually great. They did a really good job of presenting the history of the French postal system, while keeping the museum interactive and fun. They even have their own version of Mr. ZIP!

Cocktails at Cafe Gambetta, and a light dinner at home (cheeses and gallette de roi!) followed our long day out.

Paris - Day Two

Our second day in Paris started off late (we slept in!) with petit dejeuner at the Cafe Gambetta (home base?). I was a complete rebel the whole trip and had coffee! With caffeine! It was so good. Being a Sunday, we planned our day around things that would be open.

We started off by going to the bird market. There were so many cages of birds! It was really neat to see all the different colors, and hear all the pretty chirping. The real surprise were the boxes of bunnies also at the market. So cute!

After the bird market, we visited the Musee de Cluny (Musee National du Moyen-Age). This museum has a fantastic collection of medieval art, housed in a medieval mansion! The highlight of the collection are the six Unicorn Tapestries, famous for their beauty and mystery. They really are amazing - I am so glad to have seen them in person.

We followed our visit to the Cluny with lunch at a cafe (beef bourguignon - yum!), and a little shopping. We also got some street crepes that were hot and delicious. While walking around, we passed a little church, L'Eglise Saint-Severin, famous for a palm tree shaped column in the apse. This church also happens to be Sue's favorite; I can understand why! It's beautiful!

We finished our second day with dinner at Neekanth, delicious Indian food just inches away from Sue's apartment.

Valentine's Day in Paris

Without Nate! Oops... But I was in a beautiful city with my mom and sister, and it couldn't have been much better.

Here's what we did on our first day in Paris:

After arriving at our friend Sue's apartment in the 20th arrondisement, we headed off to the Cafe Gambetta for some coffee - and bride watching! In France, engaged couples get married at Town Hall on Saturdays. We saw some beautiful wedding dresses from the window of the cafe.

After some life-giving coffee, we went to the market. The displays of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meats, and even clothing were beautiful. We picked up a rotisserie chicken from a street vendor to drop off at home for our dinner later on.

So then it was time to visit some museums! First, we went to the Musee Nissim de Camondo. This is a house museum filled with the amazing collections of art and furniture collected by a Jewish family in the early 20th century. They left their collection and home to the city of Paris, and were sadly killed in the Holocaust. Their memory lives on through their spectacular collection. This was definitely one of the best museums I have been to. Word has it, they will be expanding to open the stables soon!

Next, we visited the Musee Jacquemart-Andre, which has a lovely restaurant for lunch. After a delicious salad, we headed inside to see the artifacts. An enjoyable museum, but difficult to find!

We finished up the day with a little shopping, and cocktails at Cafe Gambetta. We also picked up some gorgeous Valentine's Day desserts to compliment our dinner. Delicious!

Ballin'

Nate and I went to two college basketball games on Saturday. It was very exciting to see Villanova beat Syracuse 102-85 (a spanking)! Nate is a lifelong Nova fan, and even though I'm not very into basketball, it was a lot of fun to see a sell-out at the Wachovia Center in Philly.

We hoped our winning luck would keep up for the second game we saw: Penn vs. Cornell at the Palestra. My friend's husband is an assistant coach for Penn, so we were cheering for the Quakers! Sadly our luck didn't hold, and Cornell won. We weren't too sad though. Nate got to see a game at the Palestra, which had been a dream of his for ages. And even better, I got to meet the Big Red Bear - my favorite mascot since childhood!

Guapos, Mandy, AND Super Bowl?!

A fabulous weekend! Friday night, I went with coworkers for the annual dinner at Guapos. We had many margaritas. And a lot of fun. I wish I could have stayed longer, but alas, I was one of the first to leave. Guapos is one of those times when I don't like taking the train. I can't wait till our Guapos dinner next year!

To make the weekend even better, Mandy came down from New York on Saturday! We both met up with Guzel downtown and headed straight for cupcakes at Hello Cupcake. They were a very tasty appetizer before heading to dinner. Dinner was at Marvin on U Street - wow. It was fantastic! We all agreed that we were very glad we had made reservations ahead. Even at 6:00, the line to get in was out the door (while we just scooted right by)! We chatted, laughed, were girly - it was great! Even better, I got to stay in DC overnight!! We rounded out the weekend with crepes for breakfast at Napoleon, where we were joined by Maeve, Anne & Stu.

And as if the weekend couldn't get any better... THE STEELERS WON THE SUPER BOWL!!! Nate and I drove up to Philadelphia Sunday night to watch the big game with his family. I'm so glad we could be with them through all the ups and downs of the game. We were all excited, scared, and thrilled together with each play. And the end was spectacular! All in all, a wonderful weekend!