Day Four - Paris - Marie Antoinette Day

Still wasn't feeling great this day. Did not sleep. Was unable to wake up early. And I am a champion sleeper so this was a bit frustrating to say the least.

But I eventually pulled myself from bed and we hopped on the RER out to beautiful Versailles. Getting to Versailles slightly after it opened meant waiting in a long line surrounded by oodles of schoolchildren. At first this seemed like an evil curse, but it lead to the best moment of the day when I overheard the following conversation behind me in lovely British accents:

Boy: I always had a crush on Sophie.
Girl: Really? Sophie?
Boy: Yeah, I was always jealous of her boyfriends and wanted to be with her. But then I realized, no, I don't, I'm gay.

I almost lost it. So funny. I had to get a glimpse of this kid, and I didn't even need to be discreet because these kids were so involved with their conversation about Sophie I could've lit myself afire and they wouldn't have noticed. Sophie's friend was short, freckled, and bespectacled with braces, I'm estimating around fourteen. I hope he finds a nice boyfriend.

Walking toward the Versailles entrance

And finally, we were in Versailles. Which was crowded. Oh so many people. The best rooms were the Hall of Mirrors and the King and Queens Bedrooms. The light in the Hall of Mirrors was amazing. That would be my writing room. I mean, if you have a room like that to write in, no excuses, right? The Bedrooms were so matchy matchy it made me nervous. Matching walls, linens, and canopies. Appropriately regal, though.

We had brought quiche with us and ate outside the palace. I always forget that I don't like quiche until I take a bite and remember that I don't like quiche. Note to self, no more quiche. Even in France.

The grounds were beautiful. We trekked what seemed like a long distance to Mary Antoinette's Hamlet, which was basically a neighborhood of Austrian houses for when she was homesick. The street was beautiful, on a lake. A smaller vacation palace, Triannon, was also built. You know, for when you got sick of living in Versailles. No wonder the entire country revolted.

Took the train back to Paris and climbed up the Arc de Triomphe at sunset and I wouldn't want to go at any other time. The lights in the city had just turned on, but there was still enough light to make up buildings. The Eiffel Tower started its glittering light show when we were up there. It's the perfect spot to see the whole city from, and how all the streets branch out like a star. Go at dusk.

We took the subway down to the Marais and had a wonderful meal at L'Auberge des Deux Ponts, 7 rue des Deux Ponts. The place didn't look like much, about seven tables and bare bones decor, but it was late and still busy which is always a good sign. Had a good, warm feeling the moment I walked in. Plus, the same man takes orders, cooks, and serves, so we felt really good about supporting this one man show.

I had a night of misordering. I got the Entree + Plat + Cafe and I ordered the Brick au Saumon for my appetizer. Remember, I was on my pate kick, so I was thinking salmon brick, probably a salmon pate. Not too far of a stretch, right? Turned out it was better than pate. It was a piece of smoke salmon fried in some sort of phyllo-ish pastry and topped with a cream sauce. Oh my. It was kind of fabulous.


Accidentally took a few bites before the photo, that's how good it was.

For my main course I ordered Escalopine Normande thinking it would be scallops. Nope. Chicken Scallopini with a creamy mushroom sauce. I am not a big fan of chicken. But Hubs likes chicken and he was kind enough to trade with me.

So I ate steak with gorganzola sauce which was so, so good.

We shared tiramisu for dessert which was better than most of the tiramisu we had in Italy.

We also shared a carafe of wine. This place is a great deal. Plat + Entree or Entree + Dessert + Cafe = 13.50 Euros at dinner. You're not going to find a better deal for this quality of food. Appetizer + 2 main courses + dessert + wine and coffee for two = 37 Euros.


One of the many picturesque veiws on our long walk home.

We left the restaurant so late that the subway was closed. We ended up walking back to our apartment, which was a long walk, but after such a great meal and a buzz off the wine, it didn't seem so far.

Day Three - Paris - Latin Quarter & Saint Chapelle

I woke up a bit sickly on day three, so we took a slower pace, starting out the day with a baguette from the boulangerie across the street and Nutella. Breakfast of champions.

We took the subway to the Louvre and crossed the Seine at Pont Neuf to get to Notre Dame. Notre Dame's facade is much more impressive in person than in photos. Inside, the ceilings are very tall, but the interior didn't wow me as other cathedrals have. Amazing organ, though.

Crossed the Seine to the Latin Quarter, which felt a world apart from the tourist masses only a few blocks away. The neighborhood was quiet and lovely. We both had the Plat + Dessert combo for lunch at Les Choses, 12 rue Monge. I had cod with butter/seafood sauce that came with spinach and the best mashed potatoes that tasted like the most decadent double baked potato. No butter in there.

Hubs had lobster tailes with mushroom and mashed potatoes. Also very good.

For dessert, I had the chocolate mousse, which was solid as opposed to creamy. A little too dense for me, but Hubs loved it. He had the apple tart, which I though was fine, but nothing special. The main courses were what really shined.

Another great meal and highly recommended restaurant. 2 main courses + 2 desserts + 1 litre water + 1 cafe au lait = 40 Euros (Plat + Dessert = 16 Euros).

After lunch we walked back down to tourist central to wait in line for Saint Chapelle. But it was worth it. Stained glass everywhere. It was stunning. Unlike anything I've ever seen. I sat down and watched as people entered the upstairs chapel. Mouths dropped, excited eyes, smiles of wonder, beauty.

We stopped by Shakespeare and Co. on our way back to the Latin Quarter. We wondered up near the Pantheon to Rue de Mouffetard, a street lined with restaurant after restaurant. Nothing struck us, though, and I was still feeling under the weather and suddenly exhausted, so we stopped at a boulangerie and bought a baguette, bought a round of camembert at a fromagerie, and bought two apples at a market. Dinner for 5 Euros, can't beat that. Back at the apartment we heated the camembert and dipped apples and bread and had a glass of wine. I loved enjoying our apartment for dinner.

This meal was one of our most fun on the trip and we did it ourselves!

Day Two - Paris - A Day in the Life of Amelie Poulain

We spent the day wandering through Montmartre, home of Amelie Poulain, my favorite movie heroine. It's the perfect setting for a film: cobblestone streets, beautiful architecture, quiet neighborhood feeling. First we found the corner where the market had been. It was still a market, but wasn't open. Someone was painting it green.

Lunch was one of the best meals our whole trip at Un Zebre a Montmartre, 38 rue Lepic. We shared the first of many chicken liver pates I had on the trip. I became a pate addict. It was a serious problem. I found French pates to be much less livery than they are here in the U.S., which was to my liking, and even more to Hubs' liking.

I had the best braised beef I've ever had, covered with carmelized onions, green beens, and potato gratin.

Hubs had duck breast with green beans and roast potatoes.

Huge portions, great cozy atmosphere. Pate + 2 Main Courses = 30 Euros.

Stuffed, we wandered down to the Lapin Agile. I went and saw Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile in high school, never dreaming I'd ever see the real place. I had forgotten about the play, which is very smart and funny, and it's always great when those memories come rushing back.

This anecdote is going to age me, but I remember going to the Briar Street Theatre in Chicago to see LATPA. Soon after, I went back to the theatre to see this weird, new show called Blue Man Group. A bunch of dudes covered in blue, playing instruments and making a huge mess. Okay, that show was great, too. On the way out of the theatre, I remember seeing the "Coming Soon" poster for the next show. I don't remember what it was, but it was clearly a play that was in rehearsals with a full cast. When I moved to LA almost a decade later, Blue Man Group was still playing at the Briar Street Theatre. That play on the poster never happened, at least not at the Briar Street. I hope they were able to move somewhere else, but who would've ever guessed that a bunch of guys and some blue paint would be such a phenomenon?

I sat next to the Lapin Agile and watches a group of people throw tennis balls up the street for their dogs to catch.

We walked up to Sacre Couer, the highest point in the city. The cathedral is striking and reminded me of a white mosque with its voluptuous white spires. Nothing special on the inside, but the grounds were packed with visitors sprawled out on the grass all the way down the hill. Great people watching.

Back down the hill for more Amelie fan club. We arrived at the Two Windmills, the cafe where Amelie worked, which is actually called Cafe Deux Moulins. Working in TV, I always expect everything to be renamed and redressed, but the Two Windmills was pretty much like the film, although movies always have better lighting and color correction.

The Two Windmills was an experience of mistaken orders. I ordered a "Limonade" expecting a lemonade and got a Sprite. I'm not a fan of white pop. Yes, I am from the Midwest. Hubs ordered a "Frappe de Vanil", thought he was getting a vanilla milkshake and ended up getting a vanilla iced coffee which was delicious. He definitely made the better error.

From there we strolled to the Moulin Rouge and then to a nearby chocolate shop, A l'Etoile d'Or, 30 rue Fontaine. Beautiful candies in the most picturesque little shop. We bought a few chocolates to share and they were all delicious.

We snacked on our chocolates while walking down Pigalle past all the sex shops. I was amused because this section of town feels so upscale, like walking down a Michigan Ave. filled with block after block of erotica. Actually, it kind of felt like a clean, richer version of Hollywood Blvd.

Hiked back up to Sacre Couer for the golden hour. Kids were jumping rope. The carousel lights turned on. Pigeons were mating at our feet. Ah, Montmartre, I miss you.

On the way back to the subway, we stopped at a charcuterie shop we'd passed during our earlier wandering and bought two croque monsieurs to go. We bought a bottle of wine near our apartment and ate at home. The perfect end to a beautiful spring day.

Day One - Paris - Fighting the Jet Lag

We flew out of LAX at 5:30 pm, had a few hours of layover in London, and arrived in Paris around 5 pm. We were a little unlucky becuase the train station we had planned to leave Charles de Gaulle from was closed, so we had to hike back through the airport and take a packed bus a few miles away from the airport to another train station. That bus ride was one of my least favorite parts of the trip. I almost toppled over a number of times.

Got on the train, got off the train and onto the Metro, and took the Metro to our stop George V. Up the escalator to civilization and were in the middle of Champs Elysees, the 5th Ave./Michigan Ave./Rodeo Dr. of Paris, only a couple blocks from the Arc de Triomphe. I must admit, we had a hookup in Paris. A friend of a friend owns an apartment and we got an amazing deal in a lovely one bedroom apartment with a kitchen 2 blocks from Champs Elysees and a 15 min. walk to the Eiffel Tower. Couldn't have been better.

View from our apartment

Dumped our stuff off at the aparment and headed out for dinner. We ended up at Chez Clement, which was the only restaurant I had read anything good about on Champs Elysees, an expensive, touristy street, and the food was quite good, and not terribly expensive. After a solid day of airport and airline food, I was craving vegetables. Lucky for me, there was a vegetable platter. The waitress gave me a funny look. You know it's just a plate of vegetables, right? Yes, thank you, with a big smile. And it arrived, exactly how I wanted it, and with a butter tarragon sauce on top. Very good. Hubs had eggs with mushrooms and duck breast that was thin and fried like bacon. We also shared a carafe of wine. I don't know why we don't have food photos. We do for all our other meals.

2 small main courses + wine for 2 =  34 Euros

Forcing ourselves to stay awake, after dinner we walked up to the Eiffel Tower. The sun had set and we took a seat on the lawn to watch the glittery light show on the hour. We were surrounded by young tourists. One group sat in a circle and played Oasis on an acoustic guitar.

The show ended and we trekked back to the apartment at an appropriate bedtime leaving behind a beautiful first evening in Paris.

15 Days in Paris, Belgium, & Amsterdam - On a Budget

I completed the most fun goal I had this year; Hubs and I took a vacation to Europe in April and it was amazing! As our normal traveling style, we made a budget of $6000 and had to figure out how to stay within it. Yes, it sounds like a lot of money, but the dollar is week, still only worth about .6 Euros when we went, so it takes a little planning to eat and do and see everything you want to when going to a slew of world-class cities.

First thing, if you're planning an international trip get yourself a Capital One credit card. They are the only bank that doesn't charge the annoying 3% foreign transaction fee. Will your credit limit be sky high? No. Will the interest rate be competitive? No. This is just a card to use across the sea and pay the balance immediately when you get back to save yourself some $$$. And I would say to get a card if you are even thinking about taking an international trip. Before getting the Capital One card, we booked plane tickets through British Airways (flying out of LAX), got miles for American Airlines, and then were shocked to find a 3% foreign transaction fee. I contested the fee to no avail. So learn from my mistakes and always book your international flights on the Capital One card unless you have a rewards card and don't mind eating the 3%.

Second thing, research, research, research. I don't know how people travelled before the internet. I know they certainly didn't do it as affordably as they do now. There are so many amazing resources out there for travellers. Trip Advisor is one of my favorites and was used the most when planning this trip. Lonely Planet is good, too. Both have forums that probably answer any question you might have about where you're going.

We made a list of all the places we wanted to go in Paris. We knew we had 5 full days there, so we grouped the list of attractions by how close they were to each other, making a very basic daily itinerary. This has definitely helped us maximize our time on our vacations. We don't run around blindly from one place to the next. It's also a good reality check. If it's been a long day and I'm tired, and we haven't seen that last attracion yet, I know that if I don't go that day, it's probably not going to be seen and am I okay with that? Decisions, decisions. Don't pack in ten things to do each day. You'll never see anything. You're on vacation. Relax. Enjoy it. And realize that you can't teleport. Transportation takes time and that time needs to be figured in when estimating an itinerary.

And finally, really know your budget. We had our hotels booked before we went, so we knew what that cost would be. We tried our best to figure out our transportation costs and ended up with a 70 Euros/day budget. Not a lot of money for expensive places like Paris, Belgium, and Amsterdam. I honestly haven't scrutinized our spending. 70 Euros/day was what we aimed for. Some days we spent more, some less. I don't know how over/under budget we were, but I think we came in fairly close, probably going slightly over.

Food is perhaps the most important thing to us when we travel. We want to eat well for what we're paying. In order to do that, you must do the research. The most exciting part of the trip for me was eating in Paris, so I did most of the research. I learned that lunch is considerably cheaper than dinner. Our game plan became to make lunch the main meal of the day and eat a smaller dinner. Definitely a game plan I will follow when we return. I found some great sites for travellers looking for solid food at an honest price (Some of these articles are a few years old, but we found most of the restaurants are still in business):

The Guardian - Paris bistros on a budget. We went to two places on this list and they were both excellent.
Paris by Mouth - This is a great website for all things food in Paris. There's also a search engine to sort restaurants by price, location, rating, etc. Very handy.
John Talbott's Paris - This guy has a great blog with constructive criticism, lots of photos, and prices. Plus, his sidebar has oodles of other blogs dedicated to Parisian cuisine.
David Lebovitz - He used to be a pasty chef in San Fran and now lives in Paris and writes books. And after going to many of his sweet tooth recommendations, he can be trusted.
Paris Digest - This list was even a little too expensive for us, since the bar was set at 25 Euros per person.

We bought our maps a few weeks in advance and marked the locations of the restaurants on the map. That way, when we were hungry, we'd just look at the map, see where we were and which restaurant was in the vicinity. We also did this in Italy, and it always worked out so well.

So there's the lengthy introduction to our Paris-Belgium-Amsterdam trip. I'm going to be posting as much info as I can for all the wonderful places we visited in the coming posts.

More Chego & a Kogi Bonus

We went back to Chego, it being our new favorite food and all. Since I wasn't enamoured with my Hot Buttered Kimchi Chow, I decided to try the Sour Cream Hen House, which I enjoyed much more.

Sour Cream Hen House

We also tried the 3pm meatballs, which were fine but I wouldn't order them again.

3pm Meatballs

And I love the Sriracha Bar so much I keep forgetting to take a photo before I gobble it up.

In other Roy Choi activity, I recently made a Kogi run and tried the Pacman Burger which I'd never had before. I'm on a mission to try everything on the menu.

Aw, cute little Pacman

This is the good stuff

The burger was good, but I like the Sliders better. Just sayin'.

Nicholl Fellowship - part two

Okay, I didn't revise as extensively as I probably should have, but I did revise. I decided to stick to my plan and enter because you never know, right? I entered another romantic comedy and a dramedy. I'm hoping lots of comedies break through this year. Fingers crossed three times now.