Day Seven - Paris to Bruges

We got up at 6am to finish packing and spend a little more time in Paris. We hadn't been to the Eiffel Tower since the evening of our arrival, so it seemed appropriate to visit early in the morning of our departure.

If you aren't going to go up the Eiffel Tower, visit early in the morning. No one is there. We even beat the hords of crazy vendors.

The Eiffel Tower empty, a beautiful sight.

The quiet, early Saturday morning Parisian streets are most romantic, and it was really the best possible way to cap off our incredible visit to this wonderful city. Goodbye, Paris.

We took a train out of Gare de Nord to Bruges, arriving at 2:30pm. We settled in at the Etap Hotel, conveniently located right next to the train station. What a bargain of a hotel. It's clean, quiet, and cheap, cheap, cheap. The fifteen minute walk to the center of town is worth the money you save. Plus, it's a pretty walk.

I fell in love with Bruges while watching the movie, In Bruges. This might be my favorite movie that came out in the last five years. The actors are so well cast (Colin Farrell definitely earned that Golden Globe), great screenplay, the story is commercial, yet the movie has a smart, arthouse vibe. The film is dark and lovely, just how I like my movies.

However, in the movie, in the beautiful town square, there was no bumper car ride that blared effin' Katy Perry all damned day. I thought it might just be for the weekend, but no, it was still there on Monday. So we didn't spend too much time in the square.

The stupid carnival crap is on the right. But the Bellfry is lovely, no?

We wandered around the quaint streets to De Republiek. Large bar, low lighting, filled with an eclectic mix of people, most of them young. I had spaghetti bolognese, which was huge and I think I ate all of it. Loaded with parmesan.

Hubs had the house pasta which was with shrimp and a tangy sweet and sour sauce. Really unique.

2 pasta dishes + 4 beers = 36 Euros

But, we're in Belgium now, so it's all about the beer. I love beer. No, let me rephrase. I love good beer. And it's all good in Belgium. Every beer has its own glass. And its not like there's 5 kinds of beer. There are hundreds. I find it all very impressive. Best beer of the night was Achel Bruin. And okay, I guess they don't have a glass for every beer, becuase they cheated and served it with an Orval glass.

A couple beers, a little buzz. Little snack? Sure, why not? Back to the Bellfry to the two competing  Belgian fry stands. These are from the stand on the right.

We found so many good ways to end our days in Europe.

Deadlines Passed

I'm taking a break from my vacation posts for a writing update.

June 1 was the deadline for the Warner Bros. Writers' Workshop and the Austin Film Festival. I was trying to write a second comedy spec for WB so I would have a choice of what to submit. Didn't happen. So I sent in my "It's Always Sunny" spec. I submitted different drama specs to WB twice before without any success, so I'm going to see if I can get anywhere on the comedy route.

For Austin, I was originally planning on submitting the same three screenplays I sent to Nicholl. But I still want to do some revising and get more notes on two of those three scripts, so I decided to save the money and didn't enter any of them. But I did whip my hour-long pilot, "Feedback," into shape, and I'm kind of loving it. I haven't entered that anywhere yet, so Austin gets it first. Hope they like it.

The year is almost halfway over, can't believe it. I absolutely need to write a second comedy spec this month. Then the second half of the year I want to devote to writing new screenplays.

Day Six - Paris - Louvre and Ice Cream

We got up early and went to the Louvre. No lines, no waiting, credit card machines that actually accepted our credit cards. Ah, all is good.

So, in case you didn't know, the Mona Lisa is small. Way too small for a painting that you must remain fifteen feet away from and is covered in a thick layer of bullet proof glass. You can't see any of the paint detail, and you might as well just look at it in a book. My two cents.

This is what the Mona Lisa really looks like.

If you only go to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa you are a fool and will be disappointed. Luckily, the Louvre is huge (we were there for almost four hours and didn't even come close to seeing everything). Yeah, there's the Venus de Milo, which is much larger than I thought it would be, and a bunch of other famous works of art. But my favorite part of the Louvre were the apartments of Napoleon III.

Everyone who's been to Paris has talked to me about the Louvre, but no one seems to have seen these apartments. I guess I'm one of the lucky few. The Louvre used to be a palace. A few of the rooms were left with their original furnishings, the apartments of Napoleon III. If you go to the Louvre, these are a MUST SEE. Oh my. Okay, we'd been to Versailles. I thought that was opulence at its finest. But, no. Napoleon's apartments are trimmed with gold, dripping with enormous chandeliers, and filled with plush furniture.

It looked like a movie set.

This is what I always dreamed a palace would look like, and my fantasies were confirmed.

Took the subway to the Latin Quarter and ate lunch at Les Racines, 22 Rue Monsieur Le Prince. We started out with chicken liver terrine, which had great texture and wasn't too livery.

Hubs and I both had Duck L'Orange. I mean, we're in Paris! The duck was so moist and tender, falling off the bone, and the sauce wasn't too sweet, perfect.

Shared a delicious creme caramel (French flan) for dessert.

This place was a great deal, family run. The owners were very friendly. Highly recommended.
1 Entree + 2 Plats +1 Dessert + 2 glasses of wine = 33 Euros

We walked around a more upscale part of the Latin Quarter for awhile. I had the best croissant of my life at Gerard Mulot. It was so buttery it tasted cheesy. I don't know how that's possible.

We shared four macaroons from Pierre Herme. My favorite was the violet one. These are the only macaroons I've ever liked, and I've traipsed down to the fancy macaroon shop in Beverly Hills. They don't compare to Pierre's.

Window shopping, I found my jewelry souvenir. I bought a beautiful necklace at Metal Pointu's. They have modern, slightly-tough-but-still-elegant pieces.

Then over to Isle Saint Louis for more snacking. I was set on trying Berthillon ice cream, since I read everywhere during my research that it was the best ice cream in Paris. I had salted caramel.

Hubs had coffee. One scoop wasn't enough.

Was it better than Mashti Malone's? Nah.

Along the river a bride and groom were having photos taken. Brought back some fond wedding memories.

After munching all afternoon, we knew we needed to eat dinner at some point, but we weren't hungry, so we stopped at a fromagerie and picked up some cheese to take home. We picked 2 soft cow's milk cheeses and 1 hard goat cheese. 3 cheeses + a baguette = 13 Euros.

Perfect dinner for our last night in Paris.

Day Five - Paris - Gargoyles and Jim Morrison

The wait in the line to climb up Notre Dame is worth it. Plus, the climb up isn't nearly as bad as Il Duomo in Florence and the gargoyles are pretty darn cool. And lovely views of Paris to go with them.

We stayed at the top a long time. We lost our minds and went a little photo crazy.

After Notre Dame, we went to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. What a beautiful, peaceful, sad place. I think I could've spent an entire day wandering around here, getting lost, stumbling upon the most amazing graves.

I'm not a huge Doors fan, but I don't think you can go to Pere Lachaise without going to Jim Morrison's grave, and boy am I glad we did. Clearly, the cemetery did not revere Mr. Morrison so much that they gave him any prime real estate; his grave is awkwardly crammed directly behind a large crypt. Of course, over the years that crypt has basically been ruined by people trying to climb over and around it to catch a glimpse of Jim Morrison's grave, which is unfortunate. But the crypt has not been removed and still makes it a little inconvenient for all the tourists.

Jim Morrison's grave

A tree out in front of the grave has become the more accessible memorial.

Oscar Wilde's bizarre Egyptian-winged-man grave with all the lipstick kisses was another highlight. Gertrude Stein had a disappointingly modest grave. I was hoping her final resting place would feel more, well, Gertrude Stein-y.

After spending way too much time at the train station buying tickets to Bruges, we rushed over to Musee D'Orsay which was open late that night. The old converted train station was an amazing art museum. I liked just sitting and resting my tired feet in the center of the building and looking up and around.

The museum holds beautiful Van Gogh's. One of his haunting self portraits was my favorite. There were also Degas and his ballerinas, Renoirs, and Monets. This museum is a must see if you are an art fan in Paris.

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.