The Bloodworths

Transfer Day: Great Market and A B&B

2012-08-12T19:16:00.002-07:00

One great thing about staying at Aranwa Sacred Valley with a Groupon was that we had included transportation to the airport. This is important because the airport is a little over 2 hours away from the hotel making for a very expensive transfer if its not included.

Olyantatambo: the largest city in the Sacred Valley

Our driver and guide telling us about the region

beautiful view

these views never got less exciting for us to see

... and another one

We opted to pay our driver extra and leave a little earlier so that we could experience another market. The market we visited was called (........). It was by far the best market we had visited to this point. Many markets we had seen in Cusco and Aguas Calientes were overwhelming in size but underwhelming in product- lots of factory made mass market goods. Of course, we wanted to bring home something more authentic.

a little video of the market and my blanket choosing

This is "the one"

This market definitely fit the bill. While there were still some mass market goods, the shopkeepers were very honest (at least we think they were) about telling us what was handmade vs. what was machine made as well as the materials each item was made from. We walked away with a beautiful antique tapestry (which I have no idea what we will do with it), a handmade blanket, handmade throw pillow covers and some very soft, yet machine made, alpaca blankets and scarves. It was fun to bargain with the shopkeepers and it became quite interesting when we ran out of money!

Since we ran out of money so quickly, we had a little more time on our hands than we expected giving us an opportunity to visit Cusco once more. In Cusco, we hoped to make one last visit to Greens Organic but weren't able to because we were too early. Instead we were sell outs and went to Starbucks on the Plaza de Armas (which I swore I wouldn't visit earlier in the trip). Here we had a great view of a celebration/parade/festival (not really sure) which was entertaining to watch.

The parade!

Seriously, the only picture we got of these dancers was this girl fixing her bra...darn.

From here our trip was uneventful until our arrival in Arequipa.

We were greeted at the airport by a friendly driver and taken to our hotel for the evening, a bed and breakfast called Casa Arequipa. It's a cute little pink mansion on the edge of the downtown area. We had the balcony room which was very comfy and where we hoped to spend some time people watching. Unfortunately, there was a very foul smell that kept us indoors instead of on the balcony.

Upon arrival, the woman at the front desk quickly greeted us and offered to make us dinner reservations at a restaurant called ZigZag. I had done a lot of reading on the plane to determine a place to eat that evening. While I read great things about ZigZag, I also read it was a little pricey and a little fancy. We had already decided we wanted to have a low key dinner for 2 reasons: there were many great mid-priced restaurants listed in Lonely Planet AND we didn't want to change clothes for dinner. So, we thanked her and told her we'd let her know where we'd like to eat for dinner after we settled into our room.

Before we headed out to walk to the Plaza de Armas (yes there is one in every city), we let the woman know we'd like to eat at Crepisimo, the sister restaurant to ZigZag. She immediately followed that with, "that restaurant is probably closed since it is Sunday. I will make you reservations at ZigZag." Luckily, I had my Lonely Planet book with me and could show her that the restaurant we wanted to go to was actually open on Sunday. She was a bit disappointed and we could tell that the hotel obviously had a partnership with ZigZag.

Our walk up the the Plaza de Armas was a little spooky- there weren't many people out except for a few street performers, literally they perform on the crosswalks, and most of the businesses were closed and barred since it was Sunday. Once reaching the Plaza, we discovered that Arequipa does have one of the most beautiful main squares and it was very bustling.

Plaza de Armas shops

LOVED these foutains

Add caption

We continued on to dinner a few blocks up at Crepisimo- overall thoughts: great beer selection for Peru, yummy crepes and appetizers, lovely atmosphere, oddly cold and impersonable wait staff...I mean, I wanted to hug her and tell her to perk up.

We ended our night early as we were a bit uncomfortable with our surroundings- several drunks out and about at 7:30pm! We watched We Bought a Zoo, which I highly recommend, and then attempted to sleep through the very loud car horns, busses, dogs, chickens, and sirens just outside of our door accompanied by a bright orange street light shining directly into our room. As you can imagine it made for a lovely night's sleep.

our adorable little room

The Sacred Valley Where We Never Left Our Hotel

2012-08-07T05:47:00.002-07:00

(Russell writing)
To be honest, the main reason we decided to go to the Sacred Valley was because we bought a discounted package deal for both Cusco and the Sacred Valley on Groupon. (As a matter of fact, our entire trip was strung together using discount travel sites like Groupon, Jetsetter, and Luxury Link...otherwise we never would have been able to afford it!) In any case, our stay in the Sacred Valley was a unique one if nothing else.

Our travel Groupon included 2 nights in the Aranwa Cusco Boutique and 3 nights in the Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel and Spa. We absolutely loved the Aranwa in Cusco, so we had high hopes for our next stop.

Well, first things first. After we pulled into the train station at Ollantaytambo we had to get a taxi to the hotel, which is located just outside of Urubamba. However, we had no clue how far away it was! After 45 min in the van with a driver who spoke no English (and we only little Spanish), we started to get a bit paranoid as we drove deeper and deeper into the middle of nowhere. Once the driver finally turned of the road into some dirt side street, we were convinced we were goners for sure!

Fortunately, the taxi did indeed know where he was going, and we arrived at the hotel, which is guarded by an enormous, Jurassic Park-esque gate.

Our first impressions were marked mostly by pure astonishment. The lobby was filled with fine art, high ceilings, a gorgeous stain glass window, among other expensive flourishes. The rest of the grounds were no different. I have never seen a more luxuriously appointed hotel of this kind, and in some sense it felt like it should be a part of some high-end Disney World resort.

Peacocks, macaws, and alpacas roamed the property. The facilities included the biggest spa in South America, a cinema, a museum, an historic refurbished hacienda, a library, 3 restaurants, a sushi bar, an orchid garden, an orchard, a beautiful chapel--the list goes on and on--, all surrounded by the beautiful Andes Mountains!

front lobby

Stained glass in the front lobby

fireplace and more art in the front lobby

breakfast and snack cafeteria (we never went "for snack" since there was so much food at meals)

pet macaw

This is a little tour of the main buildings of the property...a little shaky but gives you a feel for the place.

The chapel- part of the original property

orchid garden (there were only 2 orchids blooming)

Russell's favorite: lomo saltado

one of the only things I could eat: pasta with sauce.

However, we quickly discovered that all was not well in paradise. Aranwa Sacred Valley does many, many things right: their facilities--as mentioned--are world class; their staff are extremely friendly; and the setting is gorgeous. But our general takeaway was that Aranwa's upper management has clearly missed the mark on two critical points: their operational expertise and their general vision/model for what Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel and Spa should be.

On our last evening we learned that there were only 19 guests staying at the resort which could have contributed to our feeling that they need some operations coaching. If we understood correctly, there are usually about 100 guests at any given time during high season and we were just there on an off week. Not sure if that's true or not...from what we've read from other people's reviews on Trip Advisor, many guests feel like they're staying in a ghost town!

Part of this ghost-town vibe is the result of the grounds being so enormous. But some clear operational issues affected this as well. As a quick example, the hotel has huge time windows for when guests can eat meals. Dinner runs from somewhere from 5pm-11pm. At most places we stayed, dinner was between 7pm-9pm, which allows the kitchen to be much more efficient in meal prep and helps to create a more bustling atmosphere for guests since everyone has to go eat dinner around the same time. At Aranwa, however, you are almost certain to be the only couple dining in the hotel's gargantuan dinner restaurant since the large time window allows for guests to spread themselves out in terms of when they eat...it's a little unsettling!

Plus, the many stores at the hotel (Kuna, etc.) never seemed to be open during their stated hours of operation. They'd instead be open randomly when you least expected it. We think that some of the hotel's amenities, features, etc., are provided only when the occupancy rate is high enough.

(Katie writing)
One thing we didn't realize, as stated before, was that Arwanwa Sacred Valley was somewhat in the middle of nowhere. We envisioned our hotel being in or very nearby a town so that we could come and go as we pleased but this was not the case (note to self, do a little more research). Because of this, if one were to leave the grounds, a hired driver was required and the only way to get one is through the hotel concierge. Annoyingly, you need to plan much in advance for this AND the price is well over average market price. The only way to hire reasonable transportation is to get the card from your taxi driver from the train station and if you forget to do that, you're just out of luck.

While in Cusco, we had read about great rafting in the Sacred Valley and began making plans with a small rafting company to meet up with them and go on a little river run. When explaining this to our hotel concierge, he immediately tried to reroute us to one of the hotel's planned rafting trips that was not double, but triple the price of the rafting we had already scheduled. When asked about hiring transportation, he gave us a bit of a run around, quoted us a decent price and then came back with a final price that was over double his original offer. The more we negotiated, the more difficult the transportation became logistically so sadly we ended up canceling rafting altogether. (Side note: the transportation negotiations lasted for much of our first full day at the resort. At one point, when trying to contact the concierge, we learned that he could not be reached because he was receiving spa services! Many other times we called his desk extension to receive no answer or answering service. Very frustrating.)

Since our rafting trip was cancelled, we ended up with much more time on the hotel grounds than we originally planned. Not only that, but we decided not to go on any excursions because we viewed them as overpriced and/or things we could do in Arkansas (such as ride 4 wheelers for $300 pp- seriously?!). Because of this, we got a little bored and a little homesick, although we had plenty of time to roam and explore...

one of the peacocks

beautiful landscaping around the property

one of the many fountained courtyards in the original hacienda

the orchard

the orchard entrance

our alpaca friends!!

don't you want to just cuddle them up?

having a little chat

garden maze

pretty little alleyway

another courtyard with a beautiful fountain

The last day we were there, we decided to try out their "world class" spa (largest in South America). Again, the facilities were beautiful and the staff very friendly, but we found that our spa experience was our least favorite (and most expensive) of all the places we had stayed. Our package included time in a dry sauna, wet sauna and jacuzzi tub but the temperatures weren't quite right- saunas were too cool and jacuzzi was scalding hot. The massages were ok but there were often moments when Russell and I both thought, "does she know what she's doing or is she making this up as she goes?" We think this was the result of having an overly exhaustive spa menu (3 pages of services, including 30 minutes of walking while escorted by a "personal trainer")) with only a few masseuses on staff. There's just no way they can be great at everything. All that said, we can't complain too much about spending time in the spa, but we feel Aranwa might want to rethink the spa's operational model!

For dinner on our last evening we were ready for a change of scenery so we opted for a private dinner in the colonial kitchen. This is the original kitchen of the original hacienda from the 1800s. We got to chat with the chef and assist in making clay oven pizzas. This was by far our favorite activity of our stay! The chef was friendly, the atmosphere cozy, and the pizza was a welcomed change from the delicious, yet heavy, Peruvian cuisine. And Russell even set up the iPad for a little jazzy dinner music :)

A quick pic with Bruno, the chef!

mmmm, I never would've thought I would think of pizza as "lighter" fare. After all the food we'd eaten, this actually seemed like a less heavy option!

This big oven is from the 1800s!

Waiting and chatting

C'mon pizza! The oven was having trouble heating up because it was a particularly chilly and windy evening

The finished product!

Overall, we recommend Arwanwa Sacred Valley Hotel and Spa (beautiful setting, some solid cuisine, and friendly staff), but we can't help but feel that the resort's operational model makes it fall short of what it should be. Also, you should keep the following in mind: get in touch with an outside, reputable excursion company in advance (check Lonely Planet for advice); travel with a group or be prepared for some down time (if you're there on an "off" week, the ghost town effect will be in full swing); and get contact information from your train station transport driver.

I'll Have The Machu Picchu With A Side of Huayana Picchu, Please.

2012-08-03T06:28:00.001-07:00

Tour guide: (holds up a card with a bird on it) "This is a ____ in Spanish it is called a _____ in Quechuan it is called a _____. You might see one here."

(People on tour with binoculars: desperately search for birds and see nothing but the Peruvian equivalent to the robin or maybe wren.)

Tour guide: (stands without looking through his binoculars for birds...or looking for birds at all...or pointing out things tour members might like to see)

(3 minutes pass)

Tour guide: "Ok, we will move on"

...and this repeated for about 3 stops until Russell and I ducked out of the tour.

Last minute we decided to take the bus up the mountain on the recommendation of a friend since I was still recovering from "the bug". Beside fearing for our lives as large tour busses zig zagged up a mountain and narrowly passed each other for the 20 minute ride, it saved a ton of time and energy. The energy part was especially key for me since I'd pretty much eaten bread, crackers, water and coca tea for the past 24 hours.

We began our Machu Picchu adventure around 8:45am. The sun was up and most of the clouds had cleared so we had beautiful views of a most spectacular place. We opted not to have a guide so we are certain we missed out on much of the history and legend told about the ruins but we decided it was nothing a documentary wouldn't tell us (so we plan to find one when we get home).

I can't say that the Machu Picchu ruins are a particularly easy or safe excursion yet there was a retirement home "field trip" and several toddlers-5year olds tromping around. The poor retirement home folks were sitting down for a rest every 10 minutes...and were not properly informed about attire. Many were wearing the equivalent to ugg boots, keds, and even ballet flats (no traction at all). Then there were the "fancy" people decked out in designer jeans or track suits with make up, fixed hair and all sorts of ridiculousness. Different strokes for different folks, I guess!

Around 10am we headed to the ticket line for Wayana Picchu, described by Lonely Planet to be an easy trek up a hill that may not be worth one's time. Well, I will say it was probably the most difficult, scariest thing I have ever done. ever.

The good news is- nobody died. The bad news is, I had a bit of a break down at the top and cried in front of about 50 people. Nice. I felt like such a grown up. Enjoy the pictures!

Machu Picchu

Our first look at Machu Picchu. Check out the heights and the drop offs. Remember, I'm afraid of that stuff!

We arrived as the clouds were lifting

The size of this place is unbelieveable!

Perfectly angled and leveled terracing that was once used for agricultural purposes.

This is supposed to be one of the best places to get your picture made...I think the guy who took our picture got a little too close!

More terracing, it really is incredible!

This is like the "junk yard" where they put left over stones. Don't worry, it does have a steep drop on the other side where you could fall to your death :)

Notice the difference in the stone work on this building. It's the sun temple which was one of the most sacred. These blocks have been cut to fit perfectly together with no mortar.

a lone tree

millions of tiny steps!

This is the courtyard where the town came together to listen to live music and have picnics in the summertime (j/k but that would be a great place for it).

a close up example of the precisely cut stone

and again

This is foreshadowing: "Wow look at those two mountains over there. I'd hate to climb that tall one."

Incan homes. They used to have thatched roofs.

Their equivalent to the alley

My favorite picture of Russell. Probably one of 3 good pictures I took the entire trip (my talents do not lie in photography).

A little video to show you the scope of this place!

Huayana Picchu

Realization that we had been looking at the wrong mountain. I am not happy.

This is my fake "I'm scared" picture

In the video above when Russell talks about the old people, there they are coming up behind me as I give another dramatized frown.

Here we go! Up the mountain one tiny, slippery, uneven stair at a time.

Still going! I'm doing ok at this point. Just watching the people in front of me and not looking down, back or to the side of me.

Here we are at an overhang. You can't tell from this picture but that white spot behind us is Machu Picchu. This picture was followed by...

...the break down. Yes I am crying here. Once I stopped crying and could speak above a whisper, I sent Russell up the rest of the mountain.

This video gives you a feel for where I stopped.

The following videos are Russell's play by play through the remainder of the climb. He did this so that I could see what I missed. Let me tell you, even watching these videos makes my blood pressure rise!

yes, that patch on the lower right hand side of the picture is Machu Picchu

Dumb lizard- why did you come all the way up here?!

That arrow says "walk this way so you don't die" not really, but it should.

There I am on that little ledge in the turquoise shirt, reading my Kindle and trying not to look like a total loser.

Whew! He made it back alive!

Trying to stand up after I've been sitting statue-still until Russell returned!

We then headed back down the stairs that we came up which was much more terrifying than going up and probably took us longer as I clung to the occasional railing ropes for dear life.

After our trek, we headed back to the hotel for a much needed massage in the little spa. It started raining while we were there which made for relaxing background noise (like a sound machine but real life) and put me straight to sleep.

Finally we boarded another train and headed to The Sacred Valley.

Aguas Calientes: The Town That Is Unavoidable on Your Way To Machu Picchu

2012-07-31T06:45:00.002-07:00

We took the train (pretty much the only way unless you choose to hike in) to Aguas Calientes. Russell scored awesome seats in the first row of the train so we had an up close, panoramic view of the scenery during the trip. Unfortunately, I felt horrible the whole time so I spent much of the train ride in the fetal position.

trying to survive the bug

the greatest part about the train is that it traveled at about 10mph which made it easy to take pictures!

look at those rapids

a small town on the edge of the tracks

our panoramic view from the train

can't beat views like this!

Aguas Calientes, the town at the bottom of Machu Picchu where the train arrives, has a unique charm, but is no doubt the most touristy place we visited- a giant market and rows and rows of backpackers hotels mixed with restaurants peddling hamburgers, pizza, spaghetti, and mexican food...odd.

We stayed in an amazing place, Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, which was a much needed respite so I could recover from my "bug" (literally) in comfort. All Inkaterra hotels are based on eco-friendly values and they are very sustainable. At this hotel they have a tea farm and fruits and vegetable farm where they get most of their produce for their restaurant.

our casita

living room/bedroom

yes, that is a glass shower to the left, beautiful views of nature!

"the" place for my afternoon recovery rest

our plunge pool and patio

After a rest, we decided to go on a little tea farm excursion. We learned how tea is made from harvest to the tea cup.

Angel is showing us the perfect tea leaf- you only pick the baby leaves that have just sprouted

mmm, smells like a fresh plant...not like tea

searching for the perfect leaf

Russell's working hard

keep working Russell! I have more leaves that you!

This is a tea tree berry where tea tree oil comes from

some of the leaves I gathered

The tea hut- where the tea magic happens!

the first step is to make a tea leaf mash

finished product! From here the leaves are cured and then slowly dried over a fire pit

Then, the dried leaves are sifted to remove any large leaves or stems...

and now its time to make the tea bags!

It's tough work!

concentrate!

He did it!

and so did I!

Success!

We woke up early for a bird watching excursion before we headed up the mountain. Unfortunately the excursion was a bust- I don't think our guide was into leading a 6:30am tour. First, he left us for being 30 seconds late and second, the tour went something like this:
tour guide holds up a card with a bird on it: "this is a ____ in spanish it is called a _____ in Quechuan it is called a _____. You might see one here."
people on tour with binoculars: desperately search for birds and see nothing but the Peruvian equivalent to the robin or maybe wren.
tour guide: stands without looking through his binoculars for birds...or looking for birds at all...or pointing out things tour members might like to see
(3 minutes pass)
tour guide: ok, we will move on
and this repeated for about 3 stops until Russell and I ducked out of the tour.

Get excited for our next post about our Machu Picchu excursion! I was going to include it in this post but with all the pictures it would just be TOO LONG!

Cusco or Cuzco or Qusquo

2012-07-30T05:25:00.001-07:00

Cuzco- a bustling city, mish mash of gritty charm and kitchy tourism. We loved this little city! We stayed at the Arwanwa Cusco Boutique Hotel just a few blocks from the iconic Plaza De Armas. We were in walking distance to everything we wanted to see (although each little jaunt felt like a marathon due to the altitude). With only an evening and one full day, we had to be strategic about what we saw and did.

Our first evening was spent exploring the plaza and ducking in and out of shops trying to figure out the worthwhile souvenirs vs. the mass produced Cancun-esque crap. We found a wonderful little art shop where I got a little water color of a llama, several alpaca stores and a tapestry store that we would revist the next day.

Upon the recommendation of a friend, we made reservations in advance at Ciciollina, a Peruvian fusion restaurant. It did not disappoint! Probably our favorite meal so far. We loved the decor, the ambiance, the staff...and the food was AMAZING! A sweet French couple, Henry and Margo, was seated beside us and we offered them the rest of our bottle of wine (the altitude does a number on your ability to consume safely). We then struck up a conversation and had the best time- I bet we sat for an hour chatting! Luckily, the guy new English very well. His parents used to send him to English speaking countries for school semesters so he could practice his English, crazy right?!

The next day, we decided that the best strategy was to follow the Lonely Planet's walking tour. It was a great way to hit the city's high points (and low points). We'll try to expand on the tour mostly in pictures:

Plaza de Armas in the daylight

view of the hills

windy streets

first stop on the walking tour- this is the arch of a female saint...at the moment I can't think of her name!

San Pedro market- this market is for the locals. Consider it their Walmart

juice bars- just pull up a stool and get fresh juice!

our juice lady

finished product! Strawberry, banana, orange :)

This masked man, along with his other masked amigos stand in the middle median and whip people for not minding the cross walks...it's sort of scary and pretty darn funny!

very old pedestrian alley with Incan walls

A lookout point in the smaller Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas

another view from the church

another view of the Plaza de Armas

on our way to the sun temple (I think)

Stop for lunch at Greens Organic

using my STELLAR Spanish skills to order lunch

trout ceviche

very refreshing chicken soup

grilled alpaca wrap

Spanish built courtyard

Kindle Fire saved us many times! Handy access to maps and Lonely Planet!

another beautiful view of the city

there's that plaza again!

The Spanish destroyed this Incan temple and built over the top of it, you can see the Incan walls on the bottom and the Spanish influenced cathedral on the top with the colonial style buildings to the right

terracing

more terracing

On our way up to San Blas, the artist district (where we found no good art)

We ended our day with another round of shopping and dinner at Marcelo Batata (doesn't rank among our favorites on the trip).

I can't believe we actually did all of that in one day! The next day we would be off to Aguas Calientes and then on to Macchu Pichu!

Side note: I won't expand because it's quite disgusting, but after our long day of walking, seeing, and eating, I discovered I had contracted a bug. After a little WebMd, ask.com, and wikipedia searching I discovered I had contracted Giardia. If you want to know more, just look it up...I had every symptom. It's gross. The greatest part is, it takes a minimum of 3 weeks to run its course even with antibiotics, which luckily we carried in our pharmacy arsenal!

Here's a little gem to keep you laughing:

After forcing me to take this picture (and obviously giving it the best smile they've got), the little girl to your right had the nerve to tell Russell and me that the generous tip (if you calculated time spent vs. money earned) we gave her wasn't enough!

Welcome To The Jungle, The Amazon Jungle

2012-07-22T19:51:00.001-07:00

Puerto Maldonato- The Jungle

Getting to Puerto Maldonado was mostly uneventful except for the parts in Lima where airport security was laughable, all announcements for our terminal were made from one desk, and there was no organization for getting onto our plane. I take that back- we were shoved into a bus and taken to our plane. We did get an awesome snack on our way to our stop over in Cuzco- cinnamon roll and a dinner roll stuffed with meat and cheese- take that USA, in Peru they feed their passangers!

The Cusco stopover was supposed to take just long enough for the deplane-ers to deplane and the new passengers to get settled but instead all of that happened and then we ALL deplaned and the reason was "for your safety we need to deplane. Cusco passengers on the left and Lima passengers on the right" we all stood in line for about 30 minutes and then got back on the plane only to find out that "for our safety" we would be sitting on the plane for at least another hour. All in all the ordeal took over 2.5 hours. Luckily, whatever they did for us got us to Puerto Maldonado "safely".

not so patiently waiting for luggage

bus ride to the receiving lodge

We were greeted by a member of the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica staff and taken to their lodge while they processed our passports. We got to walk through their little butterfly house and had some tasty refreshments.

receiving lodge

butterflies eating plantains- these butterflies have blue wings when they are open!

butterfly house

From there, we took a bus through the town to the port where we boarded a fiberglass flat bottomed covered boat and embarked on the Amazon river for about a 45 minute ride to our lodge.

the golden gate bridge! j/k

the port where we headed out to our hotel

get a feel for Puerto Maldonado

life jackets on for safety!

ray of sunshine, our driver was.

Inkaterra Lodge is amazing! They have about 35 rooms and have a carbon footprint of zero! It kind of felt like going to camp. There's a main dining space, an information/guide center and everyone has a cabana outfitted with hammocks, lounging chairs, and a mosquito net covered bed. There are no glass windows, only screens which brings me to the downside of limited privacy, you could hear your neighbors coughing.

first meal at the lodge

the beginning of Russell's love affair with lomo saltado

fish soup

chocolate yumminess

much needed mosquito netting!

lots of space for relaxing

the view from our porch

"electricity"

water bottles to keep the hotel netting carbon footprint of zero!

bucket-o-sand to put out fires- just in case!

educational lodge to meet for and learn about excursions

Our first excursion was the Amazon a night. We took boats out with a guide, helmsman, and spotligher and we were off to see what we could see on the riverbanks. Unfortunately most of the boat trip wasn't fruitful. We'd see a white cayman here and there just barely sticking out of the water. Just as we were losing interest and getting hungry for dinner, we hit the jackpot! The way you see the cayman's in the dark is to look for their eyes glowing when the spotlight passes over them. Suddenly it looked like glitter on the riverbank. We had found a whole litter ( I am positive you do not call a group of baby caymans a litter but you get it, right?). The crazy thing is, there can be up to 40 babies in one litter. The best part of the whole thing was that we found them just down the bank from our cabanas- like if you walked 50 feet from your cabana door, there they would be!

Disgusting! This is a snake we could've seen out and about...good thing the only place I saw them were in these jars!

the night tour

if you look very closely slightly to the right of center, you'll see a slightly bent line...that's a baby white cayman.

We headed to dinner and then to our first sleep in the Amazon jungle!

Day 2- we had a little wake up knock at 5am. I was already awake because I dreamed frequently throughout the night that there were critters in our bed. Poor Russell was worn out from me waking him up to get the imaginary creatures out of the bed. Needless to say we both had trouble getting up and moving! Today we were headed to Lago Sandoval. We loaded back on the boats and searched for wildlife on the banks during the trip. I was SUPER excited when we spotted a family of capybaras. I had been dying to see them! We also saw some cute little yellow faced monkeys jumping through the trees. Once we reached the reserve, we had about a 3km hike through the jungle with lots of mud, bugs and some beautiful birdsongs. We even got to see some red bellied macaws! Once we reached the lake, we boarded paddle boats and headed out to see what we could see. There were 2 other groups on the lake the same time that we were and I was worried they'd scare away all the good stuff before we got to it, but everyone spread out and we saw some great stuff! More bugs, kingfishers, herrons, oven birds, ugly chicken bird things, giant black caymans (our guide, Glhemm said they were possibly 3m long), and a family of howler monkeys! Once we parked our boat we were back on the trail for the long walk back.

a new meaning to bright and early

another beauty

my favorite picture of the day

another excited helmsman

our guide Glhemm

Angie and Jackie from England- they had just finished a 4 day Inca Trail hike...they are 67 and 75!

This is a family of capybaras (spelling is wrong probably). They're the biggest rodent!

They weren't kidding when they said "watch for the thorns"

Glhemm explaining the changes the river experiences

Watch out for that mosquito!

we're off to Lake Sandoval

Big Tree!

still walking!

These leaf cutter ants are CRAZY!

muddy boots!

loading up for our lake tour

push Glhemm!

Glhemm giving us an educational lesson

beautiful view

and another

way up in the top of the tree( think left of center top 3rd of the page) is a howler monkey and her baby...much cooler through the binoculars!

leaf cutter ants! There's a video of them earlier in this post

These guys carry wood for 3 kilometers sludging through the mud to build new bridges and docks.

a TINY praying mantis

It's HOT

After lunch we were back out again for the canopy tour. We saw the research center where the Inkaterra guides and researchers from around the world come to conduct research on the jungle and canopy. How cool is it that a tourist lodge keeps a focus on reasearch?!

We would be climbing a 100 ft tower and then making our way across 6 suspension bridges. Yes, you read right, the girl who had a break down on the Eiffel Tower was headed to walk across the jungle canopy. Glhemm gave us a great overview of how the canopy system works, the birds we could see etc. and we were off to walk across some very narrow hanging bridges. Guess what- I did it and I didn't freeze, I didn't freak out and I walked across all by myself!

off to the canopy tour

you want me to climb that?!

Here I go!

...and up

view from the top

we made it!

Glhemm is actually a bird expert! He studied them and college and is working on his masters!

For those of you who know my fear of heights- this was a big deal for me!

Russell wasn't scared a bit!

If you want to feel in on the action, watch this video

back down safe and sound!

On our hike back to the lodge we saw huge lemons, learned more about the fascinating jungle ecosystem, saw a strangling fig tree and learned how beetles burrow into coconut seeds and lay their eggs.

Strangler fig- it strangles its host tree until there's nothing left!

I had a little taste of this coconut like thing- sometimes when you crack them open there are larvae inside. Lucky for me, no larvae in this one!

This tree can move inches in the span of a year depending on where it can get the best sunlight

After a little break we were off for our final excursion of the day: the jungle at night. Russell and I were both a little uneasy about this since he doesn't love spiders and I HATE snakes, both of which could have been seen on the walk. We saw a tarantula, hoards of army ants, some crazy looking spiders, and one little yellow frog. Overall it was a let down aside from the fear we experienced from walking through the dark jungle. We were crossing our fingers for owls and sloths (and the rest of the group for snakes). Oh well ,the jungle IS elusive.

resident tarantula- she lives in a tree by the lodge

these ants were insane, there were literally millions of them!

and another creepy crawly

and another....

In this video you can see just how dark it really was in our night walk!

and another! Did I mention that Russell HATES spiders?

The next morning we awoke at 5:30am. That's right, we got to sleep in! We were off on our most exciting adventure yet- Piranha fishing!

(Russell writing)
This was something I was extremely excited about. Although we had fun the previous day (particularly, in my opinion, doing the Canopy Walk through the trees), I felt that overall the day was somewhat underwhelming in terms of the wildlife we saw beyond the unsettling swarms of mosquitos! The piranha fishing excursion, which cost a wee bit extra, was about 2 hours up river at Lago Valencia. We were joined by our guide, Ghlemm, and a lovely couple we'd made friends with the day before, Mike and Bethany from San Diego.

When we weren't sleeping on the boat ride on our way to the lake, we were taking in the absolutely gorgeous views. About halfway, the boat turned off the main river and onto a little tributary towards Lago Valencia. It was here that things started to get a bit exciting. We saw TONS of birds as well as an absolutely remarkable sighting of an anteater walking around in a tree. Very very cool.

Once through the tributary we entered onto the main lake and started our attempts at fishing for the catch of the day: piranha. Although neither Katie nor I are particularly adept fishermen, piranhas fortunately, if nothing else, have no trouble being tempted by a bit of red meat on a hook. The problem is that they tend to be pretty good at nibbling your bait up without you ever even knowing it. Much of the day was spent "feeding" the piranhas rather than catching them!

After enough attempts though, you're bound to catch something! Katie, as it turned out, caught one of the three biggest fish of the day, while I--although I caught a lot--ended up mostly with little piranhas that might pass for a fish stick at best in terms of size.

taking off bright and early!

My first, and largest catch!

look at the eyes on that thing!

big one!

The better to gobble you up, my dear!

One of Russell's many catches!

It's Big Mouth Billy Bass after dentures!

taking a break for outstanding empanadas!

baiting the hook

another good one!

We finished up our fishing with--somewhat frighteningly--a quick dip in the lake just a hundred or so yards away. We both were actively crossing our fingers that our splashing around wouldn't attract the remaining family members of the now-captive piranha we caught, perhaps seeking revenge! Fortunately, the swimming was mostly uneventful except for a quick "feat of strength" challenge where Katie and I raced each other around the boat. We evidently are both pretty slow swimmers.

we decided we should go in together so if the piranhas attacked we'd go down together!

he survived!

and now for the racing feat of strength. Russell wins, I presumably get a mouth full of water.

Following the fishing, we set ashore at a little area owned by the lodge and enjoyed an absolutely fantastic meal prepared by one of the chefs who had accompanied us. The table was filled with different meats, h'ors doevres, etc., as well as a great many beverages including beer, wine, and champagne. Oh yeah, and a whole lot of piranha that we had just caught! It's actually pretty darn delicious, although I was partial (as I've been the entire trip) to the lomo saltado that was on the table. Beef in Peru is just phenomenal. One of the best parts- it started raining during lunch so the sounds were beautiful!

lunch table

fried up and ready!

tasty!

beautiful view

and another

hanging with Glhemm!

cheers to a wonderful day

and another good one

and another

little hand wash after a "pit stop"

look at that!

Once back at the lodge, the rest of our day was mostly spent relaxing since we were absolutely exhausted! A brief sloth and macaw sighting as well as a yummy dinner capped things off. Tomorrow our trip sets off for Cusco! So long mosquitos!!

These little guys ran around all over the lodge grounds!

We're off to Peru!! Lima

2012-07-20T07:15:00.003-07:00

We're off to Peru! First stop, Lima. As a bit of context, Russell and I decided we needed to take advantage of the free time we have before Russell starts work full-time at Walmart in August. This is sort of a "last hurrah" vacation since we will never has much time as we do now again to do this sort of thing!

Our travel there was very non-eventful so I won't go into too much detail. Really, the only thing of note is that upon bag weigh-in at the airport, I tallied only 19lbs. for 3 weeks worth of travel. That's got to be a personal best for me.

We landed in Lima on time around 11:00pm and thought it would take us max 45 minutes from plane side to taxi...2 hours later we were finishing up in customs. Yipes! We arrived to our hotel, Miraflores Park Hotel around 2:30am where we were kindly greeted and shown our room (a junior suite) where we fell into bed until the next morning.

I'll have to let you in on a secret- we used Luxury Link and Jetsetter to book the majority of our trip which means we were able to score some great hotels and some great rooms for less $$$ than lower ranked hotels and basic rooms. So far, they have not failed us!

Day 1:
We woke up bright and early, stuffed our faces and headed out to find Bike Lima where we would be taking a 4 hour bike ride through Miraflores, Barranco, and Churillos (I think). Of course we started the morning off on the verge of getting lost (flash back to our Paris trip earlier in the year) but thankfully we weren't too far off track!

We biked with 4 other people (2 Americans and a couple from Hungary) and a great guide who was very friendly and had great stories! Highlights included: beautiful views, school children who wanted their picture taken with us, the wishing bridge, the diving monk, the park full of abandoned cats and almost getting hit by taxis multiple times (making us thankful for purchasing trip insurance).

one of the look out points during biking

Our tour group

lookin' cool, rockin' the helmet

Our tour guide with lots of stories. He had a knack for asking questions and answering himself.

Beautiful haunted cathedral in Barranco

School girls in Barranco who asked to get their pictures made with us

Another look out point. Would you like to live in this condo complex? You can't! It has to be torn down because it was built illegally through governmental bribes.

The diving monk. Below is a video of him diving. Watch for his crazy climbing skills! There are many citizens who reenact the legend of the diving monk who killed himself out of heartbreak.

After our bike ride we were a bit hungry and very tired so we headed off to find a coffee shop I'd read about in our Lonely Planet Peru Guide (also an invaluable resource). Once again, we got a little lost and I got to practice fumbling through my Spanish phrases asking for directions. Without a doubt, I should've paid more attention in my 4 years of obligatory second language classes.

We did find Cafe Z and as Lonely Planet suggested, they had great food and the world's most uncomfortable chairs!

We took a break at the hotel for massages and then headed to dinner at Panchita. A trendy Peruvian restaurant. At this point of the day, my Spanish had gotten so bad it was comical but we somehow made it through! Panchita had THE BEST rolls we have ever eaten- if heaven has school lunch rolls, this is what they would taste like. We split Peruvian chicken noodle soup and a third of a roasted suckling pig for dinner. The soup was outstanding but, a little mushy and too fatty, the pig was not for us.

We then headed back to the hotel to prepare for the day to come.

Lima Day 2:
While we felt as if we had planned and planned and planned some more for this trip, we realized we hadn't planned enough. Our second day in Lima was totally open. I woke up early (too early says Russell) to figure out what we'd be doing and how we'd be getting there. After much deliberation...and a considerable amount of help from the concierges (who were fantastic)...we decided to visit two museums, take in the Plaza de Armas, go paragliding and experience chicharones and ceviche. We decided to hire a drive for the day so that we didn't have to worry about repeatedly locating "safe" taxis throughout the town.

First stop (name of museum) . This museum is in a colonial style mansion in Barranco. It's small art collection by the artist (name) is a little like a bad dream but whimsical and interesting to look at. The art critics Russell and I are not meant we were in and out in 30 minutes. We were supposed to follow this trip up with a little paragliding. Unfortunately there was no wind which made it unsafe and virtually impossible so we skipped that part and were off to Plaza de Armas in Lima's old city center.

We arrived just in time for the changing of the guards at the president's mansion (their equivalent to the White House). The ceremony lasted over 30 minutes. There were many soldiers performing a highly choreographed marching routine but sadly and comically many were out of step.

We then visited the cathedral where we had a very informative tour learning of the history of Catholicism and the Spanish takeover in Lima.

Me, squinting to read my Kindle to determine where we would be eating. That man beside me is our hired driver, Ronaldo, who awkwardly followed us around the city and made us feel like he was in a hurry.

Upon leaving the square we headed to a slightly rougher part of town to eat lunch at a sandwich shop. Russell had the chicharrones, a Peruvian specialty of fried pork.- it was amazing! We also tried Cusquena beer which is known to be the best around..it's pretty much like a Bud. Our penchant for craft beers in the states makes us a little snobby when it comes to having beers abroad.

Our next stop was the Museo Larco, a ceramics museum, where we learned of the native Peruvian cultures including their formation of societies, agriculture, spiritual beliefs and rituals. We loved this museum and spent over 2 hours there!

NOTE: Ok, so a large portion of the Museo Larco is dedicated to "erotic" Incan pottery, etc. It's, well, a fascinating experience if nothing else. You will see your fair share of...um...creative displays of human, animal, and deistic affections.

We didn't take pictures inside the museum but there was beautiful bougainvillea on the outer walls

Upon returning to the hotel, our cab driver awkwardly tried to get (unsuccessfully) more money out of us leaving a sour taste in our mouths but that was really the only hiccup in our day.

We ended the day with an out of this world seafood/ceviche dinner at La Rosa Nautica where we also experienced the infamous Pisco Sour which almost put us under the table. Seriously. It's sorta like a margarita designed specifically to knock you out for the count. Efficacy on us? Strong to quite strong.

Random: The dogs in Lima seem bigger and boxier than dogs in the USA. We saw several labs, german shepherds and even mutts that seemed much more substantial (not fat) than US dogs. Also, many owned dogs in Lima wander freely during the day or sit outside of their homes with no leashes. In addition there are many strays in the city center. They all had such sweet faces and they just sleep in the middle of the sidewalks.

Overall Thoughts on Lima:
The scenery takes getting used to- the gray/white skies, crowded buildings, and lack of city planning or cohesive architecture gives an initial unfavorable taste of Lima. When you look closer though, it is a city with so much character and individuality. We grew to love our cloudy, almost dreary ocean view contrasted by the crammed city. All people we met in Lima were warm, friendly and patient with my horrible attempts to speak the language. The food is spectacular, the history interesting and we loved our hotel.

Stop number 1 of our Peru adventure has been a success!

Floors and More!

2012-06-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

I've lost count of the days, but here are some highlights from last week!

Floors are in progress! The guest room was added on at a later time- half of the closet is concrete from the garage. This meant building up the floor with glue before the wood floor could be laid.

Oops! Looks like Genna got curious!

almost ready!

While we were waiting on floors to be finished, Russell worked diligently to "bug proof" the screened porch. This meant hanging screen underneath so bugs couldn't attack from the floor. He has also installed weather stripping at the base of the door, patched a hole and put in a screened dog door for the dogs. Russell's becoming so handy!

Finally! There's floor space in the multipurpose room...still lots of work to be done in here!

Upstairs guest room. Check those beautiful floors! Still lots of finishing touches (notice the tiny rug under the bed- we'll need a new one) left to make this room comfy!

The office (also new beautiful floors). Looks like we're very hard workers judging by the size of those desks! Those desks were just about the death of both of us. It took a rented dolly, many tries and lots of patience to get these desks from point A to point B but we did it (with only minor injuries to the door frame). This room still has a long way to go as well!

....busted! We just transferred a bunch of stuff from the multipurpose room into this closet!

Oh happy day! There's no more bed in the dining room! Can't wait to get those walls painted!

Downstairs guest room. This is my favorite room in the house so far!

note the new floors...and the crooked blinds :)

It's coming along and beginning to feel like home! Nothing exciting has happened this week, so I'll spare you the details. Next pictures will be of freshly painted walls!

Truck 2

2012-06-05T11:57:00.003-07:00

Days 7, 8, 9

Day 7: I did a little tidying up- finishing up some open projects and cleaning a little. Russell arrived later in the evening and we had our first dinner together picnic style on the screened porch. At this point we have no tables!

Day 8: Russell and I ran errands and bought a new mattress! Leslie and her boyfriend Hunter (I know confusing, our brother's name is Hunter too) came over to hang too.

Day 9: The movers arrived from Memphis. Unfortunately, no one called to tell us they were coming so we weren't prepared for them at all. They were slow and careless with many of our things. Pretty much if it was antique and irreplaceable- they broke it.

Here are just a few examples of broken stuff:

the beginning of broken furniture- they must've thrown this chair out of the truck

another broken place, same chair

Russell's grandmother's piano- took a little wood off here...

and the whole leg fell off here. Notice where they lost a piece!

this is our antique dresser where they broken the edge and glued it back like we wouldn't notice

Our new bed! King sized!

more boxes added to the pile...and cute little chairs in desperate need of new upholstery

Bedroom furniture!

and more bedroom furniture!

Kitchen table! We now have a place to eat!

dining room furniture...

still mixed with guest room furniture!

The living room that was once livable is now piled with boxes and rugs.

another angle

The screened porch now looks like a storage facility

At this point we're now feeling like we have too much stuff! Look forward to seeing how we put all of this stuff away.

More Moving

2012-05-30T06:28:00.001-07:00

Days 4, 5, and 6

Not too much happened during these days as far as unpacking goes (or at least not a lot that I took pictures of!). I had a lot of computer work to catch up on so I spent much of my time doing that.

Day 4: I headed to Hot Springs for my "baby" cousin's graduation from high school so nothing was accomplished in the house

Day 5: The specialty movers unpacked the tv and hooked up the washer and dryer, AT&T U-Verse was installed and my brother finished up pulling carpet. His sweet girlfriend came to help so we arranged furniture AND pulled lots of staples out of the floor! Followed by the first dinner cooked in the kitchen! I also arranged the laundry room and storage closet this day but it's too hard to take pictures of it.

Day 6: I spent much of the day running errands and getting our class reunion invite ready to "go live", moving boxes and packing paper to the garage and I spent A LOT of the day staring at paint first on the computer and then from the chips I picked up from Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore.

temporarily arranged living room

The specialty movers came to unpack the tv today AND the U-Verse lady came to set up cable and internet.

That's right, I organized all of these paint chips according to color and shade. From there, I cut out the colors that were definite nos and then walked away for the day.

Prioritize to Organize

2012-05-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

Day 3

Today I went on an unpacking and organization spree. I seriously unpacked from 7am-6pm and from there went grocery shopping. Somehow I didn't get home until 9pm!

Kitchen cabinets all organized with my aqua and white dishes! I'm feeling extremely lucky that they look so great in our kitchen since there's nowhere for them to hide!

New Refrigerator!

coffee bar in the right hand corner, baking station in the middle, barware on the left hand side and what you don't see is a ton of organization in the drawers and lower cabinets

beginnings of glassware and microwave station...yes that is a ton of booze- it took me awhile to figure out what to do with it so it sat on the counter for a few days!

semi organized pantry

again

beginnings of bathroom organization, you'll see similar pictures for a few days. this was a toughie for me!

beginnings of organized towel closet

what do I do with this?!

beginnings of organized master closet

suit and dress organization

not making much progress on Russell's side!

towel etc closet looking better, pile in the floor looking worse

...and worse

ahh! but this looks better!

and so does this...

and this!

box pile is getting smaller- all of those closet in tupperware containers are out of season clothes

and these are things waiting on drawers!

So many boxes!

2012-05-29T08:29:00.002-07:00

Day 2

What a day it was! Our amazing movers arrived at 8am on the dot and began unloading the truck into the house. Luckily, our truck driver remembered where much of our stuff went so I didn't have to do too much directing. I had also labeled each room with painters tape so they could navigate box placement better. In addition my brother, Hunter, arrived to begin removing the carpet from the "kid" bedrooms. As clean as the family before was, I just can't do someone else's carpet.

As soon as the movers finished (by 11:30!), Leslie and I went on a search for the perfect refrigerator. It took some looking but the refrigerator was found! You'll see pictures in Day 3.

Here are the pictures!

Nermal wasn't sure what to think about all this stuff!

So much packing paper...this is just from the dishes box! I dove into unpacking the kitchen as soon as the boxes landed. I can't live without an organized kitchen!

That's right! That's a bed in the dining room. We decided this was the best place for it since it will be the guest bed but that bedroom has no floors at the moment!

bedroom minus carpet

another bedroom minus carpet

embarrassingly, these boxes are all clothes (except for the 2 flat ones on the right hand side)

It's hard to believe all of these boxes came from our small apartment!

A special thank you to my brother and sister for all of your help! So nice to be close to you both!

If Walls Could Talk

2012-05-27T19:14:00.002-07:00

So...I'm a little behind schedule in posting what has been happening in AR. I was going to try and summarize the week in one post, but it's just not possible! Look forward to many more posts in the next few days!

Day 1

I arrived around 9pm with my little sister. Russell was still in Memphis waiting on phase 2 of moving trucks. I was really thankful Leslie came to stay with me! Russell and I were so fortunate to have bought a house from a very sweet family. Walking into the empty house, I felt like the house missed it's family as much as the family missed it's house. I know this house holds memories of lots of happy noise! I immediately promised it that we would fill it with lots of love, a new family and many visitors.

You'll notice lots of light in these pics because I actually took these on the morning of Day 2 before the truck arrived!

I am now realizing I haven't actually taken a picture of the outside of the house! Use your imagination- white siding, shaker shingles, black shutters and black front door. Lots of trees :)

Here's the tour...

from the front door, take a right into the dining room

from the dining room, you walk through into the kitchen (that's Nermal in the corner. He's the previous owners' cat who stayed with me for a week)

pantry

from the kitchen take a right and another right, it leads you to the laundry room and storage closet

if you take a right then a left, then its guest room. Here's the closet

...guest room bathroom

guest room- I LOVE the windows in here!

If you would've taken a left from the kitchen, you would've entered the living room...

door to kitchen

fireplace, bookshelves, and door to the sun porch

paneling and fireplace

french doors to screened porch

view of the yard

view of the house from the porch and you can also see the deck

continuing through the living room and back to the front door you find the staircase

and under the staircase is this little powder room

at the top of the stairs to the left is the multipurpose room

multipurpose room closet

just past the multipurpose room is this "kid" bathroom

hallway to the bedrooms

"kid" bedroom 1

"kid" bedroom 1 alternate view

next door is "kid" bedroom 2

at the end of the hallway is the master bedroom

through the door you can see in the master bedroom is the master bathroom

and inside the bathroom is the master closet

master closet pic 2

master closet pic 3

We truly love our new house! Get ready to view the chaos in the next few days!

Time Flies When...

2012-05-14T13:13:00.000-07:00

Our moving truck came today.

How is this possible? I feel like we just moved in but two years later it's time to move on. What a mix of emotions this day brings- excitement for what is to come, pride for what has been accomplished, sadness for what- but most importantly who we're leaving behind.

Russell and I could not be more fortunate to have spent the first two years of our marriage growing in the Fuqua community. We had no idea what we would find when we made the 13 hour move from Memphis, but what we found was a cozy town, great food, a pile of friends and memories that will last a lifetime.

I have enjoyed watching the transformation of Russell. He's finding his drive and loves the world of business. I'm so proud of him and all of his hard work and dedication poured into getting his MBA. He has learned more than either of us could have imagined and is walking away with not only a degree and a great job, but new knowledge of his potential for success in the "real world" whether business or otherwise. I know big things lie ahead for his career and I'm looking forward to watching that path unfold.

Our family has grown by one dog child. We love Hattie so much and she has become great friends with Genna. Genna has grown up a bit herself! She takes naps now and even follows commands :) They have no idea what is coming for them. They're going to thank us for their new yard!

I have had the opportunity to search outside of my speech pathologist background by taking classes in nonprofit management through Duke continuing education as well as running a fantastic club at Fuqua (Russell's school) called MBA Games which is the largest contributor to Special Olympics of North Carolina. In addition to nannying for some great families and volunteering through Fuqua Partners.

Russell and I have become reliant on each other, made friends that are "ours" not mine or his, developed our home that will go with us where ever we may be, and have had lots of time for fun vacations. We've built a foundation for our future that is strong!

This is the day we say our final "see ya laters". It's going to be tough and we're going to miss this place where we have grown so comfortable. Part of me, though, is ready to turn the page and begin the next chapter- No homework, a house to call our own, a new town to explore, and seeing more of our families. I think we're in for many more great stories!

Stay tuned for the excitement to come...think fabric, paint, flooring and furniture!

Silk Marvelous Mornings House Party

2012-04-25T19:41:00.001-07:00

Somehow I found houseparty.com or they found me, I don't remember. Anyway, you should check them out! It's a super-fun way to host parties and promote new products. After a few applications for different parties, I was chosen to host a Silk Marvelous Mornings party to share their new Fruit & Protein drinks!

I was so excited that I had been chosen, I started planning right away! Russell and I are avid Silk Almond and Silk Almond Dark Chocolate drinkers. Russell can't have dairy or a lot of soy so this is a great alternative (not to mention that Silk Almond touts 2x the calcium and about 2/3 the calories of skim milk). Although Russell won't be drinking much of the Fruit & Protein drinks, I was excited to try something new!

House Party is great! They give you tons of party resources including recipe ideas, party games, a social network, AND a party pack. Here are pictures of my party pack:

"I'm so excited about my party pack!"

This is what I saw when I picked up my package!

a little gift for me: Silk reusable cup- perfect for smoothies!

another little something: Silk glass tumbler for my Fruit &Protein!

Now the big stuff- goodies for my guests!

My party was this past weekend and we had a great time! Of course, the party centered around food since I LOVE to cook! We had a noontime brunch with about 14 girlfriends. My dear friends Emily and Katelyn came a little before to help me cook and get ready.

Here's a picture of the spread. I tried my best to use Silk products in ALL of the recipes. I succeeded in almost all of them! I also made everything bite-sized so there would be lots of sampling.

part of the spread!

favors on the table

part of the tasting station

Katelyn trying (and loving) a yummy Green Monster Smoothie

food and fun!

me trying a plate full and a little Green Monster :)

The Recipes

Peach Mango Fruit & Protein banana muffins with granola.

Recipe:

(since I made this up, it might not be exact but I'm going to try my best)

1c. all purpose flour

1c. whole wheat flour

1/4 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

1/2 c. butter

3/4c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1t. vanilla

1 mashed bananas in a liquid measuring 2c. measuring cup.

Peach Mango Fruit & Protein poured over the mash banana to the 1 3/4c. line

3/4c. oats (I use Quaker Old Fashioned)

granola of your choice

Preheat oven to 350.

1. sift together dry ingredients

2. cream butter and sugar in stand mixer for at least 2 minutes, add eggs and vanilla

3. gradually add in dry ingredients

4. pour in Fruit & Protein

5. add oats

Now observe your batter. It should be thicker than cake batter but not so thick that it won't easily drop from a spoon. If it's too thin add a little more flour. If it's too thick, add a little more Fruit & Protein.

You have the option to serve this as a breakfast bread or muffin. I chose mini muffins. It took about 20 minutes for each mini muffin batch to bake. I think it would take about 30-45 minutes for regular sized muffins and for bread loaves 1 hour.

Before baking add granola on top of the muffins/bread!

Yields about 65 mini muffins (they freeze well)

French Toast Waffles (recipe from Silk)

Recipe:

1 c. Silk Pure Coconut Vanilla Coconut Milk

3 eggs

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tsp. maple syrup

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

8 slices of day old French bread or sandwich bread. I used this yummy oatmeal bread that I found at Kroger.

1. stir all ingredients (except bread) together

2. coat preheated waffle iron with cooking spray

3. dip bread into egg mixture so that it is saturated but not so much so that the bread falls apart when you pick it up

4. add bread to waffle iron (my iron could hold 4 pieces at a time) and cook until browned, 3 to 5 minutes I think.

5. I (actually Emily Sadlow) cut the bread into triangles to make it easy for the buffet table (and super-cute).

Whole Wheat Silver Dollar Pancakes with Blueberries

Recipe:

This recipe is easy to double or divide!

1 c. all purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

2 T. ground flaxseed

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 T. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Silk Almond Milk (any flavor would probably work but I used unsweetened)

pastry bag with medium to large round tip.

1. sift all dry ingredients together

2. in the same bowl add sugar eggs and vanilla

3. slowly pour in Silk Almond Milk as you stir until the batter is the consistency that it thickly coats a spoon and may drop off in blobs. You don't want this batter to be so thin it drips from the spoon or runs in a stream (hope that helps)

4. fill pastry bag with batter

5. in a pan preheated to medium medium/low heat (spray with nonstick if your pan needs that) drop pancakes with your pastry bag. I did about 4-5 per pan.

6. do not flip your pancakes over and over again. Once there are bubbles scattered across the top, flip your pancake once.

I served my pancakes in stacks of 3 with a toothpick through the middle that held blueberries on top and syrup on the side. I found that putting blueberries in the batter did not work since these pancakes were small.

Puff Pastry Omelet Bites

Recipe:

8 eggs

1/4 c. Silk Almond Unsweetened

4 pieces bacon chopped

1/2 carton pre sliced baby bella mushrooms

3 c. baby spinach

shredded mozzarella to taste

salt and pepper

2 sheets puff pastry

shredded parmesan cheese or hard cheese blend

Preheat Oven to 400

1. beat eggs with almond milk and set aside

2. in a preheated pan on medium heat add chopped bacon until it begins to brown

3. remove half the grease from the pan

4. add in mushrooms

5. once mushrooms soften add spinach

6. when spinach is wilted pour egg mixture over the top and stir to make scrambled eggs

(this recipe is great if you stop here and eat the scramble)

7. add shredded mozzarella and remove from heat.

8. on a floured surface roll out pastry dough, not too thin as it has to support the egg mixture. Basically just roll it out to remove the creases from where the dough had been folded and to even out the thickness across the sheet.

9. move one of the pastry sheets to a jelly roll pan (lipped cookie sheet) that has been sprayed with cooking spray

10. evenly distribute egg mixture across the top of the pastry sheet leaving about 1/2 inch border around the edge

11. lay 2nd pastry sheet on top of the egg mixture. Roll or press the edges to seal in eggs. Sprinkle top with parmesan cheese.

12. bake for 10 minutes and check to see progress (I don't remember how long I baked mine but I know it was at least 10 minutes). Pastry should be golden brown and cheese should be toasted.

13. when pastry begins to cool, use a biscuit cutter (or cookie cutter) to cut into rounds (or whatever shape you want). I used the second to smallest biscuit cutter in my set- maybe 1 1/2 inches?

Makes 18 rounds

You could also cut this into larger squares or triangles to serve plated at a sit down brunch!

Baked Brie in Pastry with Onion Jam/ Baked Brie with Honey

I'm not really sure that a recipe is needed for this. I used skinny brie logs that I found at Kroger. I wrapped one in puff pastry that I had spread onion jam on before rolling. The second log was just baked on it's own and drizzled with honey. I served them both with crackers.

Fresh Berries

Another dish with no need for a recipe. I used strawberries, raspberries and blackberries

Fruit & Protein "Shots"

just straight from the boxes :)

Green Monster Smoothies (recipe from Silk)

Recipe:

1 c. Silk Fruit & Protein Strawberry Banana

1 banana (frozen if you have one)

1/2 cup sliced strawberries

2 c. baby spinach leaves (I added more to enhance the green color)

1 T ground flaxseed

1/2 c. ice

Place all ingredients in blender with ice on top. Blend until smooth. I served these in 2oz. shot glasses with straws that had been cut in half and they were adorable!

Mimosas

2/3 champagne

1/3 orange juice

splash of grenadine

Playing the Silk trivia game and finding out what kind of Silk we represented was a fun little game :) The majority of guests were Strawberry & Banana and a few were Mixed Berry. Emma Finley walked away with a win with 9/9 correct on trivia and won a half gallon of Fruit & Protein to take home!

Here's a pic of part of the gang with their favors! I also included recipe cards of the recipes I used at the party.

It was a success! Everyone had a great time and the consensus was that Silk Fruit & Protein is a good addition to breakfast or even post workout drinks!

Paris Day 8 or Looking at Old Stuff

2012-04-22T09:30:00.001-07:00

Picking up where we left off at the flea market...

We woke up, grabbed our morning pastries and headed back out to the flea market at the Porte de Vanves (on the southern outskirts of the city). Russell couldn't stop thinking about the beautiful antique piece we saw the day before. After talking to his parents about the logistics of shipping furniture, the quality of the piece etc. He was pretty sure we would be taking it home.

We perused the flea market for awhile- I was looking for lace for my mom, skeleton keys and maybe a vintage couture find and Russell was fixed on furniture. I found some beautiful vintage jewelry but we couldn't get the lady to go down in price (being American and haggling isn't fun), no lace to speak of and an overwhelming number of keys. I ended up getting no keys because I couldn't decide on which ones I wanted or what I would actually do with them once I had them!

Russell decided that we would definitely get the buffet. I'll have to say, it IS beautiful and we're really excited to put it in our new house (that I will be blogging about very soon). Ms. Lawrence, a gravelly-voiced character who smoked like a chimney was a very kind woman and a hard worker. When we told her we were "in" as long as we could get a reasonable shipping price, she called shippers for an hour until she found the best one! She was so excited to sell the buffet, I don't think she often had pieces of this quality in her "shop" (aka van) and this was a very big sale for her. We were beyond happy to give her our business!

Here's a picture of the beauty! It's a King Louis the XVI? (or one of those Roman numerals)

From this flea market, we traveled to another...the biggest market in Paris, I think, at the Porte de Clignacourt. We, of course, got lost but this time we got lost on the edges of the Paris ghetto. It was a "little" scary...ok, it was pretty significantly uncomfortable. We got off the train one stop early and then got lost walking blocks to places that looked like they could be flea markets.

This underpass was filled with sketchy folks peddling fake Rolexes
and who knows what else!

Once we finally found it, we had to walk through this counterfeit goods market...the kind of counterfeit goods that are a total joke (think Cancun tourist markets). There were sketchy men thrusting perfume and watches in our faces, loud heavy bass music playing and sketchy patrons buying fake Nike tshirts. I was pretty stressed and overwhelmed trying to get out of there. It was the strangest thing- once we got to the edge of this madness there was this invisible line drawn where you entered into this quiet antiques market. You could feel the "exhale" when you crossed that line. I definitely loosed my grip on Russell's hand and we were both smiling again.

We could've stayed in this market for DAYS we didn't even scratch the surface! There were antique chandeliers, clocks, furniture, clothes, dolls, fabrics, buttons, figurines, art, windows, I could go on and on...beautiful things that are so hard to find in US antique stores and flea markets. It was amazing what good condition much of it was in and just how old it really was! I walked away with some beautiful lace and if we were bazillionaires, we would have outfitted an entire house!

After our long day looking at old stuff, we headed back into the main part of town to wrap up our trip...

First to Sainte Chapelle. It's undergoing quite the refurbishment process. It was beautiful!

Pic by Trey Ratcliff (you should follow him on Google+)

And then to the Pompidou Centre, a contemporary art museum that is AMAZING! For some reason we didn't know anything about Pompidou and Russell had never been there on his previous trips to Paris. We probably should have spent more time here but we just didn't know. This was a place where our museum pass DEFINITELY came in handy. Upon arrival there was a ridiculous line just like at the Louvre. We saw a sign that said "pass holders this way". We couldn't believe it possibly meant that we skipped the entire line of people, but it did and we saved ourselves at minimum an hour of wait time!

One of our favorite works at the Pompidue Center

Outside view of the Pompidue Center

I will have to say, I don't have an appreciation for all modern/contemporary art but I do love some of it. I especially loved seeing the van Gogh paintings- that's right real van Gogh!

Unfortunately, my hunger monster emerged after about 2.5 hours and we had to go find food! We headed to the Marais District because it's one of the only places that is actually open on Sundays. Since we hadn't planned ahead, we were just going on looking at menus outside of restaurants and quickly checking their trip adviser reviews. We had the case of "the next one might be better" and we ended up walking much longer than we really needed to.

We settled on a steak restaurant that got good reviews and had a cozy looking atmosphere. They had a huge wood fired oven in the back of the restaurant and a little basement area that was super-cute as well. We decided against sitting by the fire (it was too warm for us) and headed downstairs. Our service started off great with wine and a cheese plate. I'm pretty sure everyone in France thought we were bizarre for always ordering cheese as our starter instead of as a dessert course. From there we seemed to have been forgotten about and it took forever for us to get more food. Not the perfect last dinner in Paris, but not horrible!

Before we headed home to pack up and get ready to leave in the morning, we decided to make one last visit to our favorite creperie, Little Breizh! Not a bad way to end our wonderful vacation!

Paris Day 7 or Shop Til We Drop or How Rude!

2012-04-08T18:37:00.004-07:00

Today was shopping day. We wanted to go to a few flea markets and see what they were all about. We found a great market on the Paris Trip Adviser app and headed that way. Well, of course we went the wrong direction when getting of the train, why wouldn't we?! Once we finally got to the market, everyone was packing up. We were super-bummed but were there long enough to see really great things and know we needed to come back the next day. As we were leaving, we saw a beautiful buffet table and Russell fell in love with it. This story continues later...

Back to home base we went to do a little more shopping.

Apparently Paris rarely has sales and we happened to be there during the biggest sale of the season. EVERY shop has markdowns. Unlucky for us- many markdowns are only for Parisians. We figured this out after aimlessly wandering around Bon Marche trying to figure out what the stickers and key tags meant.

We were looking for the sales person who wouldn't hate us too much for being American so we found a dude in the men's department. He was nice about explaining that the sales (and I mean they were crazy good deals 50-75% luxury designers) were only for Bon Marche card holders. We first thought, "Great! We'll just apply for the card, use it while we're here, pay it off immediately and then cancel it." It didn't work that way either- bummer. You had to have already had a card and I'm pretty sure he told us that only the French are approved for the cards. Oh well!

From there we were off in search of my souvenir. I'm not much of a purse girl in that I don't frequently change out my bags with my outfits or lust over LV, Dior or even Kate Spade. I will say though, I like my bag to look nice and reach further than "just another purse". We found this place called Upla earlier in our trip- conveniently one block up from our apartment. We took a peek inside, I loved what I saw but I couldn't commit. We went back this day and we found out that many of the bags were on sale...and we qualified for the sale! When I say "many" bags were on sale what I mean to say is "every bag in the store was on sale except for the color I wanted". So I tried on every sale bag and they were "fine". Probably if I hadn't been looking for just the right yellow purse for the past 4 years, I would've liked every sale bag in the store enough to have one of them. But, the perfect yellow purse kept staring me in the face. After many bag on shoulder, turn to the side, cock one knee, pose in the mirror moments, the two beautiful French sales women going back and forth on whether the tan purse would be a great compromise or whether I should stick to the yellow, Russell pleading with me to make a decision- I decided I wasn't ready to decide and off we went.

We took a break for lunch at another great creperie up the street, ducked in and out of amazing home furnishing stores (we brought home all of their brochures only to find they don't ship to the US), perused a pen and ink store, and stared in windows at baby clothes- that I wanted to buy so badly for "one day". I was still thinking about the purse.

I knew what would help me make up my mind- Go home and put on my good brown boots to make sure the tan of the boots matched the tan of the purse that I only sort of wanted that was on sale. While home, we took a minute to call our parents and weigh in on the purse decision (like they cared) and while talking to Fran, we remembered that we still hadn't found her hair combs.

Have I told you about the hair combs? I can't remember. My mother-in-law has beautiful curly hair that I'm crossing my fingers is passed on to our babies. She wears it short and often wears tortoise shell combs in it to keep it back. Who knew those combs actually could only be found in France?! Each time they visit France, Fran buys all of the combs she can find. She was running low so we'd been on the hunt for the past 3 days. I was so stressed- I didn't want to mess up and buy the wrong ones (those suckers are expensive...and I'd be sad if they didn't work). Once both of our mothers had tried to convince me that the yellow purse was the one I should get, we were off to find more combs!

But not before I made a decision on a purse. I just knew an Upla bag was right for me. Oodles of storage pockets, durable leather, no big logos or flashy metal- just functional and pretty. I was getting tired of waiting on Russell (I don't even remember what he was doing) so I marched myself over to the store, held the two contending bags (the tan bag did mach my tan boots), took a deep breath and went with the YELLOW! The two sales women laughed at me and were happy I finally made a decision (and they made a sale). We had a little celebration in the store, I closed my eyes and signed the receipt and met Russell for the comb quest

in this color: Jonquille

picture this purse

We'd found the right size but the wrong color, the wrong size but the right color over and over and over again. Today was our lucky day though because we went back to the only drug store that we could find that carried them and the Bon Marche and the BOTH had combs! Woo Hoo! This was probably one of my favorite shopping days- ever!

For dinner we headed to a place that was highly rated near The Louvre. I'll make this long story short by telling you that it was closed- surprised? no? We had gotten to be quite the Paris Trip Adviser experts so we were on the hunt again for another restaurant.

We stumbled upon some beautiful store fronts and a big square with a giant statue in the middle of it and ended up on a street we'd be on earlier in the week after realizing another restaurant was closed. We went back and forth between a Vietnamese restaurant and Le Souffle (a restaurant that only serves...souffle). We chose the Vietnamese restaurant which oddly wasn't very full on a Saturday (we later realized that people eat late on Saturday and the restaurant was much more full by the time we left). The food was quite good and a change from the heavy Parisian food we had been eating. We decided to go for dessert at Le Souffle. They were busy, but there was no wait so we let them know before we sat down that we would just be having dessert, it was 9pm so we thought it wouldn't be a big deal.

Little did we know, we were about to have our first sterotypical Parisian vs. American experience. We seated by the kitchen (we didn't mind that), were given menus, no water, and very little interaction from our waiter. He was quickly back to hurry us through our menu and place our order. We both ordered champagne and told him we'd order our souffle when he came back. When we told him we would be splitting one he flat out told us "it's not possible (in French)", we laughed thinking he was jovially telling us that the souffles were too good to share one- he wasn't. He was serious. He wasn't going to serve us unless we ordered two! We complied because we didn't want to leave, the souffles were the tallest we'd ever seen, and ordered a raspberry souffle and a nutella souffle that we were pretty much hassled into getting. The raspberry souffle (which we willingly chose) was A-MAZING and the nutella souffle was, well, fine.

We were shortly handed our bill, which we paid without leaving a tip (which apparently isn't common practice anyway) and we were on our way home, chatting about our great finds and planning our last day in the city of lights.

Paris Day 6 or Cooking Like a Parisian or Beautiful Views

2012-04-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

Since we had decided against a weekend trip away (instead opting for the Versailles day trip), we thought we'd find something a little more unique to do in Paris. We found several well-reviewed cooking classes on our Paris Trip Adviser app and chose one that would balance a laid back atmosphere with some real cooking experience. We chose A World In A Pan.

What a great decision that was! We met a lovely woman named Marie outside of her train stop and met up with a young Saudi American couple (they were very friendly, both currently working as brand managers for Mars in Dubhai). Marie suggested some menu ideas and let us choose what we wanted and then we were off to the outdoor market.

I can't tell you enough how much I love outdoor markets! Everything at this market was fresh and organic. There were so many fruits and vegetables I had never seen as well as many different cuts of meat and fish that aren't common in the USA. I could've spent the entire day ogling the food but we had to stay on track and get what we needed for our cooking class!

Marie talked us through everything she purchased and we walked away with duck legs, oranges, eggs, cheese, bread, fingerling potatoes and some herbs. We headed to Marie's family home where her husband and four children live (at least two of her children are in college now).

Marie made us all a cup of tea and we got to work learning how to be authentic French cooks! Here are some pictures of the food we made.

We left Marie's home with full bellies and happy hearts!

From there, we headed home to freshen up and get ready for Sacre Coeur. Sacre Coeur is one of Russell's favorite places in Paris. He said he always had fun there when he was a little kid. We were trying to get there before the sunset so we could watch it from the top of the mountain, but of course we missed it. All was not lost though! The view of the city at night from Sacre Coeur is remarkable.

After we took in the view from the steps, we went inside the chapel. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and so moving. The quiet made it easy to sit, reflect and thank God for our good fortune and ability to take such a wonderful vacation. I could've stayed for hours.

Upon leaving the chapel, we took a little trip up the cobblestone streets to the square where the local artists are drawing and painting. We were getting there just as everyone was painting their last strokes and taking down their easels. We did a little haggling with a man for a beautiful painting but decided not to get it as we couldn't decide if he had actually painted it himself. Of course we did a little more wandering and headed back to the steps of the chapel to drink some hot wine and watch some fun street performers sing Beetles tunes.

*side note* I can't remember if I wrote about this in the beginning and at the moment I'm too lazy to read backwards to figure it out! Our friends Katelyn and Peter were so kind to rummage through our apartment, find our passports and overnight them to AR for us. They were both SUPER busy at the time and we appreciated their patience with us! I should also note that Peter had to send us Passports and binders in the summer as well. All Katelyn said she wanted was an Eiffel Tower. For some reason, I stressed about that Eiffel Tower the WHOLE trip! It had to be the perfect tacky souvenir. I found the most "beautiful" pink jeweled Eiffel Tower in a gift shop on our way to Sacre Cuer. I was so excited about it- it was ridiculous!*

For dinner, we headed back to our favorite place, Au Pere Louis near the Luxembourg Gardens. We just had to visit one more time before the trip was over. This time our food was just as good, the atmosphere cozy and the wine superb!

To bed we went with happy hearts and full bellies!

Paris Day 5 or That's One Big House or Blown Away

2012-04-03T06:11:00.000-07:00

After a lot of research and back and forth and changed decisions regarding whether or not we'd take a trip out of Paris (maybe Brussells, Bruges, Amsterdam, Spain), we decided we'd go to Versailles this day. The weather was supposed to be moderately good and Versailles is only a 45 minute trip from the apartment so we would still have time to do Paris sightseeing and eating in the evening and we wouldn't have to make it to the train at the crack of dawn to get to where we were going.

The train ride was painless although we were a little worried we'd left too late as once again, we slept a little too long and piddled a little too much in the morning. We arrived in Versailles around 11am. First stop- McDonalds to see if we could find some wifi and a potty. In true European fashion, the McDonalds bathrooms are unisex (well, there's a men's side and a women's side but it's all in the same space). I don't know why this bothers me so much, but I just think its so strange to wait in line with a man to use the restroom. Even better- there was a homeless man living in one of the stalls- sad but strange..and annoying because it slowed the line down.

McDonalds and the neighboring Starbucks were both having technical difficulties with their wifi so we were off to feel our way through the town as best we could.

For our trip to Versailles, we downloaded an app by Rick Steves on the recommendation of our family friend, Steve Happ. There were some ups and downs to this app, namely that their was a hand drawn map attached to it which was pretty, but not so functional. It did lead us right to another AMAZING creperie (another Brittany style crepe maker) which I can't remember the name of. No one spoke English there and we were pretty sure we were being discriminated against as people all around us were being served and we sat without even water for about 15 minutes. Just as we were deciding that maybe it wasn't worth it, another steaming plate of delicious smelling crepes would pass our table and we would decide to wait a little longer. Our waiting was no mistake- when we finally got to order, our lunch was to die for. From the extensive menu, I decided to have a ham, cheese, and egg crepe- the egg was over medium so the yolk coated everything and upped the yumminess. Russell had ham and cheese with no egg. We followed that up with an amazing dessert crepe that we shared. I honestly can't remember what was in it but let's assume that it was some fruit mixed with nutella because that seems to be what we always order!

Just as we were leaving, an older couple (probably in their 70s) started a conversation with us. They were so nice and excited to use their English. Their English was about as good as Russell's French so with their combined skills they were able to have a decent conversation. I on the other hand, was out of luck as I still know no French. I think they were asking us if we were married and if we were on our honeymoon. They also wanted to know if we were from England or Australia. They were so surprised that we were from the US (this seemed to be a trend in France, no one believed we were Americans). After they bid us luck in our marriage and we bid them luck on their vacation, we were off to the palace!

The Palace is truly breathtaking. At some point, the golden gate was "misplaced" (let's get real, someone hocked it for all of the gold) and so for years, no one was able to take in the grandeur of its presence. The gate has recently been restored/replaced and it really is unbelievable. It's hard to believe that it was even thought of. It's seriously a huge gate covered in shiny gold.

Before we went inside we acted like true adults on this windy day and of course we played in the wind gusts in the courtyard. The wind was SO strong that you could just lean back and relax and it would hold you up. If you walked into it, you got a major resistance work out! Here's a picture of me being cool:

It is unfathomable to me that this Palace was actually a home to people. It's so elaborate and uncomfortable looking...and expansive (and expensive).

The Rick Steves app came in very handy for the tour, without it we would've just walked around with our jaws dropped staring at the fancy stuff. Rick had some interesting facts for each room that really gave us a feel for what life was like in the time of the Louis(es). Here are some pictures:

The biggest bummer was that the gardens were closed due to the weather. It was a bit rainy and like I said before VERY windy. We were so sad about this because it was what we wanted to see the most at Versailles. So much happened in these gardens and they're beautiful all year round. I really wanted to see Marie Antoinette's little cottage. Oh well! Next time :)

We were back on the train and headed "home" to Paris. When we got back in town, we had plenty of day left to explore so we did a little bit of shopping (window shopping that is...at this point we hadn't made any souvenir purchases) and headed off to dinner.

Russell had done some research and found this great restaurant called BAM!. We were setting ourselves up to be disappointed with another closed restuarant, but guess what- it was actually open!

We squeezed into a tiny table, Paris style and took in the wonderful scenery of the tiny restaurant. It was a little whimsical and eclectic and their menu matched!

Sadly, I can't remember everything that we ate but I know we had some outstanding steak (bordering on rare since in France they always seem to cook your food at least one level lower than what you asked for) and really great wine!

Paris Day 4 or That's A Lot of Art or The Best Duck I've Ever Had

2012-04-02T09:37:00.000-07:00

Today was the day we would tackle the Louvre. We began our morning by loading our phones with Louvre Top 100 this app was free (!) and it was a great option for us since we had done very little trip preparation. For those unfamiliar with the Louvre (I must admit all I knew about the Louvre was written in The Da Vinci Code), it is HUGE and INTIMIDATING and houses some of the most beautiful works of art one may ever see. We opted for the phone app rather than paying 5 euros a piece for headsets which you can rent after waiting in a line at the museum. This app has its ups and its downs but overall we really appreciated it. We loved that you have the option to listen to it or read. We chose to read a) because it helped us pay attention better and b) because we forgot our headphones in the apartment.

On our way, we stopped at this little patisserie I had been eyeing just a few doors down from our apartment. It's decor was mostly white with pops of pink and orange and most of the pastries were covered by large glass domes. This was probably one of the best decisions we made the whole trip. We both got chocolate croissants and we were instantly hooked. These weren't just any croissants, they were the perfect balance of soft, flaky, buttery goodness with semi sweet chocolate I have ever had. I guess I should also mention that I usually don't even like croissants but in Paris they're quite good and these were excellent! (This particular place we went to seems to have a reputation about town as being one of the best patisseries around, and it's hard to disagree: La Patisserie des Reves)

Upon arrival to the Louvre we realized why people say to get there early. There was a ridiculous line of people waiting to get in. Russell had heard there was a "secret" entrance but we never found it. Luckily our Paris Museum Passes came through and we didn't have to stand in the line at all. That's right- we could've spent at minimum an hour standing in lines but instead we skipped right ahead, flashed our passes and wasted no time getting to the main event!

We spent about 30 minutes getting oriented to the museum. Neither of us are very good at directions but when you put both of us together we look like blind mice. We walked in a large circle about 3 times before figuring it out. We didn't take as many pictures as we should have (of course) but I will include some pictures that I have found on google images (and I will cite them) so you can see some of the beauty that stood before us.

Psyche Revived by Cupid: This was one of Russell's favorites. It truly is a beautiful sculpture. We had to keep reminding ourselves that all of the beautiful fluid movements depicted in these sculptures is actually cold, hard stone.

Borghese Gladiator: This was one of my favorite sculptures. This is one of the oldest correctly proportioned statues in recorded history- believed to have been created in 100 BCE. I couldn't believe the accuracy and detail.

Venus de Milo: Also very cool!

Winged Victory of Samothrace: The beauty of this sculpture can only be appreciated when you are standing in front of her. The story of this statue is also fantastic. The way the artist was able to portray the drape of fabric is amazing and this statue is quite big!

Crown of Louis XV of France: This crown was actually a disappointment when we realized that the real stones had been removed and the ones in the crown are now only glass...imagining the stones was pretty cool but I wanted to see the real ones!

We then went on to look at A LOT of paintings! So many in fact that I can't even begin to tell you even half of what we saw. I can tell you that most of them were quite impressive. Our favorites were:

The Wedding at Cana was my very favorite! I think we spent about 20 minutes standing in front of it. Its placed on the wall opposite of the Mona Lisa which I think was a horrible idea because The Wedding at Cana is extremely huge and grand and complex and the Mona Lisa is, well, small and behind a million feet of glass surrounded by a crowd of smelly people.

The Coronation of Napoleon: Russell's favorite painting since he was a child and visited the Louvre really is a beautiful painting. Napoleon thought so much of himself that he commissioned the painting which depicts him crowning himself king. No one did that, I'd say he was pretty tacky. Anyway, the painting is very beautiful and we probably spend another 20 minutes sitting in front of it.

We were pretty much museum'd out at this point. I think we spent a little over 3 hours in the museum and barely broke the surface of what there is to see in that awesome place... and we were hungry. If you haven't figured it out by now, if I'm hungry I can't really do anything else but find food.

We decided to have a big lunch since dinner last night was a flop and we weren't able to go to Lescure. I am so glad we made this decision because Elizabeth was right, the duck confit is to die for. This tiny little restaurant in the corner of the back of a street has about 5 tables that seat around 10 people. It doesn't matter if you know the people next to you or not, you get seated family style. We were seated at the opposite end of a table of business men and women. The entire restaurant was filled with French people, we were definitely the only non-french speakers in the house, so we knew we were in for a treat!

Our waiter was kind and jovial and was humored by our excitement to eat. We began our meal with bread, hard sausage, cheese and the best mustard you have ever eaten. Later we would find that many restaurants had this mustard. It must come pre-prepared but I've never had anything like it. We decided to order 1 prix fixe menu and then add 1 entree (we did this a lot because it's usually a great deal but there was no way we could eat 2 full 3 course meals). A great thing about the prix fixe menu at L'escure was that it came with almost a 1/2 bottle of wine so we had two glasses and split it for the same price it would've cost for each of us to have one glass from the regular menu.

Russell had chicken with rice and tomatoes. You could tell that the sauce was made in the kitchen and that it had simmered for quite some time. I had the duck confit. It was the largest duck leg I have ever seen and it was surrounded by potatoes and cabbage that had been cooked in the duck fat. When I say there was no food left on my plate, there was literally nothing but a bone. Uncharacteristic of me I even ate the skin. I usually don't even eat leg meat and there was a time in my life that I wouldn't eat meat still on a bone. The meat just fell off and melted in my mouth. I think I may have had to close my eyes to eat it. The potatoes and cabbage had so much flavor and the cabbage really brightened the dish (I used the word brightened because it makes me feel like a food critic). Our waiter was surprised at the amount of food I had put down and I think he may have made fun of me to Russell in French but I have no clue because all I can say is "bon jour" and "merci" and I sound ridiculous when I say it. Our final course was a caramel pot du creme. I loved it more than Russell, I think. He's not really into custards but it took me back to my childhood when my mom would make egg custard cups and pudding. This custard had the perfect texture and the caramel was outstanding.

After our leisurely and satisfying lunch, we were ready to head back out to the museum circuit again. At the opposite end of the Tullerie gardens is Musee de L'Orangerie which houses a large collection of impressionist work. I think I preferred this museum to the Louvre because it is smaller and more focused. I could really absorb what was in front of me instead of switching gears between medium and time period. I guess what this really means is I don't know that much about art and simple is better.

I really love the impressionist period of art. I realize that the technique is not as complex as what was happening in the Renaissance but I love the colors and the whimsical nature of it. I'd rather have an impressionist piece on my wall any day.

The layout of this museum is great. It leads you right through it's twists and turns and before you know it you've seen the whole collection and it's leading you back up the stairs. Just when you think you've seen everything there is to see at the Musee de L'Orangerie you realize there is more. In the upper floor are two white rooms- white ceiling, walls, floor and benches. Surrounding the walls are the Matisse Water Lily paintings. The rooms are silent and people are sitting quietly and looking. These paintings are truly breathtaking. I don't know what it is about them. When you look closely there's just spots of paint but when you look at the big picture, those spots make beautifully flowing art. This was probably one of the day's highlights.

Upon leaving the Musee L'Orangerie, we headed back home again. We thought we might take a boat ride on the Saine since we finally figured out where to get on a boat, but it had begun to drizzle and we thought the scenery might not be as pretty. Once home, we regrouped and talked about whether we would take an overnight trip somewhere. In the end, we decided we'd go to Versailles which is only about 45 minutes from the city by train. We decided that since we'd been doing so much wandering and getting lost, that there was still more we'd like to see and do in Paris. In the beginning we thought we'd fly through everything and be ready for a change by the weekend, but we weren't!

We decided that we'd go for a lighter dinner since we'd eaten such a big lunch. We'd read about a great beer place and since we had determined that we wouldn't be going to Brussels or Bruges, this would be the next best thing. My map skills told me that the place was very close (it wasn't because I'm terrible at reading maps). Of couse we got lost walking to dinner but luckily this place was actually open! We sat outside and had good beer, pretty good sausages and terrible fries and then went inside to split a beer for dessert it was about the sweetest beer I've ever had and I'll probably never order it again.

We stopped at a little crepe stand on the way home and finished off our evening there!

CBTL Contata Self-Serve Espresso Maker: A Mini-Review

2012-01-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

(Russell writing...) A little mini-review on a self-purchased Xmas present now that we've had it a couple weeks.

After our trip to Paris at the beginning of the month, and after days of getting a tasty espresso fix at local cafes, I decided to make the transition back to the states a little easier by getting the CBTL Contata single-serve coffee system. The big advantage this apparently has over single-serve systems like the Keurig is that it can do espresso, coffee, and tea, and it bests the Kraft Tassimo because its espressos are "real" rather than simulated since the Tassimo doesn't use enough pressure (only 3.5 bars compared to the 15-18 typical for espressos) to make true espresso.

CBTL is a relatively new thing in the states and only has limited distribution for the time being (can be found online, at Coffee Bean & Trea Leaf stores, or Bed Bath and Beyond). It's based on the evidently popular Caffitaly brewing system that can be found throughout Europe.

All that said, here's my bottom line assessment after a few weeks of use. The machine seems well and sturdily built, as well as decently user friendly. CBTL customer service has been a tad disappointing (as I've had some user questions and they've only responded to about 40% of them). The system's espressos are great, which is actually the biggest selling point since it's hard to find a machine that can match them for anywhere near the same price point. The coffees and teas on the other hand are mostly a big disappointment and very watered down.

Do I recommend? Well, maybe. If you like espresso, it's worth looking at. Basically on par with Nespresso for less $$! If you're a coffee/tea person only, get a Keurig (although apparently they have widespread reliability issues). If you want it all so to speak, and don't mind "simulated espresso" (and I'm not convinced that I don't), get a Tassimo.

Incidentally, here are my favorite beverages thus far (*all CBTL espresso/coffee capsules are 100% Arabica):

Italian Espresso: dark, intense, rich, and fairly smooth (least bitter of the espressos). definitely my favorite of all. the machine is worth having in my opinion for this capsule alone.
Continental Espresso: slightly lighter espresso, but still smooth overall
Premium Espresso: I was expecting to like this one the best, but it actually seemed quite bitter with an odd aftertaste in comparison to the other two
Viennesse Coffee: Relatively rich bodied and smooth, but still a bit watery at the preprogrammed 8oz pulls for coffee (I've since adjusted the coffee setting to just over 6 oz...a little bit disappointing that I even have to do that, but oh well)
Tropical Passion Tea: actually an extremely tasty tea that I have to say I'm a fan of. however, the teas in general suffer from having loose tea particles that get pushed through during the brew process. the word is that CBTL may be redesigning the capsules to improve this issue. i hope so!

Day 3 OR Those Might be the Best Crepes I've Ever Had

2012-01-17T12:37:00.000-08:00

We were up and moving again! We slept in a little but I think we needed it. The time difference and walking were beginning to get to us. We began our day with shopping at the Bon Marche. This is one of the most beautiful department stores I have ever been in and with it being just 2 blocks south of our apartment, we HAD to go in for a peek.

Once again we were over our heads and our wallets’ capacity! Big name brands and some we’d never even heard of- five floors of beautiful French style. We browsed for several hours and the only thing that was tried on was a coat by Russell. I will have to say, I am a lucky girl to have a husband who will browse a store with me, engage in conversation about the merchandise and never utter a complaint. We looked at everything imaginable in beautifully cased and styled displays *sigh.

This is some awesome chocolate/macaroon store we found
(NOT at Bon Marche). Can't remember when during the day we went to it!

From there we trotted over to the Bon Marche grocery store. It’s at least 2 stories! We didn’t browse for long because we quickly remembered that it was 1pm and we hadn’t had a bite to eat yet! The market was crowded with people picking up their lunches so we did a quick walk through to check out all of the counters. For a mental picture (we didn’t take pictures here for fear of looking too much like tourists) it’s like Whole Foods meets the farmer’s market multiplied by 1000. There are pastry counters, cheese counters, prepared food counters, meet counters and the list goes on. Rows and rows of crackers, jams, cereals, dry beans and a big tasting station for Veuve Clicquot in case you weren’t sure if you’d actually like it and to make it accessible if you just need to grab a bottle (for those not familiar, it’s a very expensive Champaign…not Dom Pergnion expensive, but still pricey). We left with some French savory pastries and headed home to have a quiet lunch and do a little recuperating and day planning.

Sadly, we didn’t love the pastries but I had plenty of leftover pizza for us to enjoy from the day before. We took a few minutes to re-group, we now had internet connection thanks to a friendly neighbor who gave us his access information. We planned the rest of our day and laid our heads down for a little nap. Oops! We overslept- I told you jet lag was catching up with us!

We were revived and headed out to see more sights! First stop- Paris Museum Passes.

It was now time to buy museum passes. We'd heard of this great Paris Museum Pass but we weren't really sure where to find it and since we didn't have ready access to the internet. The Paris Museum Pass we later would find was possibly the best thing that happened to us on the entire trip. You pay one price and have access to almost every museum/history attraction in the Paris area. Not only does this mean you're saving money, you get to skip ahead in lines (kind of like those jerks at Disney who don't have to wait for Thunder Mountain...or whatever its called). Our first stop was Sainte Chapelle but the guard at the front apparently decided to close the church early that day. In Paris, you open when you're ready and you close when you're ready. It does not matter what your sign says.

Sainte Chapelle would have to wait but we found a place called the Concierge, which was an old military building (?), with a short line for tickets and we thought we'd give it a try. Score! We found the Paris Museum passes! Russell used his charm and French skills to keep the woman behind the counter patient and helpful (the guy before us got yelled at for not knowing how to use the credit card swiper) and we were off to prepare for our evening.

On our way to Notre Dame we thought it would be fun to stop at this very highly ranked creperie called Little Breizh off of Saint Germaine. We actually found it pretty easily down a narrow street with seemingly cute restaurants only to be turned away because their lunchtime service was over and they would be closed until dinner…figures. We would definitely be going back for dessert later! We walked around the corner for a little espresso pick me up. For those of you who know me, I’m not much of a coffee or caffeine consumer but when in Paris, you must do like a Parisian!

Off to Notre Dame…

Notre Dame is breathtaking! I can’t even fathom the effort it took to create such a place. I think it was completed over 100s of years? My father in law gave us a great architectural lesson before we left but I can’t remember all of the facts!

We waited in a very short line where these very rude girls cut in front of us. They were loudly chatty and tried to wear their hats into the church. While Notre Dame is filled with tourists, Russell and I were at times appalled by how casual some people were in the chapel. Even still, we did not let this ruin our experience (although I shushed the rude girls a couple of times…oops; fortunately they were shushed at by the Notre Dame "staff" as well). We sat quietly and took in our surroundings. It was moving to think about how many people had been there before us, and how many prayers had been said in that chapel.

For dinner we decided to go out to the small island to a bistro we'd read about that had live jazz during dinner so off we went to find it! We had a much easier time finding this one and guess what....they were closed til February! Of course, why wouldn't they be?!

Russell’s sister, Elizabeth, had recommended a restaurant called L’Escure. I think her exact words were “Go eat at Lescure…and order the duck confit. Do it!” So, we did…or at least we thought we would. We walked on over (this was a long walk) wandered around a little looking for the right street, found it in the back corner tucked away…and it was closed. Surprised? The good news is that it was only closed until the next day! The even better news is that we moved our trip to the Louvre to that day and the restaurant is so close!

We were beginning to get into a routine- spend an hour researching restaurants, make a choice, walk for awhile, get a little lost, restaurant closed, flail around until we settle on another choice….wash, rinse, repeat.

Instead of walking, because the hungry monster was out in full force, we decided to catch a cab back to the cute little street with the creperie. Earlier in the day, the restaurants looked cute and their menus looked reasonable. We used our trip advisor app to find the most highly ranked only to find that most had very mixed reviews. After lots of discussion, pacing through the streets and both of us getting slightly annoyed with the other for not being able to make a decision we settled on a place called LePetit Chalet.

The second we walked in we knew we had made a bad decision. It smelled, it was a little too dark and we were led down the back stairs to a little room with tables crammed in. It was dirtier and the smell more amplified. Feeling defeated before the dinner even began, we were too afraid to offend anyone to leave so we stayed. We settled on a half bottle of wine and cheese fondue thinking it would be a fun experience and something not likely to be poorly prepared. I’m thinking that our waiter wasn’t keen on us splitting a single serving plate so he took the liberty of ordering us fondue for two which he didn’t tell us until the bill came…tourist trap? Yes. Oh well, at least there would be crepes afterward.

Just two doors down, heaven in the form of a creperie was found. The waitress/hostess/possibly the owner greeted us sweetly with a warm smile and happily seated us for dessert. We had a nice little people watching window view and started our dessert off with a bottle of Brittany Cider. Brittany is the region where crepes began (at least I think) and it is customary to drink cider with your crepes. We ordered something yummy with ice cream and caramel and maybe chocolate or maybe apples (I can’t remember) and had a leisurely dessert. We weren’t rushed in and out and the waitress was patient with our attempts to speak French while considerately inviting us to speak English if we’d like. What a gem of a restaurant. We loved it here!

Paris Day 2 OR We're Not That Tourist-y

2012-01-06T14:03:00.001-08:00

We awoke to screaming legs and another rainy day...no worries though, neither of these things kept us from having a good time! We began our morning with the hunt for internet access on our walk to the Christmas market at the Champs-Elyeeses. We noticed along the way many cute bistros and shops that we didn't see on Sunday a) because we had WiFi tunnel vision and b) because when shops and restaurants are closed (which many were the day before) they pull down gates and garage type doors so you don't see them.

We, of course, didn't choose a direct route and took a walk through the Tuilleries gardens. Even in the winter the gardens are beautiful with leafless trees and drizzle. I can only imagine their glory in the spring and summer!

Upon arriving at the Christmas market, we split a ham and cheese crepe and a nutella and banana crepe because we were STARVING! We then discovered hot wine, which is sort of a cross between sangria and cider. Yummy! The Christmas market looked beautiful from afar- tiny white wooden buildings, twinkle lights, garland, sweet smells and people milling about. Unfortunately, it did not have the handmade goods I was hoping for. It was pretty much a repetition of about 6 shops filled with Chinese goods over and over down the street, interspersed with the occasional creperie or cheese shop. Oh well, it was fun to walk through!

hot wine!

sausages and kraut on a HUGE skillet

The fromage (cheese) hut. These have a, shall we say, notable smell

Our next stop was the Champs-Elysees, which is a very grand boulevard the extends out from Le Jardin des Tuileries with many LARGE shops- everything from Gap to Louis Vuitton. The stores are huge and packed with people from all over the world. To get into Louis Vuitton, people waited in a line outside for their turn at a peak of the merchandise that most wouldn’t be buying anyway. I found this waiting in line to go shopping a bit silly, especially since we soon found another Louis Vuitton a couple of streets over and then several around town. The silliest line I saw crept up on me- suddenly I smelled a familiar smell that I could not put my finger on at first. It wasn’t a bad smell but it didn’t elicit positive memories really. It smelled like walking past Jr. High lockers. Then I saw it- Abercrombie and Fitch. Now, I’m not knocking A&F, I’ve worn plenty of their clothes in my day (before I graduated high school). I’m just thinking that for the level of stores on this street this is an odd one to have a line.

Overall, I found the Champs-Elysees to be a little overwhelming and very tourist-y. I felt like we would be ripped off no matter where we went, and of course we were. Our first rip off came when we went to the Change center to exchange our currency from dollars to euros. We have heard many times that a Change center in the city will give you a better exchange rate than those at the airport (although maybe slightly worse than select ATMs) so we thought surely we'd be ok. Looking back, we now realize that you should only go to a Change center that has their exchange rates posted by the window. The attendant first attempted to exchange our money at a .70 to $1.00 and we told him no way. We ended up settling for .73 Euros to $1.00 but we knew the exchange rate was .77. That translated to us losing about $40 in the exchange process...boo! (*NOTE by Russell: after going back to the airport at the end of trip, I noticed that the Change Center exchange rate there includes a whopping 6.5% commission fee. Yikes)

Next, we were starving, ticked about losing money unnecessarily and still had no internet so we stopped in the first cafe offering free wifi. We were seated at the very back table with a great view of trashy American music videos. Russell ordered a pizza and I ordered bruschetta. We then found out that the internet wasn't working which lead us to feeling like we should lay in the floor, throw a toddler fit and demand someone find us an internet connection...instead we sucked it up and waited for our food. The good news- Russell had a good pizza. The bad news, my bruschetta came instead as a pizza. We were charged more for it and nothing was done to fix the mix up (even though our server acknowledged the error unsolicited). Oh well! Got to love the tourist areas!

We continued our way up the Champs-Elysees to L'Arch de Triomphe. What a beautiful spectacle! This arch is set in the middle of an enormous roundabout and symbolizes France's Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars as well as honors the "unknown soldier." We loved admiring this beautiful piece of art and history.

Upon leaving the Arch de Triomphe we stumbled upon a beautiful wide and quiet street lined with the truly luxurious shops. We were surprised at the lack of activity on this street since it crossed the Champs-Elysees. We window shopped at Chanel, Dolce and Gabana, Dior, Ferragamo, and Gucci to name a few. Don't worry, we didn't go in. There are big scary guards that stand in front of all of the windows that give off the vibe that they don't want you to come in. That's ok, we weren't in the buying mood (and neither were our wallets). One thing that we have loved about Paris is that in most windows, the price of all of the items in the window display are discreetly presented in the corner. This way there are no surprises when you walk in the store. It's much better to realize that the dress you see in the window is actually a Valentino and it is around 1800 Euro. I'd hate to walk into a store, go to the trouble of trying on something beautiful only to find out that it costs more than a months rent!

On our way home we stopped in this quiet little park with children playing and couples sitting on benches. The park had a grand view of a beautiful old church, it was sunny and not too cold so we took the opportunity to rest our bodies and sit in peace.

beautiful church seen from the park

another attempt at using public wifi

The next thing we know there's a HUGE storm cloud sitting over us and we notice everyone getting up from the park to leave. We feel a couple of drops here and there so we get up to be on our way...and then the bottom falls out! As we've said before, coat hoods aren't ideal to keep off the rain. They restrict our view of the streets and they're not really waterproof either. I will say, it was pretty cute watching all of the children scuttle around with their mommies- some laughing and excited about the rain and some a little more stressed about the situation. We ducked into a little cafe to have an espresso, a little snack, some hot chocolate...and of course use their internet!

We headed back to the apartment to get cleaned up for dinner and to use the awesome Paris Trip Adviser app that I downloaded on my Kindle Fire (that's right...a little name dropping of one of my favorite Christmas presents) while we were in the Starbucks the day before. The awesome part about this app is that you don't need an internet connection to use it. To this point, it was our saving grace! Click here to check it out. Oops, sorry for the divergence! Anyway we began looking up places to eat. Our strategy was to look at things in our area that made at least the top 200 (there are thousands and thousands that have been rated). We found an awesome place, Les Papilles that we decided would be our best option so off we went in search of it!

As we mentioned before, Paris winds about quite a bit which makes following directions difficult. We did a little back tracking and retracing our steps. As our stomachs began to growl we found the restaurant...and it was closed til mid-January! To be honest, there was some curse words uttered as we realized that we would have to go back on the hunt for a place to eat dinner. Out came the Kindle and on went the hunt.

At this point, my hungry monster evil twin was beginning to emerge. For some reason, anytime we are hungry we find ourselves in a sea of Asian restaurants. Don't get me wrong, we love Thai, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean food but something about craving sushi in Paris never adds up for us. Since we had irrationally chosen mediocre (terrible) Thai food the night before, I had to surpress the hungry monster and tell her to be patient until we found the right restaurant. Good thing my rational mind won over the beast because we found our favorite restaurant in Paris!

Au Pere Louis was our kind of restaurant from the start! Not pretentious yet not dive-y, local, cozy, and reasonably priced. It sits in the Latin Quarter of Paris near the Luxembourg Gardens and where many students seem to live. Menus are scattered about on chalkboards and they also have an English menu available that they are happy to share with you (some restaurants are a bit annoyed when you request a menu in English, although Russell gets us by just fine most of the time with his limited French). Their food is seasonal so this time of year there is plenty of comfort food. The wine is priced well and there's just enough of a selection that there is plenty to choose from but not an overwhelming list.

We sat up in a little loft with the perfect combination of seclusion and views of the restaurant and the street. Our waitress spoke English about as well as Russell speaks French so their combined skills made for easy service. We settled on a cheese plate; foie gras with jam; cassoulette with white beans, sausage and goose; and a bottle of cotes du rhone wine. Of course there was a never ending flow of bread at our table. That good, hearty, crusty on the outside and soft and airy on the inside rustic french bread.

With full bellies and happy hearts we ended the day on a high note and walked home to work off a small amount of the exorbitant number of calories we had just consumed.

Here are some beautfiul shots Russell took during the day

taken near the Place de la Concorde at the end of Le Jardin des Tuileries and right before the Champs-Elysees starts

my favorite picture of the day (Louvre on the left) - courtesy of the hubs!

Paris Day 1 OR Thank goodness for Starbucks OR Heights aren't for me

2012-01-03T10:00:00.000-08:00

From Arkansas to Chicago (even though we thought ORD meant Orlando until we got to the airport) to Paris was a breeze. No delays, no flight issues, surprisingly good meals on the airplane. My suggestion to you is when booking your overseas flight to request a vegetarian meal. I had pearl couscous and curry. We ordered the gluten free option for Russell and he had chicken breast and rice with broccoli, also a good choice. Everyone eating the regular meal had what appeared to be bad pasta with chicken chunks.

We arrived at Charles De Gaule almost an hour earlier than scheduled and the airport was fairly quiet. We found our way to our baggage and the train with ease. The great news was that the metro was free for most of the day as a New Year's gift- very thoughtful of the government! We took the fast train into Paris and this is where the real journey begins. Once exiting the metro, I was in dire need of water. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink in many hours and I was starting to turn into a monster. Our first stop? Starbucks, obviously. We knew they'd have water and they did! Once I was rehydrated and no longer morphing into a beast, we caught a cab to our apartment and entered without issue.

The apartment is lovely and spacious. Especially from what I've seen of Paris apartments (pretty much the only time I've seen Paris apartments is on House Hunters International on HGTV). We have 2 bedrooms with bathrooms, a living room/dining room, and a full kitchen. It's very cozy and well-decorated. We're staying in the 7th Arrondissement on the Left Bank to those of you familiar with Paris. It's a great area full of beautiful shops, lots of antique furniture stores, cute little restaurants and places that we can't afford :) It's pretty centrally located and near the river.

As I unpacked, Russell thought he'd jump on the internet to retrieve our itinerary that we wrote out the day before. This is when we discover that the internet in our apartment was out. I cannot explain to you the anxiety that ensued as we realized we were totally lost with no internet access. We were out the door quickly in search of a wifi connection much like a hungry dog searches for food. Being that it was Sunday AND New Years Day you can imagine how difficult this search proved to be. There are many "fake" free internet connections that give false hope as your device begins to access the connection only to tell you that you need to enter your access code. We popped into the first restaurant we could find (Le Petit Tiberio) because we were told that most cafes have internet access. Of couse we chose one that did not have wifi but what it did have was AMAZING Italian style pizza. Once we had some nourishment, we were were back on the hunt for internet. Over an hour later with no luck we stumbled upon, yes, Starbucks. Just as a wifi connection is a sure thing in the states, a wifi connection is a sure thing at the Starbucks in Paris. We were saved.

*Russell Writing*
Great though this internet salvation proved to be, Starbucks in Paris only gives you free wifi for 30 minutes...and so we were soon on our way again.

Le Marais District

By this time we were exhausted from walking but were extremely interested in visiting Le Marais district, which is essentially a little Jewish area of the city on the Right Bank (way far away from us) with lots of restaurants serving Israeli-style falafel and shwarama, a personal favorite of mine from my days visiting the West Bank a few years back, and a few street bands playing music that sounded straight out of New Orleans. Katie's cousin Sherri highly recommended that we go on Sunday so we weren't giving up until we made it.

Cute street band! The lead singer was American and he was really getting down!

Russell noshing schwarma

When we arrived in Le Marais, our stomachs decided on what turned out to be a delicious eatery with a little window on the street where people are able to place their order. Upon sharing the best shawarma I have had in years (and the first Katie's ever had), we then picked back up with our itinerary schedule for the day, which dictated that we visit the Pompidue Centre for some exhibition that Katie had read about. Unfortunately we got a bit lost (we have discovered that it is VERY easy to get lost in a city like Paris that boasts a mostly sloppy grid system--with deceptively NON-parallel streets) and decided that it was too late in the day--around 6:30pm--to visit the Pompidue Centre by the time we arrived. This is when "getting lost" was taken to a whole new level.

a little metro navigation (in all honestly, I'm sure whatever I was doing wasn't helpful. Russell has proven to be the master navigator)

In our attempts to get back across the river to the 7th Arrondissement, we somehow ended up at some enormous roundabout in the Bastille district near the Opera House. With zero exaggeration, I can say there are probably 10+ "spokes" (that did not have matching counterparts on the opposing side of the round about) of this roundabout, and we circled it at least 4 times (each time taking ~15min) before finding the correct street to lead us back to the apartment.

Here's a shot of the round about where we were totally lost!

There was a little children's carnival just off this round about. This little guy was hanging out with his daddy who was manning a booth. Of course I had to stop and give him a little head scratch!

At this point the amount of walking we'd already done was something truly extraordinary, although we weren't quite finished yet. As Katie had already booked us 10:00pm tix at the Eiffel Tower that night, we decided to take the metro over to some street called Rue Cler, a supposed "foodie" hotspot, in the surrounding neighborhood. Unfortunately, with New Years Day in full effect, there was NOTHING open for entire blocks. When we finally stumbled upon a rather dismal looking Thai restaurant, our feet said "just let us sit down...we DON'T care!" After eating a few dumplings stuffed with miscellaneous pork (or maybe an animal American's use for pets) byproducts though, even our feet agreed that a little more walking might have been worth it.

After dinner, we walked to the Eiffel Tower, dodging shady street vendors--selling glow-in-the-dark Eiffel Towers and other marvels--along the way. The wind, rain, and cold really started to pick up at this point (and we unfortunately both have coats with laughably pathetic hoods to shield us from the elements), so we were [exhaustedly] grateful when it was finally time for our reservation to ascend the Tower.

on the hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles

beautful

Looking up from the ground into the tower

Russell being blown away off the side of the Eiffel Tower

beautiful views of the city from the 2nd platform of the Eiffel Tower

I quickly discovered something I hadn't yet witnessed during the time I've known Katie. She is DEATHLY afraid of heights! She suppressed a few near-vomits while riding up the tower elevator, but would barely even look off the edge once we arrived at the 2nd floor. I couldn't help but drag her a bit closer to the edge (as far as she'd let me anyway), and there was one side of the tower that definitely gave a bit of an adrenaline rush as the wind gusts were enough to knock you down if you weren't careful. Sadly though, Katie stopped at agreeing to descending the stairs rather than the elevator. You win some, you lose some I suppose.

Look at this gem of a photo. My (Katie) hair is blowing and frizzy and that is absolutely as close as I could get to the edge...if you're wondering, that's about 10 feet away from the large retaining wall and protective fence.

By the time we arrived back at the apartment (again, PLENTY of walking involved, although we took the Metro part of the way) it was after midnight. One of the biggest issues travel wise when going to western Europe is that people fall asleep during the day they arrive, which totally disrupts their body clock. In our concentrated efforts to avoid this, we pretty much had the most exhausting 24 hours I've ever had in my life (littered with frequent cafe visits as we walked around to recharge ourselves with espresso shots). Victory? An epic beginning to an epic trip!

By the way, in case we didn't make it clear, it rained all...day...long.

Katie Writing:

While we had a few hits and several misses, overall we had a really fun day! What's better than wandering around a beautiful city with your best friend? Another thing about getting lost- you stumble upon all kinds of things you wouldn't have otherwise seen if you stayed on your desired path. We accidentally walked by tons of great monuments and historical buildings we didn't even mean to see until later in the week!

Whatdaya Say We Go To Paris?

2012-01-03T05:11:00.000-08:00

...this was the question posed by one of us (can't remember who) on our 14 hour car trip from Durham, NC to Benton, AR as we trekked home for the holidays. We have a 5 week break from school and we were trying to strategize the best way to use it. Of course we first chose to visit with friends and family and we will be doing some house hunting for our move in May when we return to the states but we wanted to do something fun.

We did some in depth research on our iPhones primarily using Kayak (I highly recommend this website and app) browsing places we could go this time of year that would be fun. The obvious warm-weather choices are quite popular this time of year an VERY expensive and many trips we could've taken state-side had pricy airfare. What began as a total joke quickly became a reality as we found well-priced airfare, an available apartment from a family friend and a little more than a week that was free on our calendar. Paris it would be!

Since we booked our tickets a whole 2 weeks ahead of time we didn't have a ton of time to schedule our days and prepare for the trip as we were also very busy seeing family and taking a little road trip from Benton, AR to Memphis, TN to Birmingham, AL and back again. Packing, scheduling and other preparation all happened in about 48 hours. We had a long chat with Russell's dad. He gave us a quick overview of Paris history, architecture, landmarks, tourist attractions, and the layout of the city. I had a great chat with my cousin Sherri who had tons of recommendations for restaurants, things to see and things to skip and handy travel tips to keep us efficient and safe on our trip.

The Friday before we left on Saturday was spent hurriedly packing and trying to figure out the best way to spend money in France. This was quite the process and has ultimately proved to be the most frustrating aspect of the trip. We have only traveled out of the country together once (to Fiji- you can read those blog posts here) and everything was pretty much paid for in advance so we didn't have to worry about credit card charges. In Paris, we paid for nothing in advance so each time we swipe a card it's a 3% fee- yuck. Our goal was to get away from getting any transaction fees so here's what we found:

Our first thought was to get Travelers Checks. We would just exchange them like cash without a problem or use them in stores that took travelers checks. We thought we'd be able to buy them with our American Express, get credit card points for purchasing them and we'd have no change over fee once we got to Paris. Well, that didn't work because you pay about a 3% purchasing fee when you get travelers checks.

A great suggestion was to get a Visa money card (gift card) which you may be able to get at your bank. You can put money on these cards for no additional fee. The card can be used just like a credit card! Most places in Paris take Visa and Mastercard and NOONE wants your AMEX. Unfortunately, our bank (Bank of America) doesn't have these gift cards so we would have to get them at a different bank that did not have our banking business. Since you have to guarantee the money, we could not purchase them from a credit card without a cash advance (4% fee and very low limit...got to love being students), or a check for the total amount (the way we do bank accounts, we would've had to transfer money over to one account and the money would not have been available in time for our trip).

What we chose to do was to just take a smaller amount of cash out of our account and change it over once we got to Paris because everyone we talked to and everything we read said we'd get a much better exchange rate once we got there. We'd just use our credit card for other purchases since 3% transaction fees seem to be the best option for us. Stay tuned for the rest of this money story...

On to packing...it's hard to pack for a trip when you only have access to what you packed for the original trip. Luckily, I packed our warm coats just in case (like it was going to get cold in AR). I did a great job fitting 8 days worth of cold weather clothes into 2 carry on roller bags and 1 checked suitcase. Packing took about 3 hours and 2 trips to Target. I'd say I could probably be a professional vacation packer so let me know if you are in need of my services.

Finally, we had to plan the trip. We knew that if we made no plans we'd get to Paris and do nothing but wander around and eat a lot so we pulled up a spreadsheet (I believe spreadsheets solve all problems) and got to planning. Our schedule looked a little like this:

Sunday:
9:45am arrive in Paris
12:00pm arrive at apartment, unpack and refresh
1:30pm lunch and exploring in the Marais district
3:00pm Centre Pompidou
7:30pm dinner
10:00pm Eiffel Tower

Monday:
9:30 Champs-Elysses Christmas Market
1:30 Tuilleries
3:00 Lourve
8:00 dinner

Tuesday:
9:30 Bon Marche
1:30 St. Chapelle
3:30 Notre Dame
5:00 Saine cruise
7:00 dinner

Wednesday:
all day in Versailles

We decided to plan the rest of the trip after we experienced our first few days...stay tuned to see how our schedule is going.

This is it for an introduction! I hope you enjoy the soon-to-come posts about our actual trip!

...and that's all!