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For those waiting for the end of the spring 2013 saga - we made it home safe and sound.  I'll likely do 2 more posts (mostly for our benefit so we remember things): The top 5 list (places and things to do again) and the final Paris meals.

Bye Paris - Hello Seattle

We're up and getting showered.  Got a 7 AM cab (10 PM PT) to the airport.  We've had a GREAT trip but are looking forward to getting home and seeing all of you.  If I have some down time I'll try and post a few pictures from the road but for now bye from Paris and we'll say hello to all of you in Seattle:

A few Paris Pics...

Here are some of the (mostly) lesser known places we've visited.  

By Victor Hugo's house

This is the Bastille monument

This was an indoor shopping gallery by the museum of modern art.

In the clock tower at the Orsay.

At the French Army museum. 

In the Mosque of Paris

Luxembourg gardens.

Dinner on the Seine

We decided to do a picnic for dinner.  We spent an hour shopping for cheese, bread, wine, meats, and pastries.  We plunked down by Pont Neuf and had at it.

 

The cheeses (on the plate toward the end) were amazing.  In the US this was probably $25 worth of french cheese.  Here it was about $8. Same with the bottle of wine - would have been $40 in the states - cost us $13. Any way here's our dinner.

Our first toast.

And our table (and the view from that table).

As I've said - Paris is sort of a magical place.  Walking back we were treated to a brass band playing "born to be wild".

Tuesday Addition

And I forgot we spent about an hour scarf shopping.  Suppressed it I guess.  Here's Cindy and Carolyn triumphant from their endeavors in front of the scarf store.

Tuesday in Paris

 So no riots today.  We looked but life was pretty tame.   We did:

• Start with Breakfast in America.  I wasn't sure how everyone would take my suggestion to go here but it turned out everyone wanted bacon and eggs - after a month of coffee and croissants for breakfast it was sure a welcome change.
• We then spent four hours at the Orsay Museums looking at impressionists paintings
• Walked over to the Army museum and looked at Napoleons tomb 
• Walked back on the right bank by the water admiring the house boats
• Took a break at Place Dauphine (which is where the picture below is from), and
• Had dinner at our favorite little Salon de The right on our own little island.

Saner than yesterday.  We're heading off to the the swamp on Wednesday (Le Marais) to see Victor Hugo's house, cruise the neighborhood and maybe see the Museum of modern art.  I will try and post some pictures Wednesday night of our adventures.  Just too lazy and tired to unload the cameras right now.

Paris as usual

So today was a long day.  It's midnight as I'm writing this and we've been out of the hotel with our friends Mark and Cindy since 9 this morning.  Where to begin?  A quick recap:

• Jardin de Plantes
• Mosque of Paris
• Lunch in Luxemborg Gardens
• Cluny (ancient history/archeology) museum
• A stroll down the Champ Elyse
• A visit to the Arch d'Triomphe
• Across the bridge to the Eiffel tower
• Walk through rue clare
• Drinks and dinner in rue Clare
• Evening cruise of the Seine
• Return on the RER to our hotel

I think that's about it.  Oh wait did I mention there was a riot too?  Paris won the national soccer championship. They went a little crazy with fireworks and smashing out some car windows.  We were in the thick of it.  Those vans are full of riot police in full body armor.  Paris as usual I guess now that I think about it. Never a dull moment.

Oh Yeah - In Paris

First thing we did after dropping the bags?  Off to Carolyn's favorite place in Paris...

Made it to Paris.

We're here.

Off to Paris

We'll be leaving for Paris in a few hours.  Dropping off the car and cabbing into town.  So excited.  

Dinner: Troyes Style

Here is our one and only set of food pics from Troyes.  Off to Paris tomorrow to meet up with our friends Mark and Cindy.  Excited to see them.  

Anyway - This is (at least my dinner) heavy on the meat. Sorry sister (the vegetarian).

Aperitif of Champagne and a French red martini (mostly vermouth).  Chicken rillettes (kind of a French version of chicken salad - I make a mean pork rillettes) too.

 

My dinner - beouf tartare (raw beef mixed with cheese and veggies - better than it sounds) and a salad.

 

And Carolyn's risotto with asparagus

According to trip advisor this (tout simplement was the name) was the number one restaurant in Troyes…meh - it was good but didn't knock our socks off.  Toward the end of next week I'll post our best of lists - which will include restaurants.  This was in the top 10 but toward the bottom.

 

Sights in Troyes

So Troyes, at least the core, has some interesting things.  Probably not worth much more than a day.  Looks a lot like Colmar.

 

 

In Troyes

Made it to Troyes (about 2 hours from Paris)

We actually have decent internet but we're not to sure about this town.  Looks a bit industrial.  More soon.  Gonna do a final repack and then walk around for a bit.

If I don't get a chance to say this tomorrow - HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all the MOM's and especially mine.  Looking forward to seeing you in a little over a week.

Eats in Baden Baden

FOOD PICS!  Not always the healthiest or even the most tasty but German food is certainly the heartiest.

Dunkel Bier und Wein.

Swine mit mushrooms

Und Spatzel.  

Today we were a little healthier at lunch:

Goulashe Suppe

Tomatten Suppe

Und Salat(s)

Long hike + Healthy Lunch = Pasta for Dinner.  

Alte Schloss

Remember the old castle (Alte Schloss) above the hill in Baden Baden?

5k walk up (3.2 miles) starting in town.

Some cool panoramas on the way up

About half way up is an old church in the middle of no where

Lots of walking through the forest.

And then the Schloss kind of pop's out all of the sudden.

Pretty amazing vistas and views but it's time for lunch!

 

Baden Baden

 

A few shots around town.  Trav/Kelsey - you guys might remember some of this.

Along the creek that runs through town are some cool parks

The creek

One of the 7 zillion churches in town

The core pedestrian street (Markt) that runs though town

Just a pretty building

Made it to Baden Baden

We made it here! Looks the same as it did before. Internet is only available in the lobby between 8 AM and 9:30 PM so posting will be spotty. No FaceTime probably.

More soon.

Besancon

So Besancon is a pretty big city.  We probably wouldn't have chosen to come here if we'd realized it was this big.  We're staying in the core which has some beautiful sites but it was a real hassle to get here - I probably can't count the number of traffic laws I violated to get to the hotel.

The trip here was beautiful.

The French country side was in full bloom.

Our hotel (Le Sauvage) is gorgeous 

Even if there are a few stairs to climb along the way to get to our room.

There's a pretty castle on the hill above our hotel.

 

It has some pretty amazing city views

 

And the weird part is there's a zoo in the Castle.  We went in thinking we'd see some local wild life - I'll let you be the judge

Lots more pics - maybe I'll do a food post later but that's it for now.