The family visits

As I mentioned before, as Prakash was leaving Paris, my family arrived. They moved into the same apartment that Prakash was staying in so I was lucky to be close to them during their stay. The first day we had together was Palm Sunday so we went to Notre Dame to see a service. The ceremony lacked the peaceful spiritual nature that church services usually have due to the massive amount of tourists milling around the chapel; additionally, I think we missed the main message, as the service was in French and we only picked up the elementary words like God and son. Afterwards, we walked over to the Marais so my mom could check out the little boutiques, Ian could try a yummy crepe and they all could see the Picasso museum.

The fam left for the south of France for a couple days and I was left to my own devices. My friends and I went bowling one night. We had a great time, everything about bowling in Paris is the same as in the States with the exception that the alleys stay open much later here.

When my people returned, I dove right back into tour guide status and took them around the city. We went to all the major museums (Louvre, D'Orsay, Centre Pompidou, Rodin) and saw the major sights. I saw the Moulin Rouge for the first time and was sorely disappointed, it looked much more glamorous in the movie.

We visited the famous high fashion department store, Galleries Lafayette which had an absolutely stunning interior

One night I took I an out to his first bar. We went to the highly popular "Chez Geroge" which is and underground cave where the Nazis used to keep Jews during WWII and it has now been taken back by the Jewish community and bah/bar-mitzvahs music is played frequently. I had a good time and so did Ian, despite the fact that we were jammed in there like sardines.

My favorite discovery of their visit was Saint Chapelle catherdral. It was a very small church hidden in the middle of a lot of government buildings. From the street you can only see the spire so it seems like a protected, secret place. The church is 2 stories and the second story is absolutely breathtaking. The walls are made up almost entirely of stained glass and all the detailing of the church is in gold and midnight blue. I liked Saint-Chapelle better than Notre Dame in that it was much smaller and much less trafficked. The stained glass was the most impressive display I have every seen.




The stay was rounded out by some solid shopping. I was sad to see my family go, time just flies way too quickly, and now its already April! Only two months left.

Paris, Brussels, Vienna, London

I know I have been truant and I apologize. I will attempt to catch up on the happenings of the past month in a concise manner.

It was an absolute joy having Prakash visit. As he has been to Paris several times and seen all the major sights, we just took time to relax, I showed him may favorite spots and we just wandered around in little out of the way places. Although Paris is supposedly the romantic capital of the world, we wanted to take a romantic weekend to visit another European country, hearing that Vienna was both beautiful and romantic and seeing as neither of us had been there before, we chose this as our destination. We left on a Thursday morning so we could have three full days in the city. Our quaint hotel was in the eastern part of Vienna and we had to pass through the run-down portion of the city to reach it. My first impression of Vienna was not one of amazement, fortunately this soon changed after we took the first day to check out the major sites and a museum. The architecture was very beautiful with soaring steeples and ornate exterior detailing. Hofburg palace was very grand.

We visited a museum that had just received a donation of a huge private collection of works from the impressionist period through the Abstract Expressionists. What impressed the me most was that the couple that had collected the art over the years had the insight to recognize the talent of the artists, all which are now household names. That evening we went to the famed Viennese opera to see Les Contes d'Hoffman. The production was fantastic, I was blown away by the vocalists. This marked one of the highlights of the trip.


The next day we visited Schonbrunn palace, the former summer residence of the Viennese royal family. We took a guided tour of the house. The amount of detail paid to each room absolutely blew me away. The final room was the bedroom of the king and queen, the bedspread was made of red velvet and embroidered with gold and silver. The grounds were enormous, mostly covered in a forest of spindly trees although areas were landscaped with perennials and fountains but spring had not yet sprung in Vienna so we were left to imagine running water and blooming flowers. We did some more wandering around Vienna after seeing the palace and came upon a beautiful Gothic church
We also went to a Viennese coffee shop to get re-energize. Apparently Vienna is the city of origin of the European coffee shop culture I love so much so we had to take the time to experience it here. The coffee was delicious! We visited Vienna's modern art museum which was putting on an exhibition with the theme of art and geometry. I must say there are only so many squares and rectangles I can see before I start making geometry jokes. Fortunately, on the bottom floor of the museum was an interesting collection of European Pop art. For dinner we went to one of Vienna's premier restaurants, Ann Sacher, in the Sacher hotel. The food was indescribably good, one of the best meals I have ever had. After dinner we went to a funky little bar/club called the Office. It played decent music and it was amusing people watching. I found out afterwards from an Austrian friend, that it was a trashy bar for young people to go and get wasted, woops!

We were tired on Saturday so we just did some more wandering. We saw Karl's Church (but only from the outside because that would require paying an entrance fee which I didn't want to do), attempted to go to a museum that was mysteriously deserted, and found the oldest wiener schnitzel place in Vienna, Griechenbeisl. We discovered that instead of a fancier version of a hot dog, wiener schnitzel is in fact fried and breaded veal, blah! After some more wandering around, we decided we needed to eat again so we found a cute tea house and got delicious hot chocolate. I had a fantastic calzone for dinner (better than the one I had in Rome) to round out our eating extravaganza and trip to Vienna.

The second week of Prakash's visit to Paris continued to be relaxing, which most included wandering and eating. To spice things up we decided to go to out to a few clubs one night. We started off at one called Favella Chic which, much to Cara's joy, played reggae and R & B. I liked the relaxed shabby chic vibe of the place but the music didn't inspire high energy dancing. We left there close to closing and went to a gay club on the Champs Elysee called Queen (we chose this because it was ladies night and free for us). We walked in to a strip show happening in the middle of the dance floor. I was shocked and I think Prakash was a little grossed out but hey, when in Rome right?

The last weekend Prakash was here we went to London for an evening so he could visit and I could meet his aunt and cousins. We took the high speed chunnel train which got us to London in just over 2 hours. Prakash's cousin Shenth met us at the station and took us around London. We went to the Eye, a huge Ferris wheel that is supposed to give you a great view of the city (I suppose this would be the case if it wasn't raining and you knew what you were looking at).

I got to do a bit of shopping on Oxford street which was great except with the dollar to pound ratio, nothing is cheap. For dinner we went to Prakash's Aunt's South Indian restaurant and had a great meal. It was fun spending time with the family and seeing a snippet of London. Of all the cities I have visited so far in Europe (which granted aren't that many), London reminded me most of the United States. It wasn't the language so much as the pace and the vibe, I could have been in New York but for the cars driving on the wrong side of the street.

My family arrived the same weekend Prakash left so we all were able to have dinner together on Prakash's last evening in Paris. It was great to have him here with me and so hard to leave him at the airport. Fortunately, I had my fam to keep me company for the two weeks after he left.

the term "tourist" owned

As can happen in a week, lots has happened and Rome feels like a lifetime ago. This past week was fashion week in Paris so every day all over the city was runway show after runway show. On Tuesday, Anna and I were able to acquire tickets to one of these shows (I don't remember the name of the designer now). The event was held inside the Louvre. We had standing tickets but as the all the seats were not full, Anna and I were ushered to the third row. It was so much fun being there at the show with all the fashion people milling around looking stylish, the entire ambiance was cool; the loud music the strange clothing, the emaciated models, the hundreds of photographers. The show lasted no more than 30 minutes but that was plenty of time to get a taste of the high fashion world of Paris. Cara attempted making homemade chocolate chip cookies this night with a make-shift ingredients, they turned out pretty well and they were a nice reminder of home.

On Wednesday I went to the Centre Pompidou with my Art History class. It was a great experience to have lecture in the museum with the artists' paintings and sculptures in front of me. My professor has so much knowledge to share and it is so much easier to comprehend what she has to say about the art when the piece is sitting in front of you and it's in focus.

Thursday, Cara's friend from high school, Dina, arrived so we all went out to dinner together. I thought I ordered scallops for my meal and when my plate arrived, it turned out that I had apparently asked for chicken parmesean... I am still making these novice errors, when will it end!

Friday Prakash flew in so I met him at the airport. It is so much fun to have him here with me so I can share my Parisian lifestyle. We went out to lunch at a great little restaurant where there were no English translations on the menu and the waiter didn't revert to speaking English with me when I tried to order in French. I want to find more places like this in Paris. We then moved Prakash into the apartment that he will be staying while he is visiting. It is a beautiful place with hardwood floors and a real kitchen, and the best part is that it is around the corner from me. That night we invited Anna, Cara and Dina over for dinner and I attempted to make tuna casserole from memory and French ingredients. No one threw up but no one went back for seconds either, I think I may stick to a recipe next time.

On Saturday, Prakash accompanied me on my trip to Brussels with Abroadco. We took an 8am train and were on a tour bus by 10am. We listened to an hour and a half recorded tour of the city while we rode around in a double decker bus (you can't get more touristy than that). We were able to see several parks and the eclectic mix of architecture in the city. There was everything from medieval to art deco to contemporary. I liked that the architecture was different than any other city yet visited in Europe, some parts of the city was very beautiful other parts were unsightly and a significant amount of older building were under renovation. This tour did remind me why I don't pay extra money to take audio tours. After the tour we had a "traditional" Belgian lunch (we were told). I ordered a large white beer, only to be presented with a 1 liter mug of beer (needless to say I didn't finish this). Our appetizer was a fried cheese dish which was comforting in light of the fact that it was freezing outside and we wanted anything to warm us up. My vegetarian meal consisted of a cooked carrot dish with a seemingly Asian flair and soy chicken nuggets. After lunch the group was allowed to split up so Prakash, Anna, Cara, Dina and I went to the chocolate museum where we learned how they make Belgian pralines (chocolate shells filled with chocolate). The presentation was interesting and we got to sample phenomenal chocolate but the rest of the museum was uneventful. After this we went to the modern art museum. The bottom floor was all 20th century art which was all we had time for, it was a fun exhibit. It was set up in semi chronological and thematic order so it was an interesting historical as well as aesthetic exhibit. After this we hit up a chocolate store so we would have something to show for our Belgian visit and then, stopped at the ultimate tourist waffle joint to get Belgian waffles and fries. My waffle was very good, the fries were mediocre and the service was terrible. We met back up with the group in time to travel to the train station. Part of the group was late so we had to run through the train station to try to catch our train, which we still missed (several individuals were stampeded over in the process, Anna being one of them). Never a dull moment with Abroadco. When we got home our little group went to a Thai/Vietnamese/Chinese place for dinner. I ordered pad thai which was palatable (we needed a break).

Sunday Prakash and I dragged ourselves out of bed so we could take advantage of the fact that all the Paris museums were free (due to it being the first Sunday of the month). We went to a brasserie close to Prakash's place for breakfast and then walked to the Rodin museum. It wasn't too cold and there was no rain so we were able to enjoy the garden in addition to the indoor part of the museum. I loved the garden, it was a refreshing venue to enjoy sculpture with a lush green backdrop and no one breathing down your neck. After this we met up with Cara and Dina and went to L'Orangerie, a little impressionist museum in Jardin des Tuileries. The museum was small but had some Cezanne and Matisse which I loved and of course Monet's waterlilies which were beautiful; I was blown away by their size. After this we went to the Marais to eat at a creperie a friend recommended. I ordered a goat cheese, tomato and basil one which blew me away! We wandered around a little more and then went home to relax and do laundry. As I'm sure I have mentioned before, most everything in Paris is closed on Sundays (including eating establishments) so by 9:30 we were hungry and a little worried about where our next meal would come from. We decided to venture into the realm of French delivery and found a Pizza place that was still open and nearby. I was chosen as the individual to make the call and was able to successfully order a pizza entirely in French (a small victory I will cherish)! Needless to say the pizza was terrible but it was a fun experience.