Links to our photos from Paris are:
Here and
here.
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Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Americans in Paris... Day 3 Recap
Ugh. Another morning, another late-ish start. We had an imposing schedule planned - Notre Dame, Saint Chappelle, the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower. We only ended up doing two of those things in the end.
We set out on foot in the direction of Notre Dame. This may have been one of our big mistakes, in retrospect. Looking at a map, things look fairly close together and you think you'll be stopping at a cafe or a boulangerie for some coffee and croissants so the walk should be no big deal. Well, when it's spritzing rain and you feel like you can't find a cafe or bakery to save your life, it's a very, very long walk indeed. we did find a little cafe around the corner from the National Assembly where we had a nice coffee, and did find a bakery with some croissants and pain au chocolat, but it just never felt as easy as it should have been. I don't know how to describe it and maybe we had bad luck by happening to walk on one street versus another (even though we tried to pop up or down a block or two when we seemed to be in a deserted area), but it was just a frustrating pain in the butt and it always seemed to happen to us.
Anyway, we made it to Notre Dame, passing a long, long line to get into Saint Chappelle (so we passed on it entirely) along the way. We toured the inside of Notre Dame, but again, the line to get up into the towers was long, and we just didn't have the spirit to deal with it in the mucky weather and spritzing rain, and with the specter of visiting the Louvre still ahead of us. So we passed.
We trudged over to the Lourve, searching for a crepe stand somewhere along the way. Again, it was one of those things that I just expected to be there... and we were walking along the Rue de Rivoli, a fairly major shopping road. We found one crepe stand, but the little hot plate wasn't working, so that was a bust. Finally, about five minutes later, we happened upon another little crepe stand and ordered two ham and cheese crepes for ourselves. Those things sat in our stomach like blocks of lead for the next couple of hours, but they gave us enough energy to get through the Louvre.
The Louvre. What can one say about it. It's immense. Imposing. Simultaneously crowded and abandoned, depending on which room you are in. We thought we were being ruthless with our itinerary - only visiting the Greek and Roman sculptures and the Italian renaissance art, but even that proved to be utterly exhausting. We did see the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa, but in the end they were completely underwhelming. And because the Louvre was so insanely huge, even the stuff that I do love (Botticellis and Lippis and Titians and Canovas and Michelanglos) just wasn't that enjoyable.
Mentally, I was comparing the Louvre to the British Museum and National Gallery in London and the Uffizzi in Florence. In my opinion, the British Museum was much better organized with respect to it's Egyptian, Greek, and Roman collections. It didn't seem as scattered and seemed to tell a story rather than just showing off what they had. Same with the National Gallery's collection of Italian Renaissance art - the rooms were smaller, allowing you to spend time with some of the paintings and really get into them, rather than feeling like you had to see everything at once. Likewise with the Uffizzi. Again, there is no shortage of amazing famous art there - but again, the rooms are smaller, attendance is tightly controlled, and I feel like you can enjoy the art rather than being shuttled quickly by it. The Louvre, to me, feels organized in such a way to keep folks moving through the huge rooms. I know that there is an entire science behind museum collections and displays, and I wonder if this comes into play with the Louvre since it is such an immense space and huge tourist destination.
Also, the Venus de Milo is not that hot. :)
Anyway, we finally escaped the madness of the Louvre, feeling like we had seen too much to process and nothing at all. We refueled with an eclair and pain au chocolat from a pastry shop, and then made our way back to the apartment for another rest before dinner. After the days events, and again with the dismal weather, we were just feeling very blah about Paris.
The evening's events redeemed Paris for us, just a little though. Dinner that night was at Au Bon Accueil, quite literally in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. We were seated next to another American couple, the ambiance was very modern romantic, and the service and food were on par with our first night's experience. My starter was octopus in a ceviche style with a tomato-like salsa. Simply out of this world. There was a lot of acid to flavor the unique texture of the octopus, and I do not think that I've ever tasted anything better. If we had stayed another night, I would have returned for the octopus alone. It was excellent. DH had a simple salad dressed with a raspberry vinaigrette, Parmigano Reggiano, and walnuts. Yummy. For dinner, I had grilled sea bream (think trout) on fennel with a side of potato puree, and DH had an incredible sirloin steak with a roasted potato pancake. DH's steak was a revelation - perfectly, perfectly cooked, and with the first bite, you expected the nice tender taste of meat (which there was) but then there was this tasty caramelized crust that took a good steak and made it transcendent. Yum, yum, yum.
For dessert we both had a molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, lovely perfection. Our neighboring Americans had had the same dish (my question about it had led to us striking up a conversation throughout the rest of our dinner). All in all, our experience at dinner went a long way in redeeming our time in Paris, but the best was yet to come.
I had wanted to see the Eiffel Tower "sparkling" the entire time we were in Paris, but we never seemed to catch it, leading me to believe that the "sparkling" was just a part of the display celebrating France's presidency of the EU, which had ended a little while ago. On our walk back to the apartment that night, I caught a glimpse of the flashing reflection of the Eiffel tower in the windows the buildings lining the street. DH and I ran about 3 blocks over to the park next to the Eiffel Tower and watched the sparkling lights for nearly five minutes until they ended. We got some pictures (which I am sure won't turn out in the end) but it just seemed like the perfect ending to a much better night. We walked back to the apartment, packed up our things for our morning flight back to England the next morning, and fell dead into bed from exhaustion.
We set out on foot in the direction of Notre Dame. This may have been one of our big mistakes, in retrospect. Looking at a map, things look fairly close together and you think you'll be stopping at a cafe or a boulangerie for some coffee and croissants so the walk should be no big deal. Well, when it's spritzing rain and you feel like you can't find a cafe or bakery to save your life, it's a very, very long walk indeed. we did find a little cafe around the corner from the National Assembly where we had a nice coffee, and did find a bakery with some croissants and pain au chocolat, but it just never felt as easy as it should have been. I don't know how to describe it and maybe we had bad luck by happening to walk on one street versus another (even though we tried to pop up or down a block or two when we seemed to be in a deserted area), but it was just a frustrating pain in the butt and it always seemed to happen to us.
Anyway, we made it to Notre Dame, passing a long, long line to get into Saint Chappelle (so we passed on it entirely) along the way. We toured the inside of Notre Dame, but again, the line to get up into the towers was long, and we just didn't have the spirit to deal with it in the mucky weather and spritzing rain, and with the specter of visiting the Louvre still ahead of us. So we passed.
We trudged over to the Lourve, searching for a crepe stand somewhere along the way. Again, it was one of those things that I just expected to be there... and we were walking along the Rue de Rivoli, a fairly major shopping road. We found one crepe stand, but the little hot plate wasn't working, so that was a bust. Finally, about five minutes later, we happened upon another little crepe stand and ordered two ham and cheese crepes for ourselves. Those things sat in our stomach like blocks of lead for the next couple of hours, but they gave us enough energy to get through the Louvre.
The Louvre. What can one say about it. It's immense. Imposing. Simultaneously crowded and abandoned, depending on which room you are in. We thought we were being ruthless with our itinerary - only visiting the Greek and Roman sculptures and the Italian renaissance art, but even that proved to be utterly exhausting. We did see the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa, but in the end they were completely underwhelming. And because the Louvre was so insanely huge, even the stuff that I do love (Botticellis and Lippis and Titians and Canovas and Michelanglos) just wasn't that enjoyable.
Mentally, I was comparing the Louvre to the British Museum and National Gallery in London and the Uffizzi in Florence. In my opinion, the British Museum was much better organized with respect to it's Egyptian, Greek, and Roman collections. It didn't seem as scattered and seemed to tell a story rather than just showing off what they had. Same with the National Gallery's collection of Italian Renaissance art - the rooms were smaller, allowing you to spend time with some of the paintings and really get into them, rather than feeling like you had to see everything at once. Likewise with the Uffizzi. Again, there is no shortage of amazing famous art there - but again, the rooms are smaller, attendance is tightly controlled, and I feel like you can enjoy the art rather than being shuttled quickly by it. The Louvre, to me, feels organized in such a way to keep folks moving through the huge rooms. I know that there is an entire science behind museum collections and displays, and I wonder if this comes into play with the Louvre since it is such an immense space and huge tourist destination.
Also, the Venus de Milo is not that hot. :)
Anyway, we finally escaped the madness of the Louvre, feeling like we had seen too much to process and nothing at all. We refueled with an eclair and pain au chocolat from a pastry shop, and then made our way back to the apartment for another rest before dinner. After the days events, and again with the dismal weather, we were just feeling very blah about Paris.
The evening's events redeemed Paris for us, just a little though. Dinner that night was at Au Bon Accueil, quite literally in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. We were seated next to another American couple, the ambiance was very modern romantic, and the service and food were on par with our first night's experience. My starter was octopus in a ceviche style with a tomato-like salsa. Simply out of this world. There was a lot of acid to flavor the unique texture of the octopus, and I do not think that I've ever tasted anything better. If we had stayed another night, I would have returned for the octopus alone. It was excellent. DH had a simple salad dressed with a raspberry vinaigrette, Parmigano Reggiano, and walnuts. Yummy. For dinner, I had grilled sea bream (think trout) on fennel with a side of potato puree, and DH had an incredible sirloin steak with a roasted potato pancake. DH's steak was a revelation - perfectly, perfectly cooked, and with the first bite, you expected the nice tender taste of meat (which there was) but then there was this tasty caramelized crust that took a good steak and made it transcendent. Yum, yum, yum.
For dessert we both had a molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, lovely perfection. Our neighboring Americans had had the same dish (my question about it had led to us striking up a conversation throughout the rest of our dinner). All in all, our experience at dinner went a long way in redeeming our time in Paris, but the best was yet to come.
I had wanted to see the Eiffel Tower "sparkling" the entire time we were in Paris, but we never seemed to catch it, leading me to believe that the "sparkling" was just a part of the display celebrating France's presidency of the EU, which had ended a little while ago. On our walk back to the apartment that night, I caught a glimpse of the flashing reflection of the Eiffel tower in the windows the buildings lining the street. DH and I ran about 3 blocks over to the park next to the Eiffel Tower and watched the sparkling lights for nearly five minutes until they ended. We got some pictures (which I am sure won't turn out in the end) but it just seemed like the perfect ending to a much better night. We walked back to the apartment, packed up our things for our morning flight back to England the next morning, and fell dead into bed from exhaustion.
Americans in Paris... Day 2 Recap
Sunday in Paris.. not much to do other than sightsee. We dragged our butts out of bed quite late Sunday morning and started going towards the Musee d'Orsay. Along the way we stopped and grabbed a couple of croissants and two cafe au laits for breakfast (although at that point it was more like a very early lunch!).
The Musee d'Orsay was a nice visit. I'm a huge fan of the Impressionists - particularly Monet and Renoir. The collection was very good, crowds were manageable, and we got to see most everything we wanted. The museum building itself was stunning. An old railway station, the openness of the central area made it feel very airy and light. All in all, I'm glad we went, but I don't think I'd visit again. I'd probably try and hit some of the smaller collections (like the one at the Orangerie, which has a huge number of Monets) next time.
After d'Orsay we set out to visit the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysee. We were also starving, and desperately looking for a small boulangerie or something that had sandwiches, or even a crepe stand. For a city that boasts that there is a bakery, a pastry shop, a cheese shop, and a cafe on every block, we had a nearly impossible time finding anything open on that Sunday. We were forced to grab a sandwich at one of the tourist traps on the Champs itself, which wasn't bad, but wasn't really great either, but at that point we had burned so many calories walking we had to make them up somehow. It was spitting rain and quite overcast, which really cast a pall on the whole day. We finally made it to the Arc de Triomphe and were shocked to see it cost more to access the top than to visit the Musee d'Orsay. We did the tourist thing... climbing to the top to overlook the Champs and all the traffic in the Place de Charles de Gaulle Etoile below us. Our view over the city was really marred by the weather; Sacre Couer was barely visible in the distance. We climbed down and made our way back to our apartment for a much needed rest before heading out to what turned out to be the most disappointing meal of our trip.
That night we ate at La Fontaine de Mars - steps away from Cafe Constant where we had had such a good meal the night before, and recommended as a good Sunday night choice by several travel boards. Unfortunately, it wasn't our cup of tea. Our waiter seemed to be that famous Parisian waiter of lore, dismissive and snooty and barely there. We were handed English menus without a question, and the service felt more American (was he trying to flip the table?) than French. The two highlights were DH's starter - an absolutely lovely langostine bisque - and the bottle of Sancerre I ordered after being introduced to the yummy white the night before. Even these two highlights were diminished by the waiter bringing us the wrong bottle of wine at first ("whoops!" he said after I said "Sancerre?" as he was tearing the foil away from the cork. He disappeared for 10 minutes before reappearing with the correct bottle, and then he never refilled my glass despite the fact that it was being kept in an ice bucket) and then, even worse in my opinion, forgetting to bring DH a spoon with which to enjoy his bisque. I actually had to flag down another waiter after waiting for 5 minutes to get DH his spoon. Really it's unforgivable to forget that kind of thing.
For dinner I ordered one of the daily specials - a cassoulet (French white bean stew), and DH ordered the chicken with morels in a cream sauce. My cassoulet was just alright; the flavors were really muddled, the texture of some of the contents wasn't really nice, and all in all it just wasn't a success. DH's said that even though the morels and cream sauce were good, the chicken was dry and a little overcooked. Shocking! So, feeling pretty disappointed with both the service and the food, we opted to skip dessert and get the heck out of there. To be fair, the service wasn't universally abysmal there - we watched as one of our waiter's colleagues politely helped a Russian? couple at the next table understand the menu and the day's specials (our waiter - their's as well - had left the English chalkboard with the daily specials at their table saying "here's the English version" and walked away). Anyway, we were pretty bummed, especially since that meal ended up being the most expensive of our short vacation.
We stumbled home again, pretty disillusioned with Paris in general after that second day, to again wait out some noisy neighbors behind paper thin walls before falling asleep.
The Musee d'Orsay was a nice visit. I'm a huge fan of the Impressionists - particularly Monet and Renoir. The collection was very good, crowds were manageable, and we got to see most everything we wanted. The museum building itself was stunning. An old railway station, the openness of the central area made it feel very airy and light. All in all, I'm glad we went, but I don't think I'd visit again. I'd probably try and hit some of the smaller collections (like the one at the Orangerie, which has a huge number of Monets) next time.
After d'Orsay we set out to visit the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysee. We were also starving, and desperately looking for a small boulangerie or something that had sandwiches, or even a crepe stand. For a city that boasts that there is a bakery, a pastry shop, a cheese shop, and a cafe on every block, we had a nearly impossible time finding anything open on that Sunday. We were forced to grab a sandwich at one of the tourist traps on the Champs itself, which wasn't bad, but wasn't really great either, but at that point we had burned so many calories walking we had to make them up somehow. It was spitting rain and quite overcast, which really cast a pall on the whole day. We finally made it to the Arc de Triomphe and were shocked to see it cost more to access the top than to visit the Musee d'Orsay. We did the tourist thing... climbing to the top to overlook the Champs and all the traffic in the Place de Charles de Gaulle Etoile below us. Our view over the city was really marred by the weather; Sacre Couer was barely visible in the distance. We climbed down and made our way back to our apartment for a much needed rest before heading out to what turned out to be the most disappointing meal of our trip.
That night we ate at La Fontaine de Mars - steps away from Cafe Constant where we had had such a good meal the night before, and recommended as a good Sunday night choice by several travel boards. Unfortunately, it wasn't our cup of tea. Our waiter seemed to be that famous Parisian waiter of lore, dismissive and snooty and barely there. We were handed English menus without a question, and the service felt more American (was he trying to flip the table?) than French. The two highlights were DH's starter - an absolutely lovely langostine bisque - and the bottle of Sancerre I ordered after being introduced to the yummy white the night before. Even these two highlights were diminished by the waiter bringing us the wrong bottle of wine at first ("whoops!" he said after I said "Sancerre?" as he was tearing the foil away from the cork. He disappeared for 10 minutes before reappearing with the correct bottle, and then he never refilled my glass despite the fact that it was being kept in an ice bucket) and then, even worse in my opinion, forgetting to bring DH a spoon with which to enjoy his bisque. I actually had to flag down another waiter after waiting for 5 minutes to get DH his spoon. Really it's unforgivable to forget that kind of thing.
For dinner I ordered one of the daily specials - a cassoulet (French white bean stew), and DH ordered the chicken with morels in a cream sauce. My cassoulet was just alright; the flavors were really muddled, the texture of some of the contents wasn't really nice, and all in all it just wasn't a success. DH's said that even though the morels and cream sauce were good, the chicken was dry and a little overcooked. Shocking! So, feeling pretty disappointed with both the service and the food, we opted to skip dessert and get the heck out of there. To be fair, the service wasn't universally abysmal there - we watched as one of our waiter's colleagues politely helped a Russian? couple at the next table understand the menu and the day's specials (our waiter - their's as well - had left the English chalkboard with the daily specials at their table saying "here's the English version" and walked away). Anyway, we were pretty bummed, especially since that meal ended up being the most expensive of our short vacation.
We stumbled home again, pretty disillusioned with Paris in general after that second day, to again wait out some noisy neighbors behind paper thin walls before falling asleep.
Americans in Paris... Day 1 Recap
DH and I spent a long weekend in Paris, filled with walking, food highlights and lowlights, and lots and lots of butter.
Day 1:
We arrived via Jet2 at Terminal 3 at Charles de Gaulle airport. We were staying in an apartment one street over from the Rue Cler, so we called the rental agent from the airport to let her know we were in Paris. To make a long, fiasco-filled story short, we got to the apartment and there was no one there to meet us. After frantically calling and texting the rental agent for 10 minutes, the people I suspect were the "cleaners" came down and let us in. Apparently whoever was supposed to have met us was in some kind of accident (although it couldn't have been too serious since we got a hold of the agent about 30 minutes later). There was much drama and misunderstanding (the cleaners spoke very, very little English, and we spoke no French and very, very little Russian) but we finally got things settled.
We walked to the Eiffel tower, stopping at a little boulangerie/patisserie to pick up an outstandingly delicious onion quiche and a fairly pedestrian apple tart to eat in the park under the Eiffel. We took some pictures, then walked along the Seine for a while, took a chilly boat ride at sunset (which was not visible, since there were heavy dark clouds in the sky the whole weekend) and saw the Eiffel Tower light up for the night.
Without a doubt the highlight of Day 1 was dinner. In what I'm chalking up to intervention by a supreme being, DH and I walked into a fairly popular restaurant (Cafe Constant) a couple of blocks from our apartment at 8:00 and we able to score the last table available that night. Seriously, there was another couple studying the menu outside we passed while entering the restaurant, and when they walked in two minutes after we did, they were told the restaurant was full for the night. Two more groups walked in and were told the same in the following 5 minutes.
DH and I had done lots of mental preparation for eating out in Paris. All the guidebooks and online travel websites tell you that eating out is a religion in Paris, which lots of social codes and such. We wanted to try and fit in (or at least not draw undue attention to ourselves) as much as possible. We read the chalkboard menu all in French (no "menus" here... just chalkboards with the day's offerings) and used our little French phrasebook's menu decoder to try and figure out what everything was. We sorted out what we wanted, ordered in French, and when our waiter said something to us in English (can't remember the circumstance - maybe when we asked for wine) I realized that he had an impeccable unmistakably American accent. I asked him where he was from, and lo and behold he was from NYC (Queens, no less!). Moreover, when the Japanese couple sitting next to us asked if there was a menu in English, our waiter produced an English version of the menu that he himself had translated. DH and I just looked at each other and laughed and laughed... all that effort to try and assimilate, and we had a NYC waiter. It was gratifying, though, to know that we did a pretty darn good job figuring out what everything was from the original French.
Anyway, on to the meal. This was one of the best meals I've eaten in my life, no doubt about it. To start DH and I both had lobster ravioli in a bisque-like sauce. There are no words to describe how wonderful this tasted... the sauce was like velvet, the lobster was sweet and perfectly cooked, and it was the perfect-sized portion. Dinner for me was a lovely cooked filet of sea bass (not Chilean!) on a garlic-potato puree. Absolutely scrumptious! The only complaint I might be so bold as to offer is that the portion size was a little big. There were three filet "chunks", so to speak, and I had palate fatigue after eating two of them. DH had an interesting shrimp dish where the shrimp were lightly "breaded" and fried in what appeared to be a flaky filo dough. Underneath the shrimp were these little roasted potato "coins" that were divine. For dessert, I had a lovely, light Creme Caramel and DH had the richest chocolate I think we've ever tasted. Called "Quenelles Chocolat" or chocolate dumplings, they were these little, solid, egg-shaped milk chocolate "dumplings" that were swimming in a custard-like sauce. They were so rich he could only eat one, and after three bits I was similarly unable to eat any more. But they were incredibly delicious. We had a carafe of wonderful Sancerre white wine (nice and dry, very good with all the rich food we had) and perfect service. Needless to say, it really was a great dining experience. The same chef owns four other restaurants on the same street, and if we return to Paris, we'll absolutely be eating at one of them.
We stumbled home on our sore feet and fell into bed... waiting for the noise of the neighbors to die down behind the paper thin walls of the apartment before we finally we able to get to sleep...
Day 1:
We arrived via Jet2 at Terminal 3 at Charles de Gaulle airport. We were staying in an apartment one street over from the Rue Cler, so we called the rental agent from the airport to let her know we were in Paris. To make a long, fiasco-filled story short, we got to the apartment and there was no one there to meet us. After frantically calling and texting the rental agent for 10 minutes, the people I suspect were the "cleaners" came down and let us in. Apparently whoever was supposed to have met us was in some kind of accident (although it couldn't have been too serious since we got a hold of the agent about 30 minutes later). There was much drama and misunderstanding (the cleaners spoke very, very little English, and we spoke no French and very, very little Russian) but we finally got things settled.
We walked to the Eiffel tower, stopping at a little boulangerie/patisserie to pick up an outstandingly delicious onion quiche and a fairly pedestrian apple tart to eat in the park under the Eiffel. We took some pictures, then walked along the Seine for a while, took a chilly boat ride at sunset (which was not visible, since there were heavy dark clouds in the sky the whole weekend) and saw the Eiffel Tower light up for the night.
Without a doubt the highlight of Day 1 was dinner. In what I'm chalking up to intervention by a supreme being, DH and I walked into a fairly popular restaurant (Cafe Constant) a couple of blocks from our apartment at 8:00 and we able to score the last table available that night. Seriously, there was another couple studying the menu outside we passed while entering the restaurant, and when they walked in two minutes after we did, they were told the restaurant was full for the night. Two more groups walked in and were told the same in the following 5 minutes.
DH and I had done lots of mental preparation for eating out in Paris. All the guidebooks and online travel websites tell you that eating out is a religion in Paris, which lots of social codes and such. We wanted to try and fit in (or at least not draw undue attention to ourselves) as much as possible. We read the chalkboard menu all in French (no "menus" here... just chalkboards with the day's offerings) and used our little French phrasebook's menu decoder to try and figure out what everything was. We sorted out what we wanted, ordered in French, and when our waiter said something to us in English (can't remember the circumstance - maybe when we asked for wine) I realized that he had an impeccable unmistakably American accent. I asked him where he was from, and lo and behold he was from NYC (Queens, no less!). Moreover, when the Japanese couple sitting next to us asked if there was a menu in English, our waiter produced an English version of the menu that he himself had translated. DH and I just looked at each other and laughed and laughed... all that effort to try and assimilate, and we had a NYC waiter. It was gratifying, though, to know that we did a pretty darn good job figuring out what everything was from the original French.
Anyway, on to the meal. This was one of the best meals I've eaten in my life, no doubt about it. To start DH and I both had lobster ravioli in a bisque-like sauce. There are no words to describe how wonderful this tasted... the sauce was like velvet, the lobster was sweet and perfectly cooked, and it was the perfect-sized portion. Dinner for me was a lovely cooked filet of sea bass (not Chilean!) on a garlic-potato puree. Absolutely scrumptious! The only complaint I might be so bold as to offer is that the portion size was a little big. There were three filet "chunks", so to speak, and I had palate fatigue after eating two of them. DH had an interesting shrimp dish where the shrimp were lightly "breaded" and fried in what appeared to be a flaky filo dough. Underneath the shrimp were these little roasted potato "coins" that were divine. For dessert, I had a lovely, light Creme Caramel and DH had the richest chocolate I think we've ever tasted. Called "Quenelles Chocolat" or chocolate dumplings, they were these little, solid, egg-shaped milk chocolate "dumplings" that were swimming in a custard-like sauce. They were so rich he could only eat one, and after three bits I was similarly unable to eat any more. But they were incredibly delicious. We had a carafe of wonderful Sancerre white wine (nice and dry, very good with all the rich food we had) and perfect service. Needless to say, it really was a great dining experience. The same chef owns four other restaurants on the same street, and if we return to Paris, we'll absolutely be eating at one of them.
We stumbled home on our sore feet and fell into bed... waiting for the noise of the neighbors to die down behind the paper thin walls of the apartment before we finally we able to get to sleep...
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Wii Fit - Greatest Invention Ever or Best Invention Ever?
There's a whopping 5 inches of snow outside and it's quite cold and blustery. I, however, am staying active and having fun with my new Wii Fit. Based on rave reviews from several friends (including the one who inspired DH and I to get the Wii to begin with) I ordered a Wii Fit from Amazon as soon as they came back into stock after the Christmas rush. It arrived last night, and already I'm not sure whether I've burned more calories from actually using the thing or just busting a gut laughing at some of the routines.
I've learned:
- DH and I weigh about the same... only he's 3-4 inches taller than me (boo!)
- My BMI is on the high end of normal; DH's is perfect
- I have very poor balance control
- I am not coordinated enough to do step aerobics
- I am really weak and out of shape (just a couple of the strength training exercises and I was DYING!)
- I was an AWESOME hula-hooper when I was a kid, and I don't think that the hula-hooping routine reflects that accurately.
- It's kind of annoying to only do things for 2-3 minute spells only until you're one minute into the routine
- There is nothing in this world funnier than seeing DH's Mii get hit in the face with a soccer cleat. Nothing.
I really hope that the novelty doesn't wear off too quickly for me... because right now it is a ton of fun. I am the kind of person who will try over and over again for a perfect result, and, well, getting a perfect result with some of the challenges on the Wii Fit would mean that I had a perfect body, perfect balance, perfect strength, and perfect stamina. Since that's unlikely to ever be the case, at least I won't be bored for a really, really, long time.
And despite the fact that I'm terrible at the Step routines, I hope that someone comes out with a 20-30 minute step and/or aerobics workout for the Wii for use with the balance board, because I think that would kick butt.
I've learned:
- DH and I weigh about the same... only he's 3-4 inches taller than me (boo!)
- My BMI is on the high end of normal; DH's is perfect
- I have very poor balance control
- I am not coordinated enough to do step aerobics
- I am really weak and out of shape (just a couple of the strength training exercises and I was DYING!)
- I was an AWESOME hula-hooper when I was a kid, and I don't think that the hula-hooping routine reflects that accurately.
- It's kind of annoying to only do things for 2-3 minute spells only until you're one minute into the routine
- There is nothing in this world funnier than seeing DH's Mii get hit in the face with a soccer cleat. Nothing.
I really hope that the novelty doesn't wear off too quickly for me... because right now it is a ton of fun. I am the kind of person who will try over and over again for a perfect result, and, well, getting a perfect result with some of the challenges on the Wii Fit would mean that I had a perfect body, perfect balance, perfect strength, and perfect stamina. Since that's unlikely to ever be the case, at least I won't be bored for a really, really, long time.
And despite the fact that I'm terrible at the Step routines, I hope that someone comes out with a 20-30 minute step and/or aerobics workout for the Wii for use with the balance board, because I think that would kick butt.
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