Paris in June… with a side of morning sickness

Next up on the ‘catch up’ list is the mother/daughter trip to Paris my mom and I took mid-June.  Only took a full month since the last post to get this one up!!

My mother and I had been planning the Paris trip for months – well before I got pregnant.  We had booked our flight to leave Munich on a Friday and spend a long weekend there, returning the next Tuesday.  So when my morning sickness and 1^st trimester exhaustion kicked in right on time at 6 weeks – it also happened to be just days before we were off to Paris. 

Of course I felt bad that I would be hindering our Parisian adventures, but I forgot that the news of a new grandchild far outweighed any ruined plans my mother had.  She instead was nothing but supportive – which meant that she didn’t quite see everything on her list (but to be fair, usually her unbelievably long sight-seeing lists can be impossible even for the healthy).

To kick off our fabulous weekend in Paris – we started with an early dinner at Chipotle!  Totally authentic France, right?  Now hear me out – I (as well as the majority of normal Americans) appreciate the deliciousness of a Chipotle (or Qdoba) burrito.  Now imagine going over a year since you have had one.  And you are pregnant.  And you are finally within a kilometer of one.  You would do it too.  And if you wouldn’t – well then you are a better person than me. 

That beautiful burrito

Next up – Sleep!  I am pretty sure we also wandered the city a bit and saw the Louvre (from the outside) and walked along the Seine that day too…. but that is the down side of writing blogs months later.  All I can remember for sure was the Chipotle.

Saturday I woke up ready to conquer the city beyond the nearest Chipotle.  On the agenda – check out the views from the roof of Sacré-Cœur.  Now in my head, I remember doing this a few years back with Noah and his mother.  And also in my head – an elevator to the top.  Sadly only one of those things was accurate.  After many pauses and letting a LOT of people pass us by, we made up the 270 steps.  What awaited us was a gorgeous clear view of the city. 

You can totally see the views behind us, right?

Next up was trying to find the specific café that I had visited with Noah and his mom that was in the Montmartre neighborhood because I remember the French onion soup was delicious.  After wandering a few blocks, we stumbled upon the exact corner café!  And the food was just as delicious as I remembered.  We enjoyed French onion soup (leaving the tomato… like mother like daughter) and a croque-monsieur sandwich and of course a baguette. 

Now I have a name in case I want to find this place again - Le Nouveau Carillon

The sandwich did look better when it arrived - we had already started eating it when we thought to photograph it

No raw tomatoes for us

Reenergized by the food, we continued wandering the Montmartre neighborhood in the direction of the Montmartre Cemetery.  By the time we made it to the cemetery, all I could do was find a bench and sit.  But Mom was able to wander the graveyard and enjoy the scenery / take some photos. 

Sufficiently worn out for the day, we returned to the hotel for an afternoon siesta.  Post nap-time we decided to wander the area around our hotel.  We ended the evening people/dog watching at the close by Tuileries Garden.

As it was our third day in Paris and we had yet to go to the Eiffel Tower, we figured it was time to remedy that.  We joined all the other tourists along with the vendors pushing selfie sticks at the base of the tower.  After the obligatory selfie (sans selfie stick – sorry vendors) and a photo of me and baby, we headed away from the tower to find some lunch.  

Post a simple ham-and-baguette lunch, we were off to the Champs-Élysées for shopping to see the Arc de Triomphe.  Again I was the party pooper and just sat on a nearby bench while Mom went to explore the Arc up close. 

We ended the night with a few repeats – dinner at Chipotle (don’t judge me) and people watching in the park. 

Paris is just gorgeous

Monday was our big adventure out to see Versailles.  After figuring out the trains and making our way to the palace with a handful of other tourists, we start trying to figure out the ticket situation.  Only after looking confusingly at the locked doors to all the ticket offices did it hit us that perhaps it was closed.  I checked Google and learned that while there were opening hours listed, I dug deeper and learned those were for the PARK only.  Monday the palace is closed.  GREAT JOB GOOGLE!   So sadly Momma didn’t get to see the inside of the palace, but we went ahead and wandered the gardens since we were there. 

The complete lack of people and the fact that this was roped off should have been a clue....

Last selfie of the trip

Back in the city after a nice siesta, we ended the evening at the park and then dinner at Chipotle a Chinese restaurant.

We woke up on our last day to rain, but that didn’t stop us from making our way to Notre Dame.  The incredibly long line was more than I could handle with my nausea and exhaustion, so we only enjoyed it from the outside.  Like everything else.  (Again – sorry Mom!!).  We instead wandered to a café and enjoyed another croque-monsieur, but this time we added crème brûlée to our menu. 

Before long it was time to head back to the hotel for our luggage and return home to Munich.  So while the pregnancy kept my mom from getting to see much of the inside of anything, this baby has her already booking 2 trips back to Munich for 2016.  One of which will include a trip to Paris with her friends – who hopefully allow her to actually see inside a few things. 

Jet-setting off to Paris for the weekend

As we continue to play catch-up on back logged posts, I will now reminisce about the weekend of October 19^th, when I flew to Paris to meet up with my childhood friends Allison and Allison.  They came to Europe for the week, and after their 24-hour stay in London, it was time for their 48 hours in Paris.  Lucky for me Paris is a short and cheap flight away, so I could easily join them for a nice Parisian weekend.

We met at our hotel Friday night after my flight and their Eurostar train from London arrived.  We headed out for a late dinner in the touristy area, where the first photo Allison B took was of a cat licking itself.  That is the only photo of Paris (outside our hotel room) taken on their first night in Paris.  Classy. 

The next morning we had plans to take the train out of the city to visit the Palace of Versailles.  Unfortunately, the normal train was shut down, so after an hour+ of unsuccessfully trying to locate the backup route, we decided to move on.  Otherwise our memories of Paris 2013 would have been of wandering through metro and train stations.

Instead we decide to head to the classic tourist spot of Paris that I know isn’t ‘shut down’ for the weekend – the Eiffel Tower.  

The next stop – the Weiss Chocolate store.  We had some guests gift us some Weiss maracons and chocolate from their store in Strasbourg. I had looked up their Paris location, and was determined to buy some more treats from them.  We follow Google maps, find the store, and then see the sign on the door saying they have closed.  WTF?  Additionally, the Allisons had only heard of the coconut-based macaroon cookies… not the French colorful maracon cookies.  I was hoping to introduce them to the Weiss versions, but clearly that was off the table.

We remembered there was a bakery right next to our hotel, and we had seen macarons in the window.  Plus they mentioned ‘gluten free’ on the door – which one Allison requires.  Side note – turns out all French macarons are gluten free – made with almond flour.  Who knew?  Anyways, we make our way back to the hotel/macaron store, and luckily find it open.  Since they had never eaten macarons before, I suggested we just share one box so they can taste it.  Then if they like it, we can return the next day (Sunday) to buy more for our trip home, because, you know, their website says they are open Sundays.  The macarons are a hit (and this place makes good ones), and we figure we should check to ensure the store is really open Sundays since we have had such bad luck in Paris with things being closed.  Good thing we asked – they would have been closed!  So instead we all stock up on the colorful treats and leave them in our hotel room.  Thanks PapyBioAtelier! 

Next up – walking off some of that sugar on the Champs-Élysées to do some window-shopping and see the Arc de Triomphe.  Well, it wasn’t just window-shopping for all three of us – Allison G found a nice Louis Vuitton purse from the flagship store.  Side note: I had to Google Louis Vuitton to see how to spell it – hence I passed on the opportunity to buy one. 

After a sushi dinner (for Allison B and I) and a Hard Rock Café dinner (for Allison G), we went to see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night.  As this is a tourist hot spot, there are many people trying to sell things or run scams – who really knows.  But one thing that helped us out was my knowledge of German.  Whenever people came up to us asking if we spoke English, I would say, ‘Nein. Deutsch.’  That night a group of young men bothering us with this rouse clearly had no idea what I was talking about.  They started laughing and asking, 'What is that? Dutch?' and trying to figure out what I was saying.  Finally, in my pure American accented English, I said, ‘I speak German.’  Clearly, German was not one of their languages, and my perfect English didn’t tip me off that we could communicate in English, so they continued on to the next group of tourists. 

Sunday morning we met up with an old college buddy of mine from the Campus Computer Store, Rohan, and his lovely girlfriend, Ashley.  They just happened to arrive in Paris the day before for a French vacation/work stuff, and the timing worked out so we could all meet up.  After a simple breakfast of pain au chocolat, or, ‘Chocolate Pain’ as Noah and I like to call it, we headed over to Notre Dame. 

Along the way we ran across one of many, many bridges in Europe covered in locks.  We all stopped to take pictures and try to locate our names, but I seemed to be the only one with luck.  I guess the fact that Julie is a French name doesn’t hurt, and I don’t think Rohan would ever have an easy time finding his name on a lock (though he did find it on a street).  I took many pictures to show Noah all my new French boyfriends, and one J&N that I could pretend that I did for us.  Oh, and the M&M lock was pretty romantic. 

Next up was Notre Dame, where the line to get in was monstrous.  I guess the fact that it was Sunday morning didn’t help.  But we did get to hear the bells ringing.  And take a few more pictures.  Sadly it was time for us to say au revoir to Rohan and Ashley.  But as we are averaging seeing Rohan 1x a year in Europe, I hope we can continue the tradition. 

Allisons and I were down to our last few hours in Paris, and what better place to spend them than in Chipotle.  Right?  What can I say, I love burritos, and they still have yet to open a Chipotle (or more preferably, a Qdoba), anywhere near Munich. 

We followed Chipotle up with a Crêperie for the Allisons (I was too stuffed full of burritos to join in) for a more authentic French ending to the trip.  This was followed by a rather long wait at the airport due to storms, but lucky for Allison B she could replenish her depleted macarons stash before leaving the country.  Soon enough we were all back at the apartment in Munich, where we would leave the Allisons to enjoy the city of Munich on Monday, and then take them down to the fairy tale castle of

Neuschwanstein on Tuesday.  But I’ll save that for another blog (and another blog writer).

Pariiiiii

After a phenomenal birthday weekend in Annecy, we geared up for our 3 nights in Paris.  We caught the early train to Paris so naturally there were screaming children to keep us from snoozing.  That didn’t slow us down though as we arrived around midday to our centrally located hotel- just one block from the Louvre!  My mom met us there fresh off the plane from America.  Thanks for joining us Mom!

We had steady rain our first day, but that did not stop us from storming the streets.  We started with a falafel lunch in the Jewish quarter that was one of the best falafel meals we have ever had... yummy!  We followed lunch up with a cold/wet stroll through the streets and brought home some fresh challah bread and French macarons to nibble on.  Good food is always the way to set the tone for a good trip.  After drying out a bit we took a riverside walking tour through the heart of the city.  Wandering through the streets is my favorite activity in Paris, which in my humble opinion has the most expansive and incredible architecture of any city I've seen.... beauuuuuutiful!  Eventually though the rain defeated us and we had to call it a day.  Don't tell anyone but we ate McDonalds for dinner in the hotel room.... with 'Freedom Fries' and all.  :)

Anyhow, the weather Monday was much better so we took full advantage of the outdoors.  We started in the area of Montmartre and visited the Sacre Coeur Basilica.  The views of the city were almost as spectacular as the building itself. 

Afterwards we stopped through a cemetery which, like the city, also has some really spectacular architecture.  We captured a few nifty shots.

We had a fantastic lunch of French onion soup, duck confit, and pasta with salmon: so simple but so good!  We spent the evening/night watching the Eiffel Tower….I mean it’s pretty much law that every tourist visit the tower within their first 24 hours in Paris.  Not wanting to break any laws we posted up at Ol’ Eiffel around dusk, which given the northern latitude was a stunning 9:45 p.m.  We watched the tower light up and twinkle just in time before bedtime.  Although not the prettiest, it really is an unbelievable structure I think everyone should see- pictures don’t do it justice.

Our final full day began at the Musee d’Orsay, apparently the most popular sight in all of Paris.  Even though we bought tickets in advance the line was still 45 minutes to get through the door.  And although the crowds were a bit intense inside, it was well worth it to see some of the most impressive works in art history and some amazing architecture. 

We spent the evening visiting the holocaust memorial museum and the Notre Dame.  Continuing with the tradition of eating well, we had delicious crepes for lunch, really amazing Thai food for dinner, and some designer ice cream for dessert (25€ to feed 3!!!).  Good food is apparently the perfect way to end a really good trip too.

All in all, we had a really amazing time in the city of perfect walking tours and food, but it felt like we hardly scratched the surface in 3 days’ time.  Though this is about all the time we could handle given the extra intense crowds, traffic, and noise.  It was time to get back home to our quiet village of Munich.  Au Revoir Pariiiii, thanks for the memories!!!

Lac D’Annecy

Yesterday we returned from a week in France, and three weeks from today we will be on the beach in Sardinia, Italy.  We are definitely taking full advantage of living in central Europe.  France was broken up into two parts, so we will break the blog into two parts as well.  This blog will be focused on the first three nights in the French Alps, and I’ll leave it to Noah to write about our time in Paris.

The trip started with us waiting for the train to the airport at 7am.  With two minutes until the train arrives, Noah realizes he didn’t have his passport.  Oops.  He runs off to catch the bus back to the apartment, and says he will be back for the next train (20 minutes later) no matter what.  I am waiting on the platform with the luggage and the next train arrives in 1 minute and still no Noah.  I look up and see him running towards me.  He was able to catch a bus back home, but the return bus(es) never showed up!  They are supposed to come every 5 minutes, but with rush hour sometimes they get delayed.  In his determination to make the next train, he ran the 0.7 mile/1.1 km from our apartment to the station in less than 7 minutes.  Poor guy…. but he made it!

After starting the trip off on not the best foot, we make it to Paris on time.  Oh, and it turns out since we are traveling within the continental EU, no one even checked our passports (our residence cards were enough).  But we stick by his decision to run home – you should always carry your passport on travels!  At least this made us feel better.

After a 4 hour train ride in first class, we arrive in Annecy around 9:30pm, exhausted from an entire day of traveling and ready for sleep.  Good thing we are in a small alpine town, right?  Wrong.  We entered a world of 15-22 year olds partying to loud music in the streets, and of course the drum line is right outside our hotel window.  Naturally.  I am not sure when it ended, but it was definitely after midnight.  What can we say, we were hopeful it would end then… but nope.  What did we get ourselves into?  The next day we found out there was a music festival, and the town IS in fact a quiet alpine town.

We woke up and headed to the market to pick up breakfast/lunch.  After eating too many chocolate pains… I mean pain au chocolates… we pick up our cheese, fresh baguette, and fruit, and head to the lake.  We really realized how much German we know when we tried to communicate our orders.  You don’t get too far in a place where we never heard another native English speaker, and all we knew in French is please, thank you, yes, no, 1,2,3,4.  So it involved a lot of gestures and their broken English.  When we arrive at the lake, we spot the paddleboats and immediately knew what we would be doing that afternoon.  And these are nice paddleboats – they even had front and back decks to hang out in!

Noah was happy…

We paddled out a bit to ‘park’ (just stop paddling) the boat and enjoy our lunch. Immediately after stopping, a little duck friend showed up at the back of our boat.  After watching him work hard for our attention, I faked throwing a piece of bread.  The poor little guy flew after the non-bread, and when he realized I tricked him he let us know how unhappy he was.  He started squawking at us, and I felt like a giant jerk.  When we were done eating, I threw the leftover bread to him to make it up to him.  

When we packed up our lunch to sunbathe on the deck, our bird friend knew quickly lunch was over and took off for the next paddleboat.  Smart little bird.  We spent the next hour lounging in the sun, and later I learned I missed a spot with the sunscreen and burned the area around my armpit.  Lovely.

When we were ready to head back, we cruised across the lake my favorite way – with Noah paddling and me lounging.  Thanks love!

We spent the afternoon walking along the canals in the town – think San Antonio River Walk but clear waters and 10x more gorgeous (not that I am slamming the River Walk!).

The next day – Noah’s birthday!!!!! - we spent at a beach on the lake, watching old ladies with leather skin sunbathe in oil topless.  I didn’t take any photos, but go check out a dark brown leather couch that is at least 40 years old, and that was what it looked like.  Instead, I will share a pretty photo of the lake view.

We cleaned ourselves up and went to celebrate his birthday with fresh seafood at a nice restaurant on the canal.  We followed it up with a banana-chocolate crepe and an ice cream sundae.  Mmmmm…. I love French food.  We headed back to the lake to take a photo of us dressed up, and I spent a few minutes setting up the camera on a trashcan to get the perfect shot of us in front of the lake.  I hit the shutter, and ran to stand by Noah.  As the camera is counting down, 2 bicyclers start heading down the path and pass us right as the camera went off.  We started laughing, assuming we just spent all that time for a shot of a bicycle, but instead the camera just missed them.  

Our time in Annecy was over.  It was bittersweet – it meant we were leaving this gorgeous place with gorgeous weather, but on the upside we were heading to Paris in the morning to meet Noah’s mom.  Au Revoir Annecy – we probably won’t see you again, but we loved our visit!!