Romania

Steve and I spent the first weekend in October in Romania. The trip was Steve's birthday present from me. We stayed in Bucharest. Saturday we rented a car and drove north to a town called Sinaia. Sinaia is the home of Peles castle, the most amazing castle I have ever seen. We had an excellent time and would consider going back. Pictures are here.

Rugby World Cup

The Rugby World cup is much more exciting than I ever would have thought and France won a huge game Saturday night against the heavily favored New Zealand All Blacks. Before each game every island nation team performs a dance. Check out this tape from YouTube and imagine how crazy intimidating it would be. Click here.

Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro

Steve and I spent a week in Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Each day we were amazed by the sheer beauty of the land in each place we visited. We spent a day in Split, two nights on the island of Korcula, two days and nights in Dubrovnik and a night in each Mostar and Kotar.

With one exception, in each town we stayed in a sobe, an apartment or room you rent in someone’s home. Most of the hotels in the area have seen little improvement in the last twenty or thirty years and are not terribly inviting. Sobes are everywhere and made a lot more sense for us, plus it gave us the opportunity to talk to our hosts and hear their stories. We learned so much from them about what is was like living in communist (former) Yugoslavia, and how their lives are different now.

Split and Dubrovnik were similar as far as being on the water, having interesting and beautiful architecture and history, restaurants, and tourists. Dubrovnik has a leg up on Split with its architecture and city layout. As Steve kept saying, it’s as awe inspiring as Venice, without the canals.

Korcula – an island two hours by ferry from Split. We relaxed, sat on the beach, rented a car and drove most of the island, and fit in wine tasting along the way.

Mostar – this city still has serious signs of war as you’ll see in our pictures. Some of the city is modern and beautiful and then you turn a corner and see a building riddled with bullet holes and only partially standing. The city is a really interesting mix of religious and pre/post war evidence. We saw a great video that captured the Old Bridge being bombed. It eventually fell and we rebuilt a few years ago.

Kotar – the Bay is stunning and visiting this country that established its independence just over a year ago was a treat.

Here are a ton of pictures - it was too hard to widdle them down.

Steve's 30th/1 year

Steve celebrated his 30th birthday on August 30th. He and I spent a fun evening at La Table in the 16th. The next day his cousins from Switzerland arrived for the weekend. We had fun spending time with Anna and Hendrick, exploring more of the city and eating a few more delish meals.

Sunday was our one year wedding anniversary. How time flies!

Pictures if you're interested.

Greece

Steve and I just returned from a hot and fun week in Greece. We flew into and out of Athens, spent one day in Athens and three days on Santorini and three days on Naxos.

Athens did not impress me as much as I expected it to, and in thinking about why, I decided that it is since the city got such great coverage during the Olympics, I felt like I had already seen it all. I have never felt that way about anything I studied (either in school or elsewhere) and then saw in person. Usually it's the opposite. I liked Athens, but amongst all the old buildings are a million tourists, smog, dirt and a bustling city that has a lot more than ruins. We encounted a total fiasco getting into the Acropolis where Steve and I and about 500 cruise ship tourists were trying to enter the site at once and it took about ten times longer than it should have. One guy joked that they have had 2000 years to figure out an entry plan and they should have had it under control. Every single person around us was complaining quietly but I was embarassed as usual when the only people to make a huge stink about the situation and yell and make threats were Americans. It always seems to be that way.

Santorini is a five hour ferry ride from Athens and is beautiful! We spent time exploring different beaches and relaxing. We had great meals and enjoyed beautiful sunsets with good wine. Santorini is known for its wine, which comes from grapes that grow on the ground. For some reason the Greeks don't prop the vines up.

After Santorini we went to Naxos, which is a couple of hours by ferry from Santorini. In Naxos we did more of the same - sitting on the beach, eating, drinking, exploring. We spent one morning hiking and finished the hike with fresh figs straight off the tree. I had never seen a whole fig before, so I was thrilled, and they tasted so good that I will never forget those figs!

Pictures of the trip are here. Enjoy!

Southern France

Steve and I just returned from five fabulous days in southern France. We started with two nights at a family friend's house in Lumiere. From there we travelled around most of Provence. We then spent the day in Aix and St. Tropez and finished the trip in Marseilles. Provence is incredibly beautiful and full of endless landscapes that are breathtaking. The food and wine were outstanding and although we missed the lavendar, we caught some fields of sunflowers that were absolutely beautiful. Here are pictures from the trip.

Tour de France

Our very cool and wet summer weather continues, but now that it's almost August most people are leaving. A handful of local businesses closed from Bastille day through the end of August, but many that were open during the last two weeks are now closed. Steve and I attempted to find a dry cleaner yesterday morning and after finding three with signs on the door saying they are on vacation until the end of August, we gave up and resigned to having our clothes cleaned in September. I hope we don't need to buy flowers or a newspaper in the next month, because we'll be out of luck. So much has slowed down and it seems that the city is exhaling.

Today was the final day of the scandal ridden Tour de France and despite all the problems, I thought it was a very cool day. We arrived on the Champs Elysèes around 11:30am, met three friends and settled in about a block from the Arc de Triomph. We weren't early enough for the front row, but we were close. We spent the following five hours chatting with friends, walking around, eating lunch, and taking things in. Running late, the riders arrived about 5pm and took their eight laps. The first lap goes at a friendly pace and then the remaining seven are more competitive. We purposely settled near the Arc because we knew the riders would have to slow down to turn the corner and head back down the Champs Elysèes but they still were flying by and as you will see in many of my pictures, I had a hard time focusing. It seemed like it was over almost right after it started, but after watching for the last three weeks on TV I realize how hard the riders train and that making it to the end is a true achievement. It was just another day of me wondering how I got so lucky that I get to live in Paris.

July

Brian and Sarah McAdam came to visit and we were lucky enough to spend three days with the at the end of their trip. They left the morning of Bastille Day. The French (at least the ones in Paris) celebrate Bastille Day with a series of Firemen's Balls the night of the 13th, a parade the morning of the 14th, and a fabulous fireworks show the night of the 14th. My pictures come nowhere close to how awesome the fireworks were.

Italy with Lauren and Betsy

Lauren and Betsy came to visit. We started with three days in Southern Italy. We flew from Paris to Naples and stayed in Sorrento. We used Sorrento as our home base and took the ferry and a bus for day trips to Capri, Positano, Amalfi, Ravello, Pompeii and Naples. Ravello and Positano were our favorites, mainly because of the beautiful views and the feel we got from each place. Each of the beach towns fall out of the Italian hillside into the most beautiful beaches and oceans, except Ravello - this is above Amalfi in the hills. Apparently the cruise business is booming because these towns were overrun with cruise tourists during the day. Luckily at night they all returned to their boats and sailed away so we got to hang out with plain old tourists.

The morning we visited Pompeii was so hot that I couldn’t take out my camera to capture anything as I was too focused on avoiding being run over by the aforementioned cruise tourists and finding shade to escape the blazing heat. After our morning in Pompeii we took the train into Naples and played human Frogger with the traffic. I have never been anywhere, especially in a really busy city, where pedestrians simply cross the street and hope for the best. While there we ate at the pizza restaurant mentioned in the book Eat, Pray, Love. If you’ve read it, you’ll know what I’m referring to. If you have not read it, you should. The pizza was probably the best I have ever had, or ever will have. I would love to repeat the trip someday in September or October as I think the weather would be a cooler and the cruise tourists wouldn’t be as prolific.

After Italy Lauren and Betsy spent five days with Steve and me in Paris. They walked the city during the day when Steve and I were at work, and we met up each night for fabulous meals and night time fun. Summer is here and we are so enjoying the fact that the sun doesn’t go down until after 9pm and it doesn’t get dark until after 10pm. Last week was the Fete de Musique which was so interesting and fun. It happens each June 21 when musicians fill the streets and perform. There was a band or a DJ almost every other block throughout the entire city.

Here are Italy pictures and a few recent Paris photos.

Food. Church. Beach.

These three things pretty much sum up our visit with Maeve and David, as you'll see from these pictures.

Vacation

We have just finished a fun filled ten days of vacation. We started in western France with Maeve and David and finished up with five days in Tuscany with eight friends. We went to Brest, France to explore, and attend the wedding of the son of Steve’s French family. The wedding was fabulous – full of lots of good food and wine, and really genuinely nice people. The reception took place right next to the ocean and was amazingly beautiful.

In Tuscany we rented a villa with eight American friends, four who are living in the US, two who are in the navy in Sicily, and two who are living in Marseille. The week was full of fun, good food, wine, friends, games, and laughs. We visited Sienna, Bologna, Pisa, Lucca and Viereggio, and their surrounding regions. I had been to Sienna and Pisa before, but it was great to see the cities again, and Bologna, Lucca, and Viereggio were all interesting, beautiful, and full of history and good gelato. One of the trip highlights was a tour and then a tasting lunch at Castello di Verrazzano (Verrazzano as in the Verrazzano bridge in NY). The food and wine were some of the best I’ve ever had. We also had a local cook prepare dinner for us during two nights in the villa. The woman did not speak English, couldn’t have been nicer, and made one of the best meals I have ever eaten. We all thought about her with a smile as we attempted to finish off her tiramisu the next morning for breakfast. Here are some very so-so pictures that do not even begin to capture how pretty Tuscany is this time of year.

Colmar

Last week our friends Lisa and Matt joined us for a night in Paris, and then the four of us headed east to Colmar and Strasbourg, both in eastern France. Lisa and Matt were in the middle of a two week honeymoon in France and hence we felt very lucky to be invited to spend any time at all with them. Saturday we rented bikes and rode from winery to winery. We shared some excellent meals and had a fabulous weekend! Pictures for you if you'd like to see what it was like...but overall it was kind of like Napa, but in my opinion much better because the bike paths are in such great condition (only on the road next to cars at the very beginning), and no need to drive. The scenery was breath taking and Saturday was a perfect day, not too hot, not too cold, and somehow we missed the downpour of rain that Paris and London got. Clearly, the wine is one of the main attractions, but the region is known for other things as well.

The new president

As of tonight Jacques Chirac is out, and Nicolas Sarkozy is the new French president. Steve and I have loved following the election and learning more about the French culture in the process. This is our absolute favorite (albeit American) commentary on the French election process. I really recommend you watch it.

May Day

Steve and I have the day off today for Labor Day. It’s a beautiful spring day, and lilies are being sold on every corner. We spent the afternoon at the famous cemetery, Pere Lachaise. To me, it is part park, part art museum, and part cemetery. The cemetery holds 1000s of gravestones, some belonging to very interesting and famous people.

The first picture is Oscar Wilde's grave, full of lipstick kisses. The second picture is the lilies Steve gave me.

Giverny

Kate and Ken came to visit and yesterday we rode bikes through Giverny. Enjoy the pictures.

Pâques (Easter)

Steve and I had a great Easter. It started with a Catholic mass at the church at Madeleine. After we had brunch with two friends and then spent most of the afternoon sitting in the park. Spring is here, and it is beautiful.

Champagne

Steve and I spent Saturday in Reims. Reims is about two hours by train, north of Paris. It’s the center of the Champagne region. Needless to say, I loved it! We went to Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot and I had a smile on my face the entire time. The town has an awesome cathedral that is somewhat well known, but I believe overshadowed by all the tourists trying to get to the champagne houses. Our morning tour, at Taittinger, was in English. You don’t need reservations at Taittinger so their tours are big, and frequent. I asked our guide how many visitors they have a day and she was flustered and said 100, but I think she meant 1000. Reservations are required at Veuve and our tour was in French so that tour definitely had a different feel. I could understand a little of what the guide said, but mainly because it was essentially a repeat of the tour we’d had that morning. Here are pictures for you.

Versailles

Before Steve and I moved to France we had a friendly debate about who would have more friends visit while we're here (although technically his friends are now my friends and vice versa). I win for having the first friend come to visit - a co-worker, Kate - from New York who has never been to Paris before. Steve's friends have more trips planned than my friends, but I am sure that in the end, I'll win. Kate's loving Paris, and we had a great weekend - a cold and rainy Saturday spent at Versailles and a lazy Sunday spent wandering around in the sun and enjoying a beautiful spring day. A few pictures for you: http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=6611175460150870/l=258881700/g=2307863/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

Bern

Steve and I spent the weekend in Bern, Switzerland with Steve’s cousin, Anna, and her husband and two kids, Louise and Jon. Louise is 12 and speaks four languages. Bern is the capital of Switzerland and has a large international community. This site explains it better than I can. We had a great time chatting and catching up, and eating a lot of wonderful food, including my favorite, fondue. For those of you who attended the wedding, Anna is Louise and Conal’s youngest daughter.

Pictures

A few recent pictures for you.