"WHICH WAY TO THE MONA LISA?!"

I know it's been like 21 more days since I've posted a blog but the real world kinda sucks and is kinda busy. I'm just going to pick up where I left off at our second full day in Paris. Enjoy!

After getting our bellies full at lunch we were off to more sights and shopping. A quick swing by Notre Dame and weren't really feeling the whole waiting in line so we opted for a couple of quick self portraits in front of it and head towards the Louvre and the Musee de O'rsay.

It was a nice walk along the Seine River. Once we got there were weren't really feeling like waiting in line there either, plus we could come back to the Louvre later that night because it was Wednesday and this is the only night that they stay open at night, until 9:30. So we cross over a bridge covered in "Love Locks". This is a huge thing in Paris. Couples put padlocks on bridges to show their love for one another like carving "Tanya n' Bobby 4 Ever" on a tree. Officials in Paris have debated about removing all of the locks but have decided to let them stay. Pretty cool.

Time for a snack and coffee (I drank a cup a day, at least, and I'm not even really a coffee drinker). No coffee for Carrie cause she don't do caffeine although she'll have a decaf once in a while. We both had to pee and had to find somewhere fast. No bakeries in site so we go into a fairly nice restaurant right up from the Musee de O'rsay. Must be a fairly popular scenario because the owner told us it was 25 cents to use the "toilet" (this was added strictly for your amusement Bonnie). We happily paid the man. We hit up a bakery, Eric Kayser Artisan Boulanger, around the corner and grab some macaroons, pistachio and strawberry, and a hot cup o java. Macaroons are pretty much everywhere in Paris. I had two directly off the plane in the airport to help keep my eyes open, and they were as delicious as any we had. I fully realized on this trip that a little sugar in between meals goes a very long way, and a cup of coffee with it is just the icing on the cake, err...macaroon.

After our jolt of sugar and caffeine we were off to do some shopping. Carrie had her heart set on Printemps, a very popular department store found throughout Paris. We went to the Paris Haussmann location which is just north of the Paris Opera House, which was a gorgeous structure. Our metro stop put us out directly in front of L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon! Had we any budget left at this point we would have come back for dinner, but this was not the case.

Printemps department store and surrounding stores had us blind to the rest of the world for about 3 hours. One store had a Nixon section. Like the way a department store would have a Polo or Nautica section, this one had a Nixon section. An entire section devoted to Nixon. Pretty much their full line of watches, apparel, belts, wallets, headphones...the whole nine. It was like their website came to life and magically appeared here in front of me here in Paris. I spent a solid hour there, no exaggeration. Carrie found a sweet denim shirt she couldn't pull the trigger on so we took a photo of the tag so she can hopefully order it. We did this with more than one piece of clothing. Kinda brilliant when traveling with only one bag!

Our three hour shopping frenzy had us way behind schedule on dinner and our one and only chance to visit the Louvre. So we scramble to find a metro stop and are very much in need of some real food. En route (I'm so French now) to the Louvre we grab a gyro from a very small place. This was maybe the biggest waste of 7 euros anyone has ever experienced. The lamb tasted like it had been sitting out cooked and reheated when this guy actually had a customer roll in. I think we might have been his first customer all day. Awful. We both took a bite and threw it in the trash. We might as well have lit that money on fire. It's pushing like 8:30 at this point and the Louvre (on Wednesdays) closes at 9:30, so we scrap dinner for now and haul ass to the museum.

We get to the Louvre around 8:50. Now keep in mind Carrie has been there before. I, of course, have not. Once inside the walls we are both spinning with excitement. The sun was setting just right and the light in the sky was an incredible backdrop to the beauty of this place. We wander through all of the open areas and I'm going trigger happy with the camera(s). We find ourselves on the farthest end of the open areas. Carrie at this point realizes that it's like 9:05. "Where's the entrance?", she says. "How would I know?", I respond. A small bit of panic rushes over us. We kind of trot to the closest archway that would appear to possibly house one of the many possible entrances to this mammoth museum, right? Negative. Slightly more panic. We RUN to the furthermost archway which appears as if it would house one of the many entrances to this mammoth museum...negative. Full on panic. It's like 9:10 at this point. "How the hell do you get in this place?!" is being yelled by both of us kind of at each other. I'm like "haven't you been here before?!?!" which only causes her to become more aggravated. We bail on the side we were on. We're running with a heartbroken sense that at this late hour we won't be permitted to enter. I mean who goes to the Louvre, one of the largest and most famous museums in the world, with only 15 minutes to view all of the artwork inside? I'll tell you who. These guys. That's who.

As we make our way closer to the large glass pyramid in the middle, I think I saw a light go on directly above Carrie's head and I just followed her lead, after all let's not forget...I've never been there. As it turns out there is one entrance and one entrance only to the Louvre, which makes a lot of sense from a security standpoint. It happens to be into the side of the large glass pyramid, consequently near where you exit as well. So we enter and go down the escalations (which is what Europeans call escalators) to the main lobby. It's like 9:13 at this point. We come screeching up to the "information desk" and guess what our question is? You guessed it. While trying to catch our breath we ask the lady "Which way to the Mona Lisa?" I know it's cliche and there are thousand of works of art in this place, but we literally have 15 minutes to find the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world. She points to some more escalations and we run to them. At the top of these said escalations there is another lady. She looks at her watch and states "you know you only have fifteen minutes right?" We said we were well aware of that. She then asked for our tickets. Tickets? "The lady down there didn't say we needed tickets?" "She told you that you didn't need tickets?". In all honesty, she didn't. But we didn't ask where do you buy tickets, we asked which way to the Mona Lisa. The lady that takes your tickets looked both ways and whispered "just go, we don't normally do this, but just go". And now we proceed to follow the posted signs directing you to the Mona Lisa. We are speed walking at such a vigorous pace that I'm pretty sure we offended a lot of people who were trying to enjoy the last few minutes of their day long visit to the Louvre. We pretty much run to the end of this hallway that has no other way to go, and more importantly, no Mona Lisa! We ask two ladies who obviously work there "WHICH WAY TO THE MONA LISA!?!" One of them says "down and to the left", which is just as vague as any directions we were given in Europe. So we backtrack and are at a full sprint in fear of someone stopping us and directing us to the closest exit as it is pretty much closing time at this point. Alas we find the climate controlled room that houses Leonardo da Vinci's most famous masterpiece. It's small, which I have heard, and protected by some seriously thick glass. We get a guy to snap our photo in front of it, slap each other high five, and take a knee to catch our breath. We did it. We went to the Louvre for 15 minutes, saw the Mona Lisa, and got a picture to prove it. Priceless. Literally.

Cheers Mona, it was nice to see you...

Andy and Carrie

PS-I promise to have another post quicker than the last :D

Paris Part Deux

So. Just as i thought, I am finishing this blog from my living room in Greenville but I feel if I was able to find time on the trip I should make time here back home to complete the tale.

So we left off at Sacre Couer with a very spiritual afternoon. We wandered around in the area around and behind the church which has a lot of restaurants and art for sale on the street. We found an Irish pub called Corcoran's (Connolly's of Paris, felt just like home) and sat outside for a pint. A lot of artists walking around offering to draw you for a fee, which seems to happen to me a lot, the whole 'Let me paint you" thing. I think this particular gentleman may have been more interested in painting Carrie in retrospect. He was a very nice older man with some very interesting teeth. After our beer and stroll we took it back the hotel. Our daily installment of jet lag reared it's ugly head again so nap time it was.

We had yet to see "Paris at night" so we had to shake off the exhaustion and head out for dinner and wanted to scope out the Eiffel Towel all lit up. We were in search of some mussels and found a very nice restaurant right up from Le Meridien Etoile (our hotel) that my regulars at Devereaux's (Dave and Silvia, thanks guys!) recommended called L'Auberge Dab. We were seated and they were quite busy. We were given French menus which we stared at and tried to make out words that were close to English. The waiter noticed our confusion after a few minutes and passed by and huffed out "English menus" (insert strong French accent here). He hurriedly dropped those off and we inquired about the mussels we saw on the menu. As it turned out they were served raw, I guess similar to how one would enjoy oysters. Neither of us had ever had raw mussels and this place was pricy enough that we decided we weren't going to start here. So we pick up and bounce out of this place and I think we made that server a little less miserable as a result. We decide to wait on dinner and head to the Eiffel Tower to catch the nightly twinkly lights.

So we head back down Rue Malakoff. At eleven o'clock each night the Tower lights up with these twinkling lights, which was cool if only to say you had been there and seen it, so...yeah, "I've seen that!" Got some good footage of it too. Strangely there are a lot of little bands set up around the congested viewing area playing Native American music? And they were dressed like Native Americans? Not sure what that was about. After this it was time for some late dinner, which isn't hard to find considering how late Europeans eat.

There are brasserie style restaurants EVERYwhere. Before we got to Paris I was hoping we would come across a brasserie or two. No worries there. They are on every corner, just as popular as a bakery or cafe. And the menus are all very similar offering pretty much the same things. So we sit down at one of these many brasseries, Le Malakoff, which happened to have mussels and onion soup, which was on Carrie's short list of grub to grab. I had the charcuterie plate, which was very good but showed me just how good ours really is at Devereaux's:). Carried enjoyed the soup and the mussels were divine. The servers at this place were badasses and you could tell from minute one. They were polite too which was nice because this place was busier than hell and had every seat filled. Carrie spilled about half of her glass of chardonnay and our server swapped out the entire place setting. Very pleased with this meal and service which gave me a little more affirmation that all service in Paris is not crummy, cause it isn't.

Day 2 starts off later than most because we were able to sleep in to the late hour of about 9am. We set out in search of a street vendor with crepes filled with Nutella, which are also everywhere. We stopped at a glorified street cart which had about ten seats in this little space right off the street. We had possibly our favorite lunch here, at this little hole in the wall...literally. Carrie got a panini and I got the shaved beef kebab sandwich with 'samurai sauce". Both served with pommes frites cooked to order.

I again out ordered the wife. The smell of this slab of beef lingered out into the street which is exactly what lured us in, that and they were heating up Nutella crepes streetside. This place had no real name on anything. I don't even think they have a name, just an address. All I can tell you is that it is across from the Luxembourg Gardens and has a burgundy awning. Go there. And get the shaved beef kebab with a large helping of "samurai sauce". You're welcome, trust me.

Cheers from Paris....er...Greenville,

A

PS-I have spoken to a lot of you who have been following the blog and I greatly appreciate your compliments on the writing/humor in these posts. I will try to keep that enthusiasm and wit on recapping the last few days even though it is a week now officially that we've been home. The memories are still very fresh in our minds. I feel a certain responsibility to finish this out and document the trip to the best of my ability. Carrie put so much time and effort into the planning of this excursion the least I can do is document the events as we remember them. It was undoubtedly the most amazing 21 straight days of our lives.

Again, thank you for following us along the way.

Tour de Paris

First full day we were Eiffel Tower bound early, no big surprise there. The earlier you get there the better so we were off on foot by about 8:30, and it was about a 30 minute walk down Rue Malakoff, which  means Malakoff Road. I learned a lot of French whilst in Paris. We grabbed some pastries from a nice cafe owner who spoke no English but pointed us in the right direction when we asked for "pastries". I'm pretty sure there word for it is similar. One fruit filled for her, and one big abstract fried donut for him. Him wins again. We think we're getting close and round a corner and boom, there it is, big damn tower smack in the middle of the city. It was cloudy at this early hour and it made for a very cool backdrop for my initial photos of it.

We get up to the line(s) and only wait about 30 minutes before we had a ticket in hand and up we go. Heights don't really bother me as I said before, but for Carrie, different story, as I have also said before. We opted to go to the very top of course, which surprisingly was Carrie's idea. We had to. Can't half ass the Eiffel Tower?! Took video footage on the way up which I'm excited to see play on the TV. View up top is spectacular, big surprise. I'm gonna have to do some Googling when I get home on comparisons of Eiffel Tower and the Peak in HK, I'd venture to say the Eiffel is higher. "Top of the Eiffel Tower" officially crossed of the Bucket List. 

We hoof it down the Champs Élysées. If Rodeo Drive and 5th Avenue are children this street is their mother. We head toward the Arc de Triomphe do get another stellar view of the Paris skyline. This one did not have fancy elevations to take you up, instead a winding staircase straight up (nice photo op here) with 254 little steps for you to earn your view. The legs were burnin and you get a tad dizzy about half way. At this spot in Paris all of the roads all generate from this roundabout surrounding the arc, which again makes for a very cool photo. Arc de Triomphe...check!

After the morning of heavy sight seeing we ready for some grub. We had loaded up these apps for Athens, Paris, and London called Guide Pal, which worked without needing wifi which was great. It suggested a very authentic French restaurant called Chartier where you could get foie gras for 6.90 euro! Sign me up. The waiter was very rude but the app told us they were so we didn't care, plus we were kinda used to it by now. We get sat with an older lady, Genevieve. Literally. She was seated at a 4 top by herself and they sat us with her. She was from Ibiza, Spain on "holiday" in Paris for the summer staying with family. Only way we were able to communicate with her was by way of my Spanglish skills. She spoke no English but fluent in Spanish and French. If I didn't know any Spanish this would have been a very awkward meal. We enjoyed her company very much, so much I got a photo of her and Carrie and she offered to take one of us. Beautiful older lady and very sweet.

Back to the food. We of course ordered the "bloc de foie gras", which was a terrine with one long toast point and a roasted plum, which was on time. We order the potato soup, nice, 12 escargot still in the shell, yum, and tartar de boeuf. The beef tartar was served with sliced raw onion on top and a bottle of tobasco and worcestershire. The boeuf was not seasoned at all so I dabble a little tobasco. Still needed more. So more I gave it. Every bottle of worcestershire I've ever used comes out slow. Not this one. I attempt to dabble a little on and proceed to drench the majority of the dish. Didn't really matter though, nothing could have saved this boeuf.  Great meal paired with a bottle of French chard for 12 euros which wasn't great but it had alcohol in it and it was from France:) This place writes your order on the white paper table cloth and at the end they tally it up and give you your total. Our delightful server asked if we wanted dessert before he began scribbling on the table. We declined and he said "my shift is over" and basically told us he was done and as a result, so were we. So pleasant this freakin' guy. I swear, in the States I would have gone up the ladder to have this dude fired. But we were in Paris, so...when in Rome.

Next stop on our quest was Sacre Coeur Church atop the Montmarte Hill. This was getting into the evening hour and there were people chilling all over the grassy area that leads you up to the church. We popped a squat for a minute to drink in the scene here. Peaceful and serene. The image of this church atop this beautiful grassy hill with the blue and white sky behind is like nothing else. I think I enjoyed this more than the Eiffel Tower and the Arc. Once inside there are no photos allowed, which I respected and adhered to. There are signs everywhere requesting silence as this is a place of worship. There are areas all around the outside where you can light a candle of remembrance.

I'm going to get serious for the only time so far in this blog. The night before we left on this amazing journey, Carrie and I were having a good bit of anxiety in preparing ourselves mentally for this. I found strength and expressed to her that I was going to do this in the Spirit of those I have lost, who were robbed of their opportunity and chance to go and see the World as we were able to do now.

The friends and family I speak of are my cousin, David Kellett, who passed away of cancer this year. My dear friend Reed Williams, who lost his battle with cancer as well this year. My dear friend Tiffany Green, again another to lose her battle with the evil that is cancer. And my dear friend, Tanner Odom, who lost his life in a car accident. The Spirits and Angels that were there that day are not limited to these four, and their presence was definitely felt. But I lit a candle in remembrance of these four in particular. They were taken away too early. I felt like the strength I get from the memory of these people dear to my heart was compelling me to do this for them in this Holy setting. It was a moment that Carrie and I shared, and will never forget, as long as I live. These are our Angels that watch over us, in ways we don't even know or can comprehend. And for that, I am very grateful. I wanted to thank them for watching over us in our wonderful journey that I did in their honor.

On that note I am going to stop. I can't really follow that with anything without it seeming...I don't know...uninteresting? In any event. God Bless you all...

Andy

"It's called a cash dispenser."

Greetings family and friends!

Just finally getting a little down time and thought I would make an attempt at getting caught up on this here blog. Flight from Athens to Paris went smooth, people in Europe were rude, and now we're in New York, best city in the world!

Only kidding with that, well, partly. And NYC being the "best" is definitely open for debate. If the words polite or friendly are being used to describe New Yorkers then you must have spent the last six days in Europe. It may not be fair to stereotype everyone in Paris and London as rude, Paris in particular. Especially coming from two people who are going through so many places in such a short time. We might have a skewed sense of judgement, that may be just as much in the favor of the Europeans as it is against them. I've given all of this a few days to resonate and I still don't know. What brings all of this up is the service, or lack there of, we received in Paris and London. I don't know if it's because they don't work for tips like the rest of the world, but they truly don't give a shit about you or the enjoyment you have while in their establishment, for the most part. There are and were exceptions. Not being able to speak their language almost assuredly is a huge part of it and the beginning of the end in most cases for us. Even if you got a phrase out in French, the would correct your pronunciation, even though they understood you completely. I asked a security guard in a mall "where would I find an ATM?" She replied "it's called a cash dispenser." Oh really? Then how do you even know what I'm talking about? And apparently Carrie and I don't speak "proper" English because we still found ourselves having to repeat everything we said about 5 times before we could get on the same page as the Brits, and THEY SPEAK ENGLISH!

Maybe this is just the way things are and always have been in Europe? Or maybe the majority of Americans that have passed through their doors have laid such an awful foundation for us that we were doomed before we even opened our mouths? Or, maybe that's just Europe? Maybe they just really don't like Americans? I work in the service industry, and always have. Europeans are notoriously poor tippers but that doesn't change the service I give them? There is no simple answer, but I can honestly say that now that I have been to Paris and London, seen the sights (which were truly amazing, Paris in particular), and experienced their culture on the budget of your average traveler, they unfortunately fall very near the bottom of the list of places I will return to.

The higher end restaurants may provide a more positive review, but I've had Guy Savoy's food cooked at my restaurant by Guy Savoy himself, and for the price he charges for it?....it's really just so so. But I found the style of the cuisine to be very simple, which was no surprise. There is a lot of power in simplicity, but little room for error because there is nothing to mask it over, it is what it is, so to say.

The very first spot we wandered into in Paris, Le Petit Maillot, was a very small establishment right around the corner from our hotel, Le Meridienne Etoile(thanks for the hook-up Janice, we LOVE you). This was a very simple place and the bartender/server Alexander was as nice as we found in our short stop in France. Keep in mind our budget was not affording us any Michelin stars, but we were in Paris and expectations were very high especially on the culinary side. We were there at 4:30 for late lunch/early dinner/we were hungry. Alexander, who resembled Ben Harper, made 7 trips to put down our place setting, which was more humorous than anything cause he was a funny and a nice guy all around. Salted herrings(plural of herring in France speak) over greens for her, and local pork pate with cornichon for him. Again I out ordered the wife, so we shared. Local mustard on the table which was so good it made me cry. Pate was loose and chunkier than any I have ever had but the flavors were dynamite. Four glasses of French Chardonnay and welcome to Paris!!! Then we went to the hotel and passed out. Seriously. Jetlag came up and bit us, hard. So no "Paris at night" on day one.

I have a lot more to discuss about Paris/London, and a lot more good than bad. I just had to get that out there. How can you expect people to ever want to come back to your country when you're rude to everyone? You'd better have some amazing history, architecture, huge ancient structures to navigate to the top of, or....wait, they do have all of that. And I plan on delving into ALL of those positive aspects of Europe on my next post. As for now, true to form, I'm going to get some rest. We did NYC all day with Carrie's other BFF Cindy who came down from Boston for the day. And the jet lag is biting me in the face.

Cheers to Paris, even though they're rude as hell, still way better than Russia...and Manila:)

AC

No Sleep Till Brooklyn

Here in cheery ole London about to head out to NYC. Hope to have a post for Paris/London when we land. I've added some pics to the previous posts from the iMac in our room here in London. I know, iMac? In the room?! Sweet.

Cheers and see you on the other side of the pond,

AC (our new new name)

One Day and One Day Only

Athens is our shortest trip and we are so thankful our jet lag didn't hit us until we got to Paris. Our time there was so short but we were able to accomplish as much as humanly possible in one day. We weren't in bed till two thirty after being up at six thirty in HK, jumping over 5 hours of time zones, and having the only true close calls in our flight/cab connections which can exhaust one mentally as well as physically. That's 25 hours of travel. A few short hours of sleep, a quick cycle of dirty laundry washed in the sink of our room with concentrated detergent we brought, (which for the first time this trip was proving to be a very smart plan),and out the door. 

First stop was a cafe right up from our hotel, Hotel Hera, that was one of many all in a row serving similar fare at this hour, coffee and crepes is what we wanted/needed. Don't have the name of the place but it delivered nicely. Turkey, ham and corn crepe for him and a fresh fruit and honey crepe for her, which we both liked the other one's better so we swapped. Espresso for him (wifey doesn't do caffeine) and we're off. 

Destination número uno is of course the Parthenon, which is literally like 2 football fields away from our hotel. We decide to hit up the Acropolis Museum which is even closer to us than the actual ruins. The museum is built on top of some of the ruins and has a good bit of clear acrylic flooring in the entry and throughout the first floor to show the remains underneath. The history this mountain of rock has endured is quite overwhelming and we had just enough time to see and hear the cliff notes version. I know that first construction of this thing started in 1200 BC or something redonculous like that. Thousands of years to build and has seen a lot of war, it was burned down and also exploded from within, but a good bit still stands. It is now being carefully restored and preserved. They actually clean statues and pieces that are removed with laser technology and go at it a pace requiring a q-tip, so perhaps a few more thousand years to complete that. 

While at the museum we snapped a few photos of the view and my camera battery died. I hadn't used my camera at all the day previous while traveling and did not bother charging, but apparently should have. So no need going up the mountain with no chance of documenting it, so back to Hotel Hera to get some juice to the camera. So now we need to kill a couple of hours. We head north on foot to Syntagma which is en route to an area full of shopping and authentic Greek cuisine. Syntagma is where the capital building is and where all of the rioting was happening just a few short weeks ago. The concierge assured us it was safe so we proceeded there, but with caution. We took a lot of back roads and got somewhat lost but never too far off course, which we were happy to do because as it turned out these streets were really the best part. Small and very true Athens. Old world charm and beauty we would not have seen had we stayed on the "main roads". With the aid of our map we arrive in Monastiraki where we hit up an outdoor flea market, and if we had more than ONE bag we probably would have bought some stuff. We sit down at an indoor/outdoor restaurant, as they all are in Athens, under an awning at prime dining time for Europe. All restaurants are full but we find a table wedged amongst the mass of diners. Pork kabob for him and shredded pork for her. Grilled veggies, pita, and sauce on both dishes. Mine with fries which of course I shared. My pork was dry but hers was juicy and had some fat content, yum. All in all it was very good and I will crave that meal in the future, we are both hungry right now and definitely could go another round there. A bit more shopping after lunch and walk off our big lunch paired with local beer called Fix. Back to the hotel to snag the camera and off to the Parthenon. 

A healthy walk up to the mountain of rock but a windy one and partly shaded, very hot in the sun in Greece. Walk up got the heart pumping but nothing compared to the steps to the Big Buddha. The view of Athens even before you reach the top promises an awesome experience aside from the fact that there is a centuries old church to be seen. 

I can't put in words how incredible it is to see the Acropolis in person. I will conserve my time right now and reserve the next few thousand words and let my pictures speak them for me.

 A quick nap/rest and up one flight of steps to the Peacock, the rooftop restaurant at Hotel Hera for dinner and drinks with an unobstructed view of the Parthenon. Glass of wine and vodka tonic, as well as a few sips of ouzo, to start and then to our table with the perfect view. We opt for just entrees and save room for dessert. Stuffed sea bass and veg for her and calamari and saffron risotto for him. I clearly out ordered the wife on this one. Hers was very good but mine was superb. Sautéed calamari was the most tender I have had. Retreat back to the bar for fried doughnuts covered with honey and nuts and 2 glasses of dessert liquer compliments of our server, Arye, who was awesome btw. A perfect meal, with a perfect view, to end a perfect day in a wonderfully historic and beautiful city rich in culture and welcoming to all who visit. We will return to Greece. Probably for the islands next time but will have to make a day trip to Athens to relive the memories we made there. 

Magnifique! Off to Paris!!!
(where I am actually writing you from now)

Cheers to the Greeks, well done...

Andy and Carrie