Our bags are packed (8 in total! Wowza!), we’ve cleaned our apartment (not an easy task), and we’ve donated our remaining books and clothes.

I’ve had my last pain au chocolat, eaten my last wonderful Parisian meal, packed some wine and cheese to bring home for Christmas gifts, and am snacking on my last baguette with terrine de canard, along with a nice glass of Bordeaux, as I write this post.

For all intents and purposes, we’re officially ready to move back to the U.S.

But, although we’re looking forward to being home (especially for Christmas), it’s going to be very hard to say goodbye to France, a country that we’ve truly fallen in love with this year…and have learned to call our “home away from home.”

It really has been the most amazing year of our lives.

So, instead of saying, “Au revoir” to France, I’ll say “A bientot!” (We hope to see you again really soon!)

On Friday, we woke up to even more snow than we had on Thursday. It seemed like it was never going to stop…and, for all intents and purposes, it really hasn’t.

Despite the snowy weather and the freezing temperatures (it has been in the teens for the past week!), we braved the elements and drove to Strasbourg on Friday. 

We were on a real Christmas Market mission! 

Once we arrived on Friday night (the drive from Fontainebleau to Strasbourg is almost 5 hours), we checked in at our hotel, and took the really convenient tram to the Palais du Musique et Congres to see a performance of Handel’s Messiah. The concert was our Christmas gift to C.’s parents (who joined us on the trip to Strasbourg), so we were keeping our fingers crossed throughout the drive that we would make it to Strasbourg in time for the concert (Luckily, we showed up only about 10 minutes late).

The concert was beautiful! I had never heard the whole Messiah before and it is absolutely wonderful. If you’ve never heard it performed before, you must go. It is so worth it!!! I had chills during the Hallelujah chorus….which they played twice for us!

Then, on Saturday, we spent the whole day exploring the city’s Christmas Markets, which completely take over the city.

Seriously, we had no idea what we were in for. Thousands of people descend upon Strasbourg and there are 14 different Christmas markets selling all handmade crafts and treats for the holidays. Strasbourg was so packed that we were only able to find a hotel room in the city for one night (we stayed in a town outside of the city on the second night), and although we called more than a month ago, we couldn’t get a reservation at a restaurant that came highly recommended to us. So, if you do go to Strasbourg for the Christmas Markets someday (which I HIGHLY recommend that you do sometime), make sure to book VERY far in advance. 

But, back to the markets. Although it only reached a high of 15 degrees fahrenheit on Saturday, we were Christmas troopers and spent the whole day walking through the markets. We stopped every once in awhile for some vin chaud or some chocolate chaud, but for the most part, we were “warmed by the Christmas spirit” as C.’s mom said. 

(To the left is a photo of me at one of the many stands selling glass ornaments)

(Then, here’s a photo of the entrance of one of the markets all lit up at night)

(And, here’s a photo of me standing with my vin chaud next to the Ill river on our way to one of the markets)

It was hard not to feel all warm and Christmas-y at the markets. And even if you’re not into shopping, there are two huge ice rinks set up around town, and a beautiful tree in the center of the city to help even you scrooges get in the spirit

For dinner, we made reservations at a Rick Steves recommended winstub (local Alsatian wine restaurant) called Chez Yvonne. We were really looking forward to a great, warm, and hearty meal of traditional Alsatian food to warm us up after a day of walking around the markets. But, unfortunately, the food was only so-so (the best dish of all was C.’s kielbasa and potato salad), and the service was really poor. For example, we showed up a bit early for our reservation, and even though there were plenty of available tables, our  hostess told us to go back out into the freezing cold and come back at the time of our reservation (So French!). Then at the end of the meal, our waitress asked us if we wanted to add a tip to our bill when it was time to pay. Since we’ve been living in France, we know that the tip is included in the bill at all restaurants here so you don’t need to tip at all (unless the service is exemplary when you would tip a few euro at most), but the waitress clearly wanted to take advantage of us, unknowing tourists, and asked if we wanted to put even more of a gratuity on the bill. Of course, I said no, but she didn’t seem to be too fazed. She knew that she had been caught. So, suffice it to say, I would definitely not recommend Chez Yvonne to anyone…and am not sure why our trusted Rick Steves recommended it at all. 

But, after dinner, we got in our car and drove to our absolutely lovely hotel (La Moulin de la Wantzenau) in the town of Wantzenau (about a 15 minute drive outside of Strasbourg). The people there were extremely friendly and helpful….and the breakfast buffet that we had this morning was fantastic, complete with homemade jams, an excellent array of cheeses, and wonderful fresh baked bread!

We needed the big breakfast to get us back to Paris on what turned out to be a marathon trip back from Strasbourg. Almost as soon as we left Alsace, we hit a snowstorm, and spent the next few hours cautiously driving and skidding through the French hills. Since France doesn’t usually get much snow (or so we’ve heard), they weren’t really prepared for the storms we’ve been having the last few days. So therefore, the roads were in really bad condition and the French drivers, who are usually quite terrible and reckless to begin with, were making the driving even worse by being even more terrible than usual.

We finally got back to Paris at around 6 pm. But all was not lost. We had a light at the end of the tunnel….

…falafel! 

With C.’s family, we went to L’As du Falafel to introduce them to the restaurant’s wonderful falafel and shwarma sandwiches. And, let me tell you, after a day of sitting in the car with only some Bonne Maman madelines to munch on, the falafel we had for dinner was absolutely wonderful!

So, with full stomachs, we left C.’s family in Paris and arrived at Gare de Lyon just in time to find out that, because of the weather, our train was delayed….which meant that we missed the bus!

Then, when we finally got to the Fontainebleau-Avon station, we had to wait 40 minutes for the next bus….but that bus never came.

It was only after almost an hour of waiting in the freezing snow that we found out that the busses were canceled due to the inclement weather! (As David Lebovitz says….WTF!!!). Luckily, we were able to call a friend to give us a ride home and all was not lost. 

Our hearts were still warmed from our trip to the Christmas Markets….but I’m not sure I could say the same for our fingers and toes

Yesterday we woke up with the same reaction we had on our very first morning here in Fontainebleau, “What the heck!?!?! I think it’s snowing outside!!!”

Apparently, it never snows here in France. The last major snowstorm they had here in Fontainebleau, according to the locals, was 7 years ago (before last January, that is!).

Well, hah! 

It started snowing here yesterday morning and now, at 10 am on the day after the graduation….it’s still snowing!!!!

So, suffice it to say, all of the snow made for quite an interesting graduation day. But in the end, everyone who was flying from Singapore to attend the event arrived (except for the Dean of the MBA program who was too sick to fly), and the graduation went off without a hitch. 

After the ceremonies, we joined all of the other MBAs and their families for cocktails at the Camembert and at the INSEAD bar. It was a really nice opportunity to  say goodbye and good luck to so many of the people we’ve met this year. 

Then, we had graduation dinner at Denise’s (our French neighbor) house where she served us a “traditional French meal” of:  frogs legs (which tasted like chicken), escargot (yum!), a filet du boeuf, a wonderful cheese course of rocamador, livarot, and brie de meaux, and for dessert, a bottle of 1994 Sauterne with a decadent Paris-Brest cake (a thin cake filled with hazelnut cream). The meal was absolutely delicious! And, as we left, Denise told me that all of the recipes she made for the dinner are in her cookbook, which she gave me a copy of, so I think I have a lot of work to do when I get back to the U.S.—it won’t be easy to replicate that meal, for sure

……

Although C. was the man in the spotlight yesterday, I felt a bit like I was graduating too. We both had to say goodbye to dear friends that we made this year, and also say goodbye to France, a country that we really have fallen in love with. Not such easy things to do, but as I reassured C. last night…we’ll keep in touch, and we’ll be back to France sometime soon.

I’ve included some photos from the graduation ceremonies below:

The graduate standing in front of the hotel where his parents were staying, posing for a quick photo before his last squash game at INSEAD yesterday morning. 

The INSEAD dean giving his welcoming address. The graduation was in a tent outside….in the snow! But, rest assured, it was quite warm in there, and it was nice to be able to look out the plastic windows to see the snow falling.

C. after receiving his diploma

Some friends having champagne at the cocktail

The INSEAD Partners….what a great group of friends from all over the world! 

C. posing for a photo with some of his MBA friends

And, a final photo of the graduate with his diploma in front of the INSEAD sign

While we were in Morocco, we took two side trips from Marrakesh: one way up into the Atlas Mountains to visit a Berber village, and another down to the coast to see the town of Essouira. 

First, the Atlas Mountains.

With all of our friends, we took a 3.5 hour van ride up the winding Atlas mountains to visit a traditional Berber village. We’d loved seeing all of the Berbers in Marrakesh wearing their pointy-hooded outfits, and were hoping that their villages would be equally as impressive and interesting as their garb. 

Unfortunately, while the towns are composed beautiful red structures that blend into the mountainsides, once you get up close, most have fallen into disrepair, the people look tired, and the children beg for food. 

With our tour guide, we visited a casbah in one of the towns we visited. It was a huge structure that once housed more than 5,000 people, but now has fallen into disrepair like all of the other buildings in town. When we asked the guide how long the casbah had been vacant, we were hoping to hear him tell us that it had been hundreds of years since the place was really crumbling, but he simply replied, “About 50 years.” I’m not sure if the weather in the area tends to erode buildings more quickly than usual, or if these buildings were particularly poorly made, but our tour guide’s response really surprised us. 

Once we entered the interior of the casbah, there were some beautifully decorated rooms with amazing tile work (as you can see in the photo to the left). The rooms reminded us of the Alhambra in Granada, and even our guide made note of the same similarity. 

We took our time walking through these rooms and gawking at the perfectly symmetrical tiles on the walls, and the carved mosaics on the ceilings. Beautiful! 

Then, after lunch we stopped at a local souk (market) to see what the rural, local markets look like. And, honestly, it was a depressing sight. 

As you can see in the photo to the left, the souk was in the middle of a dusty valley and the locals were selling basic necessities for living (soap, shampoo, dusty vegetables, etc.). Everyone looked tired, hungry, and dusty. We gave all of our remaining food to some poor children who were following our group all day, and then left the town feeling thankful (but also a bit guilty) for what we have been blessed with in our lives.

 Then, Essaouira.

A few days after our trip to the Atlas mountains, we took a 2.5 hour van ride to the seaside town of Essaouira. 

The town was really quite beautiful with a rocky shoreline and great ramparts that you can walk around on (as you can see in the photo to the left).  Of all the places we saw in Morocco, it was probably the nicest town, with the most picturesque views.

The buildings in the town are all white with blue shutters and doors, which reminded us of the buildings on the Greek islands. Although the day was a bit chilly, we spent out time walking around outdoors admiring the spectacular views. 

We first walked through the small alleyways of the medina (downtown), got lost for a bit (the medinas are all very confusing!), then had a great lunch of fresh, local seafood. You can see an alleyway in the medina in the photo to the left.

After lunch, we climbed atop the ramparts to take some photos and breathe in the salty air. I loved it…but I’m not sure if that’s because the views were so great or if I was just missing being near the beach and seeing the ocean (living in landlocked Fonty doesn’t afford lots of beach visits).

Then we walked out to the fishing pier to see the fish that we ate for lunch being brought in from the sea. Although we had to battle with the seagulls and the smells of dead fish (yuck!), the views from the pier were fantastic. All of the blue boats set against the white buildings of the town to one side and the magestic stone fort to the other side, made for a great contrast…and for great photos! 

Finally, as we were driving out of the city, ready to make our way back to Marrakesh, we saw some camels being led across the beach. We immediately asked our driver to stop the car (in the middle of the road!), jumped out, and on a whim, decided to ride the camels on the beach!

It was fabulous! I don’t think I had ridden a camel since I was in elementary school on a visit to the Philadelphia zoo, so riding on the beach as an adult was a real treat!!!

Although the mount and dismount were a bit treacherous (I thought I could have fallen off at any minute), the actual ride was really smooth, and quite fun. It was an experience I’ll never forget…riding camels on the beach in Morocco. Seriously cool!

For C.’s graduation (and mine too, I guess), we joined a group of friends for a five day trip to Morocco. We stayed in Marrakesh each night, but took two day trips (First, to the Atlas mountains, and then to the seaside town of Essaouira). So, in order to conserve space, I’ll break the blog about our trip into two entries: one on Marrakesh, and the other on our day trips. 

So, first: Marrakesh.

We arrived late on Wednesday night to our Riad in the medina (old city). Since we were a large group, we were able to rent a whole Riad (a little mansion tucked away behind big stone walls) for ourselves. We absolutely loved our Riad, called Riad Sofia, which had it’s own hammam, pool, rootop deck with a real Berber tent, and lots of lounging around space (which is just what we wanted for a few days away with friends!). 

To the left and below are some photos of the interior of our riad (from above and below)

Unfortunately, the city of Marrakesh didn’t impress us as much as our riad. I’m not sure exactly what we were expecting, but the city seemed very dirty and dingy, and us, women, didn’t feel incredibly safe walking around the medina on our own. Luckily, we did mostly everything in a large group which made things more fun, and safer for all of us.

On the first night, we visited the Jamma-el-Fna(a large square with a huge outdoor market) to have some dinner. It was quite a scene, with locals just sitting down at these small stands to have a quick bite to eat before heading over to another stand. It seemed to us like a huge, outdoor tapas restaurant. Very cool!  C. and  I stopped at three specific food stalls to try the food and sip on mint tea: one that sold a yummy sausage (photo to the left)…

…another that sold snails in a yummy, briny broth (photo to the left of the stall owner dishing out his snails)…

…and finally, one that sold this amazing pita filled with egg, cheese, and potato (phot. The food was fabulous! And for dessert, we stopped at a stall selling dried apricots and assorted nuts. 

The next day that we spent in Marrakesh, we decided to walk around the souks (miles and miles of outdoor markets). We spent the whole day getting lost in the mazes of shops and stalls, and spent a lot of time haggling like the locals over prices. When we needed a break from the market, we stopped for a quick lunch at a restuarant near the Jamma-el-Fna called Chez Chegrouni. I had a nice omelet and some amazing avacado juice (I know, it sounds weird, but if you’re ever in Morocco, you must try it…it’s fantastic!)

My favorite souk was the Olive Souk with stalls selling all different types of yummy olives (see photo to the left). C. really liked the musical instruments souk, and our friends bought bags at the leather souk. All in all, it was a nice and successful shopping experience, but our poor feet were tired from all the walking by the end of the day

While walking around the Jamma-el-Fna during the daytime, we even got to see some real, live snake charmers. Unfortunately, once you try to take a photo of them, they come up to you demanding money (and try to put snakes around your neck so that you could give them even more money to take photos). But, we did take a photo (see left) and paid the charmers a few dirham…heck, it was the first time we’d ever seen snake charmers

That night we had the best meal that we ate in Marrakesh, at a restaurant in the new city called Al Fassia. It is a traditional Moroccan restaurant that is completely run by women (heck, we’re better cooks anyway, aren’t we?). I ate a traditional Moroccon salad (which came out as small tapas plates of different types of vegetables and sauces), pigeon pastilla (cinnamon and sugar topped puff pastry with pigeon inside), and a fall-off-the-bone chicken tagine with sweet pumpkin. Yum! We loved our dinner there so much that we went to Al Fassia again for lunch on our last day in Marrakesh. Just going to that restaurant is well worth a trip to Marrakesh!

Then, on our last full day in Marrakesh, while the guys went golfing, us women took the plunge and visited a local hammam. Our guidebook recommended it, and the manager of our riad said we should go, so we decided to try it out. What we encountered, though, is still a bit hard to explain, and it wasn’t a place I’d ever (in my life) go to alone, or go to if I were a germophobe!

As soon as we entered the hammam and paid, we were ordered to put on our bathing suits and follow an old, slouched-over woman into a dark, dank, and steamy room filled with other women sitting on the ground bathing themselves. We were bruskly given some soap and were instructed to bathe ourselves while we waited for the woman to come back to give each of us a massage. To us, the whole experience seemed like prison: all of these gloomy-looking people standing around in a narrow, tiled room, with barely any light, instructed to sit on the floor in an inch deep of dank water while we waited (sitting in the fetal position so as to have the least amount of contact with the dirty floor) for our massage and gomage. In the end, we all laughed through the experience and all really enjoyed our massages and scrub downs (which consisted of a woman literally scrubbing you so hard that your skin fell off in chunks!), and we couldn’t beat the prices (only 7 euros total!), but I’m not sure I would recommend going to a local hammam to anyone. Instead, if you really want to get the hammam experience, try a hotel chain or go for a pricer place….it’s definitely worth it.

After our scary hammam experience, we all spent most of our time relaxing in our riad (in the living room and in the berber tent on the roof in the photo to the left). We did venture out into the new city one afternoon to go shopping and to have a nice, but not memorable lunch at a place called Cafe de la Poste.

So, while it was great to spend so much time with our friends before we all scatter across the globe again, I’m not sure Marrakesh was the perfect place to have our graduation trip….but it did provide for a lot of interesting, and fun memories

I’ve been dying to try oysters in Paris, and since our time in France is coming to a close, I was even more determined to try them out. So, the other day, a friend and I visited L’Huiterie Regis, an oysters-only restaurant near St. Germain (metro: Mabillon or St. Germain). Although oysters are supposedly not best in December (according to a friend, oysters are most in season in months that end in a “y”), we had to try them anyway. 

So, we sat down to a dozen oysters each and a glass of sweet glass of Muscat at the small (only about 5 tables), but adorable, restaurant. The oysters were fabulous….by far, the best oysters either one of us had ever eaten, and the wine paired so nicely. We were in food heaven! 

After lunch we had plans to walk around the Christmas Markets along St. Germain, but there were only a few stalls (bummer!) so we met up with C. at the St. Germain metro and walked over to the Carrefour d’Odeon so that he could grab a sandwich at L’Avant Comptoir (he wasn’t invited to our girls only lunch of oysters, but he didn’t mind…he loved his roast beef sandwich at L’Avant Comptoir). You can see me holding C.’s sandwich while he takes a photo of us in front of the restaurant.

Our friend had to run to work, so C. and I, decided to fulfill another one of my Paris goals—walking around Montmartre. 

Over a year ago, when we came to France to check out whether we were up for taking the plunge and moving to Fontainebleau, we met up in Paris with C.’s sister and her friend who were studying abroad in Europe. The four of us wanted to walk around Montmartre, but there was some kind of wine festival going on that crammed the streets. While we loved sipping on wine outdoors, we didn’t love the crowds…and didn’t get to really enjoy or explore the neighborhood. 

So, on a chilly Wednesday when there was bound to be barely any crowds, C. and I climbed the hill again to explore the neighborhood. According to one of C.’s Parisian friends, the area around Montmartre is not as tourist-y as the square selling self-portraits may seem. Actually, it is a really quaint residential neighborhood with really desirable real estate for locals. As you can see in the photo to the left, there are some really beautiful apartments along the steep hill. 

And, although the main restaurants and square were mostly filled with tourists, there were still some locals there as well. For example, at this famous restaurant right off of the main square, there were a few people having a quick cup of coffee, while others (locals and tourists alike) strolled by. It was such a great, relaxed scene…which was quite the opposite from the first time we visited the neighborhood.

(the main square with the artists selling their paintings. For a small fee, they’ll quickly sketch your self portrait)

(a view of Montmartre from the base of the mountain)

The other day, we both had the day off (although I was supposed to be studying for my exams), so we went into Paris to see an exhibit on Venetian artists at the Louvre. As we approached the entrance to the museum, however, we saw all of these people crowded around the entrance. Thinking that it was just a sign of a very long line, we approached the entrance only to find police officers blocking off the main pyramid. We asked what was going on and we found out that the workers of the Louvre, the Orsay, the Pompidou, Versailles, and many other museums are on strike. Just our luck!

But, just as we were about to bag it and just walk around Paris for the afternoon (not such a bad alternative), a security guard told us that there was another (secret?) entrance to the Louvre that we could access by going to the Carousel de Louvre (the underground shopping mall) across the street. So, we stealthily walked over to this mystery entrance, climbed down a flight of stairs and, voila!, we were in the museum, waiting in line to buy tickets. 

So, the Louvre isn’t closed after all…just the main entrance is blocked off.

Some kind of strike!

As we waited for our tickets, we watched the workers toss down flyers from above (as you can see in the photo above, they stood on the ground level while we were underground). I picked up one of the flyers to see what the fuss was all about and, not surprisingly, it was written in English (I wonder who their target audience was…tourists?!?!). It said that the workers are striking for increased job security (but doesn’t France have a reputation for having already ridiculous job security measures?). 

Besides having to listen to the strikers playing their strike songs (which consisted of a lot of 1970s American rock music), the exhibit we went to was awesome! It compared the three great Venetian artists of the 1500’s (Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto) in many interesting ways. For example, one room focused on comparing their similar paintings of a woman looking at herself in a mirror. The comparisons were really fascinating…one could easily see how much these three were influenced by one another. 

As we left the Louvre, we took some photos of the Pyramid, and then walked around the neighborhood for a bit.

Then, later that evening, C. too me out to dinner to celebrate the end of my year of French classses at the Sorbonne (I took my last exam yesterday!). For the occasion, went to L’Epigramme, a cute restaurant in the 6th, that we have been wanting to try for months. I had an absolutely delicious red snapper for my entree, and C. had a yummy piece of lamb atop sweet potato puree. Dinner in Paris was the perfect way to celebrate the end of my year as a French student…bien sur!

A few weeks ago while C. and I were looking at our schedule for the rest of 2009, we noticed that we both had a five-day break from classes in the beginning of December. So, never wanting to let an opportunity like that pass us by, we started looking into places we could go for a few days. 

Unfortunately, most of the places at the top of our list (Vienna, the Amalfi Coast, etc.) were ridiculously expensive at this time of year. So, we did something we never do….we went onto EasyJet’s website and searched for the cheapest place to go for the few days that we had available. 

Rounding out the top of the list was Budapest. So we said, heck, why not go there? The flight only costs 30 euros! We had no expectations for Budapest. We had heard from friends that it’s a nice city, but that it’s terribly cold in the winter, so we didn’t have all that much to go on. 

But, boy, when we arrived, were we pleasantly surprised. Budapest was absolutely amazing!

Although the city still seems to be a bit behind the Iron curtain (take the retro-looking subway cars, for example), the people were so nice, the buidings were beautiful, and the food was fabulous. 

I would HIGHLY recommend Budapest to anyone coming to Europe. I don’t know why more people don’t go there more often. 

So, in order to persuade you go hop on your next EasyJet flight to Budapest, here’s a rundown of what we did while we were there:

Day 1: 

We arrived mid-day (it’s only a 2 hour flight from Paris to Budapest), dropped off our bags at our great hotel (Hotel Leo Panzio on the Pest side of the river), and started our sightseeing. We walked to the Hungarian National Opera to buy some tickets to Wednesday night’s show of the Nutcracker (not exactly opera, but, hey, ballet is fun too!), and then stopped for some lunch at a great side-street neighborhood restaurant called Kadar where we shared some pickled cabbage, boiled potatoes, and beef stew. Yum! You can see me digging in to my food in the photo to the left.

Later that afternoon, we crossed the famous Szechenyi chain bridge and then took the funicular (not worth the price, better to walk) up to Castle Hill to see the famous monuments in Buda (the other side of the Danube river). The views from the top of the hill were fantastic, especially from Fisherman’s Bastion.

Then, to get out of the cold for a bit, we stopped in the Matthias church to look around and to warm up. You can see a photo of the interior of the church to the left.

From the outside, the church reminded us of the Hotel Dieu in Beaune, with its beautifully tiled roof. 

As the sun set, we took some great photos from atop the Fisherman’s Bastion of the full moon rising over the Hungarian Parliament building (to the left). Then, we stopped in a coffee shop to warm up by the fire as we drank hot chocolate. 

Later on that evening, we walked back to the Opera house to see the Nutcracker…which was wonderful! Neither of us had seen the Nutcracker in years, and the Opera, with its golden walls and beautifully decorated ceilings were stunning….it really got us in the Christmas spirit! 

Day 2:

On Thursday morning, we visited the highlight of anyone’s trip to Budapest, the Thermal Baths. We had no idea that Hungarians love their baths so much, so we were in for quite a treat when our guidebook recommended visiting one of the baths as the top thing to do in town. 

We bought our tickets (which, for a small fee, allowed us full access to the baths for up to six hours), changed into our swimsuits, and headed first to the huge outdoor baths. Yes, you read right…outside baths in freezing cold Hungary! 

The main outdoor bath was 38 degrees celsius (about 100 fahrenheit), and once we got in, it didn’t seem cold outside out all anymore. We floated around with the locals, and tried to keep our bearings as we got lost in the steam. Then, we headed indoors to take a dip in some of the countless other baths….cold baths, warm baths, saunas, mudbaths, and, our favorite, an oval-shaped pool with strong jets that literally propelled you around the bath…it was like being on a carnival ride! If I were Hungarian, I would go to these baths all the time…and I think most people do. There were people at the baths of all ages, chatting, playing chess (in the baths!) as you can see some men doing in the photo to the left, or just relaxing. What a nice life, huh?

We spent three hours at the baths and could have spent much more time there, but we only had a few more hours in Budapest and still had a lot to see. So, we walked back to the center of town to visit St. Stephen’s church, and to see the famous relic, St. Stephen’s hand, which is housed in the church. 

As we were walking from the church and it started to get dark (at 4 pm!), we literally stumbled upon a huge outdoor Christmas market. But before we stopped in the market, we needed to get warm so we stopped in Gerbeaud’s pastry shop in Vorosmarty Square to have a coffee.  

Then, we spent the rest of the night walking around the market while sipping on Gluwien (hot wine with cinnamon and other spices) to keep us warm.

When we got hungry, we bought kielbasa, stuffed cabbage, and sourkraut from one of the many stands serving traditional regional. C. also sampled the Hungarian pankakes (which tasted to me like a potato latke with sour cream on top).

And, for dessert, we shared a wonderful cinnamon and sugar dough concoction which were wrapped around a wooden rod, then cooked over a fire. It was delicious!

I wish we had more time to explore Budapest. I feel like there were so many sights and neighborhoods that we missed on our too-short trip. But it’s definitely a city we’ll be returning to….even if we have to pay more than 30 euros to get there

We’re beginning to get used to this “Sundays in Paris” thing. Maybe too used to it….since we only have one Sunday left in Paris

Today we took the train into Paris to have lunch and then to go to the Renoir in the 20th century exhibit at the Grand Palais. 

After visiting Breizh Cafe on Friday with a friend (see two posts ago for a review), I was dying to take C. there to check it out. So, today, with a few other friends, we headed into the Marais to have some crepes. Unfortunately, we had no idea how crowded Breizh Cafe would be on a Sunday afternoon, but since there are very few good restaurants open on Sundays in Paris, and since Breizh is located in the Marais, which is probably the only neighborhood that I know of whose stores are open on Sundays, the restaurant was absolutely packed. Luckily, the waiters were nice and told us to come back in 45 minutes and they’d make sure to get us a table. 

So we went across the street to another cafe to warm up a bit (it was freezing outside today!). We each gulped down our chocolate chauds, chatted for a bit, and then headed back to Breizh…

..where we, literally, feasted on crepes. I think I was in heaven!

I know I blogged about this place just the other day, but I had forgotten then to bring my camera with me (a major oversight), so I thought I’d add some photos today.

 

Here’s C.’s camembert, lettuce, and savoyarde ham galette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s our waiter serving our Grand Mariner flambee crepe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, here’s all of our dessert crepes: pistachio, Grand Marnier, and banana caramel. Yum!

We walked off our lunch by strolling through the buzzing Marais for a bit before taking the metro across town to the Grand Palais. 

The Renior exhibit was absolutely amazing. If you plan to be in Paris before the end of January, you must check it out.  Better yet for those of you in the US, it’s coming to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in June!

The exhibit had over 100 of his paintings, often coupled with others by Picasso, Matisse, and Bonnard, in order to show the influence of Renoir on more modern artists as his own style evolved. Plus, it also had some of Renoir’s lesser-known sculptures and drawings. But the most interesting part may have been the many photos of Renior during his lifetime, with other artists, painting in his studios, or sitting with his family. Seeing the photos really gave you a sense of who he was as a person (a true artistic genius who grew too old too quickly as a result of his rheumatoid arthritis) and that made us appreciate his paintings even more. 

As we walked out of the Grand Palais, we noticed that the trees along the Champs Elysee were beautifully lit and there were tons of people at the outdoor Christmas markets. 

You can see some of the markets, which stretch from the Place de Concorde halfway up to the Arc de Triomphe in the photo to the left.

 

 

 

And then, as we walked back to the metro, C. jumped into the street (while the light was red…don’t worry!) and snapped this photo of the trees lit up along the Champs Elysee—-you can see the Arc de Triomphe in the background. Pretty nice view, eh?

Last night we joined some of our American and international friends for a Thanksgiving dinner abroad. Each person was in charge of bringing at least one dish, and for those who were celebrating Thanksgiving for the first time, the Turkey Day veterans provided recipes and precise instructions. 

Although it was difficult to find some traditional Thanksgiving ingredients in France (i.e., I had to shlep into Paris to buy cranberries, we had French’s fried onions shipped in from the U.S., and we still don’t know where or how to find brown sugar), everything came out really, really well. 

C. and I made caramelized shallot mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, cranberry butter, and an apple pie. And, I think they all turned out well, except our potatoes, which were a bit too lumpy since we don’t have a masher. You can see C. improvising by using a soup ladle to mash the potatoes in the photo to the left. What a trooper!

Besides the potatoes, cranberries, and pie, we had corn pudding, salad, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, and two different kinds of gravy at the table last night. But of course, the best food of all at Thanksgiving was the turkey–we bought an 8 kilo bird straight from the butcher (the turkey was so fresh that our friend had to ask the butcher to remove the head and feathers!). 

 Besides sharing the lovely meal, we celebrated Thanksgiving in true corny U.S. fashion (a la kindergarden), by all sporting our festive garb: 

Pilgrim hats for the ladies

And Indian headdresses for the gentlemen

Later in the evening, to avoid letting the wine and tryptophane set in, we played charades, pictionary, and our Cranium-inspired game of “humdinger.” It was such a lovely evening.

Although I was feeling homesick the other day because we had to miss Thanksgiving, being able to celebrate with friends in France this year reminded me that I certainly do have a lot to be thankful for.