Winter Vacation blogpost #1: A Visit From Home (also entitled "The Very Happy Reunion")

I really can't complain about the number of vacation days I get to enjoy in this country. From Feb. 25-March 14 was (still is) winter vacation, and I felt very fortunate that Alex was able to get the time off to come and visit me for just over a week. We got to hang out in Paris for a couple days, relax at home in Nancy, and take a few day trips on the side. So, here's a little recap of our lovely vacation together! (PS. Yes, this will be a very long post. I'm trying to be less wordy, really! You don't want to miss out on all the details, do you?) (PPS I've put links to websites for certain places within the text, namely restaurants and places of interest, so feel free to click on words that have been bolded to discover them a bit more [just for you mum!]).

PARIS: Feb. 27 - March 1
I had to leave very early on the morning of Feb. 27 to meet Alex at Charles de Gaulle. It was torture waiting once I got there, since my train arrived an hour before his flight, which was late landing anyways. I was certainly happy to see him come through the arrival doors at last!
We juggled luggage through the RER and metro to arrive at our hotel, the very fancy Hilton Arc de Triomphe, just a few paces from the Champs-Elysées. Our room was lovely, and would have normally cost us upwards of 200 euros for the night, but because of Alex's many delivery flights last year he racked up a number of Hilton points he could put towards free stays. So no money out of our pockets!
We were both tired and relaxed in the room for a bit before heading over to the closeby Musée Jacquemart-André, where we sat down in the mansion's tearoom/café for a cup of tea and dessert (we would check out the museum the next day). We then walked to the Arc de Triomphe for a few pictures and then down the very busy Champs-Elysées, where I walked into the biggest Sephora EVER! (It was amazing!) and the Mercedes store, all the way down to Place de la Concorde. The ferris wheel was all lit up and we went for a lovely romantic evening ride, watching Paris light up as dusk fell. Afterwards we grabbed sandwiches along the C-E and hit the sack early, we were exhausted!

on the ferris wheel!

The next day we slept in a bit and packed up our luggage (which we were able to leave at the hotel during the day) and got breakfast at a lovely little bakery nearby. We walked down the Champs-Elysées to the Tuileries to check out the Musée de l'Orangerie, which houses some of Monet's very large and famous waterlilies paintings, among other works by Renoir, Manet, Morisot, etc. (And I got in free since I have a long-stay visa in the EU! Alex, however, was not so lucky.)

one of Monet's "Nymphéas" series

yep, that's a jump shot alright!

After enjoying some time inside looking at beautiful paintings, we walked around the Tuileries, largely bare, but pretty nonetheless, before heading back up the Champs-Elysées to grab some macarons from the famous pâtisserie/chocolatier Ladurée, which has the best macarons in Paris and over 20 flavours! We waited in a very long line to get them but in the end we had a nice little baggie of 6 different flavours: Madagascar chocolate, raspberry, vanilla, coffee, hazelnut, and cassis violette. Yum! Expensive but delicately delectable.

so many macarons! So many choices!

We headed to the Musée Jacquemart-André, this time to see the actual museum! My American friend Julia had told me about it, and I'm glad she did because otherwise I would have never even thought to visit it! The residence belonged to Nélie Jacquemart and Edouard André which houses their amazing art collection (including works by Rembrandt and other Dutch masters) and is lavishly furnished and decorated. Both of us love getting an inside view of people's homes, so this place was the perfect museum for us! Very grandiose and ornate with high crown-molded ceilings and amazing furniture and decor - especially the double spiral marble staircase!

Musée Jacquemart-André

one day, I WILL have these staircases

After the museum we grabbed lunch on the go and headed to the Hilton to pick up our bags and take them to our second place of accommodation, Hotel Caulaincourt, the hostel I stayed in on New Years, which also functions as a hotel. We had a nice, clean little double room with a bathroom, and after settling in we headed out to explore a bit of Montmartre. We went first to Sacre-Coeur and walked the stairs all the way up (much to Alex's chagrin) for an amazing view over the city (despite being a bit cloudy).

Sacre-Coeur

We walked through the artists quarter and checked out some artwork before heading back down to the butte, where we stopped in for a break at le Café des 2 Moulins, a very big deal for me, since this was the café used in the film Amélie, one of my favourites!!!

artists quarter in Montmartre

my dream come true - coffee at les 2 Moulins!

We went back to the hostel to get ready for our evening out: a dinner and show at the one and only Moulin Rouge! Luckily it was so close to our hostel we could walk there and back.

all dolled up...and somewhere very classy to go!

My tandem Clémentine had insisted we go there, as she had gone over the Christmas break with her boyfriend and said it was amazing. I thought it was a great idea since that was one thing I hadn't yet done in Paris! To top it off, my mum offered it to us as a gift (and also our birthday gifts) so we could have fun and enjoy ourselves without worrying about the cost - we were (are) very grateful! (Merci maman). Dinner was at 7 and we were seated in the large, beautifully decorated salle. Included was a bottle of champagne and we enjoyed our meal (potage de legumes, risotto and veg and an opéra for dessert for me, Alex had foie gras raviolis, duck and brie) and listened to the musical entertainment. Near the end of dinner the place started to fill up with people who were there just for the show. And what a show it was! It was the revue "Féerie" 2 full hours of non-stop entertainment - singing and dancing (lots of toplessness - there were a few young boys at the show with their parents so we kept looking at them to see their reaction!), amazing scenery and big, feathery costumes - absolutely brilliant! Over 60 dancers and 1000 costumes! (and of course, they did the Cancan!) And in between there were shorter acts - one woman swam with snakes in a giant tank, there was a man an woman doing some insane and amazing  strength-acrobatics, an incredible juggler, and a ventriloquist (so funny!). The show was absolutely fantastic and we were so glad we went! I would see it all again in a heartbeat! Unfortunately you weren't allowed to take any pictures during the show and I had to leave my camera at coatcheck, so I've only got one picture of us in the lounge:

one great evening!

The next day we had breakfast at our hostel and took the metro to the Musée d'Orsay. We got there right when it opened but still had to wait in line for about 20 mins to get in. We were in there for 2 hours and definitely got our fill of impressionist oeuvres (and groups of Chinese tourists). We then headed to Cathedrale de Notre Dame (waaay too many tourists for a place of worship).

in front of the Musée d'Orsay

After we hopped on the metro and headed to the 1ere arrondissement to go to the best bakery in Paris! It sits on a lovely, lively street called rue Montorgeuil, full of little bistros, chic boutiques, bakeries, fromageries and little indoor fish markets. We first grabbed lunch at a Lebanese restaurant called Al Boustan and shared a delicious vegetarian platter.

yumm lunch!

We then headed directly to Boulangerie Monge, which has been voted the best bakery in Paris. But first, right next door, we went into Patisserie Stohrer, a traditional German bakery that's been there for centuries and has the honour of holding 3rd place in the "best éclairs" category. We decided to find out for ourselves. They were indeed tasty.

NOM

After polishing off our eclairs, we headed next door to buy some escargot du chocolat, and sit in front of the lovely 16th C. Eglise Saint-Eustache to eat them. Yum.

DOUBLE NOM

After a lovely stay in Paris, it was time to catch the TGV back home to Nancy!

NANCY: March 2
After 2 days of marching full speed around Paris we took it easy in Nancy. It was sunny and warm(ish), and we slept in and grabbed breakfast at my local boulangerie before heading out to explore the city. I showed Alex around where I live, including the beautiful Place Stanislas, all glistening in gold under the sun, the old city, the cathedral, Basilique St. Epvre, Parc Pépinière and all the animals, walked up the main street, rue St. Jean, had a break at my favourite café, les Artistes, grabbed groceries from Monoprix and had another break at café les Cesar's and sat outside under the gorgeous afternoon sun. It was nice and leisurely and I enjoyed sharing with Alex a little piece of my life here in la France!

les biches! And no that's not being vulgar

In the evening we had a fabulous meal at one of Nancy's best restaurants, La Bouche à Oreille, which is known for its fine gastronomie au fromage! We shared a delicious fondue for two, but was definitely waaay too much food - we couldn't finish it all! But somehow after waddling home we managed to eat the dessert we had bought from a patisserie earlier in the day. Always room for dessert! We headed to bed early because the next morning we were off on our first daytrip to...

Daytrip #1: STRASBOURG - March 3

We caught an early morning train to Strasbourg and arrived just in time for breakfast, which we had at a lovely little salon de thé on the main street called Salon de Thé Grand'rue (which also happens to be the name of the street.)

this is how breakfast should ALWAYS look

We walked down to the Cathedral, which was closed until noon so we went instead down to Eglise Saint-Thomas, which houses a very old 18th C. organ that Mozart played on in 1778!

one old organ!

We then wandered down to the Petit France district with it's lovely wooden German tudor-style houses and small cobbled streets, and sat down at a lovely traditional Alsacian restaurant called "La Petite Alsace" for a yummy Alsacian lunch! I had a vegetarian flammkuche and tartiflette and Alex had sausage and sauerkraut - go figure!

tartiflette, veg-style!

After sharing some yummy Apfelstrüdel for dessert, Alex managed to convince me to go on the Kronenbourg brewery tour, so after lunch we took the tram just outside of Strasbourg and were shown around the old brewery (along with a group of American university students, oh what fun...). While they don't actually make the beer there anymore, it was interesting to see all the old machinery and to learn how the disgusting stuff was made. We got to have a tasting afterwards, and Alex had my share. Yuck.

We took the tram back to centreville and saw the inside of the Cathedral, and then sat down in the cutest little patisserie/chocolaterie, Pâtisserie Christian, by the cathedrale for some very rich cake and hot chocolate tasting! I had a very nice one from Ecuador while Alex tasted one from Madagascar. So good!

mmm dessert

Then it was time to get back on the train and head home for dinner. To bed early again, because the next day it was...

Daytrip #2: REIMS - March 4

We were up at the crack of dawn to catch our 7am train to Reims - had to take advantage of a full day, since it took about 2.5 hours to get there! After the ride I called one of the Champagne estates, Veuve-Clicquot, from the train station to see if we could fit in an afternoon visit, and luckily they had space! We had one booked for the morning at Pommery and thought it would be nice to do 2 since we were already in the area. We walked to centreville and had a quick breakfast and coffee and wandered around a bit before catching a bus to the south of the city for our tour at Pommery Estates. We had a guided tour through the caves, which used to be chalk mines, and thus were the perfect space to store champagne - dark, damp and cool. Although I had already done a tour in Epernay, it was still interesting to hear about how champagne is made and the whole production process. It was interesting to learn as well that Mme Pommery was the first person to come up with non-sweetened champagne - before it was more like a sparkling version of icewine, and she decided to take most of the sugar out of it in the 19th c to create an entirely new kind of champagne - the kind we drink today! At the end of the tour came the most important part, the tasting! Mmm.

so many bottles!

their oldest bottle, from 1874

After our tour we grabbed lunch from a nearby bakery and walked to the nearby Basilique Saint-Rémi, a very old 12th century-foundation basilica, famous for housing the remains of Bishop Remi, who was the Bishop of Reims and baptised Clovis, the 1st king of France, in 533. It was beautiful and quiet, with high arched vaults and bright stained glass windows. A nice little gem on the outskirts of Reims!

Basilique Saint-Remi

Only a couple hours later and it was time for our second champagne tour, to Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin! We had a nice little visit through the estate and got to hear about the history of the maison and about Mme. Clicquot, and were even shown some grapevines and how to tell the 3 types of vines apart: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Then down to the caves to take a peek at the process. I think I'm becoming an expert!

some grapevines

a year on each step symbolizes when they had a "great" year

And at the end we got to enjoy the maison's finest champagne, that of La Grand Dame. It was nice they broke out the good stuff for us regular folk!

After our tour we went back to centreville to A) buy some champagne that wasn't too expensive and B) check out the Cathedral. We also found a nice fromagerie and boulangerie and bought some nice bread and cheese for dinner later on since everything would be closed by the time we got back to Nancy.

We caught our train in the evening and headed home to rest and relax and make dinner, and early to bed again for the next day, which was...

Daytrip #3: TRIER (Germany) and LUXEMBOURG - March 5

Normally I would never dream of trying to tackle 2 cities in one day, let alone 2 cities in 2 different countries...but we decided that since our time was limited, it probably would have been too much to do 4 day trips (not to mention exhausting), and costly, and we wanted time to just relax and enjoy time at home in Nancy for a couple days. And since on weekends you can buy the very handy (and cheap) Saar-Lor-Lux pass for only 30 euros for 2 people for unlimited travel between Lorraine, Luxembourg, and the Saarland region of Germany, we decided to cram both places in in one day. Crazy, but efficient. And it worked. We left very early (another 7am start) and started first in Trier, which was harder to get to and from and thought if we could see it first, we could get easily to Lux in the afternoon and then home to Nancy by eveningtime. It was a beautiful day, and we arrived in Trier around 10 and immediately grabbed breakfast at a nice little Konditerei and snapped a few pics of Porta Nigra.

We headed to the Hauptmarkt, which this time was void of Weinachtsmarkts but instead filled with flower vendors and the like. (And, thankfully, was not nearly as crowded as it was when I went before Christmas! Nor as cold). It was really nice to see Trier in it's normal non-Christmas style. The last time I did, I was only 11 years old and don't really remember any of it!
We had about 3 hours and had a great time leisurely wandering around the downtown, checking out little shops (Alex bought an awesome children's book in German, "Mein Freund der Pilot") and headed to the Roman baths as well. We saw the Palace and the Trierer Dom, and sat down for lunch we sat in a great restaurant/Konditorei in the Hauptmarkt called Zur Steipe. and I had a delicious HUGE piece of quiche with tzatziki and a salad, and Alex opted for the more traditional wienerschnitzel and beer.

And on the way out, despite being full of lunch, Alex insisted on getting a real German bratwurst. We found a little stand nearby and he got his wish. I had to pester him something fierce to document this historic moment.

open wide!

Then back on the train it was, to Luxembourg! The best thing you can do in this city is walk and explore. And so we did, throughout the centre and Ville Haute and had a great view over the Grund below, eventually walking down the steep hill to explore.

It was beautiful and sunny and we had a great time just wandering around the city, going nowhere in particular, just enjoying the beauty of it all! And we sat down in a lovely little restaurant/café by the Rathaus for a drink and some very yummy desserts.

I love my life...because of things like this

Before leaving for the station, we headed back to a fromagerie we had seen on one of the main streets. They had a fine collection of French cheeses (not to mention wines) and I picked out a nice comté and morbier for us to try later that evening. (and tasty they were!). We had had a great day in both cities, and while it may have been a bit rushed, we were glad we got to do both, and were able to see and do a fair bit in the time we had! And now we could relax in Nancy for the next two days!

NANCY

We were grateful to have the next 2 days "off" to ourselves, to just relax and enjoy the time together. We slept in the first day and had a leisurely walk through Place Stan and had a nice lunch at Café Foy, one of my favourite spots in the Place. We then met up with my tandem, Clémentine, and her boyfriend Flavian, for a drink at Jean l'Amour, a nice café/resto in Place Stan. While Alex speaks hardly any French and Clem's English is still a bit limited, we had a great time chatting "franglais" for a few hours. It was nice to be able to introduce Alex to a very important part of my life here, my friends! And Clem had very much been looking forward to meeting Alex. It was a really pleasant evening.

with my favourite person in the world, in my favourite place in the world!

moi et Clémentine

That night Alex and I broke out Kerstin's crêpe-maker and had a fun evening making dinner and dessert crêpes, yum!

Our last day together, we went for a lovely breakfast at Excelsior, one of Nancy's best known (and most beautiful) cafés, lavishly decorated in Art-Nouveau style. We took the bus out to the big Auchan (grocery store) to stock up on food (I was so grateful to have help carrying!) and had a leisurely day in general. I took Alex to Kensington Coffee, my new favourite café, for a little taste of back home (even though he would be going back in less than 24 hours), and we picked up dessert from my local bakery as well as Alain Batt chocolaterie. We were going to spoil ourselves rotten before he left the continent! We made a very tasty dinner and pigged out on the lovely cheeses we had bought in Reims and Luxembourg (which were fantastically delicious, the goat's cheese in particular was the best I ever had!) and the desserts and champagne, and watched Amélie. A very French evening indeed!

The next morning we had to get up at 4:30 so Alex could catch his shuttle bus to the train station, and so I could catch my bus to Amsterdam. It was hard saying goodbye, we had had such a fabulous week together and it went by far too quickly! But I was so grateful that we got to have an amazing vacation together and that I could show him ma vie française! Everything was perfect for us, even the weather was sunny and beautiful the entire time! And even though I went back to places I had already been, it's completely different when you're showing them to someone and you can just enjoy the sites instead of trying to figure your way around and rush about trying to see everything!

So with my vacation time almost over, it was time for me to get on my bus and head to...Amsterdam!!! (coming to a blog near you!)