Paris

Paris really is that romantic. It's a place that grows on you and lingers in your thoughts for weeks after you visit. Stefan and I spent our first anniversary there and have been itching to get back ever since.

Not that you need an excuse to visit Paris, but we had another cause for celebration - Stefan's birthday. (I had to write this after the fact, because I didn't want to give away all of his birthday surprises!)

During the anniversary trip we were lucky enough to toast the first year of marriage, in Reims, at several champagne houses. This year I was looking for something new, but equally as exciting.

To celebrate and make things even more special, I set out to explore the hidden Paris. The one that's not in guide books. It would rightfully take a lifetime to properly explore such a diverse and colorful city. That was only reaffirmed the more I researched. The deeper I dug the more I wanted to plan another trip before this one had even begun.

Let's get a few things straight about why Paris is so lovely:
- cheese... find me an ashy goat cheese and I'm yours
- the pastry shops are total works of art
- it's based around water with the Seine flowing through. Cities near water always seem to be the best.
- the sparkles on the Eiffel Tower are delightful
- people seem to take things in stride and enjoy life
- the architecture is so charming. It truly is magical.

So as for the surprises, I was hugely inspired by the Trésors de Paris a fantastic treasure hunt around Paris put on annually by the Town Hall.

Other cities should take note, because it's a great idea for tourists and locals to learn more about the city.

Unfortunately our visit doesn't coincide with this year's hunt (July 3rd), so I had to take things into my own hands - going with the treasure hunt / scavenger hunt / Schnitzeljagd of sorts, as a fun way to experience some unique places.

I made a series of clues that would lead us to some off beat locations using images from Stefan's past. It took a fair amount of time to organize - you could even say I was a bit pedantic about things. Each polaroid photo had the clue, address, map designation, and arrondissment, so we could efficiently try to get to all of the locations. There are a few that we'll have to hit up for our next visit, simply because we ran out of time. Looks like we'll have to go back!

It definitely made for an unforgettable trip and a really fun way to explore the city. I knew it was a success when he said he 'felt like he was on the movie Elizabethtown' and 'we should do this for all of the cities we visit'.

Observations in Paris:
- Lots of street musicians / people who perform on the subways
- Artisanal lemonade at Chez Janou - it was electric blue and didn't have a faint taste of lemon. hmm... Their chocolate mousse on the other hand is more like a vat. You simply scoop out as much as you'd like.
- I considered staying at Mama Shelter, but we wanted something more central and like staying in the 5th... maybe next time. It looks really neat and we liked the Philippe Starck designed place we stayed at in LA.
- My Grandma once told me if you visit a place twice it's not always the same. I'd actually go as far as saying it might even be better. It's nice to have the touristy things out of the way and feel somewhat familiar with your surroundings.
- Japan and Paris have a love affair. I'm sure I will write about it more once I get to writing about Japan, but it's full on. Both places love that attention to detail, the simple pleasures, and making the mundane special and exciting. It's a special relationship.
- I never realized Paris had so many names... it was interesting to see all of the guide books with unique spellings.

- Getting around takes serious time. I never realize how big the city is until we're standing at one of the city view points - it just goes on and on. We decided to walk along the Seine from the Notre Dame area to the Eiffel Tower - that alone is about 3 miles.

I will try to write more about the scavenger hunt in the coming days. We did a lot of really fun things.

Sadly, we were right at the Modern Art Museum this time last week. Art Historians everywhere are mourning one of the largest painting heists in history that happened just this week. It's pretty brazen and incredible move, but since the paintings weren't apparently cut out of the frames it is most likely a professional job. Therefore, we can at least hope whomever has them knows how to care for them... until they are found and brought back for all to enjoy, that is.

Chipotle in Europe

If you're an American living abroad, or perhaps someone that likes quick and decent Mexican food, you will delight in knowing Chipotle is making it's way over here!

My friend Caitlin tipped me off. Chipotle opened it's first branch outside of North America last week in London, and we were fortunate enough to visit on Sunday (see that double decker red bus in the window reflection?).

I asked the American guy, from Austin, who is helping with the openings, all kinds of questions...

This is what I know:

• 75% of the visitors in the past week are from the US... people still don't quite know what it is.
• Everything on the menu is roughly 7£.
• The food tastes as close as it could to the US Chipotle. The chips even have that lime salt.
• The soft tacos had a wheat looking tortilla. I'm not sure if that's also available in the US or some kind of Euro twist on things.
• The branding and signage was slightly different - a little less corrugated stainless steel and more of that rusty red color.
• The next one will open in Paris by Summer late Autumn 2011. They are currently scouting locations, but the 16th sounds promising.
• I put in the best word I could for Munich. You can always write them, too!

So if you live in Europe you can hop a relatively inexpensive flight to London and sample it yourself.

To get there go to the Tottenham Court Road station on the Central Line and walk up Charing Cross Road.

[september 2001 update]: Another London location is open at 101 Baker Street on the corner of York and Baker.

The Paris location is rumored to open early summer  late Autumn at 20 Boulevard Montmartre in the 9th arrondissement.

Also, be sure to check out Chipotle's newest venture into Asian cuisine: ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen.

Chunnel

Our getaway began early last Wednesday and we got back late last night.

Nearly everything went perfectly.

About that nearly part... well, we got stuck on the Eurostar Chunnel train for over 3 hours. Evidently something was wrong with the CO2 levels and our 1.5 hour trip turned into 6 hours. I over planned and we had to save a few things for our next visit, which we hopefully won't have to wait too long for - especially since we have a free ticket waiting for us due to the hassle.

The good news was that we had booked the earliest train around 7am, so we didn't completely lose out on our short getaway to London.

The bad news was after 6 hours on the train, without a book or magazine, things can get pretty boring, especially after the pastries are gone. It also didn't help that across the aisle was a woman whose mannerisms were annoying me to no end. I've never seen someone so fidgety and abrupt.

Five days away, in 2 of Europe's large metropolitan cities, makes Munich feel very villagey. My feet are still aching from miles and miles of walking. I really should get a pedometer, because I can't imagine how much ground we covered.

I will have plenty to write about in the coming days (as well as tons of photos).

And before I forget, we visited the new Lufthansa biergarten lounge at the Munich airport. The woman checking our tickets asked if we were sure we wanted to go to that lounge, because the other one we have access to is also brand new and more exclusive.

I took photos of two of the three. The biergarten is nice enough, but I'm not convinced it lives up to the hype. In Munich, all of the lounges have beer and pretzels. Not many people were even using the tables and benches. Perhaps that's because it was an early morning on a weekday.

c'est si bon!

I'm heading to Paris (and then London!), for a really special celebration. Let's just say there will be a lot of fun surprises for someone wonderful.

I can't wait to write about them all, but for now I have secrets to keep.

Next week I'll try to write more about both fantastic cities, and include photos of the new biergarten at the airport as well.

Have a fantastic week - I'll eat enough pastries for all of us.

Happy Mother's Day!

We spent Mother's Day at the biergarten once again. I guess it's becoming a bit of tradition even, since we've been every year that I've lived here.

The weather even cooperated, too! That was nice after a drizzly week. A little sunshine for the mamas - and those that are remembering theirs.

I'll get to celebrate my Mom for a full 2 weeks when I get to see her next month. I'm already looking forward to her hugs, fantastic foods, and simply spending time together. See you soon, Mom!

In other 'mom' related things, I'm really anxious to see the new documentary 'Babies'.

I'm probably one of few people that's not baby crazed (I think toddlers are more fun), but this movie looks so fascinating.

They follow 4 babies through their first year in various places around the world (Tokyo, San Francisco, Mongolia, and Namibia). Seeing the different ways of rearing children has to be interesting!

Check out the trailer - I promise you won't regret it!

Moms are amazing! Hope you had a great time remembering yours.

(Babies poster courtesy of Focus Films)

Kathmandu

Our stop in Nepal was only for a few days, but we'd certainly like to venture around the country more, especially the Everest base camp. It's interesting we'd consider going back, since we had both a rocky arrival (due to a sketchy hotel) and departure (due to insanely thorough drug checks), but we didn't let that tarnish our visit.

- The Kathmandu valley is gorgeous. It's green and lush with tons of mountains. There's just something about flying into the mountains that is magical.

- Visas are given for months on end upon arrival. I think they repeated, 'Days?' after we told them we'd be staying for less than a week.

- There's a 15 minute time difference from New Delhi. Odd.

- There was far less begging, although plenty of street kids. If I was taking a photo on the street I'd have to look around first, because the kids would jump into the photos and then scream 'photo moneeey!' (they wanted money for being in the photo, despite not intentionally taking photos of them).

- There were several modern touches - ads for Pepsi, a Baskin Robins, people wearing Avril Lavigne and Abercrombie shirts. Buildings look more sound and modern compared to India.

- Bright colorful prayer flags and the color orange on the buddhist monks and Sadhus.

- The Pashupatinath area around the Bagmati river is one of the most holy in the Hindu faith.

- It took us a while to realize there were cremations going on. I won't soon forget the smell of burning flesh.

- The colors all have meanings: White - mourning, Orange - peace, Red - holy color. To read more about the Pashupatinath cremations, here is more information.

- Milk Baba, at Ram Temple, has lived exclusively off of milk for over 30 years. This painting is a tribute to him. We also saw other interesting details around the Pashupatinath - holi colors (gorgeous!) and the German flag in a variety of places, including their postage stamps. I didn't realize the two countries associated so much, but money from a German NGO (non-governmental organization) helps support a hospital in the area that Mother Theresa built in 1980. There was also a large array of German postcards and 'schönes Deutschland' written on a desk at the top of Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple).

- Fake Sadhus marking new arrivals and wanting donations. They would say 'Baba bring luck'. True holy men must sacrifice sex and family. They live in hermit caves and are buried in the ground, because they don't get reincarnated and go straight to heaven. These Sadhus are often smoking marijuana, because Shiva supposedly smoked it. Ways to identify fake holy men include white chest and face markings and orange waist cloths. They are also not shy about asking for donations.

- I can understand how it attracts a lot of hippies, new-age types, and soul searchers.

- Forget Kathmandu as being somewhere exotic. The grocery in the Thamel tourist area had a better selection of American goods than I can get in Germany. You could pin point what countries people came from if you looked at their shopping basket.

- Our only poor hotel experience during the entire trip. The owner did a bait and switch and then moved us to a total hole in the wall that was disgusting. We found something else and were more than happy to move.

- The holy monkeys roaming Swayambhunath. It was strange to see them interact with the stray dogs.

- Flags blowing in the wind, spinning prayer wheels (always beginning clockwise) and loads of stray dogs at Swaybhunath. The view was also incredible.

- Swaybhunath is known as the Monkey temple. There are even monkeys swimming - they jump from the trees and into the water.

- Buddhist monks walking around everywhere.

- Every other shop in Thamel is trekking gear (including tons of North Face knockoffs), book stores, hippie clothes, jewelry, and map shops. The better shopping is near the holy sites. Don't forget to buy some prayer flags of your own to take home! I also got a learn Nepali book and learned 'शुभ दिन (subha din)' = have a nice day.

- Young girls wanting photos with us. It was funny when we saw one in multiple places and said hi to her again. Her friends were impressed she 'knew' us. It's really strange to get attention like that.

- If / when we make it back to Nepal I would stay in the Patan area. It was so charming and really radiated with life and beauty.

- I fell in love with these adorable little ones at the Rudravarna Mahva area in Patan. They were playing around the play wheels and looked at us and said, 'hello'. It was so sweet. I wondered where they learned that.

- Durbur (Palace) squares have a lot of action. Tourists must pay to enter. The one in Patan was the most interesting.

- Children playing with kites, especially in the open Durbar areas. It was really neat to sit on our hotel's roof top and see a sky full of kites, unfortunately it just doesn't photograph well.

- The Nepali stone carvings are really special. They dot random city streets and are often found around temples.

- It's insane how many drug offers we got as we walked down the street - everything from marijuana to opium. After initially being taken aback that things were so blatant we didn't think too much of it... that is until we got to the airport.

- Getting checked at the airport was crazy. I've been to many airports in my life, but never one where I got checked so thoroughly.

We went through 3 different checks, including emptying our bags entirely. They contemplated taking my mini-tripod and one of my spork utensils, but those ended up being OK. Stefan had to sacrifice a roll of tape, although he wasn't given an explanation as to why.

It made me think of the NatGeo Locked Up Abroad episodes. They even had one from this exact airport that was part of a gold smuggling scheme and people were set up, so guards that 'caught' them were able to get a cut of value.

I also kept thinking it would be much more effective to train a few dogs to sniff things out. I'm not entirely certain why they haven't. Sadly, there are so many strays foraging the streets of the city.

Next stop... Bangkok!

Boudhanath

Coming soon - photos from Kathmandu + Nepal.

I love this one with the color mixing prayer flags and the crisp blue sky against the stark white stupa.

In between all of the photo editing I'm gearing up for more travels next week, which will mean even more photos to edit. I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever catch up, but I'm working on it.

It's really great to look back at things. I'm constantly thinking, 'I can't believe I was there'.

We live in a beautiful world!

Mirabell Gardens

Lots of rain this week... but even so, the flowers are blooming and growing. The whisteria is looking as if it's straight out of a Bob Ross painting and the ornamental cherry blossoms are falling like confetti.

It's so nice to sit at Mirabell Gardens and enjoy an amazing pastry while being showered with cherry blossom petals. Definitely no complaints from me!

I always try to sample something new when I'm there.

This time I went with something passion fruit + pistachio from from Patisserie-Konditorei Fingerlos. It's was just as delicious as it was beautiful.

Kumato

I'm always intrigued by unique foods from places I visit. I really try not to let living abroad become common place and I still find the odd thing that's new or exciting. The trend in Germany seems to have products 'nur für kurtze Zeit' (only for a short time), so I try not to fall in love with anything.

Thankfully I have been able to find these Kuamtos both this year and last. The first time I saw one I was intrigued by the color, which ranges from brown to green. They are firm, but flavorful, which makes them great for sandwiches and salads. The seeds easily scoop out and resemble a strawberry. Most surprising of all is they aren't genetically modified.

Lufthansa Biergarten

I keep reading about the new biergarten at the Munich airport. It's partnered up with Franziskaner to offer beer and pretzel pre-flight for those traveling business class.

I'll stop by next week and let you know what it's like, because we're going to Paris.

Our home airport was recently even voted the best in Europe and the 4th best world wide. We're very lucky to have it, even if there isn't an express train into the city. I'm glad we live so close to the subway.