J'ai la banane!

I went to Paris this week with some friends! As this was my 6th visit to Paris, I'll try not to bore you with things you've seen on the blog before.

I've wanted to visit the Musée d'Orsay forever, and I finally got to go! The Museum is famous for its collection of impressionist (and post-impressionist) paintings, and they were totally amazing!! I was particularly moved by the room full of Renoirs--I LOVED them! The museum itself is a former train station, which was super-cool. Isn't the clock amazing? (Also pictured, me with Vincent Van Gogh--well, his self-portrait anyway.)

In addition to the Musée d'Orsay, we visited the Louvre. (Yes, 2 art museums in one day is a fabulous day for me!) We saw several artists painting other paintings. This was the only guy who didn't have a prohibition of photographs. Also pictured, a close-up of Canova's Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss. Magnifique!

Mandatory to a visit to Paris is the eating of a freshly-made crêpe with Nutella inside. I had one of those Tuesday--délicieux. Then yesterday I lived on the edge and added banana to the Nutella crêpe. What a discovery! There was an ENTIRE banana in it, and the taste combination was awesome!

I took this photo of the Eiffel Tower from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. We were about to leave when the tower started sparkling--it was so beautiful! It wasn't easy to capture in a photo, so there's a 2-second video below.

A star! (...with 16 Michelin stars)

Don't you love unexpectedly seeing a celebrity?! After we got through customs in the Paris Gare du Nord we saw Gordon Ramsay and his crew in the Eurostar train terminal. Secondhand information told me that he was sampling his freshly-made croissants and filming passengers' comments about them.

Confession: Jacob and I love watching his shows! He's so mean, but his food just looks amazing! And even when he's mean he's usually right and always hilarious!

For those of you less familiar with his work, he's a famous chef. He ranks 3rd in the world in Michelin stars. His TV shows include The F Word, Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen. We loved it so much last year, we're really looking forward to the new season of The F Word in a couple of weeks.

Here's another confession: I was actually a bit star-struck when I saw him. People were going up and shaking his hand and getting photos with him, but I was a too chicken. Maybe I was afraid he'd berate me until I cried. :)

Hungary, anyone?

We now have Hungarian stamps in our passports after visiting Budapest this weekend. It was a beautiful, fascinating city, and we had a great time! We took a bus tour, 2 river cruises (one day, one night) and a fabulous walking tour. The weather was perfect!
(Above, a view of the city from Gellért Hill; below, the Hungarian parliament building on the banks of the Danube River)

Below is a photo of the beautiful St. Stephens Basilica. St. Stephen was the first king of Hungary, crowned in 1001; he's revered by Hungarians for bringing Christianity to Hungary. The architecture in Budapest was fascinating. The Basilica is Neobaroque; there are also a lot of communist-era structures, as well as TONS of art nouveau buildings.I'm not generally an art nouveau fan myself, but I loved the hole covers all over Budapest streets. Aren't they beautiful?

We learned a lot about Hungary on our walking tour. Gábor, our guide, told us interesting stories about growing up in Communist Hungary. He painted a fascinating picture of the realities of living under Orwellian scenarios that seem bizarre to outsiders. On a lighter note, the below photo is one of the only remaining Communist statues in the city. It commemorates the 1873 uniting of the city (which used to be 3 cities: Buda, Pest and Obuda). Either the Communists were totally clueless, or they had a sense of humor. Either way...what were they thinking?!

Food-wise, Hungary is famous for its goulash (pictured below). We tried it, and it was well-seasoned and delicious. What we enjoyed more than the goulash was the pastries! Hungary's most famous pastry (also pictured below) is called a Kürtőskalács (don't ask me to pronounce). Its cylindrical dough is dipped in sugar and cinnamon before it's baked on a spit. The sugar caramelizes and leaves a crispy outside, with the inner dough remaining soft. It was amazing!

Just a few more photos: the city at night from the boat tour (Buda Castle and the chain bridge); Jacob next to the city's famous "Little Princess" statue; and the beautiful Dohány Street Synagogue (the second-largest synagogue in the world).

Baking with a twist

I made soft pretzels tonight, and they were super-yummy! I've wanted to try making these ever since our now-legendary pretzel experience from last December's trip to the German Christmas market in Köln. (The photo below is to remind you of that pretzel.)

I even melted some cheese over one of them tonight--just for old times. I'm not going to say mine were as good as the ones in Germany, but they're probably the best ones we'll get outside Germany. Delicious!

Signspotting

I guess I'm not the only one on the lookout for funny signs. On our recent trip to Edinburgh we came across an exhibit from http://www.signspotting.com/ where they find ACTUAL funny signs and sell them in the form of t-shirts and books and fridge magnets and the like. Here are some of the funnier ones they had in the exhibit.

Oui and whee

For their last couple of days in Europe, my Grandparents and I went to France to enjoy a couple of days in Paris and a day at the D-Day beaches in Normandy. They left this morning to return to the USA. Below is probably my favorite photo from G&G's visit. They're enjoying a delicious chocolate crepe with Notre Dame Cathedral in the background.

Right when we got to Paris Tuesday we stood in the long, hot line and took the lift to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was great fun, but Grandma wasn't too thrilled about the 1000-foot rise in an elevator of mostly windows. Once we got to the top she did great.

Wednesday we rented a car and drove to the D-Day beaches in Normandy. In the top photo Grandma and Grandpa are in front of the memorial at Omaha Beach. Below, I'm riding a large anti-aircraft weapon at Pointe du Hoc. We also visited Utah Beach.

Thursday we took the open-top bus tour of Paris so they could see the rest of the big sites in Paris before we boarded the train back to the UK. We saw the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees, and we spent some time in the Louvre and visiting Notre Dame Cathedral. It was a great trip!

A wee trip to Northern Ireland

We took a quick trip to Northern Ireland and had a great time. We especially loved the overwhelmingly common use of the word "wee." They asked if Grandpa wanted a "wee bag" for his purchase, they gave us the "wee bill" at the restaurant and wondered if we'd like a "wee brochure" on the bus this morning. So cute!

(above, the Parliament building, Stormont)

The Titanic was built in Belfast; below, Jacob is standing next to an original Titanic rivet by the dry dock where the Titanic was built. We think it's funny that they're so proud to have built the most famous shipwreck!

The bus tour we took this morning in Belfast was fascinating. We don't always realize the extent of the violence and terrorism in Belfast, even in recent years. There are lots of interesting murals throughout the city regarding the violence, some of them tributes to victims, some of them propaganda for either side. We didn't realize that neighborhoods are divided by a big wall--Republicans (Catholics) living on one side, Protestants (Loyalists) on the other. They call it the "peace wall"--inaccurately named, huh? Here's a picture of part of the wall with a memorial to some victims of the violence.

Below we're on the city wall in Londonderry--a very wide wall.