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).