These are Crystal’s words and the post that she wrote, as promised, maybe it will redeem me some.
Now once again Michelle was the Belle of Parisian eyes (an exaduration, I think, ~MJ). We ventured to have one last meal in France. This resturaunt was one of the only ones that didn’t have fish galore on the menu (Crystal has an aversion to fish, ~MJ). As the waiter attended to the table Michelle was quite noticed by the older gentleman. Asking her quite the questions to inquire about her. He straight away told her that she looked like a beautiful Italian woman. Michelle was quite blushful at this time. By the end of dinner our waiter thought he knew her quite well enough to ask how old she was & inquire as to her situation on staying in Paris. Michelle piped up that she was 33 & quite happily married (as she pointed to the ring finger on BOTH hands!) She even mentioned that she had 5 children at home. ‘Ohhh!” he says. He then told Michelle that he was 53 & he was too old to continue to persue her anymore.
Oh, by the way, that is when he noticed she had been sitting with a friend laughing and chatting the ENTIRE time of lunch. He asked her “So – this your friend?” Michelle replies “Yes!” “Really?” he asked again. “Yes” repeating her last reply – “my good friend”. So, we both have our dessert of chocolate mousse & then continue on out to venture Paris. Michelle yet AGAIN, was flattered by the noticing eye of the french men. She is quick to think of her love back home in the USA awaiting her in these situations. But, boy oh boy, do I have a complex about me NOW! Michelle with an inflated ego and I with a shrunken one.
P.S. I prefer the British men to the French ones – Go figure!!!
Crystal was actually asked out by a very handsome young banker from Toronto when we were coming home from seeing Wicked. And she is actually avaliable to accept that sort of thing, though she did not. Crystal is a very beautiful woman as you see in the pictures of her, I am really not sure what was going on in Paris. I guess that Parisians like plump women? That is all I have to say on the matter and luckily this phenomina only occured in Paris. My friend Emily told me that if we ever have a mid-life crisis, we are heading to Paris! LOL Emily! ~MJ
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I discovered two artist that I never knew on my trip, that I really adore.
The first is Gustav Klimt. His piece titled ‘The Kiss’ is so moving to me. The link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kiss_(Klimt_painting)
Also discovered the work of Alfonso Mucha. Really like him too. The link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfons_Mucha
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Is what Sharon calls Prague. I have to say that I could not agree more!
London and Paris with all of thier granduer and majesty do not hold a candle to the old world charm and fairy tale enchantment that Prague is. I have to say that I was most worried and most excited about coming to this country, the Czeck Republic, more than the others. It seemed such a truly exotic place to me. I was afraid of meeting stern people there who were cold and unfeeling, don’t really know why except for this being the natural consequenses of living under the reign of communism for so long, in my mind. Oh, how very wrong I was. The people were warm and friendly, the food was out of this world. (I know I keep talking so much about the food in Europe, it is just that the food is an experience in itself, and one of the joys of living is eating and really enjoying food, to my mind. So, the European culinary experience is significant, and worth mentioning.) Again I was taken by suprise by how many people did speak some english, if not fluent.
Some of the people we encountered in the shops seem to be very in touch with thier creative/artsie side. I could not help but think how you could not be inspired to appriciate the arts growing up in a place where its influence can be seen in absolutely everything everywhere you look. Something that can be easily found in Prague are water colors and sketches of some of the lovely city scenery there. This was my choice of souvinere.
I particularly enjoyed St. Charles Bridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bridge). It is lined with stunning statues, artists of every sort and awe inspiring views of the city. We stayed in a Penzion (bed and breakfast) near Prague castle that was very hospitable and comfortable. Prague Castle is stunning in it’s architecture and stained glass.
We had a really funny experience with Sharon at Prague Castle. Sharon was struggling with her tights. They kept creeping down her bottom with every step. She was uncomfortable and fighting them all the way to the castle. When we got to the castle and after we had looked around some, she found the information desk and asked the man there (Sharon speaks some Czeck, since they lived there for a number of years, a number of years ago) if she could have some tape, her stocking were falling down. Crystal and I were absolutely watching in awe as she did this because we are too shy to have done this, we are also trying very hard to keep from laughing out loud! The man picks up a regular roll of scotch type tape and hands it towards her. Sharon tells him “no, no, I need that tape”, pointing to the thicker packing tape. He kindly hands it to her and then she asks him to direct her and Hanna (her 10 year old daughter) to a ‘private place’ where she can apply the tape. He nicely shows her to a room where she and Hanna wrap that tape around her 6X. She did not have a problem with those stockings after that, until she needed to use the ladies room, LOL!
I enjoyed walking down the coblestone streets of old Prague (Praha, they call it), I was also suprised to learn that coblestones are tough on the feet. Crossing the street in any of the cities of Europe that we visited felt like you were putting your life on the line most of the time. I became very wary after watching a few close calls of Crystals in London and a few of my own in Paris, and Sharons dare devil crossings in Vienna, so by the time we got to Prague I was very cautious and I did not trust my travel companions to safely lead the way. This became a source of teasing me for the 3 of my travel companions in Prague who when they told me to cross I stood there cautiously looking both ways and determining if it really was a good time to cross on my own. We had a lot of fun with thier immitations of me with both arms & hands streched out and hunched over while looking both ways, LOL! Those silly ladies. But seriously, there were trolly cars (coming from unpredictable directions, you would think the tracks would make them somewhat predictable but what direction were they going to be heading?!), regular cars (with wildly fast drivers in Europe) and green signs all to watch at once, and I was determined to return home to my dear family in one piece so caution was the code d’jour.
I learned what croquets are, a ball of potato based dough (I would think) that is deep fried and so yummy! It almost has a creamy sort of texture, for lack of a better discription. We had gelato in Prague that was absolutely the best I have ever tasted, so good we went back the next day to enjoy one more treat before going home. We also enjoyed in Slovakia and the Czeck Rep. something called ‘halusky s brynzou’ (pronounced hal-oo-sh-key brin-za). Jason (Sharon’s husband) refers to this as Slovak mac n’ cheese. The ‘pasta’ portion of this is made from potato and is something like an italian gnochi, only smaller mac n’ cheese sized pieces. The cheese sauce is from a sharp goat cheese, which I did not think I liked, but soon found out that I DID TOO! This was topped with thier bacon, which is more like our ham, diced in small pieces. I also tried a dish, at another meal, that was chicken with curry and apples on top that was fantastic! I loved trying all of the new tastes.
I was so pleasantly suprised by the Czeck Republic, I just loved it! Randon and I are definately going back there someday. I enjoyed the sights, the tastes, the pleasant people, and all of our laughs in Prague. BTW, it snowed as we were driving back to Sharons home in Slovakia and we stopped at a gas station, got out and enjoyed a snowball fight together, me in short sleeves because I was too anxious to get out and neglected to put my coat on. Driving the highway to Prague Sharon was driving over 100mph (the weather was better going there), kinda exhilarating, kinda scary.
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1. TO SLOW DOWN AND ENJOY MY LIFE!! The world will not fall apart if I am 5 min. late or don’t finish some project on time, it will just keep on spinning.
2. That there is a whole world out there waiting to be explored! This is great, great motivation to keep saving $ so that we can be free to go explore the world.
3. That a smile, a kiss, a tear, a thank you look are universal. I loved hearing all of the different languages but, some things simply need no words at all.
4. How important family is to me and how that really is the meaning of life for most people, world wide.
5. How much I take for grantid. Space, my own car, being able to do and be who I please.
6. That no matter where you are friends and family make that place a home, even temporarily.
7. Not to take myself so seriously. Life is so much more enjoyable when you can laugh about it all.
8. How amazing it is that God knows every single person in this world, loves them and understands all of thier different tongues. I spent a lot of time thinking about this because initally it felt like we went to the tower of Babel, so many different languages and not being able to understand them. God’s omnipotence is wonderous.
9. No regrets, no guilt for taking this trip. I enjoyed every single minute, even the tense ones that we will forever laugh about. It was hard to leave my family and for them to be without me but, it was worth it. We have a greater intensity to our love for eachother now. And I have gained experiences that are priceless to me and that I will spend all of my years reflecting upon.
10. What jet-lag REALLY is, LOL!!
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I read all about the customs and such in London and I thought I was ready for this experience, dining here, little did I know!
Crystal and I’s first day in London we were hungry by the time we figured out the Tube, the London Subway system, and found our hotel. So, we set out to find somewhere or something to eat. We simply jumped on a bus and rode it until it stopped taking in the sites and looking for food along the way. We found an area that seemed to be concentrated with little eateries so we got off and were looking at the menu’s in the windows of the resturaunts to see if there was anything that sounded good. We started noticing right away that most of the places were closed, strange we thought. It was around 5pm and that was a suitable time to eat, we thought. So we kept looking, stopping at one place which turned out to be a Turkish deli and we had no idea what anything was and weren’t feeling that advernturous so we kept on going. We finally found a pub and looked at the menu and decided that it did sound good. So we walked in and stood there waiting to be seated, (LOL looking back!!) no one came so we finally decided okay, so you seat yourself here. We found a seat and looked at the menu, and decided on what we would have. Through our hunger we neglected to see that (and none of my books mentioned this little fact) every one was drinking, not one person was eating a thing!? They would all come in, sit down and go up to the bar and order drinks, take them and go sit down again, okay? We continued to wait until I remembered reading that dinner time in London is early for Europe, it generally starts somewhere between 7:30 and 8:00 pm. Ah ha! So we are not going to get food until then. So, we leave, after spending a 1/2 hour there, no doubt looking really silly, and left to find a bakery or somewhere we could get a little something to hold us over until dinner time. We walked and walked and walked….very far, but we enjoyed it because London is very beautiful, until we found a bakery/chocolatery. Crystal got a very small quiche and I got this delicious pastry with a cheese and spinach filling, YUM! And we continued walking noticing how all of the resturaunts were closed except the pubs which were moderately full with people having drinks only, no food at all. Then the magical hour hit, around 8pm and we started seeing people enjoying meals in the pubs and resturaunts, so we decided that we would get serious about finding a meal now. We walked past many, many ethnic food resturaunts, and still were not feeling adverturous because we were practically ravenous at this point and wanted to make sure that whatever we ordered was going to be something we wanted/could eat. So we finally come across a small but very fancy pizza place, they also served a myriad of italian food, most of which we recognized. So we seated ourselves, without standing there waiting 5 min, like before (LOL). We are watching the people in this PACKED little resturaunt conversing and enjoying thier meals and we notice right away that most of them have ordered pizza and are eating it with a knife and fork!!! It was served as a whole one person sized pizza. Not only are they eating it with a knife and fork but they are eating it in the classic European way holding the fork in the left hand (upside down to an American) and always keeping the knife in the right, cutting and eating each bite sized piece. Crystal and I begin an intense study of this peculiar way of eating. When our meal comes we try and try to master this way of eating so we do not stick out like a sore thumb, Crystal did well, I resorted to cutting my pissa into wedges, and to my poor American manners of eating it with my hands, at this point I just did not care, I figured that I must look pretty goofy trying to eat in this akward, to me, way than just eating pizza like I thought it was meant to be eaten. It turned out to be delicious and the best pepperoni that I have ever had.
You may be interested to know that by the end of the trip, I could eat an entire meal this way and I like it. It does make you eat more slowly, something that I needed to work on anyway.
Another thing I found peculiar, but charming, was that when I ordered water with any meal in Europe a question soon followed; still or sparkling? The first time it took my brain a second to process what the heck they could mean. I rediscovered my love of a good sparkling mineral water, delicious! Crystal did not like the sparkling water although she did try it.
I have to add that we had a hard time finding food in London, not that there was anysort of shortage, we just did not know where to look. We spent a lot of time walking around town looking for yummy food, we found it most of the time. We had some really good curry with Paola, I was shy of curry because, I now know, I had never had a good one. I hope to find somewhere here that can measure up to my high curry standards now. We also had curried lamb and chicken with Sharon that was sooo good! I wished that I could have eaten 6X a day in Europe, all of the food was so good!
One more note on eating in London, they have something known as ‘the english breakfast’. An english breakfast generally consisits of: eggs, very softly sunny side up; bacon, which is really ham that has been fried; sausage, which is more like mush with a really gross texture and taste (to me and Crystal), beans (like the Van De Camps pork and beans), mushrooms and tomatoes. They serve this with english cheddar (which is so delicious!) and toast. Our hotel in London gave us a complementary english breakfast each morning, which we only ate about 1/2 of and really got sick of after the 3rd day. I was suprised at thier ‘english breakfast’, just seemed odd to me.
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Paris is a really lovely place. It has all of the granduer and majesty as London. I was told that it was not as large as London, but I think it is every bit as large.
We went to the Louvre on our first real day there (when the sun was up our part of town was totally different!). I could spend at least a week in that museum! I really enjoyed the paintings most. I have to say also that I have never understood all of the whoopdie dee about the Mona Lisa, until I saw her for myself first hand. Pictures, postcards etc. of this painting do it no justice! I did not realize that her eyes seem to follow you from one side of the room to the other, incredible. She also seems to be more cheerful in person. I bought a book with 1001 paintings in the Louvre, I really loved it so much!! They had good food at the Louvre too.
Oh, I skipped our adventure to the Louvre! We got around Paris primarily on the Metro. This morning, a Saturday, after we witnessed quite a roudy Friday night, walking down the stairs to the Metro we noticed somethings that London did not have. There is a small 3″ gutter that runs the length of the walkway down the stairs on both sides, with moisture in them. As soon as we started descending, we were disgusted by the smell of urine and the sight of dried vomit on the ground, it was almost too much (we almost had to make our own contribution). We picked up the pace, disgusted and in a bit of disbelief. I nick named the Metro the filthy bowels of Paris, quite appropriately too. The actual trains and platforms were clean, it was just gettting to them that was disgusting!
The Eifel tower or Tour Eifel, was just as spectacular as you imagine! I made it up to the first level, although it was difficult to get even that high with my fear of heights. I really wanted to try for Crystals sake. I got there and planted my butt on a bench and did not move. If I looked at the rivets holding the structure together or the ground, or the sky, it was just too much so I sat there while Crystal looked around. She did not go to the top because the wait was over an hour long. Going to the top was out of the question for me. Crystal spent a lot of time trying to convince me that this was not a natural fear and that I needed to just see it for what it was and get on up. I tried to help her understand that it was not a fear that I have any control over. She helped me to get down the stairs, which fear wise was more frightening than going up because I had to look towards the ground. It was beautiful to see Paris from even that high.
I am a bit embarrased to record this next part of our Paris adventure but, alas it did happen and it was sometimes funny, sometimes humiliating, and always SHOCKING!! The man the our first night in Paris who was so insistent upon taking my bagage and walking us to our hotel, the one who told me that I was beautiful, well, he was the first of many. It happened every stinkin’ where we went. I have to say that it was incredibly flattering (most of the time, depended on how they expressed this) but it was very uncomfortable. I just did not know what to say when they told me this, I was speachless and just walked away. I am sure that after that they thought I was completely rude but, I was only speaking with them to be polite, I was not looking for that kind of attention. If they were someone like a waiter we had who named me “Bella Italia”, guessing my correct “orgins” as he put it, or like the guy who walked us to our hotel and actually carried on a nice conversation beyond just the bluntness of telling me I was “tres belle” or a “jeune fille”, then it was a lovely complement and I thanked them graciously. Poor Crystal got so sick of this!! By the third day she was so done with hearing it. She wrote a very funny entry in our travel journal about this, intended for this blog. I will enter it as soon as I get a copy of our journal.
The Patisseries in Paris are like no other. There just is not an adequate description for food that good. The cafe’s were also very good. We liked them better than the pubs in London. I got so sick of those pubs! Speaking of pubs, Crystal and I learned a lot about the way they dine in London. We found it very strange, but, we were the strangers. Will post next about dining in London.
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