Mussels in Brussels!

First of all- I need to tell you that Anthony Fassio is a saint. James Pierce wherever you are...I'm going to tell you something that you already know- your husband is very very patient and absolutely fabulous!

Getting to Brussels wasn't easy- first the passport, then I get to Gare du Nord and didn't realize that there had been a terrible train crash in Belgium earlier in the week. Lesson learned- watch more CNN and less Olympics. Trains were packed and instead of leaving every hour for Brussels, it was more like every other hour. So I get there, talk to the train people and see that I have to wait 2 hours for the train. I read every English magazine in all of the Relays in the train station. I get ready to get on the train and there's a HUGE line. I wait in line, show the woman my Eurail and she tells me I need to buy a ticket. So I get in another line and wait and this man tells me that there is no more room on the train and I won't be able to go. I finally asked a woman in a conductor hat (in French) about my ticket. So she looks at my ticket and let's me through. Meanwhile- people are screaming and yelling, shoving and pushing and I'm so thankful to be allowed to pass.

I get on the train, but there are no seats- so I sit next to the door on a pull down chair. It took us over 2 hours to get there (it should have been an hour and a half), but when I arrive, there's a smiling Anthony on my track waiting for me! We walk quickly to our hotel and I get settled in my room and we go for dinner. The Grand Place in Brussels is gorgeous. It looks to me like it was created out of dribble sand castles. Luckily the extra time on the train had given me time to read about this city more so I had some ideas for dinner. We went to this place called Le Roy Espagne and had traditional Belgian Stoemp- which is mashed potatoes mixed with vegetables and ours came with sausage too- I mean what could be better? A Stella Artois could make it better, and it did. We enjoyed our meal and left on foot to explore. We walked around- it was a gorgeous night and we had so much fun. After we walked a bit we stopped for a chocolate crepe (we WERE in Belgium!) and a coffee. We sat outside in this Gallery watching people and of course, doing a little laughing. After walking back to the hotel- I barely remember hitting the pillow...I was OUT.

8:30 came pretty early this morning but we had a great breakfast and started walking. We walked to Palais Royale, the Parliament, the US Embassy (we just walked by- but they wouldn't let Anthony take a picture...it was so strange). We walked by these great gardens and saw the former Botanical Garden which is now a music venue (Passion Pit is playing there March 1- the lead singer went to Nichols!!!!!) and went to this giant Cathedral Saint-Marie which was really awesome. I have tons of pictures to load, and promise I will put them up tomorrow :). I have a cold, and wasn't feeling good- and I wasn't being the most gracious patient (insert very obvious comment here). Anthony was such a trooper- I didn't feel well, I didn't look well and I was trying to be a good travel buddy...but I don't think I was. Anthony- I"M SORRY!!!! Not only did I make you ride there alone, but then I was not feeling well :(

We went and had lunch on this cute street and I had moules OF COURSE- mussels in Brussels and we hit the road back to Paris. We got on the train- and again it was overcrowded so there was a brawl in our car for some seats- but alls well that ends well...we made it! It was great- I can't wait to explore more of Europe!

I'm off to bed- I have 8:30 demo and then 12:30 practical tomorrow, it feels like a Sunday to me!

A Bientot!

We'll always have Avignon...

I've heard the greatest things about Provence- My Aunt Andree used to rent a house there every year, my parents have rented a house there, and everyone I've ever talked to who has been there, has loved it. So I decided to see what all the hype was about!

When the only flight that I could find to Spain was $3,000.00, Anthony and I decided to take a trip. Thursday morning I trekked to Gare de Lyon to get a Eurail Pass. 5 travel days, 4 countries in 2 months. After demo and practical that night (made very delicious roasted chicken, "turned" an artichoke bottom and filled it with perfectly cut and cooked legumes) I came home and packed for our weekend getaway.

Yesterday I got up at 6am (pause for reaction) and headed to Gare de Lyon. When in my metro station, I heard a train coming, so I sprinted to it and ended up getting on the train heading in the wrong direction. Oops. I fixed that, and after 30 minutes of looking for Anthony we got on our train!

2.5 hours of chatting with other American businessmen heading to Cannes (tough life) we were there. We took a shuttle to the town center and walked to our Hotel. Being that it was 10:30am, the rooms weren't ready, so we ditched our stuff, got a couple of maps and headed out to explore. Our first stop was the Palais des Papes- this massive structure that was built and nearly destroyed during the revolution. Here is a picture of it:



As you can see it was a gorgeous day; it felt so nice to have some sun on my pasty skin! After we walked around there, we went behind it to these great gardens overlooking the city. Avignon is TINY. The maps we were given led us to believe that it was larger than it was, so end to end was about 10 minutes of walking. The gardens were very beautiful and had great views of the Rhone River.






That second picture reminded me so much of you Mom, I had to include it :) Sadly there was no lavender to put in my bottonhole, but I thought of you the whole time I was there!

At about 1pm we went back to our hotel to have a costume change and to get situated. We had a slight miscommunication that led to Anthony sitting downstairs in the lobby waiting while I "closed my eyes" for a few minutes in my room. Whoops! We then set out on the streets to look at other sights around town. The manager of the hotel gave us some great tips and a restaurant suggestion for dinner. We finally found the restaurant and decided we'd find another suitable place to make a reservation. We walked to the other end of town and found this really pretty square- we found a great restaurant and made a reservation for 8pm.

We then walked around to find the hotel where Mom and Dad stayed when they were there. When we found it, we knew it was slightly different than the teeny place we were staying in. It was so beautiful, and once again so Mom. We had a glass of red and felt like a king and queen...then back to reality. But not before taking a couple of pictures!





Upon leaving La Mirande (the haves) and heading back to our neck of the woods (the have nots) Anthony says he's hungry. It's now about 4:30pm and NO ONE was serving snacks. Even in this one cafe where the woman at the desk said they were serving food, a snotty waiter told us then that we were mistaken, that there was no food. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We were forced to go to this GROSS place and choke down a charcuterie plate and a goat cheese salad. It was disgusting, we left immediately and had some tea at another cafe.

After walking around some more, popping into some shops and sight seeing, we came back to shower up for dinner. Looking very dapper, we walked towards where we had made a reservation. 7:00pm is NOT when the French eat. It was a ghost town so we stopped in for a glass of Chateauneuf de Pape at a hotel bar across the square. We had some lovely peanuts and olives to tide us over and the chef sent out some salt cod with some sort of olive spread for us.

8:30 we walked in to the restaurant where we were having dinner. Surely the hostess would remember us...she didn't but we were still able to eat. We both had a tasting menu and it was delicious. I had oysters, then steak and Anthony had foie gras and steak. There was another miscommunication, this time with the waitress who brought us 2 cheese plates instead of 1 cheese plate and 1 apple tart. We choked down the amazing cheese and rolled home.



Having seen 99.99% of Avignon yesterday, we were slightly concerned that we would be bored today. We got up around 8 and walked over to this market to find us some breakfast. Some fruit, coffee/tea and some bread with jam later we were full and ready to walk the same streets again. This time we went in to some more shops and meandered until it was time to head to the train station. I had a BAD case of the giggles and was laughing so hard I cried before we left and we both shrugged and said "we'll always have Avignon".



Another quick train ride home and we're back in Paris! Both of us slept most of the trip home...


It was so beautiful and I'm really really glad we went, but we should have done yesterday in Aix-en-Provence and today in Avignon. That way we wouldn't have had so much time to kill and could have seen 2 beautiful places! I'm so glad I went, I 100% believe why people love it so much. It is beautiful and has a very laid back attitude which I loved. Now I'm back in the hustle bustle of Paris and happy to be home.

A Bientot!!