Paris in Springtime: My Husband the Tree-Hugger

Spring is here in Paris!  I've been here less than a year, but I do think it is my favorite season.  We visited Jardin du Luxembourg.  Last time I was there, it was fall (and a weekday) but now I went on a day off during most people's spring break.  I've never seen so many people in a park.

One of my favorite statues in the park, with the Pantheon in the background.

Some of the flowers in front of the Senate.

Kids sail their little sailboats on the ponds by pushing them with a big stick and then running around to whatever side they happen to float to.

Bram and I in front of one of the three Statue of Liberties.   This one is in the Luxembourg gardens, another is near the Eiffel Tower, and one is in New York.  (We actually went to the gardens because we watched National Treasure II, where statue #2 makes a brief cameo, so Bram wanted to go see the one in the gardens that he's never seen.)

Then we went over to the Jardin des Plantes.  My husband decided to hug the giant tree.  This tree is about double the size of the frame of this picture.  If I remember correctly, it is something like 400 years old.

 

The guy on top looks depressed he's not the guy on the bottom, with the pretty girl.

The garden was filled with lots of poppies!

Which made Bram fall asleep.

An Adventure Story - Told Through Food

French food is always somewhat of an adventure.  Here are some of the more exciting ones:

Trying to eat what I am used to - Mexican food.  Here is a "burrito", on a bed of linguine, covered in tomato sauce and speared with a sprig of rosemary.  Even looking at this picture makes my stomach hurt.

In Lyon, I tried some sausage.  It didn't look to appetizing, but it tasted good:

   

My husband on the other hand, ate Andouillette.   While it looks more appetizing, it's actually, *ahem*, tripe sausage.  

In the canteen I was greeted with this sign:

 

Did you catch it?  Read it again.. "Saute de kangourou".  That's right.  I tried kangaroo.  

 

Also, in the butcher in my ordinary grocery store, there are brains, horse meat, right next to skinnless rabbit, displayed complete with head and ears and with a view of his insides.  Picture not included here for obvious reasons.

But, if for no other reason but that my mom will know she will not starve to death when she comes to France, here are some winners:

Here  is my favorite: raclette - high quality melted cheese that you can pour over potatoes and meat.  Yum!  It doesn't get better than that.

In fact, melted cheese is quite popular here.  Here we are eating fondue (and drinking wine!):

 

And some more, of the chocolate variety, complete with fresh fruits and homemade marshmallows:

Nutella is also very big here.  Literally.  For just under 40 euro, you can get a 5 kg jar!  

 We've also tried out making homemade crepes!  Here I am working on my technique. 

And of course, the single best thing about living in France, the desserts!

Amsterdam - Partying with U2, Clooney, and Tiesto

I saved the longest post for last!  Amsterdam!  What an interesting (and unique) city.  The first thing that I saw when I got off the train was a sign for Burger King.  That trend continued in the town.  This shot has a Subway, Burger King, and McDonalds in it.

The city also had a lot of fun architecture.

 

 

We took a cruise on the canals. 

Because canals make up a huge part of Amsterdam, there were many houseboats of all sizes and shapes.

 

Because of all those canals, the ground is a bit soggy, which has caused some houses to slowly sink into the muck.  This results in a larger proportion of houses than I would have liked to see with sloped windows, telling tales of gradual sinkage. 

We passed the headquarters of Heineken. 

This was a nice museum we went to: the Rijksmuseum.  It had an amazing collection of Rembrandts.

The neat bell on the museum.

On the museum is a nice mosaic depicting the apartment flag of Sheldon and Leonard.

Of course, it was nice to see all the bridges over the canals, coated with a thin veneer of bikes.

We visited the house of Anne Frank, where she and her family hid during WWII.  It had a very plain exterior, and you could imagine how a family could hide inside.  Of course, it was quite moving to walk through the rooms and imagine what they went through.

Nearby, a church.

 

Crown on top of the church.

The lightposts near the church wore the same little crown that was on the church itself.

On the boat with Bram's cousins.

Our trip to Amsterdam soon got very interesting.  We both were able to meet a lot of interesting people!  It was quite a party!  I was to meet some royalty, and even try on a tiara myself!

My husband has a drink with the creator of Heineken beer.

I even got to meet Pope John Paul II! 

And later, the great minds of the world got together for a nice discussion.  

The wax museum was weirding me out a bit.  This girl is actually wax, but I thought she was real.  I had to go back and look at her carefully after I realized she hadn't moved in 15 minutes.

Bram pretends to be a statue.  He actually fooled one lady who was looking very carefully at him.

I met Bono from U2.

Bram met Freddy Mercury.

I partied all night with DJ Tiesto.

We had a long chat with Einstein.

Me as the newest Bond girl.

Bram and Julia Roberts.

On a date with George Clooney.

I don't remember who this is, but look how real he looks!  Amazing.

On our way out I took the wrong turn at the vending machines and almost fell out a window.  Luckily Spiderman saved me.

That wraps up our trip to Holland!  Now, we return to France with lots of stories, good pictures, and kilos and kilos of hagelslag.