calories don't count on vacation

of paris, harriet beecher stowe once said, "at last i have come into a dreamland..."

and that is how we feel about french cuisine.

our chef friend recommended we try lunch at l'hotel, so we made a reservation and hoped that sage would be perfectly behaved. as luck would have it, she fell asleep for all but the petit fours at the end of the experience. we had the most relaxing, happy lunch date sitting in a quaint, sun-dappled courtyard. the weather was perfect, the food even more perfect. 

i can't even remember exactly what we ate, but it was all presented beautifully with greenery--that grew in the garden next to our table--incorporated into every dish.

we went back to a little bistro we loved last time, and the restaurant had changed names and owners. however, we recognized one of the waiters--the one with impeccable manners who took his role very seriously. he told us he'd been working as a waiter at that address for thirty years, through every name change and every owner change.

the perk of eating out ridiculously early (7pm is ridiculously early) is personalized service. for sage, the waiters brought out markers and paper on a platter. they also offered to make a custom off-menu entrée of roast chicken and mashed potatoes just for her.

we tasted lots of onion soup. we made sure to pick up macarons at ladurée, and browsed restaurant menus in one area until we found chocolate mousse.

my foodie friend just sent me a woman's description of her experience at a famously chic restaurant. at the end of her epiphany, the woman says, "i was in love with the world because of food. i have never known anything like it in my life."

while my life wasn't changed in quite such a dramatic way, i was feeling pretty in love with the world after our week of indulging. i love that cooking is an art form and a serious sport for the french.

paris is always a good idea

when we were planning where to stop in europe, i mapped out a whole tour of eastern europe. yet, with last minute plans and flights, we had to go through a major airport hub so western europe made more sense. nate insisted we take sage to paris...and paris is always a good idea. 

nate still speaks much better french than i do. i mean, did i ever even speak french? my mind felt so jumbled as i tried to remember french words and conjugations.

our last time in paris, i marched nate around to all my favorite things and reminisced about living in that beloved city. this time, we took a more relaxed approach. we slept in. we ate brunch. we wandered without a plan. we walked more often than hauling a stroller up and down the metro steps. we only stopped at our favorite museums and works of art. we rode the carousel in the tuileries and shared lemon gelato. we used all our marriott points to stay in a great location on the champs-élysées (we still went and visited our favorite little rue cler neighborhood though).

we rode the train from barcelona to paris, and arrived in the city just in time for dinner.
french onion soup, naturally.
and sage insisted on drinking from a goblet only.

s picked out a postcard for grandma at shakespeare and company

we stopped and paid homage to my old school

so thrilled about the "horshies"

a few smiles at the tour eiffel with a lollipop bribe

speedy tours of the louvre, l'orangerie, and musée d'orsay to visit our favorite art

then on to the centre pompidou for a little modern art...but mostly for the views at the top...

s loved the children's exhibit, but didn't quite get the don't-cross-the-line thing in the galleries

if you stroll through the marais, you must stop at le gay choc, home of the most buttery, flaky croissants...and raspberry pistachio tarts too.

we hiked hundreds of winding steps to the top of notre dame, and my pregnant bod was feeling it big time.

the bells rang out as we reached the top of the tower and looked out onto the seine weaving through paris

on our last night, we met up with my cousin and her family in the park, then made our way to the eiffel tower for one last look. we couldn't have ended our paris time with a more beautiful sunset.

we packed up and caught another train to frankfurt, where we had just enough time for some soft, salty pretzels and german brats before our long haul back to the motherland.

sage was a trooper on our endless flights, trains, buses, taxis, and metro rides. i'm not sure if we've forced her to be this way because of our lifestyle or if she came this way, but she's a traveler, that girl.

onion soup every night

i think we only missed one night of eating french onion soup while we were in paris. oh so good.
nate definitely did not miss a day of drinking orangina. even though we can walk down the street in chicago to buy orangina, it tastes better {mentally} in france. in my obsession with france, i've read lots of books about culture and food and why french women don't get fat and i just think i would be an elephant if i lived in france because a. i don't smoke and b. everything is too tempting and delicious and c. i love bread.

ohhhh french food is to die for.

(our favorite dinner)

and now i'm done dragging it out. we had a wonderful trip, feel so lucky that we got to go, and are glad we just did it before more major things happen in life.

giverny

the bulk of our pictures were taken here. i have always wanted to visit monet's garden, giverny. timing was never right. so we made it a priority and took the train out to this oasis. i told nate that for me, walking through giverny and standing where monet painted his gorgeous japanese bridge hundreds of times is like having a sleepover with the lakers and sitting courtside for a playoff game to him. he got it. the beauty was incredible. we spent a lot of time just sitting on a bench and taking it in.

paris is always a good idea

and then some more...

we ran across this crazy traffic with some dutch boys

does laduree ship to america?