Last Full Day

Last night we planned to go to the restaurant that our exchange family had suggested. "Moulin de la Galete". We found our way there and it was closed for the summer. Ironically it opens the day we leave. It looked like a really neat restaurant and apparently it is famous for it's view and the museum right by it. The Moulin de Sannois musee was closed as well. Bummer.

We ended up at a little restaurant in Ermont Eaubonne. We had our pasta, drank our wine, ate our dessert. The woman serving us decided she liked us and gave us a free digestif.

Today is our last full day. We are sad. We're just packing up and cleaning. We brought way too much crap. I have no idea how we're going to get all of this in back to the U.S.



Au Revoir France!

Versailles & Moulin Rouge

Sunday was Versailles day.
To be honest, it started out pretty miserable. We got off the RER only to find that we bought the wrong type of billet (ticket). Ethan put on his charm and we got away with only paying 6e's to get off the train instead of getting fined the 20e the other tourists were having to pay. Whew. This is yet another perk of being married to a poker player!

We walked about 2 blocks to the Versailles entrance where we stood in the longest line ever! (This was when we realized we should have taken the Versailles website seriously when they noted: "Purchase tickets in advance.") After waiting for I don't know how long, we finally paid our admission. This gave us just over 2 hours to look around, not near enough time. Good thing it started to rain! Arg.

We started out through the apartments, saw lots of paintings, really old furniture, huge fireplaces, etc. We made our way to the gardens - the security guard was nice enough to tell us to wait 15 minutes and the admission would be free. Thanks dude!

This was when the day trip started to get better! What a sight the Gardens were! It had stopped raining and since it was late in the day and getting a little cold, there was hardly anyone there! We decided to rent bikes - what a great idea this was! The Gardens is a huge area and there was no way we'd get to see as much if we were on foot. We rode down a dirt road to the Grand Trianon (Again, the late in the day factor and Ethan's smile, got us in free). This was very cool but went through pretty quickly because I didn't want to miss the Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette's pad. We missed it by a hair - this security guard didn't really care about Ethan's charm.


We had about 20 more minutes with the bikes so we decided just to ride around the Grand Canal real quick. Well 10 minutes into the ride, we found that we hadn't even gone 1/3 of the way - it's a lot bigger than it looked! We turned around and headed back. A romantic bike ride along the Grand Canal ended the day perfectly.


Monday, Moulin Rouge.
This was fun. We got to the Moulin Rouge area pretty early. I wanted to go to some of the stores, Ethan loved it - NOT! He hates the little souvenir shops, I guess I don't blame him. He'll be glad I got that extra postcard 20 years from now! Most of the restaurants didn't open until 7 pm so we decided to have a drink before hand. After one beer, two gin fiz's and Ethan's long island incident, we headed over to the restaurant. Shortly after arriving we decided that we picked the Applebee's of fine dining in this area of Paris. Oh well, the service was good, the food was above average and the wine (as always) was great!

We walked up a couple blocks to the Moulin Rouge and headed in. It was pretty crowded, in fact, really crowded. We sat close to the back of the venue and got our free bottle of champagne. I shortly decided that it was just a headache in a bottle, Ethan didn't let it go to waste. Féerieas was a great show! It was much like a Folies Bergere show but had miniature horses and more fake singing. The costumes were incredible and the dancing/kicking kept my interest for the entire 2 hours! Very entertaining and a worth while experience. I guess you could say we ended our evening with the cancan last night!

Today starts the end of our honeymoon. We're headed into Rouen one last time. We'll have dinner with Antoine and give him back the working GPS he lent to us and head back to Sannois tonight. Tomorrow and Thursday we'll clean and pack up. Ethan might have to carry me to the airport - I have a feeling I'll make it difficult to leave.

Lazy Weekend

Friday we didn't do anything. I think Ethan was exhausted from the Lille/Belgium trip, I guess I'll admit I was a little tired too. About 6 pm I was going stir crazy in the house so I talked Ethan into taking a walk up to one of the local cemeteries. The cemeteries are really beautiful here. Here's some photos of the one about 3 blocks from our 'house'.


Saturday we went to the flea market! As all flea markets are, it was filled with second hand clothes, dishes and household items, and some of the most amazing antiques and furniture ever! There were people everywhere. We bought a few items, Ethan got to haggle with a local (got him talked down from $210 to $65) and after a couple hours of exploring we found the metro and headed home.



Today is Versailles day! No haggling for Ethan.

Northern France & Belgium

We arrived at The Moulin Rouge on Monday evening. It was sold out - arg! Today I went online and purchased my tickets for this upcoming Monday. At least we know when to get off the Metro now?!?

Lille
Tuesday morning we woke up and started our journey to Lille. It was only a short 2.5 hour drive and we arrived at the Jardin Vauban. This bed and breakfast place was great. It was in an old apartment building that the owner bought and renovated. The manager was Thai and offered an authentic Thai meal and 1 hour Thai massages. We decided against both. We stayed in the Chocolat Room (highly recommended by our new friends, Allen and Alex). The room is very modern - a tiny taste of Vegas life. After we dropped off our bags we ventured out.



We saw a cathedral, had a snack at a cafe and bought a couple of tarts at a boulangerie. It started to sprinkle so we decided to head back to the BnB to rest and get some warmer clothes. During my nap, Ethan put his master google'ing skills to use - he found a wonderful place to eat dinner.
The Estaminet 't Rijsel, is a Flemish pub. On our 1 mile walk it started raining, so we stopped in a really neat bar/nightclub. The bar owner had a little wispy haired terrier of some sort that greeted us at the door and almost lead us to our table (he didn't climb stairs). After our cocktail and the weather let up, and we started back at it.


We walked the cobblestone streets, people watched, and checked out the buildings. Finally we made it to our destination. We sat outside at the pub and I ordered the most delicious chicken plate I've ever had. Ethan had some ham dish. Back to the chicken, I picked up the bone and it fell right off the thigh meat. It was drenched in a "local cheese", so delicious. Ethan kept dipping his frites in my cheese, fair enough since he's the one who wanted the chicken in the first place. If you're ever at Estaminet 't Rijsel in Lille, France... order the "poulet au maroilles". Oh yeah, and take your time reading the menu books - they're ALL handwritten!











Brussles/Bruxelles
Just a short drive from Lille to Belgium, about one hour. After yelling at the GPS for a few minutes we found our way to the mid-city hotel. We checked in and decided to hit the touristy part of town. In the center Ethan found lots of chocolate places we just HAD to stop in.
After buying several Euros worth of chocolate and walking around looking at more cool buildings, touristy shops and statues we decided to find a place for dinner.











We ended up at a pretty nice restaurant. Apparently there are magic shows done by the owner every other weekend - we missed it. We did however; see some pictures of some familiar faces who had performed there - Penn & Teller, Lance Burton. Interesting enough I guess. We ordered some food, nothing special, along with our beer sampler. Ah yes, delicious. Pink, yellow, dark, etc. It was all delicious. We ordered one more for each of us, it was getting quite chilly so we decided to stumble back to the hotel.

Back in Sannois now, I cooked dinner at home. We'll go and check out Versailles next week. A tout a l'heure!

Oink. Oink.

Saturday we woke up and got on the train to Paris. We stopped at a cafe and had brunch. Our meal consisted of the most delicious croissants we've had yet, cafe au lait, salad, scrambled eggs, Rose vin and cheese burgers (I ordered the salmon and ended up with a burger somehow). For dessert we had fromage blanche. This wasn't the array of soft cheeses we were hoping for, but a yogurt of some sort. Very sour if there wasn't enough sugar. On to the Eiffel Tower we went. As you can imagine, this is very toursity. Tons of people waiting in line to climb up the tower, people enjoying their picnics (among other things) on the lawns and police guarding the area. We chose not to wait in line and didn't realize that we could've brought a bottle to enjoy, so we walked around for a bit, caught the end act of some street dancers and decided to head home.


Sunday we woke up on the early side of morning and headed right down to Notre Dame. We got there about 20 minutes before the international mass started. We were able to stage our spot and get a 3rd row seat for the mass! Victory! Unfortunately for us, the mass was mostly in French. Only one reading (or the verse of the day for us Lutherans) was read in English. Oh well, it was still pretty cool. Ethan wouldn't let me take photos during the service, I guess he was probably right...but I was able to get one.



After the service we walked around the cathedral to get out and saw all the magnificent stained glass, statues and alters. Here I was able to take plenty of photos.

But the most amazing part of this place of worship is the outside.








After getting ripped off at a touristy cafe (touchy subject for Ethan) we made our way across the bridge to the boats. This was great! There are all types of boats that are there catering to all the tourists. You could have lunch on one, then grab another to take a Seine River boat tour. We decided to hop on and take the boat to Champs-Elysees. After stopping by the Jardin Des Plantes, Hotel De Ville and Louvre (to let people on and off) we arrived at our destination. The ride wasn't long, maybe 30 minutes but well worth the 12 euros ($17.65) we paid. After a longer-than-expected walk we arrived at the Arc de Triomphe. (The shops on Rue de Champs-Elysees are so strategically placed. You HAVE to walk by Louis Vuitton and all the other outrageously expensive shops to get to the Arc. Damn marketers! Ha!) It was all worth it. This was just another amazing sight. The detail of the sculpted warriors and angels on the sides of the Arc is unbelievable. The tomb of the unknown soldier is also a sight to see. After a short photo shoot and deciding not to go up, we went on our way. Don't worry - we got left.

So, call us the Griswald's, but we got a lot of sight seeing done this past weekend. We're going to plan our trips to Lille, Belgium and London today, then head down to the Moulin Rouge tonight!
I'll keep you posted!

Per your request

The house we are staying in is perfect. It's cottage-like (see photo in previous blog), it's got three small bedrooms upstairs, a nice living area and kitchen on the main floor and downstairs there is a spare room, washer/dryer, freezer, etc. It's very close to the train station, which we are getting very good at taking. There is a Carrefour right down the road, so we can get fresh baguettes and croissants daily, along with paper towels, veggies, etc. It's kind of like a super Wal-Mart. We'd rather go to little markets, but sometimes necessity kicks in. Also, down a few blocks is Ville Centre (the center of town). Here we have shops, cafes, hotels, etc. Very nice just to walk around a while. The weather, pretty great here. During the day it's just right - maybe around 80 degrees. At night when it gets dark (usually about 10 pm) we put on our jackets. We had to buy a umbrella because it will sprinkle every other day, but just for a few minutes.


The night before last we went to Le Chaumiere with Karrie, Antoine and baby Abby. This was quite an experience. We drove about an hour and a half (no, we didn't get lost) to a small village outside of Rouen. We winded through the skinny roads, down the hills past the farms and on to a brick street that led us to the restaurant. Karrie knows the owner so we sat in the back of the restaurant, which we had to walk through the kitchen to get to. Pretty neat to see the cooks who are preparing your meal. The owner took our order... we had an apertif and chatted a bit. Our meals came. Veal, steak with roquefort and white fish. When the main course was finished the waitress brought out a piece of wood that had six different types of cheeses. We all chose a few and enjoyed some of the most incredible molds ever! After drinking quite a bit of Calvados we said our final goodbyes and headed home. This time we took the right highways and were in bed by 2 am!













Last night we went to Le Cafe Du Commerce. (http://www.lecafeducommerce.com)
Mary and Rich gave us a meal here (along with a strong recommendation) as a wedding gift. Thanks to both of them! We had the onion soup - mmmm! Ethan had the 'Authentique andouillette A.A.A.A.A. grillée, frites maison'. I had the 'Ravioles fraîches, fromage et champignons, gratinées au Beaufort'. My food was, délicieuse. Ethan's was...lets just say it tasted a little strong. We had red table wine (all the wine here is fantastic) with the meal and afterwards Ethan ordered the 'Dame blanche' and I had a cafe au lait. I wanted cheese, but we were way too full! The maitre'd was pleased with our willingness to try to speak French, we didn't even look at the English menus he gave us.

On to the Eiffel Tower today!

Jeanne d'arc & The Louvre

We started off on our own a couple days ago. Went to Rouen on our own, parking wasn't as difficult as we thought and the communication wasn't quite a huge barrier. Went to the dungeon (donjon) where Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'arc) was kept hostage.We wanted to go in, but like most places around here, they were closed at odd hours. Did some shopping then headed back to the Mansion for dinner and a little poker before we headed out. Karrie and Antoine's friends think Ethan is a celebrity...ha!


Our 1.5 hour drive turned into a 3 hour venture. We've learned that if you take a wrong turn here in France, it's a very long way back to the way you came. Poor Ethan, I slept and he drove.

Yesterday we drove down to the city, big mistake. It's worse than driving in NYC. It took us about 1 hour to get to the Louvre. Spectacular. We walked around for about 5 hours and didn't even come close to seeing everything. We strolled down a few blocks where there was a carnival going on. Rode the ferris wheel that over looked the museum, city streets, etc.

The Mona Lisa is behind us.




I took this photo for Sean.









This is from the ferris wheel. My photography skills are getting good...eh Earl?



Enough for now. We are taking the bus/train to the city today. Hopefully that works better than driving. Then off to one last dinner with the Formosa family before they leave on holiday!

Day 2 & 3

I think this will be the last time I title the blogs by days - it may become a countdown, that's not good.
I was so excited to have our first full day, I only slept 3 hours that night...oops.



Yesterday we ventured out to a small town, not sure of the name. We were originally were looking for a grocery store, never got there. We parked on the side of the street, got out and found a bakery. We decided to walk around and bought some flowers for Karrie (Abby and Antoine), Ethan's cousin.



We set the GPS, hoping it would work this time, and headed out to a small town called Les Essarts. Ethan about had a nervous breakdown at the toll booth, I about died of exhaustion, but we made it to the gas station where cousin Karrie met us. She led us down small roads through the village then we hit the dirt roads and winded our way down to the mansion. Yes, MANSION.



We had no idea that we'd be staying in a mansion built in the 1800's. Apparently soldiers stayed here during WW2, they've got the bullet holes to prove it. There is a forest of apple trees behind the 'meat house'. (This is where they would skin and prepare the meat of the animals they would eat, back in the day!) In the mansion, there are about 9 bedrooms, no insulation, a winter garden, bare floors, hidden closets, no ac, broken windows, 5 cats, one Dalmatian (Daisy, she's the cutest thing ever!), etc. It's awesome, I could go on and on and on. We're in heaven here, that's why we'll be staying a more few days.



Today we went to Rouen (sounds like raw, in the nose) "little Paris" and had lunch, shopped, saw the place where Joan of Arc was burned, prayed at a Cathedral, almost bought some French boots.




We came back to the Mansion, Karrie and Antoine's 2 friends came over and we had a three course meal. Delicious wine, delicious fish, delicious cakes, mmmmm! Over the four hour dinner we drank four bottles of wine and had three different types of fish, how indulgent!

Now it is 5 am and I have no idea how I am still awake. Ethan is teaching our hosts how to play poker (shock).

until later, ALF

Day 1

Phew. What a day!

After a better-than-expected meal and a 3 hour nap on the airplane (thank you, Tylenol PM) we landed in Paris. The airport was way bigger than we thought it to be. We went through customs and got our luggage just fine. Our driver George was waiting for us just outside the doors. We knew it was him b/c he was holding an 'Ethan et Amanda Foulkes' sign. Kinda nice to have someone waiting for you. It was about a 20 minute drive from the airport to the Blaison residence. Nice and quite with the occasional awkward laugh while George and Ethan tried to communicate. I kept my mouth shut and my nose to the window.



We arrived at the house where Chloe (daughter) was waiting for us. We paid George, grabbed a business card for a ride back and introduced ourselves to Chloe. This here, was the start of an uncomfortable day.

We went into the villa-cottage looking home and Chloe showed us the most important things in the house....exchange book, car keys, bedroom, wine, etc. She left pretty quickly; after all, how much can you say/hear "Merci" and "Bien" before someone gets sick of it. We made ourselves at home, put some of our things away in the empty drawers left for us and then took a nap.

Ethan wouldn't shut up. "Get up, get up, get up." I guess he didn't have Brutus to do his dirty work, so he annoyed me until I gave in and opened my eyes. After we drank a cafe we got ready to hit the town. We decided to stay in Sannois, too much effort for Paris today. Ethan decided he wanted to drive. I thought it'd be best if we walked, but he was persistent and he ended up being right. Downtown Sannois is about 5 miles away from the house, but it was getting late and we didn't want to be walking the streets at night.



We found a hotel/restaurant that looked nice to dine in. We walked in and said BonJour! to the maitre d'...he instantly replied with BonJour. BonSoir! then something else in French. Ethan replied in French, we want food. Do you speak English? (Mistake #1) We got a stern look, the maitre d' basically said no and then led us to a table. The waiter came over and asked comment talle vous, we didn't respond. (Mistake #2) He laughed (cackled really) and asked us how are you? Awesome, we were still nervous but started to feel better. (Mistake #3) We somehow ordered two girly drinks and ate our hors du houvres. They were good, cucumbers, olives, spicy carrots, some bean thing and bread. Yummy. I had the steak, Ethan had the chicken skewers. In the middle of the meal we were on edge about being the only Americans in the place. Ethan was trying to keep it together but was so shaky he ended up dropping a piece of chicken in his lap. (Mistake #4). This made the waiter laugh and probably feel a bit sorry for us. I ended up spilling water on my lap (Mistake #5) but nobody saw that one. Both of our meals were tasty. We decided to have some more cafe then head home. Of course we didn't leave before the waiter had the chance "accidentally" spill a cup of cafe on us. We jumped out of our seats at the empty cup (Mistake #6). Very funny David.

Finally we made it home, after trusting the GPS to get us there (Mistake #7). Now were having a bottle of wine and playing on our computers.



7 big mistakes our first day, not bad right? More later I'm sure.

-A&E

Au revoir!!!

As most of you already know, Ethan and I are finally headed to France for our honeymoon-home exchange. I've decided to give this phenomenon they call 'blogging' a try. I'm not the best writer but I promise to post frequently, or at least when interesting stuff is seen or happens.

We leave Friday morning. Stopping in ATL, then 9 hours to Charles De Gaulle. Our home exchangers will be arriving at our house Friday evening. Everything is ready...I think! We never knew how much work it would be to get ready for this exchange, whew! Glad we're done.

Salut tout le monde!
The Honeymooners.