Au Paris

Going to try and catch up on a little travel blogging here, my friends…

While the WI Girls Take London adventures were no less debaucherous than expected - complete with missed tube stops, stolen champagne bottles, certain people defenestrated from cabs, and a lot of crawling over each other to get around my tiny flat - I will focus on the weekend visit to Paris.

That’s right, weekend, because you can do things like that when you live in London.

After booking the hostel at 11pm the night before (you’ll see why this is important in one second…), we got ourselves up and out, and hopped on the 9am Eurostar to Paris - I tried to book the 6:40 but was overruled - and we were in Paris by 12:30 local time. All Tonimarie wanted to do was see the Eiffel Tower and quote Sex and the City, but we kept her in suspense while we stayed below ground and navigated the Metro all the way to the Bastille Monument to find our 5-Star hostel. Naturally they greeted us with champagne, fresh baked cookies and chocolate covered strawberries at the door before showing us to our room. Not quite. The reality was we walked up the very narrow, very untidy, very uneven staircase to our closet/cupboard, and when I opened the door, I cannot tell you what I would have paid to have the girls’ faces on camera… Three twin beds, all in a line, touching so that it was like one big king bed, maybe 6 inches from the foot of the beds to the wall. Luckily, or so we thought, we had our own bathroom. Until we had our first experience with the showerhead on a string + no shower curtain…Yea, our showers, if you can call them that, didn’t go very well the next day on account of our lack in coordination of showerhead holding + soaping and washing capabilities. Welcome to Europe ladies!

Once we dropped our stuff and headed out I began them on one of my, now infamous, walking tours of European cities. Walking literally from one end of the city to the other, we hit up all the major tourist attractions with one goal in mind – get them to the tower (+ keep everyone fed and happy so no one wanted to bite each other’s head’s off). Notre Dame, the Seine bridges, the Louvre, the Louvre Courtyard (personal Harvard girls’ favorite! OUR courtyard), the Tuileries, Ab Harris’ favorite obelisk (fun fact Cailin taught me), the Musee d’Orsey, and finally…. I turned them down this side alley because I thought it was a shortcut, and low and behold, there she is. I thought they were going to cry. Surely the highlight of the trip!

After surveying the line for the elevators to the top, someone had the brilliant idea to walk up the stairs…

It really wasn’t that bad, and would actually recommend it for the strong at heart, plus after level two they put you in an elevator to the tippy top (Tone almost chickened out but we convinced her otherwise). We got our beautiful aerial view, sent a picture to our parents, and were ready to be on our merry way. Unfortunately for us, crowd control at the top was not really what we’re used to in America, so there was a bit of a commotion, I thought some guy was going to punch Kate out, and then cause a bit of a ruckus amongst the rest of the tour group who I thought were preparing for battle. We somehow made our escape and got back down to elevation zero - safe and sound. I won’t go into the details, but it was touch and go there for a little bit, and we definitely added to the anti-American sentiment in our accidental attempt to cut the entire line waiting for elevators down. Oops! Je ne parle pas français!

Moving on…we were absolutely beat at this point, but I made them trudge on to the Champs Elysees because I felt we had to get a drink at one of the cafes and see the Arc de Triomphe. It was about this time when we decided that for the whole week they had been in Europe, we never sat down without having in our hands an alcoholic beverage or something to stuff our faces with, but usually both, and it was pathetically amazing.

From there, instead of heading back to the Palace Resort & Spa and changing and going out for a night on the town I convinced them to stay out and that we would go to Sacre Coeur and eat at the top of the hill. Perhaps the only thing that rivals our Eiffel Tower experience is what I am about to tell you…the best Italian food I have ever had. Sorry North End Boston, sorry Little Italy New York, we found a little place off the beaten path in Montmartre. Lured in by an Italian family sitting at a table in the window, we came to find this place owned by a family from Brooklyn. BEST mussels in white wine sauce (yes, dad better than Carrabba’s!), best pasta dishes, best prosecco, and best service + limoncello at the end (re: see we never stopped eating and drinking every time we sat our fat asses down). As travel blogs go, this is probably completely useless because I don’t think any of us got a card or know the name or even where we were, so no way we can ever find this place again, but it will live on in our memories. Capped the night off by seeing the Eiffel Tower by night at the top of Sacre Coeur where all the locals seemed to be hanging out and drinking for the evening.

Day 2 was a lot of the same, and all was delicious and just as fabulous as the first day. Overall, Paris was très successful and I think the girls enjoyed themselves immensely.

Until another trip, Au Paris!! Still one of my favorite cities in the world.

Also fun fact - Kate had come across this in Italy, but apparently there is a widely known tradition to "lock your love" in Paris...while we did not bring our own industrial sized lock (although we probably should have seeing the state of our All-Inclusive Luxury Hotel) we were able to appreciate the beauty this tradition created! So cool!

French word of the day: nourritre et alcool = food and alcohol, what got us through our visit. We went on a nourritre et alcool tour of Pareeeeee!

An evening with Royalty, or as we call him for short, HRH

Being in the right place at the right time continues to be my modus operandi. This week my college roommate just so happened to be sailing a regatta in London with tons of social events surrounding the day’s on-the-water activities, and it just so happened she had a plus one to all of these lovely events. Not one to turn down a royal shindig, I agreed to be her arm candy.

Eight teams from all over the world came to London vying for the Cumberland Cup, a trophy whose history began the very year us yanks were busy seceding from the mothership – just goes to show you the English government was out yachting while their country was at war, no wonder we won! Now I can’t say I partook in watching any of the actual sailing but I can certainly provide you with the play by play for all the social events. Let’s be honest, that’s all you’re really interested in anyway, right?

Night One: Opening Reception at St. James’s Palace

Sooooo many rules!!! We received very strict instructions to heed during our drinks and canapés reception at St. James’s Palace, to the point where I was not entirely sure I was going to be allowed in! Bringing back bad memories of when we visited the Vatican and my skirt was too risqué to be allowed inside St. Peter’s Basilica, I was having flashbacks of standing outside alone while my friends went in to experience all the fun and wonderment. As an example, we received the following rules to obey:

“The Dress code is jacket and tie. Suits or Club Reefer jackets are appropriate for gentlemen and ladies should confirm appropriately for a cocktail party in the presence of a member of the Royal Family in a Royal Palace.”

I’m sorry, but this just happens to be the first time I am planning to be in the presence of a member of the Royal Family in a Royal Palace, so I can’t say I have many past experiences to draw on confirming my appropriateness. Some online research brought back a list of (K)NOT’S, sailing joke intended. You will not wear any sleeveless dress. You will not wear anything above the knee. You will not wear sandals or other casual footwear. You will not wear a hat after 6:30. You will not wear white gloves. If you wear gloves you will not take them off until after you are presented. And the list goes on…

Once I selected what I thought was a suitable royal outfit I moved on to the introduction rules.

“The form of salutation when meeting HRH The Duke of York is as follows:

a.     Gentlemen: Nod/slightly bow your head from the neck.

b.     Ladies: A slight curtsy/bob. The right foot is placed behind the left heel, and the knees bent slightly.

c.      Both Ladies and Gentlemen should initially address the Commodore as “Your Royal Highness.” In conversation thereafter he is addressed as “Sir.”

With sweaty palms worrying about how to properly curtsy in his presence - which foot in front, how far to bend my knees, what do I do with my head, what if he sticks out his hand instead, do I kiss it scarface style - I am thinking oh yea right,how can I royally mess this one up. Furthermore, after I address him the first time they assume I will come up with another sentence that warrants me to address him again where I would need to use Sir instead of HRH??

Right. Game on.

Once I got over the initial paranoia that I would most certainly do something gauche, I very much enjoyed the evening. HRH kept us waiting a bit longer than we would have liked (and there were a few times where I had to ask Megan, is that him??) but when he came in he made a very funny speech, worked the room, and then we were told we could go see the throne in the Queen Anne Room before then making our way to the exit of the palace. It was the English way of saying, ok your times up, you’re allowed one more peak at something else then please get the hell out. 

And while HRH made his way swiftly around the room shaking hands with many and taking photographs with most, somehow after all that prep, he managed to skip over our little circle of people and all I got was a shoulder rub-up. Rubbed shoulders with royalty. I can live with that I guess. I will be sure to update with any professional photographs that come out featuring yours trule and HRH’s posse in the palace.

English word of the day: Do = party! Only having heard this term coupled with hair, this was a novelty to me that all parties were referred to as “dos” pronounced DUES. Leaving do! Retirement do! Birthday do! Friday night do! Love it. So casual but conveys so much party.

LifeInAFlat goes Food Blogging

I love when guests visit. Not only is it a nice reminder of home but it also gives me a great excuse to eat like a complete idiot, indulging in all the sweets, pies, wines, breads, and cheeses I want without feeling guilty! Having just somewhat recovered from my parents visit, practicing full my-body-is-a-temple behavior (except not really, unless beer and wine are included in anyone’s idea of a diet?), I was starting to get back on track when, BAM! Jon came over for a few days. Longing for our Bostonian lifestyle of long dinners, full bottles of wine, brunches, bar snacks and more we set out to recreate it all, London style. Here is our food and drinks tour of London…

Infamous Bap

1.     The Kitchen & Pantry, Notting Hill: Stop one. Site of the breakfast sandwich of a lifetime. THE BAP. Piled high with delicious Cumberland sausages, egg, and cheese (dipping ketchup optional) these are your perfect hangover cure and hearty, start-your-day-off-right, meal of champions. Or a fat kid’s dream! 

2.     The Paramount, Tottenham Court Road: The posh bar at the top of the Centre Point building, one of the higher ones in London – which isn’t saying much seeing as we were on the 32nd floor with a very clear view of the entire city. After I picked Jon up off the floor post minor anxiety attack, forgot about his acrophobia, we ordered a bottle of wine and took in the 360° view of the city – not much of skyline though I must say. 

The Paramount View

       3.     Green Monster Pub: Green Monster? Come on! As an ode to Fenway Park we followed our bottle of wine with beers, beers, and more beers while watching football with the locals. 

Bar Rumba Fare

        4.     Comedy Night at Bar Rumba, Leicester Square: FREE popcorn and some great stand-up acts. I will say we didn’t get all the British jokes, BUT seems like the Tube is a popular topic for mockery, and one that we could fully indulge in.

5.     O’Neills Pub, Soho: Nice traditional Irish pub to start off the St. Patrick’s Day revelry. Just like the good old Harp, the live band, was fantastic (and “asked for us,” right Cailin?). And for me the cover bands here are perfect because they play all American songs from about 10 years ago – which to me is still pop! You know I’m always a few years behind in the music department. 

Maggie Jones

  6.Maggie Jones, Kensington: We love this traditional English place so much we even made up a song about it. Album drops this fall. Magnum house wine, the best chicken and artichoke pies, stuffed artichokes, and tarts. Need I say more? We craved this so much by our last night that we went back again. Our waiter, who looks eerily like Balki from Perfect Strangers, now knows our order by heart.

7.     Yum Cha, Camden: I took Jon on his first Dim Sum experience. Sadly I am not the most experienced in the ordering department for dim sum, so I will admit some of my choices were less than delicious. Great place though, and I think he is now hooked on the ritual. Next time we should scan the room more and try and order like the other patrons who clearly had it down to a science.

Market Thai

       8.     Market Thai, Notting Hill: One of my favorite hole-in-the-wall spots in my neck of the woods. Rivals, but does not beat Spice’s Chicken Pad Thai in good old Cambridge. Loved the quaint atmosphere and the waitresses are the cutest little Thai women that I could fit in my pocket!

       9.     Benito’s Hat. Oxford Circus: Rounding out the food tour around the world we needed to get our Mexican fix. Perfect place for it. Some of the biggest burritos ever, and I ate it all!!! And then the rest of Jon’s.

Gained a whole other person in pounds I think (or a few stones as they say in the UK, hint 1 stone = 14 pounds). But it was a great food tour of London! Only thing we missed – curry on Brick Lane. Could have used that too, would have helped clean out our systems a little bit! Next time. There’s always next time.

English word of the day: Hay Fever = allergies. Again nothing I shouldn’t know already, but it’s all in the way they use these words! Like they’re commonplace! Which I guess they are for non-foreigners, but still. This whole understanding words through context is seriously bringing me back to grade school when every word was new and needed to be analyzed in terms of the words around it in order to understand the meaning trying to be conveyed. In this case it was the dripping eyes, running nose, and constant itching of my colleague that gave me the clues to read in between the sneezes, er, lines. Toss the chick some Claritin, and let’s all move on and stop talking abut our hay fever symptoms.

London through the eyes of a Newbie

In the continuation of the Bailey-Kills-Her-Parents-in-Walking-Tour-of-London saga, I want to take you through some of the highlights. Bare in mind, this is my uncensored retelling, and honestly, you just can’t make this stuff up.

Brace yourselves for this shocker, BUT this was actually my dad’s first time in Europe, and had he not recently embarked on his latest mission to find the bluest, warmest, cleanest water in the world where he plans to build his retirement home, I’m pretty sure those passport pages would have been completely naked. I mention this because marveling at the architecture’s antiquity, experiencing the English traditions, and taking in the history all around us, were made all the more enjoyable because we were able to do it through his very own new-to-Europe eyes.

 The colors of Big Ben were brighter…

(Dad: They must have JUST cleaned and polished that)

 

The facades more ornate….

(Dad: Unbelievable the detail they put in there!)

And the history richer than our little brains could handle…

(Dad: I really wish I had paid more attention in History class)

Given that everything he knew about Europe came from the Travel Channel, (which I was going to call and cancel on their TV if I heard one more time that “This looks just like Germany!” or “This reminds me of Rome”….YOU’VE NEVER BEEN THERE!!), and the fact that I might not ever get him to sit on a plane again for seven hours, I tried to pack in everything! EVERY-THING. See itinerary below.

 

A few highlights of the trip:

1. Tower of London – great tour, if anyone comes to London this a must-do. We loved hearing about the Kings and Queens that passed through the Tower gates, most never to walk back out in one cohesive piece. We loved envisioning how the Tower grew and was added to and changed over time. We loved hearing the legends of the Tower lore. All of it was amazing. To the point that my dad consistently kept this venue in his top three favorite things in London – although it was not without internal strife as the days wore on and we kept seeing more incredibly old things that rivaled the Tower, all of which challenged his ability to pick just one favorite event.

2. Markets, Markets Everywhere, and ALWAYS a bite to eat – now I know my father well enough to know that this was going to be a huge hit in his book. I planned to take him to all my favorite markets on all the best days. This led us to Portobello Road for some German sausages (“Just like the one’s in Germany…”), Greenwich Market for shrimp tempura and dim sum (okay this one doesn’t really scream Greenwich, but it was outdoor meats on sticks, so he was happy), Camden for freshly fried, greasy, sugary donuts, Covent Garden for looking at polish samplings and breads and sweets (we were full at this point), and Borough Market for cheeses (we decided there was always room for cheese).  I love the availability of the outdoor markets and the freshness of everything there – which made my dad acknowledge the fact that with these markets he would never cook. EVER! Luckily my mom kept control of the purse strings during these outings.

3. One Man, Two Guvnors – a British comedy. I bought the parents tickets to see this show based on rave reviews in many of the London newspapers. Not really taking the time to think about the concept of a “Governor” in English terms, foreign to us Americans, we set out to see our play and excitedly sat front row for one of James Corden’s last shows in this theatre. The slapstick, traditional farce of a show was so traditionally British that had us a little confused at the beginning, but once you got into it they had us in stitches. A lot of the jokes toed the line, and often times surpassed it in terms of what would be allowed in the states, and I will say a lot of the Cricket/Football references went over our heads, but we had a great night and loved every minute of it. It was something different. Will be interesting to see how they adapt it for the Americans as it comes to New York sometime soon!

4. Boat Cruise down the Thames – or what was actually a HIGH SPEED MOTORBOAT ADVENTURE. I was over the whole sightseeing, leisurely float down the Thames with all the history on each side, and then the slow u-turn for you to only come back and experience it all again going the other way. No. I took my parents on the RIB London Voyage Experience. Maximum occupancy on the boat was 12 and we were equipped with life preservers and ponchos in case we got wet. And we were told it was not for those with back problems or heart conditions (we snuck my dad on anyway) and cautioned to hold on “rather tightly” as soon as we emerged from the no wake zone. From there it was a race past Canary Wharf to Greenwich and back, only we weren’t technically racing anyone, but if we were, we certainly would have won. London’s speed boat experience was a fun one. Glad my mom is still talking to me after I dragged her on this one. 

5. Spending time with the family! Although it was cramped as we all clown-carred our way into my flat every night, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Given our schedule, you can see we were never really home long enough to mind it, but I’m glad we did get to decompress and discuss the happenings of each day as a family every night.

It was a fun adventure all around, albeit exhausting. Maybe I do have a future in a second career as a trip planner/tour guide. What do you think parents? Most exhausting “vacation” you’ve had in a while? Thought so.

English word of the day: Cheery-bye-bye = no translation. In fact this isn’t even a phrase at all! This, my friends, is what my dad thought they would all be saying over here in London. And since they weren’t he vowed that they would be before I knew it…luckily we kept his usage of it to a minimum while here. 

Oh yea, and I think we found next year's Christmas card...