I planned a trip to Brussels and all I got was a Holiday in Paris: My 1st Trip Report

Looking forward to the rest!

Part 2: Tickets: a Comedy of Errors

Some of this is rehash of some other posts I have made here, apologies for redundancy.

Trains, planes and assorted mishaps

Trains

I hate trains, really, I don't find them charming. I live in a city where commuting to work requires riding the train (subway) everyday and NYC subways leave something to be desired. They are dirty, crowded, constant jockeying for position and to get a seat, and people bring their bike aboard and strollers at rush hour. Seriously, why the bike--shouldn't the person with the bike be riding it?

Anyway, the train from Brussels to Paris was 90 minutes as opposed to 3 hours. I could suck it up and take the train, or drive and hope that weather is good. It was the same price either way. Comfort, i.e. car, or train. The husband had no opinion, though he'd be the one lugging all the stuff, including the filled, heavy cargo wine case back from Paris (it does not have wheels).

Another aside: the last time we did train travel in Europe was 9 years ago. Italy, Siena to Rome on the local. We stood on the crowded train the whole way. I was 24, it was not a backpacker's trip, but definitely done more on the cheap than I would do now. High maintenance? Yes, I will accept being called that.

Back to the story at hand, after consulting with the boards and some talk with the husband, I suck it up and buy train tickets. By this point I missed the 27 euro each way fare and can only get the 48 euro each way. They are semi-refundable, as if I cared at that point.

Planes

So a week after purchasing the train tickets, I am doing some online shopping and per usual, going through the Continental website to get extra miles for linking to whatever shopping site through there. I do my standard looking at how full the flight is and seeing if I should move our seats as I am obsessively wanton to do and I see that the flight is suddenly really full. Wow! A run on xmas day travel to Brussels? That's weird. Then I see the date on the flight--December 26! Wait a minute -- we booked to leave on December 25, arrive in Brussels the morning of the 26th and take the train to Paris on the 27th. Doh!

Turns out the canceled the flight and didn't inform me that they were moving us to another day. 1 hour on the phone with the continental rep gave me 2 options: fly delta instead to Brussels on the 25th (and hope that single flight does not get canceled), or take one of the 2 scheduled flights to Paris on the 25th. Either way, I had to get the husband on the phone and 4 way conference call with delta, continental, me and him.

I'd be out the 2 o/w train tickets to Paris and the deposit on the Brussels hotel if we chose the Paris option. Then again, we would avoid the train o/w. I first email the apt owners to see if the apt is available on the 26th. Shockingly, I had a response within a 1/2 hour. Indeed it was available, it was still cheaper to stay there and lose the o/w train ticket and deposit as the hotel was $150 euro vs. the apt at no charge for the extra night. Two and a half hours on conference call with aforementioned 4 parties later, we ad open jaw tickets: EWR to CDG on the 25th, returning from Brussels on the 8th. Oh and since we were staying in the same Brussels hotel from the 4th-8th, they waived
the cancel fee. Doh! turned into YAY!

Doh! Again

So we have our annual friend's over xmas party on the 23rd this year. That leaves us the 24th to pack and most of the day on the 25th. Cleaning up for us involves putting all the mail, netflix, stuff we are using into a box and putting it in the closet to be taken out the next day. I decide to leave the train tickets out in their fedex envelope next to the computer's CPU so they don't get buried in the box. We decide that we are now going to use one of those 3 ring thin folders with clear slots in it to organize our papers for the trip--flight, hotel/apt confirmations, train tickets--the stuff we need for the trip all organized neatly. We, naturally go to buy said folder at 5pm on the 24th, because that is the way we roll. Timely planning--check!

The folder and all the printed confirmations sit together near the desk. Of course we do not bother to organize the folder yet--we'll do that later, like on the plane or something.

We do laundry and pack. Why is everyone doing laundry at 7pm on the 24th? Oh yeah--because the whole building thinks that no one will be down there on a holiday.

We of course start screwing around and watching you tube videos since we are mostly packed at midnight. I have to say, we packed pretty light.

At 3 or 4am we decide to finish packing in the morning. We call for a car to take us to the airport on the 25th. 3:45pm sounds like a good time. At 3:30, we have not zipped our luggage yet and are scrambling. I call car service to move the car to 4pm--no luck, the driver is already outside--they are always 15 minutes early and seriously--car service is 2 blocks away! We get it all together and are outside and loading the car at 3:55pm.

Thirty minutes later we are standing in line at the airport to check luggage--I suddenly realize something. I left the train tickets at home, safe and sound where I put them on the 23rd so I would not forget. Doh!

Next up, we actually go somewhere, I guess that means a report of, um, the trip.

Thanks for reading jamikins. Am taking a brief break and will continue posting throughout the evening.

Oh no!!! I am an obsessive planner, so I am looking forward to hearing how the rest turns out!

I'm loving this so far and can't wait to read more!

Part 3: Hey! This isn't my Terminal, I <3 my flight attendant and we actually get on with our Holiday

This is really odd, but I will admit to it. I really like flying out of Newark. Yes, it takes longer to get there and costs more--we live in the totes wrong direction, on the Lower East Side, spitting distance from the Williamsburg Bridge which takes us right to JFK on the BQE. Even so, I really like Newark airport. I look forward to my pre-flight drink(s) and meal at, of all places, the airport steakhouse (I don't eat meat). I guess it is an outpost of some famous Jersey steakhouse, and no, I cannot ever remember the name of it.

We breeze through the luggage-check and security and are off to the steakhouse. I haven't eaten all day in anticipation of my fried calamari and fried other crap and glass of wine. Something was off as we start walking to our gate area. One, it was sooooo hot at the airport I thought I was going to pass out and two, we are not in the usual international wing of the airport. We are in the ghetto section--the only places to eat are in a food court and the magazine stand is some sort of kiosk and they don't have as many magazines to choose from--I could only get 4 gossip rags and I didn't have time to get a Post because the car service was waiting and they don't sell the post at Newark because it is New Jersey and I could never figure out why that mattered. As if people from NJ don't read the Post! Worst of all-THERE WAS NO AIRPORT BAR IN THAT WING!

Ok, no steakhouse, no bar, let's hit duty-free to get our cigarettes. I walk into duty free and lo and behold I see the most magical shelf--it is a shelf filled with Gauloises! But wait, there's more! They have sale pricing on them --not $29 per carton, but 2 cartons for $50! We are hot and sweating, but we have 8 cartons of Gauloises.

Two notes here: One, I have never seen Gauloises in a US airport, two, they stopped selling them in the US because the manufacturer refuses to make them US compliant by using the paper that makes them auto go out when set down. Extraneous 3rd and 4th notes: I have no clue why they sold us more cigarettes than legal to bring in, usually they are sticklers at US duty free and I was still hoarding my last pack from the Portugal duty-free.

So we start walking to our gate and hope that there is somehow a bar/restaurant near the gate, no such luck. Instead there are a bunch of cranky women yelling in the bathroom line. We wait at the gate and are hungry and hot, our choices is Wok and Roll or McDonald's. I send the husband to get McDonald's. I am not feeling good about the start of this trip. Seriously--all the flights in our wing are to South Carolina and Mexico and 1 to Manchester, England. Very Strange.

The Happiest Flight Attendants in the world

We had managed to get bulkhead seats, perfect as we are both tall. I wasn't all convinced about the bulkhead as I try to do the aisle/window combo and hope no one will be in the center. The husband insisted we try this though. I'm all skeezed at the inability to lift my armrest and drape myself over him to sleep. Naturally, he does not like this as it hinders his space and ability to sleep. I allow him the bulkhead this time and he turns out to be right. We take our 2 benedryl and I fall asleep for just long enough to miss the drink cart by 2 seconds--doh! Now I am awake and am trying to buy my wine so I can get back to sleep. The attendant finally comes over and asks if we'd like free drinks the rest of the flight. Um, yes please. Turns out the other bulkhead in the front doesn't have the bassinet holder and would we switch with the creepy couple and their baby who literally spent the whole boarding and take-off in the bathroom with their baby and he seemed like a jerk.

The husband wakes up and starts freaking out on me for giving away our bulkheads for drinks even though I keep telling him that we are swapping bulkhead for bulkhead. He finds this all suspicious and refuses to trade. The flight attendant comes back all smiling and happy and confirms that we will be moving to bulkhead up front right after meal service. We then begin to get drinks from the business first cabin. Yay! Decent French wine not Beringer! I even got a real glass! God it doesn't take much with me, I have the free gene. If something is free, I get excited. We slept well and every time I awoke I'd have a new drink courtesy of my new friend, the happy flight attendant.

We arrive in Paris refreshed, if not slightly buzzed. Before landing, I did get a chance to brush my teeth, put in my contact lenses and are in a cab within 30 minutes of landing--that included clearing customs, getting luggage, euros and espressos. When did CDG get so easy and fast?

There is only one I in Saintonge

I swear for the life of me, it took like 10 days to finally stop saying Saintoinge. This meant that I had to hand the piece of paper with the address of our apt to the cab driver constantly. The husband could say it and he doesn't even speak any French, but not me.

We arrived a half hour early to Paris and with the quick out of the airport we were arriving at the apartment not around 10-10:30am like I anticipated, but at 8:30am! As we are driving, I call Guy and Jean-Michel to let them know we were on our way and to hope they were home and/or awake. I get the machine and leave a message. We drive around the block several times as a truck was bocking the way and the streets surrounding are mostly one-way, the wrong way. Either way, I see Frommagerie, Boulangerie--my 2 favorite words. And we finally arrive at the apt.

I actually am going to get into food and stuff at this point as I really have nothing more to say about the airport. Really.

But I am going to make dinner first and be back. I know I'm on the edge of my seat wondering what I will type next. *insert sarcasm here*

great post so far!! i am enjoying it a lot.

Cherry... you and I would make great traveling partners! I can deal with almost anything if given free wine. That is why I only travel Air France when going to Europe. I figure I get them for at least an extra 35 bucks each way!! Can't wait for the rest of your report!

Great start, cherrybomb! The free gene, I love it, my husband has that gene too. Looking forward to the actual trip.

Oh boy, a truly fun trip report! Cherry, free wine always makes me smile to, and in a nonplastic glass is the icing on the cake! Don't forget to come back here..

Forget your dinner, come back here and write.

Wow--I didn't think this would serve any purpose other than for me to write and pull out all the receipts from the "organizing binder"--it got used for something!

Anyways, I'm back at it. Thanks for not chastising my free drink gene and the endless rant on about the Gauloises.

It's nice to see some pleasantries being exchanged around here rather than snark. Ok, other than my own snark.

I love this trip report so far! Keep posting.

Part 4: Boulangerie, Fromagerie, and Markets, Oh My!

The Apartment

So we get to the apartment and luckily Jean-Michel is home, has picked up my message and is waiting for us with keys in hand. Yay apartment!

He shows us around the studio (I have a few things to say about this apartment that I will get to in a minute), and I'm all concerned with looking at the wash machine. It's not in the kitchen, it's not listed as an amenity on vrbo, but they assured me there was a washing machine when initially booking. Yes, I am aware that this is strange, but I packed based on having a washing machine and not having to do laundry in the sink--I become obsessed with clean laundry on vacation as the last thing I want to do when I get home is do all the laundry.

Anyways, I'm all and the wash machine? Ahhh behind the door in the bathroom. I think that Jean-Michel thinks I'm a freak because I'm all obsessed with it and asking about it. He made a comment like it's not like we'd be doing lots of laundry. Hmm, that's the problem, when presented with a washing machine *inside* my living quarters, I will do laundry like every day. At home, even though the laundry room is on the 1st floor--I don't do laundry. I can go weeks without it--I just buy more. The husband does the laundry every 3 weeks and it is a ton of stuff and a big production because he runs out. I'm all, just buy some more, he's all, you crazy girl.

So Jean-Michel leaves us to settle in after informing us that the 1 other neighbor is out of town the duration--score, we have the floor to ourselves!

I realize it is early and this will probably be the only time we are ever up this early--We are know to sleep til 2pm. Luckily, I am wrong.

We unpack, make some coffee, which the husband totally overdoes and makes a whole pot of espresso--by whole pot I mean 12 cups! I of course drink 2 large mugs. There is a point to this which will come soon enough.

The apartment is, other than the washer, as described (one caveat in a sec.). It is cute and bigger than the picture. Some people have written that they would not stay there as a couple, but I'm not sure why. Yes it is a "studio," but still, it is bigger than a hotel room in spades. It does have a full size bed, but we have a full size bed at home, I think this bed though was an inch or two shorter than ours, I cannot figure that one out.

The kitchen layout is brilliant and as we were spying from the balcony when we went out o smoke, it was a common scenario and I can't for the life of me figure out why NYC rentals don't do the same. The refrigerator is half-sized with a small freezer compartment and there is no stove, just electric burners. This leaves more room to have storage and workspace and the like. And really, most NY'ers don't cook--the oven, it is for storage. Besides, one really could get away with not having an oven. I actually do cook, I rarely use the oven--I saute and such. (Ok, we get an awful lot of delivery and the guy at Plump Dumpling knows who I am when I call and even remarked that he knew we had been on vacation as I hadn't called in a couple of weeks when we got back, but at least he remembered what I ordered.) You don't know how many apartments I've seen that don't even have counters because of the whole oven and full size fridge configurations. Anyhoo, I was liking the whole apartment.

As other people have remarked, they provide 2 extensive binder books that are actually organized unlike the one that we bought and hadn't yet still put any of the papers in. One is menus of restaurants in the area that had a page for comments from other guests. There were not many comments, then again, we did not make any comments either. Guess everyone who stays there is as lazy as us.

The other book had a list of all the necessity shops, i.e. food/wine shops in the area. Now here is what no one says: literally you walk to the corner and the whole damn block is 1 gigantic market! Not just a market, but a market that is open like every day! Hi: Les Enfant Rouges market stalls are right there, around the corner! Could I be more pleased? This is a regular neighborhood lacking of throngs of tourists and faux literary cafes where someone at some point may have gone and by virtue of that you end up in an overpriced cafe with half-a$$ed food and a bunch of people reading their tour guide planning the next big day of activities. Sorry, I am digressing, but you see, this is why I never could get into Paris.

Out the Door, Briefly

As I said, we are not ones to get up early, as such we must immediately go to boulangerie to get croissant as it may never happen in the morning again. And bread and frommage and wine and water.

I have not had a croissant since 2003, really. I have not been to France in as long and I have not had croissant in as long. First stop: croissant. Luckily, Jean-Michel had the foresight to inform us that the best baguette is "tradition" -- we go out and get my croissant and the first of what will be dozens of baguette tradition. It cost an extra 20 cents, as well it should. That bread even held up for more than a day. What is in that bread? Why is it so much better than anything here? Sullivan Street Bakery--$2.50, crap, Balthazar, cheaper, does not compare, Falai, keep trying little buddy.

So with loaf in the husbands hand and and warm croissant in mine, we spend a minute walking back to the apartment so I can eat it -- ok, I ate half walking. We get back to the apartment only to realize--Doh!

Oh...that's cruel. I'll guess...you forgot the keys? You forgot enough wine to last the day? WHAT????????

Ack, I refreshed hoping that the next episode would be posted.

Double doh!

what? what?

Doh! A Secret about the Apartment and our First Meal

We're really hitting the ground running on this trip. Out the door for 4 whole minutes! Damn, talk about slow travel.

Back at the apartment we decide what to do. I ask the husband to hand me the mapbook. It is the Knopf version book that someone on here recommended waaaay back in July or something. Whoever it was was really into maps and did a whole post on maps and thought this one was better than Streetwise, which I normally buy, but kinda don't like because many times it is wrong, or missing a street and worse, it is laminated so it is hard to write on. The Knopf one saved us, so thank you map poster.

Anyways, I also ask for the Time Out. I am informed that we did not bring the Time Out as it was not in the pile on the nightstand and the husband apparently told me but I was rushing on the whole zipping up the bags thing while car service waited that I wasn't paying attention to him--Doh!

Ok, so we have no guidebook. The bars and shops and addresses to restaurants was in there, and while we'd probably not get to the places I looked at (see slow travel), it was something. Now, back to this Knopf business. Not only is it a map, it is a pocket size book that has areas broken down and includes some restaurants and bars and cafes and shops. And they weren't bad listings either--some of the stuff was in the Time Out, I recognized it. And we had the laptop.

We decide to head out finally for real at around 1pm or so and walk around and hit a few bookstores to see if they had Time Out--no luck. I did get some postcards that I really was going to mail this time, really. And mail them from our vacation destination, not from home like I sometimes do. Besides, I promised my grandma in October when I saw her that I would send her a postcard because she likes postcards and handwritten things and she doesn't use the internets and I rarely go home anymore and my guilt, yes, my guilt and trying to be an adult and mature and such had me buying 8 postcards. All the same. A kitty in a striped sweater and beret. It was sweet, really, it wasn't corny. Well, maybe a bit, but whatever. Oh and I did not send holiday cards this as to force myself to mail postcards in lieu. Either way, the newstand guy thought I was nuts. Not because I told him the story, but because I bought 8 Frenchy-Kitty postcards.

Food

We actually eat something, in a restaurant. After wandering around the area we decide to get lunch. Hey, this place looks ok. I translate the menu and carte for the husband outside and he is agreeable. We first passed by Cafe Charlot, which is busy, has smokers, looks fine, but looks like Schiller's. I am aware that it is really Schiller's that looks like Cafe Charlot, a common theme. Instead we walk up the block and go to Amisphere. This is the place where I translated the menu for him in advance. It is at the corner of Rue Charlot and Rue de Normandie.

Amisphere is a hybrid of 50's-60's mod and stark 90's mod design while still being homey/comfortable. We got in on the late end of lunch service. It was 1/3 full with design-people finishing up. The waitress/owner was a 50-ish woman with amazing overdone bright blue eyeshadow and black liquid eyeliner. She wore a red and black leopard print knit 3/4 length top, charcoal miniskirt and black tights. I believe she has been sporting that look for the past 30-some years. it somehow suited her.

For 24.08, I had an omelet with cheese and mushrooms, sans jambon, the husband had steak au poivre, though he she thought he said shallots and that is what he got instead. Both came with salad and fried and my omelet was like 5 eggs and overcooked. I was pleased as I prefer my eggs overcooked. There was waaay too much food though and I only ate half. We also had 2 cafes and 2 glasses of wine. The total price was for everything. We smoked while we ate--I miss that.

After eating, we walked around a bit, ended up on Rue Temple, which I renamed Delancey Street due to all the cheap shops and more traffic. The other areas were rather dead as many stores and businesses were closed for holiday week(s).

We also took a couple pictures and called it time for buying supplies.

Supplies and Secret of the Apartment.

Back to Rue Bretagne for frommage, wine and water. First order was to get cheese. We had bread, we needed cheese. And Wine.

An aside: I food restrict at home and love nothing more than bread, cheese and wine. If I could, that is all I would consume. I would also be 200 lbs if I did that in the US. In Europe, all bets are off and for some reason those items, even when consumed in massive quantities do not affect my weight. In fact within 2 days, I had dropped the usual 5 lbs and was in no way shape or form ever bloated, or as I like to say, pregnant with food. I am not ED, my quack doctor also has me off those items to keep my immunity system in check. I have since come to the realization the food bloat has to do with more salt used in the US than in certain countries abroad and the food is purer. But whatever.

Cheese! We hit the frommagerie and bought a bunch. We hit the Diagonal for water. We hit Nicolas for wine. We stopped going to Nicolas after a few days as we found the best wine shop ever and I can say that Julien, Cavist at 50 rue Charlot is a much better choice for wine. I highly recommend going out of your way to go there. More on that later.

Back at the apartment, we got the wifi going, drank some wine, Nicolas let us down in the wine department, and realized the other door in the apartment led to something and we were determined to figure it out.

No one has said anything about this, but the studio apartment was really a 1 bedroom with the bedroom locked off. It was dark and we couldn't fully see inside yet but later would spy.

Jeez, this is taking longer than I thought--now I know why people don't post back!

I have so much work to do this week and I was hoping to finish this--I am actually typing on-screen in fodors, not on text pad and am doing this from memory and receipts, I don't have it pre-written.

It is 11:30, I have to be at work early and I need to go to bed. Thank you all for being so kind to read this. As there is no TV anymore with the writers strike and I have an aversion to paying for cable, I will update at night.

Coming up are more restaurants, more Doh!, and nights out, what happened to Brussels, and the husband gets a new moniker (really it is the same one I normally use for him, but it seems appropriate to reveal).

In the meantime, if someone is reading and planning a trip, the following are some places I recommend:

-Cafe Charbon on rue Oberkampf
-Au Petit Garage on J-P Timbaud
-Hidden kitchen, private residence dining, address revealed upon reservation
-Le Repaire Cartouche on bd des Filles du Calvaire
-Les Enfants on rue de Beauce
-Bunel Sébastien on Bretagne for boulangerie
-Julien Caviste*** 50 rue Charlot for wine
-Cafe Charlot
-Fromagers de France on Bretagne, for cheese, obvs.

Oh sorry, I'm not trying to make the posts cliffhangers, I just don't want them to be too long and I think that this goes faster than it does.

Loving your report! Fun!

BTW, I recently discovered the Knoph "Mapguides" as well. Bought one for Rome and it's fabulous!

Get back to your computer as quickly as possible cherrybomb, I am loving your trip report and your style of writing!

I know--I love the Knopf! Unfortunately I borrowed it to my friend who is going to Paris this week for fashion/market week and I don't have all my notes on it at the moment.

Without the guidebook, it was so perfect and I'd go online to gridskipper.com and just make notes and marks of places to go if we happened to be in the neighborhood. I will only buy that again if possible.

Francefling and Loveitaly--I can't figure out how people fly long distances without the wine for sleeping. And the no alsohol advice for flying? Whoever came up with that does not fly! At least not coach!

Damn it, I knew I couldn't stop and go to bed in a timely fashion! I haven't written for pleasure in years, since my failed attempt as a columnist. Even though it is just a silly trip report, there is something pleasant about this, and no one is editing me and is isn't about the $$ and paying bills.

Sorry for any spell errors or non-caught typos in advance.

Also on an edit, it didn't pick up my Wesley Willis/Wok and Roll McDonald's add in--I guess it is too late though for that joke.

great report cherrybomb. I can't wait to find out about the secret bedroom. I'll be in that neighborhood in a couple of weeks - I'll be stocking up at Julien's.

Just a quick addendum to the recommendations as I didn't make it clear--some of these are bars, then really, I have work to get to:

-Cafe Charbon on rue Oberkampf
Cafe, bar. Decent casual food, crowded but serves food until 4am, 2am on Sundays. Inexpensive. No terrace.

-Au Petit Garage on J-P Timbaud
Bar, no food. Interesting.

-Hidden kitchen, private residence dining, address revealed upon reservation
10 courses with wine pairing 70 euro pp. Only serves on Sunday, Friday/Saturdays are private groups of 10, they will serve these days if no private bookings. www.hkmenus.com

-Le Repaire Cartouche on bd des Filles du Calvaire
Restaurant with locals at the bar. Convivial atmosphere, good food, chef comes around to the tables.

-Les Enfants on rue de Beauce
Wine bar/wine focused restaurant. Seemed local. Lunch/Dinner, no weekends

-Bunel Sébastien on Bretagne for boulangerie
Bread/Pastries/Desserts

-Julien Caviste*** 50 rue Charlot for wine
Wine, all small vintners that are hand picked--none of the wines are available in US (perhaps if you are a distributor). He does not ship. Is value focused, most bottles are in to 10-15 euro range. Does tastings, speaks English, incredibly helpful and charming.

-Cafe Charlot
Standard cafe, good food. Heated terrace.

-Fromagers de France on Bretagne, Small with large selection of cheese, some charcoute and other items, different special sale items on the outside racks daily. Had a sign stating that they will vacuum pack for additional 2.30 euro.

Cherrybomb, this is best trip report!! I am in thrall!

I am always looking for Paris apartment reports and had just looked up fishee and anselms long ago comments on their stays in #28993 and then found your report. whoa!

I also am a firm believer in the wine/bourbon flying coach approach to crossing the ocean or the state of Texas.

keep it coming...lynda

Just living up to my promise to always post to trip reports I am reading to let them know they have an audience! (And I kind of like the cliffhanger endings

V

right on, Canada_V. My report petered out last year because it began to feel like talking to myself. (possibly because I was?)

Forge on, cherrybomb. We're with you.

Thanks for all the detailed info. very helpful...

S

Enjoying your report, as a fellow NYer, totally relate to the smoking indoor thing...ah, a drink and a cigarette at the bar....

Also, the drinking thing on the plane, how does anyone sleep w/out a few glasses of wine?

Keep it coming, the report is bringing back fond memories of Paris!

I really neeeed to hear the rest of this story . . . hurry back!

you've sucked me in too. bookmarking to enjoy reading the rest.

Cherrybomb, what could you possibly have to do that is more important that filling us in on the rest of your trip? Sleep? Work? Bah!!

Eagerly awaiting the next installment!

Thanks for the great trip report Cherry!! I feel like I am walking through Paris eating frommage right there with you and your honey!!! I still dream of the foie gras sandwich shop... ahhhh. Can't wait for the rest!!

LOVE this report...you have me on the edge of my seat!

I just used the Knopf map/book for Rome and loved it..it was the perfect size!

Eagerly waiting your next post!

I'm in...

more please!!!

tap.... tap... tap.....(the sound of my foot)

I'll get there--work is killing me! I am typing this in the 20 minutes I have to suck down a salad quick. Event season = too much work + vacation for some reason = I have to make the time off up. WTF?!? I thought I was paid for 6 weeks of vacation. Whatever.

Next will be art brut, l'esponge, MOPM and more assorted disasters.

Sucking down a salad can be disastrous, too. Take your time and chew. We'll wait.

At the beginning, you say something about walking on Lille's cobblestones while wearing 4" heels. WHY would you torture your poor feet that way? I wore sandals somewhere in Czech once, not realizing there'd be cobbles of the fairly flat variety & the next day my feet almost mutinied!

Cherry Bomb: don't get fired for heaven's sake, but please hurry, we are all waiting with baited breath!!

Cherry, am loving this...haven't been to Paris in over a year and am in withdrawl. francefling, what foie gras sandwich shop?????????

Thanks for the great post, Cherrybomb. It's time for our next installment, please!!

You didn't choke on the salad, did you?

I'd really love to hear the details about Hidden Kitchen. We're considering doing this in May!

Hysterical...

"I have the free gene. If something is free, I get excited"

This may be my new favorite saying!

I booked a VERY random trip to Paris 31 days out & have 24 left to go, so I am loving your report!

Cherrybomb,

Tomorrow is Saturday. For our sakes please get up early and keep writing!

I will be back at it this weekend, was hoping to have monday to write--but I have to work--boooo!!!!

Being the smart person I am, I scheduled a meeting on Monday not realizing it was a holiday and can't cxl. At least it is just an 11am and then I leave.

Anyhoo, thanks for the encouragement, I will give full details, including the menu at HK, I am forcefully chewing my salad today rather than sucking it down.

No No--not Lille, it was the 4" heels on the 45 degree cobblestoned inclines of Lisbon and general rough cobble stones all over Portugal that killed me! As soon as I realized Lille was all cobblestoned I nixed that one. I only wear heels. I have one pair of sneakers I haven't worn in years since I had a personal trainer and one pair of flip-flops I wear in the apt (though I do Laundry in heels) and to get a pedicure 1 block from my apt and I only put them on to walk that block home. I do not wear flats. I run a walk (not literally), for work I mean, my event right now is a spring walk and the joke is that I show up on site in heels. People have a question--go see the girl in the high heels. I sprained my knee in the fall and was in a brace, I wore heels and used a cane. I had to sport that look at our gala--I think some people thought the cane was a fashion statement, then I lifted the hem of my dress to reveal a brace. It's how I roll.

As far as the free gene, it used to totally bug the husband, as I am free to the point of talking to men at the bar for a free drink--in front of him. So he asks another friend when we were all at the bar about his opinion as his wife and I just took free drinks from some guy while the husbands were getting us drinks. The husband friend laughs at the husband and says "no dude, think of how much money they are saving us."

Those are my completely un-travel related words of the day.

cherrybomb , whilst reading I have been trying to visualise you and I am afraid that Gauloise, heels in callipers and postcards of cats in berets do not sit comfortably together , however , I have drawn comfort from the fact that the cards were bought on day 1 after little real rest and as a response to guilt .On the other hand are they any worse than shots of the Eiffel or the like ? Were they posted and received ?

cherrybomb - Interesting reading! Thanks for the mention of Knopf Mapguides. Never heard of them before but have just ordered 2 from Amazon.

cherrybomb, I'm really looking forward to your next installment!

cherrybomb, somehow I missed this thread until today. I love your travel style as well as your writing style. Thanks also for the mention of the Knopf mapguides, I will check them out.

Hi, cherry,

I just found your thread too.

if you were sitting next to me in a restaurant smoking all the time I'd want to murder you, but it makes great reading.

keep it coming,

regards, ann

It's perfect! A very funny report from 'not much of a planner' who avoids 'tourist attractions/museums'.

Waiting for the next installment

Also, I admire your love of high heels. I also have a bit of a thing for stiletto heels but not quite to the degree that you do, though I wish I could wear them all the time!

tap tap tap

Cherrybomb-PLEASE--its Thur the 24th--you can't leave us hangin like this--I am heading to Brussels next week--I need to know if you made it there, and if so, if that portion of your trip lived up to Paris.

bookmarking

Where are you cherrybomb?

This has more to do with shoes, and less to do with Paris, but I'm wondering if any of you have tried the new pumps by Cole Haan that use Nike Air technology. I'm really intrigued because when we go to Paris in October I really want to wear pumps because they are just so sexy looking!

cherrybomb - love your report so far! I hope you do continue.

cat111719 - Yes I have a pair of the Cole Haan heels with the Nike technology (leopard, nonetheless!). I think the heels are about 4" which is higher than I normally wear. I save them for special occasions and every time I've worn them gotten lots of positive compliments! And the Nike technology is great, compared to other 4" heels that I've worn they are about the most comfortable but they are still 4" heels. For example, if I brought them to Paris I would probably only wear them out at night, to a restaurant/wine bar etc. fairly close to my hotel or maybe a metro ride away.

However, that's just me. I've got lots of pairs of 2-3" heels that I could wear for hours, maybe even run a few blocks in, no sweat. 4" heels though are a whole different ballgame, they make me walk completely differently (which is why I suppose they look so cool, I usually walk too fast and these MAKE me slow down, and have good posture...)

Anyway I guess the only way you'll know is to get a pair and wear them around first to try them out! That's what I do, I never bring brand new shoes with me on vacation. In fact I just bought a new pair of boots last week to take with me on a trip to Europe in March and they are FABULOUS! I've already worn them on a walk of over one mile, no problem, and they're about 2" heels. They're suede La Canadiennes and I am a total convert.

Okay, so still waiting for cherrybomb, heels and all...

I actually do more of a block heel rather than stilettos, which are door to door shoes IMO, the are called f-me pumps for a reason and it ain't walking! Then again I also find stilettos boring and dated and I absolutely hate the whole sex and the city shoe brand whore thing--shoes are supposed to fit and be fashionable not just a luxury-brand-thing, ya know? Just me. And I absolutely despise Louboutin at this point because they have been shoved down women's throats as if we all have to have a pair of drag queen shoes because every starlet has a pair!

Haven't tried the Cole Haans yet. I have a pair of Prada sport mary jane heels from gasp! fall '99 collection which I adore and have taken amazing care of. And laugh all you want, I really like the Frye fashion collection--they make super comfy heels and a pair of Stuart Weitzman ankle boots with a 4 1/4" heel that aren't old lady at all and freakishly comfortable (though I do have to wear a pair of socks over my tights with those because the ankle is a bit loose, I just hide the sock below the boot cuff and no one sees). I like some of the Michael Kors line, though I hate him on Project Runway, and Marc Jacobs, though the comfort/fit is totally hit or miss. I just bought a pair of the 2 tone mary jane pumps from fall collection and they totally don't fit and I can't return them--I got them on 70% markdown on shopbop.com, so I knew the risk.

Foot petals are also an essential for comfort. and rigging if you have 2 different sized feet.

Anyways, I'll write some more report, maybe later today as my boss is out today. Actually, the whole office is out for the most part. I got sidetracked in one of those embarrassing-why-am-I-doing-this online arguments on this forum this past Saturday and didn't really want to come over to this thread and add anything. Seriously, why did I waste my time, worse cause I read the arguments and usually laugh at them. Gah and ack!

Loved the shoe info but Cherrybomb will you please go back to Paris?

Awww--- you're not going to post anymore, are you, Cherrybomb?? It was so much fun, you're really depriving us!

<<4 1/4" heel that aren't old lady at all>>
What a hoot! When was the last you saw an old lady in 4" heels??? I'm certainly not one, but I learned a long time ago my feet are not pie-shaped (no pointy toes - they may look fine, but ouch!) and heels higher than 2" give me vertigo. = D My idea of a comfortable shoe for travel has enough toe room to wiggle and a heel with excellent cushioning. Finding it is another matter. Hope you don't regret those heels in a few years; it's surprising how they can affect the rest of your body...

Been loving your posts; make me want to travel again! NOW!

The weekend is coming; can we only hope cherrybomb has some free time to end our suffering.....we need our fix.

I am going to write more. I started to the other day and got side tracked so I have half a post sitting in my email box (I had to cut and paste it out of here cuz I was writing in Fodor's text box and email it to myself) which I will finish and post this weekend--I need something to do Sunday anyhow as I am ignoring the fact there is a game.

Mirolex: I totes agree--Razor-point-toe stilettos are the hideous things I was referring to. Toe box room is essential! I don't where those and the not old lady, meaning Stuart Weitzman, though the way you read it was hilarious.

Bookmarking. Great report.

Back to writing this...

Train Dilemmas, Wifi Underload, Dinner and Sit-ups

So we get the Wifi going to 1. figure out how to get new tickets to Brussels and 2. figure out what to do with ourselves. Yes, I bought my Thalys tickets through travelocity, which is through Rail Europe. Why, because I wanted my tickets in hand and had no interest in deciding whether it was best to pick them up at the Brussels airport or the train terminal. So, it cost a little more, $19.99 to have them mailed to me + the service charge. Was this foolish? Yes I thought so when I was purchasing, but I wanted the tickets in hand to bring. The Problem was finding some sort of customer service. I knew those damn gnomes were evil!

So Rail Europe had no service phone number or email for me, travelocity had no nothing for me--they don't provide service for tickets they sell. Finally after over an hour on a connection running at a snails pace--jesus, how did I ever deal with dial up years ago! And people have this now? Anyways, I just decided to email Rail Europe and hope they would service me.

With nothing more I could do, checked prices on Thalys to Brussels--240E for one-way tix, no thank you. Alrighty I'll crawl my browser to gridskipper. waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. Ok, it starts to load, but those helpful google maps they embed that go with the descriptions of places won't load at a speed of 54. Great. The lolcats page at least does. I'll look at that. Kitties! YAY!

Let's drink some wine and lay around the bed. That is an activity. So we drink some wine and page through the Frommers Paris 2007 book that whoever stayed here prior left. Thanks previous guest. I'll also look at the restaurant menu book that the owner provided for another of the millionth time. I swear, I think I memorized that thing while we were there. Obsessive, yes, I am a bit.

I think we may have taken a nap or something because I cannot recollect where the timewasting went, then again we are known to "jack around" and lose track of time. Then again it may be copious amounts of wine that leads to said "jacking-around."

So it is 7 or something and I decide I want to go to get aligot. The place on gridskipper is also in the Frommers book so I have the address and it is on their little map. So I mark it on my knopf mapbook and see that it is close to Art Brut--which is in my knopf book and is not to be confused with the band, it is a bar that I wanted to go to. The husband wants to go to this other place which name now escapes me, a basque restaurant. It is on the way and we agree to walk by it and decide while walking.

So at 8:45 or so we set off to walk 2 centimeters according to the mapbook, this is not really 2 centimeters, as we set off on a long walk.

I just looked up the two Restaurants we were going to: L'Ambassade d' Avergne for Aligot, the husband wanted to go to Au Bascou.

So we set off walking down Rue Bretagne towards Au Bascou, as it is closer. We walk and walk dow a dead, closed stretch. I swear there is nothing on this block once to pass the markets and no one is around and it seems like forever and we get there. Ok, it was only like 6 clocks away, maybe 7 but when you are the the only people walking, it is forever. And we get there and...they are closed. Oh well, I wanted aligot anyways and was secretly pleased.

So we set off for my precious aligot. I'm the first to admit I ain't the fastest walker in the world, so 1/2 hour later we arrive at L'Ambassade d' Avergne. It looks like a doily from outside. I am not eating in a doily. The last time I ate in a doily was at Chanterelle in 1999 and it was the biggest waste of $350 I have ever spent. And we were in a brightly lit overpriced over rated tired doily (sorry Chanterelle lovers, but the waiter--not even a sommelier--I think he must have called in sick that night as there was not a sommelier on staff that evening--could not even open the bottle of wine an had to walk away with it to struggle. And they were rude, and the food was ill prepared. And everyone was 80 years old. And It was my birthday. And I was wearing a $400 dress and they acted liked we couldn't afford to be there.)

Sorry, I digress. It was a doily restaurant. So we stood outside for a few minutes and stared at the menu and deliberated. The husband finally convinced me to go in as he was all over the endless variations of pig on the menu. Plus we peeked in around the doily and there were some young people in there. Doilies remind me of grandmas, not mine, but general grandmas. Not that I have anything against grandmas, but hopefully you know what I mean. Besides, it was 9:45 at this point and pickings were going to get slim.

So we go in. And...they are done serving for the night. The maitre d asks if we want to make a reservation for the next night. We tell him we will call the next day and ask for a suggestion as we didn't see anything open other than some chinese places while walking, and while I enjoy Chinese food, I sure order it to be delivered an awful lot. He directs us to another doily around the corner that is filled with families and children. I do not like children. We obvs. skip it and wander a bit looking for something. No dice. we decide to head to the bar as we aren't hungry anyways. And we have cheese and bread at the apartment. Mmmm cheese and bread. And wine.

So we are off to Art Brut. of course by this point we have headed out of the way and still have another 10 minute walk to get there. But when we do...

We reach nirvana as we approach L'Art Brut--YAY! destination! YAY! Bar! YAY! Smoking and Drinking!

This calls for a picture! Oh yeah, the husband hates taking pictures on vacation--"it ruins the moment, why can't we just enjoy the moment?" Ummm, because we are on vacation. And because the husband has no problem with having us take like 300 photos during a party at our house. With all the same people in them and I know what our house looks like as we, um, live in it.

He has no choice and relents. We take photos on the street outside the bar. We also notice that there is suddenly a ton more street traffic in this area. I mean people walking around. more on that in a bit.

Art Brut is tiny, narrow, has cheese and charcuterie plates, ut crowded. We order a Stella and a vin blanc the bar and luckily a table leaves so we are able to sit. They are playing gypsy-klezmer music and it reminds me of a tiny version of my old favorite bar that is now closed and the bartender looks like Eugene Hutz and has a waxed mustache. It is also a pick-up joint of sorts. Not a problem.

After a while I have to go to the bathroom, this is actually relevant, not just extraneous info. The bathroom is up a narrow staircase, but to get there, you have to walk through the even narrower passage between the bar and the tables and that space is filled with people standing and drinking. Blah. So I wait to make my move and go up.

My favorite bathroom ever is a NOMA in Copenhagen. It was so high design that I took some pictures--not while I was going to the bathroom. I liked the fixtures, it sounds weirder than it is, though I probably am an odd duck, though who knows. Maybe other people take photos of public bathrooms too.

Anyways, the bathroom had a wood slat 14th c. door and you could see through the slats to an extent. That is how I new it was occupied--I could see the guy in there. Um, ok. so I am waiting and looking around the vestibule-sink area and see a mini-urinal on a pedestal. It was not meant for use as it was at eye level and had one lone graffiti item drawn on it with a sharpie--a picture of spongebob squarepants with the tag underneath "bob l'esponge." Dammit, I left the camera with the husband. I'd have to remember it next time, then again, I had no interest in walking the narrow gauntlet again. Unforunately I did have to again, but of course forgot my camera. By midnight we were done and decided to move on. Thinking about this, that was probably really boring, but I really found the "bob l'esponge" amusing because I am 5 years old. Thant and because it was incongruous and on a tiny urinal that was meant to be a decor piece.

We decide to check out the street traffic, meaning we were in bar district and went to check out some bars. We walk in to one that is packed and so smoky that it is bugging me and has glowstick straws--ummm, ick. But whatever we could have a drink here. I proceed to look for a pace to sit and cannot find, except for 2 spots at a communal table that would have been a squeeze to get in. The husband is scoping the bar, I start towards the table and the two spots and start to signal the husband to come over when I get shut down. You see, I am able to sit, but he was not as we were in a lesbian bar and not that all lesbians don't want to sit by the mens, it was that they had no interest in him sitting with me at their table. I knew that it was a lesbian bar when we walked in but Mr. Dense did not and couldn't figure it out, nor why he could not sit, until I pointed it out. Not wanting to stand, the music being irritating and the glowsticks had us moving on. Nothing else looks of interest in the area, so we start heading back towards the apartment and in search on a spot to grab a drink on the way...

We start walking back and see not much in the way of bars. Then we hit a strip of them, only problem, no women inside. Not wanting to be a douche and bust in on what may be a cruise bar, which a woman can kinda ruin the vibe at, we skipped. We finally see a cafe and just decide to stop there. i assume it will be a rook job based on the location, eh, who cares. It was La Terrasse Des Archives. The husband decided to get something to eat--the charcuterie plate, which for the record, he had no interest in when at Art Brut when I suggested getting a frommage for me and charcut. for him or hare the frommage--it was only 4E each there. Instead he gets the 10E one at this place. I ate his cornichons. Mmm, tiny pickles, and so cute! Also had 40cl beer for 6E--ok price, and a 4E rose wine for me--also ok price considering. I also realized several days later we were across the street from a jazz bar that we could have gone to instead--oops.

We sat on the heated terrace and there was a group of men talking loudly. At first I was irritated. Loud American men, then I realized I recognized one of them. We chatted briefly and they were off to find rich French husbands. I wished them luck and asked them to find one for me and the husband could be my pool boy.

We moved on and decided to stop one last time in the dive wine bar around the block from our apartment that we had passed earlier when we left. It was across the street from the Petit Moulin hotel and the restaurant which looked nice and we passed, looked at the menu earlier and nixed--oops.

We decided to name the bar Stand Up Francois. There is a bar in minneapolis called Stand up Franks that is a notorious drunk bar, it obviously has no seats and the idea is that you drink until you cannot stand. This was similar. There were tables off to the side, but they were not allowing anyone to sit anymore as it was 12:40-ish (I am realizing now that my other times must be off and we left Art Brut earlier than midnight. Then again, the time frame I gave for how long it took to walk was probably exaggerated. Everyone at the bar was tanked, probably 40-ish, though looked much older and there was one woman at the bar babbling drunkenly that everyone was making fun of--they were all regulars, and regular drunks. Oddly they were all drinking champagne. Wines were priced from 1,20-4E. We both had a cheap glass of wine, had to ash on the floor--there were no ashtrays, just butts littering the floor and the owner was contributing to most of the mess, and at 12:45 the owner told everyone at the tables they had to leave. Closing time. We finished up and went home.

I ate the baguette and some cheese and then decided, shoot, I should probably do some sit-ups. The husband was sleeping and I did them in bed. I also realized I was being foolish and hoped he wouldn't wake up. He did not.

Karma, Cafe, More trains, Spasmocalm, Bigmouth Strikes Again

Karma
So the whole point of the apartment is that we tend to keep irregular hours and the do not disturb sign doesn't seem to stop maid service from busting in on us a 2pm when we are still sleeping, asking to not have maid service doesn't seem to stop them from coming and it can be embarrassing when we walk in the door and are given the "walk of shame" look when we come back from a night out at 4am or later.

So imagine our surprise when the alarm goes off at 6:45am. Not our alarm, the next door neighbor's. And she is out of town. And it continues for an hour and a half. And I realize that I left my alarm on as well, so my neighbors are possibly experiencing the same thing. Then again, the neighbor on the bedroom side is a coke fiend and probably does not notice. Either way, karma.

Also the sun does not rise until like, 8:30am so it is really weird to be up that early.

Cafe
So that arrival day was not the 1st and only day that we are up in the morning. The husband gets up, makes his 12 cup pot of espresso sludge, and attempts the wifi again, again the speed is the same as if we were connected on dial up, though he figures out that the connection is better in the bathroom. I do not ask and do not want to know how he figured this out.

Still no word back via email on the train tickets, therefore, we still have no clue what we are going to do about getting to Brussels.

I am up at about 9am and drink another large mug of the "coffee." We forgo getting baguette and croissant and instead leave to walk around around 11 or 11:30am--this is momentous.

The husband is still determined to see if we can pick up another copy of the Time Out book--especially considering the gridskipper not loading to well on the super slow connection, though I am told the maps load in the bathroom, I'm not too keen on going that route to surf the net. He also wants to head over to some museum, The Picasso? Yes, the Picasso. We wander in that direction and look at it, the line is out the door. No, not interested. He can go later.

We pass several shops that are closed but have me saying "I want" while looking in the windows, then again I kinda hate shopping in stores. I prefer things to be delivered to my home where I can try them on in the convenience of my home. Lazy much, yes.

The we start getting into the 4th and it is getting more crowded as we are now close to Place des Vosges. The husband wants to wander over, not feeling it so we continue to wander. Again, lazy much? We stop in some bookstores again and are shut out--no Time Out, every other guide book, not that. We are also on a main drag and the pollution from cars and buses is gross and we go off to a side street. Irony from a smoker, perhaps, but exhaust fumes are gah.

By now it is lunchtime and we end up at Au Petit Bougnat on Rue des Tournelles. It is a bit pricier than the lunch the day before, but given the location...menu is 14E, which he has--terrine and duck confit. I have another mushroom-cheese omelet with salad. I like eggs! It is also freezing in there. and menu does not include drinks, and being a dumb, I order us each a glass of wine rather than a carafe. Note to self, 50cl is sometimes the same price as 2 glasses and 25cl is cheaper than 2 glasses. I literally note this to self as we are sitting there, because I am staring at the wine blackboard. Meal was fine, and totaled 33,60E for his 14E 2 courses, 2 4E glasses of wine and 2 cafe.

Spasmocalm
We decide to walk over to the 11th after eating and walkover to Oberkampf to see what is around for bars/restaurants for later, and just to go over there. We are walking for a bit when I start to get queasy. Great, am I now predispositioned to being sick now every time we go abroad?!? Great. Ok, so we see a restaurant and I have to stop in. It is 2:30 and they are 1. not really serving food and 2. confused that we are just there to get drinks. At least they are not closing and a few minutes later some people come in to eat and they do serve them. I think the place was so dead that they just wanted the business.

Warning, perhaps TMI
I think I creep out the woman-owner and scare my husband as I am in the bathroom for what seems like really long stretches every 7-10 minutes. Luckily, I brought immodium after the Portugal trip, and carried it in my purse. At this point, I am totally frustrated and freaked out that this will be reoccurring the duration and am struggling to figure it out.
End of TMI Warning

Feeling like I can get it together, we walk back to the apartment stopping at the pharmacy as I am still sick to my stomach. I explain my symptomns and am given Spasmocalm--hee! I love that name and the packaging, but not enough to take it. Voda-something, an attempt to sell me immodium, which I show him I already have, so I don't buy that and confusing instructions of what to take and how and one will make me sleepy--I think the spasmocalm, so I don't take that. It oddly is for stomach and uterine distress, this leads me to believe it is a muscle relaxant, now that I think about it.

Back at the apartment I realize something. I don't normally drink this much coffee. I drink a cup at most in the morning, sometimes only a half and with the sludge and the cafe with every meal and considering I was drinking it like water in Portugal, I am onto something and vow to just use the demitasse cup in the morning and none the rest of the day thereafter. Indeed my theory is correct and my GI distress goes away. Sometimes, I actually have an intelligent thought and am able to come to an accurate conclusion. YAY!

In either case, I take a nap and wake up just in time to get us to the boulangerie and fromagerie and wine shop before close.

Train
Rail Europe responds and tells me to buy a new ticket and mail mine back for a refund, this reminds me, I still have not mailed he tickets back for my partial refund. Tickets are still 240E. I remember someone saying something about a cheap bus on the forum. It, I guess is an option. I check car rentals, price is now $300 to rent car, I could have our friend who is watching the cats Fedex them to me on my account for $49. We could see if the apartment is still available the 4th-8th and skip Brussels and have the several hour conference call. Choices. No decision yet.

Jacking Around
Jacking around is one of my favorite phrases. The husband enjoys it too. Maybe it is a midwestern thing?


So it is 7 or something and I decide I wan to go to Les Enfants, described in the knopf mapbook as a wine bar/restaurant. I like wine. I like food. It is Thursday and they do not serve dinner on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Seems like a plan. That and it is like 3 blocks away.

Finally after jacking around--seriously, where does the time go? I realize it is 9--we need to get moving or we will be shut out and have no food again. This has been a common theme on vacations with us. By the time we finally leave, every place has stopped serving. Then again, it happened last night too, at home.

So we get a move on and start walking up Rue Beauce and, um, the block is completely dead. Like, lights out on the whole block. Then again, it *is* a narrow, quiet, residential block. Finally we get close to the end of the block and...it's closed for holiday week. Oh, and we also took the long way to get there. The long way, you ask? How the hell is there a long way to get there? If someone can find a long way, it's me. The map made it look like the street didn't go through so we walk what would be 4 blocks, when it was literally in the same place as the apt, but skip a block.

Anyway--the husband is hungry, and getting cranky-hungry-man-syndrome. I swear, I can go a day without eating and if he skips a meal or misses his mealtime, it's all cranky-hungry-man on me. Why is it that men have that--I know of like 2 women who have that. Two. Yet every man I know has the same damn syndrome.

So I am convinced from my obsessively reading of the restaurant folder that there is something up the block on Rue Charlot. I am also convinced that we passed said place when we walked up it the prior day to have lunch. So once again, we go up Charlot to eat, just like the day before. We really are going places so far.

It is pushing past 9:30 at this point and said restaurant that I swear was there does not materialize. Knowing that we are getting close to it being too late to get anything, we see something familiar.

Innamorati Cafe--that was in the orange folder. it is Italian, but whatever, we study the outside and it looks alright, and they seem to take amex and we have been stuck using the mastercard debit that earns us less miles, so we go in. I cannot find the salad I see people eating on the menu,so instead of asking, I skip it. The husband has a pasta in gorgonzola cream sauce with veal, I have "seafood risotto." The Risotto is made with Basmati rice. It is fine, he said his was bland other than the veal balls and with a carafe of wine and 1 espresso (not for me!) it is 65E. The husband may have had a starter, the receipt doesn't say. It served a purpose, but I would not recommend it, though other people's food looked better, so who knows and the pasta was hand made. Oh and the amex sign, it was referring to travelers checks, not the card. Time for drinks.

MOPM
So we start walking towards Au Petit Garage, because. well it closes at 2am and it looked ok. This is so wrong, the last time we were in Paris I was all mad that most places closed at 2am and now I'm all old and only choosing what closes at 2am cuz I don't want to walk out of the bar in daylight. And I refuse to do the whole une nuit à au Roxbury, even if it is French.

Anyways, we start walking there and what seems like forever later we are probably (I'll figure out reality later) only 2 blocks away, we go into the first bar we see by this point and it is Equinoxe, not to be confused with the gym, Equinox.

So five minute after we get in the music changes to: sweetness, sweetness, I was only joking
When I said by rights you should be
Bludgeoned in your bed/And now I know how Joan of Arc felt
As the flames rose to her roman nose
And her Walkman started to melt.

I swear this happens everywhere we go at home, except sometimes it's: if a double decker bus/crashes into us...

My point is that I married what I like to refer to as MOPM, My Own Personal Morrissey. Yes, the husband looks like Morrissey. It is like my 14-17 y/o fantasy come to life but with out the celibacy part. This irritates him as I drag him to Morrissey concerts and there is always a sea of mens who are attempting to look like him and once we met this couple when we went to see him at the Apollo. The woman married some dude from the same town as Morrissey and restyled him to look like Morrissey in her obsession. Then again, she also had her arm sleeved with images of Morrissey and she was jealous of MOPM's Morrissey realness. No, I did not marry him for this reason, it was just happenstance. Either way when it happens and the music switches, he gets all paranoid and I giggle.

At this point, Equinoxe, and Paris finally felt like home. And we were coming closer to having to make a decision about Brussels.

Freaky.

Kerouac: what is Spasmocalm anyway--I still have the box sitting on my vanity and look at it daily, partly because it makes me laugh, partly because I am dumbfounded by it--there isn't any label or instruction or indication on the box. There might be an insert inside, but I have not opened it to find out.

Yes, I probably am a freak, unless you were referring to something else.

Love it!! Don't make us wait another 3 weeks for more -- although i realize this probably took you at least a day and a half to post!!

nah, just most of the day, yesterday. I may leave work though and do more. I was up until 3:45 last night and am completely tired and distracted and obviously not being productive if i have been tooling the internets since 9. I have responded to some emails though.

Maybe I'll leave around 1 or 2 and go to Schiller's and eat lunch, read The Post, finish the sudoku and long-hand write more rather than in the text box here. Then again, I might just stay all day, though I really want to shut my office door and take a nap. Who knows.

Ce médicament est un antispasmodique. Il lutte contre les contractions anormales et douloureuses de l'intestin, des voies biliaires, des voies urinaires et de l'utérus.
Il est utilisé dans le traitement des spasmes douloureux d'origines digestive (colites spasmodiques), biliaire (coliques hépatiques), urologique (coliques néphrétiques) et gynécologique (règles douloureuses et contractions de l'utérus pendant la grossesse).

It stops spasms! (of the intestines, bile tract, urinary tract and uterine regions -- a truly magic pill)

But yes, cherrybomb, you are pretty freaky as well, albeit interesting. I'm not sure whether to concentrate on the inappropriate footwear, the bar searches, or the bizarre inability to find food before 10pm.

Kerouac:

The inability to find food is *after* 10pm, ok, really 11pm, and I mean not in a cafe/street food/etc. And yes, I am aware of places open until 4am. But these were restaurants that had hours til b/t 10-11pm.

My footwear is appropriate!

Spasmocalm, I realized what it is for, but it seemed to do a bit too many things. I really want to find someone who has taken it. then again, I have some, I suppose I could. Then again, I'd rather find out first.

Hi cherrybomb, I'm a fairly new reader of the forums and am really enjoying your trip report. Its cool to see I'm not the only 30 something smoker who doesn't like kids. hee!
Please continue with your report!!

cherrybomb you mentioned two things early in this latest instalment which struck a chord with me - doilys and sponge bob .Love the latter and loathe the first .
As soon as you described a place / restaurant as a doily I visualised it - twee curtains in cafe , crossover or festooon style and lots of 'stuff ', generally hideous rubbish to ornament or just fill any available space . What is it with people loving Victorian chamber pots and lace curtains?As for SBob , I was unable to leave the apartment in Paris to do anything or go anywhere until SB had finished on TV as a result of my 5 year old addiction to him .When the movie came out there I was at a 10am Saturday morning screening - me and and a 100 kids singing the theme song .Sad really.Is there a Sponge Bob Anonymous Help Group ?
Loving your post and many thanks .

omg, cherrybomb, people are losing interest -- no posts since 2/5. We need to keep being your cheerleaders!! We need to hear the end of the story!! We need more stories!! Damn, people have such short attention spans.

Loved this post, Cherry! Did you ever go back and photograph Spongebob in the urinal? Hilarious! My only stay in Paris was for 2 nights on a tour, and couldn't understand what all the fuss was about - I thought I was the only person in the world who did not like Paris. On reflection, of course, being herded up the Eiffel tower 6 abreast and having 3 hours to "do" the Champs Elysees is hardly the going to give one the best impression! I wanted clothes - I couldn't find any department stores, and ended up with a camisole and a white lace up shirt from Naf Naf, as I couldn't leave Paris without saying I had SOMETHING I bought in Paris! Grrrr. I would like to go back, but next time will be different. An apartment in a villagey part of the left bank, maybe? Time to wander aimlessly and stop where I want, for as long as I want. I hope to see you on here again, you gave me lots of laughs! Maybe you should have a shot at being a columnist again - I'm sure your travel writings would be a great success! Spasmocalm! Gotta get me some of that.

Miss Jane:I absolutely despise the left bank and feel that is what ruined my previous experiences in Paris--just me. Naf Naf was the source of fab pants in barcelona, even if I was subject to listening to "hollaback girl" as I shopped.

I'll post more this weekend--I am only on day 2 and I have 11 more days of holiday to document. Thanks for the compliment, though my days of a writer are over--I need $$ to travel, besides my clipbook isn't so impressive--it is all for skinrags--you can imagine how pleased my parents were with that one. However the stories I could tell from that, well, they have nothing to do with this vacation. I should probably stop with the info, lest I be vilified for not only being a smoker, drinker, and barfly, but for also promoting pornography! I am a mere philanthropist now at least.

Johnfitz: You forgot to add barrels--for some reason barrels as decor must accompany doilies!

Doesn't anyone else skeeze out at the thought of chamberpots in a restaurant? It is rather incongruous.

Cherrybomb, I am not a big fan of the left bank either.

That was TWO DAYS???? How great!!! Now we have 9 more days of meandering and bar-hopping to do (I hope!).

I warned on the 1st post that there was tons of extraneous information! I'm only on Thursday. I'm going to bore myself to death writing up all the days. It does give me an excuse to look at the receipts though--really the only thing in my "travel binder-organizer."

OK Cherry, Left Bank is out! Can I hope that you will summarise with recommendations? Looking forward to reading the rest of your posts with baited breath. I didn't think anyone in the U.S. smoked anymore, so it's a relief to hear there are still some American citizens who possess the usual human frailties! You go girl. Holidays are all about indulgence (IMHO!).

Well , very, very interesting... LOL

You drink like a fish ( I mean that in a nice way,LOL ) smoke like a chimney( I have and yes I loved it, but as one ages one must sacrifice some things in order to live, LOL ) and wear ankle breaking footwear on cobblestones, and hate children(now Chrerry, , no baby is a " jerk" , only big boy babies( the ones past puberty) get that lable) and yet you are afraid to take a medicine reommended by a french pharmacist, who I personally believe to be the most professional and competent in the world, I went in with a cold , got given something ( I have NO idea what it was) took it, and viola was better in a day,, ah the french pharacists are indeed as close to dieties as a mortal can be.

You are odd but amusing, and I mean that as kindly as possible , considering I have never met another soul on earth who considers washing clothes a daily necessity while on vacation.. LOL

love the report...I must go to work though!! ok have to ask.. what is DOH? cant figure it out..

Also I am in contact with The Hidden Kitchen. I go on Chowhounds..but saw their posts were awhile ago.. so came here to look..which is how I found you.. Did you have a full table? interesting people? I love the idea... The postings from 2007 and not later worried me..

thank you!

since I am slow on the uptake writing this, HK is ok food wise, won't blow your socks off. I would definitely go for the experience and the price is decent.

It was a full, mostly older everyone was American except for a Canadian couple and there was a real blowhard at the table--an entertainment lawyer from LA, you can guess what he was like. There was one other younger couple there--he was a chef. We all agreed the food was not the best, but it turns out that the people running HK are not actually chefs or trained--they are a young couple who decided to move to Paris for a year, paid their rent up front, cannot legally work, and decided to try this. One of them doesn't really speak french, we hedged bets they were trust-funded (not that there is anything wrong with that)

It can be a nice break from having to speak french constantly, but people did get a bit loud. We guestimated the flat to rent for about 16-1800euro/month, so if you have real estate interest/obsession...

I would not go if this is your "big night out meal" as you will be disappointed in the quality. Then again, I assume if you are perusing Chowhound and know what HK is, you aren't one to think that 70 euro/pp including wine pairing is a huge expense for a meal.

I will say that I think their buzz is off--I initially tried to make a reservation a month and a half prior, but turned out they were not away for holiday when we wanted to go. I had forgotten all about them until we were there and extended the trip. I emailed them the day prior and they were able to seat us.


Doh is just fairly synonymous with duh--not an abbreviation, just an outburst noting that I am a dumb.

Hi cherrybomb,

<<there was a real blowhard at the table--an entertainment lawyer from LA, you can guess what he was like.

was your objection to the entertainment, him being a lawyer or coming from LA?



regards, ann

the problem is that he wasn't entertaining enough.

Cherrybomb, oh Cherrybomb,you remind me soo much of someone I know...in France last year (and speaking NO French) she charmed everyone and made me lol by announcing her ONLY French phrase "je m'appelle Justine" at EVERY opportunity, latching on to radio commercials for " Spee-der-man
troi" avec Kirsten Dunst, and ordering Rouge Toro to the great amusement of many. She wears high heels, is very fashionista and tickles us ! Count me as one of the grannies with a sense of humor and write some more.It's delightful!

Holy deedeezee batman:
I dressed kiki for the 1st spiderman in a previous fashion life. I oddly only dressed few women, men were my specialty.

I will keep going slowly. Am trying to plan my May trip simultaneously. I distract easily.

Hi Cherry,

We are renting the apartment on Saintoinge(I can't say it either) beginning 3-23 for eight nites. Please finish your report so I can learn about the closed off bedroom!

I am especially excited about the balcony!

Aloha,
Nancy

So glad you're back, Cherrybomb! I'd given up hope! DH and I are off to Italy today (without computer), so I'll be looking forward to more postings when we get back on Easter Monday.