vom Lehn Euro Extravaganza

Originally uploaded by sf2london.

Well, they’re on their own now, and so are we (or should I say I, since Steven’s in Helsinki?). This morning Garry, Nancy, David & Eric jetted off to Glasgow for the last five days of their European Adventure™! We did a LOT of walking, played frisbee across from Buckingham Palace, rode a narrow biddy boat up the Regent’s Canal, got caught up in an emergency evacuation from the Natural History Museum (which at first we thought was part of the Ice Station Antarctica interactive exhibit), hosted a dinner party for visitors from Brooklyn and Detroit, ate a pub lunch in the Windsor Castle’s sunny beer garden, had an, um, adventurous and exciting first day in Paris involving Gendarmes, Pompiers and NO TAXIS (it was, after all, the hottest day of the year), saw some cool art at the inside-out Centre Georges Pompidou, bought the exact same tacky souvenir... TWICE (don’t ask, but apparently came dangerously close to continuing a family legacy), saw Tour Eiffel twinklage (but left the ascent for our next visit), and enjoyed a leisurely dejuner at la Louvre. That’s the abridged version. Oh, and Olive is experiencing withdrawal from the attention and companionship of David and Eric. Check out the pics on Flickr! xx

Paris Surprise

Well, Steven went to work on the morning of Friday May 12th. My job was to assemble items for a Eurostar on-board pic-nick, collect Patty & Bill, and get them to Waterloo Station. I managed to hail a taxi right on Golborne Road, the folks were waiting on the stoop of their B&B, there was little traffic, we reached the station by 12:15, and I retrieved the tickets without a hitch. Then I realized I had forgotten my passport at home. Raced to Notting Hill Gate on the tube and hailed a taxi which waited downstairs while I ran inside, then headed back. Got through security just as the boarding announcement was made.

The ride was good. Every time the train went through a tunnel Patty asked if it was the Chunnel. We reviewed some Paris materials I had collected, looked at maps, etc. After checking in to our hotel we walked to Boulevard St. Germain and had an aperitif at Les Deux Magots before taking a taxi over to Au Bon Accueil for dinner with Kath & “cousin” Katherine. The Eiffel Tower loomed over the end of the block and did its glittery thing as we left the restaurant. We were so close we decided to stroll over (and under) before dropping P&B at the hotel and heading to the Marais to meet our friend Kerem (Turkish guy we met in Istanbul).

Bill’s appetizer
Glittering





The next morning there was some drama: Patty’s passport was missing. No Eurostar lost & found on weekends. Ditto the previous night’s restaurant: fermé. The American embassy is also closed on weekends but of course has a 24/7 help line. We found out that they open at 9am on Monday and that it would take 4 hours to get a replacement. The only problem was that our flight to London departed at 10:50am and Patty & Bill’s flight to Glasgow departed an hour later. So we rescheduled their flight to the next day and they were faced with the prospect of a day and night in Paris on their own.

We headed over to Ile de la Cîté and gorgeous Sainte-Chapelle, which elicited appropriate gasps. After lunch at a place across the street (where Bill had a mind-expanding European cultural experience you’ll have to ask him about), we strolled through the flower market, past Notre-Dame, and across to Ile St-Louis (“Ice Cream Island”) for some Berthillon goodies.

Back on the Left Bank we left P&B to rest and took a speedy stroll around the ’hood.

French graffiti

Returning to the hotel to collect the folks for dinner, we learned of the discovery of the passport. In the passport holder. I won’t tell who put it there or who found it. Glasgow flight switched back to Monday. Water under the bridge. We headed to Les Deux Magots for our aperitif.

On the way
“Mosquito”
French EANABs

Our dining mission was to conquer a plateau des fruits de mer at La Coupole.

Deco floor
More floor
The plateau

Exhausted after a nearly silent dinner spent concentrating on the intense labor of using specialized tools to extract various sea creatures from their respective enclosures, we returned to our hotel and collapsed.

The next morning we breakfasted at Ladurée. Insane. Follow the link. You’ll see. Then we walked down to the Luxembourg Gardens and spent a while just sitting before inspecting the toy sailboat operation. After checking out the Statue of Liberty’s Mini-Me, we miraculously found a taxi and headed over to Place des Vosges. After lunch we took a peek at the Pompidou Center, which I thought Bill would get a kick out of (he did).

Li’l Lady
Knife rack
Green broom!
Pompidou





We then had an opportunity to check out an area we hadn’t visited before: sort of north Marais/Montorgueil...

Decorative grill
Patina
Baroque

Dinner was back on Ile St-Louis at Mon Vieil Ami. It was fab.

Veal belly
Rognions
Quack
Coffee
Berries

Au revoir, Paris!

Hotel stairs

Ordeal

I've been experiencing waves of nausea all day. I don't know if it's lack of sleep, low blood sugar from forgetting to eat (just got a chicken salad from Chow -- can't tell if it helped yet). This experience is very disorienting. Four big burly tattooed guys handling (and taking note of) all our possessions. The guy packing up the kitchen said we should open a restaurant. The guy packing our books said we must be very interesting people. My eiffel tower key chain fell apart and I needed needle nose pliers to fix it. Already packed. Wanted to slice a banana on my cereal (consumed in plastic bowl, with plastic spoon). No plastic knife. Alice was very interested and involved up to a certain point, but now she has retreated to her safe space (cardboard box filled with mangy blankets near dryer in mud room). I don't really have a safe space now. Well, maybe judging from Steven's latest report my safe space is in London. Oh, and speaking of which, here's the latest Alice update: After two weeks and many midnight or 7am phone calls to Paris, they finally decided it was time to let me in on the fact that you simply can't transport an animal by plane from Paris to London on weekends. I found that out at midnight Sunday night. So here's what we're doing: Alice and I are flying together on United from SFO to CDG. At CDG we're renting a car and driving to the Hoverspeed terminal in Calais (we've got exactly three hours to make the ferry, which is exactly how long the drive takes -- anybody know whether they crack down on speeders over there?). We will then board the 5:45 ferry to Dover (Hoverspeed is the only ferry service which allows "foot traffic" with pets). From Dover we'll take a train to London. Not sure which one, because I have no idea what bureaucracy we'll face entering the UK. Steven will meet us at Charing Cross Station and we'll take a taxi back to Penzance Place...

Back in Londre

You may have noticed a gap in the Paris posts. That's 'cuz my phone battery went inexplicably dead, and since I couldn't think of anything to SAY, no pics meant no posts... For all you folk back in SF, rest easy: Bay Area food is better. And the citizens are nicer (if only superficially so). But Paris sure does have that certain je ne c'est quois. I think it's mostly about pretty vistas and incredible shopping. And honeyed slow-roasted apricots in olive oil with rosemary and vanilla ice cream. I swear to god. Try it! Apparently you've also been checking the weather reports. It's like THIRTY DEGREES!!! (I have to get used to that sounding hot, since for all their inches and ounces and pints, the Brits are totally metric when it comes to weather).

Paris II

Coquille St. Jacques
Ceramic Vase (LB?)
Steven & Craig
Tiles
More street art
View from our loft
Back at Waterloo

Paris I

Taxi from Gare du Nord
Where we had breakfast
Street art?
Katherine & Steven
Pompidou Center
Merchandising
Louvre
Eiffel Tower
Palais de Tokyo
Palais de Tokyo restaurant
Palais de Tokyo gift shop
Palais de Tokyo book store