Random Thoughts from our European Trip

A collection of random thoughts and observations we gathered during our travels :-)

- Parisian dress code: black pants, black, white or grey blouse. Black or grey scarf. This applies to both men and women. Women love it when you can see their bra.

- Germans are REALLY nice; the nicest of the entire trip. I must admit I was a bit disappointed in the Italians. Hernan and I both come from Italian families and we were looking forward to visiting the "mother ship"  and eating our way through Rome but they were not very nice, actually a bit rude most of the time. It didn't help that we went to Italy at the end of our trip and the airline lost our bags for 3 days so exhaustion and frustration were also involved in this experience :( 

- German beds are weird. They're 2 twin beds pushed together - I felt like Fred and Wilma Flinstone and kept falling through the crack!

- Smoking is not only a problem in Paris: Luzern, Füssen, Munich, Salzburg, Madrid and Rome are all the same.

- Wireless and Internet access are not widespread like in the US. It is very difficult to get online, which drove me crazy but helped me look up and appreciate my surroundings a lot more. I suffered from serious "WiFidrawal" (yup, I just made up that word)

- Cars come with the same "fashion" sense as people: the great majority are black or grey - very much like in Brasil

- BMW and Audi in Germany are like Subarus in Oregon: pretty much every other person has one.

- German-speaking countries teach English as a basic subject in school since they believe its in their best interest for tourism. Quite a contrast from Spain where you have to pay for English classes outside of school.

- The food was excellent everywhere and it's very similar to Portland: food sourced from local farmers, extremely fresh. Also, in most places we went to salad wasn't a choice, you got it anyway. Vegetables covered 3/4 of the plate you ordered and they were really good. 

- The svelte Parisian figures stayed in Paris. I know my idea about the "Parisian figure"  is a bit silly and crazy but I'm convinced there is something going on with the flavor quota and the amount of walking going on in France's capital. They eat tons of bread, butter and cheese, drink wine left and right and still look great!

- Hernan learned a very valuable lesson on the importance of making early reservations ;-)
We were supposed to visit BMW and Audi factories while staying in Munich but he waited until 10 days before to reserve our tickets and unfortunately they were already booked for the whole month. Since we were so close to Salzburg we deviated from our plans and went to visit this beautiful city where they filmed The Sound of Music - my all-time favorite movie! Being trapped in a bus with 30 tourists (including me, of course) singing "Do a Deer"  to the top of their lungs while driving along the Austrian countryside was better than writing 1000 times "I will make early reservations next time". JAJA!

 

Lost in Rome

Oh... A lot has happened in the last few weeks. I haven't uploaded pictures from Switzerland, Germany, Austria or Colombia.

To be honest - some of you will find this hard to believe - we've run into a few technical and logistical difficulties.

1. I thought it would be better to just share Hernán's more artistic pictures so I stopped taking as many with my phone. Then we tried to download the pictures from the SD to the MacBook Air and we couldn't. The computer doesn't recognize the USB and we can't get them out. I will have to wait until I get my hands on a computer with Windows to share those.

2. Internet connectivity, as I mentioned on a previous post, is a joke around here. The funniest thing is that after fighting for Internet the first part of our Europe trip, trying to get online without much success, we landed in Colombia and the airport provides free Internet access to all (without passwords!). I could get online at many restaurants and cafes around Bogotá without a problem. I wish Europe did the same...

3. We are now in Rome but haven't seen a lot of the sights because our bags were lost since Sunday. We left Madrid and landed in Rome but none of our suitcases made it and nobody could tell us where they were. Tuesday afternoon we had to get on a bus and go all the way back to the airport and search through 3 storage areas until we found all our bags. Obviously this took half a day and by the time we got back to the hotel it was time for dinner.

At least we now have our bags and can start exploring this magnificent city starting tomorrow morning!

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Musée du Louvre

We've had some "technical difficulties" in Europe... translate that into "We can't find internet!!". I won't expand on that subject because we must keep a positive attitude, right?! :-)

 Wednesday in Paris (June 4th) was dedicated exclusively to the Musée du Louvre and I think we managed to cover about 1/8 of the museum...

We will cover the other 7/8 in another couple of visits... There is so much to see that it's definitely worth it to take your time and admire what you see instead of trying to finish an art marathon and not appreciate anything. 

Here are lots of random pictures.... 

 

The formula to a Parisian slim figure

We've been in Paris for over a week now and everywhere we go it (happily) surprises me to see so few obese folks. Forget about obese, there is rarely a fat Parisian to be found!

Unfortunately I can't say that I'm happily amazed at their healthiness because the majority smokes like a chimney but other than that they look very good.

Being here and enjoying delicious, DELICIOUS food, I've noticed how intense flavors and smells are. A strawberry doesn't taste like a normal strawberry, it's like strawberry infused with strawberry juice.

Besides the fact that people walk every day around the city, I think that this richness in the food is the key to their slim figures. When you eat something that tastes so intense you can't eat as much! ;-)

What if we all have a flavor quota? What if you can only tolerate a fixed amount of a flavor per meal or per day? You enjoy the food immensely but you eat less! And you're walking around everywhere, burning calories!

Voila! The formula to a life full of delicious French cheese, wine, foie gras, macarons, croissants, croque monsieur, baguettes... You name it!

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A Beautiful Day in Paris

Tuesday started with a visit to Musée d'Orsay where we saw some of my favorite artists: the Impressionists!
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any pictures so I have nothing to show you except this AMAZING clock that hangs on a wall inside the museum

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In the afternoon after a delicious cappuccino, Hernán and I went to Roland Garros to watch the Quarterfinals. We got there while the women were playing and then watched Tsonga beat Federer in straight sets. HOLY COW!! Federer out in straight sets in Quarterfinals? Has that ever happened in a Grand Slam? 

Some people (<cough> Javi <cough>) might think I was a bad luck charm for Federer... really? ;-) nah...

Quarterfinals at Philippe Chatrier

After Roland Garros we headed to the Tour Eiffel and the weather or timing couldn't have been better! We found the tower surrounded by a gorgeous blue sky just in time for sunset! It was a bit chilly at the top but definitely worth it 

I Don't Buy Bread

My very useful new phrase in French is "I don't understand". When I was 9, against my parents advice, I decided to study Hebrew instead of French so I have no idea how to pronounce "je ne comprends pas", which is how you say 'I don't understand' in French. Thankfully, there is a wonderful free app that shows you the spelling and says it for you! The phrase sounds exactly like saying in Spanish YO NO COMPRO PAN. 

Yo = I (Je)​

No = Don't (ne)​

Compro = Buy (comprends)​

Pan = Bread (pas)​

Walking around the Louvre Museum

​The first night I arrived I was trying to go find a little store to buy some groceries for breakfast but I went out the wrong way and walked for 10 minutes and arrived at the Louvre!!

Oh My GOODNESS!!

I walked around until it got dark so I went home to catch some sleep and wait for Hernán to arrive on Saturday morning.

Life IS Beautiful in Paris :)​