Last weekend we had the pleasure of having our old (young) friend Nina Perala come visit us in Paris. She's working in Pontevedra, Spain as an English teacher, so was able to find a flight over here for three days.
Nina arrived Thursday night, so we took her to our favorite local place, La Maison Cafe. We were seated at a table outside on the patio under the heaters, and I was happy to find that we had our favorite waiter. He's quite a character, and this night was no exception. While sipping on our wine after polishing off the cheese plate and a basket of bread, we heard a large crash, only to turn and see our waiter had dropped his tray with all our entrees on it. Food splattered, plates broken, all over the sidewalk (and Shelley's coat)! He made a speech in French to which all the other patrons laughed, so must have been good! They quickly re-made the dishes and soon enough we were enjoying our entrees. A good start to the trip!
Nina was on her own on Friday while Tom and I went to work. She spent some time wandering, seeing the Eiffel Tower, an open-air market, etc before meeting friends of friends for coffee. We met up with her at our happy hour spot near the office - oddly enough an Irish Pub. (Sometimes you just need a break from French-iness). Had a few beers, and off to Livio, a great Italian spot in Pont de Neuilly. I have no words for their lasagna...you'll just have to come here and try it!
Saturday was reserved for sight-seeing, with Sacre Coeur at the top of the list. We started the day with my poor attempt at finding a new farmers market to explore - what we found was a slightly scary mob scene of people hawking fake purses, illegally recorded movies, and bad Rolex replicas. Needless to say, we booked it from there over toward the Moulin Rouge / Sacre Coeur area, finding a Starbucks along the way. I think Nina visited almost all the Starbucks in the city to get her fix! We stopped by the Cimetiere de Montmarte on the way up the hill....it might sound strange, but I love walking through this cemetary and looking at how old some of the tombs are. I would recommend checking it out if you're here! Sacre Coeur was amazing as always, and the cloudy weather seemed to keep the crowd manageable. We enjoyed the view from the top, took our photos, and walked down the front side of the church.
From there we headed back toward the center of the city for a quick bite to eat and a beer at Cafe Oz (an Australian bar), From there we walked through Le Marais nighborhood, attempted the Picasso Museum (closed for renovations :-(, the Thanksgiving Store, Hotel de Ville and strolled across the river to Notre Dame. We braved a fromagerie to pick up cheese and crackers for the evening's party at Shelley's. Note: don't touch or poke the cheese if you don't intend to buy it!!!
Saturday night, we had plans with co-workers to go celebrate Melissa's birthday, and a send-off for Misty, Ana and Chuck, who are left this week to work in Guinea West Africa. The party started at Shelley's with some cheese and wine of course, then to Blues BBQ in the Bastille area. We discovered this little BBQ place while in search of a taste of home. The owner is from Dallas, TX, and while it's not exactly like home, it's close enough! After stuffing ourselves on pulled pork, ribs, cheese fries, corn bread and cole slaw, we walked over to Rue de Lappe - it's lined with bar after bar after bar, each with a different vibe/theme. This is where the evening gets hazy LOL! But I know we had a great time!
Just to be sure we squeezed in enough activity for Nina, we dragged her out of bed to Breakfast in America on Sunday morning. What a gold mine this place is! We waited in line outside for an hour to enjoy omelets, home fries, bagels and milk shakes. Well worth the wait! Its not a place for people visiting Paris for a short time, but for those of us missing home, it's a comforting experience :)
Nina got to her plane with about 2 monutes to spare, so I would say we made her weekend worth the trip! I hope she had as great a time as we did! You're welcome back anytime lady, and hopefully we'll be seeing you in Spain sooner than later!
PS...are you proud of my blog?!?!
