One Night in Paris, sushi, a flood, snobs and a church that was hiding from us.

One Night in Paris

Jose and I got up early early to catch the first train to Paris so he could attend a rehearsal for Arpeggiata and I could visit with some Frenchie friends. Four and a half hours later we stepped off the TGV and checked into our hotel which was thankfully very close to the train station.

We had some time before Jose had to go to rehearsal (it got delayed a bit) so we had a good lunch at Marine - we had the best appetizer - tartare of shrimp and avocado. The two were chopped and formed into a patty and served with a salad. Yum. I ordered filet mignon but ended up with pork. The waitress WAS distracted when she took the order but she was sweet and the pork was good so I didn't mind. Jose had a piece of steak with bleu cheese sauce.

Our friend Philippe met us out after that - Jose had to head off so we had some coffee, chatted and walked around ending up at the museum des arts et metiers. He had to take off so I switched off to meet Florencia there.

Florencia and I walked all over the damned planet, mostly looking for La Madeleine. We started off to eat sushi at a place Florencia really wanted to go to, but it was closed. So then we went to see the Opera house, but we couldn't take a look inside because there was a concert coming up.

So then we start hunting for La Madeleine, had trouble finding it and Florencia was getting so hungry she was going to start gnawing on pigeons, so we found a sushi place that didn't look crappy or wasn't too hot (we almost ate at a traiteur chinese buffet thing but it was 100000 degrees inside and humid). The food wasn't bad but it started pouring outside and the roof and windows started leaking, so we had to move tables twice to avoid drowning or our fish coming back to life.

Once the rain let up, we resumed our search for the church and finally found it after asking directions a few times. We got one of those cheesy coins to remember the day and then set off to search for Laduree macarons. Florencia knew it was near the church, but not exactly where. She essentially pointed at it while explaining the lovely view as we were standing on the steps, but of course we went all the way around the church before finding it.

From Europe 2009

We purchased a box of 8 and decided to eat them at Notre Dame. We were on a bus that was going the wrong direction when that occurred so we got off the bus and took the metro to ND. We sat on the steps trying to act snobbish and took pictures of ourselves. We noticed afterward that in our photos, behind us as we were decadently eating luxury desserts, there was a quite possibly homeless guy sleeping in our photos. Florencia thought he was dying (not really) just like she thought all the snails were dying near us. You had to be there.

From Europe 2009

Jose finished with rehearsals and he, of course, wanted to eat at the very area that was started our world trip, so we met our friend Florian and went to a place called Ave Maria. Florencia and I didn't really like the food but Florian and Jose loved it. The atmosphere was cool, though. We heard/told some hilarious stories, Florencia burnt her finger on a candle and I wanted to kick the butt of a woman that bumped into me as she was leaving, but then decided to wait for something and stood right behind me so I could barely get out of my chair. I essentially just pushed her aside.

Alas, the day ended there with goodbyes at the metro.

Mini Thoughts - Swiss Tidbits

• Macarons are amazing but too many will make you vomit.
  
• Swiss fountain water is apparently the quality of bottle mineral water.
  
• Starbucks food in Europe is way better
• Lots of people drink Redbull (it IS a Swiss product)

From Europe 2009

Sleepless in Zurich but a good day anyway

From Europe 2009

Last night I went to sleep at a normal hour, but I ended up waking up fairly quickly (I think it was Jose snoring) and couldn’t get back to sleep until about 4:00 am. I went outside for a quick walk and sat outside on the steps for some fresh air, but there was a fox that kept appearing that I had to startle off a couple of times, so I went back inside. Eventually after that I fell asleep and slept until 11.

Jose and I went downtown and went to the Switzerland National Museum, but much of it was under reconstruction and there was a special exhibit that was devoted to Swiss jokes, of which we couldn’t understand most.

From Europe 2009

From Europe 2009

Then Jose went to get his hair cut and I sat with him and chatted (sort of) with him and the stylist. She could really only speak Italian, but I understood most of the conversation, but couldn’t even repeat what she had said. She was sweet and cute.

We wandered around for a little bit and took some photos before heading back to the apartment to get ready for the second performance of the opera. Right now I’m sitting in the dressing room and I am taking photos of his costumes.

Tomorrow we're getting up early early to take a train to Paris for one night so Jose can rehearse. He'll do that and I'll hang out with Florencia and maybe Jory and Florian too. Then the next morning we'll get up early again - Jose to go back to Zurich for another performance and I'll stay a while in Basel to poke around for the day.

Tie Dinna with JorJor

Jory, Jose and I went to a Thai restaurant for dinner that everyone enjoyed. I had chicken with cashews and they had Thai fried rice. We started off with fruit drinks with a kind of Thai whiskey (Mekong) that was very good. After that we got some yummy gelato (pistachio for me) whose flavor was slightly altered by the animal-heavy circus that was set up temporarily nearby. We rounded out the evening chatting by the river near the opera house. Nice night...

Shopping

From Europe 2009

After Jose got some practicing in, we did some shopping downtown after swinging by Starbucks for my favorite drink - soy Caramel Macchiato - and a delicious ham and cheese croissant.

Ironically, we spent the most time in stores that can be found in the U.S. (like H&M and Zara) but it's MUCH easier to find our sizes here. Sometimes we're even mediums! *GASP* I found a jacket I quite liked but I wouldn't wear it enough to justify the price tag. The exchange rate is decent but everything here is more expensive. So it's almost a 1-for-1 exchange but lunch costs $12-$15 for a cheap version. Meh.

So we did a lot of walking in OK weather - sprinkly and rainy at times. In a bit we're meeting Jory out for some dinner.

Pretty much the rest of the week is mapped out. Tomorrow is a performance, so I have during the day to do whatever, then I'm going to take pictures of Jose's costumes. Wednesday we head to Paris for a day, then we come back to Switzerland Thursday morning. Jose'll head back to Zurich and I'll hang around Basel for the day. Then Friday I head off to London.

Opera and Party

From Europe 2009

From Europe 2009

The folks in the opera were nervous because several people were sick recently, but the audience loved it and had them coming back out for tons of bows. I enjoyed it thoroughly as well - it was a funky staging with a huge syringe and lots of blood and "dead bodies" lying about.

There were these cool evil-looking nurses in black vinyl dresses and masks, dancers, gymnasts...

During the intermission I visited Jose in the dressing room for a little bit and took a couple of photos - I'll take more at another performance when I'll be backstage the whole time.

After the opera was a reception with a ton of people and food and drinks... I got to see Jory of course - it's always a ton of fun to see him - and meet some new people. I totally fell in love with the woman that played Poppea - pretty, great body, even better voice and a fun actress. I told her I wanted to marry her if she gave me these shoes she was wearing in one act... they were awesome.

Europe 2009: Outward Bound

Well, I got to Zurich in one piece. The flights were all very smooth, although I wasn't impressed with US Airways on international flights. The flight from Philly to Zurich left two hours late because a tire needed to be changed and the jack broke, they needed more nitrogen...

It took them forever to do the meal service and I just wanted to try to get some sleep. The food wasn't the worst I've had - I had some cheesy pasta dish. I was on a 767 so there weren't TV's in each seat or anything and my favorite - the little map with the plane marking the current position - was nowhere to be seen either.

Yes Man was the in-flight movie, although I only watched bits... without headphones - I don't know if they ever got the sound working.

But now I'm in Jose's small one-room apartment that the Opernhaus owns which is in a very attractive (though a little out of the way) neighborhood. To get there from downtown, you take a train, then the Dolderbahn (almost like a funicular) up the hill a couple of stops.

Jose's making some pork stewy thing for dinner...

Tonight is the opening of the Opera Aggripina - I'll attend this performance and we're going to a party afterward.

The only mask-wearing weirdness I saw was generally foreigners in the Philadelphia airport. And, generally people seemed less airport-stupid than I've seen on previous trips. So far, so good!