My fancy French weekend.

Matt and I, along with our friends Chris and Joyce decided to head over to France for the weekend. The goal? Versailles, where they were having an evening fountain and fireworks show!

Yay! This was a last-minute trip as we had been watching the weather forecast change from all rain to only partly cloudy for the better part of last week.

We headed out early on Saturday and arrived to check-in at the Waldorf Astoria. Matt and I have stayed here before, way back in May 2013 on our honeymoon trip, but only for one night. (It was also raining pretty heavily that day, so we were excited to go check out Versailles in the sunshine).

Matt and I snagged a sweet corner room with views of the gardens (the property is actually on the Versailles garden grounds), and it's hard to see, but those are goats beyond the fence!

And our room had a fireplace! Wacky.

These beds are exceptionally comfy.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, Matt and I spent the entire afternoon walking around the canal on the grounds. The weather was perfect and we definitely stretched our legs from the car.

Of course, we snuck in a short nap before heading out to meet up with Chris and Joyce.

After some dinner (beef tartare for me! Mmm) the four of us had to walk around to the front entrance to get access for the show. It was totally packed inside the gates, but once we got past the entry it started to spread out better.

There were two "tracks" - the A side and B side. We decided to check out B before A (and when we finally got to the A side we realized they were totally better, but B was still great). The maps had each of the fountains labeled so we could follow a path to see them all.

 Here's Matt walking through the mist

Everything was so pretty lit up and sparkling - back when the palace was actually used, there was never enough water to run all the fountains at once, so they'd have to run around and turn them on depending on where the King Louis and Queen Marie walked throughout the gardens, to create the illusion they were all on.

Not so now - there was plenty of water to keep everything on!

 The MOON!

 Here's Matt's "through the trees" series of the grotto.

 Uh, for some of the "fountains" there were just some weird rock sculpture things.

Once the sun went down, Matt and I stopped taking pictures (Chris and Joyce had a better camera so we'll snag some of what they captured with their fancy lense).

Some of the fountains were set to music and lights, and the canal in the middle of the gardens had flames coming up out of the freaking water, also set to music! The fireworks at the end were the same, and also incorporated some more of the flames. The music piped throughout the gardens were especially nice because it really made you feel you were back in time, walking alongside of King Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette.

I'm usually not a big firework person, but these were really well done. We're definitely glad we got to do this - Matt and I have been talking about going back since we had been there the first time, and if anyone out there is wondering if it's something to do - the answer is yes, go! It's so great.

In fact, here's their promotional video of the action.

When we got back to the hotel, we all went to the bar for a glass of champagne (since the Waldorf is a Hilton property, we all get extra perks like a welcome drink, so we wanted to make sure we continued our fancy activities).

While Chris and Joyce stood in line to see inside the Chateau the next morning, Matt and I got to sleep in on our luxurious king-sized bed and then go to breakfast. The breakfast was way better than we expected. Not only did they have the standard scrambled eggs, croissants, bacon, cheeses and meats, but also had crepes, omelettes, and plenty of delicious coffee. Just excellent.

Long story short: stay at the Waldorf when you go. It's gorgeous.

Before leaving town, Matt and I found an open bakery and got some macarons:

Since we were driving right past the Champagne region, we decided to stop in Epernay to break up the trip and do some looking around and tasting...

The first stop was Moet to look around.

...and then we got down to business with a triple tasting at Collard-Picard.

Before we got back in the car we had dinner in town (and of course the walk to dinner was the exact moment a freak rain storm popped up so we got totally soaked, despite the umbrellas we were carrying).

Since I was now cold, I elected to get the carbonara.

For dessert, a cafe gourmand is our go-to meal-ender: a smattering of mini desserts and an espresso.

Then it was back in the car and off toward home. Although it rained, we lucked out and did everything we set out to do in the periods of sunshine. A great weekend all around.

Quick post & sorry for being anti-social

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, it's been busy. No matter how much work I got done last week in Berlin, there's always more to do. I have a big project due at the end of the month and I have to get it done ahead of time since I'll be away on a trip.

I think I'll take off next week from blogging to concentrate on it all. Maybe that way I can get a bit ahead. But don't worry - I promise not to do anything terribly fun. Unless you consider homework fun, in which case, would you like to do my homework, please??

Anyway, we made it back from Berlin, this time with our cash and cards, so take that, Berlin! The only snafu was that our train leaving the city was late, which meant we didn't end up getting back home until 1am Monday morning. Bleh.

Berlin is a great city - I think that if you have limited time in Europe, Berlin should make the cut. Not only is it more reasonably priced compared to other cities, the history is so freaking fresh. I mean, we can walk along where the Berlin wall was, because the lines are on the ground all over the city, and pieces of the wall are still up.

They've got good museums, tasty food (props to that falafel guy on Sunday for giving me the spiciest sandwich I've ever had), and excellent shopping. Having the food area at Galerie Lafayette is like being able to go anywhere in Europe for the best snacks, all available in one place.

I'll miss the free cokes.....

And view....

But we hauled home plenty of chocolate to keep us company.

See you all back here bright and early on August 11th! I'll do my best to have a super awesome and amazing post then.

Ich liebe Berlin.

Despite our not so great experience at the end of our last trip here, I've come to really enjoy this city. The Hilton here has a lot to do with it. We were able to upgrade to a nice junior suite, and with our continued Diamond status, we've been able to get some super extras.

The status gets us into the sauna and spa in the hotel free of additional charge. For everyone else, it costs 13.50 Euro for a day pass. Totally worth it, by the way - it was really nice. They had warm and cold waterfall showers, a huge dry sauna (much more spacious than ours at home), then they had an aroma sauna (which wasn't dry - it was super steamy), and they even had foot baths setup. OH - and a "relaxation room" which was a room with soft lighting that changed colors. There were five or six beds setup - waterbeds - that were warm - and you could just hang out there all freaking day if you wanted. Super duper relaxing.

Another bonus: apparently this week is Hilton Honors week, and Diamond members get free use of the mini bar! Our dinos have been taking advantage:

Matt kept giggling, saying how strange it was to be able to have mini bar drinks, after nearly 30 years of training that tells us otherwise.

 This guy really had his eyes on that vodka.

 Yup....

The regular perks include access to the Executive Lounge, which I've gotta say is one of the nicest we've been to. Here's only half of it, where I've been doing plenty of homework and paper writing this week.

Not only is it incredibly large, the food is always great - good selection of breakfast, tea time snacks, and evening snacks. In fact, you could really get away with not eating out at all if you wanted to - the evening snacks, which run from 6-8pm, include two hot items (so far I've seen chicken fingers, mini quiche, meatballs, pastry puffs, and chicken skewers), plus assorted cheeses, bread, crackers, veggies, and nuts. This is when they also break out the bar with beer, wine, spirits and even sparkling wine. 

There's two coffee machines and I can't tell you how many tea varieties I've seen. The tea time snacks are more on the sweet side, though, and run from 3-6pm. They've had marble cake this week in addition to little bite-sized brownies, tiny cheesecakes, etc.

Since breakfast stops at around 10am, it means I've been on my own for lunch which I've taken advantage of. On two of the days so far, I've headed over to the Galeries Lafayette, a huge French department store. On the bottom level they have a mini food hall, including a great sushi cafe.

Mmm, sushi.... I very much enjoyed this spicy california roll.

The food hall is kind of perfect, too, because you can find items that we've had to travel all over France, London, and Belgium to find - but all in one place! So convenient to stock up on our favorite stuff:

Soo yeah. We've been enjoying things so far. Matt's been having a pretty good conference too. Wednesday night we went out to a burger place called The Bird and ohmygosh it was great. (This was after we had some dinner snacks in the lounge to warm up, of course!)

My drink was the cocktail of the week, the Moscow Mule - ginger beer, vodka, lime.

 Not only were the menus in English (listed first), but we knew we were in for a good time from the cards setup on the tables. We both elected for the Medium.

I had a patty melt - the burgers in Europe tend to be ambitious in the amount of filling and the bun usually falls apart. Problem solved with a patty melt - tons inside but the hearty bread keeps it all together. Love love love.

Yum and yum. Last night we went out for burritos to a place called Dolores. We were there in December too, and it's really the only place we've found in Germany that can do a decent take on Mexican.

I like getting the bowl - because a ton of fresh corn chips come on top :-)

But yes, we'll be back soon after we enjoy more of the Hilton, and I go to the gym some more as well.... it's been convenient to just go down two floors to get in my workout.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Mainz Beer Fest!

These past few days have been excruciatingly hot in Germany. While many of you on the East Coast have been enjoying balmy July weather, Matt and I have been sweating it out in our stuffy apartment, trying to position the fans and AC just right so that we don't melt to death.

Luckily, the beer fest was in town, giving us a chance to escape the apartment and venture out for some alcoholic relief. The beer fest itself is a traveling affair, where they go around to different cities in Germany. The stands aren't all your typical German beer, either - there are a lot of stands from Belgium, Asia, and the Americas. Even better - they set it up down by the river, exactly where the wine fest was located in May, which is terribly close to our apartment.

We went both on Friday and Saturday evenings (evenings because what crazy people would be outside when the sun is out???). Anyway, here is Matt trying out some Andechs, a beer that Evan mentioned he enjoyed when he and Kasey visited us last month.

 We of course found the Grimbergen stand. Grimbergen is Belgian (you can tell by the shape of the glass), and we actually have several bottles of it at home. However, we don't have their cherry beer, pictured here. I'm a big fan of the cherry Belgian beers - girly, fruity, and bright.... And in order to fully enjoy our Grimbergens at home, I decided to not return these glasses to the stand. Money well spent, I say.

 The crowds definitely started picking up as everyone else in town had the same idea as us, to stay cool. (We noticed the beer fest was a lot younger crowd, too).

 Matt had been working really hard all week and finally had a chance to unwind. Here he is being silly and trying to drink some of this cardboard monk's beer.

 As was expected, there was also a nice concentration of Bavarian/Munich beer to choose from. All delicious.

 On Saturday evening we finally made it up to the front of this stand, which was also a ship. It was packed the night before.

 Here's my cherry beer I tried to enjoy. There was a very interested bee who insisted on trying some of this, so much so that we had to pour some of it out so he would stop getting into the bottle. He didn't appreciate it.

 No matter - I got to eat as well. I think this might be a new favorite - the frikadelle, which is kinda like a smashed meatball sandwich. It's a little onion-y, and doesn't need any sauce, making it really easy to eat with one hand.

 I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner while Matt had a big meter-long sausage.

 Eating our sandwiches kept us away from the huge Haribo candy stand setup where you could scoop your own. Thank goodness!

While it was a little relief, nothing felt better than returning to our apartment for nice cool showers and barricading ourselves in our bedroom where Harvey the AC was hard at work.

The weather has improved- mostly because I'm blogging right now from the Hilton executive lounge in Berlin, where the AC is perfect and the drinks and snacks keep coming. Matt is doing a conference while I hang out and do homework and hit the gym. I won't have a new post on Wednesday but I'll try to put something together for Friday.

We plan on NOT getting our wallets stolen this time, too. I've made it really easy for myself since my ninja purse has a built-in wallet (take THAT, Berlin!) and I brought one of my pocket scarves to keep things in while I walk around.

Anyway, back to homework! Hope everyone has a great week!