Parents in Europe: Part 1 of 3

Let's talk about Paris. We'll come back to Vienna and Germany later.

My parents really wanted to go, so I said that when they were over here, I'd take them, and I'd take them on a train. So that's what we did. Just the three of us, as Matt was out of town for work.

They only wanted to hit a few things, so we opted to leave on Tuesday morning and return Wednesday evening. Here we are on the train, with one of many cappuccinos my mom got throughout the trip.

Everyone's awake!

 ...and then dozing off. We took a French SNCF TGV train, with top speeds of around 320 kmph/198mph!

After fighting through wind and a ton of pollen (seriously Paris, get that stuff under control), we finally arrived at our hotel, with nice cushy beds and plenty of pillows.

On our way to dinner, I took them around on the Paris metro for the first time. If you've ever ridden it, you know what a maze it can be, what with its 300+ stations. I led them out next to the Louvre, where they were not expecting to see so much awesome as we emerged from a corner escalator.

Walking toward the Arc de Triumphe, we stopped to smell the flowers in the Jardin des Tuileries

 Mmm, nice.

 With ominous clouds looming and wind continuing to whip, we continued along the Champs-Elysees toward the Arc.

 Victory!

 We also went right up to it, but couldn't see a portion since it was being blocked off for a concert or demonstration or ceremony. Something.

 Before we went to the Eiffel Tower, I had made us reservations at Maison de la Truffe, which essentially translates to House of Truffles. Matt and I had eaten at their other Paris location last year and really enjoyed it. After previewing the menu, it looked like everyone could find something they enjoyed.

I, being in France, had been salivating over a Beef Tartare. The truffles on top made it all the more magical. Even my dad tried a teeny tiny bite! And liked it!

 My mom thoroughly enjoyed her truffle-topped omelet. I didn't take a picture of my dad's fish. He opted for no truffles, so his plate wasn't nearly as pretty.

 But his chocolate mousse was!

 Mom's cappuccino. I had a tiramisu. We all left stuffed, and ready for the Eiffel Tower.

It rained on the way, but by the time we got up to it, in its illuminated glory, the clouds were parting. This picture isn't edited in any way - the clouds truly looked like that as they dissipated.

 Time for some pictures!

 Here's dad getting a picture of me taking a picture of them.

 Mom and I!

Once we got up there (after first sharing an elevator with a kid from Richardson, Texas, a stone's throw away from where Matt is from), I captured a short video of the lights.

The following day we had a decadent breakfast at Angelina, where Matt and I have been before. Delicious cappuccinos, black teas, fresh orange juice and a ton of carbs. Rolls, croissants, chocolate croissants - and butter, jam and honey. We really needed to carbo-load for our continued walk.

I took them to the Pont des Arts, where they were fascinated with all the love locks. Many couples come to the bridge (as well as bridges in a few other European cities) to attach a lock and throw the key in the river to represent their love for each other. I pointed to a few humorous locks of the combination variety that seemed a tad disingenuous.

We made it to Notre Dame in time to hear a choir perform and walk around. You could tell they were singing quietly, but those acoustics were top notch.

More walking, rain and wind led us back to the Louvre mall area where we had a bite to eat and I got Matt these treats. Eventually we made it back to the train station, boarded the train, and got home in time for bed.

Au revoir, Paris!

We now return to regularly scheduled blogging.

My parents have come and gone, and all I'm left with are a ton of photos of their trip. And homework, of course.

For my parents VERY FIRST trip to Europe, Matt and I attempted to give them a taste of the best the continent has to offer. We started out in our own backyard of Mainz and took them to the wine festival going on down by the Rhine river, followed by a whirlwind trip to Paris by train, had a few relaxing days to recuperate at the apartment, and then a road trip to Vienna. Although we saw and did a ton, there was still more we could have accomplished.

But certain guests of mine somehow brought all the rain to Europe when they came, making for some wet and soggy sightseeing days here and there. We managed to get a lot of great pictures though.

Here are a few of my favorites. I'll recap the rest of their adventures next week.

Wine fest on the Rhine (which my parents will always insist on calling "river fest")

 I took them on a long walk down the river and made them stand on the train bridge to get this picture. My mom does not like bridges, so it was an impressive feat.

 Dad drank more beer than I thought he would during the trip.

 And look who else tried some!

Before the rain, we managed to venture out in Paris to enjoy the flowers and ambiance.

 Visiting the Eiffel Tower was also a treat - the rainy weather made all the tourists scatter.

On the way to Vienna we stopped for lunch where they brew Matt's favorite beer.

 Outside of Vienna, we took my parents on a scenic train ride through the pretty Alps. And made them hike into town for lunch.

 The views were great though, and everything was very peaceful and quiet.

 My parents have never played monopoly with Matt before. He doesn't go easy on anyone, even in-laws.

This one is probably one of my favorites. On the last day I had them get dressed in our Oktoberfest gear to pose for pictures. This is their prom pose picture.

Upcoming blogging break

As much as I enjoy writing this for all of you (and for myself), I have to take a break from blogging until Friday, May 16 to attend to my parents.

They're coming, they're coming! On a Lufthansa plane like this!

I just won't have time to keep you updated while attending to their needs. Considering our jam-packed touristy schedule, there will be plenty of posts after they go back, so don't fret.

On their first day, we're going to the wine fest along the Rhine. I saw them setting up yesterday morning:

On the other side of the bridge they have the Mainz Strand - it's a beach they setup (including trucking in sand) for the nice weather!

But anyway...

I will keep posting to my Instagram account as they happen, so check us out there.

In the meantime, set your calendars for Friday, May 16th for the dramatic return!

Wrapping up grad school class #4 this week!

Whoa, last week of class, how'd you sneak up on me so fast?!

It was a particularly challenging course this time around, and it wasn't totally because of all the traveling I did during the last eight weeks. Although that really upped the challenge-factor. My class is called Leadership Development and requires a lot of self-reflection (and taking a multitude of self-assessments) throughout the course.

As I finish my portfolio project, a 10+ page paper all about where I am in terms of my leadership development, I've grown to realize I still have a long way to go in certain areas. There's some stuff I'm good at, according to the self-assessments anyway. But still, it seems like there's always something else I could be doing to be even better.

I also learned my limits as to how hard I can push myself to complete the work. Because we were gone for a ten-day cruise, I had to frontload a lot in order to turn in assignments before the due date. I also had weekends where I wasn't around (off doing fun things) so I had to chain myself to my desk most of the time during the week.

For those that think grad school is easy and requires minimal effort and the only ability to pay for it, you're wrong. At least at CSU, these are difficult if you don't pay attention, don't do the readings, or just all around don't care. Luckily I do care, and even though I hate dealing with all the little required grammatical fluff and strict adherence to APA writing standards, I just have to grit my teeth and bare it.

I also tend to reward myself after I complete an assignment with some delicious treat from a trip, or thirst-quenching glass of wine. Mmm. It's a good incentive system. Now we can also add to the reward list the ability to take relaxing saunas with our new essences:

(We were very excited to find these over the weekend.).

Class #5 begins next Monday, so there is no lull in getting this degree. After this week I'll be 1/3 done. With a fresh start I'm hoping that I can manage my workload a little easier, and not leave such a large chunk of the final paper until the very end.

But we'll see. There's no telling what the sunshine and spring temperatures will bring in terms of new adventures to take...

The forgotten France trip: Reims, take 2

Just before the cruise, Matt and I tagged along on a spur of the moment adventure to Reims, France, where a few of our friends were going. Matt and I had been there before but who says no to the capital of the Champagne region?

Since we knew we were going to come home with more bottles, Matt and I decided to treat our car companions to some mimosas, using one of the remaining bottles of champagne we had left.

We were under a time crunch to drink it before the border to France. We made it in plenty of time.

After arriving (it's a short 3 hour or so drive), it was time for lunch and some wine....

Since I was in France, I immediately ordered the beef tartare. Mmm. Dessert was of course a cafe gourmand.

Next, the group drove down to Epernay, which is where they were all going to take the Moet & Chandon tour. Since Matt and I had already done it, we decided to walk around the city as well as along the Avenue de Champagne, where all the pretty champagne houses are located.

See what I mean?

We also relaxed in the park in the center of the city.

To kill more time, we tried out this place too.

When we met up with the others, it was about time to eat again. (Gosh I love this country). So we settled into a table outside and I prepared to eat what I'm confidently calling one of my top 5 burger experiences. Take a look at this:

What's all that you say? It's a beef burger, sauteed onion, ooozy burger sauce, and it's topped with seared foie gras. All on a buttery brioche bun. Man that was good.

With our food comas taking over, we all eventually make our way to the hotel and settle in for the evening. The next day we decided to check out some more champagne houses. Here are the ladies at Mumm:

Then you guessed it- time to eat again. It was a really great meal, but I had to take my French speaking skills, which I promise are nothing special at all, to the very max. There was no menu so the waitress got up in my face and told me everything (even though the items were listed on a wall behind me. Why she chose to do this I'll never know). She knew maybe one or two words in English and all that French gave me a headache.

Good thing lunch was so amazing. I had this chef salad and Matt had a "potato burger" which was a genius idea- it was a burger with hash brown patties as buns. So smart. Round that out with another cafe gourmand....

And we were back on the road. After parking at Veuve Clicquot but deciding we didn't want to pay the pricey entry fee, we wandered elsewhere.

Taittinger sounded like a good place, and we got to bypass the cellar tour and go straight to the tasting. Since it was late in the day, the accommodating staff said we could buy a bottle and drink it in the tasting room, so we did just that.

I also enjoy their logo on the door.

....huh?

I didn't take pictures of the last place, but I feel like we missed out on a really great tour. We hit a small champagne house where they really don't do a lot of exports. As a result, their tastings were very reasonable, we got to try a ton of things, and we basically liked them all. The server had just gotten back from Texas, and Matt and I thought this was super comical because she just went on and on about how great Texas was. She said people were coming up to her and seeing if she needed help, everyone was so nice, blah blah blah. She was incredibly excited to be going to Florida the following week, and then over to Seattle. Small world.

After a long day of drinking, we returned to a restaurant that Matt and I had been to on our last trip and got some flammkuchen, French-style.

When we woke up the next day, we found a little corner restaurant for a quick breakfast. It barely looked like a restaurant though - we're fairly certain we just walked into someone's house (which happened to have a little storefront to it) and had breakfast. We all ordered coffee (and hot chocolate for Matt), and it came out. Then croissants came out. Then toast and jam. Then breakfast meats.

We were the only ones in there and she just kept bringing out food, we didn't know when it would end, or if by accepting the food we were somehow adopted! After the strenuous French speaking the day before, I was pleased that this lady was so patient and all around sweet to us. Plus, everything tasted great.

Good stuff, France. You don't disappoint.

On the way home we stopped in Belgium at an abbey where they make Orval beer. They only make it here, so we decided to have a nice lunch and see what all the fuss was about.

Matt had the duck...

And I had the meatballs in the beer-cheese sauce.

Yes, they were as good as they look.

There were so many things on the menu that we had trouble deciding, so I suppose this means we'll have to return. (We of course got some beer, two more Belgian glasses, and a huge chunk, a kilogram, of the beer cheese.).

A fun weekend was had by all, and Matt and I are now stocked up on Champagne for awhile.

Until next time, France!