Lemon Pie

Why I love Rodolfo/a good travel companion

1. He will still open doors for me and carry heavy stuff....on occasion
2. He will eat anything *except cheese
3. He will try anything  *except bungee jumping
4. He has an obsession for avocados, ice cream, mango smoothies and above all, lemon pie
5. He will sleep anywhere  *although, not always well
6. He gets really excited about airplanes and airports
7. He can do a bunny dance that guarantees to make me smile....even when I don't want to
8. He has a smile that makes you want to feed him cookies
9. He listens to me whine....a lot.  (He's also the only one on the planet who can get me to stop)
10.  He has a passion for living every day to the fullest, to enjoy every moment and every sensation as much as possible.  He makes me want to try a little harder, push myself a little further, just for the slight chance to see the world thru his magnificently kind, curious and amazing eyes

I'm so lucky to have him as my travel buddy.

Brunch in Lyon

We stayed in Lyon with Rodolfo's amazing friend Sepu!

He introduced us to the world of Lyon's small shops and fresh markets, aka, real LIVING!

Boulangeries, Fromageries, ohmygod-eries!  There is a specific shop for every type of mouth watering food!

The melon, fresh eggs and  almond stuffed olives were purchased in the street market that morning, to the sounds of a French brass band across the street.

The pastry of pure love displayed in the center was found at Sepu's favorite Patisserie ...it consists of a croissant stuffed with chocolate and toasted sliced almonds on top.  Every biteful was buttery bliss!

Something the French are extremely good at is eating well!  The food that we have eaten in Paris, Clement and Lyon we will never forget!  Particularly the bakery and cheese!  My life (and hips) will never be the same!

Clermont-Ferrand France

The alleyways and small streets of this old lava rock stone town are gorgeous!  You can look in any direction and see rolling green hills and take a tour of the 25 or so water fountains!

Two grown up ugly ducklings enjoying grass together in a Clermont park.

Saritah and Laurita strolling along.  We got to stay with one of Rodolfo's good friends from Chile.  Laura was his incredibly adorable daughter who talks about herself in 3rd person and loves parks and princesses.

The future.....

Where are we going to live?

What are we going to do?

When are we going to have babies?

Are we going to buy a house?  Rent an apartment?

What language will we speak?

It's like a looming cloud full of question marks and no answers....
We are at that age where people do these types of things and whether it's the weather or some ticking genetic/reproductive/cranial time bomb, the cloud is getting closer and the question marks are getting bigger!

The funny thing is that when I was working a steady job and living in a steady apartment, I also had the same questions....what is the right thing to do?

We don't know.  *Cue scary horror movie music and women running thru the streets!  AHHHH!!!!!!!
Oops.  time to go walk thru a small quaint French town for a morning stroll and eat some baguette...oh, the stress!  What am I complaining about anyways?

Padam. Padam. Paris!

Pictures of Paris are HERE!

Fruit

La maison

La Louvre

Les morts de Paris

Guess whose bones are buried here?!?

We have decided:

We would rather not be buried in a cemetary to get forgotten about and moldy for 100's of years...eww. Exceptions: We saved the world from Martian attacks, wrote "the" book or compose a generation anthem... then our grave might be actually cleaned in the future

It really sucks to be the dead guy used as a bench next to the other more famous dead guy. Legend says that people have sex next to Jim Morrison's grave. Imagine cleaning up the graves nearby... super eww

Proust has an extremely boring tombstone, so he's probably a bit jealous of Oscar Wilde around the corner, getting kissed all the time...

I felt a bit like dead people paparazzi searching around for famous people in a cemetary *flash - click* ok Rodolfo, where's the next one? (and we weren't alone!) Although, I have to admit, as a free activity in Paris, pretty interesting stuff!

Tar Tar

Our friends took us to a true Parisian restaurant to experience real Parisian French food!

I ordered Tar Tar with looks of praise at my adventurousness not really knowing what I was in for, but promised that if I didn't like it, one of them would eat it for me!

What is Tar Tar?
Raw ground beef with raw egg and delicious seasonings!
Everything my mother has told me not to eat!
I absolutely loved every bite full inbetween fried bites of polenta!

Rodolfo went for the Foie Gras goose burger!

What is this?
The goose is fed yummy things so it gets nice and fat...and that fat...it's like eating heaven!

Best food of our lives!

Bon Pain - The Baguette test!

Here's a fact I just learned from a real live Parisian!!!!

If you want to buy a truly authentic Parisian pastry/bread/anything you see in a window that you would sell your first born for...you have to check the quality of the baguette first!

1.  Does it have a floury crust?
2.  Does it have pointy ends?

If the answer is yes to both, you are now allowed to purchase pastry from a baker who makes good quality pastry every day himself!!!

If not?  They're a fraud selling frozen - thawed  - and thrown in the oven -  non fresh crappy bread unworthy of your highly sophisticated Parisian pallete.

I feel SO COOL knowing this!!!!!!

Oslo Norway

We spent a rainy day walking the city streets of Oslo last week. We visited a park full of naked people statues, a fort, city hall and saw many beautiful steeples. Gorgeous town! We arrived in Paris yesterday....speaking of gorgeous towns! We've already eaten pan du chocolat and some delicious cheese!!!