Last month in Paris

Ok yall, it's been a while. We are actually in Buenos Aires now, and have been for almost a week. But I didn't really write anything about the two weeks we spent in PARIS, so here's a briefing in a dozen pictures or so.  Also to come, Favorite Art in Paris. As it turns out, this one is mostly about food. How did that happen?

Brace yourself, these are pretty cheezy...

The obligatory Eiffel Tower pic!

We're so fancy

I didn't realize this thing twinkled once an hour once the sun goes down. Now this is romance.

Cutter's roasted Monkfish with olives, potatoes, and Duckfat Cracklins'. Enough said. Wait, one more thing... Have you tried monkfish?  The name makes it sound gross, but it's not. It's delicious, like eating lobster. 

ALL kinds of liver. Cutter focusing deeply, in utter disbelief and amour. I restrained him from getting the 24-pack.

The Sewer Museum. Actually extremely interesting. A historical perspective on where people's poop has gone throughout the centuries in Paris, all the while fresh ones are flowing by underfoot. Cutter is pleased. More pleased than I was with his mustache...

No need for captions here, really. We found our favorite baguette in Paris. (Yes!) And then we never found it again. (No!) It is only a legend in our memories now, documented only in these flattering pictures of me.

A brief visit to the Champagne region with Bri and Matt. TAAASTY! You'll notice that while  the others ordered a delicious plate of cheese, hams, mustards, pickles, fresh baguette, etc (top), I accidentally ordered yet another cylindrical mass of livery gray meat, which came with white toast (bottom). Dang!  French.  Anyway, I "suffered" through, with a little help from my friends Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier.

This is where your Mumm comes from. Pronounced "mooom." Be sure to say it correctly at your next cocktail party when you serve it with fois gras. Oh wait, that's Cutter's dreams.  We always preferred PBR and peanuts, anyway.

Ok this is a stupid picture. BUT, this was one of the coolest things ever.  You hear  "light show at the Cathedral in Reims," and you think, "that will probably be stupid, but we might as well check it out on our way home from dinner." So we did, and HOLY COW!  This is CRAZY! My mind melted. If you're ever in Reims, go see it.

A sycamore after one of the many rainstorms on our walk home from the neighborhood market.  Trés belle!

CHEESE! And delicious butter.  One of these was actually almost too stinky to eat. You just never know til it's too late. No regrets. Never look a gift horse in the tail. Snoozers are losers. Billy Jean was not my lover. Feliz cumpleaños. A tout a l'heure!!

July 6: Sauerkraut & Gewurztraminer

Well, hello. We have arrived in Paris!! (My first time.)  And here's what it looks like in our little apartment...

I did a good job, yes?  SabbaticalHomes.com.  Cheaper than a hostel! 

After our first trip to the market... Yes!

Moving back in time... Cutter looking dapper at our launching pad for the Alsatian Route du Vin, the lovely town of Kayserburg. On the Route for 3 days.   Baby grapes, a castle, some cute German-looking houses... what more could you want?

Oh yes, sausage. This is called choucroute. That's a heap of sauerkraut under there, topped with generous slabs of ham, several types of weenies, and of course potatoes.  If I'm not mistaken, Cutter may be sipping some Gewurztraminer here.

Only the finest accommodations for our fancy wine-tasting vacation. (More sausage money.)

The Alsacian stork was nearly extinct, with only two breeding pairs left.  Now there are 400.  One almost flew into our windshield.  40 years of good luck. (I made that up.) Cutter refused to buy me stork slippers, or a stuffed animal stork, or a stork snowglobe.  Fine!

This one's for Mom, Dad, and Aunt Nancy. This is in Riquewihr. About halfway up the 170km of winding roads and little towns along the foothills of the Vosges. Other stops included Colmar, Turckheim, Ribeauville, Dambach-la-Ville, Eguisheim, Katzenthal, & Strasbourg.  Vins include pino blanc, pino gris, gewurztraminer, sylvaner, muscat, crement, reisling, and pinot noir.  Too lovely...

And so we move back to sauerkraut. This time in Budapest. Not just kraut, but pickles. All kinds. And pickles stuffed with kraut.

Szechenyi baths in Budapest. What a freakin fabulous day.

A nicer view.  Lots of nice views in Budapest, but you can google image those. Budapest was awesome, by the way.

Well, I guess that's it for now. We've settled into our apartment in Paris, where we'll be for 15 days. Wowza! Better figure out what to do.  Lotsa Love--