Right Brain Feed

This weekend we went to the monster Paris Flea Market. A little different than the vision that springs into my head when I hear the words "Flea Market". The place was overflowing with really nice antiques, and an aweful lot of it was *way* out of our price range. We asked about an Art Deco tea set, it was only 1400 euros, and didn't include cups and saucers. The candlesticks we liked were 425 euros. Ouch. They had a lot of Art Deco and Art Nouveau pieces, which we really like. So I imagine we'll be going back to look again sometime. Different stored specialized in different things, one place specialized in Art Deco ceiling lights, another in Art Nouveau fireplace surrounds. We did manage to buy one thing, a candelabra. It holds 5 candles, and has a slightly curvy Art Nouveau look to it. The silver plating isn't in perfect condition, but we dined by candlelight tonight, and really liked it. Living in Paris main page

Sarah and I are trying to start a new routine for Wednesday nights. I thought that if I posted it in my blog, there would be a slightly better chance that we'd stick with it. We got a year pass for the Louvre, and so we are going to try to go every Wednesday night to do a small bit of it. The Louvre has over 35,000 objects in its collections, and I hope this way we can see more of it without getting overwhelmed. Louvre map: Last night we did 4 rooms of the Levant collection, mainly from Syria and Cyprus. They were from 2000 to 1000 B.C. Definitely built to last. Living in Paris main page

Sarah and I enjoyed a long weekend in Amsterdam last weekend. I didn't do a lot of photography, we spent most of our time in museums and walking the canals. We got museum passes, which worked out really well. Museums in Amsterdam aren't cheap (most were roughly 10 euros). We arrived the day after a freak windstorm swept northern Europe, in fact our high speed train wasn't so high speed because of the weather. We enjoyed the food a lot, there seem to be numerous vegetarien options, it reminded us of some of the veggie places in Austin. I've posted some photos: Amsterdam album And here is a list of the places we visited: Anne Frank house Rijksmuseum - awesome Rembrant paintings Heineken brewery tour Canal boat ride Van Gogh museum Amsterdam history museum Hermitage museum Rembrandt's House Horticulture garden I think I enjoyed the Van Gogh museum the most. Van Gogh only painted for 10 years, and the museum was able to cover those 10 years in amazing detail. It was in...

We had a great weekend in Avignon. We bopped down on an early TGV Saturday, enjoyed two days of nice sunshine, and crawled back to Paris on Sunday night. It was a great break away from the winter grey. We took a nice walk along the Rhone river, toured the Papal palace, and took a side trip to Orange to see the Roman Theater. The pope bailed on Rome in the 1300's and took up residence in Avignon for a bit. A nice papal fortress was built, which was totally ransacked in the French Revolution. So there isn't much detail left to see inside. The theater in Orange was built in the first century A.D., and is the only roman theater in Europe that still has its back wall standing. I think the best part was our dinner Saturday night at La Mirande. It's a Michelin 1 star in a boutique hotel next to the Papal palace. We signed up for "Table d'hote" (hosted table). The hotel has a restored 19th century kitchen in the basement with a monstrous wood fired stove. You get t...

Sarah and I did our first trip to Europe 10 years ago. We pinched and squeezed, staying at the dregs of the listings in Rick Steve's 1996 Best of Europe. Shared bathrooms, anonymous hairs, paper thin walls. One place we had to put coins in the shower to get hot water. Over the years, I sometimes think we've sold out. Rick's listings now include some nice splurges, and we've started sliding towards them. Case in point, this weekend. We're taking a much needed distraction, escaping the Paris rain, and popping down to Avignon for the weekend. We're staying at a nice hotel with a Michelin 1 star restaurant, and we have reservations for a special dining experience across town at another Michelin 1 star. It's a dinner where the chef is supposed to join you for dinner. I'm not sure how that works, but it is bound to be interesting. We've still had awesome experiences at some well priced places. For instance, an awesome time at a cheeeeap place in Berlin...

Two of our closest Paris friends (Beth and Vivianne) left to move back to Sydney yesterday. We will miss them dearly. They were wildly entertaining, and we could always count on having a great time when they were involved. I caught a massive cold (probably on the flight back from Texas), so I had to miss our goodbye dinner with them. So au revoir, Beth and Vivianne. We will miss our endless bottles of Champagne, death creatures, blogging novel titles, Paris mexican food, pears and roquefort, screaming at World cup finals, The Green Fairy, Jardin des plantes, Vivianne's mexican cuisine, hangovers, the Festival of Vivianne, and long stories about Australia. The expat experience can be like this. You can meet other really interesting expats, and you easily bond over your shared experience of temporarily living in a foreign land. And then you part and go your separate ways. Living in Paris main page