Testing....testing. Vacation version.

 I have trip coming up and thought I would do the blog thing again...since it was fun (at least for me) to document my adventures in foreign lands. And since I haven't posted anything here for a while, I thought I would take the old blog for a test drive and make sure everything is in working order. (Working order = I still know how to work this thing.)

I am heading back to Paris and London. "Why are you going back to those places when you have already been?" I hear you ask. Good question. Paris, well because it's Paris and it's an amazing city: beautiful, great food, great art, and any culture that thinks chocolate is a food group is alright with me. London, well, because London and I have had a bit of a tenuous relationship. I really want to like it, I really do. But for some reason we just haven't hit it off. So the goal of this trip is to fall in love with London, or at least develop a small crush on it.

I also figured this would be a good time to catch everyone up on some terms and things that might be helpful for you while reading my blog while I am away. (If you weren't following the previous installments.)

Croque Monseiur:

I had heard about this sandwich before. I knew it was a fancy ham and cheese sandwich. I never had the opportunity to experience it. So when I arrived in Paris last time, I was determined to try this odd named sandwich. My first meal upon arriving in the City of Lights was THE SANDWICH.

Now you are going to say, ham and cheese, big deal. Uh...no. This was probably one of the most delicious things I have ever had. Fresh bread, ham, bechemel sauce with a topping of cheese that is melted and browned to perfection. It was heaven. (And it probably didn't help that I was sitting in a cafe in the Tuilleries Gardens, that is just a stones throw away from the Louvre.)

Seriously, this confirmed to me that really good and fresh ingredients put together in a simple way, makes the best food. And admittedly, I did eat this almost every day I was in Paris. I have googled the best croque monseiur in Paris, and will check it out and report back.

Paris Cafes:

There is this 'cafe culture' in Paris that is, in my opinion, awesome. You sit in a cafe, drink wine or a cafe au lait and eat a chocolate croissant (or eat a croque monseiur) and watch the world go by. There is a cafe on almost every Paris corner (kind of like Tim Horton's in Hamilton...but nicer.) And you can just sit and read or write or just relax, and it's okay...that's what people do. There are no waiters looking at their watch and willing you to leave. It's okay to just sit and enjoy.

So that, my friends, is what I intend to spend some of my time doing.

Getting lost:

Apparently I didn't take the map reading 101 class, and I somehow missed out on the sense of direction gene. So traveling, especially on my own, becomes challenging at times. And usually, this isn't a problem, you get to see a lot of the city that you wouldn't normally. But, when you are actually trying to get somewhere it's frustrating. And for some reason, London seemed to be my nemesis. Yes, I understand that the city wasn't built on a grid system. Yes, I understand that the city has been built, destroyed and rebuilt many times. So for someone with a wayward sense of direction, and no developed map reading skills, London posed a challenge. But alas...I have a solution. (Drum roll please!!) My iPhone!!! It has google maps, gps and I have put all the addresses that I need in it. So I should be able to cut down on my getting lost time by at least 60%.

Well, it seems as if I can still post a blog. Woo hoo!!!