A Place so Nice!!

Thanksgiving weekend is usually a time to relax, eat good food, spend time with the people you love, start getting ready for Christmas, and count your blessings. I was able to do most of these things even in a place where the sacred holiday of Turkey Day is rudely ignored.

I actually had to work on Thanksgiving day (half day followed by a staff meeting--for all you teachers out there, I KNOW! Who does that???). After the very "productive" meeting, I headed to the train station with Emily, Lizzie, and Allie. We were off on our six hour journey to Baden-Baden, Germany. As coined by former president Bill Clinton, Baden-Baden is a place so nice, they named it twice. While I don 't always agree with Mr. Clinton, he was definitely right about Baden-Baden.

Baden-Baden is located in the Black Forest of Germany near the French boarder. It's name means baths...like what you bathe in. Since the 19th century, Baden-Baden has been a resort for royalty, famous people, etc. because of its healing natural springs. The natural springs are precisely the reason we travelled to Baden-Baden because they have two fabulous, and relatively cheap, spas that use the water.

We arrived in Baden-Baden on Thanksgiving evening. We stayed in a very nice hotel. After dropping our things off we headed to dinner at the NY Times recommended restaurant, Lowenbrau. This is a traditional Bavarian restaurant...costumes and everything. We enjoyed some amazing hefeweizen beer (Mom, that's a really good wheat beer they make in Germany) and an interesting Bavarian feast. We decided to go all out because it was Thanksgiving and that's what you do. Before eating we even went around the table and said what we were thankful for. We were all really missing home, but misery loves company so we were able to enjoy our meal...kind of.

Per our waiters recommendation, I order the game pie. I was thinking it was like a meat pie, which I was excited about. INSTEAD, so weird pate looking thing showed up. Fortunately, the servings were large so everyone shared their dishes of normal food--chicken, beef, sausage--with me. Never trust a German when it comes to "game pie." Something definitely gets lost in translation. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and promptly feel asleep after our long day of travelling.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast. I discovered that the Germans really like pickled things--fish, eggs, vegetables. Fortunately, the hotel had many other options for breakfast, so we were well fed. After breakfast Lizzie and I took a walk around the town before we headed out to the spas, the reason we came to Baden-Baden. Here are a few pictures from our walk:

A pretty Bavarian church

Traditional Bavarian architecture...the town was so quaint!
Standing in the rain on one of the main streets

There were two spas to choose from, Friedrichsbad or Caracalla. The Friedrichsbad is the traditional spa where people have been going to become healthy and rejuvenated since the 1800s. This includes the royalty of Europe and great Americans like Mark Twain. It is designed like a traditional Roman/Irish bath, so the focus is not spa treatments like we are used to in the US, but bathing in the healing waters of the natural spring. The other spa, Caracalla, is the much more modern spa, more like what we have in the States. We opted for the Friedrichsbad, because when in Rome...

Like I said, the Friedrichsbad focuses on bathing. In fact, there are 17 stages of bathing you go through. These include showers, two different saunas, a steam room, different temperature pools (including a freezing pool), getting scrubbed down my large German women--they let you know you are finished by spanking you on your behind...really), more showers, lotion, nap time in a cocoon of warm blankets, and then relaxing in a solarium. It was absolutely amazing and my skin never felt softer. Oh, one more thing about Friedrichsbad, it is totally nude the entire time with a mix of both sexes. This made it very interesting, but I have never felt so good about my body as I did that day :). The nude thing was a little nerve-wracking at first, especially because I was with people I work with, but eventually you get over it...then the guys enter the picture and you try not to look. It was weird, but like I said, you never feel as good about your body as after seeing naked and old German men and women. Here is a before picture from the spa:

And the after picture

After our naked spa adventure, we decided to find some lunch. While walking down a street we happened to notice an alpaca. We thought this was hilarious, so I thought I'd share :).

Another funny thing about Germany, or at least Baden-Baden, is that all the pharmacies have gesundheit written on their signs. As I learned, gesundheit means health, and when someone says it to you they are wishing you good health. I tried to take a picture, but it is hard to see. Anyway, there is a fun fact for the day.

After lunch we headed back to our hotel and got our things together to travel to the next place on our journey, Strasbourg, France. Strasbourg is in the much disputed Alsace region of France. The area has belonged to both Germany and France, switching back and forth several times over the centuries. The reason we decided to go to Strasbourg was because Emily, one of the girls I was travelling with, spent a semester in college studying there and told us about its amazing Christmas market. We had to see this for ourselves, especially because it is the oldest Christmas market in Europe...it has been going on since the 1500s.

We arrived in Strasbourg (about and hour and a half from Baden-Baden) in the evening. After dropping our things off at the Holiday Inn (yes, the Holiday Inn) we went to find something to eat. We made our way through the amazingly lit and decorated streets of the city to Chez Yvonne. The restaurant serves traditional Alsatian food which is a mix of French and German cuisine. We also had a very nice bottle of Pinot Gris made in the Alsace region, a place famous for its white wines. Here are a few pictures from that evening:

The next morning we headed to the Christmas market. We were there on the opening weekend of the market, so it was packed, but absolutely wonderful. We began our walk through the market with a glass of vin chaud, or mulled wine. The way they make it is amazing and throughout the day we enjoyed several glasses. There are all types of goods at the market--ornaments, food, decorations, leather, candles, woodwork, etc. It seemed that every way you turned there was something new you wanted to buy. I satisfied this urge by doing my Christmas shopping. Here is a picture of the market, or a small part of it. The market was throughout the entire city.

Now, shopping at the market is not the only thing to do in Strasbourg. There is also an amazing cathedral called Notre Dame in the center of the city. The detail in the architecture is so intricate. It was really amazing.

One of our favorite parts of the market was the Marche Des Bredle. Bredle is Christmas cookies and sweets. There was an entire tent where you could walk through and taste the sweets (and buy them of course). It was heaven!

Outside the Marche Des Bredle was this beautifully carved creche.

After gorging ourselves on cookies, we made our way back to our hotel to rest before going out in the evening. Here are a few pictures from our walk back:

This is the Protestant Cathedral in the city--almost as amazing as the Catholic cathedral

After a rest in our hotel, we headed our for the evening to hear a Christmas concert in the Cathedral. The music was beautiful and the whole concert really put us in the Christmas spirit. Unfortunately, they don't heat cathedrals, so we almost froze to death during the concert. After the concert we walked around the city and came upon the lit Christmas tree. It was an absolutely perfect way to end the day.

The next morning we walked back to the market to kill some time before our 1pm train. We came upon this beautiful tree on our walk.

I can't say enough wonderful things about Baden-Baden and Strasbourg. For anyone looking for unique places to go in Europe, I highly recommend these two cities. While I would have loved to have been with my family on Thanksgiving, I am very thankful for the opportunity I had to travel to such amazing places.

Buon Natale!!

Aahh, Paris!

It had been eight years since the last time I was in Paris and this time was just as wonderful as before. I arrived in Paris on a Wednesday evening with Allyson, Lizzie, and Emily. Of course, there was a huge French transit worker strike. Getting from the airport to the actual city was going to be very complicated. However, due to Emily's connections, one of her friends who lives in Versailles picked us up and drove us in. Steeve (yes, two ee's) was Emily's friend from NYC. He brought along his friend Fabrice. Fabrice can be described as the epitome of Euro trash, but he was absolutely hilarious.

Steeve and Fabrice dropped up off at Oops!, our hostel. It was located on Avenue des Gobelins. We walked into this psychedelically decorated lobby (neon lights, animal print wallpaper, etc) and then went to our room. Now, Oops is a fairly new hostel, which we took for a good thing--clean, some amenities, etc. However, we did not think the wall would not be finished in our four bed (bunk beds...I was on top), one bath, room. Now, some people would be concerned about that, but us girls needed few things in the great City of Lights. The beds were comfortable, they had obviously used a lot of bleach to clean the bathroom, and it was warm. Also, as we discovered our last night there, it had a view of the Eiffel Tower--if you leaned far enough out the window. Oops proved to be a great experience.

The neighborhood we were in, on the Avenue des Gobleins, was lovely. I had never been in that section of Paris, but it was very lively and fun with great shops and cafes. It was a little far from the center of town without public transportation, but the 40 minute walk into the city was absolutely magical each day. We walked through tons of outdoor markets, down cute streets with window boxes, and along avenues with fabulous shops. We were lucky we had great weather, albeit cold, the entire time, so the walks were always enjoyable.

Okay, back to Steeve and Fabrice--After dropping our stuff off at Oops, they took on a driving tour of the city. It is soo beautiful at night! We ended up near the Eiffel Tower at an Irish Pub (I swear, every city has one and they are always fun). We hung out there for a while listening to the adventures of Fabrice and Steeve, then went home where we promptly fell asleep.

The next day we walked into the city with plans to meet Lisa and Andrea, two of our friends who also work in the ES, at Notre Dame. This was the first full view of the cathedral:

We waited for 45 minutes for Andrea and Lisa, then we got a phone call from them saying they had walked the wrong way along the Seine and they were probably a half hour away. We decided to tour Notre Dame while we waited. This is the famous rose window:

We went back outside and decided to take in the view of the amazing church.

Here I am in front of it.

Emily, Allyson, and Lizzie (left to right) waiting outside Notre Dame

We continued to wait for Lisa and Andrea for another hour and a half...they were really lost. We decided to get something to warm us up at a cafe near Notre Dame. I had my first glass of vin chaud (mulled wine) and I was hooked. It definitely warms you up on a cold day.

Lisa and Andrea finally arrived and met us at La Saint Chapelle. This is a lesser known church than Notre Dame, but it my opinion far more magnificent. It was the king's chapel and was originally built to hold relics of the cross. It is known for it's amazing stained glass windows. The pictures don't do it justice, but here is a taste:

After La Saint Chapelle we decided to have lunch. We walked down Rue du Saint Germain, the main drag in the Quartier Latin. Thanks to a recommendation, we ate at Les Deux Magots, a swanky and apparently famous Parisienne cafe. The food was amazing and it was here that we were introduced to Beaujolais Nouveau. As you know, there are many wine regions in France and Beaujolais is one of them. We happened to be in Paris when all the Beaujolais wines were "released." All the restaurants were advertising this new wine, so we had to try it. We ended the meal with amazing apple pie and chocolate cake. We also discovered willing to indulge is a must in Paris :).

Me and Emily with our Beaujolais Nouveau

After lunch we decided to go to the Musee D'Orasy. This is one of my all time favorite museums. It is in an old train station and has the most amazing views of Paris. We walked there, about 40 minutes, along the Seine. You can see Andrea (brown jacket), Lizzie, and Allyson in this picture:

When we arrived at the museum, we discovered it was closing early due to the transit strike, so they wouldn't let us in. Although we were disappointed, the Eiffel Tower made up for it. We walked another 20 minutes to get there and had a great time just being near the amazing structure.

After walking around all day, we decided to get a cab back to Oops to rest up before dinner. As we were waiting in line for a cab, a family of ducks came marching across the road. Two men were stopping all the cars on this very busy road so that the ducks could pass safely. It was adorable.
After arriving back at Oops we decided to eat locally because we were so tired from walking around all day. We went next door to a creperie and had a wonderful, hot meal, then went home to bed. It was a great first day!

The next day we decided to make the Musee D'Orsay our first stop so we would be sure to get there on time. Before going to the museum, Allyson and I decided we needed haircuts. We found a place near Oops and both of us had a very relaxing and much needed haircut. We then walked the 45 minutes through the streets of Paris (because the metro still wasn't running) to the museum. Here is a picture of Le Sacre Coeur from the Musee D'Orsay:

After a wonderful trip through the museum we decided to have lunch at a little bistro on the Rive Gauche, or the fancy side of the Seine. It was on our way to our next stop, Le Champs Elysee. We all had steak and frites with a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau. It was delicious!

After our meal we split into two groups, the shoppers and the non-shoppers. The shoppers, which included me, headed to the Champs Elysee, the famous road surrounded by some of the fanciest shops in Europe. We worked our way down the street indulging in new boots and bags, and we ended up at L'Arc du Triomphe. As with everything else in Paris, it is amazing at night.

After shopping up and down the Champs Elysee, we decided to have a pre-dinner treat of chocolate mousse. From there we walked to the Eiffel Tower where we caught a cab. Walking of the Seine gave us an amazing view of the tower lit at night.
We arrived back at Oops and after an even more tiring day of sight-seeing and shopping, we decided to take naps before dinner. Well, naps turned into sleeping for the night. I was very well rested the next morning.

On our last full day in Paris Lizzie and I decided to go to the Louvre and the Opera House. Here I am in front of the famous pyramids of the Louvre.

Inside Lizzie and I decided to stick to one section and just see some of our favorite pieces. It was, relatively speaking, a very quick Louvre trip, but it was worth it. After the Louvre we walked 20 minutes to the Opera House. Neither of us had ever been there before and it is definitely a place I want to go back and tour. We couldn't help but sing Phantom of the Opera as we walked through. Here are a few pictures from there:

The day ended with another meal at our local creperie, along with three bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau. It was a very fun evening and a great way to end our trip to the city of lights. We left the next morning, definitely not ready to go, but with wonderful memories.

An Italian Getaway

The second week in November I made my way to Torino, Italy, with my friends Blair, Emily, and Allyson. Torino is also called Turin and it is most famous for the shroud it houses, supposedly the shroud Jesus was wrapped in after he died on the cross. It is also famous for hosting the winter Olympics a few years ago. Tornio is the first big town I've been to that is not very touristy. In fact, it is the first place where I really had to use my minimal Italian language skills. It is not a strikingly beautiful place, but it was a great getaway because it was quiet and had some good shopping. Oh, and it had the best hot chocolate I've ever had in my life. Here are a few pictures from my trip.

Torino is known for its many covered arcades.

One of the main piazzas in town

The royal palace

The church houses the Shroud of Turin. You can't actually see the real shroud. They only take it out every ten years or so for people to view. They apparently have a great imitation of the shroud at the altar of the church. Unfortunately, the church was closed the first time we went, so we didn't see it then.

An outdoor market...the fruits and veggies looked so delicious!

After our unsuccessful viewing of the shroud, we made our way to a recommended chocolate store, Barratti & Milano. It had a very decadent decor, as you can see. We felt very elegant and chic....then the hot chocolate came :).

The hot chocolate was so thick it coated your spoon (and teeth..so much for elegant and chic). It was served with freshly made whipped cream. We decided to order some pastries to share because we didn't think the hot chocolate would be enough. We were very wrong, but they were so good!

The window display

We continued our walk of the city towards the River Po. We were greeted by one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen...the pictures do not do it justice.

We made our way back to the hotel. As we were walking through the streets, they lit up with tons of hanging lights in preparation for the holiday season.

The next day we decided to do some touristy things, so we made our way to the Mole. Originally, the structure was going to be a Jewish Synagogue. However, the Jewish community pulled their funding for the project after the architect failed to meet the deadline and had asked for more money than was budgeted. The city decided to step in and finish the project. It now houses the Italian Cinematic Museum. You can take a glass elevator to the top of the spire. The elevator goes through the museum and up through the center of the spire. It is not enclosed...just supported by cables. I never thought I was afraid of heights until this elevator ride. The picture doesn't quite show how high the Mole actually is, but the view we received was worth it.

Even though the day was a bit hazy, you could still see the mountains that surround the city. You can also see the royal palace in this picture.

Me, Blair, and Allyson

After visiting the Mole we decided to try and see the shroud again. This time mass was being held and we weren't permitted in. The sign said we could come back in half an hour and mass would be finished. However, on our third attempt the church was closed. We had to catch our train, so unfortunately we never saw the shroud. It's kind of pathetic that I've been to Turin and haven't seen the shroud, but I guess that just wasn't part of the plan for me.

Emily and Allyson outside the church

Torino's "mascot" is the bull, so I took this picture as we were walking to the train station.