We just sat down to a fancy New Years Eve dinner at Auberge de Venise. We are getting a set 5 course menu with Bellini to start with, followed by fresh olives, bruschetta and fresh shrimp and we have not even ordered any food yet.
Archive | December, 2013
Galeries Lafayette
Galeries Lafayette is one of those crazy places that is: always busy, has wonderful displays and is not cheap. It is the kind of place you go to to find that perfect Dolce & Gabbana dress or coat or a suit for your 4 year old. It is a place where everything is larger than life, where you […]
Around Paris
Yesterday was dedicated to culture today we are going shopping. On the agenda are BHV and ‘Galeries Lafayette’. In between the two is the City Hall from which you can see the Notre Dame. There was a huge ice ring in front of the city hall and despite the fact that it was +10C it […]
Le Marais
After a quick coffee at Carrousel du Louvre and a bit of well deserved rest we headed out to the Marais. This once again is a place we really loved last year so we went back for more this year. We had a wonderful dinner at a little Italian bistro for something different. L’Alimentari had some wonderful […]
Final Look
While we spent more time last year looking at the paintings and the Egyptian exhibits, this year we looked at more sculptures. This is but a fraction of what the Louvre has to offer, from rooms full of tapestries large enough to cover a small house, to unimaginable amount of ornate gold trinkets large and […]
Eastern Antiquities
The beauty of the Louvre, or at least one of them, is that you can see a lot of stuff from any particular part of the world all in one place. The Louvre, does not have just one of something, it has 10s if not 100’s of these things. Be it old Roman vases or […]
Treasures
Even though The Louvre is filled with a number of countless and priceless works of art, there are a few that draw more people than others. Those are Venus de Milo, Mona Lisa, The Wedding Feast, the Sphinx, Liberty leading the People, Napoleon and of course the Victory which is my favourite piece but once that […]
Louis XVIII
While not a huge exposition – it certainly is a decadent one. Monarchs like nice things and these nice things are beautiful, exqusite and extravagant.
Napoleon’s Apartment
Part of The Louvre is dedicated to Napoleon, a man who collected a lot of the art that is currently on display here. I am not sure if opulent and ostentatious are words that do justice to his pad, but it is a start.
Cour Marly & Cour Puget
This was our favourite place at the Louvre this time around. We did not get to see this last year, this year then this was a double treat because there were almost no people here which was a nice change from the rest of the museum and the place is absolutely beautiful. This was also […]
Greek Gods
One of the exhibits we saw today was a room dedicated to Greek Gods. The usual suspects, Athena, Apollo, Mars, Mercury etc. Larger than life in myth and in marble.
The Louvre
Today was a long day, we spent almost 12 hours out in the city. We had two objectives for today The Louvre for art and Le Marais for dinner. The Louvre is a place that is extraordinary in and of itself. Priceless works of art aside, The Louvre is magnificent on its own merit. […]
We are here
We have settled in, unpacked and relaxed a bit. Then, once the restaurants opened we went out for a nice dinner to a local bistro down the street called Le Cercle. Great food, great service and a typical Parisian ambiance.
Countryside
German and French countryside as seen from a train moving at about 340km/h on the French side and about 230 km/h on the German side. Green and sunny and most importantly no snow in sight.
Amateur Travellers
We are so un-familiar with train travel in Europe. We set an alarm to make sure we don’t miss our stop this time, which would have been hard to do since it was the end of the line for the first train. We had a nice lunch in Stuttgart, and 10 min into our trip […]
TGV
This is our first time on a French train on this trip. We are all very excited, we are traveling in comfort and style.
Off to Paris
We have boarded ICE. We are on our way to Stuttgart where we are going to have a little lunch and change trains. TGV, the French train will take us to Paris.
ICE to TGV
We are setting off to Paris. Being here, we can’t think of a better city to be in for New Year’s Eve. We are going by train just to mix things up, and because having a car in Paris is absolutely useless, this just makes sense.
St. Alexander’s Church
Getting out of the house for a walk is the only remedy for not just sitting and eating and eating and eating. We got out for another afternoon walk to work up an appetite and to explore more of Warsaw. On the Three Crosses Square surrounded by Hugo Boss, Burberry, Church’s, Ermenegildo Zegna, Max Mara, Coccinelle, W. Kruk, JM Weston, […]
Churches in Warsaw
On our short walk through the Old Town in Warsaw we walked by no less than 9 or 10 churches. Each nicer then the last. Some were empty, some were full of visitors, while others were at worship, some still were full of well wishers for the newly weds. Each different and unique with its […]
Warsaw – Old Town
After a very late lunch we got out of the house for a walk – destination Warsaw Old Town. It was still +10C when we parked but the sun was already setting. It appears that at least half of the city of Warsaw had the same idea, Christmas walk around the Old Town. Warsaw puts […]
Merry Christmas!
Feeling Gratitude and Not expressing it is like wrapping a present and Not giving it. A very Merry Christmas to you all, from all us here in Warsaw.
Stary Dom
We will file this under – what were we thinking eating this much? Stary Dom is an old charming restaurant in Warsaw, Mokotów. The service is good, the food is amazing and the desserts are to die for. On the menu, steak tartar, zurek, wild boar roast, roasted duck and baked salmon. Next time we […]
On Wisła
After a bit of sight seeing we got out to the Wisła river for a bit of a walk. It is sunny, it is 9C outside a nice walk by the river is well in order after all the food we had.
Church of Transfiguration
This little church was built between 1805-1806 right next to the Czersk Castle. The bricks used in the construction of the church came from the ruins of the Czersk Castle.
Czersk Castle Ruins
What used to be the second largest city in central Poland after Plock, is now a small medieval village of about 600 people just outside of Warsaw. The Gothic castle had great military importance, and was built like a fortress. The ruins of this castle, which was originally built in the early 11th century, are all […]
Warsaw Uprising Museum
The Warsaw Uprising Museum is located in the Wola district of Warsaw dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The museum opened on July 31, 2004, marking the 60th anniversary of the Uprising. The museum exhibits are very modern but the layout of the museum is reminiscent of an old city streets which were boomed and destroyed during the war. This is […]
Galeria Mokotów
We are out doing a bit of shopping in Warsaw. Nothing recharges the energy like a large sugary dessert for lunch!
We have arrived
Despite our prefuse protests, we are 7 months in and in Poland for the 3rd time. However, having said that, this is the first time we are here for holidays. No passports, no paper work, no government offices to visit. We did an afternoon run leaving Nuremberg at 1:30pm and arrived in Warsaw at 8:40pm […]
Road Trip
Our first road trip this holiday season will be to see our family in Warsaw and to spent a few days with them and celebrate Christmas. We are hoping to get there later on tonight and start the holiday relaxation first thing Thursday morning.
Happy Holidays
We are going to be starting our holidays a bit early this year and doing a bit of travel. As such today when the school ends at 1pm we are picking up the kids and driving off. Our Nuremberg residence will be closed for the holiday season.
Christmas Countdown!
It’s 10 days before Christmas. Since we did not get ourselves an Advent Calendar to have a small treat each day we will just have to make do with this little box of French delight. To yours and our health then, we raise a glass to Merry Christmas.
Mid December
The Christmas Market is still in full swing with just as many people around the stalls as ever, so we avoid the main square like the plague. However, there are still some nice and quiet places around the old town where it’s nice and quiet and empty and serene. It is still quite warm, mostly […]
Fußball-Bundesliga
In one respect Nuremberg is like Edmonton. We have either the worst or the second worst football club in the German Bundesliga – FC Nuremberg, much like Edmonton with its hockey team or Williams in Formula 1. Sure they were all champion teams at one point in time but it was so long ago no […]
The Greener Grass
It appears that the first real snow has melted faster than anticipated. Essentially the next morning there was no trace of it. This however, spurs the people to get into full winter mode and put winter tires on. For now we are back to green grass and mild temperatures of 6 to 9C so quite […]
First Real Snow
Today marks the first day of a real snow fall. We heard stories about this event from the locals so we were ready. Naturally, we got our camera out to take some photos of this momentous occasion before the snow melts and there is no trace of it.
Take Two
It appears that Tuesday is a better day to start off the week, so we are out once again trying to have a closer look at the market. Still too many people there, this is absolutely crazy. With about 40,000 people per day visiting this place I think this place is going to stay a bit […]
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