Bye bye, Paris. Hello Britain, the yanks are coming!

Morning sun from the apartment window the day we are to depart from Paris

A farewell shot of the apartment we called home for a couple weeks... Au revoir Paris.  

Thanks again Colette and JP!

So we boarded the Eurostar to visit Ned's parents in England.  Melissa was tempted by the option of EuroDisney but we had plans. Next time, maybe.

Our trip to London was relaxing and roomy on the Eurostar.  Nice lunch and free reading material. Look, they even have Zach Galifianakis here!

Our trip didn't end in Kings Cross, we boarded another train Cambridge bound to the wilds of East Anglia and our final destination of our trip...

...it's Ely!  Jewel of the Fens.  Home of the cathedral by the same name and the great River Ouse!

Approaching the cathedral from the meadow, it was a beautiful day. 

Ned discusses where he can 'get his drink on' with his dad outside of Saint Mary's Cottage, their 16th century home of some 25 years. It's just a stones throw from the cathedral. They did a great job with the place and it is very cozy despite some hurtles in the past like no heating and hornets in the water pipes.  They even have basic cable now but still haven't been able to rid themselves of pesky ghosts.

The back garden of the house.  A source of great pride to Ned's parents who are getting more English every day.

No one could quite explain the flags about town, mumblings about Saint Etheldreda or something.  I don't think that's right I suppose they just wanted to dress things up a bit.

The rear cathedral grounds near the very posh Kings School where Melissa tried to abduct small cats roaming the gardens.

A few antique dolls owned by Olivia, a local friend of the 'rents and a Christie's expert in the field.  She's written several books and had an endless collection to show the ladies on a visit for tea at her grand home.

At Susan's front door. She's a long time friend and neighbor.  Hey, Susan, we're here for our tea!

We went for a nice pub lunch on Sunday at Chequers outside Cambridge.  In the beginning, we had a little trouble trying to find the right thing on the menu. After some heavy eye rolling and in an attempt to resolve our indecisiveness, our salty and impatient waitress exclaimed "that's four carverys, then!"  She was right, it was the thing to order that day.  The Sunday carvery special was a freshly carved roast with yorkshire pudding,  fried potatoes, vegis, gravy and a yummy homemade horseradish sauce.

Kings Lynn Art Center, probable residency location for Ned in 2012

The great river Ouse as seen outside the Cutter Inn; the premier pub, restaurant and weekend dance hall in Ely.

After some exploring around the house boats on the Ouse, we had to earn our drink at the Cutter by hunting for a gifts at the Waterside antique shop.

One possible purchase, a Victorian three piece tea set.  A very tony way to enjoy a cuppa.

No pellets for these guys outside the Waterside. Tah tah, then off with you, yanks!

Au revoir Paris!

We're in England now and without a good internet connection, so we may not get our pictures up until Tuesday or wednesday.  We're in a coffee shop with a decent connection in Ely, Cambridgeshire, but with only short time to fiddle around.

Our last day in Paris turned out to be a holiday- Ascension - so many things were closed and the streets were very quiet.  We headed over to the Grand Mosque, since we figured it would be open on this Catholic  holiday - and so did everyone else!  The mosque had a lovely courtyard which we sat in for a glass of tea and some baklava, a coconut brownie and a turkish delight.

We walked through the Jardin Des Plantes nearby.  Then that evening was beautiful and we spent it with half of Paris in the Tuileries in front of the Louvre.  We had perfect weather and a perfect place to stay, many thanks to Colette and JP for their kindness in lending us their place.
The next morning we packed up our treasures and jumped the Eurostar to London.  Then to Kings Cross station and a train to Ely, about 20 minutes past Cambridge to stay with Ned's parents in their charming St, Mary's Cottage, a 16th century cottage at the edge of the grand cathedral here.  More on that this weekend, hopefully with pictures.

Amsterdam!

Yes, we decided to take a break from Paris and being inclined toward foreign friendly, urban environments, we ended up in Amsterdam for two nights.  We had visited the city together about 10 years ago and Ned used to roam its streets even longer back than he cares to admit, it still felt like a new and unique experience.  For one, we spend most our time in tourist-free locales.  Something highly recommended in this city, where areas heavily trafficked by foreigners retain a seedy vibe.

Amsterdam is a tight, crowded, and somewhat chaotic place for the most part, but we found a calm and spacious place to lay our heads; the Prince Henry B&B on the south side of the Vondelpark.

This neighborhood is called the Oud Zuid (Old South) and it has the nicest homes and streets, in close vicinity to the park and peppered with vine, cheese and bread shops.

As seen on the top map marked with an (A) we were so close to the park which was a nice oasis.

The Prince Henry's owners Joop and Petra made a delicious breakfast (she's a caterer) each morning according to our tastes.  They also provided a pantry filled with (supermarket priced) drinks and snacks.

As previously mentioned, much of our trip differed from past visits beginning with the fully updated tram system.  No more archaic paper (strippen)cards and charming, yet ultimately perplexing ink stamping machines.  Now you buy an electronically scanned card for the amount of time you need and use it as much as you want.  This is crucial when you mistakenly board the wrong tram (which happened immediately) or one headed in the wrong direction.  You can take the bus too, but the tram covers most of the city.

Here's a quick rundown on our activities for the following 48 hours.  First stop, the Leidesplein for Vlaamse Frites from the Chipsy King and a leisurely walk around the Prinzengracht canal and through the Jordaan for window shopping.  

Mmmmmmmm, smaakt goed!

A hobbit home in the Jordaan.

Next, a drink at a tourist free bar on the canal and plans for dinner.  We decided on a place near the B&B called Affourtit, where our waiter was young and friendly but not used to translating the menu.  There was some guesswork involved but our meal was delicious, if somewhat eclectic.

The next day it was off to the Pijp to visit the food market stalls on Albert Cuypstraat. This daily market stretches three extremely long blocks and has tons food, clothes and other things.  We bought some fantastic farm cheese which had all kinds of spice and one with nettles.  Unfortunately, the nettle cheese did not survive a midnight raid by hungry mice, but that's another story.

Tons of stuff, some good, some not so good.

Back to the Jordaan for a stroll and look back at what wasn't open yesterday, which was quite a lot for a Monday.  Ah, Europe... you and all your bank holidays.  What a way to live.

Cool houseboats which will never cast off.  We were considering staying at one but had the feeling it's more charming at a distance.  Would we have to pump the toilet and periodically bail out the kitchen?  No thanks.

 People in the Netherlands love to display various collections in their windows.  Here are some French spool knitters that look like they span decades.  Another favorite are KLM miniature dutch row house liquor bottles.

Just boats, lots and lots of boats.  We noticed that if you're a single guy and you can, you must get a boat, any boat. They're major chick magnets ;)

Dinner at the Witte Uyl.  The restaurant was really interesting with organic local fare and super nice wines.  It had a white theme with inventive dishes and tons of white asparagus.  Ned had the chocolate board for dessert, off the menu because it is really difficult to carve hard chunks apart with a dull cheese knife.  Fun though it took over two hours to make our way through dinner.

Last day we did our last minute shopping, walked around Vondelpark and headed back to Paris. Boo hoo, bye Amsterdam!

Amsterdam!

we hopped a high speed train and came to Amsterdam for two nights. We didn't bring our computer so I can't post pictures until we return to Paris on Wednesday. But trust us, it is a beautiful city.
Plus, Ned found this fantastic apartment/b&b in the oud zuid (old south) section of town,a residential neighborhood on Vondelpark.
Here's the website to the place (the correct one!)
Www.princehenry.nl

Outdoor food market, Jardin du Luxembourg and tourist haven

Sunday morning, the perfect time to get up and go out to the organic food market on the Boulevard Raspail and do a little shopping for our petit dejeuner.  Too bad we were slow out the door and kind of already full from the blini and lox we bought at the Monoprix.  The vendors were staring to pack it up soon after we arrived but there was still time to look.  

A nice setting on the boulevard.

Quite a nice bounty of fruit and always a little white asparagus to be found.

Um, excuse me, can you tell me a little more about your rutabaga? Was it grown humanely? 

Pre-sliced artisanal bread wrapped in plastic.  This kind of thing can really set Ned off on a diatribe. "What's the point? They don't know how to slice bread!?!"

"Hmmm, what else won't I buy today?"

The chicken and the egg. It's all here...

Not so strict with the food market definition, clothing vendors managed to slip in.  Melissa inspects the scarfs.

The homemade pasta was moving fast. This vendor had all kinds of other goodies too.

 After reaching the end of the Raspail market, we were just a few blocks away from the Jardin du Luxembourg.  We strolled over to this beautiful city park, along with half the city.  It was an incredible,  warm day.  Almost too warm for les touristes.

This guy has been at the park a very, very, very long time-- like since 1881.

The lovely lake in the center with mini sailboats crisscrossing.

The Palais du Luxembourg.  We really don't now what's in this building.  But it was surrounded by guards.
 

Somehow, we managed to get ourselves to the Louvre, well the outside of the Louvre.  We were too museum-d out to take this monster on.  But the exterior and the Jardin des Tuileries were lovely.

Quel mignon!

A demain, mes amis.  We are taking a trip out of town for two nights and should be able to update our blog from the B&B.  Can you guess where we're headed (via high speed train)??