Christmas in Paris

This is now our second December in Paris, though this year we won't be celebrating Christmas in France. On Monday we leave for the United States, my first trip back in over a year (though Melanie was home for a few weeks just last month). We'll spend roughly a week in Wyoming, with Melanie's family, then fly to Colorado for a week with mine.  Autumn and Mike are going to join us, though they will be arriving late and leaving early due to school, work and other commitments.

Taking a Walk

A couple of weeks ago I decided to take a walk, and maybe catch a little holiday spirit. Here are some photos I snapped:

The Place Vendôme is just a few blocks from our apartment

Here's a painting (from about 1816) of the famous square

The street I was on, Rue de la Paix, connects the "Place Vendôme" to the Opéra de Paris. (The street was built in 1806 and was initially named "Rue Napoléon".)

Many of the brasseries and restaurants decorate for the holidays

As I continued my walk I saw a lot of street decorations

I braved the crowds to take in the window displays at the famous Galeries Lafayette

This window display had a kind of steam punk feel to it

This display was really beautiful... my picture doesn't do it justice

The Christmas Market

Last week, Melanie and I visited the huge Christmas market at the Champs-Élysées.  It doesn't seem like a year has passed since we were here with Mike and Autumn.

You can see the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the street

One of the many food stalls at the Christmas Market

You can buy just about anything here: gift items, meat, cheese, mulled wine, hot beer, and much more!

Naturally, they also have hot chocolate, roasted chestnuts, and lots of other delicacies

The shops go on and on. We even found an ice skating rink, and a haunted house with zombie Santas!

Office Christmas Party

Last year the Pretty Simple Christmas party was held at the office, but this time the venue was an amazing Paris wax museum called: "Musée Grévin".  We had an great time, and the tapas-style food was surprisingly delicious.

We got to take a tour of the museum before the party started. Here's Barack Obama!

This is the famous American jazz musician, Louis Armstrong, one of Melanie's favorites!

Famous French chef Paul Bocuse. We ate at his restaurant earlier this year! (Twice, in fact.)

The main room where we had the party was full of wax figurines. (That's Ryan Gosling at the bottom of the picture.)

I'm excited to see my family back in the United States, but I definitely think I'll miss Paris. Melanie and I love it here and I'm sure we'll be overjoyed to return after the first of the year.

A Lovely Lunch on a Brisk Fall Day

Yesterday, Melanie and I ate lunch at "Les Tablettes - Jean-Louis Nomicos".  We had an exceptionally fine meal and it was easy to see why they were awarded a Michelin star.

Here are some photos:

The decor was simple...

... yet elegant

These complimentary cheese puffs were delicate, flaky, and scrumptious

We started our meal with an amuse-bouche with tomato oil, squash puree, and a dollop of clotted cream

Chicory earth full salad, pear rissoles, beetroot, and stilton cream

Sea urchin bouillon, borage ravioli, shrimp, squid, and bergamot zest

Scallops and caramelized leeks in an oyster sauce

Macaroni, black truffle, and foie gras, in a veal juice sauce. (This one made the hair on my neck stand up!)

Cushion of veal, black truffle, mushrooms, smoked “ratte” potatoes, and tetragon

The traditional cheese plate

Poached pear, dried fruit,”crème brûlée", and pear sorbet 

Hot chocolate tart soufflée and a cocoa sorbet in a mascarpone emulsion

Rum baba, candied cherries, pistachio creme cookies

A Walk on the Dark Side

Melanie comes home tomorrow! I'm really excited to see her; she has been gone for too long.

Last week at work Steve told me about a beautiful cemetery in the 20th arrondissement called Père Lachaise. Each year it welcomes over 3.5 million visitors, making it the most visited cemetery on the planet.

Earlier today I took a long walk to check it out. I'm still pretty depressed about the election so my destination seemed like an appropriate complement to my melancholia.

I got off to a bit of a late start so by the time I reached the 20th the sun was starting to go down. Here are some photos I snapped while I still had some light:

This is one of the paths leading into the cemetery

Oscar Wilde, Honoré de Balzac, Frédéric Chopin, Édith Piaf, and Molière are buried or entombed here 

This is one of the three World War I memorials at Père Lachaise

As you would expect, it is a very quiet and peaceful place... rather unusual for Paris

The cemetery was established in 1804, which is practically modern for this part of the world

Some of the structures were breathtaking

I liked the way the fading sunlight filtered through the windows of this mausoleum

WHAT... THE... HELL...

It's two days after the election and I'm still in a state of shock. Donald Trump is going to be the next President of the United States? How is that possible? What is wrong with people?

I had work the next day so I only stayed up until about 2:00 AM watching the returns.  When I went to bed Trump was leading in Florida but the polls weren't closed yet. There were no other big surprises so I feel asleep feeling pretty confident.

The next morning I climbed out of bed at about 7:00 AM, turned on my computer, expecting to see news of Hillary's victory, and nearly fell out of my chair. I was literally shocked to my core.

Over the last few days I've read some great articles about the election, about Trump, and about the possible ramifications of his presidency. I think my own efforts to write something profound and intelligent would pale in comparison, so I'm going to turn -- as I often do in times of great stress -- to humor:

After reading the headlines I posted THIS to Facebook

A few hours later the news really hit me in the gut, and I shared this [non-funny] comment:

There are SO MANY reasons to be terrified right now, but for the moment I'm most afraid for my Muslim and LGBTQ friends (and future family) back home. 

I'm so glad it's raining in Paris today... because in the rain no one can tell if you're crying.

In retrospect that sounds overly dramatic, but I was pretty devastated.

In recent years I've been intrigued (and a little disturbed) by all the "our world is just a computer simulation" theories out there. Even Elon Musk has said, "There’s a billion to one chance we’re living in base reality." That got me thinking about the election and I posted this to Facebook:

The entity in charge of the simulation we probably live in must have gotten REALLY bored. 

(Like when you get tired of playing "The Sims" so you start doing wackadoodle shit just to see what will happen.)

I shared some other posts I found online. This one really made me laugh:

This gave me my first post-election smile

I was pretty proud of this Facebook post:

John McCain said something very similar after his election. (I probably saw it and forgot.)

Reddit also had some great comments and humor. I thought this one was really clever:

It's going to be very easy for Trump to build his wall... 

'Cuz people everywhere are shitting bricks right now."

I'll probably have more thoughts about all of this after it sinks in a little more... 

Melanie is Heading Home

Unfortunately, Melanie's mother is having some issues with her throat and will probably need surgery.  Her primary doctor is in Seattle so she has to go there for the procedure.

Autumn offered to take care of her Grandma, but between two jobs and graduate school she obviously doesn't have a lot of spare time, so Melanie is flying to Seattle to help out. She leaves on the 6th and comes back on the 20th.

Not much else is going on with me at the moment. Of course, the election is dominating the news right now. How in the hell did Donald Trump get this close to the White House??? There's no way he's going to win, of course, but the fact that he got so close to our nuclear codes is troubling to say the least.

Here's a picture of Donald, making fun of a disabled person

More Tales from Mykonos

I have lots of fond memories of my recent trip to Mykonos. Here are a few that I didn't mention in my previous posts:

WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?

Pretty Simple offers a variety of exercise programs, including some kickboxing classes that are taught by five time French Champion Hichem Abdel All, who joined us in Greece. Needless to say, Hichem is a mountain of a man... and not someone with whom you would want to mess.

As Hichem, myself, and a few others lined up for the Jet Ski activity on Sunday, the lady from the travel agency, Natalie, who is a real firecracker but only about 5 feet tall in heels, was giving some last minute instructions. Hichem was ignoring her, and chatting with a friend, so Natalie rolled the papers in her hand, reached up, and smacked him on the forehead.

THWACK!

Hichem got this look on his face like someone who had just swallowed a bug. It's probably a good thing his boxing instincts didn't kick in but I honestly believe he was too surprised to react. He glanced down at her with a bemused look, as if to say, "You did NOT just thwack me on the forehead, did you? I could break you into several bite-sized pieces. You know that, right?"

Natalie didn't miss a beat; she just kept on talking, while I tried to hide a smile.

CYRILLE'S HORSE STORY

My friend Cyrille Dubois, an excellent programmer and the top student in Hichem's kickboxing class, told a great story about his Horseback Riding activity.  I won't do his tale justice but I'll try...

As I recall, Cyrille had never been on a horse before and he was very excited. He and the other riders lined up in front of the island's stables as the horses were lead out, one-by-one.  They were big, majestic, and muscular beasts, with names like: "Black Lightning", "El Diablo", "Goliath" and "Thor".

Cyrille was last in line, and he was told his horse was named "Wind". He thought to himself, "Probably because my horse runs like the wind!" 

Nope. They brought Cyrille... a pony.

Cyrille Dubois and his majestic stallion, "Wind".

Cyrille said they walked through some deep sand and he could almost touch his feet to the ground. I had this image of him helping out by walking too, like a kid on a toy motorcyle.

Apparently, all the horses and riders lined up for a picture, but Wind kept running off. It's probably just as well, as I'm sure it would have looked like that classic movie scene, where the camera slowly pans across a bunch of faces, then reverses and pans down to the really short guy it almost missed.

In addition to the hilarity of Cyrille riding a miniature horse, once all the riders got to the beach one of the horses suddenly started leaning to one side. Philippe, the rider, shifted his weight in the opposite direction but the tilting continued.

Philippe jumped off his mount in the nick of time and down it went in the sand. THWAP!

As Cyrille was telling me this story I thought, "Was the horse drunk? Was it sick? Oh no, did it die?"

Nope.

After hitting the ground the horse rolled over on his back and started to wiggle around, his hooves pawing the air like a huge happy dog. At that point, one of the other horses looked over and thought, "Hey! What a great idea!" THWAP.  Down he went, too.

As a third horse started to join in the frolic, the horse wranglers hurriedly rounded them all up and got everyone moving again.

Sounds like a great time. Wish I had been there!

*   *   *

To read more about Mykonos:

Click HERE for Day One.

Click HERE for Day Two.

Click HERE for Day Three.

Click HERE for Day Four.

Tales from Mykonos (Day Four)

Monday was our last day on Mykonos. Fortunately, our plane didn't leave until late in the day, which gave me time for another activity. I had signed up for the "Morning Walk" but I was kind of tired so I wasn't sure I wanted to go. My friend Mariano told me, "I heard there's a short part that's pretty steep... then it's all flat." Yeah, I figured I could handle that.

After a quick breakfast we met in the lobby of the hotel for a short briefing. It was going to be pretty hot and and I stupidly forgot to bring any sunscreen. I went to the spa to buy some and had this conversation:

JOHN: How much are these small bottles of sunscreen?

SPA LADY: The bottles on the left are 38 euros, the ones on the right are 42.

JOHN: Uh...

SPA LADY: Sir?

JOHN: <thinking> "Do I really want to spend that much money on sunscreen? I can't spend that much... can I? No, that's ridiculous..."

SPA LADY: Sir?

JOHN: Let me... uh... think about it.

I just couldn't justify spending so much money so I left the spa. Fortunately the tour guide had some she could spare.

Now, I'm not sure what kind of crazy lotion this lady was carrying, but it was quite thick and she urged me to really rub it in good, which I thought I had done... but apparently... I had not. Wasn't aware of that fact, though, until later.

We took a small bus to the other side of the island and a local hiker handed us some walking sticks. The hill was pretty steep and I was huffing and sweating by the time we got to the top. As promised the trail flattened out and I thought life was good again. But that's when our guide pointed to an enormous hill I nicknamed Myonos-Everest. He said, "We're hiking up THERE!" Ugh.

To pass the time I chatted with Mariano, Brice, Martin, and the others. It was tough, but we all reached the top, and the view was spectacular!

We hiked back down and drove back to the hotel. Once there I ran up to the room to take a shower and when I passed the mirror I did a double take:

I looked like I was wearing clown paint...

Maybe tour folks carry around bottles of trick sunscreen lotion, to hand out to idiots like me that don't bring any of their own. I mean, it didn't even come off in the shower, and I still had traces of it several days later.

But all in all Mykonos, the weather, the hotel, the food, the company... it was all fabulous. I now understand the charm of the Greek Isles and I am excited to return there someday, hopefully with Melanie at my side this time.

Thus we come to the end of my Mykonos adventure.

Click HERE for More Tales From Mykonos.

Tales from Mykonos (Day Three)

I didn't have any activities on Sunday morning, day three in Greece, so I slept in until about 9:30. After that I laid out in the sun for a little while. Can you think of a better way to start a new day?

The rest of my day... well, it was a bit less great. Let's just say that I had some... issues.

Important Note:  Because of my... issues... I don't have any pictures of Day Three or Day Four. Fortunately, I was able to create some high quality illustrations for you. Enjoy.

There was a catered lunch at the hotel, after which I joined the group who signed up for the afternoon Jet Ski adventure! While waiting to leave I chatted with a new artist named Shane, who recently joined the company from Great Britain.

A small van arrived to take us to the beach, and I'm pretty sure our driver was trying to set some kind of speed record for getting to the bottom of the hill. For a second I thought he was BACKING down the hill but then I realized I was sitting in a seat facing the rear of the vehicle. Great. Fortunately, we made it to the bottom in one piece.

Here I am in the back of the van as we flew down the hill. Pretty sure our driver was insane...

Unfortunately, there were not enough Jet Skis to go around so I partnered up with Shane, and as he had never driven one before I let him go first. They told us to climb on from the rear (not the side, due to potential tipping problems), and after he got up I suddenly realized that I had a dilemma. How was I supposed to hold on to this thing? I didn't really feel comfortable wrapping my arms around my new friend's waist, like a nervous school girl on her first motorcycle date, so I grabbed some handles below the seat and held on for dear life.

That's me on the back of the Jet Ski. I nearly fell off half a dozen times.

I didn't realize how precarious my perch was until Shane hit the gas and we rocketed forward. I completely lost my balance and rolled backward on the seat, my head nearly hitting the water as my feet flew up around Shane's ears. (He said he thought I was just showing off.)

Not sure how I didn't tumble backward into the water, but I eventually got myself righted. For better balance I kept my left hand on the handle, while my right fingers found a groove under the seat in front of my knee. This gave me a bit more stability, but I still felt like I was doing some kind of crazy balancing act and I came close to falling off multiple times.

At one point we hit a small wave and our Jet Ski came out of the water for an instant. This caused the seat to rise up a little bit and the fingertips on my right hand slid a little deeper into the gap. Then we hit the water. CRUNCH! I was more careful where I put my fingers after that.

Finally, our guide motioned for us to switch places. Unfortunately, Shane and I both tried to climb off on the same side and the Jet Ski tipped, flinging us headlong into the water.

Shane and I took an unexpected dip in the ocean.

Before climbing onto the back of the Jet Ski I felt in my pocket to make sure my iPhone and room key were still there. (I had them carefully wrapped up in a zippered plastic bag.)

I'm glad I have been working out in the gym because it took a lot of effort to pull myself onto the Jet Ski. As I struggled, I suddenly pictured myself having to be hauled behind the vehicle, flopping through the water like a dead sea lion. Fortunately, I pulled myself aboard.

When I got back to my room I noticed that there was a little moisture in the plastic bag, and my iPhone wouldn't turn on.

Crap.

I took my phone outside and left it in the sun to dry. Meanwhile, I figured I would hop in the Jacuzzi for a little while. I considered going au natural but it didn't seem prudent so I threw on my swimsuit.

I should point out that my bathing suit is quite old and, despite my recent weight loss, it didn't fit very well. I couldn't even cinch it all the way up at the top. Nope, definitely not gonna wear that sucker out in public for awhile. No sirree. Then I thought, "Oh, I should probably grab a towel."

Turns out a towel wasn't the only thing I didn't have with me. You wanna know what else I was missing? My damn room key.

This is me at the moment I realized I was locked out of my room... in my ill-fitting swimsuit.

What if I had decided to hop into the Jacuzzi without any clothes on? What the hell would I have done then? I shuddered at the thought.

Oh well, it didn't seem like I had a choice so I walked as quickly as I could to the front desk, praying that I wouldn't meet anyone I knew. No such luck. I ran into three people from my French class, two folks on my team at work, and half a dozen other employees that I don't know very well yet.

I got two new keys for my room (bringing my total to FOUR) and then checked my phone again. Nope, dead as a doornail. Shit.

For dinner on Sunday we drove to a beach restaurant that also had a live DJ. The food was very good and after everyone was done eating it was time to dance. Half the company clamored onto the dance floor while the rest of us non-dancers skedaddled to the beach. I have the rhythm of an inebriated donkey, so it was beach time for me.

I laid down on one of the deck chairs and promptly fell asleep under the stars, as small waves gently lapped against the shore. What a life, eh?

By the time I got back to the hotel I was exhausted. So imagine my chagrin when I realized that my key didn't work. As I trudged to the front desk I thought, "Well, at least I have clothes on this time."

Turns out that my OLD keys stopped working when they issued me new ones. I didn't realize this and grabbed the wrong one.  They gave me a new one (that makes FIVE).

It was a busy day, so I slept like a log that night.

Thus endeth Day Three.  Click HERE for Day Four.

Tales from Mykonos (Day Two)

On Saturday morning, our second day in Greece, they had a buffet breakfast for us down by the pool. I was still pretty full from the previous night's dinner but I found room for some meat and yogurt. Real Greek yogurt is amazing!

After breakfast I took this shot from the restaurant:

The beach below was divided into three parts: hotel... nude... and gay.

There were lots of fun and interesting activities we could sign up for; on Saturday most people chose to visit the islands of Delos and Rineia. A bus took us down to the docks and there we climbed aboard a private ship.

This is the boat that took us on our Islands Tour! (Notice the clouds in the distance.)

After we set sail the clouds moved in pretty fast and we even saw a little rain. But after a brief squall the clouds parted and we had beautiful weather for the next three days. Mykonos is known for being pretty windy, but the weather Gods were smiling upon us and it didn't blow much while we were there!

It sprinkled rain for about fifteen minutes, but the storm left as quickly as it came.

As we approached the island of Delos an elderly gentleman on the boat asked a few of us if we wanted to know more about the island. Naturally, we said "yes". I later learned that this gentleman was an archaeologist who has lived and worked all over the world.

I noticed that our new guide was speaking to different people in Greek, French, English, and even Portuguese. I told him, "Wow! I'm struggling to learn a second language and you speak FOUR of them." He replied, a little sheepishly, "Actually, I speak 7 languages fluently and I can communicate pretty well in five more." I saw him again the next day and he added, "Oh, I forgot about Farsi. I speak that, too." If Dos Equis ever wants to find a new "Most Interesting Man in the World", I have a candidate for them.

We learned that the early Greeks believed Delos was the birthplace of Apollo. The inhabitants of the island built him a large temple at the top of the hill in this photo:

Delos was a major religious center and port during the 1st millennium B.C.

After piling off the boat we got into a line to tour the Delos ruins. There were two workers there and I had to smile when I realized that the first one was handing out our free tickets, and the second one was then taking the tickets and admitting us. Seemed like a rather inefficient system, but I didn't say anything.

A local expert told us about the history of the island as we explored the ruins. Being so windswept, and with very little shade, it was easy to see why so many of the buildings didn't come above waist height, but with a little imagination it was still possible to visualize an important bustling city of white marble grandeur set against the sapphire blue skies.

There was a well here. How the ancient Greeks dug holes through the rocky ground I have no idea...

Here you can see part of a Greek amphitheater. Look how well those stones fit together!

Most buildings and houses had marble entries. The early Greeks connected the stones by pouring metal into bowtie grooves.

The Terrace of the Lions, dedicated to Apollo by the people of Naxos shortly before 600 BCE.

We learned that all the neighboring islands used to bring money, art, and other tributes to Apollo and they would leave them in the temple on the hill. These treasures were never protected by soldiers because the island was so revered that no one dared tempt the wrath of the Gods.

After about an hour on Delos (not long enough) we jumped back on the boat and sailed off to nearby Rineia. 

I think the Activities Guide was in French, because I missed the part that said: "bring a swimsuit". Our ship slowed down as we neared the island and the captain invited everyone to dive into the water and swim for shore. Well, everyone with a swimsuit, anyway. <sigh>

Several brave souls dove off the top level of the ship, while others jumped from a bit lower down. The rest of us waited for a large rubber dinghy, which they used to shuttle people back and forth.

Lots of people dove off the side of our ship and swam to shore! (Yours truly didn't have his bathing suit.)

After everyone was on the beach we swam, snorkeled, soaked up rays, and explored the island.

Rineia island. The large blue cooler on the left was full of  ice cold "Mythos", a refreshing local beer!

This almost looks like a beach shot, but you're seeing through several feet of water. It was so clear!

Lunch was supposed to be served at a makeshift restaurant on the island, but apparently the owner wasn't feeling well. I'm not sure how the tour people pulled it off, but they arranged for everyone to have lunch back on the ship.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from that lunch, but they had grilled fish and squid for us and both were super good!

I'm not a big fish eater, but this was so fresh and flavorful!

After lunch a few people chose to go back to the island while the rest of us stayed on the ship. Then it was time to head back to Mykonos.

Here we are, arriving back at the island of Mykonos.

At the hotel I got cleaned up and then popped down to the bar to have a cocktail and watch the sun set over the ocean. I mentioned to a few people, "I know it's an ad campaign cliche, but seriously... life doesn't get any better than this!"

They had some very interesting cocktails at the hotel bar! This one was called "Beyond the Hurricane".

That night we loaded up the buses and drove into the town of Mykonos for dinner. It's a fascinating place, full of twisty windy passages. A guide informed us that it was purposely maze-like to discourage pirates, who menaced the island into the early 1900s.

The narrow streets are lined with shops and stores, and they twist and turn like a giant labyrinth.

We ate dinner near the water at a place called "Restaurant Alefkandra". This meal is probably my favorite memory of the whole trip. It was another buffet but the food was SO GOOOOD! And before we ate they brought us little glasses of the national drink: Ouzo, which put us all in a great mood.

The restaurant had an impressive spread of Greek delicacies

While everyone ate, and talked, and laughed, a trio of musicians played Greek music for us. I recorded some videos but... well... I don't have... uh... access to those. More on that later.

My favorite moment took place after dinner. One of the owners, and a waitress, performed a traditional island dance while a waiter threw bits of paper in the air, and another broke a plate on the ground.

The perfect complement to our Greek dinner: dancing!

I told people the next day that the dinner was, for me, the quintessential Greek experience. The food, the music, the dancing... Perfection!

And that was the end of Day Two on Mykonos.  Click HERE for Day Three.