FÉVRIER 2010

i apologize for the lapse between posts here however i hope my last riveting entry on lamb's lettuce kept you satiated until this moment.

so, what have i been doing? WELL I'LL TELL YOU!

the first week of february was filled with anticipation and preparation for my special guest, my boyfriend MAD Jr.!! the day he flew in, i took the train to Charles de Gaulle and after waiting for each other in different parts of the airport, without cellphones, we finally found each other and then the adventure began!

we made our way to our SMALL but cute rented apartment in the 18th arrondissement. unfortunately, we both forgot to take pictures but you can check out the stock photos at the bottom of the page on the rental agency website here. paris was COLD and snowy but fun - old to me but new to my beau (paris, that is). favorites included: the jewish quarter, the top of the arc de triomphe, centre pompidou and the catacombs. see photos (fyi, most of these photos are already on facebook or picasa).

me enjoying a delicious falafel in the jewish quarter. yes, i shared.

on top of the arc de triomphe. MAN was it cold!!

panorama from the top of the arc de triomphe that i made.

next, it was on to brussels. we stayed in a double at a hostel just outside of the city center. brussels was equally as cold and i found the city itself to be a lot different than i imagined but we still made the most of it. we only spent one FULL day there but we liked: the musical instrument museum, the chocolate museum, belgian waffles, thai food for dinner (another cuisine i had missed!) and delirium café/belgian BEERS.

 

thai food! i ate that flower p.s.

mai tai or your tai? MINE! *sluuuurp*

seeing double at the delirium café.

 

don't leave this baby alone with chocolate belgian waffles.

we outgrew brussels rather quickly and made our way to amsterdam. holland - the land of my foremothers! we really enjoyed the 'venice of the north'. they are so many favorites to name: the anne frank house (best museum), dutch pancakes (best sweet treat), the hash, marijuana and hemp museum, the heineken brewery tour, the jewish history museum, etc. etc. take a look!

outside our hotel in Rembrandt Sqaure...

inside our hotel room!

the 'portuguese' synagogue.

  

the weed museum.

 

dutch pancakes = SOOO good! even better when ya got a coupon - HEYOOO!!

the heineken experience.

after amsterdam, we ran into some issues with the train getting back to paris (train crash in brussels) but made it back to rouen just fine. once back in rouen, we agreed it was time to relax a little and savor our remaining time together in this lovely little medieval town. i introduced mike to the main characters in my life's story here and taught him important things like how to drink cider in public at noon:

 

it was a picnic, ok? so that made it acceptable. 

but i had to wine and dine him a little more than that. he's got preeetty high standards. here is a picture of us before going out to the world renowned restuarant, La Couronne.

 it wa$ deliciou$! hehe

all in all, we both agreed that the vacation was a complete success. if i left something out that you'd like to hear about, please leave a comment!

mon dieu! i can't believe it's march already and as if by magic the weather in rouen has changed drastically. even if rainy (hey, it's spring! ...and it's normandy), le temps seems to have done a complete 180°. fingers crossed, that is! that shy little bitch sun has been showing her face more and more around these parts, the days are noticeably longer and with temperatures in the mid 40s-50s° F every day, i can't complain! so far it's been a refreshing change because as much as i love haute-normandie, the relentless cold, wet, grey dreariness was starting to get to me. now it's only sometimes wet, grey and dreary!

ALSO! if i haven't already mentioned how incredibly EXCITED i am about coming home to the prospect of two adorable, little babies - let me tell you again!! i am SO HAPPY for my cousins kimmy and todd and their spouses, ben and kelley, respectively. when i get back the babies will practically already be born (almost) and i will have a new lil' cousin on each side of the family. what's even better: one's a boy and the other will be a girl! the best of both worlds!! WOO WOO congrats grads you guys!

go be fruitful and multiply! jkjk ciao for now.