Two-Passports

We Were Not RV People…Until We Were.

September 12, 2020 — Leave a comment

Hey hey long lost blog! Wait, the blog was here the whole time…I guess WE were MIA, not the blog? OK I’m not going to think about it too hard (mostly because my brain is already too tired from trying to figure out HOW TO BLOG…AGAIN).

Anywho…many vacations were taken and places were visited since the last time we blogged and clearly none of them made it here onto the VACATIONS AND PLACES blog. Fast forward to 2020. I don’t know about y’alls but this year has been kind of an ass-kicker for all kinds of reasons. As I type this we are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic (both of us have been working from home since March), a crazy-ass United States election (currently rigorously avoiding the NEWS at ALL costs), and large parts of our beloved home state of California are on fire (as is the west coast in general). So what are Two Passports to do when you can’t fly anywhere fabulous and you also JUST. CAN’T. TAKE. ANY. MORE. OF. BEING. HOME. RV Road Trippin’ here we come! It’s essentially taking your fully-sanitized-socially-distanced space and…well…moving it around the country. It’s a MF quarantine bubble. KABOOM.

“But you don’t have an RV” you might say. That’s right we don’t. But we did rent one once to drive around Iceland several years ago so we’re familiar with the concept that a) they are rentable and b) you can survive renting one and live to tell about it. We learned a few things on that trip that we applied to this one. We’ve also learned a few lessons during the prep and planning of this trip.

With that, we give you the “Top 5 Tips to Faking Your RV Street Cred Even if You Aren’t RV People.”

PLAN YOUR TRIP – research destinations and travel times carefully. You’ll want to have a good idea about how many miles you will be traveling (see #2) and now long it will take you to get everywhere. Add an extra hour or two to each travel day for gas stops, meal stops, grocery shopping, and visits to crazy roadside attractions (World’s Largest Rocking Chair? HELLS YEAH). We used Roadtrippers to determine routes, travel times, and potential stops and also Campendium to help us find campsites…both are available via website and as an app for your phone. Both sites offer reviews of destinations and campsites that can help guide your trip planning. Example: we drove an extra couple of hours one day so we could stay in a well-reviewed private RV campsite that offered free shuttles into the National Park we were visiting. That allowed us to park and connect to power and water for a couple of nights but still have the flexibility to access the parks various hikes and sights without unplugging and driving our 12,000 pound turtle shell around every day.
SIZE MATTERS: make sure you pick the right size RV. They range from “cute and small” all the way up to “SUPER GINORMOUS.” If it’s just two of you and you plan to see lots of places, you’ll definitely want something smaller and more nimble and easier on the gas. If you are a family or a group of friends and you are going to be at the beach for a week – the more space the better…go BIG. Since there were only two of us and we wanted to visit several National Parks we chose a small-ish 24 foot RV…and as it turned out even that was probably too big. We would have been fine in a smaller sprinter van. We researched renting from a national rental company (like CruiseAmerica) and also renting from private individuals or small fleet rentals (similar to AirBnb but on wheels). We chose to go with the smaller/individual approach and used two sites to find our rig: Outdoorsy.com and RVShare.com. However you chose to rent, make sure you read the fine print on number of miles allowed per day, number of generator hours allowed, equipment allowed etc.
PLAN YOUR TRIP: yeah it’s on there TWICE. We discovered that with RV trips it’s incredibly important to research and plan. RV rental agreements have limits on miles allowed per day and generator hours and additional rules about equipment like bike racks and awnings and tow hitches. For example, you’ll want to know if you are going to be in RV camps with hook-ups…if you are not in camps with hook-ups you’ll want to be aware of how many generator hours a day you have on your agreement because the generator is what you are going to run in order to charge ALL THE THINGS and have light and A/C and other fun stuff. You’ll also want to be sure that the places you want to go can accommodate your size RV – some places take only tents or aren’t level (important for an RV) or don’t have spots to accommodate larger RVs. Many prime locations need reservations WAAAAAY in advance (if campgrounds are booked, try a service like CampNab.com – you can pay to have it alert you when there are cancellations and a campsite opens up). Have a plan, use the plan to determine what kind and size of RV and equipment you’ll need. Once you’ve arranged your RV go back over the plan and look for areas where you you might need to make changes or have back-up options. We ended up using one of our back-up plans because Yellowstone experienced early season snow and cold temperatures and our RV did not have the equipment to ensure onboard plumbing etc would not freeze. So no Yellowstone for us.
FOOD AND STUFF: Pack light on “stuff” and heavy on “food.” To be honest we only did HALF of this one right – so learn from our FAIL. Several days before we left we put all the “stuff” we thought we would need/want in in a prep area in our living room. We also made a detailed food list and did as much pre-prep of meals as we could (pre-cooked ribs, pre-cooked rice/pasta, pre-made shredded beef taco fixings, pre-made pasta sauce). I wish we had cut down on the “stuff” pile by as much as 75%. Go back to tip #3 and do your research research research. Example: we packed two wheelbarrows full of firewood only to discover that many of the parks were were in currently have campfire bans. We’ll be hauling back A LOT of unused firewood and we could have avoided that with more careful research. We also didn’t need half the clothes we brought (ok, this is mostly ME) or half the cooking utensils/pots/pans or all the books, camera equipment, electronics etc. If you are trying to bring all the comforts of home with you, maybe stay home. On the other hand, all our food prep time turned out to be a great investment as we’ve only had to stop once to refresh a few perishable groceries like ice and lettuce. Everything else was pre-made, frozen, and easy to re-heat and eat. Since the point of this RV trip was to be able to travel without being in crowds or with too many people, limiting the number of grocery stops was important – not to mention limiting the amount of time spent cooking in a tiny RV kitchen.
DON’T DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT: Take the time to make sure you understand HOW your RV WORKS and you know where the RV manual is. Our RV owners kindly walked us through all the onboard plumbing and electricity and then kindly drove with us on a test drive – trust me, driving an RV is not like driving your crossover SUV. Also, remember that YouTube and Google can SAVE you – we had a water pump problem in Salt Lake City that we fixed ourselves by watching a YouTube video. Just understand that you are driving around in a vehicle that has plumbing, an electrical system, air-conditioning etc. It’s not really that complicated but there are routines and steps that are important to keep everything working smoothly and you’ll want to be familiar with key areas like…dumping the water and sewage tanks.

That’s some idea of how we spent the few weeks leading up to launching our Western States National Park RV Road Trip. In the next blog we’ll share the itinerary wins and fails (because you know there was some of both).

In Uncategorized Camping, Desert, National Parks, RV

It’s All About That Gaudi

November 22, 2014 — 2 Comments

When Antoni Gaudi graduated from Barcelona Architecture school the director who handed him his diploma said “we have given this academic title either to a fool or a genius.” When I see Gaudi’s work, I see genius…but many others see designs that are overly whimsical, too silly, or simply highly impractical and foolish. Wherever you fall on the “Genius-Fool” opinion spectrum you cannot deny that his work triggers a strong emotional reaction. In many ways our return to Barcelona was specifically a return to Gaudi, we wanted to spend more time examining his fascinating design work. In particular I wanted to photograph three buildings – Casa Batllo, Casa Mila, and Sagrada Familia. Unfortunately the hoards of people who swarm these buildings made quiet contemplation and photo planning a little challenging. We ended up spending almost an entire day at each location as we would have to (not so patiently) wait for rooms to empty out in order to get that very brief “perfect shot-no people” photo window.

Casa Batllo is one of our Gaudi favorites and is one of his most recognizable works. It is an example of Catalan Modernisme – which loosely translates into “Spanish version of Art Noveau.” Surprisingly, it’s a re-model. He took a perfectly normal middle-class 4-story building and turned it into “Casa Dels Ossos” (or “House of Bones” because the exterior looks skeletal, with skull-like balconies).

A few reference pictures to give you an idea of how unusual the building is.

Casa dels Ossos – Exterior (photo not mine)

Exterior Detail

Exterior Window “Knuckle” Detail

Roof “Spine” Detail – Casa Batllo (photo not mine)

As you can see, the house is composed of curves and organic references: spines, skulls, knuckles…bones. Inside the house the references become nautical…and by nautical I don’t mean “jaunty yacht.” The interior courtyard mimics being underwater and the paint and fixtures reference sea creatures.

Ceiling Detail and Fixture

Wall Sconce

Wall/Paint Detail

The interior courtyard is tiled with various shades of blue (darker to lighter to mimic descending and ascending ocean depths) and the stair and landing railing is iron and glass. The glass itself is not flat but is textured to heighten the interior “underwater” effect. None of these pictures has been altered, they’ve just been taken through the glass.

Courtyard Through Glass

Glass Detail

UNDERWATER WINDOW

One of the more extraordinary design elements of the building is the attic. Once again, natural elements are emphasized and there are many curves and few traditional “right angles.” The feel is of being inside a rib cage. Even though the attic only housed a laundry and servant’s quarters there was still enormous investment in design and detail.

Attic “Ribs”

Ceiling Detail

Attic Ceiling – Arch Detail

Attic Stairwell

Attic Stairwell Detail

Attic – Storage Room

I cannot imagine what it was like to live in Casa Batllo…or in any Gaudi designed building for that matter.

Imagine this as your living room window!

Casa Batllo – Living Room Window (photo not mine)

The curves and organic references create a very calm and inviting environment. There is a lot going on in this room but to me the space doesn’t seem cluttered or busy – and the same is true for all the rooms in Casa Batllo. Any visit to Barcelona should include a tour of one or more Gaudi-designed buildings. The unusual beauty has had a significant impact on our experience of Spain!

Edited with BlogPad Pro

In Uncategorized

The Gift That Kept on Giving

November 14, 2014 — 1 Comment

The Gift of the Locked Door…that’s the gift that keeps on giving! We were recently lucky enough to buy tickets for an Art de Guitarra concert (see prior post for long explanation of all the “luck” at work that day). Immediately following the concert there was a hosted wine reception with the two guitarists. We spent some time chatting with our fellow attendees in a mix of Spanish, Spanglish, English and – I think – Dutch. We learned that a rather well known spanish guitarist would be performing a “History of the Spanish Guitar” concert the next night at the Palau de la Musica and that tickets were still available. Turns out the Palau was just up the street from us so the next morning we walked over and bought tickets. For about $30 each we were able to buy box seats in the historic and beautiful main concert hall of the Palau. It’s an Art Noveau building from the early 1900’s – absolutely beautiful if a little “frilly.”

Palau – exterior (photo not mine)

Palau – interior (photo not mine)

While we had very much enjoyed the concert the evening before it was quickly clear to us that that Xavier Coll, the artist for the evening, was a “whole new level’ of guitar concert. He played for about 90 minutes using 4 different guitars: a renaissance guitar (Vihuela), a Baroque style guitar, a Romantic style guitar, and then a modern Spanish version. Here is an example of what we saw – taped at a prior concert in the same venue. Coll is playing the Romantic guitar (from early 1800’s) in this video.

It was another wonderfully random evening and, once again, one we probably wouldn’t have experienced without having locked ourselves out of our flat! I took a few photos of the interior of the Palau that give some idea of the detail feel of the concert hall.

ceiling detail

Tiled detail – stage

alcove detail

Edited with BlogPad Pro

In Uncategorized

The $75 Starbucks Latte or “Vacation Win/Loss Ratio”

November 10, 2014 — 1 Comment

In every vacation there are are days that are “wins” and there are days that are “losses.” It’s good to understand this in advance – expectations of perfection in vacation just leads to vacation not meeting expectations. We’ve just learned that there are also some days where losses become wins…(see photo).

Win Some, Lose Some

Those keys in the door? They are on the INSIDE of the door. Which is how you engage the door’s deadlock when in the apartment. The keys on the hook, that’s the extra set of keys. That document on the right in the photo, we’ll get to that. Before continuing though, I’d like to take a moment to point out that excessive caution can sometimes result in exactly the types of things you are being excessively cautious about. But let’s get back to the keys. Our first morning in the apartment we decided to make a quick trip to grab coffee from the Starbucks located conveniently around the corner (really, it’s like…75 yards away).

Wait, before we go on I need to make another point: I am not in charge of the keys. There’s a long history and many stories behind that one but let’s just leave it at “I don’t even bother to touch any hotel or apartment’s keys any more.

OK, where were we? Oh yeah, STARBUCKS. So, Jon grabs the keys off the hook (see photo above) and out the door we go. Are you following? If you are, you probably already know where this is going. The OTHER set of keys remained in the door (see photo above). So once we are on the other side of the door the more excessively cautious of the two of us (NOT ME) decides to double check that the key we have works. Of course the door is already shut at this point and we’re on the other side of it (the NOT IN THE APARTMENT side) so how cautious was that over all? Anyhow, key doesn’t work. Door won’t open. I’m going to skip the next 15-20 minutes of this story because, well, nobody wants to re-live that especially not me. As filler, I’m including a photo of the stairs up to our apartment. Which we went up and down approximately 54 times in this one day.

67 Stairs of Hell – Yes we counted

So, 20 minutes later we’re sitting at Starbucks with our crass American coffees madly texting the lady who rented us the apartment. No response. We realize it’s 8:30 am. We remember that last time we were here it appeared as if NOTHING much of anything happens in Spain at before 10am. We decided to finish our coffees up and visit Barcelona Cathedral until the rest of Spain is up and moving. Unfortunately the more “directions oriented” out of the two of us (NOT ME) is completely checked out and can’t think about anything but DOOR until DOOR is resolved. It’s just how he works. Which means the less “directions oriented” out of the two of us (ok this one is ME) took charge in getting us there.

While we were “completely lost” (not my definition) we get to the “win” part of today’s “wins and losses”…bet you thought we’d never get there? Down some street we (apparently) weren’t even supposed to be anywhere near, we found a small church selling tickets to “Art De Guitarra.” For 20 euro it’s classical guitar concerts in historic church settings. While we were standing there trying to decide whether or not to buy tickets (since there was technically some possibility that we were homeless) we received a text from Lina the Friendly Landlord. Her English is super good when she let’s us know “you cannot leave a set of keys in the door and then try to open the door, the door doesn’t work that way.” NOPE, we can confirm it doesn’t. She indicated that she would arrange for a locksmith and text us when he was on his way. Seeing as DOOR is now resolved and Jon’s brain is therefore back on board, we promptly bought tickets to the guitar concert and then headed back to the apartment. The locksmith met us there and opened the “super secure and deadlocked” door in about 3 seconds using what looked like a piece of sandpaper. He then handed us his bill for 60 Euro (see photo above).

At the current conversion rate that “quick” cup of coffee only cost us $74.37 and an hour’s wait listening to XMAS (!) music in Starbucks. What we got in return was an amazing guitar concert that we attended that evening in a beautiful and historic church setting. The space only held about 30 people and was completely sold out. If we hadn’t been a)locked out of our apartment b) lost and c) lost at 9:30am we would never have found the concert nor would there have been tickets available for us to buy.

Some photos of the our Art de Guitarra concert setting:

Candlelit concert

Santa Anna Church Chandelier

Art De Guitarra

Edited with BlogPad Pro

In Uncategorized

Pardon The Jet Lag Manifesto

November 7, 2014 — Leave a comment

OK, this whole blogging thing didn’t get off to a very promising start. Its been kind of lame. I would like to point out that I warned everyone of this in my very first Two-Passports post. Of course, predicting lameness and lack of posting in your very first post turned out to be a pretty good predictor of actual lameness and lack of posting. New Manifesto: from this point forward I will put something up every single day until ETERNITY.

OK Probably not. That may be the jet lag talking right there. I will try to post regularly for the next three weeks as part of the “Two-Passports Tour of Southern Spain Campaign” (cue movie trailer voice-over).

OK, it’s not a so much a “campaign.” It’s a vacation. It’s a trip to Barcelona, Granada, Cordoba, Malaga, Seville, and Lisbon. Yesterday we packed in about 30 minutes (some of us more successfully and in calmer fashion than others), and then flew from LAX to Zurich (Swiss Air, we were not impressed), spent 3 hours in Zurich aiport appreciating all things “nordic” (including displays of both chocolates and nice-looking tall blond people), boarded a quick flight to Barcelona (crowded with a very noisy and very determined to network-with-each-other-men’s soccer team), took the AeroBus (5 euro!) from BCN to Placa Catalunya, and walked to our flat (rented through AirBnB). If that seemed like the longest run-on sentence you’ve ever suffered through then I’ve appropriately captured the essence of our travel day. We unpacked in an organized and leisurly fashion, got spruced up, and then headed out into the city to dive right into ALL THINGS SPAIN.

OK, to be honest we dropped our luggage, ate some stale trail mix we had purchased way back at LAX, and then crashed out for the night. But now it’s 5:18am. And we’re awake! And there’s a blog post. So, yay us.

Just a few of the pretty things we saw in Zurich

Edited with BlogPad Pro

In Uncategorized

Fancy Bling and Shiny Things

October 4, 2012 — Leave a comment

Hemingway was getting me down. Paris was rainy and damp. We were awake at 4am (Hello JETLAG). Jon forgot his comfy pants and had to buy new ones. French ones. That looked like a sweat pants version of skinny jeans. Our shower was a bathroom and our bathroom was a shower. The bakery downstairs was closed on Friday, denying us our deux Pain ou Chocolat fix (we needed it, we needed it BAD). Clearly something fabulous was needed to brighten our day! So to shake off all the horror of skinny sweats, gloomy day, general funk, and Hemingway macho we decided to go visit something purty: FANCY BLING!

“L’Art de la Haute Joaillerie” will be at Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris from September 20^th 2012 through February 10^th 2013. Les Arts Decoratifs is a separate museum that is connected to a far wing of the Louvre so it’s easy to add it on to a day (or 3) spent there. If you have the chance to visit Les Arts Decoratifs before February 2013, please see this exhibit…the rest of the museum is a little random. However, they were in the process of installing a Star Wars exhibit while we were there so apparently things are looking up.

Back to the BLING. The exhibit is described as follows: “All the daring of the creations of Van Cleef & Arpels will be highlighted in the Nave at Les Arts Décoratifs, with 400 pieces that have made the fame of the French High Jeweler since 1906.” Many of the pieces shown were from private collections – including jewelry worn by Elizabeth Taylor, Maria Callas, the Duchess of Windsor, and various folks from the royal houses of Monaco, Iran (uh, former Royal house), and England. There were also plenty of “red-carpet” pieces that were showcased (but not owned) by various Hollywood celebrities.

The setting of the exhibit is highly designed and was created and installed by Jouin Manku Agency. They did a very nice job under challenging circumstances (the exhibit is basically in a part of the museum’s lobby). In addition, they have created just the kind of setting needed to keep some people (uh, but not ME) from running around and screaming OMG at every Beautiful Shiny. It was a fairly masculine setting so all the fellows dragged along didn’t feel like they were hanging out in a frilly jewelry box. The area is very dimly lit and quiet with spotlights on pieces themed by decade. It was clearly an ART exhibit…not a “pretty stuff” exhibit. They also have some odd but effective “glass tube” gallery showcases with the jewelry suspended to be viewed from all sides. The spotlights and curved glass tube cases make it very hard to take pictures, which I am sure is cleverly planned for security reasons AND to ensure high sales volume of the exhibit catalog (yup, we bought one). I did get a few shots so you can get the general idea:

I’ve included some pictures of the more famous jewelry we saw (Duchess of Windsor zipper necklace, Princess Grace of Monaco engagement tiara/necklace, Princess Charlene of Monaco engagement “Ocean” tiara/necklace, and Elizabeth Taylor “Daisy” necklace (photos not ours):

Seeing all of the jewelry in person was fun- and it was a quick and easy museum visit. We left with a much better understanding of the art of jewelry (or jewelry art?). I have to admit it was also neat to see how cleverly many of these highly expensive pieces convert into multiple-use items (tiaras to necklaces, necklaces to bracelets, pins to earrings etc). Because, you know, I guess it’s nice to see that the people who can afford this kind of serious bling are getting GOOD VALUE for their million dollars?

Links to Van Cleef and Arpels site and exhibit site:

http://www.vancleefarpels.com/ww/en/the-maison/2/Icons

http://www.artdelahautejoaillerie-vancleefarpels.com/

In See, Want bling, jewelry, Paris

I LOVE HEMINGWAY…but sometimes I don’t like him much.

October 3, 2012 — Leave a comment

In preparation for this trip I wallowed a bit in Hemingway writing and “Hemingway-related” books. We’ll be traveling to very “Hemingway-centric” spots including Paris, San Sebastian, Madrid, and Barcelona. We’ve elected to skip Pamplona, the running of the bulls, and any kind of bullfighting. I’m sure Hemingway would call us sissies but we’re not up for the gore.

Anyway, I’ve read Hemingway off and on over the years but for some reason couldn’t remember specific plots or characters (other than vague generalities like “OLD GUY VS. NASTY FISH” or “BULLFIGHTING”). In re-reading Hemingway this go-round I discovered the reason I probably can’t remember the stories is that I don’t like them much, or the people in them for that matter. What I love about Hemingway is his writing, his words, his sentences, his paragraphs, his chapters. I just don’t much like what he is SAYING with all that dazzling writing.

Case in point: The Sun Also Rises. In summary it’s about:

Drinking
Fishing
Bull-fighting
Fighting
Drinking
FIESTA!
Toxic love
Fighting
Being drunk

It seems to me that the main character’s key role in the book is to fish, fund booze-filled evenings with buddies, have man crushes on toreros, and bail his skanky “girlfriend” out of bad hook-ups. Because the words are so dazzling the character and story part falls away in my memory and I am always left with a “yeah, I know I LOVED that book also” conversation every time it is mentioned. But LOVE it for what? It’s a powerfully emotive vignette, a snapshot of a point in time. That point in time for “The Sun Also Rises” did not particularly appeal to me, but the impact and the beauty of Hemingway’s writing makes a lasting impression. I guess I’m OK with that…I’m on to “A Farewell to Arms.” As I remember, it’s another really fun and uplifting book!

In Read, Uncategorized

13th Century HOT STUFF (and the Perils of Over-Leisure)

September 28, 2012 — Leave a comment

The whole point of vacation is leisure right? Well, we leisured it up on turbo over the past two days. And by “leisure” I mean “sleep”…the ultimate leisure. We had a day trip planned to see the Cathedral in Chartres, for which we had proactively bough train tickets the day after we arrived in Paris. Planning carefully in advance is not really our thing and today proved exactly why: excessive over-leisure caused us to miss our train. By the time we were up and moving we were 30 minutes away from train departure time with a 45 minute Metro trip to get to the station. We were able to switch to a train an hour later and only had to spend a bit of time hanging out in the Montparnasse Starbucks (not a winner). The delay crunched our Chartres touring time a bit…which also, as it turns out, worked out fine.

Chartres is a charming small town that is dominated by a huge, and famous, cathedral. Imagine, say, The Pentagon plunked down in Petaluma, CA and you’ve got the basic idea. There’s been some sort of religious building on the site since before Roman times…with the applicable religion rotating over the years to suit the current population. Seems like “christian’ rotated in sometime around 550 and stuck. The majority of the current cathedral was constructed from 1194-1260. That’s apparently considered “fast” and accounts for most of the church being in the same style. However, only one spire was completed. The second spire was not added until 1513 and you can see why the style issue is important. Both spires are nice…but they are NOT similar.

Chartres Cathedral is considered unique because of its consistent style and also because it has had very few changes since the 13th century. In fact, most of the stained glass windows are ORIGINAL. Just to set a little context, these windows were in place while the US was still owned and operated by Native Americans only. Christopher Columbus and his boats were still several hundred years away from sailing the ocean blue.

Another unique aspect of the cathedral is the large labyrinth near the entrance. Apparently the full labyrinth can only be seen when all the chairs are removed every Friday. Since we did not research carefully and therefore arrived on a Wednesday, most of what we saw was in aisles and under chairs:

The full thing looks like this (photo not ours):

The cathedral is in the process of being carefully restored. You can see the difference between those sections that have been completed and those that have not in the two pictures below:

We spent nearly two hours walking around but because of timing were not able to tour the crypt (Jon loves a good pile of bones and relics). As we were deciding whether to eat or tour the town the heavens opened up with some serious rain, for which we were – of course – not prepared. So town sightseeing was OFF and eating was ON. We chose a small, quaint, very French brasserie in the small, quaint, and very French old section of town. We were enjoying a yummy and very large, quaint, French meal when we were yanked right out of all the quaint Frenchess by the aural assault of HOT STUFF (I need some HOT STUFF baby tonight). There’s nothing like a good dose of Donna Summer to remind you that all is not quaint, French, and stuck in the 13th century. Still, there are some places and times when you just aren’t prepared for Disco.

(additional photos of Chartres Cathedral on this blog’s Flickr account – link on the right sidebar)

In See

Chocolate Croissants = Breakfast of Champions!

September 26, 2012 — 2 Comments

Warm…freshly baked chocolate-melty-in-the middle flakey croissants.

I’m no expert (ok, maybe kinda) but I SWEAR they put waaaay more butter in Parisian croissants than the cold dry flavorless versions we get in the US. Honestly, the two variations are SO different that we probably shouldn’t even be able to call what we serve croissants. It’s some kind of…copyright violation? The equivalent of saying a 1970 AMC Gremlin is absolutely the same as a 2012 Mercedes Benz S-Class. I mean, you can tell they are both CARS and that’s about the end of the similarity right? I’ve done extensive croissant research (see that, I turned it into something official rather than ordinary gluttony) and I can’t fine any relevant correlation between Croissant-French and Croissant-American. For breakfast this morning Jon ran down to the boulangerie next door and picked up two freshly baked croissants. And then he ran back up again…SIX FLIGHTS.

That’s right people, we are in the penthouse…because it’s the best. Well, it’s at the top anyway which is where we are. I’m not sure a 226 square foot studio qualifies for penthouse status (especially with a bathroom that is basically a SHOWER with a toilet in it – more on this later).

So yeah, six flights up and six flights down for two chocolate croissants – only one of which he ate. I would say perhaps he’s earned his morning meal?! I don’t think I’ve necessarily done the same since all I have accomplished so far is typing this up.

In Eat Food, Paris

“Will Work for Vacation”

September 13, 2012 — 1 Comment

Just to be clear before we get going here. You know, so there aren’t any…surprises?

What we are not:

Blog designers
Professional bloggers
Professional travelers
Professional writers
Professional photographers
Professional food critics
Technologically gifted in any way
100% educated about the places we visit ( ‘is Quebec a city? Or, um, a…state?’)
Multilingual (in any country we do learn how to ask for the bill…and say thank you. Sometimes, that’s it)
Culturally sensitive 100% of the time (not gonna lie, we look for Starbucks every place we go)
Careful planners (‘OK, now how the heck do we get to Helsinki from here?’)

What we are:

Two people who like vacation. We like it a lot.

The posts we make here are basically our version of the old school ‘what I did on vacation’ slide show. We are hopeful we will get it together enough to make posts! However, you should know in advance that this could be the one and only post. Minimal time investment on everyone’s part, HOORAY? However, since we spent several nights figuring this whole blog thing out and getting it up and running (on an iPad with intense Google usage and two ‘phone-a-friend’ calls for help) and $39 on a pre-baked template, we’d like to squeeze at least TWO posts out of the whole enterprise. We are thinking that posts may or may not include books we read before/while/during vacation, sites we visited, food we ate, and stuff we wanted to buy/see/do. Of course, posts may end up being a bunch of random semi-coherent rants. To be honest, we don’t know what will happen here. Like we said, maybe nothing.

In summary, we are happy to share our adventures in ‘semi-professional highly amateur’ travel with friends, family, and anyone who cares (or who maybe doesn’t care but stumbled on this site while trying to find a passport service).

In About introduction, manifesto