Vacation day 9-11: Amsterdam and Finale

We have good German friends that we really only get to see every few years. It just seems ridiculous to fly all the way to Europe and not at least try to hook up with Axel. 

One thing Europe has really gotten right and I wish we had is a train network that essentially allows you to get anywhere in Europe in less than a day. (Thank you car manufacturers for derailing and true rail system in America)

It's also amazing to see these gigantic train stations in the middle of these cities. Just buildings every where, then you see this several story tall tunnel containing dozens of restaurants and shops while you wait for your train. There's something soothing about having a coffee and just watching trains come and go. 

Vacation: Day 8-9, Versailles and Paris

Day 8 (Wednesday, November 20th, 2024)

We wanted to make sure we made it out of Paris proper for a day, but we also didn't want to spend the entire day traveling. The Palace of Versailles was about a 30 minute train ride out of the city and seemed like the perfect expedition. 

What can you really say about Versailles? It's the ultimate display of opulence. The entire time we were there, I couldn't help but think of the amount of manpower it would take to clean and upkeep the palace. How many rooms went mostly unused? The first floor seemed to be dozens of the same sized room one after another. Supposedly some of the rooms were meant for specific delegates and politicians, but why?

Vacation: Day 6-7, Paris

Day 6 (Monday, November 18th, 2024)

I was finally back baby. 

And we finally got our re-do for the Louvre. 

Obviously, this is one of the most popular museums in the world. Millions of people come through the doors a year. It was packed. It's also a confusing mess of a layout. 

We spent a large amount of time trying to figure out where we were in the museum while dodging a billion tourists trying to force their way to the front of the line to see the Mona Lisa. 

It was a very cool museum. There were some beautiful works of art here. I'm glad I did it, but I understand why a lot of our friends said there were cooler museums in France. 

Obligatory picture of the Mona Lisa. 

After leaving the museum we took a stroll to the Arc De Triumph. 

We didn't have a gameplan for the rest of the day. Sal had found this awesome place called Freddy's while I was feeling sick. The ethos is that the owner wanted to have a friendly place for people to have a leisurely chat. They specifically didn't take reservations so that Parisian's couldn't book the place solid and tourists and locals would have a place to meld. 

It was so chill. We just had a couple of drinks while we figured out the rest of everything. 

We stayed at Freddy's for a while and then went back to the hotel to get ready for Le Cheval d'Or, a place my buddy Sean recommended. 

I have to admit, I was a little suspicious of getting Asian food in Paris, but this place was out of control. We did the six course meal and everything was incredible.  

• Total steps: 17,138
• Total miles: 8.15

Day 7 (Monday, November 19th, 2024)

It was raining, dreary, cold, we didn't really have any solid plans during the day, so we went shopping. We went to the famous Shakespeare and Company Bookstore. It was definitely cool, but way too cramped. And since all the books were the English prints, there wasn't anything specific that I wanted to get. 

We also walked around trying to find a store we saw a few days before where they were selling hand transcribed books. We wanted to get some Christmas gifts for people and see if we could buy one of their favorite books hand transcribed in French... but we couldn't find this magical store again. 

Monday night however, we went to L'Ambroisie, a 3 star Michelin restaurant. We didn't know what to expect, both never having been to a place of this caliber and not being fluent in French.

First thing to plan for, you will spend about 500€ per person. You need to accept that, get over it, and don't think about it to enjoy your meal.

Second, dress code. I had trouble really figuring out the dress code. We were there for dinner service in November. Every man had a suit jacket or sport coat, nice trousers, and shoes, but didn't see any ties. All the women had dresses with nice sweaters.

Third, there is no English menu. I was prepared for this, but a guy at a table near us (who I will call Captain America for the rest of this writeup) did not and was angry about it.

Forth, when I've gone to fancy dinners in the past, Sal and I typically share an appetizer, cheese plate, and dessert. The main course is the only thing we each get our own. At L'Ambroisie, each person picks something for each serving.

Now that we have that out of the way, what was the experience like.

If you take the metro, there's no direct way from the station to the restaurant. It's sort of tucked in a palace courtyard. So you'll have to do a sort of left turn, right turn, right turn, right turn strategy. There's a lot of little shops in the courtyard, L'Ambroisie was tucked in the far corner with two lights lighting the entrance.

When you walk in, someone will immediately ask if you have a reservation and someone will take your coat and umbrella. (Probably purse if you had one as well)

We were shown to our table where the server first pulled out a chair for my wife and once she was sat, came around to pull my chair out as well.

We were immediately brought a wine menu that was frankly overwhelming. But these are pros, so we asked for a champagne by the glass suggestion to start the night. We got gougeres (cheese puffs) with our glasses. 

The room we were in was one large table for 6 in the middle with four smaller tables for 2-4 people in each corner. A large chandelier hung above the large table. The walls had these cool red backlit textured panels. 

I was wondering what the protocol was at this point, so I started watching other tables that were already seated to see what they were doing. Captain America asked for a cocktail menu and was informed they didn't have cocktails. His night was ruined from here on. 

The other table was one step ahead of us and appeared to be pros. I watched them the rest of the night. 

We were soon asked if we had any thoughts on starters and mains. 

We then picked wine. The sommelier was incredibly helpful. She already knew what we ordered for food and when we said what sort of wine we typically like, and she picked a lovely bottle of white. 

The starters came out and we're huge. Sal's got this lobster sesame cracker thing that was delicious. Mine was interesting. I thought we were sharing, but the server looked at me confused, asked something I didn't really understand, but ultimately brought me a soft-boiled egg, with croutons, and some frothy broth as a starter.  The mouth feel was airy. Almost as of the food wasn't touching your mouth in any way. Leaving a trace of itself on the way down. 

They then brought out some delicious bread. This might actually be the highlight of the night for me. 

After a bit of talk, the main came out. My lobster was incredibly juicy. They mostly had shelled it for me, but as part of the presentation, left some meat in the shell and gave me a plate to discard the shell. The meat fell right out. I didn't have to do any of the normal cracking. The sauce the lobster was fricasseed in was incredible. Had a beefy, mushroom sort of taste. And to even out the sauce, there were pieces of pumpkin, chestnuts, and peas in the broth. 

For the main, Sal chose the scallops in a nice saffron sauce and I chose the fricassee blue lobster.  The saffron was perfectly balanced and played off the scallops nicely. 

Both ways of preparing the lobster and scallops were not ways I would've thought of before, but worked really well. 

Captain America and his partner had not talked for at least 30 minutes at this point. He was the angriest man to ever drink a glass of wine. And his partner seemed enthusiastic about doing every possible course. So she ordered every course while he just seethed and got angrier and angrier.

While we were eating, our wine was never empty. Someone was always filling it. A warning though, very European, but you will be paying for any water you drink. We rang up €30 in just water. 

Then came the cheese tray. This giant tray with some of the nicest cheese I've ever seen. Again, this is something I would've expected to share, but you each pick four cheeses. The cheese monger was very knowledgeable and was able to choose four options based off our preferences that were great. 

We decided to skip dessert as we were quite full by now. L'Ambroisie brought out three small samples of desserts (some sort of lemon tart, a pie (apple maybe), and something that I'd describe as close to a cannoli. They also brought out chocolate covered almonds. So we ate dessert as we finished our last glasses of wine. 

We paid the tab at the table, then wandered to the entrance where someone was already waiting with our coats. 

Captain America was in the bathroom while his partner sat in a chair near the entrance. I hope his night got better. 

I don't know that I would do a Michelin star restaurant again. It would have to be something a little more warm and modern. This meal felt like the French stereotype of them being snooty. Sal and I had not experienced that until this meal. 

Vacation: Day 2-5, Paris

Day 2 (November 14th, 2024)

I honestly don't know what to call this. Technically it was the first day, but after a nap, it felt like the second day. We'll stick with it's was Day 1 and just accept the first day of our trip was 36 hours long. 

The other thing about international travel is that you should probably leave the first couple days free of plans in the morning. We broke this rule, thinking we were going to wake up at 5 am, and slept right through our alarm and our tickets to go to the Louvre. 

We didn't wake up until 11:30, and in a panic, started trying to pivot. The entire plans for the day hinged on being in that museum. 

I had found a restaurant that looked really cool called Le Train Bleu. Located in one of the larger active train stations, the restaurant is located in an old part of the station that has been largely untouched. The stark contrast between the modern concrete ugliness of the active train station and the beautiful painted ceilings, statues, chandeliers that made up the old, gave you whiplash. 

Here we see that beauty used to be part of design. Sure, maybe modern architecture is more functional, but the world is tough and it would be nice to have a little bit of beauty in your everyday life. Unfortunately, beauty cost money and no company wants to spend more money on any project. So I don't know that we'll ever return to this. 

After Le Train Bleu, we wandered around the corner to the Cinémathèque Française, a movie museum. The big draw for me was the Georges Méliès section. He is one of the most talented early film makers and has inspired so many present day directors. The way he melded his magician background with new technologies to come up with special effects at the turn of the 1900s was nothing less that incredible.

Museum was great. Sal's French came in clutch here. My Google Translate app was having some issues, so Sal had to essentially figure out every plaque and give me the gist of it. 

We walked the hour back, through a nice park and got to see a large portion of the non-tourist area of Paris. 

That night, we had the most amazing dinner cruise on Le Calife. It took us up the Siene to essentially the museum we were at earlier in the day and ended at the Eiffel Tower, perfectly timed for when the tower sparkles at night. 

After the cruise, we wanted to see what the night life in Paris was like. We were staying near where the university was, so many of the quiet cafes had turned into nightclubs. Not exactly the vibe we were looking for. We eventually found a place called Gueuleton that had maybe 12 people inside having drinks. Like all great French spots, our wine came with a snack of some cured meats. Delicious. 

The other table in the place had been drinking many bottles of wine and taking shots. They were pretty drunk. One of the older ladies (mid-50s compared to the 30 year olds she was with?) was making out with several of the guys at the same time. She ended up chatting us up to somewhat apologize for being loud, but also to tell us being married to a single person was boring and that we should come and do shots with them at the next place. She then got on a motorized scooter and ate shit immediately. 

• Total steps: 17,905
• Total miles: 8.42

Day 3 (Friday, November 15th, 2024)

Sal had an upset stomach on Friday, so we had a slower wakeup. We ended up going to a bakery called Maison Mulot. In Paris, there's a bakery on every corner that sell premade sandwiches and desserts. A simple ham and cheese on a French baguette is such a great snack. 

We then walked through Luxemburg Palace.

Wandering the streets of Paris is a true joy. The city still takes great pride in the arts. Paintings, sculptures, book stores, art galleries, they line the streets.

Go in any direction and you will run into the river walk on the Seine or a park.

You can also see why the French Revolution happened. Anyway you could throw a rock, you'll hit a palace among the streets. The poor lived staring at the rich daily. While crawling through the slop of the street, hoping the factory still had a shift for you, you'd stare through the gates of Luxemburg Palace and see the family playing croquette. Let them eat cake? Nah, sharpen the guillotine.

We stopped at Le Bullier for a quick coffee before heading to the Paris Catacombs.

Death is silent. You descend stories worth of stairs, wander some tunnels, turn a corner, and all sound leaves the area. It's thick like syrup. Millions of Parisian's bones, stacked five feet high, sometimes arranged in heart shapes or crosses, but no complete bodies.

The group behind us (and eventually in front of us) treated this like a tourist attraction rather than the final resting place for so many of their ancestors. One man screams "boo" scaring the younger woman with him. Another woman in their group, spent the entire time taking as many full flash selfies with the dead as she could squeeze out. (The number 1 rule posted everywhere is "don't steal the bones. The number 2 rule posted everywhere, don't f-ing use flash when taking pictures)

We got through the catacombs quicker than we expected and had time before our dinner reservation. 

We stopped at a place called Maison Edgar and split a bottle of champagne. Sitting at a cafe, staring at a street that Hemmingway likely did a hundred years ago was exciting on it's own. The cafe overlooks a park, which was nice at first. Then there was some sort of car accident right in front of our window. We still don't know what happened, but people looked angry, then turned on their flashers, then all came in and sat down at a table together near us. 

We then had an excellent dinner at Le Bistrot Des Campagnes to finish off the night before we walked back to the hotel. 

• Total steps: 13,713
• Total miles: 6.37

Day 4 (Saturday, November 16th, 2024)

It was my turn to have a stomach bug. I wasn't able to leave my hotel bed the entire day. Sal had a great time exploring on her own and eventually brought me ramen noodles in a cup. It was the only calories I had all day. 

• Total steps: 1863 (mostly from the night before)
• Total miles: .88

Day 5 (Sunday, November 17th, 2024)

I wasn't 100% still. I didn't have the nausea anymore, but I just felt incredibly full. Like I had eaten two large meals back to back. But I had only had about 400 calories the day before. 

We walked around a little. Saw Notre Dame up close. Walked the Seine riverwalk. Statue of St. Michael. I was feeling somewhat human, but the smell of food, perfume, cigarettes were all getting to me. We went back to the hotel so I could rest before our dinner reservation. 

We ate dinner at Les Editeurs. The food looked great. I still wasn't feeling the best. I had a poke bowl that was mostly falafel and some fresh cut fruits. It was all I could keep down. It's a shame because I was excited about the menu here, but it was all I could do. 

• Total steps: 10,983 (mostly from the night before)
• Total miles: 5.19

Vacation Day 1: Getting there

We booked a Lyft to take us to the airport since parking would be too expensive for how long we were going to be gone. And traffic was horrendous. We ended up getting routed through all of these backroads. And spoiler, this ended up being the only travel the entire trip that didn't go smooth as can be. Somehow we spent two weeks taking planes, trains, taxis, and walking without anything going wrong. 

Neat!

Treat Yo' Self Day

Sal and I have accidentally been collecting gift cards for a few years now. Some were half used, some were for places we just haven't managed to get to, some were misplaced when we sold our old car and got our kitchen remodeled. 

It's been an incredibly stressful few months. Work has been insane for both of us. Our weekends are full and spilling into our weekdays. (I will only see Sal one weeknight this week) Living full throttle doesn't exactly give you much time to deal with unexpected items like health or losing a cat. 

We decided to take a day off work to do a "Treat Yo' Self" day. 

Crash, the Beginning "Story"

We lost Crash last weekend. It wasn't completely unexpected, but it doesn't make it less sad. 

Crash was a weird one. Whereas Slider was always up in everyone's face and Newbie was such a soft-spoken, cuddler, Crash watched from the 2nd floor landing like Batman. People were aware of Crash and in some cases made it their mission to make Crash like them, but she wasn't underfoot or laying in the middle of the room while we hung out. She didn't want to be the center of attention.

Crash stayed upstairs, away from people. She had a few favorites like my college roommates and my mother. But I don't think Crash has made a friend in damn near 15 years at this point. 

She was a sewer cat that got separated from her litter. One of my roommates girlfriends found her. And Sal and I decided to adopt her.

Now, Sal and I were in absolutely no place to be adopting an animal. We knew we were going to get married, but we also were in housing that didn't allow animals, about to move across the country, and I didn't have a job yet. 

But we were dumb, young, and invincible, so why not take a cat in?

Equating Pictures to Memories

Sal and I are that weird elder millennial generation. We knew the before times, but ultimately grew up with modern equivalents of technology. 

We played outside without cell phones or GPS. We would disappear for hours at a time and our parents just assumed we'd be back in time for dinner. 

But the moment we got a car, we were handed a cell phone, never to truly be off grid again. For the most part, technology has been a huge benefit. Not needing to memorize your route and bust a giant atlas out on the hood of your car when you're lost is a blessing. 

Having the internet in your pocket anytime is mostly a benefit. Can't count how many times I've been at a bar trying to come up with an actors name. Popping open IMDB gets the answer immediately. The downside to that is my memory is crap because I don't actually have to retain information. 

But today I want to talk about one of the most prolific changes, photography. 

Viva Las Vegas Strikes Back

That's right folks, we've now been to Vegas twice in less than a year. And I gotta say, I can't wait to go back again. 

This time we went with friends. I wasn't sure how much I was going to like being there with others. There's so much I want to do in Vegas that I was feeling sort of selfish and not really wanting to compromise going into the trip (Mr. Rogers would be disappointed in me), but I just kept telling myself that I will go back again to see a Blues game eventually. 

Last time we stayed in old Vegas off Fremont street, this time we stayed on the main strip in the Sahara. 

The Sahara might be the most perfect hotel in Vegas for me. 

It's on the very north side of the strip, so if I need a break from what is essentially a giant mall with slot machines, I can get there easily. 

It also doesn't get a lot of spillover from the "normies" staying at the more southern hotels. (Normies is the term I'll use for bachelor parties, boys night out, bachelorette parties, sun burned dads drinking Mic Ultra, and sun burned mom's pulling the slot handle) 

The Sahara also has access to the city's tram system, which we heard complaints about, but it served us very well. We saved probably $80 in Lyfts using it. 

Anthony Bourdain Day 2024

Anthony Bourdain was a complicated person. He had many demons. Could tear his friends to pieces with sharp and targeted words. He battled depression most of his life. He had a severe inadequacy complex, never thinking he was good enough for any of his significant others or daughter. 

But Anthony Bourdain was the great empathizer. He had the ability to disarm anyone, make them feel safe, yet vulnerable, all around a table with food. He knew how to put into words the human experience. He never looked down, always straight ahead. (Unless your name happened to be Henry Kissinger, then he looked down on you and spit in your general direction)

It's one of those weird relationships where we've never met Anthony in person, but he meant a lot to Sal and I. Part of our travel-lust was born out of watching Anthony bravely share a meal in places deemed "too dangerous" for the average tourist. We saw him go to places like Vegas, but instead of spending all of his time wandering the Sahara, he took you to Atomic Liquor off the strip. He was always more interested in the people that could take him to the local places, than going to restaurants owned by celebrity chefs. 

The Albums that Bring You Back

This year is a huge nostalgia year when it comes to concerts. Almost every band I listened to in high-school are on tour and playing classic albums front to back: Sum 41, Green Day, Taking Back Sunday, The Get Up Kids. 

Wednesday, Sal and I (and about 8 friends and most of the people I went to high-school with) went to see the Death Cab For Cutie and Postal Service touring on the 20 year anniversary of the albums I listened to in college. (God, time is marching too quickly forward)

Ben Gibbard is the commonality between the bands, because he is the lead singer for both. He's been in Death Cab since like 1997 and The Postal Service since like 2001.

My Neighbors Marty and Vicki

I've been having a lot of thoughts and dreams about my childhood neighbors Marty and Vicki lately. 

Maybe it's spring knocking on the window. Marty had an incredible garden. Spring time was busy time. Getting things planted. He'd empty his huge compost bin out and mixed it with mulch and dirt. 

Vicki would walk the garden, hands clasped daintily behind her back. 

My memories of looking into Marty's yard are almost always of the spring. It's a nice temperature, probably mid-April. Warm enough for shorts, the sun shining bright, but still cool enough to not overheat. 

True/False 2024

True False this year was a real banger. Everything we saw was something special. 

Usually Sallie and I are bumping shoulder to shoulder, trying to get a spot at Top 10 Wines or Flatbranch, but the festival admittedly didn't feel as attended as it did in past years, which is great for me, more room at the theater and in the restaurants. But it does make me worry about the future of the festival. 

Weather is always a question at True/False. We've been there for two blizzards. We're talking over a foot of snow. We've been there for tornados. We've been there for the most perfect spring weather. This year was a bit of a mix. It was really warm during the day, sort of cold at night, and rain seemed to be looming constantly. 

Top Movies of the Year

As temperatures are more regularly pushing against 100+ degrees in St. Louis, Sal and I have been looking for ways to be in buildings with air conditioning instead of sitting at home and running ours hard. 

We got a movie pass with Alamo Drafthouse this past summer. Every month, we pay about $18 a person to see unlimited movies. If you see two movies, it's paid for itself. 

Separate from Alamo, I had a goal to try and see an average of a movie a day in 2023, and I was able to hit that mark on December 28th. Three days before I had to. I was flipping through the stats and realized that this year was an incredible year for movies. It felt like things finally were back on track post Covid. 

Here are my top movies of 2023.