"Je suis malade dans la tête"

"I am sick in the head", literally translated, or "headache" as we would call it.  A phrase I have heard far too often in the last couple of weeks.  A phrase that I began to take lightly, as Lucien has become the master of the *cough cough* "I'm 'sick', I can't go to school" routine.  Last week it was a headache and sore throat that kept him home from school for 2 days, in my care (with no extra pay).  This week I picked him up from school on Tuesday and, what do you know, ANOTHER sore throat, this time accompanied by an ear ache.  I thought to myself "come onnnn Lucien, enough is enough already", but I soon realized that this time he could actually be serious.  Sure enough, by Wednesday morning, he was hurtin' for certain.  He laid on his bed all day, reading and playing DS, barely speaking 2 words and eating just about nothing for lunch.  Now, Val was scheduled to fly to Moscow on Thursday morning for work, and being the smart woman she is, knew that Nico wouldn't think to take Lucien to the doctor while she was gone.  So, she got Lucien a doctor's appointment at 7pm Thursday night.  I get a call from Val at 8pm: "we're on our way to the emergency room".  3 hospitals and countless doctor's later, Lucien is admitted to the Paris Children's Hospital.  Turns out he had an abscess in his throat that was gradually expanding, therefore obstructing his throat and affecting his ear canal.  They were able to decrease the size of it a bit by sticking a needle down his throat and extracting some of the bacteria from it, but it didn't help much.  So, they put him on antibiotics and kept him overnight to see if the swelling would go down, but if it didn't, he would need surgery Thursday morning.  Long after I was home and asleep Thursday night, I get a call from Nico around 1:30am telling me he needed me to work at 6am the next day so he could go visit Lucien.  Luckily, he didn't need surgery, so Val was off to Moscow and I signed my weekend away...at least this time I didn't mind, as it was for a very valid reason.  Later that morning, I was off to the hospital to keep my LuLu company for the day.  Bringing with me our favorite games, Rummikub and UNO, we were set for the afternoon.  He was in brighter spirits when I arrived, but was unable to speak or swallow due to the swelling.  We spent the afternoon playing games, making father's day cards, and (me) making a fool out of myself for his benefit.  I had to leave around 5pm to pick up Alice, and as I was leaving I said to him "I'm sorry you have to stay here alone for a little bit.  Do you get lonely, is it scary being here without mommy, daddy, or me?"  To which he replied with the first audible laugh all day, and a "NO WAYYYY, I LOVE it here!" (as he points to the TV, his DS, and the bowl of ice cream his nurse had just brought him).  Gotta love it, kids really can make the best out of every situation.  With that, I was on my way, feeling good about the time we spent, and not guilty for leaving.  Lucien is back home as of 2pm today, sans surgery.  Still rather uncomfortable to speak and eat, he is feeling better.  The only plus side to this experience?..he no longer has the energy to fight with his sister :)  Praise God.  Mom, now I know how you felt all those years...

Lucien putting on his brave-face (while kicking my butt in UNO)

Alice, being her usual charming (?) self...after getting into the Nutella.

In other, more exciting news, I finally cashed in that cooking class that Val and Nico gifted me for my birthday way back in November!  Luckily my friend Ellie had received the same gift from her family, so we registered together!  The title of the class was "Les Farcies" or "The Stuffed", as we made pesto/tuna risotto stuffed tomatoes, codfish stuffed zucchini flowers, and beef/fig stuffed onions.  It was very fun, but also very challenging, as the class was taught in French and NO one spoke English.  We managed to get along just fine, though, and actually learned a few techniques, as well as delicious new recipes!  I will definitely be making the stuffed tomatoes again, mainly because that's the only recipe I still fully remember...

Beautiful kitchen work space!

The feasting table

Our chef du cuisine!

Stuffed onions, fresh out of the oven

YUMMM!  Fresh tomatoes, stuffed with tuna and pesto risotto.

Zucchini flowers stuffed with pureed codfish, red peppers, and zucchini.

Boiled onions stuffed with ground beef, figs, and herbs.

Not much else to report on this end, except the exciting news that my mom finally booked her plane ticket (round 2) to Paris!  She'll be here for 11 days, 6 of which will be spent in Holland, 1 in Versailles, 1 in Nancy, and hopefully 1 in Champagne, leaving just 2 days in the city of love.  Plenty of time to have a picnic on the Seine, stroll my favorite neighborhoods, go for a bike ride, and NOT be tourists.  So excited!!!

Porto, Portugal

Where oh where to begin.  What a fabulous weekend.  I have wanted to go to Portugal since I lived in Spain almost 3 years ago.  I kicked myself daily for not making it over when I lived so close, so I promised myself that I would make it there this go-round.  Luckily for me, Amanda had the same idea, and since it was her birthday, we decided this would be the perfect celebration!  It also didn't hurt that we found a pretty good deal on flights, and a great/cheap hostel to boot, so off we went!  Because it was a long weekend here in Paris, we got to spend 3 full days in this beautiful city!  Our flight left Thursday night fairly late, so when we arrived at the hostel at 1am, we went straight to bed to prepare ourselves for all the sightseeing in the days to follow.

Friday morning we were up bright and early to take advantage of the beautiful sunshine!  Our hostel offered a free breakfast, so we emerged onto the rooftop terrace to take in the views and enjoy our coffee, bread, and cereal.  Even at 9am, the weather was perfect, the sun was shining, and we knew it was going to be a great day!  So we glanced at a map to see the general direction we wanted to head, and we were off.  For those of you who don't know, Porto is a hillside city that encompasses the Douro River.  While these hills don't look like much, walking up and down and up and down them is quite the workout!  Our first trek of the day was to the highest point in the city, where 2 grand cathedrals rested and overlooked the entire city and out to the ocean.  From there we decided to cross the river on one of the many beautiful bridges that Porto is so well-known for.  We were now on what we refer to as the "cellar side" because it is the location of most of the famous port wine cellars in the city.  Literally, from our hostel looking across the river, all you say are giant letters on the roofs of buildings, advertising which cellar it is.  We wandered along the water a bit before making our way into the first cellar of the day to do a bit of tasting...at 11am!  This cellar was called Taylor's and is pretty much famous because they offer FREE tastings...right up our alley!  I have never really tried port wine before, but I knew it was quite sweet.  Let's just say "quite sweet" was an understatement at this place.  Holy moly it tasted like grape candy, no bueno.  From here we moved on to the second cellar of the day, called Sandeman's.  Most of you are probably familiar with this brand, as they are quite famous for their Portuguese Port, Spanish Wine, and Scottish Whiskey.  Here, for a mere 4euros, we got to take a tour of the wine cellar and see all the barrels and vats where they make the wine, as well as a movie that took us out to the grape orchards.  After the tour we got to taste a couple more ports, this time a white aperitif port, which was actually quite tasty!  I actually bought a bottle of this for Val because her birthday was the day we returned.  Because it was not quite noon yet and we had acquired a slight buzz from all the tastings, we decided to hop on a little boat to relax while we got a tour of all the bridges of port, all the way to the ocean.  It was beautiful seeing all the picturesque landscapes, buildings, and bridges, all while relaxing in the (now deathly hot) sun.  Amanda and I definitely got a bit crispy on the boat, and I am STILL trying to get rid of my shorts tan-line!  It wasn't until after we finished our hour long tour that we realized we were toast, literally, so we retreated to the riviera to enjoy a drink in the shade.  Here is where I discovered my favorite beverage to date, a tango.  It is a light beer with a little bit of current syrup mixed in...tres. bon.  It was such a nice, refreshing treat in such intense heat.  We had a little snack with our beers to keep the energy up so we could continue on with the sightseeing.  We continued on to see a couple more churches and conquer a couple more hills before we were ready to just shower and crash.  On our way back, we stopped at a store to grab a couple things to make dinner at the hostel.  Never has a shower felt so good, let me tell you!  We got ready for the evening, planning to go out, made our dinner and ate it on the balcony, and then struck up conversation with 2 fellow travelers at the hostel.  One was an Australian living in Sweden, the other was his girlfriend, a Swede living in Sweden, what do you know!  They were in Portugal doing 4 weeks of traveling up the coast by means of hitchhiking and couch surfing!  Sark, you would have loved talking to them!  They've hitchhiked all over Europe, including most recently, Turkey (scary!  but they said it was great)!  They were so interesting to talk to and share stories with, that next thing we knew it was already 1am, so much for going out!  We called it a night so we could be well-rested for our long-awaited beach day the next day!

View from our rooftop terrace

Cathedral at the top of the hill.  We thought this was beautiful when we saw it, little did we know that every other cathedral in town is 100x more beautiful, as you will see below...

Self portrait, trying to get the view in behind us...fail.

Douro River and magnificent bridges

On the cellar tour at Sandeman's

Tasting at Taylor's

On the boat tour!

Beautiful river front scenes

Saturday was honestly the perfect day.  We had a little breakfast, a lotta coffee, bought giant beach towels for 4euros, hopped on a bus for 1.50euros, and within 15 mins were in sight of some of the most beautiful beaches.  We found a nice spot and just crashed for what turned into a 4 hour nap on the beach :)  No burns either!  We remembered sunscreen, and set our alarms to rotate every hour like rotisserie chickens!  After testing out the water (cold!), we popped into a little cafe to enjoy a salad and a tango on the deck.  We made our way back to the hostel in the late afternoon to shower and get ready for the night, because again, we were determined to make it out one night to celebrate Amanda's birthday!!  We asked the owner of the hostel (Pedro, soo nice!) for a restaurant suggestion, and he directed us to Arroz al Forno, just up the street.  Even better, because we told them we were from the hostel, we each got a free glass of wine!  Now, everywhere we went we saw on the menu about 8 different codfish dishes.  Clearly, this was their specialty, so we knew we couldn't leave without trying it.  We each ordered the "half" baked codfish...oh. my. goodness.  They brought out a huge dish with a giant slab of crusted fish and a few potatoes.  We were overwhelmed at first sight, thinking how on earth we were going to finish that.  Then, to our surprise, and dismay, they brought out ANOTHER!  Each dish was the "half order" that we wanted.  So much food!!!  Now I can't really complain because it was so damn good that I probably could have finished the whole thing by myself.  It was the most flavorful, juiciest, perfectly seasoned piece of fish I have ever eaten, and I would fly back right now just to eat it again.  Remember this, all you people, when you go to Portugal, order the baked cod!  After gorging ourselves on fish, it was time to walk it off before the partying could begin, so we wandered through a different area of town, up to city hall, through an outdoor book fair, past many different cathedrals, until we happened upon a random stage in the middle of the street.  Not just a platform, a full on stage with speakers, special lighting, and beer vendors all around.  We grabbed a beer (for 1euro!) and stood at a table talking, until we were suddenly surrounded by people and a band was making their way on stage.  We have no idea who the band was, they spoke Portuguese, but sang in English, and they had many followers.  They were quite good!  We ended up listening for a while and chatting and decided that this turned into the perfect night, so we contentedly walked home to call it a night. 

BEACH!

gettin my tan on!

TANGO!

Delicious. massive. codfish.

Another church, 1 step up from the last, as it has a bit of famous Portuguese tile detailing.

Watching the band play in the street!

The "no-names"

Now, we had heard about this really awesome outdoor market, selling everything from groceries to clothes and art.  Pedro told us it was hoppin' in the mornings, so Sunday we decided to make this our first stop.  We walked down the main shopping street to get there (luckily it was Sunday so everything was closed and my wallet was safe).  Unfortunately, because it was Sunday, the market was also closed.  Bummer.  Instead, we decided to head to the big cathedral to hike up to the bell tower, which we heard had amazing views.  We got there just before it closed, ascended the 208 stairs, only to be met with a view that was expansive, but quite unimpressive.  So, we opted to find some lunch instead.  Damn, Sunday, nothing open!  However, luck was on our side as we wandered into a random awesome-looking building by our hostel and they just happened to have a really nice, cheap cafe, that was open!  We had another tango, some bruschetta, and some stuffed mushrooms and were quite content.  And, because it was only about 2pm, we decided it was time to head back to the beach!  We went to a new beach this time that was a little smaller and had more rocks than sand, but it was so peaceful and beautiful!  We laid out for a few hours, but it became a bit windy and it looked as though a storm was coming in, so we retreated to a fancy restaurant for dinner.  This restaurant was 2 stories, every table had a gorgeous ocean view, right on the beach, it was clean and beautiful on the inside, and guess what it was?  DOMINOES!  How weird is that?  Either way, we decided to go for it, as I don't think I have ever even eaten dominoes in the States before, let alone on a beach in Portugal.  That night we packed up our things to prepare for our early departure the next day, and after a total of 6 hours of travel time, we were safely back home, sporting amazing tans and renewed spirits. 

And now we get to the good stuff...beautiful churches!!

Small, but completely covered in Portuguese tiles!

City Hall...we were here on voting day, and as you all know, Portugal was just bailed out by the EU, so this was a big big day for them!

At the top of the clocktower

View of the river from the clocktower

Wandering the narrow streets

Beach #2

Bellissimo.

It was a wonderful weekend away from the hustle and bustle of city life.  We saw and did a lot, but had plenty of time to relax as well, the perfect combination!  So to anyone interested in new travel destinations, I definitely recommend Porto, and just Portugal in general!!

Nederland...Where I Wanna BE!!

Well as you know, I spent this last weekend up in Holland with Jaimie!  As always, we had the time of our lives!  We were able to see 3 cities in a span of 3 days and truly take in all that each city has to offer.  It started at 2pm Friday when we boarded the 2.5 hour train to Rotterdam.  Easy, relaxing ride, full of good music (Adele) and a good book (written by my high school youth pastor)!  After arriving in Rotterdam, we transferred trains and after a quick 15 minute ride, arrived in the beautiful, quaint town of Delft.  Our friend, and Jaimie's boyfriend, Chris, lives in Delft, so we were staying with him.  We immediately set out to meet up with some friends of his visiting from Turkmenistan (they are all in the oil industry) for a drink.  We walked around and explored a bit of the city, and then settled on one of Jaimie's favorite restaurants in the city for some dinner.  Before dinner we had shared a bottle of wine between the 3 of us at home, then a beer at the bar, and by the time we finished our first glass of wine at the restaurant, we were feeling quite happy.  Unfortunately when the food came out, we had snacked too much already and were not hungry, at all.  I say unfortunately because I ordered a delicious looking, and tasting, mushroom crusted catfish served on herb mashed potatoes, and I couldn't even finish half of it!  After dinner, we met up again with Chris's friend and his girlfriend, who convinced us that a trip to Amsterdam that night was quite essential.  We knew we had to be up early for the music festival the next day, but we couldn't really pass up an excuse to go to Amsterdam!  Plus, this friend was only in town for a while, so to be fair, we agreed to go so Chris could spend time with his man crush.  So at 1am, we hopped on an hour long train to Amsterdam--the city of (expensive) free love and (excessive) drugs.  The purpose of the trip? we weren't really sure.  But we had a great time roaming the streets of the city center, the red light district (EEEK at nighttime!), and Rembrandt Square.  Finally around 5am, we were tired enough to decide it was time to head back home, so the race was on to make it to the train station in time to catch the last train for the next 2 hours!  We made it, and around 6:15am we crawled through the door and went straight to bed, only to be up again at 10am to prepare for the exciting festivities ahead!

First view of Delft...amazing, I know!

Notice anything a little...off...about this clock tower?

Jaim and I, just chillin...

Saturday had in store for us a huge outdoor techno festival called Soenda.  This was the main purpose of our trip to Holland this weekend, and we were so excited because it is festivals like this that the Dutch pride themselves in.  We decided to take the train instead of driving, but quickly regretted that decision (thanks, Jaimie)!  After a total of 2.5 hours, 4 trains, and 2 buses, we arrived!  We walked through the middle of nowhere into a wide open field, where we suddenly happened upon a staged civilization.  There were tents, jump houses, wooden structures, stages, restaurants, bars, lockers, toilets, you name it, they had it!  The first impression had us quite impressed, but the party really started when we made our way to the main stage to hear the first DJ.  I can honestly say that before my first trip to Amsterdam earlier this year, I hated techno, but now there is something about it that just sparks a fire in me and makes me want to DANCE!  And dance we did, all day.  Running on nothing but bottled water and enthusiasm, we danced the day away.  The weather was crap, and it even rained for most of it, but they gave out free ponchos that people rocked and we made the most of it.  There came a point when everyone was so drenched and tired and looking shitty, that we just embraced the ugliness and stopped caring (the proof is in the pics).  The festival ended around 11pm, so we made our way back to one of Chris's friends houses where we planned on crashing for the night.  We sank into the couch and instantly nodded off to sleep for a bit, but his friend woke us up to tell us about an after party nearby and insisted we go.  None of us were very excited to go, as we were already running on just 3.5 hours of sleep, looked like crap, were wet, tired, and sore from dancing already.  Let's just say this guy can win an award for persuasion because he had us convinced soon enough (with the promise that we could leave whenever we wanted, just say the word)!  A brisk 20 minute walk away and we found ourselves in the middle of a secluded, deserted parking lot, surrounded by maybe 30 people, and another DJ.  This was a really cool atmosphere because it was small, we got to meet a lot of new people, and we got to listen to good music and dance some more.  We were having so much fun that we didn't realize how quickly time flew, so when we looked at our watch for the first time to find it was 5am, we were shocked.  Needless to say, it was definitely time to call it a night, so off we went on the cold and windy walk home.  We managed to make it back to the house and into bed around 6am...night #2 of seeing the gorgeous Holland sunrise!  After just a few hours sleep, we were up and out to catch our train back to Delft.  Little did we know, the city tram/buses weren't operating (or something, we were a bit delusional after no sleep, so they very well could have been and we just couldn't figure it out), but we ended up walking allllll the wayyyyy to the train station.  Let's just say I slept quite well on that ride home!

Our greeting at the music festival...little did we know, this was the least of the excitement!

It poured most of the day, but our sexy ponchos made it all better...

Gerben, being his weird self...

Christian Johannes Maria Van Maaren...hehe

Awesome little outdoor stage

They used pallets to make insane sculptures, adding to the awesomeness of the whole thing...

These lights were the most fascinating thing I have ever seen!! haha

The main stage void of people due to the rain

Jaim and I clearly exhausted at the afterparty

The happy couple

Taken somewhere around the 13th hour of dancing...

Upon arriving back in Delft, we magically developed a second wind, so we decided to take advantage of the daylight and stroll the city once more.  A quick shower later and we were taking to the streets again to absorb what an absolutely wonderful city Delft is on a Sunday afternoon.  Honestly, so wonderful that I am highly (HIGHLY) considering moving here, or at least to Holland, for my next little venture...watch out!  There were people dining on outdoor terraces, children playing in the narrow streets as their parents sat by and watched while chatting with neighbors.  There was a live band set up playing great music to observers in a little market square.  Everywhere we looked there were bike riders coming from all directions.  I can truly say this is my favorite city in Europe, as far as charm, class, and overall atmosphere.  Sticking with the old world charm of the city, we settled into a large chain Mexican restaurant for dinner, of course!  It sounds completely random, and it definitely is random, but I have been craving Mexican food since I moved to Paris and this was my first taste of it in 9 months!!!  So, thanks to Jaimie and Chris for succumbing to my craving :)  After our (delicious for Europe Mexican, but nowhere near California Mexican) dinner, and a little listen to the live band across the way, we were on our way back to call it an extremely early night and attempt to make up for our lost sleep. 

Streets of Delft

Best Friends...we missed you, Al!

So Dutch.

The main plaza in Delft

The old gate to the city, built over the water, is now a private residence... I want to live here!

Beautiful canal with lily pads!!

Monday morning we were back on the train to Paris to get back to the daily grind.  Unfortunately I came home only to be greeted by Valerie out of town again and Alice with a major case of head lice.  Luckily for me, Val was only gone one night, and even better, I didn't catch the lice...although, there were a few times when Jaimie and I had to sit in the sunlight from my window while she examined my head for nits...oh to know what my neighbors think of me!  As it is currently Monday evening that I am writing this, I am a whole week behind in posting, but clearly all for good reason!  Mommy duty round 2, doctor's appointments for the kids, lice treatments, and then unpacking just to repack for Portugal, before I knew it I was off on another vacation after only 3 days at home!  As I sit here writing this, I am completely relaxed, tanned, and excited to tell you all about Portugal, but that will have to wait a few days!!

Just a preview of the next blog: PORTO!

 HAPPY WEEK TO YOU ALL!! :)