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What Do You Do with Two Weeks in Western Europe in November?


astrid

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Don's new tagline notwithstanding, I think Parisbymouth is far superior to Michelin for Paris. If Meg Zimbeck could attract funding to expand to other cities, her formula deserves to become a smashing success. The recommendation lists are practically organized based on the user's needs (need to eat on Monday; want to eat at a not awful restaurant near the Louvre; where to buy that 3 kg box of chocolate?) and organized by location. Each restaurant listing actually comes with important stuff like hours, price for lunch and dinner, what you're actually getting there in plain and easy to understand language, and when you need to book ahead.

RWBoone Jr.'s DCDiningGuide.com is doing something very similar, but the new user learning curve is faster with Parisbymouth and it's easier to get an at-a-glance idea of what's good and worth further investigation. Although Parisbymouth requires a heavier editorial hand to keep the information current (there were a few instances where something was an "absolute favorite" on one list but not another), it's just a fantastic resource. Next time that I'm in Paris, I am definitely going to do a food tour with them, both to show support and because I suspect that it'll be a really great experience.

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Guides aside, there is much to be said for walking down a street, looking in a restaurant or a bistro and getting a "feeling" about it.  If you walk in the door and don't hear a word of English it is even more interesting.  Talking, perhaps in broken English, with the couple who sit next to you and, say, live in the Parisian suburbs can add to the experience.

On my earlier trips to Paris I went to starred restaurants along with popular and touristy attractions.  Over the years I built friendships as part of my business travel there and began to look at Paris from a different perspective.  A good friend's wife who lived north of CdG would not go into "the city."  She was born there and didn't like going to the "city centre" or centreville.  Myself, born in D. C. and having lived near the Cathedral, Silver Spring and Reston I have friends who feel the exact same way about Washington that she did about Paris.  Still, a native born Parisian saying this was interesting.

But she had done the sewer tour.  And, like me, she grew up with Jim Morrison and the Doors and had been to his grave.  She, and her husband, had also played bocce ball near the base of the Eiffel tower.  Over time I began to feel comfortable with their suburban neighborhood much as I felt and feel comfortable with Silver Spring and Reston.

Yet other Parisians I knew didn't go into the suburbs-they stayed in the city. In the 7th, 8th and elsewhere.  They didn't have a car, they didn't have any interest in much of anything outside of the Peripherique.  Much like many in D. C., in Adams Morgan, Bloomingdale or Capitol Hill, do not venture into our suburbs.

I'm not sure how many reading this have seen the White House or have been in the Air and Space Museum.  Or stood in line for Rose's Luxury as other tourists do today.  I'm also not sure how many Americans have been to Paris and only seen the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and invested in a Michelin starred restaurant.

But as D. C. is truly beautiful to walk along the C & O Canal towpath-even to walk the Wilson Bridge or the Chesapeake Bay bridge, to sit on the steps of the Library of Congress or to modestly walk into the majesty of the National Cathedral so is Paris-if you get away from where all the other tourists go.  I'm not sure how many tourists-or locals-have even seen what I listed above.

There is much to be said for the Eiffel Tower.  But having played bocce (or to be locally correct "petanque") a hundred or so meters away from it, that is the memory that I cherish the more.

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DC has some fine walks (though i think the tidal basin is a far more distinctive walk than Great Falls) and some fine buildings, but the scale and level of detail in Paris puts it on another ball park. DC has some beautiful small things and some large scale stuff, Paris has many landmarks that have both.

I don't think much of the Eiffel Tower though. It's the first of a race of tall landmark buildings that I have never found to be visually appealing in any city that I visited. There is so much beauty in Paris and I really think Eiffel tower is about the least of it.

I also think that in the age of internet rating sites, the best restaurants will be found out, by tourists and people from other parts of the city. And often times the locals don't prove to be that reliable because they care about things that I do not or simply because most people, everywhere, are okay with mediocrity if it's a known quantity that they comfortable with.

I have a pretty long wish list and a far smaller amount of money and vacation time that I can put on into experiencing them, so my approach is to do as much thorough research as possible to make up my mind. Even the more spontaneous meals in south of France were mediated by TripAdvisor cross referenced to thefork.com, followed by a personal inspection of the menus of the few likely candidates. Critics (plural) can be wrong, as shown by that dreadful Akelarre experience, but their feedback can still provide an extra margin of safety.

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There is much to be said for literally getting lost and sharing the adventure of discovery. My nod to tech is a navigation system that will always allow me to find my way back to my hotel-if I want. There is great pleasure in research; there can be great pleasure too in finding what one might have never heard or thought of. Some times, perhaps often, the Internet can be a huge distraction from what is outside the window or through a door.

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Yes, of course all the planning should be in support of the experience, but should not dictate the actual experience. Checklist tourism and "picture of me in front of x" tourism are rampant amongst my Chinese associates, so I am very wary of that problem.

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I have found over the years that friends and neighbors want to go where other friends and neighbors have been to.  For many an early trip to Europe should be about where there can be a reference.  For many Americans Italy is thought of as Rome, Florence and Venice while France is mostly Paris.  For the English the same is true for the south coast of Spain, for Russians the Egyptian resort in the press recently, for Germans almost anywhere in Italy, even in distant Argentina.  St. Petersburg-Florida-is home to a great many Quebecois as is Old Orchard Beach and Myrtle Beach.  Vancouverites go to Palm Springs as well as Victoria.

And so forth.

My point is that many visit, take vacations where their friends and neighbors may have a frame of reference.  I am only suggesting that some of these "typical" destinations are not necessarily the most beautiful nor the most interesting. Even in the destination itself.  So many look for that which is familiar, that which they can talk to a neighbor about.  As I noted above I can imagine that many Europeans have walked on the Mall in D. C. but few, if any, have walked the Wilson bridge or, in the Spring, the Chesapeake Bay bridge.  Certainly they've never even heard of Fort Washington. (!)

I love Cortina, I based business trips in Soave, stayed in Bolzano while travelling from Munich to Verona.  I rarely met an American in Cortina, never met an American in Soave and wished I could speak German in Bolzano.  I should also mention that a Milanese developer had moved into the 1,000+ year old walled city and was renovating ancient structures for sale to those who spent weekends nearby.

With the Euro @ 1.06 as I type this these are condominiums worth a fantasy.  Certainly worth a discussion.

Perhaps a first trip to Europe should be to the familiar.  But for second trips, for a life's adventure I urge anyone reading this to explore.  Almost 25 years ago I was in another Italian walled city, Montagnana.  After my business was over I had the next day free.  The company who entertained me suggested that I should see Venice-that it was beautiful and I would have a memory when I returned to America to discuss with my friends and neighbors.  Not Montagnana which was adventurously, enchantingly beautiful (and unheard of) but Venice which, for many of my American friends and neighbors, would be familiar.

Several years later I was in Venice, having a glass of wine sitting next to a couple from, I think, Munich-at least somewhere in Bavaria.  We were in Alle Testiere a small restaurant that I passionately love.  We talked about where we, Americans, had visited in Italy and where they, Germans, had discovered.  At some point they mentioned a walled city somewhere south of Verona.  One of them thought the name was Montagnana but couldn't spell it in German let alone Italian.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  Montagnana.  A discovery for someone from Germany.  Unheard of to an American:  a walled city where nobody I ever met had even heard of.  Yet, I was sitting next to a couple from another country who like me had fallen in love with it.

For your second trip, go and explore.  Get lost.  Perhaps you'll meet someone from elsewhere that one day you'll remember and write about.  You may even have a memorable glass of wine which would not taste as good if you were in America.  You may even bring the empty bottle back in your luggage and, one day, look at it and remember the night you had a glass from it.

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Perhaps a first trip to Europe should be to the familiar.  But for second trips, for a life's adventure I urge anyone reading this to explore.  Almost 25 years ago I was in another Italian walled city, Montagnana.  After my business was over I had the next day free.  The company who entertained me suggested that I should see Venice-that it was beautiful and I would have a memory when I returned to America to discuss with my friends and neighbors.  Not Montagnana which was adventurously, enchantingly beautiful (and unheard of) but Venice which, for many of my American friends and neighbors, would be familiar.

For your second trip, go and explore.  Get lost.  Perhaps you'll meet someone from elsewhere that one day you'll remember and write about.  You may even have a memorable glass of wine which would not taste as good if you were in America.  You may even bring the empty bottle back in your luggage and, one day, look at it and remember the night you had a glass from it.

Great post, Joe.  I've done that several times, traveling alone, traveling w/ girl friend(s).   Those have been the most memorable trips.  By far.

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Now that I've eaten most of my chocolates (damn, should have bought more), I will say:

1) I liked Patrick Roger's chocolates the best

2) Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse's dark chocolate bars remind me a lot of Valrhona, which is unfortunately a little too acidic for my taste

3) Does anyone else notice how chocolate pieces sold in the US are ginormous?  Why can't they be smaller?  I was picking through a box of Kirkland brand Luxury Belgium (cough Neuhaus cough) sampler, and it was kind of a chore to eat the big pieces.

4) Conversely, since Parisian chocolate shops sell smaller chocolates and they're sold by the Kg, does that mean they're really not *that much more* expensive than US chocolates?  (DAMN, SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT MOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRR!!!)

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