Germany and Paris Vacation

Hi Everyone!

I am officially back home safe and sound.  I am so happy to be home!  Now I can go back to a normal life.  I love traveling but honestly, Dorothy says it right, “there’s no place like home”.  I have to tell you about my travel  home, oh boy was it long.  I flew from Paris to Newark, which was 9 hours.  When I went through customs and I had to re-check my luggage and they informed me that my 5:00pm flight to San Francisco was cancelled.  I kind of freaked!  It was 90 degrees in Newark and the humidity was through the roof.  The airport didn’t have the air on there first floor where I had to re-check my bags.  I had to stand in a line, sweating, holding my luggage with about 50 other people and they only had two people working at the counter, and then it happened, I had a mini breakdown.  I started to cry and all I wanted was to go home.  I tend to cry when I get to tired.  I was freaking out!!  The lady at United Airlines told me to relax.  I was so embarrassed but I couldn’t keep it in.  Once I checked my bags I got to my terminal and ran to Dunkin Donuts.  That made everything better.  My 8:20 flight got delayed till 11:00pm.  There was a thunderstorm in Newark which kept all plans grounded.  I made it back into San Francisco around 2:30am, and I was home by 4:00am.  I was up for over 30 hours.  I was so happy to crawl back into my own bed.  I wish I could sleep on the plane but I can’t, I hate those people who can, it’s not fair!  So after my long day, I decided to get up at 7am, so I can start to go back to my normal schedule.   I know Tuesday is going to be a rough one, but I”m hoping I beat the jet lag.

So about my trip.  I started my trip in Germany where we had our work harmonization.  It was wonderful being there, and I enjoyed meeting the people who I work with that I never met.  We stayed at a hotel in the Black Forest.  I didn’t really get to site see in Germany, just the ride to and from the hotel.  One thing I can tell you about Germany is that the pretzels were so good!  They had them everywhere, and I bought them!!  I didn’t really eat any German food, except for the Muesli that I had for breakfast everyday.  It was so good!  I got the recipe, so I plan on making it tonight or tomorrow.  One thing I love about Europe is that they have yogurt everywhere and granola!  Yum!!  It was like being at home.

One thing that I fell in love with while traveling in Europe was the Nutella.  Yes, I never had Nutella until I went to Germany.  I didn’t think I would like it since it’s a hazelnut spread and I don’t really care for hazelnuts.  I was dead wrong on this one!  I see a lot of bloggers use it, and I thought ehhh, I won’t like it.  Plus I tend not to like things that are to popular.  I love the stuff.  I stole a few samples from my hotel.  I need to buy some of it and soon!!  I like it way better than the Specoloos Cookie Butter.  Now I can see why there’s such a hype on Nutella.

After my trip to Germany my friend Diane and I hopped on the train and headed to Paris.  I love Paris, but it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be.  I pictured it to be romantic and, well I don’t know.  When I was in Paris the weather was horrible.  It rained two of the three days that I was there.  When we got there we walked to the Eiffel Tower.  It was gorgeous and big.  I didn’t realize how big it really was.

We were planning on taking the stairs up through the Eiffel Tower but the lines were insane.  There had to have been over 500 people in line and I don’t have the patience to wait in a line like that.  There were military men walking around the Eiffel Tower holding machine guns.  I couldn’t believe there were really holding machine guns.  I thought that was kind of scary.  This is the point when I realized I wasn’t in the States anymore.  So instead of walking the Eiffel Tower in the rain and waiting in that line, we decided to get a cappuccino.  One thing I can say is the coffee is so much better in Europe than in the States.  I don’t know why, but it is smoother and creamier.  I drank so much coffee it was crazy.  I’m guessing I drank like 7 to 10 cups a day.  It was so good!!!

Since I’m on the coffee subject, I happen to find my Starbucks!!  🙂  Yes, I got Starbucks twice in Paris.  It tastes just like regular old Starbucks and the menu was the pretty much the same.  In the picture, you can also see the reflection of McDonalds across the street.

One thing that also surprised me that there is so much smoking in Europe.  It was like how the US was about 20 years ago.  Our hotel even had a cigarette machine.

Oddly enough I didn’t take any pictures of bread, but I ate so much bread.  I probably consumed about 6 pieces a day, including pastries.  The bread in Paris is simply the best in the world.  It was the first time I ever had wheat bread that was soft, chewy and light.  I can’t believe I didn’t really gain any weight on this trip considering I ate so much!!!  I think all I did is eat.  But I can see why Paris has a lot of bread and pastries, you need the energy and carbs for all the walking and biking that you do.

Our hotel was located near the Arc de Triomphe, which was a blessing.  When we walked Paris we kind of just winged it and when we got lost we would look for the Arc de Triomple to get us back to our hotel.

One thing that did disappoint me about Paris was the shopping.  I expected to find lots of bath stores that sold lavender and soap and I was also expecting to find stores that sold fresh herbs, but I couldn’t find any.  I bought my Herbes de Provence in the airport.  The stores in general had gorgeous clothes and other goodies, but I couldn’t afford it, I decided to spend my money on pastries and other treats, like this Macaron.

When my friend and I were walking the streets of Paris, we found this cute little cafe that had desserts, chocolate coffee and sandwiches.  We decided on having Macarons and chocolate coffee.  Oh that was a great choice.  Here is a picture of the chocolate banana Macaron my friend got.

We walked down the Rue du Fabourg Saint Honore which was a high-end street and the store front windows had items like this.

I have so much more that I want to show and tell you about, but to be honest I am exhausted!  It’s past my bed time and I’m going on about 3 hours of sleep.  I will continue my story later this week.

I want to give a big thanks to my Guest Bloggers that filled in for me while I was gone. I appreciate it so much!  You made my life so much easier!!  Thank you, thank you!!!

I’ll be back with new recipes this week and I’ll pick a winner to my Coffee giveaway tomorrow.  I am just to tired today, it’s really starting to hit me right now.

Have a great day!!

Toodles,

Jen

P.S.  I’m sorry if my story is all over the place, I can’t seem to think straight anymore.