Cheeseburger in Paradise

From Arles, we headed North in the morning and ended up doing quite a bit of driving during the day, seeing a lot, and finally ending up in St Remy, where we would stay for a couple of nights. We also celebrated Jenn's 33rd birthday.

WIA: We heard from a couple we met at our B and B in Avignon about a strawberry festival in Velleron. This sounded fun and delicious, so we went, even though it was out of the way from where we were now located, in the South. We were there early, which was good, because it started to get very crowded by the time we left. I ate a cup full of strawberries sprinkled with sugar and Jenn had smoothie. Both were fresh and very sweet. We bought a small basket of strawberries, which we ate later that day while driving around. The other goodies we got to take with us were an enormous strawberry meringue, a strawberry napoleon, and a tropeziene, which looked a lot like a little cheeseburger. Thinking back, I don't think we even ate lunch that day.
We had a nice al fresco dinner at Bistro Decouverte in St Remy. We each had a glass of wine and then ordered from their daily menu. Jenn had vegetables in olive oil and I had aubergine flan. There was a small salad with pesto and tomato sauce around it. We had different types of fish and both were fine. Dessert was a molten chocolate cake with raspberry sorbet. It wasn't amazing, but everything was good.
We enjoyed a simple breakfast at Mas de Menoille of bread, cheese, and strawberries. We snacked on several things, olive oil, cheese, and macarons, at the wonderful St Remy Wednesday market. We had chocolate from Joel Durand and shortbread and sable cookies at the very famous Le Petit Duc. I don't remember if all of this was in chronological order, but regardless, we definitely ate a lot this day. We had Jenn's birthday lunch at Le Mirabeau. It's an unassuming place with a bunch of tables outside filled to capacity at lunchtime. The atmosphere is not too loud, but still lively, as it was bubbling with activity every time we walked by. It looked like a fun place to hang out. I had their signature burger, the Cheeseburger du Mirabeau, which came topped with foie gras and soaked in port sauce. It was huge, but I couldn't help myself from eating the whole thing. Jenn had a cheese burger, but didn't ask for any special arrangements. She decided since she was now 33 years old, she should be more adventurous, so...  she ate something exactly as it came on the menu. That is living.

Later in the day, we went back to Joel Durand for something cold and refreshing, which came in the form of ice cream on a stick covered with chocolate. 


There were a few restaurants that we reserved weeks in advance of this trip. Chez Bru was one of those places. It comes with a reputation of which they are acutely aware. I couldn't believe they opened the place because it was only us and one other couple eating that evening, but we were happy they did. Jenn did a small tasting menu and I ordered a couple of things a la carte. Everything was excellent, with the lobster lasagna being the standout.
We went more casual for lunch the next day at the renowned Bistrot du Paradout. This bistro looks and feels country. It's located on the side of the road on the outside of the city of Paradout. It has been around for a while since Peter Mayles talked about eating there in his book, which was published in 1991. Jenn continued her adventurous ways. She didn't have a choice really since there was only one menu served at lunch which this day included eggplant and tomato confit, rabbit with mashed potatoes, and several dessert choices. Besides the burgers in St Remy, this was probably my favorite restaurant of the trip. It was a quintessential Provencal meal.
WID: After the aforementioned strawberry festival, we drove to Les Baux, which is situated atop a mountain and offers scenic views. It reminded us a lot of Mont St Michel in Normandy. A couple minutes away, there is an art and light show inside a quarry called Carrieres du lumieres. It sounds kind of cheesy, but in reality, it is far from it. The quarry is quite large and completely dark with the exception being the projected art that covers all exposed rock. It is synchronized to music. We stuck around in there for a long time until the pictures started to repeat.

In St Remy, we walked through the Wednesday market, which had everything one can imagine. The produce was beautiful. The town itself is compact, well maintained, and for lack of a better word, cute. We both thought of St Remy as a place we could live if we ever wanted to put everything on hold and move away to France (which we think about more than you would think). We covered the whole town by foot and went outside the perimeter to see a small area with Roman ruins. There is a mapped out Van Gogh path that allows the visitor to see several different locations where Van Gogh got inspiration for certain paintings. It was much like the one we did in Arles, but not as good, though we did get to go through the hospital where he cut his ear off. Inside the hospital, Jenn had her second great photo idea of the trip (the first was getting inside the open sarcophagi in Arles), which was to "act crazy". I'm probably should have taken her up on it just to see what she would come up with, but I refused to take a picture and we both moved on with our lives.


WIS: The Mas de Menoille was as basic as basic can be, but clean and comfortable. Michelle, the owner, is anything but basic. She was so nice and made every effort to make our stay special, including going out and getting a beautiful bouquet of peonies for Jenn's birthday. She takes so much pride in her home and making visitors feel welcome. I didn't even mind helping her set up her new computer the morning before we left. She asked for my help once she knew I worked at Dell.

WAM: At a small shop on one of the side streets in town, we purchased our first piece of art, a painting of the Provence country side which Jenn describes as "modern impressionist". The artist, Jean Michel Espinasse was very friendly. In typical indecisive fashion, I think it took us three different visits there to finally pull the trigger.

WTF: While driving to St Remy, we ran into a detour that we had never seen before and probably never will again.

To view more pictures, click here.

Camargue and Arles

From Avignon, we drove to the southern coast of the region to take in the Camargue Wetlands, home of white horses, pink flamingos, and black bulls. We stayed the night in Arles, a city filled with Roman ruins due to their occupation starting in the early 2nd century. Van Gogh spent some time living in Arles and painted some of his most famous paintings here.

WIA: We had a quick lunch of tartines at L'Ardoise in the Place du Forum, which we ended up at because Cafe Van Gogh next door was no longer serving food in the late afternoon. We came across very few restaurants serving food at that point in the afternoon (3pm), so it was that or nothing. We were eating in the spot where Van Gogh painted Cafe Terrace at Night. Our dinner was outstanding at Jean Luc Rabanel's Bistro a'cote. We don't know anything about wine, so we mainly just let the waiters recommend something to us or drank the house wine. That worked out pretty well. The food was simple and straightforward. Everything we had was delicious. I had an enormous beef rib from a black bull like we had seen earlier that day in the Camargue Wetlands. The beef was tougher than what I was used to, but I enjoyed it a lot. Jenn had a mixed seafood dish with shrimp, mussels, and squid. I had a tasty apple cake for dessert, while Jenn had a vanilla/strawberry tiramisu. It was strawberry season, so we had lots of strawberries and strawberry desserts throughout the week.

WID: We drove down to the southern tip or the region and stopped in the city of Saintes-Maries-de-la-mer to get some information about the Camargue Wetlands in the tourist office. Our plan was to go horseback riding on the famous white horses from that area. The other famous animal in the area is the black bull. We saw several along the highway. They don't let you ride those unfortunately. There wasn't great information online, but everything we read just said there would be multiple places along the highway to which we could go. This was true, but some looked much more reputable than others. The woman Jenn spoke to in the tourist office wasn't that helpful, but gave her some information on different stables and a map. We stopped at a couple of stables, but the problem was that you couldn't just take a horse and go. These were guided rides and they only went at set times. The only times available at that point were much later in the day, and we didn't feel like waiting. We spent a couple of hours walking through the Orinthological park looking at flamingos and many other types of birds and then we decided to head towards Arles, which is where we would be staying that evening. The Wetlands were pretty, but we probably would have been okay if we hadn't gone at all. Maybe it would have been different if we would have been able to ride white horses along the beach.
Arles felt very Italian, which is due to the fact that it was occupied and developed by Romans. It's not just the arena that resembles the Roman Coliseum and the ruins of the amphitheater, but the layout of the town, the main square, and the narrow streets. We followed a route that took us to several different spots in the city where Van Gogh painted some of his famous pieces. This was a clever idea for the city to do. In each spot, they have a picture of the painting facing the direction of what Van Gogh would have been looking at as he painted. There was a river cruise ship blocking the view of "The Starry Night." We also walked through Les Alycamps, an ancient Roman cemetery filled with sarcophagi. Jenn had to explain to me what sarcophagi were. They are stone coffins. The cemetery is lined with them. Jenn wanted me to take a picture of her in one, but I refused because I thought it was disrespectful. She thought it would have been hilarious. We agreed to disagree. 
WIS: We stayed Le Calendal., which we chose because the price was right and it was the number one rated hotel in Arles on Trip Advisor. The location couldn't be beat as it's right in the center of the city and about 100 yards from the arena. It was very basic inside, but for one night, we weren't concerned. It surprisingly had a very nice spa. In each country, we always kind of tiptoe our way into the spa and watch other people to see what the rules are regarding what one wears and doesn't wear. Everyone was in bathing suits, so we did the same.

WAM: We were in the car a lot during the week, so we had the opportunity to catch up on all the current American pop music. There is no shortage of it on French radio. It's not like I grew up at a time to really experience or appreciate great songwriting, but there is so little concern for lyrics in most popular music today. It's all very catchy, I'll give them that, but if you ever take the time to really listen to the lyrics (which I do not recommend) of Nicki Manaj's "Starships" or Carly Rae Jepsen's incredibly catchy "Call Me Maybe", you will realize that they could have (and probably were) written by someone with either a 3rd grade education or with so little respect for the English language and those who speak it. It goes along with my ongoing complaint about the trend in television shows and movies catering to the lowest common denominator. I fear for the next generation as the world is becoming dumber every day. Having said all this, these songs, along with Gotye's "Somebody that I used to know" (which actually is somewhat well written) are much more likable than some of the other garbage at the top of the charts. We probably heard these three songs at least 20 times each in the week we were in Provence.

While on the subject of the radio, we devised a game while we were there called "French or English" where within the first few notes of a song, we would have to guess whether the song would be in French or English. Most of the radio stations played a mix of the two. It's much more fun than it sounds and harder than one might think.

WTF: It never ceases to amaze me how little regard their is in Europe for rules and order. It seems to almost be a badge of honor to make it clear that they are not as uptight as Americans and would never stress about such things. We drove up and down the road through Camargue to Saintes-Marie-de-la-mer several times trying to figure the whole thing out. There are plenty of horse stables, but you have to drive up to each one to then find out that there isn't any real schedule to it, but is based on when they have enough people to go. Even after talking with the tourist office, we still couldn't figure out where to drive and what there actually was to see in the Wetlands. We ended up pulling off on the side of the ride where we saw cars and it looked like something to see. This is how we happened upon the Orinthological Park. I'll be the first to say we're over the top in the US when it comes to order and procedure, but there is also something to be said for making it easier on people.

For more pictures, click here.

A Week in Provence

Only a few pages of Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence, and I was sold. It was a quick read, but one that implanted dreams in my head that won't soon go away. The idea of taking a break from it all and moving to the middle of the French countryside is incredibly appealing. Jenn and I have often discussed the idea of taking a year off to travel, but since we both have different ideas of what that means, it usually turns into two years: one to do what she wants to (which is an around the world cruise) and then another to do what I want (drive around and across the United States). If we were not going to be moving around and could be content staying put in one place, Provence would certainly be a nice place to be.

We've found that rather than take our vacation days sporadically, it's always easier to take them in larger blocks, so after not much debate, we landed on Provence as our destination for a week long trip in May. Because Provence has so many different towns, restaurants, wineries, and markets, we could not see everything and was nearly impossible to narrow it down because there were so many different recommendations from different travel guides. We did end up covering quite a bit of ground, which was exhausting at times, but definitely worth it.

I've broken up the posts by the places we stayed because it's too much to put in one.

WIA:
Based on the recommendation of Veronique, the owner of the B&B at which we were staying in Avignon, we dined at Numero 75. The interior was ornate, filled with marble and bright red glass chandeliers. It wasn't the French country feel we expected. The cold pea soup already waiting at our table was also not what we expected, but it was actually kind of refreshing. It's hard to get too excited about pea soup. I started then with their version of a ceviche and Jenn had zucchini flowers with goat cheese. We had never seen zucchini flowers before, but they were cool looking and delicious. Jenn's main dish of risotto with seafood (like paella) was good and my cod with a side of an unidentified gelatin thing was uninspiring. You'll notice a running theme throughout this trip that we know nothing about wine, so for the most part, we went with the house's local suggestion. Jenn had a rose and I had a red. The molten chocolate cake was good. Even though Jenn will disagree with me, I think it's such a lazy dessert. Restaurants offer it because it's easy to make and it's incredibly popular. I much prefer something unique and/or creative, but at the same time, molten chocolate cake is usually very good, so it's hard to complain (though I realize I am in fact complaining).

After strolling through the market in Isle sur-la-Sorgue on Sunday, we had a really nice meal in the garden at Jardin du Quai. The weather was gorgeous and we had a perfect spot sitting out in the sun. The trio of tomatoes starter was outstanding. The small red, green, and orange tomatoes each were served with a different filling: one with cheese, one with peas and carrots, and chicken or fish. We weren't certain which. It wasn't a revelation for us, but Jenn and I both have an appreciate for fresh ingredients. Much of the food we ate during the week was very simple, but when you have excellent local ingredients at your disposal, you don't need to do much. I had cod for the second time in two days and swore then and there I wouldn't eat it again for the entire trip. It was cooked well, but cod just doesn't have enough flavor to it to interest or excite me. The reason I ordered it again is that it wasn't a choice since it was their daily market menu. The dessert may have been the best we had the entire week. It was a moist chocolate cake topped with caramel popcorn served with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. The combination of the sweet, salty, and crunchy was perfect.

We sat outside in a small plaza and had a light dinner at Ginette and Marcel. We shared tartines - one with pesto, tomato, and mozzarella and the other with goat cheese and honey. It was all simple, yet very tasty. I wasn't crazy about my Fischer beer (blonde, very light, not much taste to it), so was kind of happy the waiter heard me wrong and brought me the smaller size. Jenn enjoyed her lemon meringue pie and I surprisingly enjoyed my chocolate and pear tart. I say surprisingly because it's not what I meant to order, but it all worked out.

WID:
We mostly just walked around in Avignon, which was a nice, little French town. They are all nice, little French towns. We walked up to and around the Palais de Papes, but didn't go inside. We briefly walked through the Les Halles food hall and lamented the fact that Bratislava doesn't have a good market. I realize I'm not the simplest person in the world (at least I don't think I'm high maintenance), but I do think I'd be perfectly happy living in a small town with a nice market where I can go get good, fresh food whenever I want. The market at Isle sur la sorgue is very famous and was very crowded, but we got there early enough that it wasn't too bad. We walked passed tables selling all sorts of things like jams, housewares, linens, and antiques. We stopped in on an excellent chocolate store called La Cour aux Saveurs and tried several different pieces including mint, strawberry, and fleur de sel.

After lunch in Isle sur-la-Sorgue, we drove to Gordes and walked through the picturesque town that overlooks the valley below. We also stopped in Rousillon, which also boasts beautiful views, red rocks, and red roofs.

WIS:
We stayed at a bed and breakfast named Cote Square, run by Veronique and Frederik. It was small, comfortable, and well decorated. The garage was crazy tight, but we maneuvered our rental car in and out without too much difficulty. We were lucky because most places in the center of Avignon don't have parking. The breakfast of breads, jams, yogurt, and strawberries was simple, but perfect. I don't understand why more hotels don't offer a simple breakfast. It costs next to nothing and it always makes the customer feel like he or she is getting a little something extra for the amount paid to stay there. Veronique, the owner, was also exceptionally nice and helpful both before our stay suggesting restaurants by email, and during the time we were there.

WAM:
The drive from Nice, where we flew into, and Avignon was easy, 2 and a half hours, almost all on highway. Once we were in the city though, the GPS was worthless. The streets are barely big enough for three people standing side to side, so maneuvering an automobile, even if not that large of an automobile, was challenging. There were several instances where we had to stop, reverse, and change course, and even a 10 minute interval where Jenn had to get out of the car and help me do a complete 180 because we had hit a dead end. Throughout the week though, we were very grateful to have the GPS and wondered how anyone could navigate this region without one. There are a couple of highways, which makes it easier, but the back country roads are very difficult to figure out. In a way, it probably wouldn't be bad to just let yourself get lost in Provence and see where the roads would take you.

WTF:
We have lived in Europe for two years and I still don't know how to drive a car with standard transmission. As always, we paid twice as much to rent a car with automatic. I know I could do it if I just put the time in and practiced a little. I'm fairly intelligent and have decent coordination. I'm disappointed in myself.

For more pictures, click here.

Friends With Kids

It's not a new revelation, but it becomes clearer every time we're home that life is going to be different when we return to the US permanently. We have very few remaining friends who don't have children. Nap and bedtime schedules, feeding times, and babysitter availability all present challenges to meeting up with our friends socially. Because they are not quite as mobile or flexible, it's basically up to us making the effort if we want to see them. This is isn't to say that our friends are not flexible and don't make an effort to see us, but the point is that we have less restrictions to work around.
Because we don't have kids, we've started to make friends with a younger group of friends, which has worked out well and allows us not to have to eat dinner with the geriatric crowd at 5pm. It also forces us to be more outgoing to keep up with those in their early and mid 20's. To be honest, I couldn't really keep up with others in their early and mid 20's when I myself was that age. It makes one think that if we continue down the path and don't have kids, would we need to continue to skew lower for our friends. Would we have to keep making new friends that are in their 20's? We can pull it off now, but I doubt it will work when we're in our 40's and 50's. Jenn and I love spending time together, but in a way, it could end up being lonely. I often wonder if this is a reason some people have children, to keep up with the social circle. Otherwise, naturally, you end up getting left out because people with kids are going to start hanging out with other people with kids. We see it as being much easier to make friends in a new city when one has a child. I do not mean to imply that this is a bad reason to have children or that it's the only factor considered, but it has to be a part of the decision making, whether consciously or sub-consciously.

WIA: The food in Austin is delicious, but it's so much more delicious when I've been missing it. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder. We tried the new 2nd Bar and Kitchen in the Austonian. It's very similar to a  lot of the new wave of places with micro brews, a burger, beef short ribs, and some other good, simple dishes that are way overpriced. We shared the burger, which was pretty good. Everyone else seemed to enjoy what they ordered. It's a fun atmosphere and a great location downtown. I'd definitely go back for a drink and some of their small plates. We ate at some old and new favorites, including La Condessa, which is still too trendy for its own good, but the drinks are so outstanding that it makes up for any other shortcomings. After bursting on the scene on South Congress a couple of years ago, right after we moved away, Hopdoddy has already become my favorite burger place in town. I had the Primetime, which was kobe beef with brie cheese, truffle aioli, arugula, caramelized onions, and steak sauce. At $12, it is a lot to pay for a burger, but it was worth every penny, and I probably would have paid more. Elizabeth Street Cafe opened recently with a French-Vietnamese menu. It's as weird as it sounds and expensive for what it is (you can get Pho at a number of places around town for a few bucks), but the restaurant is small, cute, and comfortable, and we had a nice date night there. On the barbecue path, we finally made it to Franklin's, which is all the rage, both locally and nationally. We showed up just after 9:30 and got in line. There were probably around 30 people already there, but we jumped in line with friends, who were probably 15 people back. The place opened at 11 and we walked out of there with our to go order at 11:45. We were bringing it over to eat with our friends Josh and Libby, and their son Avi. The meat was all excellent, except for the sausage, which I thought was fine, but nothing special. The brisket was out of this world and we also really enjoyed the turkey, which was so moist. The problem is the wait. There are so many other places to go in town where the barbecue is perfectly good that it's hard to accept a two hour wait for it at Franklin's.

So, on that note, we also had barbecue at Stiles Switch, where we didn't have to wait at all. It wasn't on the same level as Franklin's, but it was still very good. Jenn and I both like beef ribs and they have good ones, though they were a bit fatty. For Sunday early lunch, we met up with our friends, Roger, Leslie, and their 3 boys at Lucy's Fried Chicken, which has the same chef at Olivia's, one of our favorites. It's a fun place, especially when you can eat on the patio on a nice weather day like we did. It wasn't amazing fried chicken, but it was still good and a fun place. None of the sides blew us away, but the pie for dessert was good.
We hadn't been to Fonda San Miguel in years, but made a return trip for dinner. The menu is interior Mexican and it's known for being very expensive given you can get great Tex-Mex or Mexican food around town for very little money. I had the tasty duck enchiladas and was very pleased. Lastly, we had ice cream one evening at Lick, the hot, new ice cream place that serves locally sourced, organic ice cream. I am partial to Amy's and will always be, but thought the ice cream here was very good. It reminded me a lot of the gelato we've been eating in Europe with how natural it tasted. I can't exactly remember, but I think I had one scoop of chocolate and one caramel.

WID: We saw a movie at the new Violet Crowne cinema downtown. The small theater and comfortable seats made for a pleasurable movie watching experience. The tickets were a little pricey, but it was nice to have a reserved seat, which allowed us to take our time at dinner beforehand and not get to the theater an hour in advance to get a decent seat. We saw "Friends With Kids", which tells the story of six people, 4 of which are couples and two who are not, who were all friends before having kids and then jumps several years in the future and shows what life is now like with children. The two that are not a couple decide they should have a kid together because they can do it "right". It's a totally unrealistic premise, but if you can get past that, the movie is very funny. There were parts that got a little bit too sappy and dramatic for me, but all in all, I liked it. If you had kids, I could see not thinking the movie is funny at all and probably a bit insulting, but for people who don't have kids and are used to observing others with their kids, it'll be right up your alley.   

WIS: We stayed at the aLoft for part of the time and then in Round Rock at the Homewood Suites when the rooms at the aLoft shot up to $300/night during South by Southwest. The aLoft reminds me a lot of the small, modern European hotels. The rooms are small and basic, but cleanly designed in a way to maximize space. It's inexpensive though and being located centrally at the Domain is really nice. I used to stay at Homewood properties when I traveled around the US for work and they are great for long stays. It's like having your own apartment. The hotel was nice, but it was annoying driving back and forth into Austin from Round Rock whenever we wanted to go anywhere.

WAM: I got in three basketball games (one a week) with some co-workers. It was great to get out and play since it had been so long since I'd done it. It made me miss being in Austin, knowing that I could probably have a weekly game if I lived there. It was very hard getting comfortable again on the court, especially with my shooting. I didn't realize at the time how lucky I was in college when I could get a basketball game going pretty much whenever I wanted since there were always people around who were up for that sort of thing. I love team sports though, so it felt great getting out on the court, even if the games weren't the prettiest.

WTF: We spent a good amount of time looking around at condos, apartments, and houses, to assess the environment for when we move back. We couldn't believe how high rents are now, especially downtown, where they are nearing levels only seen in Manhattan. It seems the better value now is in buying.

Airplane Reviews - to Austin and back on BA

For my most recent work trip to Austin, we flew British Airways there and American Airlines back. As always, I find British to be considerably better than American. The service and food is better and there is a much bigger movie selection. Having said that, the flights were all fine. On the flight back to the US, the flight attendant stopped by my seat, asked if I was "Mr. Lazarus" and asked if there was anything at all he could do for me or if he could get me anything. This was my first trip as an Executive Platinum flyer, so I guess this is what they do for the one or maybe two individuals who are at that frequent flyer status and aren't sitting in business or first class. His tone and facial expression were really saying, "I actually have some level of sympathy for you given that you have flown over 100,000 miles sitting in coach and you are still sitting in coach. Is there anything I can do to ease the pain?" Jenn's suggestion was that I tell him what I really want is to move up to business class and see if he can he do anything about that. We watched two movies each way and surprisingly there were more hits than misses.

On the way there, we passed the time with a Ryan Gosling double feature. I still hate the son of a bitch because of having to sit through the Notebook, but he redeemed himself a little with Crazy, Stupid Love, so I was willing to give him another shot. First, we watched Drive, which had the feel of a Quentin Tarantino film though I don't think he had anything to do with it. It was an action-y, but with a good script and excellent acting. Many actors (Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, and many others) could learn something by watching how engaging Gosling was without talking too much. Albert Brooks was great in it, but I could have done without the fork in the eye. I loved the movie. It was very violent, but entertaining from start to finish. My only real complaint was (spoiler alert) Christina Hendricks getting her face blown off. If you're going to put Joan Holloway in your movie, you should keep her on screen and you sure shouldn't blow her face off. On the bright side, they went for the face and didn't mess with her best assets. You think she had a rider in her contract?

Anyway, Ides of March was the second Gosling feature. The acting was good, and it was a well executed film, but I couldn't really get into it. I also found it to be fairly predictable. I also think it's weird that Evan Rachel Wood has been around for several years and truthfully, I have no idea how old she is, but it seems like she's been playing teenagers for about 10 years. On the return trip, we were on American, which had a much more limited selection. Since we had flown over in February and were flying back in March, we were excited to see the new month's releases. This is our life. For the second year in a row, we watched the year's best picture Oscar winner on an airplane, and immersed ourselves in The Artist. It was just as good as advertised. It's definitely hard to get into because it's a silent film, but the story is good, the acting is excellent, and overall, it's just a very clever and creative movie. Because there is such a small amount of originality in entertainment today, it probably got a little more attention than it maybe deserved, but it was good and if I had a vote, I would have voted for it over the The Descendants. Actually, if I had a vote, I probably would have voted for Beginners, which was the best movie I saw last year.

Jenn couldn't stay awake for our second feature, The Muppet Movie. I grew up on the Muppets and have seen all the movies and was excited to see it. To say this was disappointing is an understatement. I don't question how this movie made money because it was from people like me and other parents of my generation taking their children to see it, but what I do question is all the good reviews of it. The story is so dumb and while the original Muppet Movie is really clever and written confidently in a way that the audience is trusted to get the joke, this one is like a bad stand-up comedian feeling the need to explain the jokes to the audience. The songs also don't work at all and don't seem to fit at all with the tone of the rest of the movie. I have no appreciation for what it is they were trying to do. Lastly, the voices and personalities of the Muppets were different. I realized the voices would be slightly different because Jim Henson passed away, but I don't know why they would change the tone and personalities and the characters. Fozzie was like a shell of his former self. It was sad. I like Amy Adams and Jason Segel and would be more than happy to watch them together in another movie, but as usual, I think we're better off leaving nostalgia and our old movies alone, especially when they have stood the test of time and are still good.

Roman Holiday

I went to Rome in high school for a few days on the way to Israel, and Jenn visited when she was studying abroad in London and backpacked for a few weeks with her friend, Katy. I only slightly remember my time there. I remember liking the city a lot and thinking Pompeii was one of the most boring things I had ever seen. It was also the first time I had ever seen a bidet. It's weird the things that one remembers.

Because it is unbearably cold in Bratislava, we were looking for somewhere to get away to for the weekend that was warm, or at least warmer. There were few options, but we'd been wanting to go to Rome and since we don't know how much time we have left in Europe, we figured we might as well go while we had the chance.

WIA: After dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we took a taxi to Felice a Testaccio, a small, traditional restaurant, for lunch. We each had a bowl of delicious house specialty, Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe. Jenn had hers with tomato sauce. We thought we were being smart by only ordering on main dish to share, but by the time we finished the pastas, we regretted ordering the beef roll. We still ate a little of it when the waitress brought it to the table, but the pasta was really enough. Everything was very good though and it was an excellent first meal.

We had our first taste of gelato at San Crispino, which was a stone's throw from Trevi Fountain. I had the stracciatella, which I usually really like, but thought this was one was okay. Jenn liked it. As we walked, we stopped for a small bite of pizza at Roscioli near Campo de Fiori. We liked that in the takeaway pizza places, you could tell them how much you wanted and they would cut (with scissors) a piece, weigh it, and you paid by weight. This allowed us to only eat a little to leave room for other things we'd want to taste as we walked the city at night. Later in the night, after walking through the gritty Trastavere neighborhood, we finally found 00100 (named for the type of dough they use) and shared pizza and a Trapizzini with meatballs. A Trapizzini is kind of like a small triangle shaped pita pocket, but made of pizza dough and then filled with deliciousness. This was a tiny place, a long hike from the city center, with only enough room for the counter to sell the food from and a few bar stools, but it's been written up on multiple websites and in magazines. It is very good and was worth the journey to get there.

On the way back to the hotel, we had our second gelato stop of the day at a more traditional place called Giolitti. I had chocolate (because I think you can really judge whether ice cream is good or not by the chocolate) and caramel. It was smooth and really tasty.

I'll file lunch on Saturday under WID, but for dinner we searched the city for a while to finally find Pizzarium, another Pizza a Taglio (pizza to go) place that has a fantastic reputation. It deserves every good word that is written about it and I don't care how expensive people say it is. If you only get a small piece, it's not a big deal, and it is terrific. The crust was the perfect balance between soft and crispy and the cheese and sauce tasted so fresh.On the walk home, we stopped in at Gelateria dei Gracchi, my favorite gelato on the trip. I still find myself salivating as I think about the apple cinnamon with raisins. It tasted like the inside of strudel (if it were ice cream).

Our last meal of the trip was an early lunch on Sunday right next to the Spanish Steps at the shabby chic Gina. Jenn had the caprese salad and I ate a club sandwich, because it is their signature dish, and I wanted a sandwich. We also shared warm goat cheese and honey that was so rich and so awesome. I had my last taste of gelato with a scoop of their chocolate. I don't know if they make their own or not, but it was good.

WID: We didn't go into any museums or sights, but we walked past and through all the big ones several times.

We briefly walked inside the Pantheon and Jenn gave a walking tour of the Jewish ghetto reading from the Rick Steves guide on the Kindle. Maybe I should have put this under What I Ate, but we spent most of the day Saturday in a private cooking class through Italy Hotline Tours. We met Francesca early in the morning and she walked us through a market near her home. She had already shopped for a lot of the food the day before, but we bought a few things that we would incorporate in the meal. For the next few hours, we prepared a lunch of way too much food for three people, but it gave us the chance to try lots of different things. We didn't cook everything. Francesca did a lot of it, but we helped where we could. The meal consisted of marinated anchovies, artichokes, spinach and cheese ravioli (because we had requested to make pasta), also this spinach and cheese roll-up that probably has an Italian name, sauteed kale, bruschetta, chicken cacciatore, risotto, and cannoli for dessert.

As I said, it was a ton of food, but it was all really good. We both felt uncomfortably full when it was all over and then spent the rest of the day walking to try and feel better. We walked to Vatican City in the evening. It was dark and quiet because there were hardly any people around, and even though we couldn't go inside St. Peter's or anything, it was kind of nice seeing it at night.

WIS: We stayed at the highly (and frequently) recommended Casa Howard, conveniently located between Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. It is not a hotel, but also not necessarily an apartment. It occupies one floor in an unassuming building and there are five rooms. Our room was small and simple, but also nice and clean. It was kind of like a B and B, only breakfast wasn't included. It was overpriced, but something must have been going on that weekend because all the hotels were really expensive, and not just normal Rome expensive.

WAM: I remember from my first trip to Rome that the drivers were crazy and they are still insane.There appear to be traffic laws and I saw plenty of traffic lights and signs, but they are consistently ignored. It's a free for all. We walked everywhere and it is really scary crossing streets there. 

WTF: Walking around Rome brought back so many memories for me from my first visit. Granted, I was 16, but when I think back to that time, and remember all the things that I did that I'm sure I thought were so hilarious, I realize I was kind of a jackass. I don't think I am alone though in looking back and thinking I was a jackass as a 16 year old (I of course mean people looking back at themselves, not being alone in people thinking I was a jackass at 16, though that could be true too). There was me falling asleep during the service at the old synagogue, taking stupid pictures at historic sites, spitting out water all over Tivoli Gardens, and I'm sure there is much more jackass-ery that I can't recall.

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