Bless, this bread; bless this meat...Let's eat!

Here is the food edition I promised. Certainly not every meal because I mostly ate first and thought about pictures later. Still it's a good sample. Enjoy!

Venice in the heart of the action at Florian's Cafe in St. Mark's Square:

Tea, sandwiches and mint hot chocolate

Venice near apartment

beef with mushrooms

carbonara!!

Both excellent as was the spaghetti I deleted somehow.

Venice, near the Rialto--Spritz Jenn told me to try. We saw them all over the city and a few in Rome as well.

Our second visit to Florian's. I was enjoying a sundae with fresh fruit when Bob and Denise arrived. More tea and sandwiches followed.

Lido, near Venice: awesome veggie pizza with ultra-thin crust!

Assisi: Hotel Giotto

Umbrian wet bread salad with olives and basil sorbet

Zucchini flowers stuffed with mousse of cheeses

Wide tortellini stuffed with wild rabbit

Pork steak on delicate cream of cannellini beans

Which was it? Tagliatelle sauteed with Unbrian black truffle or

Passetelli with Porcini Mushrooms?

Hotel Minerva, Assisi

 tomatoes and fresh mozzarella

gnocchi with something

turkey roll with potatoes

risotto with vegetables

Takeout pizza in Rome. The one on left is potato pizza!

Gelato!!!! in Rome 

Rome: Restaurant Piazza Tritone

roasted lamb

veal saltimbocca

lasagne with truffles

Also in Rome:

 La Fiorentina: Panna Cotta

Rome: final night--deconstructed bruschetta served in beer glass

Now to Paris_

Angelina's for lunch and famous Mont Blanc desserts plus thick, rich hot chocolate

Cafe at Place de Tertre

My usual Parisian breakfast: cafe au lait and quiche lorraine

Lebanese restaurant near Pompidou Centre: cous cous, kebabs, etc.

take-out desserts from Erik Kayser

Paris last hurrah: Les Deux Magots

Pate starter

raspberry macaron dessert

So there you can get an idea of how well I ate in Venice, Assisi, Rome and Paris, and maybe you can understand how difficult it is to return to the straight and narrow menus of daily life!  Aren't you feeling sorry for me?!  No, neither am I, but it was great fun!

Home again! My own bed, my own shower, my own...

I started to write yesterday, Saturday, my first full day home, but each time I attempted, I ran out of words, thoughts were incomplete---frankly unreadable. I managed to shop a very little at the farmers' market and cook a little food, also emptied the suitcase and looked at the mail. That was pretty much it! Today I feel better, even looked at my quilt downstairs--maybe I'll begin work on it today. (What a great idea to leave a simple opening to return to work instead of requiring actual thinking and problem-solving!) The laundry is already on the line

and, as you can see, the yard looks great with Mount Rose smiling over us

and rich purple lavendar blooming in the front.

All is well here.

Coming home was quite a long day:

Up at 3:30 a.m. in Paris

Flight to Frankfurt--what a stress that was! My plane landed FAR from the terminal and I was bussed two or three miles to gate A-something. My gate was Z-69! Before I could begin my rush toward the gate, I had to clear passport inspection. That was fine until the man controlling my line suddenly left! Oh, did I mention that I had about half an hour to catch my flight!??? 

Obviously I did catch the 11.5 hour flight, and some naps, two meals, and three movies later, we landed at LAX. Here is a bit of advice: Book your flight through all the way home, so you don't have to check in again, go through security again, and pay for luggage! After my 4 hour wait, my flight home was on time--hooray! I was met at the airport by Jenn, Jeff, and Sam (who was driving!), and my little dog Lizzie. (Ally was at volleyball practice, and I saw her yesterday.)

It was a fascinating journey! As usual I learned as much about myself as I did about the places I saw; maybe I'll share those thoughts with you sometime, for now they're not entirely articulate.  I am planning one more blog about the food I ate on the trip, should be fun.

Thank you for traveling with me; it was great to have listeners for my tales.

 

Early! very early...

My flight is scheduled for 7:50 so I was supposed to be here three hours (!) early, and the taxi company apparently thought it would be rush hour and picked me up at 4:00. I had my boarding pass by 4:30; it will be a very long day!

But yesterday, our final day in Paris, was lovely! Does an exclamation mark express it well enough? Perfect weather, great company, and--Paris!

I had been feeling old because my feet hurt, and my legs were tired of stairs, but--hooray! I was not the only one, so we cabbed it to the Place de Le Bastille--yes, that Bastille--'It was the best of times, etc..' Though of course the Bastiłle is gone and only the Place remains.

 Now there is a splendid opera house and an outdoor market; here is the market--

the district is the Marais, and Hideko, Jamie, and I enjoyed following a written tour in their Rick Steves book. Here's what it looks like there:

Hideko and Jamie in the courtyard of a once proud home; it is still proud, just no longer a private home. Urban renewal razed houses of poorer people to widen streets and build grander houses--sound familiar?

This is one side of .four with a courtyard within and walls of dwellings around. Victor Hugo lived in this development, Mr. Les Miz himself!

Not far away is the Jewish quarter. This area grew as pre-WWII persecutions spread throughout Europe, and eventually, 75 percent of those living here were sent to concentration camps. It's a distressing tale too often told, and that sort of thing also continues today.

But, on a happier note, we had a lovely lunch there including the best frites we'd had!

Besides great food, we got to sit a spell!

A few doors down was this bakery--

No, we didn't go in!

Now to the Louvre one more time. 

Hideko wanted to check in with Mona Lisa one more time, and I wanted to see Michelangelo's slave sculptures. 

Mona is not a large painting, and the crowd,as usual, was large--

The slaves were magnificent!

So was Mercury--

Isn't it fun?!

Plus many beautiful and poignant madonnas:

And this old man with a young boy--such a tender expression.

A little fun with the inverted pyramid downstairs 

Then some shopping--I do enjoy spoiling my beautiful grand-daughters! Besides-- to you scoffers out there--Hideko wanted to take presents for her co- workers!

Our final dinner in Paris was a treat! We ate at Les Deux Magots. I know what you're honking, and it's 'mah-go,' so named after two figures from a play or something--we saw them too. Plus it was a hangout for Simone de Beavoir and John-Paul Sartre, as well as Hemingway. 

We started with Foie Gras:

Marvelous!

Main courses: Hideko had carpaccio and salad, Jamie tuna, and I had hangar steak. Dessert followed (Are you surprised?) Creme brûlée for Jamie and me (sigh), and this macaron/raspberry delicacy for Hideko:

A final neighborhood walk:

Followed by packing and a little sleep, and now I'm here. It is 7:40 now; in an hour I should be on board to begin my journey home.

What a time it has been!!!

Only one more a demain to tell you I made it home.