This morning we tried the complimentary hotel breakfast. The customer service at Hotel Artemide is excellent. They are genuinely friendly. Breakfast is a nice selection including pastry (maritozza!), salami, prosciutto, cheese, salad fixings, bread, juice, and even bacon, eggs and sausage for the Americans. Also, the cappuccino is great! First stop, the Forum, the five…
Florence Day 2: June 17, 2019
We started our morning with Nespresso in the cottage then stopped at Bar Pasticceria Piccioli for cappuccino and three pastries (yes we are piggies). They did not speak English and I was able to order our breakfast. I even asked for a knife (coltello) to cut the treats in half. From there we headed to…
Europe 2019 Takeaways
1. The food is great. A lot of it is stunningly great. We had very few meals that we didn’t enjoy. A lot. 2. The Paris Metro is surprisingly easy to navigate. Even for a couple of midwesterners who can get a little stressed with Chicago traffic. Really. 3. Dinner reservations are important. Throughout our…
Florence Day 1: June 16, 2019
Today we headed to Florence. We took a vaporetto (water bus) from next to our hotel in Venice to the train station. We decided to take the vaporetto that makes all the stops so we could soak up the last of Venice as we left. The train station in Venice was quite nice and fairly…
Venice Day 1: June 14, 2019
We flew from Paris to Venice. Venice!!! The flight left at 7:30 am so we were headed to the airport by 5:00. Here are some mountain pictures taken by Trey from the plane. The Alps? Just kidding, I took the pics, figured I could blame him since I’ve seen the pics he took from the…
Prince de Galles Hotel
As we entered the Prince de Galles, 33 Avenue George V, Paris, we were greeted with a welcoming “bonjour” and with the exquisite view of an overflowing arrangement of the most ravishing pink peonies. You’ll just have to use your imagination as we did not take a photo, but just know they were gorgeous. We…
New Jawad Longchamp
As we walked in to New Jawad we were greeted by a friendly gentleman with a welcoming handshake. He also brought us a complimentary Kir (white wine and crème de cassis, a black currant flavored liquor) to start the meal. Very nice! We ordered butter naan, butter roti, and tandoori quail starters. We had lamb…
Paris Day 5: June 13, 2019
We started with a room service breakfast this morning. It was quite a treat at 58 Euros, but it was lovely. It included delicious chocolat chaud (hot chocolate), orange juice and assorted pastries with jams and butter. We sampled each of the jams, of course. After breakfast we headed out for the Rick Steves Rue…
Restaurant Alan Geeam
Hard to believe a Michelin starred restaurant lies behind this unassuming facade. The Lebanese chef, Alan Geeam, came to Paris more than 20 years ago, starting as a dishwasher and has recently earned his first star. As Paris is the capital of Michelin starred restaurants, we decided we had to try one. Restaurant Alan Geeam…
Paris Day 4: June 12, 2019
We had another croissant and coffee breakfast at Prêt À Manger. This time at a location close to Sacré Cœur Basilica in Montmartre. Sacré-Cœur was as beautiful as the view. For the cost of a Metro ticket we took the funicular to the top rather than climbing all of those steps. Video inside Sacré-Cœur: Peaceful…