Rollin' on two wheels!

Last Sunday, the clouds and rain lifted for us to enjoy a spectacular 'Paris' day! U.S. Fathers Day, my son and I treated the 'old man' to a ride on the Segway! We've known about the tour for a few years now, but as always, time gets away and the weather turns to winter and who wants to ride around in the cold?? Not me!

Treat yourself to an exhilarating ride through Paris with City Segway Tours! We met our guide at the South Pilar of the Eiffel. The lines were incredibly long on this sunny morning! After getting checked out on the Segway, we hit the streets. Key word, we tried hard not to hit the street. Once we got our confidence, I discovered my Segway didn't have the speed governor hooked up and when I found a patch of sidewalk free of pedestrians, I sped forward! Whee!

Our tour ended about 2 hours later. I must admit, we weren't really listening to our guide but were enjoying manipulating the machine!

We only had two small incidents to speak of, and laugh at! There was a meeting with a speed-bump, which we now call The Extreme Segway Incident! And then there was my almost running over a poor 'water seller' at the gates of the Tuileries! No one was harmed, but the poor guy was happy when I got my machine back in control and left the scene for him to sell bottles of water to tourists!

We hated when we were heading back at the end of the tour, it was so much fun!

A Special Day!

click photo for closer view

Inquiring minds need to know!

Tour Guide at the Branly

Sometimes when you 'live' in a city, you just get busy with the day to day and forget to get out and smell the roses.
Even in Paris!!
When you live here as long as I have you start to live life and take this incredible city for granted. When I drive into Paris, I see the Eiffel come into view, and it still does take my breath away. I've often told my son that the tower is 'his' landmark, since he was born here. More often than naught, I'm jockeying traffic running to and from an errand and just forgetting that there might be something new 'in town'.

I have driven by the Musee Branly for years. I've been going to the same guy to get my haircut since I've moved to France and glanced over at the building that was going up to and from his shop. I remember when the garden was planted in the facade of the building, my interest was really piqued! The opening of the museum came and went and the Musee Branly went on my 'to do' list. It is a long list.

Now that 'bearded baby' is back in town, I do like to blast some booty out of the chairs for a family day 'in town'. Next time you visit, you MUST spend some time at this place. It is such a beautiful museum, so modern, well lit, very comfortable. I can imagine cold rainy days spent exploring, there is so much to see. They have a great web-site and I noticed that they have two restaurants. One downstairs and the other upstairs called the Ombres. Well, it was time to splurge and start the summer out right. I got reservations (a must), but not a window seat. No matter, every seat has a view and it is magnificent!

The service was very pleasant and served correctly! Food was great as well! We had the 37euro menu which was good value. I absolutely fell in love with the china. They did serve wine in the trendy Riedel stemless "O" glasses. But the china was Raynaud, from the Thomas Keller collection. Don't you just love those espresso cups? So cool!

I'm sure no matter where you are living there is something that you have not taken the time to visit. It is time to blast your booty up and get out. I need to get the guide books back out and re-appreciate this glorious city I am lucky enough to reside in!

Lunch - To Go!

Blogging Events are fun! I have participated in a few. I had big idea's for this one, but my photo focus skills were off, and then life events take over and quick trips to the US needed to be made.





Lindy of Toast fame got a great idea for an event. Home-Made Take Out food! She was nice enough to extend the deadline, she had life events of her own to deal with!
Although I don't work (formally), we love to picnic, and my son will be going to work this summer! I happen to think that wraps make a wonderful take along lunch! Filled with flavored mayo or pesto, this becomes a delicious and healthy lunch. Wrapped up in a flour tortilla or some rice paper, the sky is the limit!


Another way to make a take-along hand held lunch is to wrap a filling up in pastry! I just happened to have some puff-pastry in the fridge. NO, not my home made puff dough. The plumber was working on a major problem in our rent house and I needed to create something quick for the family while he was out of the kitchen. Turns out the plumber loves to cook as well, and he watched me put together this 'on the fly' creation!

I had some of my favorite Sacla red pepper mozzarella pesto spread.
I had some Mozzarella slices (new to the grocery store!). Ham & rocket leaves got thrown on for a bit of green. This got wrapped up packet style, scored and baked.

The puff pastry is a bit fragile, but it was wolfed down with three thumbs up! I hate to say, but there was none left for the plumber to sample when he got back after his lunch break!

Thinking of packing this to go? Let this cool before you place in a ziplock or better yet, a Tupperware container. This will be delicious room temp and I bet your friends will be asking you to make more to share next time!