THE WILLARDS TAKE FRANCE, PART 1......OUR HOTEL, THE SEINE AND THE FOOD!

(Wink seriously believed that he was King of Versailles for the day)

***************

So we're back from our 8-day jaunt across the pond. From that City of Light, Paris, France......

 Laundry--done.

House--tidied.

Jet lag--mostly gone. 

428 photos downloaded and sorted--check, check, check!!

I hereby promise to try my best not to bore you with our vacation photos. I mean, let's be honest here: does ANYBODY really enjoy scrolling through Aunt Phyllis's 10,945  pictures from her Florida Spring break?

I didn't think so....

So I'm going to share with you JUST the photos I think are the best of the best, the creme de la creme.

Just so you know, Paris was FREAKING AWESOME AMAZING, especially for somebody like me, who views things with asthetic and foodie eyeballs. My mouth was literally hanging open in awe the entire trip...sounds pretty, no? Good thing I had Wink and our very own Little Miss Thing (whose French, by the way, is so fluent that even the locals couldn't tell she was a U.S. citizen), to wipe the drool off of my chin every 2.5 minutes or so......

This might take awhile...and this whole post shall be broken down into 2 or 3 parts, so that you won't want to go and shoot yourself in the head from sitting still for so long. Go ahead, grab that cup of coffee (or shot of Jager) now, because here we go!........................

*****************

First up, our hotel. Absolute perfection. Well, absolute FRENCHIE perfection--the rooms would be considered small by American standards. Our daughter picked this place out for us because of it's central location on the Isle St. Louis, which is an actual island in the middle of the Seine River..............our hotel is named after the island.....(or, is the island named after the hotel?)......

Our cute hotelier, Phillippe, greeted us each day in the lobby...

The cellar dining room where we ate a few breakfasts....so cozy!...

Our wonderful 3rd floor room...check out the exposed original beams from the early 1800's!.......I want these in MY home!......

A few funky things...check out the hairdryer in the bathroom (it actually worked better than you'd think!) and the large room key that had to be turned in every time you left the room. Then, when you returned, you needed to pick the key up again at the front desk and insert it into this port as you enter your hotel room so that the electricity would turn on! Genius!.....



GORGEOUS shower and tile floors throughout....

Needless to say, after flying an 8 hour red-eye flight over, we NEEDED that shower, plus a nap.

But first things first...seeing Little Miss Thing! This photo was taken on a bridge over the Seine right after we met up, and I am here to tell you that I was so very out of it that I could have been in South Dakota, for all that I knew! Please note the yellow scarf I quickly wrapped around my pitiful self before leaving the room, in an desperate attempt to look "fresh" after not sleeping for 30 plus hours...............

Here's the famed Notre Dame Cathedral, which was mere steps from our hotel....

Seriously scary Gargoyles.....



View from the front of the Cathedral....absolutely breathtaking!.....



Here's something really ROMANTIQUE for you....on a couple of the bridges over the Seine, there is a tradition where lovers place LOCKS on the bridge, write each other's names upon the lock, then throw the key into the river, thereby insuring lifelong fidelity and bliss...you BETCHA we did this before we left Paris. Heck, it IS our 25th anniversary year!..........

Isn't that so sweet?

That first day was also the Marathon Du Paris AND a massive political rally for the French Presidential race...you should have heard the roar of the crowds! Here's a bit of the marathon we viewed from up above. I absolutely felt no shame in watching people run 26.2 miles while I happily ate Nutella Crepes from up above.....

SPEAKING of Nutella crepes...just so you know, Nutella Crepes, which are made right on the streets of Paris, are about the bestest, bestest thing you're ever going to eat...to this I swear. Again, no shame.....look at the bliss on LMT's face!.....

Since this is primarily a food blog, thought I'd share a few snaps of the gorgeous, gorgeous foods available on every single block of Paris. First and foremost, the BREAD....it is not a stereotype that the Frenchies adore their bread. Good thing I'm not gluten intolerant in any way.....

Then there's the Coffee Crema...had to have at least 2 of these each and every morning...

(By the way...Parisian culture prefers that you sit down in a cafe and drink your coffee--there is a noticeable lack of coffee-to-go shops. Thank GOODNESS, says this proud caffeine-addicted-American girl, for a Starbucks located within walking distance from our hotel!)

When we were planning our trip, we had at least 72 trillion friends tell us that UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should we miss the famed Berthillon, located a block away from us on Isle St. Louis, for their ice cream. And even though the weather was not in any way summer-like, we had to see what the hype was all about....Well, consider me a believer. Because their Salted Caramel ice cream was pretty much insane, and so was their chocolate ice cream..........

Amazing pastries, EVerywhere....

These French Macaroons come in the most glorious colors and flavors, and can be found in every Patisserie.........

(so sorry about the window glare....most shopkeepers don't like photos taken inside)

Last but not least, I would be remiss if I didn't share Wink's favorite moment of the ENTIRE trip....his own personal Nirvana...a giant pan of hot grilling sausages!...........

That's it for today! Please come back now, ya hear, for some REAL sightseeing.....Bus tour, Boat tour, the Champs Elysee, Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge and oh so much more!

So very glad to be home, but oh how we can't wait to return to you someday, beautiful France!

XXX000

Leslie

TODAY I'M SO THANKFUL FOR......

***The two books I read on my tablet during our flights...first, Paris, My Sweet (the author escapes me right now)...which really helped us direct our tastebuds to all the best places, AND Bossy Pants by Tina Fey....I laughed so hard that my seatmate on the plane home thought I was sobbing! Probably the funniest book I've ever read...

***The fact that after 8 days of eating and drinking whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, I actually LOST 3 pounds! Now I REALLY love France!

***That our daughter was so very helpful in all of the restaurants we went to, never complaining about translating each and every menu item for her old mom and dad! We love you, LMT!



ALL WE ARE SAYING.......AND AU REVOIR!....

(Thanks for this, Miss Robin!)

It's officially time for my Spring Blogging Break, but before I go, I wanted to wish you a very Happy Easter....hoping your feast looks a little something like THIS.....

We're taking a little hop, skip and jump across the pond, to HERE......



WE'll be staying HERE.....

(Isle St. Louis)

And seeing HER........

(our American Skippy-loving girl...)

I hope to have many wonderful photos and tales of Willard family Hi-jinx to share....

Until then.........

AU REVOIR!

Leslie

XXX000

(Oops--almost forgot! Please check out my latest time-sucking obsession.....

So very addictive! So very inspirational!

You can see my inspiration boards by clicking on the Pinterest logo, located in the upper right margin of this here blog....check it out!)

A TOUR: MY PRETTY LITTLE KITCHEN.........

Just so you know, I'm seriously having a "Shlumpa-dinka" kinda day today....the kind of day where I don't want to wear anything except this ancient old stained hoodie and comfortable yoga pants.........

Not my best look, I know...but it's a Sunday and I haven't been feeling my best lately, and the weather outside is just BLEEECH...not quite snowing, not quite raining.....

HEY MOTHER NATURE: HERE'S AN IDEA FOR YOU! PICK A WEATHER TYPE, AND GO WITH IT, FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!

Ahem....here's the view from my front door....it's only 30 degrees outside today. Deceiving, isn't it? I guess I should just be thankful that we're not buried under feet of snow, as we can SO be here in upstate NY this time of year........



So since I'm not going anywhere, and don't plan on cooking much of anything (prolly just a boring chicken and rice casserole for dinner that would make you yawn and vow to never look at my blog ever again), I thought maybe I'd give you a little "tour" of the semi-remodel job we had done on our kitchen last year.

I know, you've seen snippets of my kitchen on this blog for awhile now, but I've never given you the "GRANDE TOUR" of the "palace"...so today's the day, lucky viewer!

Please let me preface all of this by saying that YES, our home is still on the "newish" side, being only 9 years old this summer. So before you go ahead and judge me as crazy or just easily bored (and very spoiled) for redoing a nearly-new perfectly fine kitchen, well, I need to 'splain something.....

Men designed my former kitchen, and I hated it more than words could say. It made me hate cooking, and I'm a girl who loves to cook.

And that's all I'm gonna say, lest I start to sound whiney.

First thing Wink and I did was to decide, along with our builders the fabulous Mike and Roger, to move the existing kitchen sink and counter surrounding it to another wall, thus opening up the space completely. HUGE difference. We also replaced HORRID, HORRID white tile with gorgeous recycled granite countertops. I will never, ever again use white tile, anywhere. Especially when one lives on top of an old swamp and one's house keeps shifting, causing the horrid white tile's grout to crack along the backsplash. Again and again and again.

I almost lost my ever-loving mind over that.

Here's the granite we chose...pretty neutral, and ZERO upkeep....

(yes, it was expensive, but it should last forever...)

So here's a view of the majority of our new kitchen layout, minus the refrigerator wall and door to the back porch....

We saved a lot of money by using our existing cabinets and appliances, which are stainless steel. Our good friend and neighbor Roger is an incredible cabinet maker, and he built us not one, but TWO new pantries to match our old cabinets, thereby substantially increasing our storage. Here's the closed food pantry he designed...

And here it is, open...a little bare right now, as we're getting ready to go out of town...(believe it or not, this cupboard is usually a LOT more cluttery)....

Across the kitchen, there's another pantry to the right of our refrigerator...we use this for cookbooks, pet foods and appliances that I don't want on the countertops...what did I EVER do without this, I want to know??..........

Here's the cabinet we had built around the refrigerator (the door to our back porch is to the left)....LOVE the cookie sheet/muffin tin/cutting board racks Roger built!............

Here's what's next to the stove...funny story about this Boos cutting block that my mom sent for Christmas a few years back. She instructed me (you have to know my mom) to NOT NOT NOT open the cutting board box when the UPS man dropped it off, but instead to wait until Christmas to open it along with her other gifts. I, ever the impatient one, couldn't wait, cut the box open in a hurry and proceeded to drop the 15 pound cutting board right smack on my big toe. I actually BROKE 2 toes and hobbled around for a month, shoeless, because of my foolishness...lesson learned, Mom!........If you look closely, you can still see the blood on the corner of that cutting block...APRIL FOOLS!........

You might notice that we have a lot of fresh fruit lying about....that's to encourage us to actually EAT it!.......

One of the best decisions we made was to under-mount our sink..cost a little bit more, and we had to buy a new sink, but I'm so happy we did, as now it's so easy to sweep crumbs off of the countertops. You might also wonder WHY we didn't have a window knocked in the wall over the sink. That was my decision, as I HATE snow (pitiful, living in the Adirondack mountains, I know..), and really didn't want to stare at it for 6 months of the year while doing dishes. That's my rationale, and I'm sticking to it.....

My mindset is: when somebody buys our house someday, THEY can do whatever they like.

Anyways, I chose to hang this pretty framed picture my mom gave me, 500 years ago....LOVE the woodsy light fixture we picked out to hang above it....

Here's the message center of the kitchen: where I keep my grocery list and any other pieces of paper we have floating about, in a somewhat organized fashion. This is also where our animals are fed, so I have to tidy up this area at least 5 trillion times a day....

Somebody would like a little bowl of cream, me thinks....

Last but not least, we turned our old farm table into an island of sorts, so that I have unlimited workspace when I'm tackling my latest cooking extravaganza (like decorating 75 cupcakes for a party). To do this, we ordered these pretty wood and stainless casters online...these raised the table up to counter height, necessitating new barstools for eating (so funny how expenses snowball when you decide to make a few little changes!)...

Ooops--almost forgot one of my favorite things to show you! Found these new country-french chandelier shades for a song at Lowe's, and added lots of twigs and a bird's nest from the forest outside, just to add a little more woodsy-ness to our home....



So, now you've seen where all the "magic" happens in our home (ha ha ha, besides the master bedroom, that is! Get your mind out of the gutter--sheesh!).

I have to say that I LOVE cooking in our new kitchen now.  This is the 4th home Wink and I have owned in our married life...in that time, I've cooked in BIG kitchens, TINY kitchens, but this one here in the Adirondacks, on the medium side, feels just right!

Thank you so much Mike Risley and Roger Parent!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Leslie

(P.S. if you'd like this home for your very own, it IS for sale, you know...you can check out our website, through Coldwell Banker, HERE. If you decide to make an offer, I will gladly throw in a few cats....)