Tony's 50th Birthday Celebration - Day 3

This is the day that we've been planning since the start of this whole Tony's 50th Birthday idea. Tony wanted to have dinner at his favorite restaurant in Paris, "Au Petit Tonneau", so we have reservations waiting for us that evening.

To start the day, Tony wanted to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, it was closed due to bad weather. It was fun however to see the park in the winter to contrast with how it was this last summer. It is still a beautiful area with the exception of the annoying street vendors. I even took a picture of Tony in the same spot that I'd taken over 10 years ago when we first visited Paris.




Because of the bad weather, we decided to head indoors to see Galleries Lafayette to see how the Parisians enjoy Christmas. And they enjoy it a lot. There is this amazing iron and glass ceiling, and beneath it a beautiful Christmas Tree. And everywhere tinsel, Garland and flowing Champagne.

We had to stop and enjoy the extravagance. We were in Paris afterall. . .





There were these great creepy puppets in the front windows of Galleries Lafayette. Enough to give kids nightmares. I kind of liked them however. Nothing says Christmas like creepy spooky puppets.





In our quest to do something despite the weather, and maybe it was the influence of the creepy puppets, but we ended up going on a small semi-controlled Parisian shopping spree. Tony bought some new clothes for his birthday, and I bought a shirt. It seemed like the thing to do in Paris.



We then made our way to Angelina's Hot Chocolate - home of the most amazing Hot Chocolate on the planet. It really is awesome. Evidently, we weren't the only ones thinking that this was the thing to do on a rainy afternoon, as the line was very long. It took almost an hour to get in to have our delicious cup, but it was well worth it in the end.







At last, it was time for dinner. We made our way over to Au Petit Tonneau, and found Lisa waiting for us. We all ordered the Chateaubriand, which is absolutely delicious. And heaps of their amazing Potatoes au Gratin, or what we call "Cheesy Taters".






The climax of the evening was when the lights dimmed and Chef Marie brought an Apple Tarte Tartin out to Tony with candles on it. Tony actually got teary-eyed. I think I even caught the staunch and very parisien Matre D crack a smile.

Chef Marie holds a special place in Tony's heart. She looks a bit like his mother did, and that may be part of it.

Of course, the Tartin was as amazing as one would expect. . .

Tony's 50th Birthday - Day 2

For the second day of Tony's 50th Birthday Celebration (you have to call it that if it is more than 1 day surely), we wandered off into the Latin Quarter in search of Shakespeare's Bookstore. It was a cool, but slightly sunny day, so it looked to be much better than the day before.

We found the bookstore, which has a history of housing starving students on its second floor. It is full of fun books, and we made a point of purchasing a copy of Julia Child's "The Art of French Cooking". We thought it would be fun to have one actually purchased in France.










We then wandered down to Luxembourg Gardens. Marie de Medici longed for her palace in Italy, so she had this private estate built. I wish I could have a private estate built too, but oh well. Today, it is a lovely park.









It was decked out in fall colors, which made it quite picturesque.









We really enjoyed walking around in it.







We even found a statue dedicated to the Marie De Medici. Big Surprise!

















From there, we wandered back up to the Jewish Quarter to get a Falafel from a famous Falafel stand that Lisa had recommended the night before. The place was packed, with a line running down the street just for takeaway sandwiches.

Falafels are essentially deep fried Garbonzo Bean Dough in a pita. Sounds dreadful, but wait it's garbonzo beans - this is practically HEALTH FOOD!

It reminded me of "The Falafel King" in Westwood that was such a staple of my UCLA college days.

Mark's train arrived in Paris about this time, so we made our way back to the hotel to meet him, but on our way, we grabbed a Baklava from a Jewish/Parisian Bakery. It was the largest Baklava we'd ever seen. Very good too and Kosher, so again, it was healthy eating. . .

We arrived at the hotel to find Mark being fussed over by all the Hotel Management. He is Hilton Brass afterall.

We met for cocktails a short time later in the bar before the Hotel Car picked us up to drive us to Versailles. Mark had arranged reservations at the Hilton Tianon Palace for dinner. It was nice to have an opportunity to put on our sport coats for dinner.

We were led to a fine table in a beautiful dining room, where not just sparkling wine, but real French Champagne was served. Tony loved it.










It was an absolute joy spending time with such a dear friend we've know so long in such a special place.


Dinner was a culinary feast of Scallops and Pork. The ongoing moving feast of our travels continues.









We ended the night back at our hotel for a nightcap. It was a magnificent evening in the ongoing Tony's 50th Birthday extravaganza.

Tony's 50th in Paris

Many years ago, Tony announced that he wanted to spend his 50th Brithday in Paris. Little did we know back then that we would be living an easy train ride away from there come that day. We made our way once again over to St. Pancras train station and caught the Eurostar over to Gard du Nord.

From there we took the Metro to the Arch di Triumph where our neighbor Mark had booked us rooms at the Hilton, where he has connections. We arrived to rainy November Paris weather. However, the autumn colors made for a picturesque backdrop to our wrong turns until we eventually made our way to the hotel.



Mark, who is a VP with Hilton, booked us into an amazing suite on the Executive floor. We were sent from the front desk up to the VIP lounge where we were checked in while we had a glass of wine (it is France afterall) and some snacks.

Our room was just down the hall, and WOW, was it wonderful. It had 2 full bathrooms, and a nice sized reception.





This will be great for when I wake up early and want to watch TV, and Tony will want to sleep in. Awesome.





From the hotel, it was only a couple blocks to the actual Arc di Triumph, and we walked up there just to assure ourselves that we were in Paris. We then walked down the Champs Elysee in the cold and rain, doing some window shopping and some snacking on the way. Tony got a bowl of French Onion Soup, and I got a Croque Monseiur (a ham and cheese sandwich).



The main boulevard drops you at Plaza de Concorde, which is where Marie Antoinette and so many others lost there heads. We found a plaque in the ground commemorating the location of the Guillotine.







It is nice to return to Paris having hit so many of the main sites. We were now able to see some of the sites that we simply didn't have time to see on our previous visits. We went to the L'Orangerie Museum, which houses Monet's Waterlilies.

To be honest, I wasn't that impressed with the Waterlillies, though the space and the art was specifically created to house this art installation. I was however happy to see so much Renoir, whose work I really, really like. Of the impressionists, his work seems to strike the best balance between impression and reality. It's a little tighter than some of his contempories, and I think I like that quality.

For Dinner that evening, we met up with Tony's friend Lisa, who is an American who lives in Paris. She took us to a small restaurant that we'd seen on Anthony Boudain's Gourmet Traveling show. It is a real throwback to medieval Paris. The restaurant is tiny, and has an open fire grill in the center of the restaurant.




All the meat is grilled on this open fire. Certainly not the most sanitary option, but boy was the meal delicious.










A bottle of wine later, and who has anything to worry about from germs, despite the fact that all the food is served on traditional wooden plates.





We walked around wet Paris to work off our meat-laden meal. Paris really is an amazingly beautiful city. One of my coworkers commutes into London weekly as his wife doesn't want to relocate - I can't blame her.

We ended our evening back at our hotel with a Nightcap at the Hotel Bar. They offer Absinthe drinks, and whenever I am in Paris, I'm always curious to try it. They made me a really cool Zombie, and they poured the flaming Absinthe over the drink. A really cool presentation.






We still had one more surprise waiting for us when we got back to our room. Mark had told them that it was Tony's birthday, so they had a cake and a split of Champagne for him. It was a great day to start our celebration of Tony's 50th.

Pizza - In London

As strange as this might sound, some of the best pizza I've had in my life has been in London. If you like thick Chicago style pizza, you will be dissapointed. However, if you like thin crispy authentic Italian style pizza, then you will be in heaven.











I have come to really like two places by my work: "Made in Italy" and "The Exchange" bar. Unfortuately, The Exchange Bar, which made a terrific "americana" (pepperoni) , chicken and sweet chili, and BBQ chicken pizza has recently closed.


However, in its place I have started going to Made in Italy. It has a real wood-burning brick oven, and their "diavola" (pepperoni) pizza is awesome. The sauce tastes really fresh, like they crushed tomatoes to make it, and the cheese and sausage are really tasty. I tend to eat there at least once a week.







I recently went with a couple of my Italian coworkers, and they gave the pizza at Made in Italy a thumbs up. Marco, a pizza connoisseur even liked it.




Tony's favorite pizza place is "The Yard". It is located by Old Street Station, and is situated in an old Fire Station. They also make magnificent pizza. The name is derived from how they price the pizza. It is based on purchasing pizza by the quarter yard.

They have the traditional Margarita, Americana and Mushroom Pizzas, but they also have our new favorite - Sweet Chili Sauce, Goat Cheese and Carmelized Red Onions. Delicious.

Last summer for my birthday, Mark took Tony and I to the yard for my birthday. It was warm enough that we sat outside and drank Cider and Pizza. Yes, we even wore short trousers. It was a very pleasant evening and one of the most beautiful pizzas I've ever seen.

Autumn in London

This autumn has been particularly lovely. It seems to have come on all at once with the leaves all suddenly turning yellow-orange and falling off the trees.




Where there had been pink cherry blossom snow, there is now yellow snow (ha ha).








The dogs have loved jumping through the fallen leaves.






Sadly, the trees will be barren soon, and winter will be here again.