Napoleon's Tomb and the Army Museum

Saturday 31st October 2009

A quiet morning spent over coffee and bread (brioche of course) followed by a trip on the metro to the Army Museum and Tomb of Napoleon.  Metro trips provide adequate entertainment - the trick is to spot the accordion/saxophone/harmonica player and avoid that carriage like the plague.  When it gets busy, the challenge can also be getting off at your station prior to the doors closing (preferably whilst retaining all your limbs).



The Army Museum is large and offers an extensive series of exhibitions but especially good coverage of  (body) armour, swords and early firearms.  They have a relatively comprehensive section dedicated to each world war and the view from France.



Adjacent to the Museum is the very impressive Tomb of Napoleon - a large structure with sculptures, painted dome ceilings and everything one would expect for an significant historical leader.



Four hours of touring these two sites left little time to continue on to the Mitterand Library, so we'll leave that for another day. A late afternoon lunch of (French) onion soup and a selection of meats completed a very satisfying day.

Another day, another airport

Friday 30th October 2009

It's been a while since I updated this in which time I broke my golden rule and joined a social networking site but I digress.  This morning found me at Paris Charles de Gaulle bleary eyed after a rather pleasant overnight flight (thanks, Delta).  That in itself was interesting - five hours into the flight, the moving map display stopped updating  so when the lights came on in the dark cabin and it was black as pitch outside, one seriously questioned a breakfast service - much like a midnight feast.  Checking the map, it said there were over three hours remaining. The may however was wrong (and we arrived with over three hours still remaining).

Approaching Paris, the city was blanketed in a thick impenetrable bank of fog, yet thanks to some decent flying and good instrumentation, we hit the centre line of the runway right were we should have.  Good job I wasn't flying NorthWest or I might have ended up in Poland.  Claudia met me at the airport which was great although it meant an early start.  The Paris train system is relatively efficient and reliable (when no strikes are in progress).


Paris rooftops once the fog had lifted.

Breakfast at the apartment consisted of brioche, almond pastry and coffee (lots of coffee). After briefly unpacking, my next priority was to get online (which I did) and get connected to the work VPN to check on things. Remote desktop is a great thing even if Toad can act up somewhat...

From the pictures I posted last week, my latest culinary delight has been "100 things you can do with stainless steel that non-stick just won't do". I had tormented Claudia since then with tales of my adventures with peppercorn sauces and other delights involving searing and cognac.



Since Claudia's apartment does not have a decent frying pan, our afternoon quest involved the purchasing of some decent free range steaks, a good peppercorn assortment and some other minor items; the crowning glory was a trip to Dehillerin, the famous chef supply store where copper and stainless steel pans are in abundance.  We left with an excellent stainless 11 inch pan which would suit my purposes and as it turned out, the steaks were excellent.

Taking the metro to Les Halles, we exited the station into a labyrinth maze of mall stores that best could be described as retail hell.  There was literally no easy escape from it as it's clearly designed to keep one trapped until all funds have been depleted.  Fortunately, being cunning rats, we avoided the cheese and exited, blinking, into the daylight.

On the way to the cookware store was the St Eustache church which was quite interesting and being late October, very quiet.  As with most European cities, you turn a corner here and stumble upon something magnificent like this almost everywhere.



All photos from today are located here (Flikr).

Tomorrow - a few museums and more pictures.  Have a fun evening.

Week in review - January 25, 2009

2009- Year of the Coffee Bean

Welcome to 2009 - this is my first update in a while and I've been strangely absent but now I'm back (sort of). You'll have probably seen the deluge of email with pictures from the European trip in December so I won't bore everyone with that again.

Apart from a wonderful time in Europe, I brought back an appreciation that in general the coffee here is terrible and rarely excels. In Europe, the cafes served coffee that was lively and exceeded my expectations on so many levels.

My current effort to replication such quality has led me to somewhat of an obvious solution - change the beans. Lavazza espresso beans are now my poison of choice for my Capresso C1000 machine and the crema and general quality of the coffee has increased tenfold. I have augmented this device with something more suitable as a portable device and added a Nespresso C100 to my collection of coffee devices. It makes great coffee from the pods and is as good as the Lavazza should you choose one of the stronger pods.

Steve's museum of coffee appliances will open in 2009 and will feature a Capresso C1000 SuperAutomatic, Nespresso C100 (pod), Bodum French Press, Italian stove-top espresso, a good old filter machine and perhaps a vacuum pot also. Claudia is mystified by my array of methods for coffee production but one must have the right tools :)



Coffee goes well with bread. Whole Foods make a great French Brioche however strangely once I bring it home, parts of it go missing. I also made Yorkshire Pudding the other day which came out well enough however never seems to look like ones from jolly old Blighty.



Winter
Seems to have arrived although briefly. We had a minuscule snowfall last week that probably amounted to a quarter inch. It was cold as well last week, one night dropping to around 16f. Enough to freeze most of the water in the fountain on the porch.



New cat
After the unpleasant events of December, we adopted a Russian Blue cat earlier this month. We're going through the adjustment period now as they get used to each other and some days are better than others. They likely ambush each other for fun but sometimes end up chasing each other around the house with some snarling. It'll pass.



Tsarina likes to sleep. Actually she pretty much can sleep anywhere. She also is highly addicted to catnip and we are seeking professional help for her to get over the addiction :)



Year ahead
Will be a busy one. Claudia is off to study in Paris come October for 4-5 months. For me, this year at work will be an exciting one with many projects to occupy and entertain. We also have St Joseph now to protect the house and the supply of coffee beans (probably a good idea since the cats generally sleep on the job).



Also this year I have a lot of reading to do with a number of books purchased last year and yet to be started. I also am attempting Spanish and since I have an on-site consultant, it will be quite an adventure.

Reviews
Books - Paris after the Liberation is currently on the night stand. It's very interesting and highlights the fractures in the various alliances during the war. Yes, I've been reading it for a month or more now but haven't dedicated as much time to it as I'd like.

Movies - Traitor is next in the Netflix queue - will see how that one is. I'm not holding my breath for it to be more than a couple of hours entertainment. I have however added many of the top nominations for Oscars to the queue and those might yield more lingering thoughts. Beyond "well, that's 90 minutes of my life I won't get back".

Postscript...
This made me laugh at the Netflix site.... To be tempted and then to have it snatched cruelly away.