Alicia!

The lovely Alicia McGrail was the first of our friends to come visit us in France. She took the Eurostar over from London, where she was visiting her friend Rachel.

After I picked her up at Gare du Nord, we headed to a tasty dinner at the Apollo down in the 14th arrondissement. I managed to pick out a delicious bottle of red wine for us all by myself (Karim would be so proud) and her pumpkin soup was incredible. My thai chicken salad starter was sad, but luckily Alicia and I are food-sharing buddies, so I helped myself to bread dipped in her soup. Then we split a delicious dish of mushroom risotto with scallops. Yum. We capped things off with a less traditional dessert - a millefeuille. Not my favorite, but the dessert pocket didn't say no. Then it was off to bed for us. Thanks Lionel for letting us crash at rue d'Alesia!

The next morning we got up relatively early because we wanted to get showers in before the water was turned off at 8:30 am (they were doing work on the building) and headed out into the city. We took the metro up to St. Germain and then set off on foot.

The beautiful macaron display at Lauduree - yum!

We wandered through the streets of St. Germain, admiring the art galleries, beautiful architecture and high-end boutiques, including the amazing spread of macarons at Lauduree.

Along the Seine, on our way to Shakespeare & Co.

Our first destination was Shakespeare & Company, a funky used bookstore with all english-language books. Alicia's always got a novel in her bag, so I knew it would be a good place to start. And I was nearing the end of the Millenium Trilogy, so I needed a new book as well.

I found it! The PERFECT bridesmaid dress :)

After purchasing a few books from Shakespeare & Company, we stumbled upon the tackiest display of wedding gowns and special occasion dresses, including the beauty above. I horrified my bridesmaids by sending this to them earlier this week.

Notre Dame

We decided to make our way to Notre Dame next. Alicia hadn't been to Paris in a number of years, so we wanted to see some of the main touristic sights. My favorite part of our trip to Notre Dame was when I pointed out an Egyptian statue in front of the cathedral and noted that it was a performance artist, but Alicia thought I was nuts...UNTIL he took a bow and she screamed. Walking down las Ramblas in Barcelona last winter taught me a thing or two about these guys.

One of the stained glass windows inside Notre Dame

After visiting Notre Dame, we stopped by Sainte-Chapelle to take in the marvelous stained glass, but were disappointed to discover (only once we were inside!) that they were doing restoration work and half of the glass was blocked off. It made my blood boil that they didn't mention this BEFORE we paid to enter, but what can you do. Next, it was time for lunch!

Tree shadow painted onto the side of the white building

We walked back through St. Germain and headed over to le Comptoir, a celebrated restaurant that I've been wanting to try, but there have always been intimidating lines. Today, we were in luck though, because it was mid-week and we arrived around noon, an hour or two before the French typically eat lunch. So, yes, we were blatantly tourists, but we didn't have to wait for a table! Glorious!

At le Comptoir, happily seated outside under a heat lamp

We're on vacation, so Alicia ordered some red wine and I picked champagne, because, well, why not? I ordered us a not-so-tasty cold lamb and vegetable terrine (we didn't love the consistency) and were envious of our neighbors who ordered escargot, an amazingly crunchy and delicious looking green salad and charcuterie. But, when our plat principal arrived, we were happy campers. It was an incredible bowl of braised beef with pasta and vegetables in a red wine sauce. Utterly wonderful. We capped the meal off some perfectly brewed coffees. Another good meal.

Alicia enjoying her coffee

That evening we headed back to good old Fontainebleau/Avon to meet up with Karim who had just finished up his last exam. We headed to our favorite affordable restaurant in town, Il Primo Bacio for an Italian dinner and then stopped by Le Shaker bar to celebrate the end of exams with some other INSEAD students. And then it was off to bed, because we had a trip to the Champagne region on the agenda for the next morning.

Orangina was sadly still in the garage, so we rented a car and drove out to Reims, where we toured the cellars of Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin.

Alicia & Liz in front of the lovely red ivy at Veuve Clicquot

Our tour guide was a sweet French girl who spoke impeccable English (sorry Nehdi, Alicia doesn't speak any French so we needed to do the tour en anglais). It was great until a group of rude, loud women clacked into the tour 15 minutes late.

Inside the cellars

The walls were full of inscriptions left by the people who have worked at Veuve Clicquot over the years. So much history!

A relief sculpture inside the cellars

Karim and Alicia, enjoying the champagne tasting

After the tour it was time for (arguably) the best part - the tasting! After our tour, we all needed a nap, so we headed to the hotel for a few hours before heading out for a mediocre dinner and then a visit to Reims' Notre Dame cathedral at night. This post is getting too long, so I'll spare you all of the details...

The next morning we decided to check out the interior of Reims' Notre Dame.

Being silly in front of the cathedral

And looking small

Amazing stained glass

Stained glass by Chagall

Mom - this one's for you - woodblock pig heads!

After lunch, we hopped back into the rental car and made our way back to Fontainebleau. We decided to cook at home to ensure that we would have a good meal. And good meal indeed! Karim made his famous bouillebaisse and we capped the meal off with a spread of desserts from our favorite patisserie Frederick Cassel.

The next day was sadly Alicia's last day with us. I escorted her back into Paris for our last lunch together and a visit to the Musee d'Orsay. Then we headed to the Gare du Nord, and our luck unraveled. We got there too late for Alicia to board her train, so we had to get her a ticket on a later train. I was secretly pleased because that meant we could go and have another glass of wine together and chat, but then we also realized that she had lost a bag along the way! I got her on her next train and then went to fetch her lost bag from the train station's lost and found. And I PROMISE I'm going to mail it tomorrow!

We're so glad you were able to visit Alicia! Miss you!