A Birthday in Paris

What do you get when you combine great food, a table by a fireplace, Rose Champagne and good friends all in the City of Lights? CBs Birthday! After a one of the better meals I have had in Paris, with fellow American MBA students, we proceeded to "that bar with awesome martinis". Many Chocolatinis and Georgia Peaches later we were proud to close the place down. Since 2am is always way too early to go home we found our way to another fine Parisian watering hole, however at this point we were in no condition to remember the name. I, CB and TP (far left in the pic) finished the evening by sucking down some sort of flaming drink which to me tasted like burning plastic......I think I did not understand the instructions clearly. At 3:30am we stumbled though the streets feeling accomplished in providing CB a well deserved birthday to remember! HAPPY B-DAY CB!

I should also mention that to her credit, CB arrived home at the end of the evening still in possession of her cell phone. For those familiar with "the curse" her odds were not looking good but she prevailed and proved to the cell phone gods that anything is possible (especially if you give your phone to someone else to look after for the evening, specifically for this reason).

Ole!

Everyone can relax. Mexican food was found and enjoyed here in Paris. Mas tequila!

*** bar name update ***

"that bar with awesome martinis" = Le Rhubarb

We can almost taste spring/summer!!!!

It's slowly getting warmer here.... Yesterday, during our 2 hour lunch break from E-Commerce, we sat outside in front of the Tour Eiffel and had a demi carafe de vin rose (just some of the perks of living in Paris!) While drinking wine we (and by we I mean me) was finally warm for the first time since being in Paris! For those of you who know me, know that as a true Cali girl at heart, I need my sun and warm weather. I can't wait to wake up and not have to put on 10 layers of clothes and finally wear all my summer dresses and flip-flops. 

On another note... We decided that since we are living in one of the most amazing restaurant cities in the world, we need to do more exploring. We are going to go around each of the 18 different arrondissements and try out restaurants and bars. We will update our blog with our reviews after each dinner. 

One bar recommended to us by another MBA student is in the 7eme we call it "that bar with the awesome martinis". (actual name to come soon) We played Russian Roulette with an amazingly long martini menu. They make them with fresh fruit and they are delicious!! And probably the downfall of my night last friday was the 1/2 price for girls!!! Thankfully TP and DN were there to take care of me... love you boys!! :) 

Also keep those comments coming we love to hear them!

On behalf of AW........the Maaaalta post

Sadly there comes a time in every bloggers life when one must take one for the team, therefore I am writing our Malta post of behalf of AW who has fallen behind in her posting obligations. Although she does get one free credit for the dumpster extravaganza for which this does not even begin to satisfy.

We departed from Venice with no idea where Malta even was on the map. We had made a very relative (OK minimal) effort to investigate before booking the trip but found no information other than that it was hot, there are palm trees, it's on the water and it's cheap; I mean what else does one really need to know anyway?

We checked into our hotel across the street from the beach and proceeded to the nearest dive bar where we gorged on fried appetizers and beer before succumbing to AW's request to scratch her Rawhide Bar itch a little further down the street. As always, we decided one drink was in order and as always, stayed for 4 hours filling the jukebox with requests for classic American tunes that every other foreigner (foreign to us....they were all locals!) pretended to sing along to.....poorly. After some standard arm wrestling and unidentified shots we stumbled back to the hotel to arise to a sunny warm blue sky day. After a morning run, and racing CB up and down some steps (and losing) and then racing the last 300 yards back to the hotel (and winning), we spent lunch drinking Paps Punch (kinda like Sangria) by the pitcher...... well actually we spent the whole day drinking Paps Punch..love that stuff!... after which we rested on a dock surrounded by crystal clear blue water trying to figure out how to justify the potential of an MBA in Malta. After trying to rationalize staying in Malta for the rest of our trip we proceeded to a wonderful restaurant for some Lobster and seafood. Didn't think CB was going to survive the experience after our all day punch pouring, spilling and more pouring adventure. She came through and finished her meal despite her inability to sit up right and AWs puppet master and voice throwing skills with the Lobster.

The next day we came to terms with the life we live and found our way back to the airport to fly to Florence. Needless to say.....Malta is highly recommended and should be visited....just for a little longer then 2 days. For those of you who can wait AW is figuring out a way to re-locate....for good.

A little bit of home....

It has been the middle of July since I left Cali, I love living in Paris, the only things I miss are my friends and mexican food (bien sur!) Thankfully my friends travel (unfortunately mexican food doesn't)  They are going to Italy for a week the beginning of March and DN and I are going to meet them in Rome, sadly AW will not be making it on this trip! (don't worry I will navigate him back to the hotel, but it just won't be the same without you there and the slap at the end of the walk!) ;) I am SOOOOO excited to see my friends, we are going to have so much fun drinking amazingly cheap wine and eating tons of pasta since we did not get enough on our last trip. This vaca is still at least one ski trip away but I just couldn't help myself... I had to write how happy I am to see them!!! 

pics will be posted after this trip for sure!!! 

And then?.........

So..... stuck in class....again (yes..as I am writing this!) thinking about how we can add more pics from another crazy trip. End result... trying to arrange a ski trip after our oh-so-fabulous E-Commerce course ends this week on Wednesday. Given that this is the first year I will have less than 100 days on skis in more than 10 years I NEED some snow time ASAP!!! La Clusaz in the French Alps should do the trick. Somehow I don't think Ryan Air would be too excited about the massive amount of equipment I will need to take, so we're going to have to snow train it this time. The good news: There is a bar on the train! AW is being dragged along kicking and screaming after promises of fire places, Jacuzzis and maybe even a spa or two.

Looks like Rome may in order after that. Too bad planning cultural drinking adventures is not a required MBA course....We would have a 6.0 GPA!

Anyway, being lured back into streamlining operational efficiencies through the use of information technology...ouch!

More to come...

ENJOY!

 morning bellini
 the crew!
 love malta, how pretty!!!
 paps punch is the best!!
 theme of the entire trip.

Did someone say "dumpster"?

Florence back to Paris......

The coolest part about living in Europe is that when you return home from vacationing in Europe....you are still in Europe! Paris is an awesome city to return home to, it almost feels as though we are on perpetual holiday (minus some classes and a whole bunch of papers).

Last few days in Florence were great! We continued our strict diet of Pasta, Pizza and Chianti. On the last night we decided that we had spent too much time drinking wine in restaurants and not spent enough time in bars drinking hard liquor so......problem solved. This was quite the find. We were mesmerized by the "Beer Pong tournament" sign on the front door which was the deal maker for us, although we never actually played. After pitchers of something pinkish and blue and vodka/rum soaked, we got our groove on till we were the last ones standing, well...most of us were standing.....OK it was me who was not standing. I owe some gratitude to AW and CB who, if not there to guide me home, I would still be laying comfortably on what ever car/wall/curb/lamp post (OK Dumpster!) I was using for support......ty! Some of us left the club a little lighter then when we arrived. Group total - AW: minus one digital camera, CB: minus one brand new Dior wallet, 2 credit cards, a library card, student ID, a tanning card full of unused credit, AND a total surprise finale, another cell phone!! DN: just my pride:-)


On another note I know CB likes to hear so much about; The Score - Florence: 2 CB: 0 Believe me when I tell you that Orange Mobile is glad to have CB as a dedicated, loyal, and contracted locked cellular customer.

One small thought on O'Neill bags....... As a dedicated winter outerwear, board short and wetsuit customer myself, O'Neill Consumer Affairs deserves a letter from CB who seconds after tags were ripped off, was left with a broken bag. Before even leaving the apartment in Paris, over-packing combined with poorly manufactured zippers led to disaster #1. Upon check-in with Ryan Air Disaster #2 - it turned out that the bag we thought would qualify as carry on did not qualify. Upon arrival in Venice and with so many stair littered bridges we each grabbed a handle when...Disaster #3. The handle I was holding was no longer attached to the bag at one end and spent the rest of the trip being dragged through dirt and rain. All that said here is my required disclaimer: "Comments made do not reflect the actual opinions of above mentioned parties, their friends, relatives, affiliates and related brands. Statement not intended for actual commercial use. Winnings will be distributed over 20 equal annual payments"

Venice was lovely, and Carnival was so much fun. I'll post the rest of the pics later today- homework calls!

Phase 3 - Florence

OK.... We are currently in Florence so there may have to be another update after some more crazy/funny/ oh so Italian stuff happens. First and foremost, since we have traveled on Ryan Air more than a few times in the last week I feel obligated to mention a few things. First, while they are on-time they have carry-on baggage Nazis whose sole purpose in life is to keep you from bringing any bag on the plane. CB took one for the team and bore the brunt. After being undressed at security, where by the way they are so tight they actually hand write your boarding passes in Malta, we walked on the runway and were stuffed into non-reclining yellow seats designed for midget, primi babies. At 6' 2" I was not a happy camper! That said, all flights were relatively short and cheap, just not sweet.

One recommendation for traveling to many places in the same trip....save the nicest hotel for last, not the worst one... After staying across the street from a palm tree littered beach we arrived in Florence in a freezing drizzle in the middle of the night after a 70 minute bus ride from the Airport to our palatial Hotel Ferretti, recently upgraded from a half a star to an entire one star hotel. They are so nice here; they even let you pick up your own sheets and towels as you need them....who needs maids anyway? We could not have chosen a more academically stimulating hotel to write an Acquisition proposal for class.....

My sole concern this entire trip was where we were going to watch the Superbowl. I must say that the greatest news upon arrival in Florence was getting lost and accidentally walking by a bar with a sign stating their intention to play the Superbowl, even though kick-off would be at 12:30am. We ate, drank and showed up at 9pm to pre-game. After numerous drinks, shots, beers and verbal diarrhea from other drunk annoying American girls we were Superbowl satisfied.

More to come... (including some f'ing awesome pics!)

Venice

Hi all.... sorry for the lag in posts. We are just in Florence right now after a couple days in Venice and Malta. Venice was amazing!!! The first night we got there we had dinner in front of live techno music, love house music :) We also had a romantic 3 person gondola ride where we were sung to, it fulfilled everything and more AW had ever dreamed of it being. Being carnival, we had to get grotesque masks, but the best part of being in Venice was drinking chianti out of wine glasses the size of our heads. Thank God for our sherpa DN carrying all our bags up and down all the bridges. 

slide show to be posted soon!!!