A Comparison of Breakfasts

Most everywhere we went in England, Mr X and I had the option of The Full English Breakfast. Mr X tried it once and never opted for it again. He prefers a more carb-y breakfast. I prefer a more meaty breakfast so I actually didn't mind it and usually opted for it rather than fruit and muesli with toast preserves, which was what Mr X usually had.

So what is the Full English?

Eggs: Scrambled, fried or poached

Pork sausages

A couple of slices of bacon (but in England bacon is what we Americans would refer to as ham.)

Baked beans

Roasted or fried tomatoes

Roasted or sauteed mushrooms

Toast

Roasted potatoes or hash browns

It's a BIG breakfast. I usually didn't eat it all, skipping the beans and mushrooms often.

The Full English Breakfast. (Photo found online.)

I found breakfast in the UK to be very different from the typical morning fare in France: coffee (or hot chocolate in my case) and a croissant. Italian and Spanish breakfasts tend to be similar to the French breakfast.

A common French breakfast. (Photo found online.)

The German breakfast is quite hearty like the English, but in very different ways. It's a cold breakfast of an array of sliced meats and cheeses with a rather extensive bread basket as well as other bread toppings such as butters, jams, nutella-like spreads, etc. It usually comes with a soft-boiled egg, which I like. Swiss, Austrian and Czech breakfasts tend to be very similar to German breakfasts.

Mr X and had several discussions about the various types of breakfasts we've enjoyed over the years. I suppose that due to our American upbringing we both prefer a heartier breakfast.

Mr X's favorites, in order of preference:
1) German
2) French
3) American
4) English (I guess the cooked tomatoes, mushrooms and baked beans really put him off.)

Mine:
1) American
2) German
3) English
4) French (Although hot chocolate and croissants are delicious, I prefer my breakfasts less sweet and more filling. I was always hungry about 2 hours later and so I inevitably failed to withstand temptation when passing creperies or patisseries.)

Musée de l'Armée at Les Invalides

Mr X and I have visited many military museums in Europe and for some reason during previous trips to Paris we never made it to the Musée de l'Armée so this time we made sure we toured this place. It's quite large - it holds around 500,000 artifacts, including weapons, armour, artillery, uniforms, emblems and paintings which are are organized into historical collections, representing a chronological tour from ancient times through the end of World War II. As we toured, however, it became clear that the French have a very different opinion about how WWII played out - it seems they really had everything under control and they were going to be able to miraculously take back their own country (which fell in 40 days to the Germans) pretty much on their own. The Americans and the British just helped a little bit. The French Canadians did a bang up job with the French resistance though.

The Tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte is also found here so we visited that as well.

De La Fosse's Allegories Dome under which Napoleon's tomb lays.

The acutal tomb.

NOTE: If you're getting sick of Paris photos, no worries, this is the last post from our trip. Now onto other adventures.

The Arc de Triomphe & Cimetière de Montparnasse

I think the Arc de Triomphe is one of my favorite sights in Paris. It is so incredibly impressive and I love the views from the top - you seem to be able to see forever (so long as it's a clear day). Plus, I always find the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to be a humble reminder of those unidentified soldiers who lost their lives in both World Wars.

Below are photos of the Cimetiere de Montparnasse. It's a breathtaking cemetery and fascinating to walk explore. Here are some notable people who were laid to rest in this cemetery:

Bartholdi, Frederic August: b. August 2, 1834 d. October 4, 1904
French sculptor renowned for his monumental works, the most famous being the Statue of Liberty. Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was born at Colmar, in Alsace, France, on April 2, 1834.


Beauvoir, Simone de: b. January 9, 1908 d. April 14, 1986
French writer, philosopher, feminist. She has come to be seen as the mother of post-1968 feminism.


Chauveau-Lagarde, Claude: b. January 21, 1756 d. February 28, 1841
Lawyer. He was the lawyer of Queen Marie Antoinette and Charlotte Corday.


Garnier, Charles: b. November 6, 1825 d. August 3, 1898
Architect of the magnificent "Opera de Paris."


Picasso, Paul: b. February 4, 1921 d. June 5, 1975
Son of Pablo Picasso. Pablo Picasso painted "Paul Picasso as a Child" (oil on canvas) in 1923.


Marcel Alexandre Bertrand: (1847–1907), geologist, founder of the plate tectonic theory


Pierre Larousse: (1817–1875), author of encyclopedia Larousse Gastronomique


Sabine Zlatin: (1907–1996), Polish-born humanitarian who hid Jewish children during the Holocaust

Today I Give Thanks For Food (Among Other Things)

It is physically impossible for me to go to Europe and NOT come home fatter. Now, I really don't want to become portly. HOWEVER, I feel that the deliciousness of Europe is well worth coming home with a few pounds to lose. See below:



Mr X and I actually ate this ginormous steak - we shared it. Our waiter brought it out for our approval before taking it back to be cooked up for us. It was delicious.

Those of you who know me well enough know that I LOVE cheese. Sadly I never got around to actually buying anything from a frommagerie. I'm not sure why...



We didn't buy any of these berries, we just ogled them. I wish red currants were more widely available in the US.



I must be missing our Mission Fig Tree from our old place in San Diego. I actually bought a half a kilo of figs while in Paris. After our purchase Mr X and I walked over to the Eiffel Tower and sat on a bench to devour figs while we gazed at the tower. Oh my gosh they are SO GOOD.

 

This was the little fruit/veggie shop from which we purchased our figs.

 

Believe it or not I have never eaten a proper French Macaroon before. So Mr X and I bought 6 of varying flavors from a store to try. They are small so we split them all in half so we could taste them all. I liked them but I must confess, I prefer coconut macaroons. Homemade.



Based on the recommendation of my in-laws, Mr X and I waited in line to have breakfast at Angelina's. The hot chocolate at this place is legendary. Apparently Coco Channel used to have hot chocolate here every day. It was definitely worth it. I only wish I had gone more than once. I guess I'll have to go back to Paris again JUST for this chocolate.

 

Would you believe that I actually didn't buy any of these sorts of pastries while in Paris, I just took pictures? I guess I just never got around to it because I fully intended to buy and eat loads of them.



This swine looks both repulsive and delicious at the same time, don't you think? I imagine that those potatoes underneath the pig that have been roasting in pork fat are the real culinary treat here - too bad I didn't get to confirm that. We walked past this place right after we'd eaten dinner.



France: Notre Dame

Mr X and were lucky enough to be able to take a very quick trip to Paris recently. This was our third trip to that city and I believe I will never tire of it. The weather was the nicest we've ever experience in France - it was around 60 degrees during the day - and it was a warm and welcome change from the single digit weather we've been having here in Colorado. I have way too many pictures to be able to photo-document the whole trip in one post so I figured I break it down by individual attractions. First up is the Notre Dame cathedral of Paris:



The stain glass windows in this cathedral are, as always, mesmerizing and beautiful.





Here I am, messing around in the Treasury section.



The view from the Left Bank.

Notre Dame is on the left side of the Seine in this photo, up in the distance.

 



Notre Dame gargoyles are jutting out in the background of this photo.



My Solo Excursions: Strasbourg, France

One morning while visiting Mr X in Germany I rented a car and drove myself across the border to spend some quality time in France. I love France. The only car I could get just happened to be nearly the size of a minivan, which really stinks in Europe where the lanes and the parking spaces are painfully small. But I was just happy that it had a built in GPS system...otherwise I probably would have been too chicken to go. (Without a GPS I am sure I would have gotten hopelessly lost on the way there and ended up calling Mr X from the side of a road who-knows-where sobbing buckets of tears.) Anyway, I made it to Strasbourg quickly and efficiently - too quickly because I ended up getting a speeding ticket. The next challenge was finding parking for my enormous vehicle. I ended up driving like a mad woman, around in circles all over town, seemingly almost always in the wrong direction but eventually I found a good place to park.

I had to cross the Île River via the Ponts-Couverts, located at the end of Petit France (that's the area of Strasbourg located on the Grand Île (the Main Island). Below is a good photo of what it looks like, courtesy of wikipedia.

This is the beginning of Petite France (the rest are my photos):

I wandered around for a couple of hours, perusing the delightful shops and gazing in awe at the quaint architecture and cobblestone streets.

Eventually all that aimless walking made my stomach grumble so I stopped in here for a bite to eat:

I enjoyed a savory flammekueche for my meal, it's a specialty of the region. (I had it once before the last time I visited Strasbourg, but this particular one was much more delicious - I don't know why.)

After my meal, I made my way through Place Kleber and then toward the famous Strasbourg Cathedral in Petite France. Below is just a picture of a well known building adjacent to the cathedral...I'd tell you what it was called but I forgot. Sorry.

This is a clock face on the outside of the cathedral. I'm showing you the picture because later I climbed up one of the towers and saw the inner workings of this clock.

I'm a sucker for stained glass photos and I take pictures of them wherever I go. This is from the inside of the cathedral.

I decided that I needed to burn of some of the macaroons that I munched on earlier that day so I opted to climb the bazillion stairs to the top of the cathedral tower. It took a really long time and I had to stop and catch my breath a few times. (Incidentally the next day my thighs were SO SORE from this climb.) Here are the stairs:

I stopped several times on the way up to rest a bit and of course I snapped pictures like crazy. So here we go - you can tell how far I'm getting up based on the pictures.

The last area before I reached the top was where the inner workings of the clock were. I thought it was very deserving of a photo.

Here's the top of the tower (unfortunately you can't go ALL the way up):

And of course, a view from the top:

PS - I bought so many macaroons in Strasbourg that the shop actually gave me a frequent-macaroon-eater card. After the 7th dozen, I could get a dozen free. I tried to convince Mr X to go back after I left a few times so he could score that free bag but he's not as disgustingly addicted to sugar as me, bless his heart.