Loire Valley Getaway

A week ago, we had yet another public holiday here in France and since it was on a Thursday, we got that Friday off as a ‘bridge day’.  This means we had a four day weekend and being that we had just celebrated our 7th anniversary earlier in the week, it felt like the perfect time for a little getaway.  We had recently gotten home from the US and since we hadn’t planned anything yet, we didn’t want to go too far.  We had talked about wanting to explore another one of France’s wine regions, the Loire Valley, and since it’s about a 2.5 hour drive away from Paris, that seemed like the perfect place.  The Loire Valley is also known for its chateaus, or castles, so I thought it would be fun to have us stay in an actual chateau.  I found the Chateau des Briottieres near the small town of Champigne which looked perfect and still had availability.  So it was planned.  We would head to Loire Valley after work on Wednesday and stay there two nights, coming back to Paris on Friday evening where we could still enjoy our weekend at home.  

Since the Loire Valley is so close to Paris, and since we would need a car anyways once we got there, it didn’t really make sense to take a train and then rent a car.  So being that Nate is adventurous, we rented a car out of Paris and drove the entire way.  It was a bit nerve wracking to think of driving even just a little bit in Paris but again, Nate was adventurous and employed his “It’ll be fine” mentality.  And besides a little hairy moment trying to get to the Peripherique Rd (the freeway that runs around the city of Paris), it was fine!  So off we were!  

Chateau des Briottieres

The Chateau des Briottieres was indeed beautiful and completely out in the middle of nowhere.  A nice getaway from the city!  That following day after we arrived was the French holiday so many wineries were closed.  However we headed the short 30 minute drive into the town Angers and went to the Maison du Vin.  Here Nate did a tasting of wines across the entire Loire Valley region and we got a book and a map of local wineries, which ended up being handy for the next day.  It was a good stop and with wines being only 6-10 EUR a bottle, we walked out of there with a case.  Not too bad!  

Loire Valley as we learned is mostly known for their whites and roses and from what I could smell, and from what Nate confirmed, there indeed were some great ones.  I must say, I look forward to December when I can fully enjoy our findings from this region.

We enjoyed lunch in Angers and then headed back to the chateau to enjoy an afternoon by the pool.  A perfectly relaxing day....just what we wanted.  The chateau also has an option for you to dine there for dinner, which we did as that meant we didn’t have to drive anywhere and could fully enjoy the chateau.  We enjoyed an aperitif outside before dinner and took in the beauty and calmness around us and then had a wonderful meal.  After dinner we sat outside and enjoyed being able to actually see stars.  In some ways I felt like we were camping with that feeling of being in the middle of nowhere enjoying the great outdoors.  It was a nice change.

The next day we decided to take our time heading back to Paris so we could visit a few wineries and a few castles and get a good flavor of the Loire Valley.  Our first stop was the Chateau d’Usse.  It was maybe an hour drive and located in this small, unknown town.  You could see the castle as soon as you drove up the road and it was quite beautiful.  Apparently legend has it that a famous French writer who stayed at this castle was so inspired by it that he wrote Sleeping Beauty based off of it.  It did remind me of a fairytale.  It was a beautiful castle with expansive and well kept gardens.  You could walk through part of the castle and see some of the rooms inside however I thought the outside was the most impressive.  

Apparently there are 42 chateaus in the Loire Valley and being that we planned this trip so last minute, we didn’t have a ton of time for lots of research.  So I found an article online from CNN that highlighted the best 5, and that’s how we chose where to go.  Chateau d’Usse was definitely one of the good ones!

Chateau d'Usse

Outside at the Chateau de la Grille winery

After having lunch in the town near the castle we were back in the car and off again.  This time to a winery not too far away.  Referencing our trusty little book of wineries and map that we got the previous day from Maison du Vin, we randomly picked one that wasn’t far from where we were.  We went to Chateau de la Grille in the Chinon region of the Loire Valley which turned out to be yet another great find.  We stopped in, the lady in the tasting room was extremely friendly and proceeded to pour wine for Nate and tell us all about the history of the winery, the region and the wines.  The wines here were quite good from what Nate said (and again, at 6-10 EUR a bottle you can’t beat the price).  So again we walked away with another half case.  The beauty of renting a car out of Paris is that you can much more easily transport wine back home and we were definitely going to take advantage of that. 

We were now off to our second, and last, castle of the day.  This time we chose Chateau de Chenonceau.  Pulling up to this castle was a much different experience from Chateau d’Usse.  It was much bigger (the grounds itself, parking lot, etc.), there were a ton of people and overall it just felt more touristy.  We proceeded to check it out though and bought our entrance ticket.  The grounds were definitely much larger than Chateau d’Usse but the castle itself appeared to be smaller.  And there were a ton of people everywhere.  We went inside and tried to see the rooms but did I mention there were crowds of people there?  We walked through a good portion of it and we probably would have enjoyed it more if it was less crowded (I guess we should have expected that being that it’s August) but we were over it and so said au revoir to that castle.  I’m glad we went and this way we can compare the two but we were done with castles for the day.

Chateau Chenonceau

There was a winery not too far from this castle so we figured one more wine tasting before we headed back to Paris.  We chose Les Pierres d’Aurele which was smaller and less commercial than the one previous and in the Touraine Chenonceaux region of the Loire.  It is owned by this younger couple who bought and took it over just 4 years ago.  We sat down in what essentially looked like an extension of their home and she proceeded to tell us all about the place and the wines they make while pouring a tasting for Nate.  Again, Nate found that the wines were quite good for the value so we bought a few more bottles and we were on our way.  

We were headed back to Paris and now had to make a stop at our apartment first before returning the car since we had so much wine.  Luckily our place isn’t too far from Gare de Lyon where we were returning the car and after just one or two stressful moments, we made it to our house to drop everything off before Nate returned the car.  Driving in Paris...what an adventure!  

Overall it was a perfect little getaway.  I really enjoyed having the freedom of a car and just going wherever we felt.  I think we’ll have to explore doing that more often.  And the more we learn where we need to go in and out of Paris, the easier I’m sure driving will be too!

Happy Anniversary Nate!!!  Here’s to many more adventurous and fun filled years! Love you!!

CA and Summer in Europe

Long planned and long anticipated was a decidedly non-European travel adventure.  This one back home to California for a quick fun and food filled trip.  The planning started about a year ago with the main event being the 70th birthday of one Mr. Dennis Kliewer, a.k.a. the Prince of Paso Robles, a.k.a. Cleaver's dad.  Of course along the way in the past year the oldest daughter of the Prince of Paso has become "with child" and thus a second exciting event was planned for this trip home which would be of course a family baby shower for Cleaver.

With only 5 nights at home, time would be of the essence.  A direct flight from Paris to San Francisco put us on the ground in California at about 1:00 pm local time.  Get our bags, get our rental car and hit 101 toward the East Bay.  We then very quickly got a not so friendly reminder of one of the few down sides of the Bay Area - traffic.  So after about an hour and half we finally arrived in Walnut Creek for a quick hello at Grandma's house with my Mom and Dad as well before moving on to chez Aaron and Kristine who were nice enough to host a BBQ at their house with a group of our friends.  Having come home from the hospital only two days earlier was the newest member of their family little Trevor.   Fun BBQ evening and so great to see our friends for a normal level of debauchery for this crowd.

Next morning moving on because a. time is tight and b. Firestone.  A picture is worth a thousand words.

Then the family fun in San Miguel begins.  With most of the family starting to arrive we enjoyed the first of three nights of sitting, eating, drinking a few beers and enjoying the country side.

I can't really comment much on the actual baby shower on Friday as I along with all the other guys wisely departed for a beer pong game.  But from the looks of it the ladies had fun with lots of lovely generous gifts given to us in anticipation of our new arrival.  Only question was how to get everything home to Paris which actually ended up being not so bad.  A few things will have to wait until the Kliewer's come in December but fortunately most of it fit in our luggage this trip.

Next day was the big party for the birthday boy!  An all day marathon of BBQ, beer, cornhole, beer pong, cake, music, laughs, and even a giant water slide.  Everything you would expect from a Kliewer family function.  The weather could not have been better and just an all around enjoyable day.  Happy Birthday Dennis!

The Birthday Boy!

After that big day, the next morning was the unfortunate time to head home.  After saying our good bye's, we were back in the car and on our way to SFO.  One stop though - Taco Bell.  Miss that place.  Made our flight and back in Paris we land the following morning.

Ross family enjoying the party!

Normally landing on Monday, returning to work on Tuesday with the jet lag and all is a bit of a challenge.  However this is August in Europe which means summer holiday.  July is much the same.  I had heard about summer in Europe but I don't think you can fully understand it without actually being here.  Work for the most part comes to a slow moving pace, not shut down, but a very slow pace which is actually quite nice.  Most people will take 2 - 4, maybe 5 weeks vacation depending on the country.  Gone.  I have received out of office replies with a 4 week time span listed.  August is the big holiday month in France and in my office of maybe 20 people, there were I think 6 the day I returned from California.  So fighting the jet lag is not as hard when you can come in a bit late, leave a bit early and don't have the normal 5,000 things to do.

Closed until August 26

Paris also comes to a slow halt with many places, restaurants, stores and shops posting signs saying something to the effect of happy vacation, we're closed until the end of August.  The city feels empty with all the closures and only tourists running around.  The summer slow down is nice and something I'll miss whenever the time comes to return home.

To summarize the action items: 1. great trip home.  2. Always great to see friends and family.  3. Lots of great food and drink. 4. Summer in Europe is great.  With that said à bientôt!

Our Paris Anniversary

Well, it’s been now one year since we’ve moved to Paris.  This year has gone by so quickly!!!  We’ve felt the love from our family and friends with all of you who have visited.  We've had some first year learnings of how things operate here in France. Let me just give you a quick taste....I won't bore you with the details.  

We received no mail for the first month due to the August summer holidays and the fact that no one works. Setting up a bank account here is quite the long, drawn out process. Apparently it's normal for government offices to just be closed on a Thursday after 1pm. We've experienced both water leaks and electricity issues in the apartment and oh by the way, we as the renter got to make a claim with our insurance for water damage in the unit below us. Oh the joys of living in a different country (or maybe it's just France). And we’re still working with the French system to get our French social security numbers (Nate is a bit closer than me but I feel like mine is just around the corner!).  

But besides that type of bureaucratic stuff, it’s been a fun year filled with exploring Paris further (and having a rare winter where we could see it covered in snow as well...beautiful!), developing a love for cheese and French wine, exploring France (especially the wine regions), making some great friends and all in all just experiencing what Paris has to offer!  Paris is a magical city and one I would say we have fallen in love with.....along with France as a whole. What a great country. It's one that definitely agrees with us.

As we hit our one year anniversary of living in Paris we now start to do things for the second time around.  For example, we celebrated Bastille Day again on July 14.  Last year Nate and I had only been in Paris for maybe 2 weeks and we headed down to Place de la Concorde to watch the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower.  This year we gathered with our friends at the Champs de Mars for a picnic before the fireworks.  There was quite the group of us there....some people we knew and some new friends.  All in all quite fun!  Because it doesn’t get dark here until around 11pm, the fireworks don’t start until late.  But they had a symphony perform a few hours before which was quite enjoyable.  Nate and I skipped the fireworks this year though in lieu of getting out of there before the mass exit of people.  But we enjoyed the day all the same with friends, a picnic and the Eiffel Tower in the background.  

Our group for Bastille Day picnicking

Most recently we also watched the finish of the Tour de France. We went to the same spot where we were last year along the Champs Elysees near Place de la Concorde where the bicyclists come in and do their final laps. Again it was fun to witness and watch the finish and being that it was the 100th anniversary, they had a jet fly directly overhead as the first lap of finishers came through with the colors blue, white and red. Very cool!

And as you may have heard us complain about once or twice, it’s taken quite a long time for summer to make its appearance here.  But it has finally come and it has come in full force!!!  The last few weeks we’ve had beautiful sunny days with temperatures in the 80’s to even now almost 90.  It’s hot!!!  But Nate and I both swore we would never complain about it being too hot.  So we are enjoying every second of this weather because who knows how long it will last and winter will be here before we know it.  So that means lots of picnics in the park and evenings outside.  Love!!

A beautiful summer night on the Seine

21 Weeks

This past year though has brought us one major change...we're

expecting a baby girl in early December!!!  We are excited to say the least but also a bit nervous and scared.  It’s an overwhelming process normally and now to be in a foreign country where we don’t speak the language makes it all the more challenging.  But we knew what we were getting into and are excited to go through the process here.  Already it’s been quite the adventure.  There's finding a doctor that speaks English, signing up for a hospital right away (because you essentially have to reserve your spot as soon as you find out you’re pregnant), and just understanding the process here in general.  And there’s so much more to come that we don’t even know about yet. I've discovered this great women's group though for expats that speak English which has definitely been a huge help in navigating having a baby in France.  

The plan is for me to take my maternity leave here (I’m hoping for about 6 months after the baby is born) and then go back to work in the Paris office.  At that point we’ll start thinking about our next steps and when it may make sense to come back home.  But we haven’t made any final decisions yet and will play it all by ear.  

So as we start our second year in Paris we have lots to keep us busy as we plan for and try to prepare to have a baby in a foreign country.  The good news is that I hear the medical care here is top notch so I don’t worry about that.  As long as we can navigate the language piece of it all, it will be no problem.  Oh and just to clear up any confusion, just because our baby is born in France does not mean she will automatically get French citizenship.  So we will have a Parisian baby but not a French citizen.

We’re both looking forward to the adventure ahead and this next step in our lives.  It should be a fun, challenging and exciting one!!!

Paris, nous t'aimons!

A Visit from the Parents and a Trip Down to Avignon

After all of the different visitors we’ve had here in Paris, it was finally my parents turn to come visit us. We actually welcomed both my parents and my Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Andy here around the first week of June.  They had just come off a 3 week cruise and were making a stop to visit us in Paris.  My aunt and uncle were only in Paris for a few nights while my parents had planned a longer stay.  

We enjoyed a few nights in Paris with all of them....taking them to some of our favorite markets so we could eat at home one night as well as taking them to a favorite Italian place of ours in our neighborhood...changing it up with some pizza for dinner. 

Before we knew it though, it was time for Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Andy to leave and we were supposed to be on our way to Portugal.  Unfortunately though, Portugal just wasn’t meant to be for us.  There was an air traffic controller’s strike in both France and Portugal among a few other countries which of course started the Wednesday we were supposed to leave.  We could have re-scheduled our flight for Friday morning which is when the strike was scheduled to end but the airline still couldn’t guarantee that our flight would leave as scheduled.  So instead of taking the risk and having to deal with all of the chaos that would no doubt exist at the airport, we cancelled our Portugal trip all together and decided to take a train on Friday morning to the South of France and visit Avignon.  

By the way, a little sidenote and fun fact about France.  A co-worker was telling me that apparently the unions have a certain number of strike days they are allowed to take each year and it all resets on July 1.  Therefore there are always a larger number of strikes during the month of June as they use up their unused strike days.  Gotta love France!

Exploring Avignon

Breakfast in the garden of our B&B

Pont d'Avignon

Avignon ended up working out perfectly.  We stayed in a wonderful little B&B right outside of the old city center which provided a great garden to enjoy delicious breakfasts in the morning and a little happy hour wine and cheese in the evening.  We explored Avignon while enjoying some sunny and hot weather (a very nice change from our weather in Paris).  One of the sights to see in Avignon is the Pont d’Avignon, which is the Avignon bridge.  A friend from work introduced me to what is essentially a French nursery rhyme that’s all about this bridge.  Apparently all French kids know this song by heart.  (Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8eLsHDaBY8)  It’s a catchy tune and don’t think I wasn’t singing it throughout our weekend there.  Well at least just the chorus....the other parts were harder for me to remember.  

Anyways, we saw the bridge, the Palais des Papes (the palace where the Popes lived and a UNESCO heritage site), the main cathedral in town as well as the garden nearby with a great view of the Cotes du Rhone valley.  It was a full day but we got a good feel for Avignon and saw the main sights.

Therefore on Sunday we took a day trip to the coast to a popular little town called Cassis.  After finally getting there with a bit of a detour and some parking issues, we had a nice lunch by the water and enjoyed a boat ride to visit the Calanques des Cassis (or little fingers of water in the coastline).  It was a perfect little day trip and the boat ride was a highlight for sure.  It was nice being out on the water and made me crave a beach vacation.  Greece, I’m talking about you in September!!!  As an extra bonus, I got to enjoy Father’s Day with my Dad....something we haven’t been able to do for a number of years now.  Very special!  

Happy Father's Day Dad!

We said au revoir to Avignon on Monday and Nate and I were back to work the next day while my parents leisurely explored Paris.  Nate and I both had quick overnight work trips that week....me to Madrid, him to Zurich, and came back in time to enjoy the weekend with my parents.  My parents also squeezed in a visit to the Google Paris office for breakfast that Friday morning.  They have visited me at Google Mountain View, San Francisco, Zurich and now it only seemed fitting that they made sure to come see the Paris office as well!

The weekend was a mellow end to their vacation of 5 weeks.  We enjoyed a few more great dinners, my mom and I made it out for some shopping and before we knew it, we were saying goodbye Monday morning.  It was sad to see them go but happy to know it’s only a few weeks now before we get to see them again, this time back in the US!

Uh, Uhhhhhhhhhh. Uh, uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

One observation about the French I have made is that outside of the occasional soccer riot and maybe Tony Parker, they really don’t care too much for "les sports." You don’t see a game on in many places and you don’t hear much talk about sports day to day in the office. Just not a big thing overall. That said, they do have two world class / famous events that take place each year, one of which we saw last year which was the Tour de France, and the other we got to experience recently which is the French Open.

Having seen on Sportscenter for years the famous red clay of Roland Garros, it seemed like a very Paris thing to do and oh by the way, also a good reason to take an afternoon off work during the week. Cleaver had the opportunity to get tickets through work for the Quarterfinal round so, porquoi pas?

Roland Garros is located on the the outer edge of Paris proper, easily reached by a Metro line from our house. There are two main stadiums and a handful of other smaller tennis courts in what I can best describe as a park among a neighborhood. The way the tickets work, they are bought way in advance so you don’t know what matches you will see, you just have tickets to one of the courts on a given day and you see who ever is playing that day at that court.

Serena on the right about to Serve

Lucky for us the first match for our tickets was Serena Williams who eventually won the tournament against Svetlana Kuznetsova who had won the tournament herself a few years back. The second match was two Spanish guys not named Rafael Nadal, so I was not familiar with them.

The Williams' match went all 3 sets, was really back and forth and quite exciting before Serena finally pulled away and won the third set. After that ended we walked around the grounds a bit before returning to our seats for the men’s match. We didn’t stay for the entire men’s match as we had been there several hours by this time and it was getting later in the day. It was also a very rare "sunny" day so a bit of the sun kiss started to set in, so having thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon of tennis we called it a day and made our way back home. Box checked on the second famous French sporting event we have now been able to attend.

More Familiar Faces

A couple of weekends ago, our friend Carissa and her sister Lara stopped in Paris for the last four nights of their European vacation.  Up until then they had been traveling all around Italy and lucky for us decided to add Paris in there to see us.  I’ve said it before but it really is good to see friends and family from home and to be able to share our life over here.  Nate and I still had to work on Friday so Carissa and Lara were off to explore Paris during the day.  That night we all went to dinner with Robin and Dave at this really fun restaurant that Carissa found in the 7th.  Carissa was actually Miss Matchmaker and the one that introduced us to Robin and Dave when we both moved to Paris last July.  Thanks again for that Carissa as Robin and Dave have become good friends of ours!  We had a fun and late dinner with lots of laughs.  

The next day Carissa and Lara were out to meet up with a second cousin of theirs that they had never met before.  We didn’t reconvene until later that evening where we enjoyed a bit of happy hour at home and then headed out to dinner at Spring, another one of Carissa’s recommendations.  Carissa works in PR for restaurants in SF so has all sorts of connections and insider tips when it comes to restaurants.  And Spring definitely did not disappoint.  It was a tasting menu with lots of fresh and creative foods for each course.  All around delicious and a memorable dinner.  Apparently the chef is American but trained in France as he enjoyed working here much more than his home of Chicago.  

It was late as we left but not too late where we couldn’t stop by this great little pub near our house for one last drink before calling it a night.

We decided that for Sunday evening we would actually take it easy and make dinner at home.  So that morning we were off to the markets to find something tasty to make.  I headed to our favorite boulangerie for baguettes and dessert while the others went over to Montorgueil for the rest.  They came back with a couple of chickens (apparently fresh enough, although still dead, to where they saw the lady cut the head off), veggies, cheese, wine and fruit.  

Carissa and Lara still wanted to check out Sacre Coeur and since that’s been on my list for a while and it was for once a beautiful sunny day in Paris, I headed over there with them.  We walked around Montmartre for a bit (this is now the second time I’ve been to this neighborhood and I really do love it….it’s charming with all of the little restaurants and boutiques), grabbed a bite to eat and then headed up to the church.  It was beautiful and the view from there is just amazing!  Being that it was such a nice day, it was also super crowded.  But we got to see it, walk around inside and take in the view.  Just lovely!

We soon headed home and enjoyed a relaxing evening with a home cooked meal.  A perfect way to end the weekend. Carissa and Lara were then off and headed back to SF the next afternoon.  À bientôt!  And thanks for visiting!  

21 Dutch Kilometers

The Dutch city of Leiden 

Hi!  I'm back, seems like it has been a while and thought it a good time to share one of our latest weekend trips.  This time to a small town in the Netherlands called Leiden which sits roughly 30 minutes south of Amsterdam.  Seems like a bit odd, out of the way location but that was kind of the point.  Also a place that I had read about a few years ago as a town that had a great marathon and seeing as how I was in need of a half-marathon to run, seemed like a great idea.  Turns out that it was!

It was a fairly short 2 and a half hour train ride from Paris on Friday evening to get us to Leiden.  We had been able to find an actual apartment to rent as opposed to a hotel which is a bit of a crap shoot since you don't always know what you are going to get, but in this case we could not have had a better place to stay.  Leiden itself was an extremely cute little Dutch town with canals and brick buildings, think Amsterdam but smaller and without the circus / party parts of town.  Our apartment was about a 5 minute walk from the main part of town which was also the location of the start / finish of the race and was very convenient.

Our bounty from the market

After a quiet Friday night and with the race on Sunday morning, Saturday morning we decided to head into town and found a great open air market along the main canal with all various stands be it fruits, vegetables, fish, cheese, and an extraordinary stand with mediterranean olives and dipping type sauces.  This one in particular was quite a treat.  

Picking up my packet in front of the church

Knowing that we would have a quiet evening in our apartment that night (the race was Sunday morning after all) we loaded up with snacks to take home in preparation of movie night.  Another stop that day of course was the race packet pick up.  Having done a number of races over the years the pick up is usually in a open air, tent type area but not here.  In this case being a European town the packet pick up was in of course the old church at the center of town, which made for a unique race experience.  Packet in hand, snacks at  home, we made our way to the apartment to get some rest and get ready for the big day.

Sunday morning weather wise looked rough, it had rained all night but had passed by 8 am fortunately.  Mostly cold and windy but not rainy which was good.  Start of the race again was about 5 minutes from our apartment.  The race course was a great, mostly flat layout winding through small neighborhoods, wide open fields with lots of cows, and lined in many spots with spectators and bands.  It was a really great route that eventually came back into the town of Leiden along the canals and bridges back to the center.  Having accomplished my first goal of simply finishing, I was also pleased to have a time of 1 hour 40 minutes as a new PR, though to be fair, on a flat course.  Upon arriving in the finishing chute you receive the usual water, then a fruit and banana station, then being very Dutch the last station was of course a nice pour of Amstel.

Celebration!

Having finished the race we celebrated with a few local Belgian beers we had found at this little beer store on Saturday before finding a little watering hole with a bunch of pool tables and dart boards which was a perfect end to the day.  I can't say enough good things about the weekend we had, wish the weather had been bit nicer but hey, you can't have it all.  I'll definitely look forward to running this event again in the future!

Sunset in Leiden