We are back from our two weeks France vacation and I still feel zat I am speeeking wiz a French accent. This vacation I was able to detach completely from everyday life, especially from work (I even forgot how to log on at work). France took my breath away. But first the story about Paris. So much has been written and said and sang about Paris, it seems it can never be enough. First off, I was back the first time after 15 years. Much has changed, most of it not for the better. Sure it still exerts magical attraction for those who see it the first time, I was able to observe that with my almost teen daughter. But for me it has lost some of its luster, and most of its magic. I still enjoyed Paris, very much so, for my daughter and I it will always be our special girly trip. In fact Paris is very girly, so if you are not into shopping and macaroons, history and art, or cheese and salads, don’t even bother, there is nothing there for you, so go to London or New York instead.

The good:

• The croissants are still as fluffy and tasty as ever, we don’t have croissants like that in Vienna. You can add the baguettes, the fruit, the salads, the chevre, the macaroons and tartes to this list.
• The shopping is great, especially if you catch le soldes at the end of July. Didn’t have as much time for it as I would like but I loved everything I saw. There is a distinctive charm about Parisian fashion, even when the ugliest trends are emphasised somewhere else (i.e. the 80s). It is classic, simple, elegant, the art of understatement. I could not get enough of watching French women in the Metro, or on the street, such good taste almost everywhere you look. Women of all ages are just beautiful in France, a beauty that goes beyond trends and the mediatisation of beauty standards. Maybe it has something to do with how they feel about themselves and what and how they eat. They also give you the impression that they are living for themselves mostly, not to impress others.
• The streets hide treasures, everything from history, to architecture, to gourmet pleasures to old book stores and much much more. One of my favorite things to do in a city like Paris is to just roam the old streets, not looking at a map, just following my nose. I always discover wonderful treasures this way.
• Architecture, especially old churches is a feast for the eye in Paris. Add to that the jardins that successfully combine nature with human art and you will always discover new angles, new views.
• The cafes are a must have experience in Paris. Whenever you need a break just sit down and have coffee watching the city life flow by. We had breakfast each day at the Coquelicot in Montmartre. Sitting outside with our grande bol of cafe au lait we watched tourists, elegant French ladies holding their baguettes delicately like ballerinas, families with strollers, older gentlemen with newspapers, young couples and many more walk by and felt a bit like we were part of the local scene (Japanese tourists took pictures of us). Aside from that the baguette, brioche and croissants were amazing, the tartes to die for and the service like a ray of sunshine in the otherwise quite unfriendly Parisian gastronomy.
• The best burger I had since my last visit in the US is strange to mention on my best of Paris list, but I just have to. Breakfast in America was the cheapest and most satisfying dinner we had in Paris, with the risk of sounding like the typical American stereotype. I love French food, I really do, but sometimes you need a good burger, and we don’t really have that in Austria, not to mention cheesy fries. So I stand by my choice of eating a burger in Paris, and if I went back, I would do it again.
• Museums, culture and the arts surround you. There is something for everyone here. Sure everyone has heard of the Louvre. I prefer the Musee d’Orsay, much better organized for the overwhelmed senses of the weary traveller. This time I visited the Marmottan, a bit further away from the heart of the city, but well worth the trip, if you like Monet. Fairly free of the usual masses that you encounter everywhere else from the Notre Dame to Versailles, this little museum is housed in a beautiful old villa, every charming room you enter will set the scene for the paintings you are about to enjoy.
• Doing some research via Paris expat blogs was certainly worth every minute of it. Otherwise I would have not found L’As du Fallafel while walking around le Marais, which by the way is terribly chic. Or I wouldn’t have bought the perfect perfume at Marie Antoinette. So thank you French blogs for sharing all that good stuff! As a tourist, following the masses from one landmark to another I would have never stumbled upon them. And thanks to my own dear sister who sent me to Natier Chocolatier to get some goodies, hidden away in Montmartre as it has always been.

The bad:

• Our hotel is definitely at the top of the bad list. A long time ago it was wonderful staying in Montmartre. Our whole family stayed there at different times, in this small charming hotel called Utrillo. Since Utrillo is gone, I chose another small hotel on the same street thinking, based on its website, that it would be just as charming. It turned out to be dingy and lacking basic comfort. And on top of it, it is not a quiet street anymore. So this was our last stay in Montmartre, ever.
• Everything was overpriced. There is really no diplomatic way to put this. It is certainly lovely strolling through the streets of Paris, eating a macaroon or two, stopping for a drink and coffee, buying jewelry and scarfs and feeling très chic in the process, but let’s face it, it all adds up. At least those things you can justify, you’ll have wonderful memories and they are worth it. But one thing that you can’t justify is dinner in Paris. We did have a couple of nice dinners at Chez Plumeau, and as wonderful as the staff and the setting was, we couldn’t help feeling somewhat robbed. Personally I think that dinner is allowed to cost that much when served on a sliver platter and I expect something far more exotic than pork or salad. Now don’t get me wrong, it was one of the best salads I had, but do you really wanna pay over 20 dollars for a salad? Sure you can find dinner for less, but then it’s still expensive and you get something that resembles fast food, in the content and the service. If I could do it all again I would choose to have lunch instead of dinner, at select bistros, then I would maybe feel like the menus are worth the price. The only trouble is that you are so busy with sightseeing and shopping during the day that you don’t have time to sit for a nice long lunch. The French do it, we should learn from them, would be healthier too, and may partly explain why the French women are so thin.
• Finally, I have to put the Metro on my bad list. I hesitated because it really is a very useful method of transportation, but it is so exhausting. It is loud, hot in summer and crowded. Our Vienna subway is a luxury limo compared to it, I swear I’ll never say a bad word about it. However, if you would try to put all of Austria on the Vienna subway, I am sure you’d have a similar effect. Actually that was my main problem with Paris: overcrowding. That city is way too small for 11 million people, we don’t even have that many people in Austria. It made me really happy to come home, where I have enough private space.

Overall the trip was worth it. I could have done more to not be sucked into the tourist black hole, but you don’t have much choice when you visit some of the important landmarks. I am still bitter about the hotel and frustrated that I can’t do much about it other than give them a bad review. In time though all good memories of lovely churches, tiny streets, charming boutiques, amazing salads and cheeses, macaroons, tartes and croissants will be the only ones left, and then who knows, I’ll be back in Paris to experience it all over again…

Two more weeks and then we’ll be in Paris! Finally, after 15 years we get to go back. Last time I was in France was before the Euro, before the internet, before there were no more borders, and when you could get a complete Menu for little over $10. I am not sure how a student would afford Paris today (not that I am one), so I have been googleing to see what I can find. Thanks to many insider blogs I have put together a fine collection of restaurants, spread out through the twenty arrondisments. And through the wonder of google maps I can share that with you. Now all we have to do is get a French data SIM card and we won’t need any fancy guides or maps.

View Paris in a larger map.

The secret of a good vacation is really quite simple: plan ahead but leave room for spontaneity. We will be in Paris for 5 days, so we roughly know what we’d like to cover in those days. But the days themselves are interchangeable, meaning we can swap day 1 with day 3 and so forth. We are not planning to see many museums, it’s just a personal choice, neither are we interested in waiting two hours to get to the top of the Eiffel tower. We just want to take in Paris as it is, an actual city, not a collection of sightseeing spots, and even though we’ll be strangers forever, maybe we can still drink in some of the magic. After that we are off to Nice on the Côte d’Azur where we have booked a lovely appartment in the old town, on top of a hill. From there we plan to visit Saint Tropez, Monaco and Cannes and just hit the beaches wherever and whenever we feel like it. I shall have lots of stories when I get back. Ceci dit, on y va?

Here we are, 6 years in Austria and still going strong! Life is somehow too busy to write about, it wants to be lived. But once in a while it is time for memories, like this one. This is about Salzburg, we’ve been there so many times and almost every single time it rained. Still, we love Salzburg and we’d move there in a jiffy if we could afford to. But we can’t and in the meantime we console ourselves with the perceived fact that it always rains in Salzburg.

Incidentally it was spring, a rather cool one, just as it is now. Salzburg is very unpredictable in terms of weather so there is really no way to plan around it. The best way is to just pick a weekend and go. Just because it’s summer, doesn’t mean it won’t rain. My first time there it rained the entire weekend, and I don’t mean the kind of drizzle rain we have in Seattle, no, this was down pouring, wet to the bone kind of rain, for 48 hours straight! But when the sun comes out, Salzburg shines like the crown jewels.

Salzburg is so much more than the Sound of Music. Actually, when you are in Salzburg there is nothing to remind you of the movie itself. Sure they realized there is money to be made from naive American tourists who look for the “Sound of Music Tour” (only 1 in 10 Austrians has heard about the movie), but it’s no different than making money off of Mozart’s birth place. As a matter of fact, Salzburg is all about Mozart: there are Mozart chocolates, Mozart concerts, Mozart fashion, there was even an entire year dedicated to Mozart with a variety of cultural activites throughout. Honestly, it is hard to even see Salzburg behind this commercial tourism. The locals have almost vanished from the city center, you may still spot one in a secluded cafe, off the beaten path or on a less known trail in the woods sorrounding the Hohensalzburg Castle that looks down upon the tourist ant trail with the same disdain I’m sure as it did in 1525 when a group of miners and farmers tried to oust the Archbishop of that time and failed.

Regardless of the tourist hype, Salzburg is definitely one of the top three places in Austria worth seeing. After all, all the great cities in the world are overcrowded with tourists. So what to do once you are there? First off, let me tell you that planning a weekend for it should be more than enough. Look for one of the bed & breakfasts in the historic center, the charm and service will be worth it. Besides, it’ll cost you just as much lodging further away in one of the chain hotels. Last time we stayed at Hotel Chiemsee right next to the Mozart Platz and without trying to sell it or anything, I would go back there anytime. Very comfy rooms and excellent breakfast. I could go on and tell you about all the things you should visit, but here is a list of the Top 10 sights and you can decide for yourself what you’d like to see. I personally loved the Mozart birth house, the Mirabell gardens and of course the Hohensalzburg Fortress. If you are lucky you can catch a medieval fair at the castle and buy products from local merchants and farmers.

The food can be the usual tourist grub, especially along the downtown banks of the Salzach. And it’s not too bad, if you are hungry with limited time you may not have a choice. We were lucky to find a nice restaurant just a block away from the Franciscan church. It was surprisingly good food and full of locals, you may need a reservation to get in. The service is what I like to call “friendly professional”. Salzburg needs tourism to survive and they pretty much know that. Even though the locals are known for being unfriendly to all foreigners who move there, including Austrians, they will put on a nice face for tourists, they know how to make your stay enjoyable.

Overall you are best advised to follow your tourist guide if you like to be on the safe side. But even venturing out will not present much risk, this is a very safe small city, with or without a map you can’t really get lost. If you have more time go check out the entire Salzburg Land. If you can rent a car, if not travelling by train and bus is also very comfortable. There is a very special place we like to visit often, and it is only about 30 miles away from Salzburg: Werfenweng. Take advantage of their soft mobility program which means you can leave your car home and they will take care of everything. This is a one of a kind program in Europe as far as I know. We have used it in winter, for skiing. The area is great in summer too. You can stay at one of the many B&B organic farms where the owners will treat you like family. Enjoy the local organic foods, the beautiful hikes, a fairy tale castle, and the largest ice cave system in the world. I promise you won’t be disappointed. If I were to pick my favorite region in Austria, then it would be Salzburg. Go see for yourself!