Before there was Versaille

As I alluded to on a previous post about Paris, it was important to my expert and I that our trip was full of sight-seeing and Christmas Markets.

The Palace of Versaille was naturally a top contender for a half day's trip due to its history and grandeur.  It's almost always on a tourist's list of things to see when they go to Paris.  And it WAS on our list, until we found out about the Castle of VAUX LE VICOMTE.

Vaux le Vicomte is about an hour's train ride south east of Paris followed by a 15 minute taxi ride to the grounds from the train station.  It is known as the inspiration for Versaille.  This is because the architect who designed and transformed what was once a royal hunting lodge into the infamous Palace of Versaille did so at Vaux le Vicomte prior.Well, he and two other architects designed both places.  But Louis le Vaux somehow managed to get his name tagged to this earlier estate, so we'll just focus on him. :)

We chose to visit here over Versaille for one particular reason: Vaux-le-Vicomte fete Noel.  Vaux le Vicomte celebrates Christmas.

And celebrate they did!  A multitude of rooms were dressed up for the holiday, each with their own brand and flavor of Christmas spirit.  The elegantly patterned shrubbery were laced with ornamental lights on the back grounds.  Children and adults alike enjoyed a carousel ride in the front grounds.  Nearby, people purchased hot spiced wine, vin chaud, perfect on a cold winter night.

For 4 Euro per child, you could rent a period costume for your kids.  These two were insanely cute as they received a free gift out of the treasure chest. 

Mushroom Santa Land was probably my favorite room.

Someone cleverly integrated Mushroom Santa Land with Owl bushes.

We felt like we were outdoors in a deep French forest in this room.

This is Nicolas Fouquet, the finance minister at the time who had the Vaux le Vicomte built.  Unfortunately, the castle was more grand than the king's home at the time, and making a king look bad is not recommended. In 1661, the 22-year-old King Louis XIV attended the grandest of parties at Vaux le Vicomte and the party's magnificence was rivaled by only one or two celebrations in all of France's history.   Three weeks later, Nicolas Fouquet was arrested.  Influenced by other power-hungry advisers, the young king claimed he would not have been able to build such a castle and throw such a party without embezzling from the crown.   Fouquet was imprisoned for the rest of his life.  He died in a prison called Pignerol in 1680, 19 years later. Tragic.

Nice dining room!  

Once it became dark outside, the trees were lit  to make the castle even more beautiful.

The landscape in the back yard was gorgeous while accented with lights.

Versaille would have been a great experience but Vaux le Vicomte was way more memorable to us with the addition of the Christmas spirit.  The only thing we regret is not getting more time to explore the outside gardens considering the estate is quite vast.

We appreciated Vaux le Vicomte because it is not as popular on the "Paris Must-See List".  Would we go back  now that we've been there once?  Probably not.  But seeing what it's like, especially at Christmas time, made it completely worth it!  For those who know they will never get to go in person, here's a video I took in one of our favorite rooms. I apologize for my camera's poor quality!

Snow + Rome

Recently it snowed here in Rome!  Why the exclamation point?  Because this is a Mediterranean climate.  Snow is rather uncommon here.

However, my native friends here explained to me that even though it snows once a year, if that, it never sticks to the ground... not like it did last weekend.

In fact, my friend Luca went on to comment that the last time he remembered it snowed this much was when he was 14 years old... in 1985!

I was told the average amount of snow collected was about 15cm, or 6 inches.  45 minutes outside of Rome, I have another set of friends who lost their power and water for 2 full days.  This was due to them receiving 60cm or 24 inches of snow!  These volumes just don't occur consistently thus making the cities ill-prepared.

Nor were the umbrella pine trees.  A walk around the neighborhood revealed an astounding amount of huge tree limbs on the ground.  Obviously, they are not used to wet, heavy snow.  In fact, my expert told me about an unlucky car located on a main street near us that still sits on the side, crushed by a giant, fallen limb.

The good news is that the snow made everything beautiful.  And I am thankful for a local friend who went out early the morning after it snowed so she could show the world its beauty.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Roman Forum

This guy is dreaming if he thinks the buses are actually running.

So many people enjoying the snow while in front of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican City.

A couple of nuns in a snowball fight

Brings a whole new meaning to the term "Snow Angels"

All photos in this post are courtesy of Katie Wax.  Well done Katie!  You take outstanding photos!

The Paris Foodie Adventure

Traveling to Paris, France in December was like a dream.  As a foodie, it quickly became apparent that I might have finally reached the true city of gastronomic delights.  Rome is outstanding and has VERY good food, if you know where to look. Cities all over the United States have fabulous restaurants and markets that really appeal to my taste buds as well.  But none have come so close to perfection as Paris, Sweet Paris.

The bread, ooo la la.
The pastries, yes please.
The cream-based sauces that go on steak and french fries.

And then everything else.

Our trip to Paris had three main purposes:

1. See the touristy sights.
2. See the Christmas Markets.
3. Make the entire time a Foodie Adventure.

And of all the purposes, number three was held to heart the most. 

We did our research to find the best Paris Chocolatier.  The best Macaronier (I possibly just made up that word.  Doesn't matter. Macarons are amazing cookies).  The best Boulangerie (bread bakery). The best Fromagerie (cheese shop). The best Ice Cream.  All previously researched by professional food bloggers and chefs who live in Paris.  All carefully  cross referenced to make sure they received the highest opinions from multiple respected sources.

Trust us, we went to the right places.  And if you ever go to Paris and you are a foodie, these will be the places you will want to HEAVILY consider going to.

So here's where we went!  And DON'T FORGET: Click the pictures for a much better photo experience.

The Bread:  Poilane

Easily the best sourdough bread I have ever eaten.  And my previous favorite had been in San Francisco, CA.

The Cheese: Fromagerie Quatrehomme

We couldn't resist buying this double cream brie.  Or was it a triple? :)

As well as an outstanding roquefort.  Both went very well on our Poilane sourdough bread.

The Macarons: Pierre Herme

Think of one of those brownies that are half-cooked, still very fudgy in texture.  Well that's what these cookies are like.  The outside shell is extremely light but then you get to the ultra moist, ultra flavorful cookie and its creamy center. The four we tried were Caramel, Creme Brulee, Cassis, and Passionfruit.

The Ice Cream: Berthillon

Berthillon has a name as the best ice cream in Paris.  In fact, they are so popular, you cannot buy single servings at the original store.  Only pints or larger at that place.  Otherwise, they guide you to a restaurant nearby and tell you to buy it there.    The Strawberry was like the creamiest strawberry ice you could find.  The Caramel was AMAZING.

The Caramel and Chocolate: Jacques Genin

Jacques Genin mixed beauty with gourmet treats.  We tried the caramels and they were easily the best we have possibly had.  We bought some of truffles similar to the ones shown above for a friend and they raved about it. I wanted everything here.

The Breakfast Pastry: Vandermeersch

The Kouglof.  A buttery, sweet pastry filled with raisins and nuts.  The bottoms are slightly syrupy which makes it all the better.  Best breakfast ever.  And from what I hear, only made Thursday through Saturday.

The store we WISH we tried but never did: Cafe Pouchkine (The pictures explain why I regret not buying something)

Sorry if I made you hungry!

Over A Month Off

My career as an amateur blogger took a side-step for the last 45 days it seems.  To my faithful readers who check on my nearly-daily updates, I owe you a big apology.  I hope your days were not ruined by my desire to "change it up".

Since the beginning of 2012, I have spent my time exploring alternative writing projects, one in particular which I plan to see through no matter how long it takes.  Back in September 2011, I had no internet access due to a landlord's error.  Feeling so unconnected and lost to the world, I journeyed through Rome taking in the sights and sounds while the city's creative energies seeped through the ancient earth. Microscopically it slid through the cracks in the rubber of my tennis shoes and entered my blood stream through the soles of my feet.

I had the itch.  The itch to write.

And so I did.  In two weeks I had an idea of a novel and with no knowledge of how to formulate a story, I just wrote.  Typing for hours at end, I knocked out 4 chapters of a story that some day might see the fluorescent lighting of a bookstore near you.  If it's anything like what amateur writers go through, most likely, it never will.  This is because after two weeks, the internet was restarted and as we all know, it's more addictive than a Schedule I narcotic. Hence, it has not been looked at since.

Then I started blogging.

This drastically improved the way I wrote.  Perhaps some day I'll go back and compare how I wrote in my first posts compared to what's more current.  I don't claim to write well.  Every post you read are basically first drafts with very few edits made, thus my grammar and writing styles are hardly ever consistent.

However, after three straight months of posting nearly every day (except for weekends), and after a break from the Holidays and vacationing, the desire to post just wasn't there.  What replaced it was the itch to pick up the pen for a larger project.  One destined for greatness of a larger scale or at least that's what the dream tells me.

So this time I'm back to "novel-mode".  It's a different one than what I started back in September.  And I'm going about it differently.  I'm actually putting time into creating my story before it's written down, if that makes sense.  Putting thought into it and formulating so much of it before jumping right in.  Mapping it out THEN seeing where it takes you.

Who knows if I can see it through.  Though I WANT to, we'll see if it sticks.  I've learned that most writers ruin their own dreams because they simply stop writing.  That's easy to do... and especially for me considering I desire variety in my life, and frequently at that.  So if in 6 months you decide to ask me, "So VASGO, how's that story of yours coming along?" and you find out I haven't touched it for 4 months, don't be surprised!

You should be surprised if you find out I've been diligently working on it still.

It's like one of those items on the bucket list.  Writing a novel is right up there with getting a part in a movie or obtaining a doctorate in the field of your choice.  It's a far-off, large-scale dream.

That's what I've been up to lately.

So if we were a dating couple, this is the difficult moment where I say it's not you.  It's me.  I won't be around as much.  Sure we'll still see each other every now and then, but it won't be as often as before.

The good news is, there's still plenty to share with everyone.  I never did post what it was like visiting Paris right before Christmas. And I finally went to the Colloseum!  It even snowed here this past weekend and from what I've been told, it NEVER snows here.  It's kind of like the rare occasion where it snows in Florida.

Cool stuff is happening and it's VASGO-worthy.  I'll just be updating when I can.

See you soon!