Flight from Hell and worse

 Boston to Philly on USAir.... nice commuter jet but upon landing in Philly to connect to the overseas flight.... 2 miles over moving sidewalks and corridors..... a good 30 minutes.  By the time I got there they were already boarding.  I had passed up 4 chances to upgrade to Envoy class for $600.  Airbus 330  a 2x4x2 layout.  I think I can live with the aisle seat.  Leg room was nonexistent. I'm only 5'10" and my knees would not fit even with the seat in front of me in the full and upright position. The goddess in the seat in front of me was at least 3 times my weight (scary) and had a combination of turrets and the yips.  She bounced on my knee like a kid at the mall with Santa.  I pity her husband who has to be 2 dimensional by now.

I had to get up and stretch about 45 minutes into the flight and was talking to the flight attendant.  Told her this was the most cramped I had ever been on a flight and she said that USAir decided to add 5 rows of seating to coach and at 5'2" she couldn't sit comfortably either.

Worst part of the whole trip???? Paid booze on an international flight.  Are you friggin kidding me?  The food was the worst....  DO NOT EVER FLY USAIR ON AN OVERSEAS TRIP...EVER!!!  

Finally landed and was through immigration and had my bags in under 15 minutes....DO YOU HEAR THAT LOGAN??

Yep... Heading back tomorrow night( 23/03/10) with a new plan

PITA sent me a line to the Bubble Cave that specializes in craft beer from various EU members.  Looks like a nice place to visit on school days!
http://www.caveabulles.fr/



3 week trip with side trips to Bruges, Brussels, Monte Saint Michael and the Normandy beaches.  I'll try to do better this time and keep up.

2:30 am???? WTF

The biggest match up of the year in the NFL and it is being broadcast at 2:30 am Paris time.........

Good news is that I did find a location that can replay any game so all i have to do is stay away from the score until Monday afternoon.  Nice little pub in the Notre Dame/ St Michaels areas (6th arr) Frankie told me about The Great Canadian.  Very nice servers and decent prices on house brew (some german brew that is palatable especially for 5 Euros)  Should have taken a picture.

Rantings on the first 30 days in France

Why is beer considered a feminine noun and wine masculine?

Everyone in Paris smokes... the pigeons fight for a drag of a discarded butt

No matter where I am headed I feel like a salmon swimming upstream.

A cheap meal for 2 is well north of $50

You see these big burley guys drinking 25cl beers (think a pony bottle on the golf course)

There is something wrong in serving a 25cl Guinness... Why would a friend let you make an ass out of yourself by letting you order a wimpy portion?

10 Euros ($15.00) for a 50cl draft beer?  God do I long for the cheap beer prices at Fenway!

You change back to standard time on a Tuesday morning at 2:00 am?  Thanks for telling me in the paper... oh wait I don't get Le Monde.. WFT!!

Dogs are rewarded for crapping on the sidewalk..

Just when I thought I would have to sip wine....

An Academy of Beer?  Where have you been all my life.  I have already learned that 5 pints of 10.5% beer  is about like drinking 2 bottles of wine.  See I'm already excelling in math.  Can't wait to write my thesis on bar napkins.... wonder if that's how the Bud ad executives got their start

After the sweetness of more than a couple Alsatian beers I needed something with a nice hoppy bite..... after trying to explain what a great American IPA tasted like the nice kid waiting on us said he had just the thing.....
Just because you call something Hopus doesn't make it hoppy.... this was the sweetest tasting beer of the bunch.  I need to find the French work for hops..... something tells me it will be "boire du vin couillon!"

OK I compromised..... I have tried a local wine

I've gotten enough grief that I bought a bottle of  French table wine. As you know I have very discerning tastes so I started at a low price point... 1.08E per bottle... let's call it $1.60.  Now in the states you can't find a bottle of wine for anywhere near $1.60; anything close to this price point is consumed out of a brown paper bag in an alley.

A couple quick notes to you fellow beer drinkers:

• you can't drink wine like you swill your favorite beer
• it helps to have a cork screw.... drilling out the cork with a rechargeable drill leaves bits of cork in the wine ( I look at the cork bits as part of a high fiber diet)
• Leave about an ounce in the bottle so you can claim that you didn't drink a whole bottle at dinner
• When the wine is this cheap, buy a couple bottles so you can sub the full one for the empty and not look like a booze bag.

PITA was very impressed that I decided to drink red wine with dinner so I just had to show off.  I recalled my training from a recent French wine course and gave the glass a drinker swirl and a quick sniff.  Smelled red to me so I followed up with a small sip. I rolled the sip in my mouth and took in a breath above it. Ah, the hint of chocolate I had learned that some reds have.  I had to brag to PITA that I could sense a chocolate scent in the wine.  I got a look of utter contempt as PITA told me "Hey Genius, you just drank your wine out of my sundae dish!"  Maybe next time I'll get  a half bottle.........

Chocolate fair? I call it taking one for the team

I'm not a big chocolate fan but PITA and I went to a huge chocolate fair that started Wednesday in Paris.  Samples were everywhere and it looked like the buffet at a Sam's Club.  This was the big time with all the big and artisan chocolateers  represented.  There were a few wineries represented and much to my delight the concession stand sold beer.  The booth that really amazed me was the spice concessionaire. PITA claimed to only sample a couple chocolates but I think she was kidding.  Everyone walking around looked like a 3 year old after eating a bowl of spaghetti O's.

 I should have gone for the salts, amazing stuff

Funny, I was drawn to the alcohol!?

They called these Baileys smoothies.... I called them lost car bombs.  Still looking for a Beer Fest