Honeymoon - Paris

We made it back from our honeymoon in Europe, and what an adventure! For two weeks we traveled through France and Italy, staying in a combination of busy cities brimming with history and more secluded retreats for relaxation.

We experienced so much I'm not even sure what is the best way to share it. We said "wow" and "look" and "yum" a lot. Countless beautiful scenes gave Isaac the opportunity to perfect his panorama shots. I think I will try to share our adventure the same way we experienced it, city by city. Each city was like a different chapter of our honeymoon. In all, we visited five cities, and used a combination of public transportation, rental cars  and of course our feet to get around.

Here are a few of the highlights from Paris, France - our first destination. We were only in Paris for two full days (that's four including travel to and from), but I'd say we did our best to pack those days full. Our main objectives in Paris were food and art.

We started our days with pastries - trying at least one different boulangerie or patisserie every day. This was our "first course" at a place just down the street from where we were staying.

The Louvre must be Paris' most famous museum, and it was here we started, quickly getting lost within its three wings and mazes of artwork, sculptures and artifacts from many different cultures and centuries. Even though it was the weekend, the place is so big we still found ourselves alone in several rooms, able to take some wide shots like this one below. We maybe breezed through half of what this museum holds in the many hours we were there.

Adjacent to the Louvre is the jardin de tuileries, providing fresh air and sunlight after a long time indoors pondering on and viewing things from the past. The white and blue building in both pictures is the Louvre.

We left the Louvre in order to ensure we had time for the museum I was most excited about - Musee d'Orsay. I love impressionist and post-impressionist art most of all, and this museum is known to house a marvelous collection of such dreamy pieces. The museum is an old railway station, making the building itself a sight worth seeing.

The clock's face looks across the river Seine towards the Louvre.







It was such an adrenaline rush to see the works of artists I've admired for so long in the flesh, to be able to lean close and examine each stroke. Seeing each piece felt like taking the first bite of a delicious dessert - it sounds cheesy but that is really what it felt like - some rich cheesecake or chocolately delight that slowly melts in your mouth. It was bliss. Isaac was so kind, taking pictures of the artwork we were most drawn towards so that we can view them again and again and remember our time in France.

I will share just a few of our favorites.

This mostly bronze statue by Edgar Degas captivated me. Although we saw many statues in Europe, marbled works depicting kings, gods and legends, this fourteen-year old ballerina is by far my favorite.

Our feet were tired after more than 8 hours of walking and standing and soaking in the sights. And this was just the first full day.

The next morning we traveled to the Palace of Versailles, a castle just dripping with the opulence of the last French kings. We really liked the architecture, colors and patterns of the chateau, especially the marble court, below. Behind us on the second floor is the king's bedroom, whose windows looked out east towards the rising sun. Like the sun, he believed everything revolved around and for him.

We had to squeeze in just one more museum, Musee d'Orangerie. Its heart is an oval room housing THREE huge paintings of Monet's waterlilies. This small museum was far less crowded with tourists and its collection was small in size but magnificent.

We had a more laidback evening. We went to buy chocolates from a chocolatier who apparently has the highest honor given to people who make chocolate. We bought several pieces without exactly knowing what all of the flavor combinations were. We grabbed some more refreshments and spent the late afternoon sitting by the Eiffel Tower. All of the chocolates we ate were amazing - flavors like lime and lemongrass, pistachio, I-don't-know-what and jasmine. Isaac fell hard for a drink called Orangina, a yummy carbonated orange juice with pulp. Cigarette butts are sprinkled throughout this grassy area, an unbelievable amount of them. There are many trashcans on both sides; people can be lazy.

As the sun began to set, we raced to the other side of the river seeking a grand view for our last night in Paris. We ran up the 284 steps of the Arc de Triomphe (which got our hearts pumping) not wanting to miss out on the sun setting. What a view.

There is Arc de Triomphe and also the swirling stairs within it. And yes, I kept the bright teal bag from the chocolatier. It is very nice quality and very cute.

Maybe you noticed in the two landscape shots above that there don't seem to be any sky-scrapers in the heart of Paris, only some further outside of the city center. This is because of the countless tunnels beneath the city - old rock mines, catacombs and the metro subway system. Compared to South Korea's subways, taking the Paris metro each day felt quite messy and unorganized. It often made you walk up and down and take many turns to reach your desired platform - I suppose because the builders had to work around pre-existing passages and tunnels. It's pretty eerie and overwhelming to think about everything that has gone on or is going on beneath this pretty city. There is a catacombs museum that lets you tour this underworld but we opted not to do so.

Besides, we had enough mysterious events at our "Parisian home". We stayed on the top (seventh) floor of a beautiful, old-style apartment building in Paris, just a few metro stops from the major destinations. We booked the place through airbnb, a website that lets individuals rent out their place to others. It usually ends up being cheaper and more charming than hotel stays. I really wanted to try using airbnb, and Isaac was nice enough to give it a whirl. We used a mixture of airbnbs and hotels during our two weeks in Europe. This place was no honeymoon suite, but it was a fine and cute home base for our wanderings. When we returned to the place each night, it even had a few memorable quirks.

This one door just would not stay shut. It would not easily close and latch, but required quite some force to make it stick. Isaac would slam it shut, so hard that it would shake the walls and the floor. A little later, without a sound, it would be open again. Each night he forced it closed, then we would wake up to find it open and the city lights streaming through it. There was also one light in the apartment that would turn on by itself. We came home and this one light was shining, the switch flipped into the on position. Perhaps the home-owner had stopped by for something. I turned it off. Yet later in the night the light shone again, the switch moved to the on position. Again I turned it off. When we woke up in the morning the light was on once more.

Isaac humors me as I tease about our place being haunted. Sitting above the tombs of hundred of thousands of unknown people, how can it not be haunted? It was a fun joke and made our not-so-glamorous accommodations more fun and memorable.

We ate our last Parisian dinner at the restaurant shown below. Heading home, we decided to get off one station earlier to find a place to eat. As soon as we walked up the steps and onto the city street, the warm red and gold glow of this place called to us. This is the typical look of restaurants in Paris that we saw: outdoor dining, usually two or three tables deep, often chairs positioned side-by-side facing out towards the street so that you can people-watch while you dine. This meal we both ended up eating an insane amount of cheese. Isaac was crying out for kimchi or shinramyun, but there was no hope for spicy relief on our French plates.

And that was our quick but concentrated stay in Paris. Our honeymoon adventure was just beginning, and we were starting to wonder if maybe we had been a little too ambitious planning to visit 5 cities in two weeks.

Wednesday Market

On Wednesday mornings, the ground just outside of our apartment building is extra bustling. I can peer out from our 12th floor balcony and see the tents rising and the trucks unloading.

Each week a little market sets up on the street below. It has a bit of everything, but most involve some type of food - fruit, vegetables, seafood, Korean side dishes or street food. Clothing, toys, housewares and plants fill up other tents. Handwritten signs and vocal vendors beckon you to come and take a closer look.

 This string of tents (on the left side of the picture above; to the right here) is my favorite vendor, a modest vegetable dreamland. They have a wide selection and a few popular items available in bulk, like the huge red bags of garlic. It's also the only place that I've been able to find fresh cilantro.

Most of the basic Korean street foods are available here too. Isaac and I finally gave into the yummy smells and had a junkfood dinner here for a total cost of 6500 won, about $5.50.

On the two long skewers is odeng, fish cake, which absorbs the flavor of the broth it's cooked in, which is the amber liquid in the cups. It's slightly salty and...fishy? And a good ol' corn dog. In addition to being doubly battered and deep-fried, it is coated in sugar and ketchup.

In the bowl is a mixture of ddeokbokki and kimmari. Ddeokbokki is made of rice cake (it's not sweet, just a chewy, bland blob made of rice) soaked in a spicy sweet sauce. Kimmari is clear noodles wrapped up in seaweed and deep-fried. So that's chewy and crunchy blobs in a sweet and spicy sauce. Can't go wrong there.

These wandering markets are nice and convenient. They set up in the parking lots of different apartment buildings each day. Sometimes as I walk around town, I see the colorful tents somewhere else. When the weather is especially nice, other special markets come as well. One weekend, a night market visited our apartment building. It didn't have the fresh produce, but had lots of street food and cute fair games like throwing darts at balloons to win a stuffed animal.

Yes that's a lot of meat! Isaac said it reminded him of southern style barbecue; and you can see the grill which cooked it in the picture below.

It's Wednesday here now, so I will inevitably go wander through the market again. But it will be the last time for a little while.

This Friday we leave for our honeymoon in Europe. There are still quite a few details we are unsure of, but that uncertainty will be part of the fun.

Weekends with Apa

Being so close to Isaac's father is the wonderful thing about living in South Korea. It takes about 2.5 hours to travel from our home to his on public transport, making weekend outings together totally feasible and comfortable.

We are already establishing a sort of routine too - eat some incredibly tasty food together (no surprise there) and go for a walk in a mountain park.

Last time we ate lunch at a shabeushabeu restaurant - that's Vietnamese summer rolls. It's basically all sorts of goodies wrapped up in rice paper, and you get to cook and assemble them yourself.

Sadly I took this picture before the gigantic plate of assorted meats arrived, but there's still plenty to see. That's a grill in the middle of the table, with a soup simmering in its center. The reddish liquid is used to dip the circular rice paper in to make it chewy and ready to roll. We had many types of meat to taste: pig, cow, duck and chicken.

Here are some of the meats cooking. They gave us an insane amount of meat, I wish I had a picture to share of the ridiculous portions!

So dip the rice paper in the hot water and lay it on your plate. Pile on some food, roll it into a burrito shape and eat it up! I especially love the herb, Thai basil, which tastes like licorice candy in the best way.

With our bellies bulging, we were ready to stretch our legs at Gyeryongsan Park. This lovely park has paved lower trails for casual strolls, as well as higher, more remote foot trails for the dedicated. It is also home to a couple of Buddhist temples that are over 1000 years old. It's interesting living somewhere with such a long history. It's the first time I have lived in such a place, and having such a deep connection between the people and land seems like a powerful thing. I could go on about that thought for quite a while. For our weekend strolls though, this aged land rich in history makes for some lovely scenery and a sacred escape from city life.

Apa balancing and walking on the path's thin borderline. Notice that tree - a crepe myrtle - reaching over the building on the right.

One popular thing to do in parks like this is to build a mini cairn. It's an old Buddhist practice, but for us common folk it's kind of like throwing a penny into a fountain. Taking small rocks, you balance them on top of one another and make a wish. We built one together and Apa made the wish - that we will give him a grandson soon.

As a casual but curious observer, the mountains of South Korea remind me very much of the Appalachian mountains we have back home. As far as mountains go, they seem old - time has worn away their high, jagged tips, leaving behind gentle curved profiles that seem more inviting than treacherous.

And I see familiar faces among the plants, types that are invasive and nuisances back in South Carolina. Mimosas and kudzu blend in here, their original home. Crepe myrtles grow to be glorious ancient trees, rather than just kept in check or abandoned in old shopping center parking lots.

You can't tell how large this tree is from the picture on the right. It's the same location as the picture of Isaac and I up above. The lowest branch hangs above our heads. It is glorious.

I can't wait for fall to arrive to enjoy the beautiful mountains of Korea even more. I heard a joke that is almost completely true: South Korea is 70% mountains and 30% coffee shops. So there are plenty of mountains that will be filled with color as autumn arrives, and plenty of coffee shops to energize and relax in before and after hikes. I look forward to exploring both.

What's for dinner?

Isaac is an indiscriminate eater, loving all kinds of food from savory chunks of meat to strawberry ice cream. I am a reluctant carnivore, most content eating veggies and nibbling on creatures with low or no intelligence like fish and eggs. My husband has considerably broadened my food palette, and I'll eat and even enjoy meats when courtesy calls. But on my own, I still tend to stick to foods my pet rabbit would enjoy too.

So as a new wife, I am now learning what it's like to buy groceries and prepare food for Isaac as well as for myself. Unfortunately for my new groom, my only experience cooking is with foods that I enjoy eating. Compounding my rookie skills: different kitchen, different selection in grocery stores catered to different diets and cooking styles. I am starting to get more comfortable with it though. I've learned that the rice maker and the two-burner stove are my MVPs. 

I couldn't resist showing off our adorable squirrel rice paddle. We have a microwave as well, but I'm a bit of a reheating snob and prefer using the stove for that. I'll say it's on the second string though. There is no oven, but there is this fun dish-drying device. It has some function to help dishes dry more quickly - heat or air flow - but I just use it like a normal drying rack. It hangs above the sink.

So those are the players, the tools helping me learn grown-up skills.

Much of what I cook looks about the same. Ingredients cut up into small pieces, cooked in a pan, over rice. Simple and tasty.

There is some trait in my family, I think on Dad's side, that allows us to eat the same foods again and again and enjoy them just as thoroughly each time. I truly look forward to each daily variation of mixed rice that I make. A little Isaac voice in my head tells me to eat more protein so I try to include egg, tofu or mushrooms each time. For flavoring - often I leave it naked, other times soy and honey, lately diced kimchi.

 That is what my lunch looks like about every day. So what's for dinner? Poor Isaac. I'm learning.

One bit of Korea we incorporate into our meals are side dishes (banchan). Kimchi is the most famous and basic of these. Traditionally, families and neighbors make large batches of kimchi and other side dishes together and then split them. I go to the market and grocery store. We have cabbage kimchi and radish kimchi, both having the spicy and sour taste that make kimchi so delicious (and that make our entire refrigerator smell). I also like danmuji, sweet pickled radish, which is probably the favorite of most kids too. Once you have a taste for them, you realize that Korean side dishes truly complement almost any meal.

We both love breakfast foods. The day does not begin until I have eaten breakfast, and although Isaac somehow avoids eating a morning meal, he thoroughly enjoys the foods usually associated with it. "American Breakfast" has already become a regular on our dinner menu. And surprisingly, kimchi has squeezed its way into this meal too! Diced kimchi makes a stellar hashbrown mix-in.

A huge helping of spicy chicken with some veggies was easy to make, throw some side dishes down too and dinner is done. From left to right, that's cabbage kimchi, sweet radish, radish kimchi and seaweed in the middle.

I made two separate spaghetti sauces for this meal, and went a bit too crazy on the veggies and ended up making what looks like spaghetti salsa. I bet you can guess which one is Isaac's by its meaty hue. The garlic bread was on sale from a small bread shop across the street.

Korean-style curry is an easy and savory dinner option. Chop up veggies, add water and spices. I tried to get cute this time and topped Isaac's plate off with a spam heart.

Here are glamor shots of kimchi hashbrowns and curry.

Whenever we have a house in America, I think I will cook kimchi hashbrowns for all of our guests. They're so good.

Isn't the purple colored rice lovely? It's a mixed grain variety, and I don't think we will ever return to plain ol' white.



Did you notice that all of our dinners are on the floor? We have a dining room table, and we did eat at it one time. But we prefer eating on the floor. It's just one of those things we've always done together.

All of these dishes are pretty simple, but I'm just a rookie. I also still try to stick to my lazy goal of cooking everything in just one pan. I've got a lot to learn.