Ween and Daddy Jim's frenchventure

(Annndd pretending I posted this yesterday)

Surprisingly enough, the France portion of Ween and Daddy Jim’s trip went just as smoothly as the London part. Here are some highlights:

Dinner #1 at the gourmet burger bar: We had been wanting to try this place since moving in because it’s right next to our apartment and looks amazing. I initially chose it for Friday night thinking that I was taking solely Daddy Jim’s interests—his interests being burgers)—in mind. However, when we arrived and I saw the menu again, I realized that this place was essentially Daddy Jim’s nightmare for several reasons.

1. They take one of the purest, most American things in the world—the simple, unassuming, humble, occasionally self-effacing hamburger—and make it into a gigantic tower of French gourmet-ness, complete with foie gras, apricots, eggplant, and other things that have historically not been put on hamburgers.
2. You can’t even eat them like a normal hamburger due to their extreme size and precariously stacked toppings—forks are necessary and in the end it essentially becomes a burger bowl.*
3. Half of the items weren’t really burgers...they were just fancy sandwiches using the alias of burger and often had no beef at all. Examples: my burger was a Tandoori chicken sandwich and Ween’s was essentially a gigantic tuna steak topped with Chinese noodles.**
4. And most upsetting of all, instead of French fries, they give you sautéed potatoes and spinach in an adorable little mason jar.***

It’s clear whom I really had in mind when choosing that restaurant (surprise: it’s me)... Regardless, it was FANTASTIC and Daddy Jim was able to get a classic hamburger with bacon.

Unfortunately, bacon in France is really just a slice of ham. Strike 5.

*Well, this is a good idea.
**Both were truly beautiful works of art.
***Of course, Daddy Jim was a wonderful sport about everything and never would have said any of these things but I like to think that this was happening in his head.

Tour around Lille: We did what we do with everyone who visits, except this time we had grandparent street cred so we could actually go into stores and be treated like valued customers. Many free samples were had that day and it was magical indeed. Even at Meert (the really important/fancy/expensive pastry/chocolate store that normally frowns upon our obvious youth and poverty) the cashier let us try as many types of chocolate as we wanted. Then, a woman at a nice French food product store gave us wine and smoked salmon. Just cuz. This is not typically how we are interacted with on a daily basis.

Message received, universe: Travel with grandparents, get free stuff.

Dinner #2 at a traditional French restaurant: This was another restaurant we really wanted to try because the outside of it is so mysterious. It’s shrouded in greenery, and there’s a brick wall hiding the interior, and it has a whimsical archway entrance...It’s one of those places where you can FEEL the radiation of awesomeness yet it remains just out of reach of your plebeian hands.

Anyway, it lived up to our very high expectations and we will probably be taking almost everyone who comes to visit us because it’s just that cool. Even Daddy Jim said something like: “This was one of the best dining experiences.” ...Okay that doesn’t really sound like him, but I SWEAR he said something along those lines. Point is: If Daddy Jim is impressed with something, it would blow a regular person’s mind.

Charles de Gaulle’s house: This was very cool but I naturally have much less to say about it.

All in all, it was a truly wonderful vacation and we miss them already. We’ve just been getting back into our normal schedules, which has been nice but far less exciting.

Luckily/weirdly enough, tonight Bryan and Kay (Michael and Kelsey’s good friends that I guess I am now stealing) are coming to Lille to make our lives interesting again. They’re here for less than 24 hours, but it should be a lovely time nonetheless and something to look forward to today as I try to make French kids speak English for 7 consecutive hours.

Hope everyone is having a great week!