American Traveler

Weiner Schnitzel, a photo by wjsvt on Flickr.

Yum! Lunch at Borschadt in Berlin. It was our first day. The weather was beautiful and we ate on the terrace. Lauren enjoyed the fruit de mer.

Goulash at UZK, a photo by wjsvt on Flickr.

A big bowl of goulash with potato pancakes and dumplings, plus a salad, plus some kolbasa, plus potatoes. That’s the ways we roll in the Czech republic. The place was in a basement filled with museum quality stuffed wild animals. Crazy!

Lauren relaxing at Radisson Blu Le Dokhan

Next stop, Paris. Well, actually, next stop, Dublin as yes indeed we do have a stop-over. And what a stop over it proved to be. A short schedule, long lines through customs and screening, a throw-down between Lauren and one of the screeners. Leading to a fight, maybe the first, between the two of us. And a stony silence flight from Dublin to Paris. We found our car in short order at Charles DeGalle and things took a turn for the better when the driver dropped us as the totally charming Raddison Blu Le Dokhan’s in the Trocadero district. More to come, including photos… sitting in the delightful lobby right now with my laptop.
First stop: Laduree for lunch.

So the flight had been booked, through Dublin for better or worse. The deed was done and Non-refundable as it was, it was time to move on to accommodations. I had done some web searching and found a few places that seemed charming asd were inexpensive (less than 100 euros a night). however, they were in Dublin. no not really, but far from the center of Paris. As Lauren’s mantra was “Gotta be near the Louvre,” those wouldn’t do at all. WE spent a Saturday afternoon at the computer finding—and rejecting—lots of options.

Then we headed off to a party where we ran into the film maker Albert Maysles. (Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter, Salesman.) When the conversation turned to travel (He mentioned that he has begun work on a film about train travel.) we asked if he had any hotel recommendations for Paris. Turns out, he is heading to Paris for a retrospective of his films and will be staying at the place he always stays in Paris. Hotel La Louisiane. Clean and inexpensive, it’s been a faovirte of artistic types for decades. Guests have included Jim Morrison, Alan Ginsburg, Earnest Hemingway, Chet Baker, Miles Davis, Albert Camus, Salvador Dali—not, presumably—all on the same weekend. We decided to book a room. The price was right: 100 euros per night. And if it turned out to be disappointing, neither of us would take the rap. We could blame it on Albert.

Hotel La Lousiane

60 rue de Seine

(+33) (0)1 44 32 17 17

We’ll always have the stopover and plane change in Dublin… coming and going. We’ll always have the budget hotel room… for better or worse. You see what i’m getting at?

It was the Aer Lingus ad in the Times that first got me started thinking about booking a trip to Paris in May for Lauren’s birthday. The price was right. Of course the price was right because the itinerary wasn’t quite right. or wasn’t quite expeditious. And, I neglected to inform Lauren about the stopover when i sprung the news on her. “Honey, I’m taking you to Paris. oh and by the way… mumblemumblemumble.”

“What? We’re going to Ireland too? What part?”

“Just the inside of the airport.”

It was at that point that i decided it might be prudent to open the hotel-selection process to Lauren. However that turns out we can blame it on film maker Albert Maysles. Why? How? More to come…