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Published: August 8th 2007
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Vueling
Please, can we Vueling, please?! We’re all gonna put it out there at Bistrot 52 With the late night festivities and the need to organize and send some stuff home with my mom and Bob, the day was off to quite a late start. We have guide books from Vietnam, clothes that we have never used, and random paperwork that can be sent to California. We pack up one of the big red bags and load it with maybe 40 pounds worth of our stuff. It’ll be great to not have to lug this stuff around Greece, Spain, and Canada. We also have to pack for our two-night stay in Amsterdam. Our flight leaves at 6:45pm, and we are excited to be Vueling!
At Claude Pouillet, they are having a late morning as well. Bett has been trying to do a load of laundry in the combo washer/dryer, but without knowing the best options to choose, she has managed to spend several hours on one load. It wasn’t until later that week that she figured it all out. With a flight to catch, we decide to get lunch together somewhere in the neighborhood, and we choose a little bistro on Rue Legendre, Bistrot 52. Little
Vueling to Amsterdam
At Charles de Gaulle airport did we know when we enter that it would be one of our fave little spots. Leroy is craving steak au poivre (black pepper steak) with a carrot soup starter, and Bob orders the exact same combination from their menú. I opt for the coq au vin with a tomato tarte starter. Bettina chooses pork chops with a tomato and basil starter. Mom has the salmon with a radish and butter appetizer. Throughout this trip, Leroy and I have managed to put some things “out there.” Like the phad thai from the food court in Krabi? I had to put that out there as the best phad thai ever. Leroy still believes the tomato from Dream Bangkok’s breakfast was the best ever, so he put it out there. When he takes a bite of his steak au poivre, he looks at me, leans back, and puts both hands on the table. “I think I’m gonna have to put it out there.” I crinkle my eyes such that I’m squinting at him with disbelief, particularly since he tends to overuse the “put it out there” terminology. I place my utensils on the table and cross my arms. “You serious?” “Yes, I’m
putting this out there.” He is joking though, but it gets everyone else going. Alright, we have to explain to everyone else at the table what “putting it out there” means, and the next thing you know, Bob puts his steak out there. I like my coq au vin, but can’t put it out there as “best chicken ever,” and there’s no point in putting it out as “best coq au vin” since I am no coq au vin connoisseur. When dessert comes, it’s just more mayhem, with Mom putting her dessert (a chocolate pot de crème) out there, and Bettina doing the same with her tarte tatin (apple tart). Our waitress even tells us that she has the chocolate pot de crème every day because it is too good to pass up. Quote from Bob - “We’ll have to come back here.”
Come Vueling with us! We have to get to Charles de Gaulle, so we say our goodbyes and pack our stuff. There are some last-minute attempts at consolidating our “liquids” so that we don’t have to check any baggage. Sadly, all that confusion ends up with Bett forgetting her baggie (and the shared shampoo, conditioner, and
Vueling
A new, cheap way to fly toothpaste) at the apartment. Oh, airport liquid rules! Why do you torture us?!? We take the metro and RER to the airport and get there with lots of time to look about in stores and read. We need to remember that these EU flights aren’t really international and we don’t have to be there so early. We are taking Vueling, a new airline that has ads all over Europe right now. The fare to Amsterdam is well below half the price of a train or air ticket with anyone else, so it makes the trip possible. Gracias, Vueling! The new airbus planes are tight and the service is quite nice. When we get off, they give us all yellow tulips to thank us for taking their inaugural flight from Paris to Amsterdam. I’m sure many others will follow. Then, a train to Centraal Station and a short walk to the hotel. Leroy and I have both been to Amsterdam before, so it’s exciting to see Bettina marvel at how different the architecture and feel is from Paris, even though the flight is only an hour. It is pretty cold here, but it matches her San Francisco personality. Before this side
Vueling
Meli is ready to Vueling trip is over, Amsterdam will make it onto Bettina’s “I could live here” list.
Our first move is to find food, of course. Bistrot 52 is a distant memory to our bellies. We walk around on the impossible to pronounce streets, getting lost because this is a hard city to navigate what with all the waterways and bridges (the Venice of the North!). Also, the names are impossibly long and have vowels and consonants matched up so as to confound the average English speaker. It’s all good, I have been impossibly lost in Amsterdam before, and so this time I make good friends with my map and consult it constantly. Yes, this makes us look like tourists, but come on, we always stand out anyway. There are many touristy streets in Amsterdam, much like Bourbon street in New Orleans, where the vices of the city are clearly visible and available. Attached to these are the many eateries that serve mediocre food for above average prices. As much as we try to avoid getting ripped off by choosing a shoarma place, the owner manages to cheat us anyway - charging us for the pita he brought with our meals and
overpricing his sodas at €3 apiece. Highway robbery, we will not be back. We stop by a coffee house (and I mean coffee HOUSE, not coffeeSHOP) on the way back to the hotel to watch the end of a football match (the UEFA Cup Final in Glasgow, not to be confused with the UEFA Champions League Final in Athens in a week), and while I have tea, Bett gets a cappuccino. And so begins the “can Bett beat a personal record for number of cappuccinos?” campaign. The motto becomes, “Hey, you’re on vacation.” That’s the correct response to, “Should I get some Häagen-Dazs?” or “Should I have another cappuccino?” Back at the hotel, we ask housekeeping for a dental kit since we are without toothpaste. They bring us a toothbrush and perhaps the smallest tube of toothpaste in existence, which sends us into hysterics because all three of us have to share. Bettina finds the toothpaste hilarious, but isn’t so agreeable when the hard bristles of the hotel toothbrush set her gums bleeding. No worries, we’re still in the best of moods, and we’ve got a whole day to indulge in Dutchness tomorrow.
Hey, we’re on vacation.
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