Culture Shock! Back in the U.S.A.

Weeeee'rrrrreeee Baaaaaacccckkk!!!! Unbelievably, we flew from Paris and landed in New York and passed through US customs without having plans to leave the country for the first time in 3 years. What a strange feeling it was. And against all odds, we completed four months of traveling around the world without once losing baggage.
We met up with Tiffany's friend from college, Peitra (on the left, above), and her friend Stephanie, and started to re-acquaint ourselves with life in America. There's no better place to experience native Americans in their natural habitat than New York! Our tour began with a nice walk across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan on a hot, sunny day.
We took a rest on the Staten Island Ferry, a great way to see New York City from the water, and FREE to ride. It was Zach and Tiffany's first time visiting the fifth borough of New York. Also on display right now in New York is a public art work called Waterfalls. Four waterfalls, each about 100 feet tall, were built along the water.
Tiffany also celebrated her 32nd birthday in New York. We went for lunch to Tao, for Chinese food ironically enough. Even though the converted movie theater boasted a 16-foot Buddha statue, Tiffany was not impressed, since she is now doomed to suffer from Snobby World Traveler's Comparison Syndrome. As in, "That's cute but have you seen the Reclining Buddha in Bangkok? 150 feet long and 50 feet high - Now that's impressive!"

The food, however, was delicious, and amazingly, the wait staff acknowledged our presence and actually brought us water (potable, too!) without us asking. Like a Chinese Dorothy, Tiffany said (to her Pekinese Toto), "We're not in Zhejiang Province anymore!"
We passed by the famous bull of Wall Street,
and Zach was reminded of his investment banking days in New York. We stopped by his old Credit Suisse office, where he lived during his first year after college.
For dinner it was Italian dining al fresco. We were apparently determined to regain any lost weight from our travels as quickly as possible!
Our good friends from Shanghai, Marc and Meredith, are now in New York and were kind enough to host us during our visit. Meredith was even kind enough to brave Times Square with us, a New Yorker's worst nightmare swimming through hordes of tourists.
We finished up by catching a show on Broadway, Avenue Q. Tiffany's initial fears of watching a boring children's show (the play features Sesame Street-like puppets) proved to be unfounded, as it turned out to be the raunchiest and most hilarious puppet show ever!

It was a great re-entry into America, because while we were sad that our international travels were over, we met up with good friends, discussed the fun and frustration of living abroad, and were reminded of all the great sights and experiences that the US also offers.

Next it was on to Chicago, where we stayed with Tiffany's parents and celebrated Tiffany's grandfather's 90th birthday party! Amazingly, her grandfather, aka Papa, is in fantastic shape and his heart was more than strong enough to survive the "This Is Your Life"-style birthday party, where Tiffany's parents arranged for various people from Papa's past to come out and surprise him.
A family picture around Papa and his wife, Nana, also still equally spry and lively, was taken with Nana and Papa holding a caricature of themselves. Tiffany had given a picture of her grandparents to an artist in Shanghai before we left. The artist then turned out a drawing of Nana and Papa in traditional Chinese dress, with the dress including Nana waving a traditional Chinese fan, and Papa executing a kung-fu kick!
After all that excitement, Tiffany and Zach headed for the Tomaszewski's vacation home, on the lake shore in La Porte, Indiana, about an hour from her Chicago home. There we met up with Tiffany's good friend Elizabeth for some rest and relaxation.
Tiffany's brother, Tommy, owns the sweetest, most adorable boxer dog, aptly named Cassius. Cassius was not left wanting for affection that weekend!
Here we are with Tiffany's parents (on the far left and right), and cousins Skip and Muffin. Skip and Muffin are twins, those are not their real names, and there was much good-natured arguing over the root of their nicknames.

Barbeques, swimming and boating on the lake, family reunion, and lots of time with dogs that we knew wouldn't give Tiffany rabies... We couldn't ask for a better way to return home!

From Chicago we fly to the San Francisco Bay Area, where we will settle in for the forseeable future! Wow, what a strange thought. We are going to try and post a "Tiff and Zach's Travel Favorites" blog entry to summarize some of our highlights from the past three years, but after that we're not sure if the blog has any future (ie. "today we found the neighborhood Whole Foods, yippee!") in America.

Well, if not, it has sure been a great ride, and thanks to all our loyal and faithful readers. You have inspired us to keep the blog going these past three years, to always carry a camera to catch any chance encounters with hanging underwear and other humorous cultural idiosyncrasies, and to force us to reflect upon the highs and lows, the absurdities and frustrations, and more than anything, the immeasurable value of our experiences.

This rollercoaster may be over, but there are other rides...

Chateau Andelot, The Anti-Shanghai

From Paris we took a 2 hour train ride into the French countryside to visit our good friends Anne and Michael. Like us, Anne and Michael went abroad around the same time that we did. Unlike us, they chose to live in a quiet, unpolluted and peaceful city, Bourg-en-Bresse, to manage a French chateau and bed & breakfast. The medieval castle you see above? That is their Chateau (!) and it was about as opposite an experience to Shanghai as we could imagine.

The Chateau sat on top of a hill overlooking a picturesque French countryside.

You absolutely cannot help but sigh every morning in happy appreciation when this is the view you wake up to.

Zach found a relic sword which he found appropriate to carry around in a medieval home. The Chateau was built in the 1200's and one of the walls in their garden was originally constructed around 800!

Anne took us to visit the nearby town of Chateau Chalon, where we admired the quintessential French country town. We sampled wines and strolled the quaint streets all the while feeling as if on a movie set and waiting to see Juliette Binoche emerge from a doorway arm in arm with Gerard Depardieu.

Flowers were in full bloom and enhanced by the intricate wrought iron decorating the gardens.
Tiffany rests on a bench in front of a nicely decorated home.
We also stopped into town to enjoy the open plaza and check out the local stores.

And, of course, fuelling up on an espresso stop.
A beautiful vantage point overlooks the valley. Along with the nice bench shaded by the tree, all we needed was a good book, maybe some wine, fresh fruit and baguette...

In Shanghai, pedestrians are never allowed to step onto the grass at public gardens. I suppose it makes sense, since 1.3 billion people tramping all over the lawn would make for a very short-lived lawn. But here at the Chateau, a wide open expanse of grass is too good to resist, and Tiffany flaunted her freedom by prancing back and forth across the Chateau's lawn.
Dinner al fresco at the Chateau. Michael whipped up a delicious cold pasta dish, and we added some meat, cheese and bread, and popped open champagne to celebrate living abroad and the end of our "Big Trip".

Here and below are a few more pictures of the grounds of the Chateau. We had such a great time wandering around the Chateau, exploring the herb garden, and checking out different rooms of the castle.

We can't think of a better way to end our international travels: good food, great friends and gorgeous surroundings. And after spending most of the trip by ourselves, it was a true pleasure to swap stories with Anne and Michael, and compare tales of "Americans living abroad" and the contrasts between crazy Shanghai and classic, French countryside.

Next stop: New York City, US of A!!!!

J'adore Paris!

It's hard to believe that our 3-year international adventure has come to an end. But what better place to end it than in France? We left Shanghai and arrived in Paris, and for the first few days wandered around in a daze and wonderment at both the classic architecture and the proliferation of non-Asians.
We found a great apartment to rent in the heart of St. Germain for only $99/night. And mind you, that's 99 US Dollars, not that naughty Euro which keeps running away from our poor, weakened greenback. Vacationinparis.com is the website, in case you're interested. Just remember, to some extent you do get what you pay for. As you can see above, we didn't have much space (yes that is a bunk above Tiffany). But for our purposes, it was perfect, great location and cheap.
That way we saved more money for one of the true pleasures of Paris -- the food! The exquisite gelato held in Zach's loving hand was carefully crafted into a flower petal form by the scooping artisan. In Paris, if you have a chance to be artistic and beautiful, carpe diem! seize the day! On the flip side, the process of serving wasn't the most efficient and resulted in quite a line stringing out the door. But such is the pace of life in Paris, and it was a welcome change from the frenzy of Shanghai.
Tiffany reunited with her old love, the Nutella crepe. For her, to munch on a fresh, warm crepe while strolling the streets of Paris is a romance that will never fade.
Almost everything in Paris had a certain "Old World", magical feel. Up the street from us we found a band holding court and entertaining an appreciative crowd with a lively jig. Even more amazing was the designated dancer, a 70-ish year old lady (in the green on the left), who whirled and hopped to the music with an enthusiasm and energy of a girl, much to the delight of her audience.
We found her counterpart across town, a smooth-stepping, older gentleman, who swung his partner consistently with panache to the sweet sounds of a jazzy French band.
We found ourselves exclaiming "Ooh, this is sooo cute!" ad nauseum, but really, there were very many things in Paris that were sooo cute, like this window display of an umbrella store.
Here we passed the legendary Moulin Rouge, the famous dance theater and title of one of Zach's favorite musical movies (starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor).
Life imitates art? Tiffany stikes a pose next to a group of sculptures in the Rodin museum garden.
There was plenty of time to muse over our journeys in the classic company of Rodin's masterpiece, The Thinker.
We explored the church, La Madeleine, in awe of its imposing neoclassical architecture.
Paris is littered with parks and we enjoyed exploring them and walking the quiet, tree-lined paths.
A classic town square. The fountain is running, sidewalk cafes are filled with expresso sipping, chain-smoking Parisians, and park benches are filled with pedestrians munching on fresh baguettes. "Je ne sais quoi" was never more relevant...
Inside the museum L'Orangerie, we walked the oval rooms paneled with Monet's famous Water Lilies paintings, which he completed over the course of 25 years of work.
Inside Paris' central garden, the Tuileries.

The finishing touch on Zach's finely crafted photo of a grouping of garden flowers: the unexpected insertion of a Tiffany head.
One of the unique metro signs marking an entrance to Paris' underground labyrinth of public transportation. Again, no opportunity for artistic expression left un-utilized.
Another outpouring-of-cute moment. Fuel efficient? Yes. Tiffany-sized? No.
An impressive lineup of cannons outside Les Invalides (the Army hospital and museum) with the Eiffel Tower looming in the background.
Even the windows are on guard duty at Les Invalides.
Sometimes jet lag can work to your advantage. We had the city all to ourselves and were able to enjoy the dawn light breaking the horizon and slowly spilling out over the River Seine.
Lest we forget our roots, Tiffany spotted a museum advertising the display of the Terracotta warriors of China.

After wearing our soles thin on the cobblestone streets of the City of Light, we understood why France is the number one tourist destination in the world. Delicious food, timeless art and immaculate gardens combine in the perfect recipe for romantic culture and nostalgic appreciation of European living at its finest.