Short Version
- Friday - Had an amazing meal at Au Petit Marguery. Ate steak, lobster, and had an amazing dessert that was like creme brulee but with berries inside. It was like warm melted ice cream with berries inside and a caramelized crust.
- Saturday - Saw U2 live in concert at Stade de France. Freakin' amazing. Played everything we wanted to hear...except Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses. Really awesome to see so many people (50000+) singing the same songs from all different generations.
On Friday, we went to our local Michelin rated restaurant, Au Petit Marguery, and dined like kings. It was honestly, one of the best meals I've ever had. This place just keeps topping itself every time I go, and its combinations are so delicious. It's a bit old fashioned with stuffy waiters and the such, but has been in business since 1900 so you can't really complain.
We both started with a baby green spinach salad, topped with girolle mushrooms and sliced fresh truffles. Gorgeous. I loved it, Brian thought it had too many vegetables. Uhhh...it SAID it had spinach in it on the menu.
Then, Brian got a nice beef steak smothered in a sauce reminiscent of boeuf bourgignon. I decided to forgo the before dinner aperitif, dessert, and post dinner coffee for the extra money to get the lobster.
It is a decision that I am glad I made. My lobster was from Brittany and flambeed in cognac. Served with a tarragon cream sauce (which actually had a nice seafood broth base) and fresh steamed vegetables. It was surprisingly light and AWESOME. They brought me 5 utensils to eat with it.
- A 3 fat pronged fork. A claw cracker. A spoon with a dent in it. What looked like a long handle with a very itty bitty tiny little 2 prong fork at the end of it. And a knife.
The guy brought me my lobster first and halfway through it, I realized I didn't have my cream sauce and vegetables. So when he brought that out, I had already eaten half of my lobster.
Since I have never had lobster before, we had a conversation with our waiter:
US: What do we eat?
Waiter: Everything
US: Everything? Eyes too?
Waiter: Yes. Everything?
US: The shell too then, right?
Waiter: OH no! Not the shell.
Then he saw the look on my face and realized I was joking. After this little discussion, he was no longer a stuffy waiter and was very friendly with us. When he brought out my little lemon water dish to clean my fingers, he made sure to tell me, "It's not for drinking." Then, he gave Brian an extra cup of Cognac after dinner. When we walked to the door, he noticed us from the back of the restaurant and ran up front saying, "Oh! I want to make sure I say good night to le monsieur et madame." He walked us to the door making sure to give us a big smile and many wishes of goodnight. I hope we made his night as much as he made ours!
On Saturday, we saw U2. Now, we know it was just like any other big concert venu, but we've never been to a concert where everyone was just SO PUMPED about the music! At one point, you could hear the lyrics totally clearly and on pitch from the ENTIRE Stade de France, which is about the size of Kyle Field all the way around. It was amazing.
They played everything we wanted to hear except Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses. But that's ok. They're old and probably needed to go to bed.
Some interesting points:
** They had some strange space theme going on. They had video feed from the people on the International space station and interviewed them. The Edge asked them what kind of food they ate. And the Drummer asked them if listening to music in space was different than on earth.
** They sang to a Burmese woman who was elected president in 1990 but was under house arrest now. So she wasn't there. But they sang to her anyways. Then they had people walk out on the stage holding a popsicle stick with a cutout of her face placed over theirs. Like a mask. THAT was weird.
** The light show and effects were awesome.
** At one point, Bono showed people a number they could text that would offer money for one of his charities. So lots of people opened up their cell phones and the stadium was dark with all these small illuminated specks of light from people's phones, like stars. It was pretty cool and then they sang, "One."
** Interesting mix of people. The very young people (25 and under) knew all the words and songs to their 2-3 most recent albums. The old people (like us) were excited about the older songs. So it was interesting to see who was super pumped about what.
** I think I am using the word "Pumped" a little too much in this post.
** We were super lucky with our seats. We had a great view and were not too high up. Our seats were right near the exit to our section. Our section was right near the exit to the stadium. And our exit was the closest to the RER train station. Why does this matter? Because we did not want to be waiting 30 minutes to get on a train in a line about 10000 people deep.
** While their newer songs were just fine, they saved all their awesome older songs until the end. Tells you something!
Best part too? We had friends sit for us both nights!! So we had free sitters and peace of mind to know that Michael was with people he knows and with moms who knew what to do in case of emergency!
This has been our best anniversary yet.
Love,
P
