Simply Sara Eats: In Madrid

In the "Simply Sara Eats " series, I recount the my favorite food and drink discoveries .

I spent the last few nights of 2013 in Madrid, Spain. Here are my favorite places to go for a bite or drink in Spain's capital. 

1. Mercado de San Miguel

Our first destination once arriving in Madrid was to the Mercado de San Miguel. We were tired after waking up at 4am to catch our flight, and hungry. This market promised lots of food options. I know now that on a Saturday afternoon, it also promised huge crowds.

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New Year's Flamenco Show in Madrid

Hands clapping, feet stomping, castanets chattering. Add a song that erupts straight from the gut. Those sounds are what I will forever associate with Madrid, flamenco, and my last night of 2013. 

I found myself in Madrid at the close of the year. I've historically had pretty low-key New Year's plans and don't like the pressure of having to find mandatory, expensive fun on the last year of the night. So although I didn't feel the need the go all out, I did want to celebrate in a way unique to Spain.

Option one was to gather in Madrid's plaza Puerta del Sol with many others to participate in the New Year's countdown. But not wanting to deal with the crowds (and besides, it wasn't as warm as you might think in Spain), I ruled that out quickly.

As you already guessed, I went with option two: attending a flamenco show.

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The Magic of Madrid

 Bon lundi!

I mentioned in my year-in-review post that I initially had no real desire to go to Spain. Nothing personal - it just didn't appeal to me like other destinations did. But there are some times in life when you need to humbly utter the words, "You were right." I had to on such occasion last year, on my first trip to Spain, after spending maybe half an hour in Barcelona.  Maybe fifteen minutes after dropping the bags at the hotel in Barcelona, I declared that I could see myself living there. And then I turned to my smiling husband and admitted, "You were right."

When Michael suggested a trip to Madrid to ring in 2014, I had no complaints. Madrid offered lots of sightseeing to do by day, and tapas and flamenco to entertain us by night. 

This picture was taken outside of the Royal Palace of Madrid. Do you want some more proof that I was wrong about Spain? The Royal Palace managed to wow me, which has become increasing difficult when comparing all palaces to Château de Versailles. I'll continue to eat my humble pie for now...

Join me this week as I share how I closed out the year in wonderful Madrid! 

European Adventures in Pictures

We started by looking at our best canvas-worthy photos of Paris and then expanded the scope to all of France. Now it is time to conclude with our best pictures from our European travels of 2013.

There was much to discover on our travels in Europe. The first trip of the year outside of France was to Iceland, a country completely off my radar to visit. Now I can't help hoping to spend more time there enjoying its spectacular natural beauty.  

The summer brought an amazing trip to Sevilla which once again proved just how wrong I was about Spain. I once had no interest in seeing Spain at all. Then I got acquainted with tapas (oh, the tapas) and the warmth of the country. Now I keep trying to scheme ways to return. 

In August I joined my fellow Parisians in a mass exodus out the city. I found myself in Ireland on the most relaxing trip of the year, drinking lots of tea with dear friends in a house overlooking the Dingle peninsula. 

Fall brought a trip to Bruges with good friends who, not coincidentally, were very knowledgeable about Belgium beers. I was afraid that I overly romanticized Bruges from my first trip there in May 2012 but found that I love the city all the more. 

I closed out the year on a Christmas trip making my way through Germany to be in Seefeld, Austria over Christmas. All I can say is I'm already planning to be there next year for Christmas.

Here's the year in review: 

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La Belle France

Paris gave us quite a few canvas-worthy moments in 2013. But then there is the rest of France to consider beyond its capital. 

2013 was a great year for us to discover more of La Belle France. We took short trips to Bordeaux, Normandy, Brittany, Provence, Côte d'Azur (the French Riviera), and Dordogne. We found great food and beautiful sights every step of the way, and have a few exceptional photos to capture those memories:

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An Alpine Escape

Bon lundi!

Hope everyone had a happy holiday and wishing you all a wonderful new year! 

The close of another year creates a natural opportunity to reflect on the past year, and this New Year's I find myself in Europe for the second time. It is bittersweet to not be near my family this time of year so I'm reminiscing about a lovely week I spent with my parents last year touring Switzerland. I am so thankful for the time I've spent in Paris and all the travels life has taken me. I am looking forward to sharing much more with you in the New Year! For this week, come back later to see more highlights of the year and get inspired to book some travel plans for 2014.

Bonne année et meilleurs voeux!

The Matterhorn as seen from Zermatt, Switzerland

Canvas-Worthy Paris

A classic chicken and egg quandary. What came first, the idea or the Canvas on Demand Groupon? Either way, the result is what matters. My husband had the idea a few years ago to select a picture from each destination we travel to and have it made into a canvas to hang in our home. We were still newlyweds, were starting to experience symptoms of being bitten by the European travel bug, and had lots of bare space on the walls of our apartment in New Jersey. 

We breathed life into our decorating project and a full guidelines emerged after some thought. The photos are taken by either of us, cannot have us in the picture, and traditionally have been all been scenic outdoor shots.

We both love to take pictures and snap lots of them each year. But we know that a stroke of exceptional inspiration has occurred when one of us exclaims, "This may be canvas-worthy!" when behind the lens. 

Paris is quite a photogenic model who is not camera-shy in the least. After going through countless pictures from this incredible year here, I have selected 10 pictures that I think have that "canvas-worthy" potential. So without further ado, I present to you the best of 2013:

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A Photo Finish

Bon lundi!

I love this photo. It was taken in June of this year, and even has a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower and my favorite bridge in Paris, the Pont Alexandre III. As beautiful as it is though, it did not make the cut for my best-of Paris 2013 round-up. Come back on Friday to see the best photos of the year of Paris, next Wednesday of France, and the following Friday of our travels. 2013 has been quite a year!

Stuttgart's Mercedes-Benz Museum

A weekend trip to Stuttgart, Germany to visit its Christmas markets introduced me to my favorite attraction of the city: the Mercedes-Benz museum.

Before I highly recommend this museum, I should start off by saying that cars have never particularly interested me. I can appreciate sleek designs and smooth rides, but sometimes the details get lost on me. Case in point, back in high school one of my friend's fathers often gave me a ride to school. One Friday I found myself looking at the analog clock in the middle of the dashboard that was surely a digital clock the week prior, so I decided to comment on the decision to change clocks. My friend and his dad had a good chuckle and they told me it was a brand new car I had been riding in all week. That either classifies me as not observant or not a "car person" - let's go with the latter option.

Back to Stuttgart, outside of the old section of town there are two museums dedicated to car brands: Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. I decided to visit the Mercedes-Benz museum after reading that even people who were not particularly interested in cars would enjoy the site.

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After Christmas Special: Le Musée des Arts Forain

Nestled in the Bercy neighborhood of Paris lies an unexpected surprise - the largest museum in Europe featuring fairground art. Le Musée des Arts Forain is Jean-Paul Favand's private collection and can normally only be viewed by appointment. However, there are a handful of days that the collection is open to the public (with an admission fee). This year it was open during the Journées du Patrimoine (European Heritage Days) and will also be open from December 26, 2013 - January 5, 2014.

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Carnivals and Carousels

Bon lundi!

Intrigued by this photo? The arm coming out of a tree is not a Halloween gimmick, but part of a museum in Paris dedicated to fairground art: Le Musée des Arts Forains

Let's stay with that last thought...there is actually a museum in Paris full of carnival rides and carousels, and it is open to the general public for a very limited time each year.  Mark your calendars for the next opening, from December 26, 2013 through January 5, 2014, and stay tuned for an insider's look later this week.

Deck the Halls

I've been getting into full holiday swing. My (tall) house plant is adorned with little gold ornaments, my balsam and cedar Yankee candle has been burning to mimic that authentic tree smell, and my 626-song Christmas playlist has been going non-stop. 

After I got my apartment looking festive last week, I ventured out at night to Boulevard Haussmann to see how two of the major department stores had decorated.

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