Week One: Best of...

Best Day of the Week: Got to be that first day in Montmarte. Started off with a bang, eating the best pastry I've ever tasted on a balcony overlooking a quiet, cobbled French street. Then off to to the amazing, winding, cobbled sidewalks of Montmarte, then the awe-inspiring Cathedral of Sacre Coeur, to the Shadow of the Arch d'Triomphe. To an outdoor dinner with my wife…all on our first anniversary. Fantastic day.

Best Moment of the Week: Sitting on the steps of a random cathedral on the Rue St-Antoine, eating the most delicious piece of chocolate I've ever tasted.

Best Meal of the Week: Suckling pig in Munich. Hands down. I'd strangle the baby piglet with my own hands to get a taste of that again.

Best Painting of the Week: That unidentified painting of the Passion of the Christ in the basement of the Frauenkirche. I couldn't take my eyes off of it – it was tragic, beautiful, and (ultimately) uplifting. Beat anything I can think of from the Louvre or the Musee d'Armee.

Best Outdoor Scene of the Week: The Swiss Lake just off to the left of the Palace at Versailles. Don't know why…but it was just breathtaking – maybe it's because the first part of the gardens we saw.

Best Sculpture of the Week: The Gladiator in Rome. I'll try to find a picture…but it was a beautiful work of a body in motion – not just sitting on a pedestal, holding something.

Best Surprise of the Week: A different statue in the Louvre: Hermaphrodite. I don't think I need to explain myself any further with that one. Maybe I do. It was a lady with a wiener. Have I said too much?

Best Piece of Martial Equipment of the Week: The Messerscmitt Me 262 – the world's first operational jet fighter, and they had one in the Deutsches Museum. It was my favorite plane to play in the video game "Aces Over Europe," so it holds a special place in my heart.

Best Fountain/Monument of the Week: The St. Germain fountain in Paris. At least…I think that was the name. Angels totally beating on demons: awesome.

Best Waiter of the Week: Got to go with the friendly Frenchman who served us crepes. We weren't even going to stop at the restaurant, but he happened to be hanging out the door…Erika asked him if they served crepes…and he ushered us inside for some great crepe action – mostly because the jam we were smothering across the little suckers was mouth-watering. Friendly, helpful, and efficient…couldn't ask for more.

Best Restaurant of the Week: The name escapes me…but there was a small, hunting-lodge-looking restaurant in Montmarte that we went to (the night after our mediocre anniversary meal) that had food, ambiance, friendly staff, and unbelievable prices to boot.

Best Museum of the Week: Got to give it to the Deutsches Museum. The fact that I was fascinated by descriptions of windmills and rowing power made this squeak out a victory over the (much more famous) Louvre and Musee d'Armee.

Best Transportation of the Week: The train to Versailles. Quick, easy, and cheap. That's what she said.

Best Place of Worship of the Week: Gotta' go to Sacre Coeur. Amazing from beginning to end. Didn't even mind that the crypts were closed for the day (inexplicably).

Best Tomb of the Week: Viva La Empereur!!! Family, remember this: I'd like to be buried in a massive obelisk (no shorter than 30 feet tall) carved from marble, and decorated with gold leaf, in a massive domed cathedral. Make it happen, or I will come back to haunt you.

Best Nature-Inspired Moment of the Week: Walking out of the Louvre, and the sun was setting over the Eiffel tower…and the temperature was dropping to a comfortable level…and the streets were getting quiet. It was, as Erika put it, "Magical."

Best Theatrical Performance of the Week: Sorry Lapin Agile…I've got to give this one to the Gold Ring Gypsy lady.

Best Reader Comment of the Week: The one where my mom used the word "badonkadonk." That was probably the funniest thing I've ever seen. Ever.