Alba - Giorno 9

Thursday is market day and I thought I'd start with some photos from the market.

Alba - Giorno 8

For breakfast we once again went to what has become our favourite coffee spot La Douce Maison especially when the brioche have just come from the oven and are lovely and warm.

Alba - Giorno 7

With Slow Cheese done and dusted we can now just enjoy being in Alba and we began the day with coffee at Di Baya Saida



and ended with Arneis at Vincafe

Alba - Giorno 5

We should have been at Slow Cheese today but we're feeling a bit cheesed off so we've decide to stay home today. On our early morning walk for coffee and brioche, we ponder a serious question - are there truly Irish pubs everywhere?

Vincafé

Vincafé is one of the winebars that our host Mario has recommended and as we're walking past it on the way back from seeing the Bersaglieri, it seems a good opportunity to pause and enjoy a wine or two.

There's a constantly changing selection of 50 to 100 wines by the glass - the menu of which is written on a chalkboard on the rear wall. What makes you do a double take are the prices that range from €2 to €6 (that's for a Barolo!) a glass - when was the last time a glass of wine was that cheap (and actually drinkable) in Australia?

Alba - Giorno 4

It's Saturday which means it's market day. Now, when Mario told us that the Saturday market was big and basically took over the town, he wasn't exaggerating. In fact, as soon as we walked out our door, there it was. I think you know I might just have squealed a little.

Cena - La Piola

Slow Cheese 2011 - Day 2

Today it's all about the taste workshops and we will be attending three.

The notes of which can be found in their respective posts:

LCH07 - Roquefort - The King of Cheeses
LCH10 - On the Verge of Extinction: Alpine Beaufort
LCH12 - Giarolo's Bounty

Taste Workshop LCH10

On the Verge of Extinction: Alpine Beaufort
4pm Sala Liceo Scientificio

The pearl of the Savoy Alps, Beaufort is a large, hard, raw cow's milk cheese with a distinctive concave rind, now mostly produced in cooperative dairies in the lowlands. Hervé Mons, an affineur from Saint-Haon-le-Châtel and a Meilleur Ouvrier de France, will lead a tasting of cheeses from one of the last mountain producers of Beaufort, the Perret family of La Tueda. The cheeses are aged for months in caves in an old railway tunnel. You'll taste a winter Beaufort (aged for 16 months), a summer Beaufort (14 months) and an Alpine Beaufort (14 months), paired with red and white wines from Savoy, a region whose wines are undeservedly little-known.

Ready for the next class

Taste Workshop LCH07

LCH07 - Taste Workshop - Roquefort, The King of Cheeses
Held: 1pm Sala Liceo Scientifico

Perhaps the world's best-known blue cheese, Roquefort is named after the village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon in Aveyron. Here, following ancient tradition and a strict production protocol, the cheese ages for months in the natural limestone caves of the Grands Causses. The tasting will be led by Xavier Thuret, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France (a prestigious recognition for French craftspeople) and technical consultant to the Société Roquefort, which unites the seven existing producers. You'll discover the nuances of the seven cheeses, pairing them with dry and sweet wines from different denominations: Bordeaux (Sauternes and Barsac), Loire (Coteaux du Layon), Alsace (Haut-Rhine), Roussillon (Rivesaltes) and Vallée du Rhône (Beaume de Venise).

Waiting for the workshop to start

Alba - Giorno 3

We're in need of a coffee or two to start the day so it's a good excuse to explore more of the city.

Slow Cheese 2011 - Day 1

Since we weren't able to get into any of the classes today, we've decided to spend our time at the Gran Sala dei Formaggi ed Enoteca (Great Hall of Cheese and Enoteca). We learnt from our previous visit to Slow Cheese that leaving this for the last day meant that most of the interesting wines and cheeses weren't available.

Entrance to the Great Hall costs €8 and you get a wine glass and glass holder as well as one cheese tasting voucher and one wine tasting voucher and if you are a Slow Food member it's €4.

Alba - Giorno 2

Our objectives for today are simple - check out the market and lunch at Piazza Duomo and to get the day underway, naturally enough, we need coffee.

Pranzo - Piazza Duomo

To misquote Shakin' Stevens, "Pink Door, What's the secret you're keepin'?"



The answer arguable could be - the best meal we've ever had.

Alba - Giorno 1

We've been to Porta Susa before so we thought leaving the station to meet up with our host Mario would be easy - we didn't foresee the fact that Porta Susa is pretty much a bomb site.

Through a serious of what must have been wrong turns we end up on a street somewhere in Turin - with no train station in sight. It was like walking out of the Flinders Street underpass and finding yourself in Ringwood.

It's in the mid 30's and humid and the thought of dragged our bags back down those stairs in the hope of finding another exit was beyond us. Luckily we had Mario's number and eventually managed to find the name of the street we were on.

Fifteen minutes later we where in Mario's car being happily quenching our thirst with chilled bottles of water (he really did think ahead!) and making our way through Turin's street towards our final destination - Alba.

We've rented an apartment from Mario and we'll be here for 3 weeks - and just like Paris, we have an excellent view.

Cena - La Bottega del Vicoletto

As we wandered off through the streets we headed to the closet of Mario's suggestions to find that it is closed on Wednesdays. Oh well,  we continued on and managed to get a seat at another of his recommended places - La Bottega del Vicoletto.

Train - Paris to Torino

We're both going to miss this apartment - fantastic position and wonderfully decorated, special mention to the unbelievable fantastic bed, I am so going to buy a King Koil when we get back - the kitchen is fine for shorter stays but for longer periods I'd be looking for something a little more fitted out.

Paris - Jour 7

It's our last full day in Paris and time to savour the view from our apartment - I don't think I could get tired of that view.

Dejeuner - Au Pied du Cochon

Au Pied du Cochon is a Paris institution - it's been running non-stop since 1947, staying open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all year round.

E. Dehillerin

No visit to Paris would be complete without a visit to the shrine of Kitchenalia Dehillerin.

Eglise Saint-Eustache

My first view of the Eglise Saint-Eustache was this

Place Maubert Market

First stop today is the Place Maubert Market.

Paris - Jour 6

We've got a few things planned for today - first up is a trip on the batobus

Dejeuner - Le Train Bleu

Le Train Bleu is located inside the Gare de Lyon station and has been in operation since 1901.



When you know what lays behind the door, the appearance of the entrance to Le Train Bleu seems a bit out of place.

Basilique du Sacre-Coeur

You must visit Sacre-Coeur was the advice given by my mother and her advice on what to see in the past has been spot on. There are probably easier ways to get here than our route but I've got no real desire to use the Metro especially when the weather is warm and muggy.

If you take one of the hop-on-off tour buses it will drop you off a good block from the base of the complex - from there you'll have to walk up one of the streets lined with touts and scammers playing 3 card monty.

Once you reach the base you have the choice - a long steep walk along a path that zig zags up the hill or take the venicular.  Oh, if you take the venicular a word of advice - don't mistake the queue for the toilet for the queue to buy tickets for the ride.

For some reason on the day we're here only one of the veniculars are working - so the trip takes a little longer than it should. Keep an eye out on the counter - it lets you know how many spaces are available in the car and theoretically once it reaches zero no one else can enter and the car will leave. I say theoretically because it doesn't stop experienced gypsies from bumming a lift up.

Once you reach the top it's really a few short paces before you see Sacre-Coeur.

Paris - Jour 5

It's a quiet morning after last nights feast at Restaurant L'AOC and lunch is a casual affair with Curtis and Leigh.



All too soon it's time to bid them farewell as they return home but we're hoping that there will be another get together in Italy.

Paris - Jour 4

Still haven't got over the jetlag so we're up quite early but it allow us to enjoy the lovely view of Notre Dame.

Diner - Restaurant L'AOC

We've been inside for most of the afternoon in air-conditioned comfort so it's a bit of a shock to the system when we step outside for the walk to Restaurant L'AOC. It's quite balmy and I'd much rather be inside but from past experience, our destination will be well worth it.

Paris - Jour 3

For breakfast this morning Paalo is enjoying Coconut yoghurt while I have found something that I've absolutely fallen in love with

Place Monge Market

You'll find this market conviently nestled around the Place Monge Metro and is open Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Paris - Jour 2

Even though we have the most amazingly comfortable bed in this apartment, jet-lag sees us awake at some ungodly hour.



As we have plenty of time we take the long way round to the Place Maubert Market and stop for breakfast at Café Segafredo.

Les Comptoirs de la Tour D'Argent

Located just opposite the legendary Tour D'Argent is its shop - Les Comptoirs de la Tour D'Argent.

Dejeuner - Restaurant L'AOC

When we first decided to stay in Paris we took advice from our French Guru, En as to finding, not necessarily the most popular but the more interesting places to dine in this city. As soon as he told us about L'AOC we knew it would be a place we'd have to visit - and on visiting the website and finding out more, we're actually going to be dining here twice.

Petit-Dejeuner - Cafe Segafredo

We took the long way to the market this morning and as we perused the various cafes Paalo's attention was caught by a sign offering Petit-Déjeuner Complet.

"€5.80 for all that, it can't be" he exclaimed "you must have to choose."

"Oh no, that's the price for all of it - you get coffee, orange juice, tartine and croissant, the only choice you need to make is what type of coffee you want." There might have been a slight tone of smugness in my voice - having indulged in a couple of breaksfast deals in my previous visit, but it was tempered by the fact that 6 years ago, I paid more!




You might be thinking "oh those croissants are probably rubbish at that price" guess what, they aren't. I don't know where they buy them in from but they were incredible - served still warm, they had that magic combination of buttery lightness and fragility. The baguette was also very good, it was served buttered with a glass of strawberry jam.

The cappuccino was also pretty good too - in fact we even ordered another to tide us over for the market visit.

The details:
Café Segafredo
72 Boulevard Saint-Germain, 75005 Paris

Paris - Jour 1

There is always a bit of nervousness when you book accommodation online as to whether it will actually live up to your expectations but any shadow of doubt disappeared as soon as we opened the door.

I've only taken a few photos now as we need to find the nearest supermarket to get a few necessities.

Dîner - Le Navigator

After all our travelling we didn't really want to go too far for dinner. While on our shopping outing we made mental notes on the various restaurants around us and decided to try Le Navigator.

Eurostar - London to Paris

After enjoying ourselves at The Champagne Bar it was soon time to head back downstairs to catch the Eurostar. It was then a case of "typical" that all the elevators and escalators heading down were no longer working which meant we had to carry our bags down the broken escalator. Maybe we shouldn't have had that extra Champagne.

When we then turned up to check-in, there were rather large queues and it seemed that the electrical problem was also effecting the entry gates.

The last time I was on Eurostar was in 2005 and things have changed a little from then. There are still  different classes but they are now called Business Premier, Standard Premier and Standard. After studying the differences I can tell you that the standard premier and the business premier have exactly the same seats so the considerable amount extra you'll pay for going business isn't really worth it.

After queuing to have our e-ticket scanned, there was another queue for the x-ray machines and then a bit more queuing to go through immigration - we both managed to get a particularly surly Frenchman who gave Paalo an especially long once over.

The final bit of farce was the complete balls up in regard to boarding the train. It seemed that only one up travelator was working and instead of letting people go up on the non functioning downwards travelators they were just allowing the crowd to build and build. Finally someone decided to allow people to walk up the broken travelators to the platform but only if they didn't have any luggage.

The reason for this became apparent as we began our ascent - these were on a seriously steep angle and even just trying to hold onto your luggage was difficult - I can't imagine how difficult it would be with the travelator not working.

After all this, the train left pretty much on time and there's only one stop, just outside of London - from there it is non-stop to Paris.

As part of the Standard Premier ticket we've given a light lunch

The Champagne Bar @ St Pancras

We've purposely arrived with plenty to time to spare to explore St Pancras station and we had originally planned to drop our bags off at checked luggage so we could explore unencumbered (by explore we mean have something to drink at the Champagne Bar). Naturally, checked luggage is at the furthest point in the station to our present location at the Eurostar terminals. As we neared the drop off point, we spied the rates - something like £8.50 per bag. We looked at each other and quickly decided we rather keep our bags and spend the cash on drinks instead.

We plodded on, taking the nearest elevator to the upper level.

Revivals @ Heathrow

The directions to Revivals made it sound like it was miles away but it couldn't be further from the truth - in reality, take an elevator up one flight and turn right and you're there

Flight - VS201 Hong Kong to London

After a refreshing fruit salad and a couple of cooling drinks at the Upper Class lounge it was time to re-board the plane. Our amenities kit had been replenished and what had been a half-filled cabin was now just about full.

Flight - VS201 Sydney to Hong Kong

The train that took us from the domestic to the international terminal was a rather dodgy local train - aromatically challenged and graffiti ridden we were thankful that the trip was indeed 120 seconds long.

The Virgin Atlantic counter wasn't quite ready for check so we stopped for a refreshing drink at the Danks Street Cafe outlet - I managed to escape with just the loss of an arm after purchasing a couple of soft drinks.

Check in here was also very easy and the rest of the process was a breeze as we were given priority passes to see us through immigration and the rest. Before you knew it we were relaxing in the Virgin lounge which in Sydney is a shared facility with Air New Zealand.

We propped ourselves on a comfy sofa by the window right next to our gate - so we could see exactly when our plane arrived



And here it is

Flight - QF416 Melbourne to Sydney

Today is the start of a very long day - we fly from Melbourne to Sydney where we connect with another flight that will take us to London via Hong Kong. Having set our alarm for 5am we somehow manage to sleep through the buzzing, luckily we do manage to rouse ourselves voluntarily by 5.15am. That left us roughly an hour to finish our preparations before our taxi arrived. A little more rushed than we would have liked but in the end it proved just enough time.

At this time of the day, it is a pretty easy drive to Tullamarine and as we cross over the Bolte Bridge we savour our last views of Melbourne.

It's only been a couple of years since I flew domestic but the airport has changed a lot - self check-in terminals are everywhere, along with the queues to use them. We decide to go old style and check in with a human being, after all we can't ask the machine if the bags can be checked through all the way (the answer is no) - best of all there is no queue.