Thursday, September 08, 2011
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
"€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
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
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.
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
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.
We plodded on, taking the nearest elevator to the upper level.
