We left Devon at around lunch time on Wednesday and had a hassle free and easy train journey to London. We got the tube to King’s Cross from Paddington and checked in to our hotel, the Meridiana, which was ok for a stop over but not great generally. The breakfast left quite a lot to be desired!
We went straight out to meet Charles, at the National Gallery cafe and then we walked around arguing about what to do in the rain. We ended up having a beer at the Oxo tower before dinner at the National Theatre, which was very pleasant indeed. I had a lovely polenta dish and a highly extravagant choccy pud.
The next day we caught the Eurostar to Gard du Nord. Our trip was quick and smooth and we were not involved in the fire that snared up the Chunnel later on in the day.
We got our Visites from St. Pancras, so we got straight on the RER to Luxembourg and checked in to the Hotel des Mines (which is pleasant enough apart from being on a RER station rather than Metro, which is really quite annoying!)
We headed straight out after freshening up and took our 2007 Michelin Guide to find somewhere for dinner. We walked all around the St Michel area, through St Germaine, saw Notre Dame and walked on the Ile St Michel and Ile de la Cite.
We stopped for a vin rose/beer at the Place de la Sorbonne and saw the photos of Mai 1968 before heading back to our chosen restaurant, Le Mediterrannee. This was a lovely place. We had the set menu. We both started with soupe du poisson, which was quite delicious, as always! I followed this with swordfish and courgette tagliatelle, whilst Chicken had duckling with petits pois and sugarsnap peas. Then we finished with creme brulee and pistache ice cream (those of you who know us will know which was whose pudding!). The meal, wine and ambiance were all wonderful.
After a good nights sleep we headed out for breakfast, as was not included in our hotel. We decided to be boring that day and went to Brioche Doree, a chain we sometimes frequent in Nice. Once caffeined-up we headed down to Pont d’Alma to go to the Egouts (Sewers) museum - however our DK Guide didn’t tell us it was shut on Fridays…
We went up to the Champs Elysees for my loved one to visit Fnac and had lunch at Leon de Bruxelles (moules marinieres et frites plus gauffres au chocolat). After a rest at the hotel we went to Montpernasse to get baguette, cheese and patisseries. Then we walked around the Jardins du Luxembourg (there is an excellent and very moving display of photos on the fence of the gardens currently running - well worth a look should you be in Paris) before returning here to the hotel for our meal and a few glasses of wine/beer, a DVD and sleep!
We had another leisurely start on Saturday, and awoke to find the sun was out, contrary to weather forecasts. It was a stunning day, indeed!
We set out on the RER to St-Michel du Notre Dame and went to our favourite cafe from our honeymoon trip, across from our previous hotel on Rue Lagrange. The pain aux raisins are as big as cart wheels, and as this is my favourite breakfast bite whilst in France, it is a good place for us! Plus the coffee (another must) and pain au chocolat are pretty blooming good too!
Then we hopped back on the RER and back to Pont d’Alma for the Musee des Egouts. We only had a short queue of less than five minutes before heading down the stairs. The staff were very helpful, allowing me to go through to the toilet and chatting away happily with Mr C about why on earth we’d pay to go in a sewer!
The Musee itself was very interesting, telling us a great deal of historical fact and allowing us to get a good feel for the work of the sewer workers. Plus, all importantly, it did not smell too badly at all!!! You got the odd whiff of something very bad, but not all the time, despite walking around on open grids which allowed you to see the running sewer below you.
After than we went to Les Halles shopping centre and failed to find new shoes for my loved one, before heading back for a quick baguette and remoulade lunch. We had another stroll at the Jardins, seeing the Medici fountain and - it seemed - all of Paris as the park was packed!
Then we returned to the hotel to freshen up for Maceo.
We arrived early but were seated straight away. I went for the Menu Vert and Chicks the Menu Decouverte. He started with smoked salmon, poached egg and asparagus soup, myself with poached egg, asparagus tips and mushrooms. Both good. The main was excellent. I had pasta risotto of broad beans and artichoke and Booty had wild duck with turnip and fruit. Then to pudding I had a raisin macaroon, apple and chocolate tower, of which the chocolate was AMAZING! Sminks had a fraise sorbet and fresh fraise with cream which was quite delicious and fresh.
All in all, Maceo’s food was still breathe taking, but the service, on this very busy night, was not so great. Last time we had jokes, chats and all our food explained in great detail in BOTH French and English. That made it feel special, plus it felt like “our” place then, with only us and six other diners in their all evening. After recommending it to everyone I now realise that means everyone goes!!!!!!!!! Oh well, still great.
After our dinner at Maceo, we awoke at around 9:00am and after showers headed back to our favourite breakfast place near Notre Dame.
We had decided against Versailles as the Petite Trianon is closed for restoration and we particularly wanted to see that. Plus, we plan a full on ‘museum and culture’ trip next year, with my Mum and Alex. That way my Mum and I can get museum passes and do all the related things of interest whilst Chicken and ‘Weeks shop ’til they drop!
We headed up to Montmatre. It was a stunning, sunny day and really quite hot, so the crowds were out in force! We arrived at Pigalle and walked through the seedier bit of Montmatre. We saw the adult video shop used in ‘Amelie’ as the work place of Nino, which was another tick on our ’seeing places in the film’ list!!! We then went to see the Musee de l’Erotisme.
This was quite a disappointment as we had expected a sort of history of the area and much more Lautrec style stuff, of which there was really very little. Three floors were given over to very violent modern Japanese artists and we felt quite miffed we’d had to pay to see stuff that was basically just on sale and not very good!
We next walked all the way up to Sacre Coeur - and when I say walked I do mean it! The line for the funicular railway was enormous, and we didn’t fancy standing around being targets for the bracelet guys, so we took the stairs. I was quite proud when we got to the top! Plus we got very little hassle with the bracelet guys this year, compared to last when they hurt my wrist and chased us!
We then went on a wild goose chase to find this vegetarian restaurant: we found it, but it was closed on Sundays…
So off went again, by now pretty hungry and with the time nearing 14:00. We gave up on Montmartre as it was so busy and got back on the Metro to Sorbonne, where we had pleasant altho’ not great pizzas on the Place de la Sorbonne. Not a touch on our favourite place in Nice, I can tell you! We then went - with the rest of Paris - to get ice cream from Berthillon on Ile St Louis. We queued at the window and it only took around 10 mins to get our ice cream, which was fab. We then got baguette, cheese and some wine for that evening and decamped back to the Hotel des Mines.
We were up early yesterday, our first wedding anniversary, and grabbed a quick espresso at Montpernasse, where we went to our old stamping ground, the huge Monoprix. We got all the essentials for home - a couple of boxes of wine, Grand Marnier, garlic bulbs, tapanade and pate for my loved one. We also got stuff for lunch on the Eurostar.
Then, we got our bags and left for Gard du Nord. With no trouble on the Eurostar and some with the English trains (surprise, surprise!) we got home to North Devon last evening happy and tired.
One of the best things about a holiday is being both sad to go and very happy to be home. We missed our Ferris very much whilst we were away, and we were so glad to collect him from my parents house! And, lest we forget, however good our holidays in Paris are we also live in one of the most beautiful parts of this world ourselves! Well, so we think anyway…
And, it is not even raining today - the weather is just as sunny and lovely as in Paris, actually - so wonders will never cease!!!!!!!!!
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