Jamikins and Bikerscott Spend a Lovely Weekend in Paris
Mar 8th, 2011, 04:59 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,321
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Jamikins and Bikerscott Spend a Lovely Weekend in Paris
This past weekend Bikerscott, two friends and I spent a lovely weekend in Paris. As this was our 10th time, and our friends 1st time, we visited some tourist favs, but also some new areas that are not mentioned often on these boards. Thought we would share our thoughts…
The Gang – We are 4 wine and food loving 30 somethings, who love photography and all things tasty.
Friday
We arrived via Eurostar from London on the last train of the night and made our way to our hotel. We somehow managed to miss the signs connecting Gare de Nord to Chapelle metro station, so had to do a bit of changing lines. We got there in the end.
We usually stay quite close to the river, but our friends are single and wanted their own rooms and we were trying to stay for a reasonable price. So we expanded our search to outer arrondissments and found The New Orient Hotel on the border of the 8th and 17th: http://www.hotel-paris-orient.com/ closest metro was Villiers, although it’s not too far from Rome, Europe, and Gare St Lazare. It’s about a 25 min walk to the Arc de Triomphe and north of Opera. The Villiers metro was a 2-3 minute walk away.
Our rooms were €118 for a double, and I think €90 for a single. The hotel is easy to find and there are lots of lovely shops and cafes around, especially up by Villiers station, although to be fair we didn’t really explore the area around Rome or Europe. They are currently renovating the hallways and main areas, but the rooms are immaculately clean, brand new fittings, while on the smallish side. Rue de Constantinople is a relatively main road but not busy at all. Despite all the hotels around, it doesn’t seem to be much of a tourist area and it felt like there were mostly locals around, especially in the bars and cafés. We would definitely stay here again, both the hotel and the area exceeded our expectations.
Of course, while it was close to midnight on arrival, we had to have our first bottle of wine in Paris so we headed back to the Villiers metro stop and the only open café at that hour that we could find, a place called Dome, which we would get to know fairly well over the next two days.
Saturday
After a good night’s sleep we headed out about 10am to find a café for breakfast. We have an aversion to having breakfast as provided by the hotels we stay at, unless it’s already included the room rate – this is Paris after all, there are so many good places to choose from! We stumbled upon a place that had a lovely croissant/hot drink and juice special for €8.50 and gobbled the food down.
Then it was off on the Metro directly to the Arc de Triomphe. No matter how often I see this I am always amazed at how big it is! We spent the requisite time admiring the bravery and lack of a sense of personal preservation that Parisian drivers seem to have when entering the massive roundabout at Etoile – sheer madness. After that we walked down Rue Kleber to Trocadero and were immediately accosted by zillions of jingle jangle men (the guys that sell the naf Eiffel tower trinkets). We were honestly amazed at how many there were – we were expecting them at the Trocadero as there tends to be a lot there, however the bridge over to the Eiffel Tower was lined with card sharks, and there were dozens upon dozens under the tower itself – where were the policemen who normally entertain us by chasing them away? Ignoring them we made our way towards the tower and then on to Rue Cler for a yummy lunch at Café Marche.
From here we headed towards the Seine and walked along, until we needed further refreshments and stopped for a bottle of wine in Saint Germaine. Our friend wanted to visit Notre Dame and Isle St Louis (on a mysterious search for a jam shop, only vaguely remembered from a trip 4 or 5 years previous – we never found it), so we walked in that direction (our legs getting quite tired by now) and admired the church and wandered through Isle St Louis.
By this point our legs were tired and we needed to head back to our hotel to get ready for our night out on the town. We got spruced up and headed to Mariette Restaurant by the Eiffel Tower: http://www.restaurant-mariette.com/ We had a lovely meal, the service was very friendly and cheerful and our friend was teased incessantly by both the server and the chef for ordering a steak fillet WELL DONE! We were ashamed as well – how can you do that to a lovely piece of meat!
We were a bit apprehensive about the restaurant – it was listed as the #1 restaurant in Paris on a certain trip reviewing website, but a few of the comments were fairly negative. It’s really tiny, with a grand total of 9 tables allowing only 18 people to dine at once. The servers don’t really speak much English, but are more than happy to chatter away in either French or apparently Spanish if you speak either of those. Once they found out that three of the four of us spoke varying levels of French (from almost fluent down to not much more than Canadian high school level), they were overjoyed to spend a little extra time at our table, laughing and generally having a good time.
Dinner itself was excellent – as it’s a very small restaurant, they don’t have an extensive menu, however all four of us found enough on it to enjoy. While the dishes are relatively upscale (including ingredients such as black truffle and foie gras), the prices aren’t too high and the quality is excellent. For four of us, each having a kir to start, an entrée and a main, along with two bottles of very nice wine and a shared desert, the bill only came to €285, which isn’t too bad at all considering.
After dinner we walked in the freezing cold to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up in all its glory and then headed out for some much needed wine. 3 bottles later we tried to get a taxi back to our hotel, but the bar couldn’t get us one. Evidently 12:30 on a Saturday night during Paris Fashion Week is a tough time to call a cab. The woman at the bar recommended going to the bus stop across the street and taking either bus which stopped there to Villiers.
Not a problem we thought, how hard could that be? We headed over and jumped on the first bus to arrive, which we soon realized wasn’t actually going to Villiers, but to somewhere which would have been a 30 minute walk away. As we were already on the bus, we figured we’d stay on it to the point which seemed closest to our hotel and work out what do next then. By this time is was about 1am, and we were afraid that the metro and buses would stop running. As we got off the bus, we spotted a taxi rank well stocked with waiting taxis, which happened to be located directly in front of a bar which was still open, despite the hour.! Well clearly it made more sense to go have another bottle of wine and then take a taxi home rather than walk 30 mins or take the metro! And so we did.
Sunday
We woke up the next morning a bit worse for wear, but nothing gallons of water and a few aspirin wouldn’t cure. We headed back to Villiers tube stop and notice with pleasure that there was a market street right there! So we headed down Rue de Levis, enjoying the smell of roast chickens until we came across a nice café to have a hearty breakfast of omelettes, croissants and coffee.
Back to the Metro we headed to Place de la Concorde to stroll through Tuileries Garden in the lovely sunshine. Up towards the Louvre and then we decided it was time to whet our appetite with some refreshments and stopped for some wine. Then it was off to Pied de Cochon for some delicious onion soup (best ever!!!) and a long lunch sitting with the sun pouring through the window – bliss.
We then decided to head up to Montmartre to view Paris before heading back to our hotel area to pick up our bags and have dinner before the Eurostar home. Montmartre was soooo busy (all of Paris was much busier than expected as it was Fashion Week) but we enjoyed the views and wandered around the square.
Back to our hotel on the metro and then we reconvened back at Dome for a nice dinner before heading back to London.
All in all – a fabulous weekend!
We really enjoyed the area of our hotel and would recommend it as a good budget option!
The Gang – We are 4 wine and food loving 30 somethings, who love photography and all things tasty.
Friday
We arrived via Eurostar from London on the last train of the night and made our way to our hotel. We somehow managed to miss the signs connecting Gare de Nord to Chapelle metro station, so had to do a bit of changing lines. We got there in the end.
We usually stay quite close to the river, but our friends are single and wanted their own rooms and we were trying to stay for a reasonable price. So we expanded our search to outer arrondissments and found The New Orient Hotel on the border of the 8th and 17th: http://www.hotel-paris-orient.com/ closest metro was Villiers, although it’s not too far from Rome, Europe, and Gare St Lazare. It’s about a 25 min walk to the Arc de Triomphe and north of Opera. The Villiers metro was a 2-3 minute walk away.
Our rooms were €118 for a double, and I think €90 for a single. The hotel is easy to find and there are lots of lovely shops and cafes around, especially up by Villiers station, although to be fair we didn’t really explore the area around Rome or Europe. They are currently renovating the hallways and main areas, but the rooms are immaculately clean, brand new fittings, while on the smallish side. Rue de Constantinople is a relatively main road but not busy at all. Despite all the hotels around, it doesn’t seem to be much of a tourist area and it felt like there were mostly locals around, especially in the bars and cafés. We would definitely stay here again, both the hotel and the area exceeded our expectations.
Of course, while it was close to midnight on arrival, we had to have our first bottle of wine in Paris so we headed back to the Villiers metro stop and the only open café at that hour that we could find, a place called Dome, which we would get to know fairly well over the next two days.
Saturday
After a good night’s sleep we headed out about 10am to find a café for breakfast. We have an aversion to having breakfast as provided by the hotels we stay at, unless it’s already included the room rate – this is Paris after all, there are so many good places to choose from! We stumbled upon a place that had a lovely croissant/hot drink and juice special for €8.50 and gobbled the food down.
Then it was off on the Metro directly to the Arc de Triomphe. No matter how often I see this I am always amazed at how big it is! We spent the requisite time admiring the bravery and lack of a sense of personal preservation that Parisian drivers seem to have when entering the massive roundabout at Etoile – sheer madness. After that we walked down Rue Kleber to Trocadero and were immediately accosted by zillions of jingle jangle men (the guys that sell the naf Eiffel tower trinkets). We were honestly amazed at how many there were – we were expecting them at the Trocadero as there tends to be a lot there, however the bridge over to the Eiffel Tower was lined with card sharks, and there were dozens upon dozens under the tower itself – where were the policemen who normally entertain us by chasing them away? Ignoring them we made our way towards the tower and then on to Rue Cler for a yummy lunch at Café Marche.
From here we headed towards the Seine and walked along, until we needed further refreshments and stopped for a bottle of wine in Saint Germaine. Our friend wanted to visit Notre Dame and Isle St Louis (on a mysterious search for a jam shop, only vaguely remembered from a trip 4 or 5 years previous – we never found it), so we walked in that direction (our legs getting quite tired by now) and admired the church and wandered through Isle St Louis.
By this point our legs were tired and we needed to head back to our hotel to get ready for our night out on the town. We got spruced up and headed to Mariette Restaurant by the Eiffel Tower: http://www.restaurant-mariette.com/ We had a lovely meal, the service was very friendly and cheerful and our friend was teased incessantly by both the server and the chef for ordering a steak fillet WELL DONE! We were ashamed as well – how can you do that to a lovely piece of meat!
We were a bit apprehensive about the restaurant – it was listed as the #1 restaurant in Paris on a certain trip reviewing website, but a few of the comments were fairly negative. It’s really tiny, with a grand total of 9 tables allowing only 18 people to dine at once. The servers don’t really speak much English, but are more than happy to chatter away in either French or apparently Spanish if you speak either of those. Once they found out that three of the four of us spoke varying levels of French (from almost fluent down to not much more than Canadian high school level), they were overjoyed to spend a little extra time at our table, laughing and generally having a good time.
Dinner itself was excellent – as it’s a very small restaurant, they don’t have an extensive menu, however all four of us found enough on it to enjoy. While the dishes are relatively upscale (including ingredients such as black truffle and foie gras), the prices aren’t too high and the quality is excellent. For four of us, each having a kir to start, an entrée and a main, along with two bottles of very nice wine and a shared desert, the bill only came to €285, which isn’t too bad at all considering.
After dinner we walked in the freezing cold to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up in all its glory and then headed out for some much needed wine. 3 bottles later we tried to get a taxi back to our hotel, but the bar couldn’t get us one. Evidently 12:30 on a Saturday night during Paris Fashion Week is a tough time to call a cab. The woman at the bar recommended going to the bus stop across the street and taking either bus which stopped there to Villiers.
Not a problem we thought, how hard could that be? We headed over and jumped on the first bus to arrive, which we soon realized wasn’t actually going to Villiers, but to somewhere which would have been a 30 minute walk away. As we were already on the bus, we figured we’d stay on it to the point which seemed closest to our hotel and work out what do next then. By this time is was about 1am, and we were afraid that the metro and buses would stop running. As we got off the bus, we spotted a taxi rank well stocked with waiting taxis, which happened to be located directly in front of a bar which was still open, despite the hour.! Well clearly it made more sense to go have another bottle of wine and then take a taxi home rather than walk 30 mins or take the metro! And so we did.
Sunday
We woke up the next morning a bit worse for wear, but nothing gallons of water and a few aspirin wouldn’t cure. We headed back to Villiers tube stop and notice with pleasure that there was a market street right there! So we headed down Rue de Levis, enjoying the smell of roast chickens until we came across a nice café to have a hearty breakfast of omelettes, croissants and coffee.
Back to the Metro we headed to Place de la Concorde to stroll through Tuileries Garden in the lovely sunshine. Up towards the Louvre and then we decided it was time to whet our appetite with some refreshments and stopped for some wine. Then it was off to Pied de Cochon for some delicious onion soup (best ever!!!) and a long lunch sitting with the sun pouring through the window – bliss.
We then decided to head up to Montmartre to view Paris before heading back to our hotel area to pick up our bags and have dinner before the Eurostar home. Montmartre was soooo busy (all of Paris was much busier than expected as it was Fashion Week) but we enjoyed the views and wandered around the square.
Back to our hotel on the metro and then we reconvened back at Dome for a nice dinner before heading back to London.
All in all – a fabulous weekend!
We really enjoyed the area of our hotel and would recommend it as a good budget option!
Mar 8th, 2011, 06:10 AM
#3
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 5,142
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
So was spring bursting out all over Paris? Any photos?
It's still freezing here with no sign of spring
To avoid the "jingle jangle men" we carry a couple of those naff Eiffel tower keyrings and jingle them as they approach.
I think we got 3 for the grand sum of 1 euro a few years ago.
It's still freezing here with no sign of spring
To avoid the "jingle jangle men" we carry a couple of those naff Eiffel tower keyrings and jingle them as they approach.
I think we got 3 for the grand sum of 1 euro a few years ago.
Mar 11th, 2011, 01:45 AM
#7
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,152
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ahh how lovely to be that close to Paris to be able to go for the weekend. I will be back to savour her charms in September, can't wait!
As always a very interesting and informative trip report....with plenty of wine!
As always a very interesting and informative trip report....with plenty of wine!
Mar 12th, 2011, 02:06 AM
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,321
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks for all the comments - here are my pics:
https://picasaweb.google.com/jamie.a...eat=directlink
Enjoy!
https://picasaweb.google.com/jamie.a...eat=directlink
Enjoy!
