hetismij2

It has just never appealed to me. I don't enjoy city trips anyway and Paris is somewhere near the bottom of any city trip list for me. Kiev, Khartoum, Sanaa and Damascus are currently lower on that list.
I am a heathen I know.

Anyway I am enjoying the TR as always.

bilboburgler

Lovely report

French wine labels are always a struggle as they, unlike everywhere else (German wine labels provide lots of facts but little information), refuse to provide any information. I was always taught (by a francophile) that this was because the wine buff in France always buys his wine from the same place (the vinyard) and so knows what he is getting. I think that is nonsense but the tradition of no information continues.

After studying to half degree level I know Coteaux de Layon is a sweet wine, but how is anyone else going to?

YankyGal

But a quick reheat in the oven might well be better than what annhig can get near home. Plus, not having to make yourself presentable the next morning to schlep over to the boulangerie is definitely a plus.

Enjoying your report!

geetika

Loving your TR annhig, Paris is my all-time fav city. Will be there on work for two days at the end of the month, hoping to catch a week in September…

progol

Wonderful TR, annhig! Paris is one of my favorite cities and now you have me itching for a return trip!

We also had quite the experience with Eurostar but that was because M (my “M”, that is), accidentally left his phone coming from London to Paris and we had quite an ordeal tracking it down and getting it returned. Many trips to the Gare du Nord, but eventually, it was located and for a mere €40, it made the trip from London to Paris where M was reunited with his phone!

ANUJ

Thank you for theTR, and a timely reminder that a return to Paris is long overdue.

thursdaysd

Hi Ann, just catching up. I don't read many TRs these days but great title. I haven't traveled since 2018 but looks like my rheumatoid arthritis has gone back into remission, so am thinking it's time to get started again. However, I was concerned by the amount of standing involved in your day one. I wouldn't previously have considered flying from London to Paris, but at least I could get a temporary wheelchair that way. I take it that's not possible at St. Pancras? (Surprised to see that Ashford isn't a possibility right now.)

Aren't you using google maps or equivalent? I have found it works really well for bus trips - shows you how to get to the bus stop, how much it will cost if you're paying cash, and you can follow the route so you know when you're getting close to your stop. It was a godsend in Kyoto where you need cash and won't know the price until right before your stop.

AnselmAdorne

I'm following along, annhig, and enjoying every detail. Paris is enchanting.

john183

Very enjoyable report annhig. Looking forward to more of your adventures.

TPAYT

Appreciate all your details.
Last on the Eurostar in 2018 and it was so easy. Thinking about
doing it again.
Last in Paris Oct/Nov 2019 and longing to get back, looking at early Dec. this year….love Paris at Christmastime.

travelchat

Nothing like an on the ground live report from Paris my favorite city in the world. This is a delight to read. Looking back on my last Paris trip in early June with my adult son, just a year ago it was a raging inferno with temps in the high 80-90’s every day. Wondering how the weather is treating you. We took taxis much of the time except for shorter walks in the 6th to local restaurants. It was survival mode and the only way to navigate in the heat at my senior age. Dinner one night at L’ange 20 was marvelous, no wait, also per MaitaiTom.
Keep it coming!

starrs

Yay! Just found your report! Going back to read, but I love the title!

annhig

Hi Christina and thank you especially for the research on the origins of "flagging". This is a revised version of the nightly post I did while I was away, so it's been honed a bit. And of course I wouldn't have chosen to go on a holiday weekend either but the spur for the trip was so my friend could go to the concert her son was singing in, and it also had to fit in with a trip to Lords for the cricket that she had arranged for her husband later in the week [with me tagging along] and a "come and sing Verdi Requiem" day with her choir on the Saturday before I was due to go home. So all in all we had a very small window!

annhig

<<Mmmmm. Coteaux de Layon. Love it. But shame on you for planning to eat day old croissants!>>

I know, AJP, what am I like? But the fact was that I knew very well that I wouldn't want to go out in the morning to get them fresh and actually they kept pretty well, as did the sourdough baguette. As for Coteaux de Layon, lovely as a dessert wine no doubt but pretty horrible with ham, cheese, and bread. Do not try this at home.

<<But a quick reheat in the oven might well be better than what annhig can get near home. Plus, not having to make yourself presentable the next morning to schlep over to the boulangerie is definitely a plus.

Enjoying your report!>>

Thanks, YankyGal. Got in in one. And please don't tell anyone but this is what we do at home too! oh the shame!

<<Lovely report. French wine labels are always a struggle as they, unlike everywhere else (German wine labels provide lots of facts but little information), refuse to provide any information. I was always taught (by a francophile) that this was because the wine buff in France always buys his wine from the same place (the vinyard) and so knows what he is getting. I think that is nonsense but the tradition of no information continues.

After studying to half degree level I know Coteaux de Layon is a sweet wine, but how is anyone else going to?>>

Thanks, Bilbo, and as you say, how is anyone else to know as French labels are utterly void of useful information? [except Champagne etc which deign to give you a bit of info, thank goodness else where would we be?] The irony was that I recognised the vast majority of the other white wines [which I only chose because M prefers them to red] so I thought I'd choose something new. That'll learn me. And why I didn't just buy a bottle of red the next time I passed a supermarket I have no idea.

annhig

Thanks Progol, glad I am whetting your appetite for Paris! How lucky you managed to get the phone back, and for a mere €40! You have reminded me of the last time I went on the Eurostar with M, we were meeting up with two friends of hers before boarding the train for Lille with our final destination being a cruise ship in Lyon for a cruise on the Rhone. When we arrived at St P only the female side of the couple we were meeting was there, but not the male, as he had gone off to try to find his laptop which he had left on the Tube on their way to the station. No chance, we thought, of getting that back but amazingly he managed to retrace his steps, worked out which station he'd been at when he left the train without it, and went into the office to see if they knew anything about it. Amazingly it was there waiting for him - someone had seen him leave the train without it and had handed it in. What were the odds on that? And he found it in time to get back to St P and meet up with the rest of us before we had to board the train. Phew!

annhig

Hi Thursdaysd and glad to hear that your arthritis is in remission. I go into the French side of this later, but perhaps I should have explained that there are disabled facilities at St P but we hadn't thought to use them as I hadn't seen M in a while and I wasn't fully aware of the extent of her difficulties. We spotted the assistance place at St P as we were in the queue but it didn't occur to me to approach it as we hadn't booked, and at that stage M hadn't even got her stick out so she seemed to be doing OK. In retrospect I should have twigged and approached them anyway but fortunately we managed as we had help with passport control once she got her stick out and it was spotted by an official. On the way back we booked assistance at the French side and I can cheerfully say that without it I don't know how we would have got on the train that end, or got to the tube station at this, but more of this later.

As for Google maps yes I was using them but finding the bus stops was not the real problem, it was locating exactly where the nearest Batobus stop was and getting there; I had looked at the Batobus map to try to see exactly where they were and the shortest route to take but there were no signs and as I found myself remembering, you have to be very careful which of those sets of steps you take down to the bank of the Seine because it's very easy to end up quite a long way from where you really want to be. Ditto on the way back, though fortunately the bus stop was right by the Seine so the walk was much shorter. I should be much more savvy next time!

oh and BTW every time we got on a bus M just used a ticket from the paper carnet we bought and I used my navigo card which was preloaded with one . The Paris system is so simple - one bus journey, one ticket.

annhig

Travelchat, thanks for the kind words [that goes for everyone] and I know how difficult hot temperatures can be especially in big cities. Thank goodness it wasn't too hot while we were there [23-24C]. Since I've been home the weather where I have been has been about the same or cooler, whilst most of the rest of the UK is basking in a heatwave. Trust Cornwall to buck the weather trend. We also had good AC in our apartment and sitting outside on the terrace mornings and evenings was very pleasant.

annhig

Paris 2023 - La troisième journée.

Another lazy morning with breakfast of almond and apple pastries, orange juice and coffee consumed out on the terrace. Parfait.

However we weren’t entirely idle. We finally managed to get through to the Cercle de l'Union Interalliée (which is a club for those who have memberships of other clubs) so that M who belongs to the National Liberal Club in London could book a table for lunch for the three of us tomorrow. her treat - she had been there with her husband about 10 years previously and was very keen to go again, to relive the experience. “Desole, Madame,” said the chap in the restaurant when I got through at the 4th or 5th attempt. “Nous sommes complet”. Oh dear I said and put the phone down. Nothing daunted M asked ”What about morning coffee or afternoon tea?” so I was back on the phone to the concierge who assured me that either would be fine, but did we know that there was a bar menu for lunch on the terrace starting at noon with no need to book? No we did not know that but we were very happy he had mentioned it and we would see him tomorrow. Merci Monsieur, a bientôt.

That job done we got ourselves together and went down to the metro to get the train up to the Cite de la Musique where A, (and several hundred other people) would be performing the following night. This was our first foray onto the Metro system together and unfortunately there were no lifts but at least there was just one line so little chance of getting lost, there weren't many steps to reach the platform, and were no endless "correspondences". We arrived about 25 minutes later at the right stop and managed to work out which exit we needed, quickly finding A who had been waiting for us at the top of the stairs of the other exit. Of course. We had a good look round the impressive site, which includes several concert halls, a cinema, a few cafes [which were all inexplicably closed] and lots of leisure areas and then had a great lunch of ramen [A] and sushi [me and M] in a Japanese restaurant on the main street - nice for those of us who rarely get the chance to experience such exotic fare! Who knew that the french term for chopsticks is "baguettes"?

Then it was back to the hotel on the Metro, me taking the opportunity to top up my Navigo card from a real person not a machine; my attempt to use it had been marred by my trying to top up my hotel room key card rather than my navigo card which looks very similar! But even when I realised my mistake and tried the right one a “carnet” of 10 tickets never popped up as one of the options. So a real person it was and she was very helpful.

That accomplished M went back to the hotel for a rest and I went for a mooch round the area, finding several quite impressive gardens, [the area is not called Le Chemin Vert for nothing], a big church, a boulangerie with some great looking pastries for the next day's breakfast [apologies to all you pastry purists], and finally a Latin American themed bar serving white Sangria only a few steps from the hotel. I'd never had it before but I was willing to try!

Our final excursion was to the Place des Vosges for dinner at La Place Royal, a rather swish looking restaurant under the arches of the colonnade which we had spotted on our way back from the Batobus trip the day before. By this time it had become quite windy and we were grateful to be able to get a table inside where it was pleasantly warm and very comfortable. Bavette and chips for me [with a dry red wine of course] and an aubergine salad for M [she kindly let me have some of her rocket and I gave her some my chips] followed by pear and chocolate tarte were all excellent and we enjoyed the chatter of the maitre d, what we could understand of it! Then we wandered home along increasingly familiar streets and fell into bed.

I couldn’t remember a holiday when I’d done so little sight seeing but still felt I’d done a lot. And sadly our last day was approaching fast. How did that happen?

AJPeabody

Wine pairings: For Coteaux de Layon pair with foie gras or a nice blue cheese. The correct wine for a ham and cheese sandwich is beer.
Love your report!

kerouac

Just for the record, "baguette" means "little stick" and it is the word for bread in that shape, a conductor's baton, or the magical instruments used in the Harry Potter books, among other things. That's why it shocks us here when a lot of anglophones use the word when they are talking about a sandwich. A sandwich made using a baguette is just called a sandwich, not a baguette.