Here and there but mainly there.

[turtlemichael]

Side trip to Brussels.

Last Saturday we made the trip up to Brussels to have lunch with friends who live there. Being an early planner I had bought train tickets when they became available 3 months out for the grand sum of 40E round trip. The 260+km trip on Thalys from Gare Du Nord (as as we Parisiens say, GDN) takes just 1hr 22mn with a top speed of 300kph. It’s a very impressive train and very comfortable even in the equivalent of turning right section.

Sadly for us it was the worst day so far in Europe with rain and wind and very cold. After lunch at the Musical Instruments Museum we did some wandering around Brussels and spent our time mainly looking at chocolate shops which are on every corner in the Centre as well as in between. The last time I was in Brussels I think was in the late 70’s and I had no particular memories but this time it appeared an impressive place. Sort of like Melbourne as a liveable city. All up a nice but soggy day and of course it was good to catch up with old friends.

A few photos.

 

[mella2007]

Loving this report!

 

[ellen10]

Yes I love trip reports.
Those fast trains are amazing and so comfortable.
We were in Brussels 4 weeks ago, a very busy city.
Saw the Mannekin Pis also, but was naked. Was the outfit celebrating a special occasion?

Looking forward to the next instalment

 

[turtlemichael]

Yes I love trip reports.
Those fast trains are amazing and so comfortable.
We were in Brussels 4 weeks ago, a very busy city.
Saw the Mannekin Pis also, but was naked. Was the outfit celebrating a special occasion?

Looking forward to the next instalment

You made me curious Ellen. Apparently he has over 800 costumes and is dressed for all sorts of occasions . Even on some he pees beer which might be a condition known to a few AFFers If you are 400 years old you are given some liberties. Manneken Pis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ellen10]

Thanks for the link and information turtlemichael.
Quite the dashing boy.
With all those hundreds of varieties of beer in Brussels I am not surprised he pees beer!

 

[lmere12]

Enjoying your trip report, great pics.. Have stayed in 2nd before on Rue Montorgueil, booked the same area different apartment for next year. Will be following your TR with interest. Enjoy

 

[turtlemichael]

Musée du Quai Branly

This is a newish museum (2006) in the shadows of the Eiffel Tower on the banks of the Seine. It houses ethnic art and artefacts from around the world with an emphasis on the former French colonies. A project of Jacques Chirac, it is striking in its design and very different from your normal average museum. It is clearly not to everyone’s taste but still well worth seeing because its contents are truly amazing. Its layout has been much criticised for displaying the artefacts for effect rather than taking into account their historical and spiritual significance. If you are an ignoramus on these matters, like me, you’ll ignore the political debate and concentrate on their artistic value which is just amazing.

The gallery already has a large Australian aboriginal collection but there is also an exhibition of Aboriginal art on at the moment. It started a week or so ago and goes until January 18, 2013. It is in fact the largest exhibition of aboriginal art ever outside Australia and we found it just stunning. The exposition was held at the NGV about a year ago.

Having seen many museums in Paris (there are some 200 so we still have a long way to go) I rate this near the top. It’s well worth a couple of hours and the Aboriginal art exposition just adds to that.

http://www.quaibranly.fr/en/

 

[turtlemichael]

Le temps au temps restaurant

I’m really only going to write about things and places we enjoy and meals that are sensational. There are enough of these in Paris. We have had a couple of ordinary meals, no real disasters, but they have been consigned to the forget pile.

Le temps au temps is a restaurant we had wanted to try on previous visits but it had always been booked out. Its popularity must have declined as I was able to book a table on about a week’s notice for the other evening. It’s a tiny restaurant in Rue Paul Bert, which houses several other popular restaurants, in the 11[SUP]th[/SUP]. And I do mean tiny – about 8 tables. It is run by one person out front and the chef.

If its popularity had declined I could not see why. It was up there with the best of our reasonably priced Parisian meals. Service was formal and not overly friendly but very professional. Our entrees were a soft-boiled egg with girolle mushroom and a tuna dish.
For mains it was saddle of lamb and partridge. I had the partridge and it was some of the best game bird I’ve tried. Desert was a delicious chocolate éclair but I forgot to photograph it until half way through and I’ll therefore avoid publishing a picture of the carnage.

Again, I’d recommend this place and we have made another booking. Price came to 117.00 euros including a very decent bottle of Bordeaux. I still marvel that the same quality meal in a similar quality establishment in Australia would be 1.5 times to double that price.

 

[amaroo]

I like the look of that.....on the list for next time

 

[Simo]

Great Trip report

 

[JessicaTam]

Great TR, especially the photos. They are whetting my appetite for my next Paris visit.


Sent from my iThing.
Why, because iCan.

 

[turtlemichael]

Marche Richard Lenoir
This is our local market. It operates Thursday and Sunday mornings. On Thursdays it is about 2/3rds food and 1/3[SUP]rd[/SUP] clothing, knick-knacks and other paraphernalia while on Sunday it is virtually all food. As well, on Sundays it is a bit bigger and a lot busier. We locals (I’m kidding myself J) prefer Thursdays as there are a lot less tourists taking pictures!

Boulevard Richard Lenoir is a broad road with a central street park area and runs from near Republic to Bastille. It is in fact built over the Saint Martin Canal and a few metres below you are barges and boats making their way to and from the Seine. You can see them passing below you when you look down the light wells. That’s really rather impressive. On a different note we did one of the tours from La Villette to the Seine on a boat last year. It goes through a large number of locks, underground, under the memorial column at Bastille, on to the Seine and past Notre Dame and the centre of the city. It’s a well spent couple of hours on a nice day.

Back to the market, the array of produce is amazing. Its freshness, variety and quality beat anything I see at home.

 

[turtlemichael]

An awesome day in Paris today.

After 2+ weeks of ordinary weather (rain, cloud, cool and not much sun) we hit the jackpot today. Bright sunshine, no wind and it hit 24C. For late October that is pretty amazing and near the record highs. We headed out with a baguette stuffed with pate and salad and a bottle of sustaining red but it seemed the Parisians were in two minds. Some were dressed for the start of the next Ice Age, obviously not convinced by the forecasts, and some were like us in shorts and tee-shirts and pretending it was Sydney. The forecast over the next few days is good too though temperatures seem to be dropping back until at the weekend the meteo is suggesting a maximum of 9C! But today we made the most of it We headed off to the Jardin Du Luxembourg and, with half the population of Paris and most of the tourists, we consumed our lunch in the sunshine.

Life is tough.

 

[ellen10]

Love Luxembourg Gardens and relaxing on those green chairs, our favourite park in Paris
Enjoying the journey.

 

[turtlemichael]

Cafe Noir

We are half way through our stay in Paris and are starting to prioritize what we want to do. There are so many choices and so little time. As well, the weather now has turned cold so we think we’ll start to look at indoor things. It is not raining yet but a maximum of 9C is forecast for Friday. This is just like a Canberra summer. J One of the major priorities is food as, after all, this is Paris.

We found, on a recommendation, a really nice place for lunch yesterday. It is called Café Noir and is way out in the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] Arrondissement. The closest place that might be of tourist interest is Pere Lachaise Cemetery and that is a good walk away. It’s the sort of area od Paris most visitors are unlikely to go to without a good reason. The nearest metro station is Porte de Bagnolet.

Café Noir was well above normal bistro/brasserie standards and was certainly worth the visit for lunch. Our meal consisted of a good bottle of Cote de Provence recommended by the patron, two staters of a religieuse with bone marrow and a soft egg cocotte with goat’s cheese. A religieuse is a choux pastry concoction that is meant to look like a nun. It requires a liberal imagination to see that. Usually they are filled with cream and sweet things but not this time. Both starters were excellent. Mains we had were a filet of sea bass and a magnificent andouillette sausage. Again, very good. We each had a very good chocolate coolant for desert and managed to roll out of the restaurant sated. The bill came to just under 90 euros which was again a great deal.
All up, we hope we have tie to go back if not this time then next time.









.

 

[turtlemichael]

Some food pics from Cafe Noir.

 

[lmere12]

Enjoying your TR and envious !! If you try any great places that are more budget minded would you mind posting info on them please. (for visit next year) tks

 

[ellen10]

Great pics! You're making me hungry!

 

[turtlemichael]

The days are running down fast in Paris. Only two weeks left. Two museums. Both these museums are free of charge, except for special exhibitions. One is huge, the other is tiny.

The first is the very well-known Musee Carnavalet at 23 rue de Sévigné 75003 in the Marais district. It is open every day except Monday and contains an amazing collection about the history of Paris from the earliest times to modern day. It has relics from up to 6000 years ago including a huge dugout canoe retrieved a few years ago. There is extensive stuff from the Roman period when the city was known as Lutetia. Of particular interest to me is the exhibitions on the French revolution. The museum is well worth a visit.

The other is the very small and only recently re-opened Marie Curie museum. It is in rue d’Ulm behind the Pantheon in the 6[SUP]th[/SUP] arrondissement. It is part of the Curie Institute which is now one of the largest cancer research centres in the world and includes two large hospitals. The museum itself is very small, really one large room, but has a great new interactive display of the history of the Curie family as well as the original office and laboratory of Madame Curie. There is also a load of information about her discovery of radium. Anyone with a medical or historical interest will enjoy it though, unlike Carnavalet to a certain extent, it is not one for children.

Home du site | Musée Carnavalet - Histoire de la ville de Paris | Paris.fr
History of the Institut Curie and Curie Museum | Institut Curie

Carnavalet




Marie Curie Museum

 

[turtlemichael]

Two restaurants. One good, one very good.

Wednesday and Friday nights last we had dinner at two good restaurants. The second was very good. So good that we think we will make it there again on our last night in Paris. First the just good one. It is L’ecailer du Bistrot, a seafood restaurant in Rue Paul Bert. We seem to have eaten our way up and down this street!

L’ecailer was hard to get into and required a booking about 10 days in advance. I did the reservation as I was walking past one day in my very best French. The lady taking my booking decided to switch to English which was a wise decision on her part. The meal itself was fine for the price. We decided to have he set menu which consisted of a dozen river oysters, half a lobster and a desert. It was adequate and good value for the 55 euros per person. We could have gone with items of the menu however as we spotted some amazing concoctions arriving at other tables. The one negative was surly service which you should not have to put up with at those prices. The oysters were tasty and the first time we’d had river oysters. The lobster was a touch chewy but I coped. The final bit was a wicked Paris-Brest which I could still feel the next day! The OH had a chocolate thingy which tasted good too.