Yangon and beyond

[KLN]

enjoying your TR. and don't worry about the SQ J beds. i have never managed to put them down, even after a few J trips. i figure the FA's are used to doing it for you
and if i try i just make myself look like a nong. hehehe

 

[Major]

There is just something special about Christmas/New Year in the Northern Hemisphere

 

[ellen10]

Love trip reports!
Enjoying the read and love all the places you are visiting.
Never flown in F on the wish list!

 

[LadyC]

FCO-ZUR

It was with trepidation that we headed back to FCO to head to ZUR, knowing we were going via FRA and DUS to get there. We were going to lose the day travelling unfortunately. Originally there was only one stop, but due to flight schedule changes, unfortunately we were given another. The gentleman decided this was not the best outcome and therefore would see what we could do to fly direct.

So when checking in at the LH desk, he asked about flying direct. No help there, so after check in, we went over to the LX ticket desk. The lady at the desk appeared most unimpressed with our question and then sent us to the LH desk - luckily they were next to each other. We were then sent back to LX desk and the LH lady explained our situation to the LX lady. The gentleman was very good at being polite and a little insistent that she try to see if we could change the tickets to fly directly. Long story short, after a little grumbling about how complicated our ticket was, 30 minutes later we were issued with tickets for a direct flight to ZUR! We were very thankful we could get the tickets changed and employed a BossReggie method of thanks by giving her a little packet of Ferrero Rochers - she gave us a smile so I think she appreciated the thought.

We then again began a mad dash through check in, security to gate to get our flight - LX1727 to ZUR. Again, we were on an A320. Due to our late ticketing, we didn't get a meal but the FA kindly gave us a pain au chocolat. The flight was uneventful and before long we were arriving at ZUR airport, very pleased with ourselves for having got a direct flight and arriving 5 hours earlier!

View from the plane of Swiss Alps

 

[LadyC]

We had three nights in Zurich and stayed at Helmhaus Swiss Quality Hotel. The hotel was good - nice room, located in the Old Town near lots of shops and restaurants. It was a reasonable price (Switzerland is expensive!!) and we included a breakfast package which was a fairly standard European breakfast offering. As per most of the trip, we did a lot of eating, some meals better than others. Lots of walking by the lake and the river. Visited the Kunsthaus (Art Museum) and a few of the churches. The weather was kind and very mild - temperatures hovering between 5-10 degrees and only a little bit of rain.

Limmat River




Church




Delicious hot chocolate from the Sprungli (Lindt) cafe

 

[LadyC]

On our last night, we visited a little restaurant in suburban Zurich called Wirtschaft zum Wiesengrund. It is run by a husband and wife team, very small I believe, there were only tables in the dining room. We, as per usual, did the degustation menu. It was a lovely meal and we had a few matching wines. The waitress spoke a little English which was helpful in menu translation!

Excuse the poor lighting, it's only an iPhone camera

A few snacky starters



Little vegetable flavours with something I can't quite remember (will check menu and edit later!)



Foie gras and goose liver



Cod and beetroot

 

[LadyC]

Lobster and cucumber



Venison



Dessert - snowball



There was also a cheese trolley (which is offered before dessert). We passed on that as we were already fairly full.

Again, lovely meal. The hostess (chef's wife) came and checked everything was okay a few times. Service was good. I would recommend if this meal is your sort of thing. The only killer is the cab rode there and back!

 

[LadyC]

LX 638 ZRH-CDG

So it was time to leave Zurich and head off to Paris, our final European destination. As ZRH is the home airport for LX, there was a dedicated business and first curb, making the check in process fairly easy. Once we had checked in, we headed through security (which was a fairly painful process) and toward the LX Lounge. There is a separate section for First passengers, behind frosted doors, isn't it always the way! We headed up to the Business area. It was quite large with both seating and dining areas. The food offering was fairly basic but plentiful. There was free wi-fi for two hours (login required)

Apparently they let all sorts in! (not sure if you can see but there is a puppy dog there)


Lounge


Lounge

After some loitering in the lounge, it was soon time to head to the gate to get our flight.

 

[LadyC]

So we got to the gate and boarded a bus to take us out to our plane, an AVRO RJ100.

View from the bus


It was a short flight across to Paris, only 1 hour 20 minutes. We did get a meal of cured meats, cheese, pickled vegetables and bread. As well as a small chocolate and custard dessert.



The flight was over quickly enough and we were off the plane with luggage in hand, ready to explore Paris.

 

[Vim Fuego]

Lady C
Any tips/advice for Rangoon? my mother in law is from Rangoon and is going back in November. She left rather rapidly with her family many years ago and hasn't been back since.

 

[LadyC]

Lady C
Any tips/advice for Rangoon? my mother in law is from Rangoon and is going back in November. She left rather rapidly with her family many years ago and hasn't been back since.

Not really I'm afraid. I was only there for a day so my experience was very limited. Plus being a 'Westerner', my experience may be very different to hers if my Australian-Sri Lankan friends experiences going back to Sri Lanka are anything to go by. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

 

[jetlagger]

Thanks Once again LadyC - really enjoying the TR..
Fantastic photos all round & you got to visit the best part in ZRH - The Sprungli Cafe! & of course the cuisine in Switzerland is always divine
Love the photo of the dog in the lounge - I used to take my very well behaved German Shepard on the train all the time when I lived there.. One of the great Swiss freedoms.
Look forward to more of your postings

 

[LadyC]

Thank you kindly! Definitely had to visit the Sprungli cafe, although the first time we went it was full and we couldn't get a seat.

I love that you can take your dog places in Europe. I wish we could do that here in Australia.

I'm uploading from my iPhone so some of the photos are a little grainy - apologies! More photos to come - I will finish this trip report this weekend! I've been home for two weeks now so I must

 

[LadyC]

We had a private car come and pick us up from CDG. It took a few minutes to find him, once we did we were off to the car and out of the airport very quickly. He was a great driver, a French-Cambodian man who had arrived in France as a child. We got a good insight to current French politics and where it may be headed over the next few years.

We soon arrived at our hotel, La Belle Juliette, in the 6th arrondisement. We we staying there for 5 nights, just the basic room, which was lovely and suited our purposes. We got a lunch recommendation from front desk and headed up the street to a busy French cafe called Cafe Nemrod. This became our local and I think we ate there everyday of the trip for one meal or another!

We spent the first afternoon doing a lot of walking. We headed up to the obelisk and giant ferris wheel at one end of the jardin tuileries, up the champs elysee to the arc de triomphe and back to the hotel. There were market stalls along the first part of the champs elysee, so it was full of people and slow walking.

 

[LadyC]

We did the standard touristy things - visiting the Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. I organised tickets for the Eiffel Tower before we left Australia and highly recommend this for anyone going. Very little queuing required, just turn up 5 minutes before your designated time. Sadly, I did not employ this same technique for the Louvre and ended up waiting 45 minutes to get in.

As I am not a fan of queues, we didn't go into either the Sacre Coeur or Notre Dame, but we were happy enough to wander around these buildings and enjoy the view.

We used the metro to get around a lot which was great. Easy and cheap and relatively fast as well.

We also had the pleasure of catching up with some friends in Paris who we hadn't seen in 18 months. We had lunch with them twice and I think holidays are always more fun when you can share them with other people (even just briefly).

 

[amaroo]

View attachment 12912

This one is a keeper - great photo!

 

[LadyC]

The gentleman was very keen to sample some Michelin star fare on this trip and who was I to disagree? When we arrived in Paris, he got the concierge at the hotel on the case, providing a list of places that were open and where we would like to go.

We were lucky enough to be able to dine at Pavilion Le Doyen, apparently one of the oldest restaurants in Paris and situated just off the Champs Elysee. We had a dinner booking for New Years Eve and it certainly was a dinner of extravagance!

Menu
View attachment 12917

The restaurant


Frozen sea urchin


Lobster


Sea bass and caviar

 

[LadyC]

Foie gras


Truffle pasta (so decadent!!)


Some pre dessert desserts


Grapefruit dessert


Caramel and lemon biscuit (so divine!)


It really was an amazing meal. Quite molecular with foams and airs and the like - what I imagine El Bulli was like (but to the max). It was quite rich and heavy, probably because it was a winter menu. And the ingredients were very decadent - caviar, lobster, truffles - I assume this is because it was a NYE dinner - which we all know are more expensive than usual. We had some lovely wine with the meal and it was all very fabulous. No coffee or petit fours for us. It was getting close to midnight and the gentleman wanted to stay to see the fireworks before heading back to the hotel. There was a taxi we could have taken but we didn't. A decision we soon rued.....

So midnight comes around and it is an anti climax. No fireworks in Paris, so nothing to stay and watch. So we ask for them to call us a cab. They tell us to wait at the table, so we wait and wait...... 40 minutes later, still no cab. Lots of the other tables are leaving. It doesn't feel right. I'm a bit suspicious at this stage.

So we go downstairs (the restaurant is on the first floor) and there is a queue for taxis. And we are at the end of it. And it is New Years Eve and it is raining. We are most unimpressed as our taxi as been given away to someone else and we will now be waiting a while. The gentleman gives them a bit of a serve and we settle in to wait for a taxi. At around 2am, after waiting all up for around 2 hours, we finally got one and headed back to the hotel.

It was a really sour end to the evening, we felt the service was a real let down. The food was still magnificent and the gentleman currently feels it was the best meal he has ever had!

 

[ellen10]

Wow that meal does sound like a wonderful experience.
Shame about the taxi, does put a bit of a damper on the evening. But you will soon forget the taxi and just remember the delicious food.

 

[Major]

Wow that meal does sound like a wonderful experience.
Shame about the taxi, does put a bit of a damper on the evening. But you will soon forget the taxi and just remember the delicious food.

I would be the opposite. I'd remember the bloody taxi incident long after I'd forgotten what food I'd had