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Posted on July 23, 2015July 24, 2015 by beauperi

Onto Switzerland

Saturday, 11 June,2015

We leave the apartment early to head to the train station and then CDG. Although not flying Turkish, we are still spooked by CDG so we get away very early. It is a short walk to our nearest train station and lugging the luggage down a few stairs was not too bad. The only thing that goes wrong is when we are going through the turnstiles, Julie pulls my suitcase through and leaves me behind. I am stuck between the turnstile and the big barrier gates. I have used up all my spare Metro tickets so will I be stuck there forever? At last a local comes by with a season path and after instructing me to do something, in French so I could not understand it, he eventually gets me and him through the gates.

It is a short ride on the Metro to Gare du Nord and from there a very easy transfer to the RER that goes to CDG. It turns out to be a direct “flight”. We had heard from the Authorities about all the pickpockets and bag snatchers at Gare du Nord and on the RER train but I guess it must have been too early in the morning for them. We arrive at CDG “Terminal 1” but we already knew after our experience of nearly 3 weeks ago that we would be at Terminal 3. Being well practised, we get on the Shuttle to Terminal 1. Swiss Air check-in goes well, we are in Business Class the rest of the way home. They send us to the Lounge but the way is blocked and we discover we have to go through that horrible Immigration line again. This time of day it is very short so we go through and then find the lifts to the Lounge. It is actually quite good and has a decent small omelet as well as other facilities. They said that we needed an hour to get to our departure gate and we wondered why. Well, they send us the totally wrong way, a long walk and then another Immigration gate, looking like we were entering France again. The wait was not too long, but why was it required? After passing through there is another long walk back towards the Security and then the departure gates. Without saying too much more, I don’t really like CDG although it has improved from a few years before and I can’t necessarily blame CDG for the Turkish Airlines stuff up – but CDG is still not my favourite.

Eventually we board the Swiss flight. It is smooth enough while the food is unexceptional for Business Class. There is a very nice German Stewardess that chats with us for most of the flight. We land at Zurich airport and what a difference – no Immigration, no Customs – just straight through. Our priority bags get off OK and the train to Central Zurich is very efficient and fast.

Our Hostess for our apartment, the wonderful Zina, had given us very detailed instructions on how to find the apartment in Zurich Old Town. The only trouble was, and pretty much the same as in Paris, there was detail missing on the very first step. We were to go out the exit to the tram line to ride up to where we were to get off. However, there were at least three exits from the train station and only one of them worked. We went to the information booth, but the queue there was at least 100 people long so we set out ourselves. Of course, we went out the wrong way and nearly headed in the totally wrong direction. A good thing, Julie found a helpful Swiss guy who pointed us in the right direction. We had decided in advance we would walk the suitcases instead of taking a tram and it was an OK walk and the weather was beautiful.

At the destination end, the directions were absolutely perfect and we could not fail to find the apartment building. We had some troubles with the keylock but the problems were our klutziness, not the directions. Zina came down, Julie may have buzzed her other apartment where she lived, and helped us get the key and then up to the apartment. It was so much better than the last place in Paris with one large room that was very clean and had lots of the facilities we wanted including a large desk for the Internet use which turned out to be quite fast. Zina showed us everything, a delightful person and I recommend both her and the apartment highly.

https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/3382719

The only problem that I had was that she had added a Futon, or the equivalent, and that effectively meant sleeping very close to the floor. An old decrepit, Senior citizen like me had some trouble getting out of bed. Any way, Julie goes out prancing and I do Blogging and resting work.

One of Julie’s goals in coming to Switzerland was to get one of their special Pressure Cookers. As we have learned that all the shops will be closed tomorrow, being Sunday, I suggest that she pick one up today which she does as she demonstrates when she finally returns. What’s more, Julie has an innovative idea for dinner for us. This is to go to one of the Department stores which has a large food hall with a number of dining areas much like David Jones in Melbourne but much larger.

We eventually settle into this food bar which is serving Swiss / German / international fare

I order a Bratwurst which is actually quite a bit bigger than it looks in this photo

Julie had ordered a Caesar salad with Salmon. I watched in alarm as the cook cut-up a Chicken fillet to put on it. I think our server recognised it and immediately took it back to the cook who was horribly chagrined at his mistake. He put on a piece of Salmon for a replacement. I was concerned that it was on the grill way too long, but he did get it right.

At the end of the meal, Julie said to the server that She wanted an Irish Coffee. The server, who was an absolutely delightful girl, originally from Guatemala, said they did not have that but then disappeared for quite a while to see what she could do. Eventually, after going to several of the different serving areas in the Food Hall, she cam back with this:

We walk around the store to get some supplies.

We gather our purchases and walk back to the flat. Julie decides to take a circuitous route. Along the way there is a cacophony of all the church bells in the area sounding.

Note the time: it won't be dark for at least another 3 hours — Note the time: it won’t be dark for at least another 3 hours

Posted on July 21, 2015 by beauperi

Last Tango In Paris?

Friday, 10 July, 2015

We get out of the apartment relatively early to go find some place to eat. Naturally, Julie has been looking for her favourite food so this is where we end up.

The shop also has a restaurant attached to it but it won’t be open for another hour or so. We decide to go to a cafe diagonally opposite for a coffee and pressed juice.

The cafe did not really have anything we would like to eat so Julie went wandering off and got some ham at one place, some salmon from the shop and then some pre-made baguettes. We added our bought ham / salmon and had a pretty decent snack. After a while, we start wandering off to an unknown, to me, destination. I took a few shots of places that grabbed me along the way.

One of the side effects from yesterday’s lost wanderings is that there is a shop that we “must go to” that she saw along the way.

I sat outside on that bench for 45 minutes or so after she disappeared inside. Finally, she comes out.

I had had enough and was even willing to sit in our apartment for the rest of the day rather than putting up with more shopping. Some shots along the way back.

Julie goes out prancing, of course, leaving me to try to do Blogging in the uncomfortable environment. She returns around 4:00 PM and suggest we go for a drink at another nearby restaurant. Sounds like a good idea so off we go. It is a short walk.

We have a bottle of Rose in the seats out the front and watch the world go by. There is a major police station across the street and the comings and going from there are interesting. Also it is a day for rubbish pick up and there are amusing sites of people moving their bins to various other places around. My guess is that they were not paying the rubbish collection rates but getting it collected elsewhere.

We decide we may as well have dinner there but it won’t start until 7:30. We make a reservation but they won’t reserve the outside seats as they are very popular. We get back to the restaurant at 7:30 and all of the outside seats are taken.

We are seated at a table just inside the door but as we are about to order we are asked to move to another one because someone special had wanted our table. Were we not special enough after spending much of the afternoon there? Slightly miffed, but the table was OK and we sat next to a nice couple from Alabama.

That was the dish title according to Google translate which obviously did not do a great job here.

The food was pretty good. We go back to the apartment because we have an early start the next day.

http://www.gastrochic.com/2011/food/le-petit-marche-paris/

So what is this Post headline about? I don’t know, the last two times in Paris have not been that great. At this stage, we much prefer Lyon. If we do come back we will probably stay in another area and certainly in a higher class apartment / hotel. Life is too short.

Posted on July 21, 2015 by beauperi

Not so gay Paree

Thursday, 9 July, 2015

It is early morning in Dijon and we must leave for Paris later on. It is a market day, so we go into the market. However, it seems nothing starts early in France.

We go out the back of the market, see photo from yesterday, and go to a place across the street from where we had a drink yesterday.

A decent serve of Ham and Eggs and bread

We walk back to the apartment going through the market which has some more stalls open.

The street in front of our apartment place

Let me say a bit more about the apartment. It was not quite as big as the one in Lyon but did have the second bedroom for our suitcases. It was modernly fitted out. Once the Internet was fixed it worked well. Good location near the market and restaurants. Would definitely recommend the apartment.

https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/4221653

We pack up and move out to the train station. A bit of a walk but it is a very nice day. The wait at the station is not too long and then we are on our train to Paris. This time reserved seats. Again it is quite a pleasant journey through the countryside and in about 90 minutes we are in Paris at Gare du Lyon.

Then things started going wrong. We had done some study about Reduced Mobility Accessibility stations in Paris, because of my back issues, and the one that was closest to our apartment was not in the list. So there was another one about 15 minutes away and we decided that we would take the line to there as it would also be a good jump off point when we were to leave in 2 days time.

Gare du Lyon was fine with escalators getting us to the correct Metro line. I had left over tickets from last time in Paris so everything was great. WRONG. When we got to the destination station, we went out the wrong exit. This then lead to a whole bunch of stairs to go up and I had no choice but to carry the suitcase up them. Fortunately, I did not cause myself any damage. Julie had prepared appropriate maps – hand drawn and Google Maps but because we had gone out the wrong way, we could not get our bearings. I sat in a McDonalds for about 45 minutes while Julie tired to use their Internet to get located. We go out and start in the right direction but things are not working out. We have walked for about 60 minutes, of a 15 minute walk, and there is still no sign of where we are going. I notice that I have concerned messages from the Apartment owners and their friends who are there to let us in. Finally, we grab a taxi. This takes quite a while too since the one way streets in Paris mean that there is no direct way there. Finally, we reach the apartment building and with help from their friend get up to the third floor, there was a lift, and the apartment. The couple who had let us in were really nice, as it also appeared that the owners were really nice too.

Sadly, we could not say the same about the apartment. It was quite primitive, fine for a young couple starting out but not so good for us older folks. Plus the apartment was nowhere clean enough for our standards and they were smokers which meant that smell in the air. From my point of view the Internet worked well but there was no desk or table that I could use to access it. Yuk all the way around.

Any way, Julie goes prancing, as usual, while I hang around being somewhat tired from lugging the suitcases around. The heat wave had gone but it was still quite warm. When Julie comes back, she has found a nice restaurant for that evening and made a reservation, which turned out to be a really good idea. We go there at around 7:00, which is very early for Paris, and have a nice table outside.

We sit next to a Mother and Daughter from Denmark, nice people

Julie started with a Caeser's Salad, nice fig — Julie started with a Caeser’s Salad, nice fig

There were quite a number of people waiting for tables, most wanted to be outside. Some waited for well over an hour, not my scene.

We stopped at another bar on the way back for a drink.

Posted on July 20, 2015 by beauperi

Around Dijon

Wednesday, 8 July, 2015

It is clear that we are getting near the end of the long trip as we have much lesser ambitions than earlier. We go out in the morning to get something for breakfast. We are in a good area around the Dijon market where there are a number of restaurants. We pick one and get a pressed juice and coffee each. We wanted some baguette but the lady said “the delivery of the bread was away” or something like that and have a croissant instead with our ham and smoked salmon we picked up yesterday.

We go back to the apartment and then Julie goes out prancing around town. I take advantage of the fixed Internet to do some blogging, etc. as well as time for more naps. Eventually in mid-afternoon Julie comes back and suggest that we go out for an afternoon drink.

So we go to the back of the market, which was not open today, and select a place on the street. There are a number of restaurants available and they are all just about full.

Back of the market. Supposedly designed by the architect who designed the Eiffel Tower

It is near dinner time so we walk around the market and look at all of the restaurants. Julie earlier had her eye on this “American steak place” and that is where we ended up.

Lots of rawhide everywhere including the chairs

We get there too early, i.e. before 7:00 but they allow us to enter and order drinks. Finally, after 7:00 they take our order.

Julie has a chicken Caesar salad to start

I order Steak and Chips. The latter were good, the former was not

Salmon for Julie. Over cooked in spite of having asked for it rare

Julie asks for an Irish Coffee but no, no, no. So we go back to the apartment and bed. We leave Dijon tomorrow morning.

Posted on July 18, 2015July 20, 2015 by beauperi

Hot Mustard

Tuesday, 7 July, 2015

This morning we are to leave Lyon. We get up early and it is still hot, hot. We go to Cafe du Marche again for breakfast and Julie has her rillette of Salmon again. I order a croissant but am brought a charcuterie plate instead which we send back. I eventually get the croissant and have my ham from the market with it. We walk back through the market which today was a food market but because it was early, by French standards, it was only partially set-up.

Back to the apartment to finish packing. Odile and husband come by to help us carry the suitcases down the stairs. She has also ordered a taxi for us. An absolutely delightful person and we enjoyed the stay in spite of the very hot weather. Highly recommended.

https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/3517871

The weather is still very hot, although not too bad early in the morning. I had been going to walk the suitcases over to the train station but Julie convinced me it was too hot so we took the taxi that Odile had ordered. The train station was unexceptional and we had a bit of a wait until the platform was announced. We get on the train and it is a real pleasure because – well it is air conditioned! Julie manages to snaffle us a compartment for 6 with our bags and just us.

So what is the title of this post about? We are headed to Dijon and the weather is still stinking hot! It is a pleasant train ride through the countryside of Burgundy, Beaune is the previous stop before Dijon. We are going to be early so we have a drink at the Dijon train station in an air conditioned cafe. We walk to the apartment which was quite an achievement by Julie as the streets of Dijon are not straight and there were a few turns to make along the way. We get some supplies and get directly to the place of lodging. It is a massive old hotel that has been converted to apartments. There is some trouble getting through the big door but some kids let us in.

There is also some problems connecting with Elisabeth once we get inside the courtyard but she comes out and finds us.

Our apartment is the white door on the left, ground floor

Elisabeth really only speaks French and we do not so there are some communications problems but they get sorted out quickly. The living area is smaller than our place in Lyon but there is a second bedroom where the suitcases can be opened up. The place is quite modern inside. But there is one trouble, the Internet does not work with a strange error message. Later we get a call from Elisabeth’s daughter to say some one will come to fix it at 7:00. For me it is time for a nap, for Julie time to prance around Dijon.

We are to go out to a Michelin Star restaurant and our booking is for 7:30 and it is somewhat of a walk. But the lady to fix the Internet shows up on time, early even, and quickly solves our troubles by moving the router from a phone plug in the front room to one in the second bedroom and it is all working fine. So we head out to our restaurant.