January 29 Tuesday
Today we left London and took the Eurostar train through the "chunnel" to France. We rose at 6 AM and left the flat at about 8:20 AM. Roy couldn’t figure out how to call for a cab on the cell phone, so we hit the street and found one for hire at Warren Street. He took us to St. Pancras station, which seems all new — this is not where the Eurostar used to depart from. We were super early, so we sat on cold seats (station not heated). Then Roy had an Americano, while Rob got a poppyseed bagel with a schmear. At 9 AM, we checked in and went through security (like an airport), then sat and waited for the platform to be announced (heated in here!).
The train seemed brand new, and when we left at 10:24 AM, we were shortly thereafter served a nice unexpected lunch! It was sliced cold chicken with some type of salad, bread and butter, an apple dessert and a small cookie. Wine was offered, but we had Coca Cola Lights. Roy tried to fool the attendant into thinking that he spoke French (“Le poulet ...”).
The knock on the Eurostar had been that the English portion of the train ride was not high speed — well, that has changed! Everything was super fast and before we even knew it, we were at the chunnel and then through it! We texted Jennifer from our VRBO rental office to let her know about our arrival. We arrived at the Gare du Nord and stood in the long taxi line, appalled at a group of seven young women from New Jersey who crashed the line to grab a minivan cab — OMG! Our cab driver from Haiti was friendly, and we soon arrived at 102 Rue du Temple, our home for the next week. After waiting a minute, a young man named Bernard came downstairs to meet us. He carried Rob’s suitcase upstairs to the fifth floor, then took mine for the final flight of stairs (Rob was suffering from back pain so this was very helpful). Our apartment was up on the fifth floor with no elevator in the building, but we knew this when we booked it. We received a thorough briefing on how everything in the apartment worked — the apartment is super nice!
The weather, which seemed nice while we were on the train, has taken a turn for the worse. It was COLD and WET! This did not give us a lot of motivation to do anything, but we did. We headed out and south on Rue du Temple towards the Hotel de Ville. We made a short detour on Rue St. Croix de Bretonniers, where Bernard thought there was a good restaurant, but he could not remember the name. We saw a restaurant there called Le Gai Moulin and examined the menu. It looked good. We continued on to the Hotel de Ville and then decided to continue on toward Notre Dame. There were lines to get in, but we hadn’t planned on entering anyway. We just took a few pictures are turned around. We stopped to look at some souvenir shops for a key chain requested by Rob’s sister Eve, and purchased a hairy cherry (long story). By the way, next to the Hotel de Ville is a giant department store (takes up a whole block) called Le BHV de Marais. BHV stand for Bazar de Hotel de Ville. This was not here when we had visited in the past.
We decided to walk up a parallel street, which should have more shopping opportunities called Rue des Archives. Then we turned left on Rue des Haudriettes, where there is a nice supermarket called Monop’. Then back to the apartment.
For dinner we headed out first for a drink (wine) at Open Bar / Cafe, which had been recommended by Sam Taylor’s friends Jim and Barry (whom we will meet on Saturday). It was nice. Then dinner at Le Gai Moulin, which we had previously seen. When we got there, it was practically empty — but that was because it was too early for the Parisians to eat, but not for us. The owner/host was very friendly and flamboyant — he was great fun! We had salads with goat cheese toast and then entrecôte (t-bones as the owner translated, but with no bone). The meal was really good with a nice pomerol wine. Then off to bed!
The train seemed brand new, and when we left at 10:24 AM, we were shortly thereafter served a nice unexpected lunch! It was sliced cold chicken with some type of salad, bread and butter, an apple dessert and a small cookie. Wine was offered, but we had Coca Cola Lights. Roy tried to fool the attendant into thinking that he spoke French (“Le poulet ...”).
The knock on the Eurostar had been that the English portion of the train ride was not high speed — well, that has changed! Everything was super fast and before we even knew it, we were at the chunnel and then through it! We texted Jennifer from our VRBO rental office to let her know about our arrival. We arrived at the Gare du Nord and stood in the long taxi line, appalled at a group of seven young women from New Jersey who crashed the line to grab a minivan cab — OMG! Our cab driver from Haiti was friendly, and we soon arrived at 102 Rue du Temple, our home for the next week. After waiting a minute, a young man named Bernard came downstairs to meet us. He carried Rob’s suitcase upstairs to the fifth floor, then took mine for the final flight of stairs (Rob was suffering from back pain so this was very helpful). Our apartment was up on the fifth floor with no elevator in the building, but we knew this when we booked it. We received a thorough briefing on how everything in the apartment worked — the apartment is super nice!
The weather, which seemed nice while we were on the train, has taken a turn for the worse. It was COLD and WET! This did not give us a lot of motivation to do anything, but we did. We headed out and south on Rue du Temple towards the Hotel de Ville. We made a short detour on Rue St. Croix de Bretonniers, where Bernard thought there was a good restaurant, but he could not remember the name. We saw a restaurant there called Le Gai Moulin and examined the menu. It looked good. We continued on to the Hotel de Ville and then decided to continue on toward Notre Dame. There were lines to get in, but we hadn’t planned on entering anyway. We just took a few pictures are turned around. We stopped to look at some souvenir shops for a key chain requested by Rob’s sister Eve, and purchased a hairy cherry (long story). By the way, next to the Hotel de Ville is a giant department store (takes up a whole block) called Le BHV de Marais. BHV stand for Bazar de Hotel de Ville. This was not here when we had visited in the past.
We decided to walk up a parallel street, which should have more shopping opportunities called Rue des Archives. Then we turned left on Rue des Haudriettes, where there is a nice supermarket called Monop’. Then back to the apartment.
For dinner we headed out first for a drink (wine) at Open Bar / Cafe, which had been recommended by Sam Taylor’s friends Jim and Barry (whom we will meet on Saturday). It was nice. Then dinner at Le Gai Moulin, which we had previously seen. When we got there, it was practically empty — but that was because it was too early for the Parisians to eat, but not for us. The owner/host was very friendly and flamboyant — he was great fun! We had salads with goat cheese toast and then entrecôte (t-bones as the owner translated, but with no bone). The meal was really good with a nice pomerol wine. Then off to bed!
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