Mmm, Paris! (March 2018) - Day 4: Music of the NOPE!

[Gill H]

<<<Day 3

And so we come to the beginning of our final day in Paris. This isn’t going to be an easy one to write, and I warn you, it contains a major downer and probably a rant. But all that is currently in the future. Right now, we wake in our little room and make a coffee - sharing one cup yet again, as the other one has been taken away. Why can’t they understand that there are two of us in the room so we need two cups? And for that matter, why is the ‘cup’ a ceramic beaker with no handle? Ah, the mysteries of foreign travel.

We get ready and quickly pack our stuff, and then for the last time we head downstairs. Peter goes in the teeny tiny lift with the case, and I take the narrow staircase. But first I take a few photos of the doors and hallway outside our room. You’ll remember that back on our first day, I described the décor as ‘1980s brothel’ (not that I have any personal knowledge to draw on, you understand…) and here’s why.

Rosy isn’t on duty this morning, it’s the man who we’ve mostly seen in the evenings. I don’t think we ever got his name. He’s a bit more reserved than Rosy but perfectly polite and helpful. We hand in our key and ask if we can leave our case with him while we go and have breakfast, and he says this is fine.

So, for the last time, we nip round to our favourite bakery. This time there is no-one eating inside, so we grab the table and chairs. With our coffees Peter has a croissant au beurre (remembering yesterday’s advice) and a pain au chocolat, and I have a croissant au beurre too, and one of the pistachio and chocolate roules Peter had yesterday. Boy, we’ll miss this place. They do all kinds of bread, sandwiches and patisserie as well as things like quiches. We seriously start fantasizing about renting a self-catering flat nearby and coming here for pastries for breakfast, quiche for lunch and cakes after dinner! We never got round to trying their awesome looking cakes, sadly.

While we’re eating, a bunch of lively children come inside and head upstairs. I wonder if there is some sort of school upstairs, or maybe a cooking class? There is certainly no space for the public, otherwise we would have our own dedicated seats by now!

After that, two men come downstairs, bearing an enormous croquembouche – the traditional French wedding cake comprising a cone of choux pastry balls filled with cream and decorated with sugar almonds, sugar crystals, rice paper roses and a huge pastry crown. You can actually see a picture of it on their Facebook page (where I've 'borrowed' the photo below from). It looks utterly amazing, but I’m glad I’m not the one driving it to the wedding!

facebook/maison.nico...type=3&theater

Bidding goodbye to the friendly lady at the bakery for the last time, we nip back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and say our goodbyes.

I have to say, though the staff were friendly and helpful, our experience here overall hasn’t been great. The tired décor, the bubbles of damp in the wallpaper, the cracked and grimy tiling in the bathroom – all point to a hotel that needs some serious money invested in it. Granted, it was kept clean and they do what they can with what they have. And it was a bargain for the area. But overall, next time I think we’ll try to spend a little more and get somewhere nicer.

[Gill H]

Anyway, it’s time for the final stroll to Port-Royal station, just five minutes away (the hotel might have been a bit grotty but the location is great!) This time, instead of spending 7.50 each on a Mobilis day ticket, we decide just to get two singles to Auber, our first destination, and then later we’ll get two singles to Gare du Nord – saving us money again.

As usual the B line is quite busy, but fortunately we’re only going one stop again, to Chatelet. Then we change onto the A line and take one stop to Auber, where after negotiating various passageways, lifts and steps, we emerge to a beautiful view of this morning’s destination – the Opera Garnier.

Yes, this morning's M is for Music! The famous Paris opera house is probably best known in Britain for being the setting for ‘The Phantom of the Opera’. That was fictional, of course, and we’re not expecting to be in danger from any falling chandeliers this morning. The opera house offers tours in English several times a week, and we have pre-booked an 11am tour through Hotelopia with Peter’s discount from work, in order to save us a little money. The tour takes about an hour and a half, which will just fill the morning nicely before we head to Gare du Nord for lunch and our Eurostar home.

However, as per usual we are early, so we look for somewhere to have a coffee – preferably somewhere with enough space for us to bring the suitcase in. This is something of a challenge. There are plenty of places for a coffee but many are tiny little cafes, or else very expensive looking places. We end up in a Starbucks (I know …) However, this isn’t just your usual Starbucks. This is the Versailles Palace version of a Starbucks. It is on the Boulevard des Capucines – referring of course to Capuchin monks, after whom the cappuccino was named. Nice reference, though.

The original building dates back to the 17th century, and in the 1900s it housed a branch of Liberty (did you know Liberty had a Paris branch? Every day’s a school day). Nowadays it serves the usual Starbucks range, but in the most opulent surroundings I have ever seen in a coffee shop!

Once we’re finished we head over the road and find our way to the entrance for the tour. Our plan is to store the suitcase in the cloakroom while we tour, and then collect it and go to the station for lunch. After all, it’s a theatre, they have cloakrooms, right? {Cue sound of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ intro playing offstage… Dahhh, da da da da daaaaaah! Ominous? Oh yes.)

Inside there’s a huge security arch, so we approach with our tickets and suitcase, ready to be screened. And this is where it all goes wrong. A very officious man – OK, in fact a downright rude man – shouts at us that we can’t go in with the case.

We try to explain that we are happy for the case to be security screened, we just want to leave it in the cloakroom while we tour. Will he listen? No. He just shouts that we can’t come in.

Meanwhile, people with backpacks are happily going through the arch and being let in for the tour. Frankly, if we had plans to do any damage we could have found easier ways than turning up with a large green suitcase. But Monsieur Jobsworth is not giving way. We ask his slightly less rude companion what to do, but apart from suggesting we leave it somewhere nearby, he is not much help.

I decide to talk to the lady at the ticket desk and see if she can help. So, leaving Peter with the case, I go through the arch and wait in the queue. The lady is much more friendly, but confirms that although yes, the theatre does have a cloakroom, we are not allowed to use it for the tour. When I ask if there is anywhere else we can leave it, she suggests we go to a cafe across the road, buy something and ask if they would look after the case for a couple of hours. Er, yeah, sure. So two random tourists come into your cafe and ask if you can look after a mysterious green suitcase while they go off somewhere. Unlikely. About as unlikely as us entrusting our suitcase to them. Plus, the lady points out that it is now almost 11am and the tour will be starting, so we would have to catch them up.

So we are stuck. I walk back down the queue, asking if anyone would like two free tickets for a tour in English as we can’t use them, but everyone there is buying tickets for a later tour in French. So we’ve wasted £11.50 each, plus we’ve come here for nothing.

It’s fair to say that at this point we are pretty ticked off. Not just with not being able to get in, but with the unpleasant way we’ve been treated. Oh, and by the way, we’ve been to Paris plenty of times and understand that the French manner can sometimes come across as brusque. This wasn’t Parisian brusqueness (is that a word?) He was just plain nasty.

In fact, so annoyed are we that Peter goes to talk to a manager, and although nothing is done, he does get a sympathetic look when he mentions Monsieur Jobsworth. Maybe we aren’t the first to complain about his manner.

Au revoir, Opera Garnier.

[Gill H]

So, what do we do now? We consider browsing the large department stores nearby, but figure it won’t be much fun dragging the suitcase with us. Right now, we really wish we’d done what we discussed earlier, and gone to Gare du Nord first and paid for a left luggage locker. Lesson learned for next time, I guess.

After a few minutes fuming about our wasted morning, we decide the best thing to do is cut our losses and make our way to Gare du Nord. We have lunch booked at a restaurant there (booked and prepaid through Expedia, as another part of making this a budget friendly trip) so we might as well find it and see if we can get in slightly early.

And so, back down the stairs, onto line A, back to Chatelet again, change, and finally back to Gare du Nord. Where we wander around aimlessly for a bit, checking out the refurbishments and some of the more unusual shops. Who can guess what this place sells? That’s right – undies!

Spotting a piano, I grab the chance to serenade Peter with a little belated ‘happy birthday’. I love finding random pianos in stations!

Somehow or other we take the wrong exit, and end up taking a long walk over bridges and through corridors. We eventually find our way outside.

Check out this fun little sculpture!

And so to the restaurant – the nearby Brasserie Terminus Nord. It’s evidently just opened as we are almost the first people through the doors, but we are given a friendly welcome and shown to a table.

The Brasserie Terminus Nord is a classic French brasserie serving all the usual reliable French favourites. Reviews seem surprisingly good for somewhere reasonably priced and so near to the station! We have pre-paid for a 2-course lunch through Expedia (helpful for the budgeting to have it already accounted for). We had decided on 2 courses instead of 3 in case we didn’t have much time after our Opera tour … ho ho ho, hollow laughs all round.

The set menu is pretty limited, but we each find something we fancy. I start with the chicken Caesar salad, which is pretty good and comes in a decent sized portion.

I accompany this with some hilariously named French lemonade.

Peter has his usual Coke to drink, and starts with the onion soup. This is tasty and hearty – not perhaps the best we’ve ever had (strangely enough, that might have been in Amsterdam a few years back) but it’s pretty good.

Despite the fact that we both had the entrecote steak last night, we decide to go for steak frites once again, as it seems the best of the set menu choices. It’s a decent steak, properly cooked and served with a fine helping of tasty frites. We’re quite happy with our meal here and would come again.

By the time we leave the place has started to fill up a little. Still not too busy though. If you are looking for somewhere for a tasty lunch before your train, you could do worse than book a table here.

[Gill H]

We leave the restaurant and set off on a quest. If you have read any of our French trippies before you may know we are big fans of the French drink ‘diabolo menthe’. It’s made with a non-alcoholic green mint syrup, and lemonade. Some think the syrup looks like washing-up liquid, and they may have a point. But it does have miraculous cooling properties on a hot day. In our hot London flat we get through several bottles of the syrup every summer. And while it can be found in London, you pay over the odds for it. So our mission is to find a shop selling the stuff and bring some bottles home.

However, it’s not as easy as you would think. There seem to be very few grocery shops in the area around the station. And unlike the UK, where the likes of M&S Food pop up in larger stations, here at Gare du Nord they don’t seem to have added a Monoprix. Eventually we find a tiny little corner shop, but the only brand of sirop de menthe they have is one we aren’t keen on. So we resign ourselves to having to pay a fiver for a bottle of the green stuff back home, and console ourselves with the thought that at least we don’t have to cart it all the way from Paris.

So there’s nothing for it now but to head into Gare du Nord itself. Not the most exciting place to hang out at the best of times, and certainly not when much of it is under scaffolding. However, if you can cast your mind back to Tuesday’s trippie, when we were wandering round the Marais, you might remember a mention of a particular patisserie called ‘Eclair de Genie’. We didn’t get to try the eclairs there that day – but they have a branch here at Gare du Nord!

So … time on our hands, and enough Euros left in the budget for a coffee and one of these delicious little creations. Oh, and fortunately, enough space for us and the suitcase. So it’s not long before we are comfortably ensconced in the little cafe and tucking into our eclairs. Firstly we share this one:

Caramel au beurre salé (salted caramel). The website describes it thus:

La douceur du caramel au beurre salé alliée à l'onctuosité du Mascarpone, recouvert de poudre doré.

(The sweetness of salted butter caramel, allied to the unctuousness of mascarpone, covered with golden powder.)

leclairdegenie/eclairs-en...sale-3ans.html

We are not big fans of salted caramel – I love caramel but I’m so over the salt thing. However, this doesn’t really have that salty kick, and basically just tastes all kinds of delicious. I’m going to look for an occasion to use the word ‘onctuosité’ next time I’m in France. Yum.

Then we share the wonderfully named ‘passion crispy framboise’ which sounds like a patisserie themed drag queen. The website is a little more restrained on this one, settling for:

Crème fruit de la passion, crispy de framboise

(Passion fruit cream, raspberry crispy. And yes, I know crispy is not a noun. Those crazy French again.)

leclairdegenie/eclairs-en..amboise.html

Unlike the oddly named American doughnuts, this is both crispy and creamy. And utterly gorgeous. At nearly 6 Euros each, they’re not cheap, but a lovely way to finish our trip, even if most of today has been frustrating.

Once we’ve finished, Peter nips downstairs to see if there are any other interesting shops to browse while we hang around, but there aren’t really. So we decide to head upstairs to the Eurostar check-in area, since there’s really nothing else to do.

We’re quickly through the ticket barriers (which have been modernised since we were here last) and the security area (ditto) and into the waiting area, which has had a makeover too. Annoyingly there are fewer shops than previously, but a few more cafes – not that we want anything right now! At least it’s miles better than the cattle-truck conditions you get at Marne-la-Vallee.

At this point we’ve just had enough of being here. We’re hot, tired, frazzled and snappy, and most of the day has been a waste of time (crispy passion notwithstanding). But we somehow manage to find a place to sit and while away the time until boarding opens for our train. Which it eventually does, and soon we’re taking our seats on the Eurostar home.

Our journey home is smooth and uneventful, although we do get sooooo fed up of seeing this promo over and over again on the screens in the carriage.



Finally we’re home and being royally told off by Spikey for daring to go on holiday. Nevertheless, she’s glad to see us. And so we settle down to sort through our photos, begin making the videos and writing the trippies – and to some serious saving for the next Big Holiday. Because there will be one. It might not be for a couple of years, but there will be one.

And so, mes amis, thank you for reading, and au revoir until the next time.

INDEX

[clochette]

What a shame your last day was spoiled by Monsiuer Jobsworth - you've got to wonder why some people work with the public!

I've really enjoyed reading your report - thanks for sharing.

[disney owl]

really enjoyed reading your reports, thanks for sharing

[Bouncing Tigger]

Nice little trippie, look forward to the big one in a year or so.

[MrsBC]

What an absolute waste of a morning for you! I bet strong words were muttered under your breath!

[Guest]

Lol, believe me when I tell you that there is a big difference between "the French manner" and Parisian petits chefs.

What a right little Hitler. So sorry that happened on your last day in France.


On a happier note, I did love the snaps of the no-tell motel!

Many thanks for your (per usual) extremely detailed report. See you 'round the forums (fora )...

[vanlou]

Thanks for sharing really enjoyed reading about your latest Parisian adventure. Shame you had to meet Monsieur Jobsworth though and miss your tour At least the rest of it was lovely.