Our stay in London was up, and it was time to move on to Paris. We took a black cab (very comfy…but a little pricey) to the St. Pancras International Station where we took the Eurostar. I’ve never been on a train in my life before, let alone an international high speed super train, so this was definitely a novel experience for me. Unfortunately, most of the trip was spent in tunnels, and we were constantly having to suck on Strepsils (yes, I know you aren’t supposed to take more than one every 2 hours or something) to pop our ears. But when we weren’t in tunnels, we had beautiful views of rolling countrysides and fields of rapeseed flowers.
And just like that, we were in France. Woah. That was fast. The train station in Paris was a little more dirty and run-down than the sparkling clean St. Pancras Station in London. In fact, the first Parisians that we saw at the station were a woman and a man, both drunk out of their minds, lolling about on the streets. Errrm, right. Not exactly the chic, cultured image I had of Paris, haha. Nevertheless, as our driver came to take us to our hotel (again, another cheap quasi-dormitory hotel), he introduced us to some of the more iconic images of Paris; the Eiffel Tower, the Seine River… Ever the tourist, I didn’t hesitate to take a bunch of blurry pictures from the car.
After dropping of our luggage, we set off to explore! Our hotel was just a few train stations away from Notre Dame Cathedral, where all the touristy places were. Meandering through the many alleyways of the Saint-Michel area, we decided to sate our grumbling tummies with some authentic (well, as authentic as you can get in a tourist district) Parisian cuisine. We actually struck gold on our first try of restaurants, as this was the best meal we probably had during the entire Paris stay.
We decided to go with the stereotypical appetizers, starting with escargot and foie gras. I’ve tried snail before, but not foie gras. The escargot, to be honest wasn’t that great, but the foie gras! Oh good lord, what have I been missing out on all these years?!? I know it’s a controversial food but…it’s so good! *drools* With the fig jam and the foie gras on the bits of toast…*melts* Delicious. (and thus began my overwhelming addiction to foie gras)
Next up was the lamb. Nothing too special, though there was just too much food on the menu, so we were forced to abandon half of the meal, to the horror and dismay of the cook. However, he did give up a huge grin and thumbs up when we ordered the escargot and foie gras, so I guess we’re cool on that 😛
For dessert was the creme brulee (sorry French peeps, I can’t type accents on my computer). Om nom nom.
So after stuffing ourselves silly with delicious French food, we staggered back with full bellies to our hotel room. The night view of the Eiffel Tower is spectacular. 🙂
Signing off,
Marie
Marie's Kitchen 