The Journey Part VI

The Journey Part I

The Journey Part II

The Journey Part III

The Journey Part IV

The Journey Part V



The Journey 
Part VI - all new. Now with even more pictures!  :)

In Part V I talked about the amazing pâtisserie. I don't know where it is exactly but it's very close to this strange metallic modern-looking building, on the corner of Rue Croix des Petits Champs and Rue Saint-Honoré which I found out is the Ministry of Culture and Communication of France (Ministère de la Culture et Communication de France).

Can you believe I saw this man walk by? I wasn't fast enough with my camera so I caught him with his hand across his face but how funny and stereotypical is that?! A beret and a blue/white striped shirt! All he needs is to do is carry a long baguette, and be riding a bike! hahaha

I was starving but it wasn't quite 12 noon yet so I walked into the first restaurant which was open and already had people in it (noone was eating though). Remember I hadn't eaten properly for many many days and I didn't even care how much the meal would cost me. I just wanted a proper meal and my first French meal for the start of my new life in France. How exciting!

I ended up at Cafés Richard and ordered a entrée and a main (I had the goodie from the pâtisserie for dessert and I find the desserts in restaurants don't tend to be as good as the beauties I find in pâtisseries anyway).

The entrée I chose was an onion soup and it was covered with melted cheese (soupe à l'oignon gratinée). Considering the weather, it was exactly what I wanted/needed. It was a little bit too salty for my taste but I quite liked it! It came with bread and a jug of water.

For the main I chose the rabbit with herbs, butter and Chinese cabbage (râble de lapin farci aux herbes, embeurie de choux chinois) just to try something new. I guess it's an acquired taste because I didn't like it that much and didn't finish it but I'm still glad I tried it. I was amazed at how finely the vegetables were chopped and remember some technique like that on Masterchef.

After that I made my way over to the Louvre courtyard and I'm sure you don't need to see photos of that! Ok just one. It was raining slightly (sun shower?) and it made an interesting reflection.

I spent ages walking around trying to find that mini pyramid that was in the Da Vinci code story but couldn't find it! Anyone know where it is and how I can see it from the street level? I already went into the Louvre before so I didn't need to go again but here's a tip that I read somewhere... don't queue at street level. Go via the métro (underground) Palais Royal Musée du Louvre and you don't need to queue!

I didn't have much time to do a lot so then I just wandered over to the Champs Elysées... and I noticed the gorgeous autumn leaves colours just adjacent.

Eventually I had to go back to Gare de Lyon to catch my train to my new future home town!! It was absolute chaos. The station is under renovations and I saw a sign which looked like this:

which is confusing for a newbie. Luckily I didn't need to know what any of that meant. I already found the consignes before and I was just sitting on my Zuca suitcase squished amongst the crowd, waiting for the signboard to tell me which platform to go to.

There are the blue platforms and the yellow ones and mine was a yellow one. They don't tell you the number of your platform (voie) until about 10 minutes before it departs so as soon as it does there is a big swarm of people getting up and walking quickly towards their train...

I was marvelling at the gorgeous autumn leaves colours from the train and a few hours later I was picked up by my new hosts that I found through Couch Surfing. I had hosted before but never surfed before and this was going to my first experience.

Luckily for me, it was an awesome awesome one. They were so hospitable to me... They fed me and looked after me and were oh-so-kind. I couldn't have been luckier or happier!

... to be continued... stay tuned for the last part of "The Journey"!

The Journey VII