We took a trip to London and Paris from September 7-September 19th, 2015.
This is our daily account of our experience.
Nothing too fancy here, just a recount of the fun we had and the things we saw. We stayed in Earls Court in London and the 5th Arrondissement in Paris.
After a pretty big and tiring day of traveling around Paris yesterday, we decide to keep it pretty mellow on our last full day in Paris (9/18/15). The forecast was also calling for rain and thunderstorms. We started out our day by stopping into a local bakery (boulanger) called "Eric Kayser." We picked up a couple quiches, some croissants, a baguette and a raspberry dessert of some sort.
Back at our apartment I reheated the quiche in a frying pan like I did earlier in the week and Deanna made a sandwich out of the baguette. I brewed us some espressos and we relaxed, enjoying the view of Paris from our window.
Quiche
Deanna went back to reading her book more and I watched some French television and took a nap before we decided to go for another walk around the neighborhood. There was a break in the rain so it was a good time to head out for a bit. Deanna was looking for a place that served chicken pho, so we stopped at a few Vietnamese restaurants to check their menus but could not find one that had it. We stopped into a little gift shop and looked around for a bit then headed home. After watching a movie we then headed back to our favorite place "Foyer Mon Vietnam" for some beef pho. This time we ordered the pork rolls, shrimp/crab rolls, 2 beef pho and I had the coconut panna cotta again. It was all just as amazing as before. This restaurant was packed this time which makes sense because it is very good. We wished this restaurant was in SF.
After dinner we spent some time relaxing with some beers and wine and good music on our jambox. We kept the windows open for a while and listened to the night air and soaked in our final night in Paris. There were a couple of nights we looked out the window and saw all of the lights in this building putting on a weird light show or something.
We did a little packing and went to bed.
Here is the AirBnb that we stayed at in Paris: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/6274420 We definitely loved this little apartment. It was cute and the neighborhood was great as well. All transportation needs were close by. Everyone we met in that neighborhood was nice and easy to interact with. We recommend it if you are heading to Paris.
We booked a flight back to London instead of the EuroStar rail because it was faster and cheaper. The only negative is that the cheapest flight leaves at 7:30am out of Paris. So Friday (09/29/15) morning we got up around 3:45am. We did a quick clean up around the apartment packed our remaining luggage. We called for a cab to pick us up at 4:30am to take us to Charles de Gaulle airport. We could have taken the train to the airport but the train does not run at that time. So we would have had to take a bus and transfer once or twice and it would have taken over an hour to get there. Our taxi took us there in about 35 minutes and cost around 53 Euros. Pretty typical for an airport trip in the US.
We arrived at the airport and went into the terminal to find the British Airways terminal. We were in the right terminal, but could not find anything that indicated where the check in was for British Airways. We walked around for a while trying to figure it out but could not. We looked it up online and found that they were downstairs in a separate registration area. So we headed downstairs to the #9 check in desk and found a group of people waiting for British Airways to open their doors. As we waited a large number of people gathered to get in. They opened around 6am and we all went in. After being processed we went to the British Airways gate and hung out waiting to board. The British Airways terminal is very nice and swanky in Paris. We boarded shortly after and took off on our way back to London for our flight home.
Manbun and Girlbun in front of us
During our flight we got breakfast in the form of a ham and cheese croissant and drinks. Pretty nice for just an hour long flight. We landed and made our way out of the terminal to get our backs to recheck back in to fly United. You'd think they could have some sort of better process for transferring from different airlines and not forcing you to go back through check in and security. We found a restaurant in the Heathrow terminal called the Perfectionists' Cafe where we sat down for some food. We both ordered breakfasts. I had the full English breakfast plate, an americano and a beer. Deanna had Eggs Benedict, champagne and a pot of tea. The breakfast wasn't that bad. I ate it all.
Heathrow Airport
After breakfast we made the 15 minute trek to our United terminal at Heathrow. Luckily this long walk was full of moving floors to aid us in our adventure. Also at Heathrow they have FREE hand carts. We made good use of those. We hung out for an hour or so at our terminal before boarding our 9 hour flight back to Houston. Deanna was kind enough to let me ride by the window for this flight and she suffered next to some weird dude for the duration. We enjoyed many bottles of complimentary wine and a meal during our flight and watched a couple movies. We watched "Tomorrowland," "D-Train," "San Andreas," and Deanna watched "Bessie" while I watched "Avengers." Before we landing in Houston we were given a small turkey and cheese sandwich that wasn't bad. When we arrived in Houston we had to go through customs. The dumb thing they don't let you know about Houston is that they have automated Customs form machines. You do not have to fill out those stupid declaration cards they give you on the plane. We did of course but nobody ever took them. We did the machine and go in the huge lines and made our way out to our Luggage yet again. Then had to get re-scanned to get back to our connecting flight. What a terrible process this was. It was immediately evident that we were back in the US as we kept encountering rude TSA agents and unhelpful people at nearly every turn. The restaurants and service at the Houston United terminal were also very depressing. We wound up eating at some sad sports bar where I had chicken strips and fries and Deanna had what they were passing off as a Cobb salad. We quickly ate and drank our beers and left. Our flight began boarding and Deanna again was kind enough to let me ride in the window seat. The flight from Houston to SF was terrible. We could not get comfortable the entire time and they only offer drinks and snacks for purchase. How cheap is it of United to not even toss you some free peanuts anymore? The 4 hour flight was worse than the 9 hour one from London. We touched down in SF and got our stuff from baggage claim and headed over to the Park SFO shuttle. We parked offsite this time because I had a coupon for a free day of parking at the Parks SFO lot. It turned out to be a good and simple process. We ended up paying around $200 for 13 days of parking. Maybe not the cheapest option but it was convenient and easy. We got home about 23 hours after we left Paris. It was great to be home and reunited with our little Donkeycat Nima. She was happy to see us too. This was a really fun trip. We loved visiting London and Paris and think we did a good job of balancing out our tourist activities and our vacation relaxing activities. Thanks for reading everyone! Deanna and Mack Our full photo album is located here (Many more photos and we'll be posting on facebook in one large album later): https://goo.gl/photos/rRMpDJXDXoF5QsS98
Our final day in London was yesterday (9/13/15) and we are now writing this from Paris.
We awoke on our last day in London with some of the reminders of the fun we had at the festival the day before. I went downstairs to Maroush Bakehouse to order breakfast takeaway. I ordered the same thing we had the first time for breakfast at Maroush and added on 2 butter croissants to save for the Eurostar Train ride later in the day. I ordered a latte for myself and sat on the ledge next to the sidewalk and waited as the meal was prepared.
Our Last London Pic Together
Our place next door to Maroush
Earls Court
Earls Court
Earls Court
It was nice to sit there sipping away at my coffee enjoying the people as they walked by. There is a lot of great people watching to be had in Earls Court- and the whole of London (I'm part Brit now..). I really enjoyed the peace of just sitting there and soaking in our final moments in Earls Court. When the food was ready I went back up to Deanna and we chowed down.
Maroush is really a great place to eat and they have delicious baked goods. It is highly rated on Yelp as well.
After breakfast we packed up our suitcases and cleaned up the apartment a bit. We then walked over to Earls Court station to get refunds for our Oyster cards. If you have less than 10 pounds on your card you can get an instant refund at the automated teller machines. They spit out your bills and coins and you are on your way. If you have more on there you have to get in line to get help from one of folks in the booths. We both left with a bit more cash for our pockets. We found that buying the Oyster card and just adding on pay as you go money to the card worked best for us. Then you can swipe the card and never have to buy another paper slip or card, but just add value.
We then used the GetApp to call for a black taxi to take us to Kings Cross/St. Pancra station. This is where we would be catching the Eurostar train to Paris.
A brief intermission for our overall thoughts on London...
--------------MACK's Reflections on London--------------
I loved London. Going into visiting any foreign city or country I feel like a healthy amount of fear and anxiety exists. You want to fit in, you want to do things "right" by the local standards and not feel like a total outsider. I felt that London was easy to adjust to and people were approachable for the most part and willing to help you if you needed it. We didn't ask for much help but when we did it went well.
The fashions that I noticed most male Londoners wearing was pretty similar to cold weather clothing for folks in San Francisco. There were lots of jackets, thin and thick, sweatshirts and hoodies, solid t-shirts and long sleeve shirts. I did not see a lot of shorts in our regular travels around the city, but I did see a lot of shorts at the Festival we went to. Also a lot of people at the festival wore full on sweat pants and track suits. Shoes around London ranged from low profile sneakers with dark colors, to jogging shoes and on the way up to loafer style shoes. I never saw a guy wearing sandals or flip flops. I also don't think the weather was very permitting for that style of dress. I'm saying all this because going into our trip I was concerned with not looking too touristy and somewhat blending in. I think jeans and a hoody works very well all the time in London. The less designs on the shirt the better. The most decoration I saw on clothing was a logo on the breast area, but no big designs. I wore a lot of Jeremy Fish artwork t-shirts and felt normal and not out of place most of the time, and when I was cold I just threw on my spaceman hoodie.
Once you get on the train you see a huge array of people wearing anything from football uniforms to suits to odd and weird outfits. Pretty typical for any public transportation system I'd say. We are from San Francisco after all. We've seen it all.
The food in London is a bit repetitive unfortunately. There are a chain of pubs owned by the same company, which I like to call Taylor and Swift, but that's not the name. This chain has the exact same menu at every pub. So after realizing that we tried to avoid going to their chains anymore. We did eat that big first breakfast at one of their locations and had the beans, bacon and eggs that was good though. But we had a lunch there another day that was not as great. I personally hated it.
Everywhere you go in London and Brighton you can find fish and chips with mushy peas. They all typically give you one large fillet and the thick cut chips. I kept wanting to find a place that had the smaller chunks of fish instead of the fillet, but never managed to do so. The chips were nearly always the same, thick, slightly crispy and soft in the middle. I like my fries a bit crispier so I thought about asking to get them extra crisp but never did. Oh well. I think my favorite meals were at Maroush the Indian place by our house. We had takeaway from there twice. I also really liked the Bangers and Mash from Prince of Teck. I'm sure there are plenty of fine dining places that offer great food selections but we didn't really dig around that much. I wished I could have eaten a beef wellington and maybe a shepherd's pie, but we'll have to wait another time for that.
The fact that their museums are free is a huge plus for any tourism. I didn't feel like I was in the tourist spaces when we traveled around except for when we were near Piccadilly Circus, the London Eye and in front of the Museums. Other than that the crowds just felt like normal crowds. People in London seem conditioned to move fast and forcefully through mass crowds. I was shocked a few times by people wedging on through between us or around us when we felt like we were rushing fast. I don't consider this a negative but just an observation. Know where you're going or get out of the way! We often would step aside in a corner and figure out our next move or path of attack to our traveling destination.
The cable TV we had in London was pretty lame. The channeling system was confusing and you had to sift through a large number of naughty phone hot line channels to get to regular shows. Some of the regular channels had consistently bad programming so most of the time we tuned into Food Network, BBC News or TruTV. We didn't come for the cable, but I think it's important to note all aspects of our Life in London.
I'm not sure how it is for locals but it felt like stopping in for a pint of beer or cider at a pub at any point in the day was just a normal occurrence. We had a pint at almost every stop we made. (I think wine will be that way in Paris)
The apartment we rented from AirBnB was perfectly located to our needs. I'm sure there are many locations like this but it just felt so right. We could walk to food, to pubs to transportation and never felt too far from anything. Not everything about the apartment was perfect but it was cozy and cute and filled our needs. If you want to know more about the space we rented, it is linked here: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5462493
I would DEFINITELY come back to London and could even see myself living there if money and situation made sense. We barely saw anything, but felt like we saw a lot.
--------------END MACK's Reflections on London--------------
--------------DEANNA's Reflections on London--------------
Overall, I really liked London. It is a very big, multi-cultural city, full of every type of person you can imagine. Even though we were from America, I never felt like we stood out as outsiders. All the people that we interacted with were nice and friendly.
Living in San Francisco for the last 15 years has made me feel used to the busy pace of a City Life. I felt that London moves at an even faster pace than SF. It would not be a place I would go to relax or unwind, but it certainly has a few other points that I liked better than SF.
In the whole week we spent there, I only saw one person panhandling. One. For such a busy city, it surprised me that we didn't see more people in need, like the way that we do back home. Especially because London is EXPENSIVE. The prices were just as expensive as SF but even more so for us due to the exchange rate.
The fact that all of their museums are free is amazing. We saw some beautiful art, some so very old that it's hard to imagine that they could last so long over time and still be intact.
The underground train system is great. At first, I was really nervous about trying to navigate our way around, but after the first day, it was easy-peasy. Their oyster card system is a lot like the Clipper cards system in the Bay Area.
One thing I also liked about London was the amount of good music we heard. All of the pubs and restaurants played down-tempo and chill beats. I guess we got lucky not having to endure pop rock music or god-awful country-pop that they play at a lot of the places back home. And the street musicians we heard outside the train stations were actually good! We even heard a 3 piece violin and cello group outside the National Gallery. It made me laugh thinking about the street music we usually hear on Market Street, which consists of some shirtless dude, poorly playing "drums" made of overturned buckets.
As Mack mentioned, the food in London was just so-so. The Indian food we had from Masala Zone was the best. It was hard to find good restaurant recommendations on Yelp so we found ourselves usually eating at whichever the pub that looked the safest. I ate a lot of french fries while we were there, lol.
For me our day trip to Brighton really stood out as a highlight. I would definitely come back to London again if given the chance. There is so much to see and do that there's no way that you could do it all in a week. On our last taxi ride to the Eurostar, we saw a ton things that we would have stopped to see if we had know they were there earlier. It is a big, big city and I imagine you could spend many years living there without seeing everything.
--------------DEANNA's Reflections on London--------------
And now back to our story...
We arrived at the Kings Cross/St. Pancras station and went over the ticket kiosks. I typed in my confirmation number and inserted my card into the machine that I used for purchasing our Eurostar tickets. A few seconds later our tickets were spit out and we got in line to show our passports and make it into the waiting area for the trains. You have to go through 2 booths and show your passport, then you have to go through a full airport style scan of all your luggage and metal detector scan on your body.
After we got into the Eurostar terminal we went over to the Continental Bar and got 2 more pints and some orange juice for the train ride.
Eurostar Station
Last Pints in London at the Eurostar Station
Eurostar Station
Eurostar Station
A few minutes later they announce our train platform number and said we could begin boarding. We went up the escalator that had no steps on it to our awaiting train. Matching up our tickets to the car number we boarded and found our seats.
Our train took off a few minutes later and away we went. We headed North toward the narrow point of the English Channel and closest French landfall. During the ride we got to see a lot of the Northern England countryside, about 30 minutes of pure black while we were underwater, and then Northern French Countryside when we emerged. The trains go very fast and our entire ride was about 2 hours. The bathroom on the train is spacious and kind of quirky. There was a dining car and bar somewhere on the train but we didn't use it as we had croissants, wine and orange juice to enjoy.
When we arrived at the Paris station Gare du Nord there was a bit of a walk from our train into the station area. Right as we entered the station we were confronted and solicited by many private cab drivers offering taxi services. We said no and went over to the money exchange area so we could get rid of our Pounds in exchange for Euros. Our 40 or so Pounds turned into about 45 Euros, so the exchange rate in Paris is a bit better and our money should go further.
Welcome to Paris
Guy Playing Piano:
We then walked outside near the large lineup of cabs and another aggressive "cab" driver came up to us offering a ride in his taxi. We asked about rates and he said 60 Euros to where we were going. We had no idea how much this trip would actually be. He grabbed Deanna's suitcase and said to follow him. We hurriedly followed him around the corner but before crossing the street told him to stop and grabbed our bag back and told him we were not ready yet. We stopped and began to analyze the situation. The guy seemed really rushed to get us to get in his car and go with him. It just felt wrong to us. Neither of us felt strong enough one way or another, so to be safe we stopped him. Then he came back over and kept trying to convince us. He told us that taxis would cost us 85 Euros and he is the cheapest. We again told him no and that we were good.
We circled back over to the Taxi line and jumped in it with the 20 or so people queued up at this point. The line moves very fast.
Taxi Line
We were only in it a few minutes before getting in a real taxi with a meter in it and sign on top. We eagerly watched the meter as we got closer and closer to our apartment in the 5th Arrondissements of Paris. As we pulled up we were both very pleased to see the meter was under 20 total Euros. I think it was around 14,50 Euros or something like that. So the moral of the story, as it almost always is at airports and tourist hubs, is to NOT do business with the people soliciting you. I remember this was the case when I went to Brazil but things happen fast and it wasn't something that was on my mind right when we arrived in Paris. (Deanna note: I'm thankful we didn't take the ride with him and get ripped off or abducted...)
An Arc but not THE arc
Luckily we learned a lesson in a positive way and didn't end up losing 45 euros in the process.
We realize we could have taken a metro train to our place but didn't feel like trying to figure it out first thing upon arrival, similarly to London. It was good to pay for a taxi and then take our time getting our pass and getting situated.
Our apartment in Paris was another one we found from AirBnb. It is on the 4th Floor of an apartment complex just South of Notre Dame. We were provided with the door code to the apartment and went inside a long tall hallway. The hallway led to an outdoor courtyard. We went left as instructed and were greeted by a tiny elevator that was had a weight limit of 2 persons. We figured out how to take the elevator and found our way into the apartment.
The apartment we are staying at in Paris is a bit more swanky and modern than the one we had in London. Pics below. We have a great view of some buildings and rooftops over Paris.
There is a tv in the bedroom with cable, but it's all in French, so that doesn't really matter much! We aren't here to watch tv anyway. But for the late nights being able to watch a video on my laptop will come in handy.
Elevator of doom
Courtyard
After we got settled in the apartment we tried to find a place to eat. We went to one place called Chez Gladines (if we eat here I'll link it) that had high ratings but they said was very busy. This was true as we arrived and the place was packed with a line out front. We decided not to wait and went in search of a bistro we also researched called L'Authre Bistro. Both are within a block or two of our place. This bistro was a bit more mellow with crowd and we were seated right away. Deanna was able to use some French and order our food but the waiter was able to speak English as well. We kept trying to speak French and he kept trying to speak English. It seems like this is sort of how things go. One tries to accommodate the other, in a nice way.
For dinner I ordered the bucket of mussels with pomme frites (more french fries) and Deanna had a chicken kabob dish. Both dishes came out pretty quick and we ordered a bottle of Chardonnay wine as well. The wine here is very affordable so a bottle is not really that much of a luxury. In the US if you get a bottle at dinner you tend to pay a lot more than you would at a grocery store for the same wine. I loved the mussels and french fries. The mussels came in a creamy broth with tons of flavor. When I finished all the meat I sopped up a good amount of the sauce with the bread they gave us. The fries were more thin than the UK version of chips and much more to my liking. Deanna said she enjoyed her chicken kabob with Pesto sauce and rice that accompanied it. We finished up with a creme brulee that was perfect. I think this will be one of many that I end up eating here in Paris.
After dinner we came back and relaxed before going to bed and I watched the Raiders lose badly over the internet while using up all of the bandwidth on the wifi device the renter let us use. lol. Ooops.
On this day (Saturday, September 12, 2015) we scheduled to attend a music festival at Finsbury Park in Northern London.
We had breakfast at a pub called Prince of Teck. I had Bangers (Sausage) and Mash and Deanna had a Mozzarella and Tomato sandwich with Chips (fries). Deanna had a Strongbow Pint and I had a Peroni Pint. Both were very good. We recommend that place for pub grub when you're in Earls Court.
Someone had some fun at Prince of Teck
Bangers and Mash, Mozzarella and Tomato Sandwich... and Pints of course.
After breakfast we jumped on the tube from Earls Court and headed out. We had about 12 stops to endure until we got to Finsbury Park. It was a very busy afternoon in the underground. It can sometimes get very warm on the trains depending on if the window between the train cars is open or not, or if the side windows or vents are opened. The crowd ebbed and flowed as the train got full, then empty, then full again, and we finally got out.
The little area near the park is cute and definitely festival ready. There were police and security everywhere ushering folks along toward the park area. When we walked up one of the guys checking IDs saw my ID and said "you dinnut come all the way 'ere fer this did yah?" to which I laughed and said "ONLY THIS ONE THING!" and we carried on into the event.
Pathway to Ceremony Festival
A garden on the way
The process to get in was pretty smooth. We rented a storage locker and put our gear in there so we didn't have to lug it around. They give you a convenient wristband for remembering your locker number!
Then we did a lap to survey the 8 or so various stages and areas. Each stage area had a large tent for protection from any elements that should arrive and also to isolate the music from each other. It was set up very well.
To buy alcoholic beverages you had to buy tickets first, then exchange those for your drinks at the bar. That system seemed to work well and there were hardly ever any lines for drinks.
One of many bars. Each tent had its own bar in the back of the dance area.
We were able to catch sets by Doc Martin, Armand Van Helden, DJ Sneak and Doc Martin back to back and a partial sets from Artwork, Toddy Terry, Ramon Tapia, Lee Foss and Harry Romero. All of the music we heard was great, but the standouts would be Armand Van Helden who played a classic 90s house set and Doc Martin who never disappoints.
Doc Martin
Doc Martin
Lee Foss
Armand Van Helden
Armand Van Helden
Armand Van Helden
Our Playlist of Videos on Youtube:
We were very impressed with the overall setup and crowd vibe. Everyone was mostly very friendly, dancing, laughing and having a great time. We didn't see any drama or issues except I saw a pushy lady at the toilet line. They also have a urinal island near the toilets that I thought was a bit silly. Just whip it out and pee right there while everyone waits for the toilets. No thanks.
Urinal Islands
Also they had a noodle booth that was very good. We got some chow mein style noodles with chicken. They were thin like vermicelli but they were very tasty.
Delicious Noodles
We stayed nearly until the end which was at 10pm. We then took the tube back to Earls Court and grabbed some Indian takeaway from Masala Zone, which we love. And that was pretty much all we did on this day.
