Friday, June 26, 2015

Day 6 - On to France, A Wine Cellar Tour and Dinner at an Icon

Today we left London on the Eurostar for Paris, but before we left we got a tour of the wine cellar at The Stafford from John the Wine Steward.  The cellar dates back to the 1740's and is impressive. The cellar holds 8,000 bottles and is composed of several rooms.  This is John in the tasting room where they have tasting events.


Off to the train station. We learned at the station that a taxi strike is underway in Paris to protest Uber. The Uber drivers are participating. How French!  Guess our Metro lesson will start early.

Rambler Jane with her unexpected light meal on the train


Amazingly, we navigated the Metro without much difficultly and after a few stops/direction-asking opportunties, we found out hotel. It is very close to Notre Dame and seems to be in an area called St. Germain des Pres that is a sea of activity.  Check-in was very nice and very French with a glass of champagne.


The rooms are nice but a little warm.  After settling in, we needed to figure out how to get to our dinner reservation with no taxis. Fortunately, the above ground train (the RER) is as easy to navigate as the Metro.  Wednesday night was our big dinner in Paris; we went to Jules Verne in the Eiffel Tower.  Dinner was amazing in both taste and presentation, and the view wasn't bad either.  We had the six course tasting menu. You can imagine eating all six courses in the pics below.






Course 1:  Bellevue-style blue lobster

Course 2:  Preserved duck foie gras, strawberry/rhubarb gelée

Course 3 - Warm white asparagus, citrus mousseline sauce

Course 4:  Roasted turbot, two ways artichokes

Course 5:  Seared pigeon,‘à la française’ fava and green beans

Course 6:  Raspberry/lemon/rose contemporary vacherin

Dessert:  Crispy ‘Tower nut’ , chocolate from our Factory in Paris and praline

We were stuffed but it was the experience of a lifetime. We had an uneventful train ride back to the hotel, navigating through the late-night partyers, to get some sleep so we can wake to visit the lessor sights we missed the last time around.

Until then,  keep rambling.






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