Weekends in Paris

What we do on a Sunday when all the shops are closed & when we're not traveling

24/10: Visited the Basilica of the Sacré Coeur in Montmartre (an area where the famous Moulin Rouge is). Montmartre is in fact a 130m high hill and for some reason the police decided to block the roads since 10am, which then left us no choice but to park below. Little did I know that the climb was gonna be no easy feat! Flights and flights of stairs.... In the photo, you can see a funicular which ferries people up & down. We didn't think we were THAT weak, but alas...... Let's just say that it was a good Sunday workout.

Nonetheless, the view from up there was awesome! Photo on the right, where the crowd is, you can actually see a man performing ball-balancing tricks. There were also people basking. What a great atmosphere for a otherwise quiet Sunday.

More people started arriving to attend the service which was scheduled at 3pm that day. So be sure to check if you want to (and you should) tour the inside of the basilica.

(backdated 12-13Oct10) Rouen trip

Tried & tested. Max speed before smartypants starts flying off the road: 140km/h. I swear you could see my car swerve left & right, especially while cutting the big trucks! It still took me 1.5 hours to get to Rouen, which is north-west of Paris and capital of the Upper Normandy region. Its famously-known Notre Dame cathedral is one of the largest in France. Really peaceful to take a walk inside..

Rouen was also the place where Saint Joan of Arc was burnt. The exact location can be found next to the church (photo on right). You can also find many restaurants in this square.

The Gros-Horloge, which translates to big clock.

The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. A must-visit. Small but contains a varied-enough collection which I really enjoyed.

Lastly, a street view of Rouen as well as a strike going on near the Galeries Lafayette. Thank goodness it wasn't too violent.

48 hours in Milan (2)

16/10
8.30pm: Dinner at Trip Advisor's #1 restaurant. Pleeease make reservation in advance. We were expecting less people because of the heavy rain but everyone else were as enthusiastic as us. I totally recommend this place as the prices are extremely reasonable (~8eur for a pizza). Go for their mussels & the lobster pasta (15eur)! You won't be disappointed..at least for the price you're paying. Packed with locals as well & conveniently located next to the subway.

Name: Da Maruzzella

Location: Piazza Oberdan, Milan, Italy

Expenditure: 58€ with wine

17/10
10.15am: Duomo Cathedral. Bought tix in advance (there wasn't a queue when we reached but you never know) for a walk on the roof top - literally on the roof! Which was definitely not what I had expected. Rather fun as the rain meant less visitors which meant less crowded, but a little precarious because of the wet surface. We forgot about going into the main church though. Darn.

1.30pm: Viewed Leonardo da Vinci's famous mural painting "The Last Supper". A little surprised to find the Santa Maria delle Grazie a small unassuming church. The pre-booked tour (also highly advised, like 1-2 mths before) ended in exactly 15mins as stated. Apparently only 25 people can be in the room at any one time because the humidity affects the painting (which is falling apart). So yes, been there done that. Photo on the right is of a replica since no photo-taking in the room was allowed.

2.30pm: Dropped by an area called Garibaldi which is supposed to be the nightspot (hence the quietness in the day). Decided to come here on a Sunday only because of a store called "10 Corso Como" which I forgot how I chanced upon online. It turned out to be really rewarding! They carry limited but numerous high-end brands that are very carefully chosen by the store designers I must say. Best spot for window shopping. There's also a small section by Comme Des Garcons called "Black", an art gallery, and a garden-y cafe. A must-visit if you're in Milan.

Name: 10 Corso Como

Website: http://www.10corsocomo.com/

48 hours in Milan

15/10
5.40pm: Arrived at Crowne Plaza Hotel. It is situated right above the subway station "Sondrio" on line 3 which goes direct to Duomo (5 stops). So although it is out of Milan's city center, I still recommend it because of convenience - since the best mode of transport there is train.

8.30pm: Had our celebratory dinner at a restaurant a friend recommended. Humble cozy place by the canal (it was totally dried up though) with surprisingly fancy food! It is actually near the "Porta Ticinese" area which another friend living in Milan said we should go for good food. Anyway, reservation is needed as the place was full by 9pm.

Verdict --> half half...
On left: The 4 courses that we liked. 1) Complimentary entrée. 2) Warm oysters with leaves that taste like oyster (because they grew near them). Interesting. 3) Traditional spaghetti that apparently hasn't changed since 20yrs ago. Very nice sauce but the italian way of cooking their noodles is too al dente for us. 4) Definitely the highlight of the night! Lightly charred rare pork which tasted SO good. We were tempted to return the next night just to have this again.
On right: The other 4 that unworthily took up space in our tummies. 1) Complimentary bread. 2) Potato dumplings that was good only on the 1st mouthful. 9 is way too creamy & heavy. 3) Foie gras escalope with sea urchin. The sea urchin (whitish covering) smelled totally off. S couldn't even take a bite. The foie gras was actually very nicely done..soft on the inside.. but the size really put us off. It looked like 2 big pieces of beef. The fact that this came last didn't help! We barely touched it. 4) Pretty complimentary dessert. The entire plant can be eaten.

All in all, we'll return specially for the pork ;)

Name: Al Pont De Ferr 

Location: Ripa di Porta Ticinese 55, 20100 Milan, Italy

Expenditure: 124€ with wine

16/10
10.30am: Strolled along the main shopping street "Monte Napoleone". You can find most upmarket brands in this area. We were impressed by the Armani building ("Armani Hotel Milano") and the interior designs of all the boutiques! Unique & stylish. I'd say way nicer than those in Paris.

1pm: From there, we found our way towards the Duomo area. Bought some dried porcini mushrooms at a little market & settled for lunch nearby. I love the doughy pizza & light beef carpaccio. Go early since a queue quickly formed after we arrived. 50% tourists 50% locals. You decide.

Name: Ristorante Charleston

Location: Piazza del Liberty, 8, 20121 Milan, Italy

Expenditure: 45€ with sparkling wine

3pm: Did some shopping at the "Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II" and around.

6pm: Back to hotel to rest.

To be continued..

Cooking Adventures & more

Last thurs, we attended Sting's concert at the "Palais Omnisport de Paris Bercy", the same place where Lady Gaga's one was held. Huge turnout as well. The concert's called "Symphonicities", and hence the orchestra. It was quite good given that he's already 59! Still super in shape and full of energy. Managed to catch a 2 min clip of the all-time classic "every breath you take". Tried posting it here and on fb but file is too huge. Sorry.

As for the weekend, on sat afternoon, we caught a modern ballet called "Roland Petit" at the "Opéra de Paris". First cultural event for us ever since we arrived! It was really beautiful and exquisite inside with all the painted ceilings and sculptured marble pillars. 67€ pp for 2nd level 1st row seats with perfect view of the stage and the orchestra. We enjoyed 2 out of the 3 acts :)

Dinner - Lobster sashimi. Ooh I love this. Bought from the market earlier in the day but it was still jumping around when we took it out of the fridge! Poor S was in charge of doing the evil. She had to stab it in the head and sever the head from the tail. Too brave! But it continued moving and curling for a good 15mins. All worth the effort though. After scraping the meat out, we steamed the remains. Both sashimi and cooked meat were so sweet I can't wait to eat it again. Just 15€ per piece. Rare price.

After that, an event called "La Nuit Blanche" (which translates to The White Night) took place. Many museums opened their doors to the public until the wee hours of the night. Because of the free entrance, it was rather popular with the Parisians. So we headed out at 10pm and walked to the museums in our neighborhood (talk about good location!). 4 in the vicinity but only visited 3.

1. Palais de Tokyo. Nothing much in there except a store and a restaurant. Weird. But I heard their temp exhibitions can be quite good.
2. Musée d'Art moderne. Right beside the Palais de Tokyo. Saw a total of 3 huge paintings and 1 film. It was then that we realized that the museums only opened certain sections as a little preview for the public. A teeny weeny bit disappointed at first but rationalized that it is a good way to culturally educate the public. Oh well, could have been worse if we had specially driven to somewhere.
3 & 4. Galliera, Musée de la Mode. The museum itself is under renovation but there were installations outside. From afar, we thought that the focus was on the sculpture but it was actually the chandelier. Quite pretty.

Last but not least, dessert-baking on Sunday while watching Ryder Cup. I know I wrote on my homepage that this blog is supposed to be about cooking successes and failures, and so far I've only shown the good ones. So here's one grade F for you! Disgusting looking even though it tastes quite good. Haha. I will attempt again.

Hannover (2)

Hannover, Germany - Day 2

Had dinner the night before at Trip Advisor's #3 restaurant in Hannover. To our surprise, it was almost full house when we reached. Fortunately they managed to find us a table in a cozy corner. Love the warm setting. I took the menu 2 (as below w/o dessert) while S had 2 types of suckling pig (last photo). Overall, food was alright.. My fav, weirdly enough, was the big flat mushroom that accompanied the beef. Heh.

Name: Basil

Location: Dragonerstraße 30, 30163 Hannover, Gemany

Expenditure: 80€ with wine

Lunch at Trip Advisor's #1 restaurant. It was wet and gloomy the 3 days we were there, so didn't have a chance to dine outdoors. But you can guess that the selling point of the restaurant is it's view of the Maschsee Lake. This time, we were surprised that we were only 1 of 2 groups of diners there! Maybe it's the weather. I don't know.

Anyway, food was alright also.The calamari starter was tasty but overcooked, tuna sashimi not bad, venison was too sweet and tough, while the plate of 4 fishes was not bad too. Mushroom soup not in the photos but it was just baddd. I'd say the best dish goes to the dessert. 3 types of crème brulée: passion fruit, chocolate, vanilla. Nice.

And so the waiter who had been serving our table the whole time comes over to clear the plates and asked (as always) whether the food was good. I know they always expect the "yeah it's good!" answer, but I refused because I really didn't like the meat. In an attempt to give an honest opinion, I told him that the meat was a little dry. He just stood there, no response or anything... Awkward silence! Then he left the table, yakked something to the chefs, and NEVER returned. Was a little stunned. Left me wondering if the dessert contained "special" ingredients. Haha.

Nonetheless, it's good to note that the prices are very reasonable.

Name: Die Insel

Location: Rudolf-von-Bennigsen-Ufer 81, 30519 Hannover, Germany

Expenditure: 75€ with wine

After that, drove to the city centre to do some shopping and more eating. Nothing much in Hannover really. But for us, contented enough to just look look see see. Oh, but I finally found my pork knuckle and sauerkraut! Albeit a bit too salty. On left: Restaurant called "Bayerische Butschait", cheap & good. On right: Ernst-August-Platz where all the main shopping areas are. There's also an interesting kitchen shop called "One Kitchen".