Gay..... Paris
Arrived to our hotel at about 10.30am on Saturday. Tried to check in, but they wouldn't let us. So we went for breakfast next door. Bacon and Eggs, *fresh* orange juice, Cafe au Lait and croissant and French bread (or as they call it "Bread"!). According to Dad "I love this bread".
Checked into the hotel room. Not the biggest, but two separate beds, and the smallest bathroom you've ever been in.
Shortly after checking in, we left for the races. The Metro stop was just outside of our hotel (which was good planning from me), and it was straightforward journey to the course. After getting off the Metro at Port d'Auteille, they have a free bus to bring you to the races. Which was nice.
Longchamp is a massive course (a bit like the old Ascot), but on the Saturday there wasn't a lot of people there (about 10,000). However, there was about 4,000 Japanese. The rest were a combination of Irish and Brits, with a few Frenchmen thrown in for good measure. The temperature on Saturday was 27C (which is warm), so we spent most of the day getting out of the shade.
There was some great racing on Saturday, with a couple of British horses running. Dad and myself managed to pick up one winner (Frankie in the big race, 4-1) and had €5 on it, which was nice. We also had a sandwich on the racecourse (Camembert, with Dad again "I love this bread"!). We had a chance to look around the racecourse, as we knew we wouldn't be able to on the big day.
We got back to the hotel at about 6.00pm, and slept until about 8.15pm (we'd been up since 3.00am), then went for dinner. We went to a local cafe, where I ordered us two Rump au Poirve. The waiter asked how we wanted them cooked, so I asked for them to be medium. What actually turned up were two blue steaks. There was no way that these were even rare. However, I loved it. Dad wasn't eating his as quickly as I was, so I asked him what was wrong. He said that the steak was the toughest thing he'd ever eaten! It had to be him who got the tough steak! However, he ate everything, (as did I), and then we headed off again to the Champs-Élysées (in order to find an Irish Pub).
We got out onto the Champs-Élysées and started to walk around looking for one, but Dad's feet were killing him. So, we darted down a side street, and looked for a bar to go into. As it happens, we stumbled upon "The Bowler", and English bar. So we had a drink there, and headed back to the hotel. We slept solidly until the next morning.
We had breakfast the next morning, bread ("I love it"), croissant, juice, ham, cheese, yoghurt etc..., and then headed off for mass. I'd seen on a map a church just around the corner from the hotel, and we found it with great ease. It was large church in a gothic style, with seats for about 500, all of which were full by the time mass started. Half way through mass, I though I'd figured out why it was so full, as 19 babies were brought up to be baptised!! However, they just had a blessing, as they were "booked in" to be baptised later this year. After mass we left, and headed off to the racecourse.
What was a simple thing the day before, (getting to the racecourse) was a nightmare! There were about 10 times more people waiting for the free buses to the racecourse. The queue for it wrapped twice around the little island where the bus stop was! However, they had a lot of busses running, so there wasn't too long a wait. We got to the course about 20mins before the first race. There was another problem in that the Racing Post had run out of Racing Posts. So we spend the whole day betting with just the minimal of information (just a list of runners).
If Saturday at Longchamp was quiet, Sunday was mad. There were 60,000 people there. 30,000 were British or Irish, the rest French, apart from the 6,000 Japanese that had flown over to watch the Arc! They take their racing seriously in Japan. There was one Japanese horse that was favourite for the race. However in England, the price was 7/4. In France the price was 1-10! Madness. It meant that the other horses in the race were massive prices! Although we didn't have the winner, we found out that it was returned 7-1 in England, but returned at 24-1 in France!! Somebody could have made some big money. They said afterwards that the Japanese had staked 3 separate bets of €1million!!
On the Sunday night, we went for a meal to Gard du Nord (Dad thought that would be a good place to go. It wasn't). So, we headed back down to Les Halles where I thought you might be able to get a good meal (based on the fact that there's a restaurant in New York called "Les Halles" run by Antony Bourdain). We looked around a few places (all expensive), when we came around this place a couple of streets down. We went in an ordered the Confit de Carnard. It was one of the best meals I've ever had. The duck was falling off the bone, the potatoes were crispy, and the salad had a great dressing on it. We polished everything off (including the bread (I love it)).
After that we went to an Irish bar we'd seen on the way to the restaurant (It was Irish, but not Irish, if you know what I mean!). And, after having a quick drink went home.
On Monday, we had our breakfast (with Dad piling up on the cheese and ham), and then left to bum around Paris for a while. Unfortunately, it was drizzling, so would couldn't do any major walking around. So we went to Montparnasse, and sat in a cafe for an hour reading the paper. We then went to the island in the middle of the Seine (Chatelet), and walked around there for a while (protected by the canapé of the trees). We had lunch (Dad had a cheese and ham omelette, I had the Croque Fountain [Chicken and tomato on bread, covered with cheese and toasted]) and then headed to the airport.
Before we got on the flight, Dad commented to me that the guy who was checking in behind us looked like the owner of the winner of the Arc's racing manager. But we laughed about the fact that he'd be travelling on an EasyJet flight! Obliviously the joke was on us as he sat down in the row in front of us on the airplane! (This did involve Dad pointing directly at him, and shouting "It's him. I told you it was him")
We got back to Cambridge at about 8.30pm.
A tiring weekend, but a lot of fun.
Checked into the hotel room. Not the biggest, but two separate beds, and the smallest bathroom you've ever been in.
Shortly after checking in, we left for the races. The Metro stop was just outside of our hotel (which was good planning from me), and it was straightforward journey to the course. After getting off the Metro at Port d'Auteille, they have a free bus to bring you to the races. Which was nice.
Longchamp is a massive course (a bit like the old Ascot), but on the Saturday there wasn't a lot of people there (about 10,000). However, there was about 4,000 Japanese. The rest were a combination of Irish and Brits, with a few Frenchmen thrown in for good measure. The temperature on Saturday was 27C (which is warm), so we spent most of the day getting out of the shade.
There was some great racing on Saturday, with a couple of British horses running. Dad and myself managed to pick up one winner (Frankie in the big race, 4-1) and had €5 on it, which was nice. We also had a sandwich on the racecourse (Camembert, with Dad again "I love this bread"!). We had a chance to look around the racecourse, as we knew we wouldn't be able to on the big day.
We got back to the hotel at about 6.00pm, and slept until about 8.15pm (we'd been up since 3.00am), then went for dinner. We went to a local cafe, where I ordered us two Rump au Poirve. The waiter asked how we wanted them cooked, so I asked for them to be medium. What actually turned up were two blue steaks. There was no way that these were even rare. However, I loved it. Dad wasn't eating his as quickly as I was, so I asked him what was wrong. He said that the steak was the toughest thing he'd ever eaten! It had to be him who got the tough steak! However, he ate everything, (as did I), and then we headed off again to the Champs-Élysées (in order to find an Irish Pub).
We got out onto the Champs-Élysées and started to walk around looking for one, but Dad's feet were killing him. So, we darted down a side street, and looked for a bar to go into. As it happens, we stumbled upon "The Bowler", and English bar. So we had a drink there, and headed back to the hotel. We slept solidly until the next morning.
We had breakfast the next morning, bread ("I love it"), croissant, juice, ham, cheese, yoghurt etc..., and then headed off for mass. I'd seen on a map a church just around the corner from the hotel, and we found it with great ease. It was large church in a gothic style, with seats for about 500, all of which were full by the time mass started. Half way through mass, I though I'd figured out why it was so full, as 19 babies were brought up to be baptised!! However, they just had a blessing, as they were "booked in" to be baptised later this year. After mass we left, and headed off to the racecourse.
What was a simple thing the day before, (getting to the racecourse) was a nightmare! There were about 10 times more people waiting for the free buses to the racecourse. The queue for it wrapped twice around the little island where the bus stop was! However, they had a lot of busses running, so there wasn't too long a wait. We got to the course about 20mins before the first race. There was another problem in that the Racing Post had run out of Racing Posts. So we spend the whole day betting with just the minimal of information (just a list of runners).
If Saturday at Longchamp was quiet, Sunday was mad. There were 60,000 people there. 30,000 were British or Irish, the rest French, apart from the 6,000 Japanese that had flown over to watch the Arc! They take their racing seriously in Japan. There was one Japanese horse that was favourite for the race. However in England, the price was 7/4. In France the price was 1-10! Madness. It meant that the other horses in the race were massive prices! Although we didn't have the winner, we found out that it was returned 7-1 in England, but returned at 24-1 in France!! Somebody could have made some big money. They said afterwards that the Japanese had staked 3 separate bets of €1million!!
On the Sunday night, we went for a meal to Gard du Nord (Dad thought that would be a good place to go. It wasn't). So, we headed back down to Les Halles where I thought you might be able to get a good meal (based on the fact that there's a restaurant in New York called "Les Halles" run by Antony Bourdain). We looked around a few places (all expensive), when we came around this place a couple of streets down. We went in an ordered the Confit de Carnard. It was one of the best meals I've ever had. The duck was falling off the bone, the potatoes were crispy, and the salad had a great dressing on it. We polished everything off (including the bread (I love it)).
After that we went to an Irish bar we'd seen on the way to the restaurant (It was Irish, but not Irish, if you know what I mean!). And, after having a quick drink went home.
On Monday, we had our breakfast (with Dad piling up on the cheese and ham), and then left to bum around Paris for a while. Unfortunately, it was drizzling, so would couldn't do any major walking around. So we went to Montparnasse, and sat in a cafe for an hour reading the paper. We then went to the island in the middle of the Seine (Chatelet), and walked around there for a while (protected by the canapé of the trees). We had lunch (Dad had a cheese and ham omelette, I had the Croque Fountain [Chicken and tomato on bread, covered with cheese and toasted]) and then headed to the airport.
Before we got on the flight, Dad commented to me that the guy who was checking in behind us looked like the owner of the winner of the Arc's racing manager. But we laughed about the fact that he'd be travelling on an EasyJet flight! Obliviously the joke was on us as he sat down in the row in front of us on the airplane! (This did involve Dad pointing directly at him, and shouting "It's him. I told you it was him")
We got back to Cambridge at about 8.30pm.
A tiring weekend, but a lot of fun.
posted by Deano at
1:35 pm
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