Day 2 – March 22nd 2014
Hoorah! It was time to wake and smell Paris. ^_^ That morning I was trying to work out the Nespresso machine in the hotel and I think I was quite successful on my second go. XD Well, I had a good sleep that night although I was tossing and turning that night, and I was eager to find the Eiffel Tower that morning.
Miss Pinky practically skipped breakfast, I think I had a chocolate chip bread bought from Morrisons, so it was hardly no spending that morning.
We took the Metro from Grand Boulevard Station which is the nearest station to the hotel. For a single fare it costs €1.70 (~£1.50). The machines are very easy to use and you can use them in English. We took the M9 route and then got off at Trocadéro. We got out of the station, turned round the corner and voila! La Tour Eiffel. Yay!! ^_^
Metro ticket prices: http://www.parismetro.com/
 |
| La Tour Eiffel |
As we got closer I felt that the tower was getting smaller…
Here’s some stonework and graffiti…
I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower from the centre-bottom just to see if I can see through the top… Er and this is what I saw. ¬,¬
 |
| Looking from the bottom |
You probably can’t see the prices here to go up the tower but you can find it on this
If you don’t like taking the lift and if you’re fit enough try and take the stairs…
 |
| Are you going to use the stairs? Nah!! |
Here was the queue to the lift… I didn’t go up it, as we were on a budget! I only €150 with some extra cash from previous European visits…
 |
| It was a long queue for the lift |
We walked back towards to the station, and our next destination we wanted to take a bus.
If you want to take the bus from Trocadéro to Arc de Triomphe take the Bus 30. We accidentally used our single tickets (so we practically on there for free… Woops!!).
We missed our stop by two stops, Miss Pinky didn’t believe that this was THE Arc de Triomphe and thought we would need to go a bit further… Nope this the Arc de Triomphe. It looks small she said and it looks so cool in movies. ¬,¬ Unbelievable Miss Pinky!!
 |
| Arc de Triomphe |
This is the nearest station…
Now it was window shopping time…
Metro line M2 was our next destination… We went to find the OLD China Town in Belleville.
We reached Belleville quite quickly. I was still amazed at how many Chinese people live in France… We started exploring Belleville, so here’s a few pictures of the outskirts of Paris.
Finally it was time to eat. It was my time to choose so I chose this place called Vietnamese place called Tin Tin 東東 which means “stuff” in Chinese. It seems like one of the most popular restaurants around the area. I think the people in the restaurant are Chinese as they spoke Mandarin. Not sure if they speak Vietnamese though…
 |
| Tin Tin Vietnamese Restaurant |
I chose this beef pho… Oh wow!!! The soup was sweet, a little beefy. The owner asked me if I wanted the chilli oil but I didn’t really want it… 🙂
 |
| Beef pho |
I had a cold lemon tea… This wasn’t bad…
 |
| Cold lemon tea |
And I had the beef dim sum!! Haven’t had this for a long time…
 |
| Beef siu mai |
Miss Pinky unfortunately did not enjoy her main meal… She thought I chose this restaurant for my own purposes… Well yes and no. I was hungry, and I couldn’t be bothered to choose another restaurant within the area. She complained that she didn’t have enough seafood and the chicken was cold. Oh well.
 |
| Seafood and Chicken with rice |
But her fried frog legs were ok. Tasted like fried chicken. Miss Pinky said she could have bought something from her local takeaway… I don’t think you buy fried frog legs in London that easily Miss Pinky!!
 |
| Fried frogs legs |
Total cost came to €36 (~£31). That really isn’t bad. Really cheap for this kind of food!
Well my geeky rating is… 4.5/5 (just for the sake of Miss Pinky, but I would have given this place 5/5).
Address: 17 rue Louis Bonnet, 75011 Paris, France
Now it was time to explore the rest of Belleville…
Next we stopped by this patissere called the Artisan Boulanger Patisser… Ooooo I think this place is really popular amongst the locals. They really like desserts over in Paris. ^_^ Why can’t we have more of these in London??
 |
| Artisan Boulanger Patissier |
I had this strawberry cream tart. Really nice!!
More streetart in Paris…
Definitely want to explore the New China Town next time I’m in Paris!!
Back to Grande Boulevarde…
Miss Pinky wanted a rest so we took a few hours napping time (and I was watching 24 on my iPad mini).
It was time for a night walk…
And finally we found a restaurant that cooked snails (l’escargot). I have been dying throughout my lifetime to try out snails…
 |
| Select Haussmann Restaurant |
Miss Pinky and I went for six snails, so three each. I think Miss Pinky forgot what this tasted like as she’s been to Paris before and had snails…
These were cooked in olive oil and herbs. It was very chewy and reminded me of Chinese mushrooms. Hmmm. Not bad. The Chinese try anything I tell ya!! ^_^
 |
| L’escargot |
 |
| Tastes like mushroom |
I also ordered this mini classic burger. It was bloody good!!
 |
| Classic mini burger |
Total cost came to €24.10 (~£21) including drinks.
My geeky rating: 5/5 (great way to taste French cuisine)
Address: 28 Boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris, France
We wanted to walk around the area quickly as Miss Pinky wanted to buy some beers from the supermarkets before they stopped selling them at 9pm. Supermarkets in France are really strict on selling alcohol!!
Stumbled across the Palais Garnier which is the National Opera House… You can’t really get lost in Central Paris,
We made it to the supermarkets in time. But now Miss Pinky was really hungry. She wanted to go to listen to live music but she didn’t have enough money to buy me a drink… I think she was feeling depressed when I said that to her so we went to eat a burger at this place called Quick… The sauce was horrible. The fries packing made me laugh and Miss Pinky won a Giant burger…
Cost was less than €10 each.
My geeky rating: 2/5
It was time to rest, watch TV (which Miss Pinky got worked up about working women – she gets uptight when I don’t listen XD) and eventually some sleep…
End of Day 2.
A Simple Geeky Life 