Manchester

Rain. Wind. Ale.

Another EasyJet weekend, this time to Northern England - Manchester to be specific.  We were looking forward to English Ales and the ability to communicate without asking if someone speaks English first.  We arrived late Friday night, just in time to wander to a local a pub for a drink before heading back to our hotel for the night.  Interesting note: after getting into bed there was a dripping from the ceiling, right by Kate's head.  Somehow there was a leak and we were moved to another room.  I guess it even rains indoors in Manchester!

We woke up to sun on Saturday and took the opportunity to explore the downtown.  We started by walking past the town hall, but we arrived before it opened so we made a mental note to return later in the day.  The building is built in the Gothic revival style and is considered to be one of the most important Victorian buildings in England.  In preparations for the Chinese New Year there were lanterns hung around the square and around the rest of the city.

We next walked up towards to main square and around the main shopping center on the way to the cathedral, originally built in the late 1400's.

Now it was time to explore the Northern Quarter, home to restaurants, bars and boutiques where we worked up an appetite.  For lunch we headed back towards the cathedral to eat at the Old Wellington, a half-timber public house built in 1552.  A lunch of traditional English fare and beer didn't disappoint.   However, the weather took a turn for the worse.  Rain and wind, eek.

We braved the soggy weather and went to the John Rylands library, a half library/half museum containing old books and Papyrus 52, a piece of parchment believed to date from 100 - 150 AD (that's an old sheet of paper).

We then went back to the town hall, where we were able to go inside and have mid-afternoon tea at the restaurant in the main hall.

For dinner we found a Spanish tapas restaurant.  We didn't have reservations and they said the wait could be over 30 minutes or longer but we could wait in the bar.  After sitting down and looking at the wine menu they came back and seated us (I guess someone cancelled).  Just our luck.  Afterwards we walked back to the Northern Quarter where we found a cute restaurant/bar where we both had milkshakes for desert (Kate had Nutella and toasted marshmallow and Matt had a boozy hardshake of fudge with bourbon & Baileys.  Yum!

On Sunday we work up to rain and decided to hit the Manchester Art Museum.  Like most museums in Manchester it was free.  It contained works from various British painters and was nice (but small).  Next we took the tram to the Quays (pronounced "keys" in case you were wondering) to see The Lowry, a mixed use building on the old shipbuilding grounds that contains the artwork of LS Lowry, famous for his drawings of the industrial English North.

Our last stop in Manchester was the Oast House, a rustic chalet-like gastropub in a stand alone building in the middle of town.  Good food to end our quick visit to Northwest England.

 

Paris - Shopping the Winter Soldes!

Soldes &  Retail Therapy.

We were in Basel for the past 2 weekends (perhaps a record?!) so it was high time to head out of town.  Paris is only 3 hours via the fast TGV train, perfect!  We left in the afternoon and arrived in time to check in, freshen up and head out to dinner.  Our destination was Frenchie Bar a Vins in the 1st arrondissement.  It was down a cute little cobblestone alley with a few restaurants and small storefronts selling fresh seafood.  We heard really good things but were unsure if we'd get in - the restaurant was full and its wine bar across the street doesn't take reservations.  When we arrived (10 minutes before the 7PM opening time) there was already a line, boo!   We not only got in, we scored awesome seats right next to the kitchen window so we could watch the chefs work their magic in perhaps one of the smallest kitchens ever!  It's communal seating and the girls at our table were chefs temporarily living in Paris (two from the US).  Fun!  The food is shared small plates and it was truly divine.  We loved the foie gras and had to stop ourselves from licking the plate!  The bustling ambiance, tasty food and wine made for a perfect first night in the city of lights!

We walked back to the hotel, stopping by the Pompidou and the Notre Dame on our way.  Surprisingly, there was still a Christmas tree set up in front of Notre Dame, and other holiday decor throughout the city.  Huh, I thought it would've been taken down by now?

 

Saturday was our big "retail therapy" day.  We happened to be visiting during one of France's two annual sales.  We planned, researched and strategized how best to shop the winter soldes/sales!  Ok, we didn't go that far, but we had a plan and were really excited!  Apparently the sales are state-regulated in France and generally run twice per year, once in winter and then again in summer.

We started in our hotel's neighborhood at Le Bon Marche in Saint Germaine.  We actually arrived too early and had to kill a half hour before it opened!  It's a pretty and grand area to walk around though, so we couldn't complain.  And when the doors to the department store opened we were some of the first customers and it was it was so nice to shop without a crowd!  Very cool.  The store is the oldest in Paris and was designed by Gustav Eiffel (hmmm, where have I heard that name before?!).  We went here specifically because we heard it was a nice building and it didn't disappoint - we also managed to snag a few items (for Kate) as well!

 
After Le Bon Marche we took the metro to the two other big Parisian departments stores: Printemps and Galleries Lafayette.  Both are huge, occupying multiple interconnected buildings, and they were both really packed.  The outside of Printemps is pretty, with a mix of old and modern architecture.  We breezed through all three of the buildings and jostled with the other shoppers but left empty handed.  Just a block away is Galleries Lafayette, known for its domed ceiling.  The architecture inside was even more stunning than the clothes.

After the department stores we headed to Rue Saint Honoré in the Louvre-Tuileries neighborhood.  The chic street is filled with classic designers, trendy boutiques and many bustling bistros.  Along the way we walked through Place Vendome.  The original column was erected by Napoleon and is surrounded by old buildings housing expensive apartments and more designer stores (past residents include Coco Chanel). We finally made it to Rue Saint Honoré and all its boutiques and concept stores.  There was lots of window shopping to build up our appetite, so we hit one of the cute cafes dotted in between the stores for a tasty lunch.

After lunch we made some purchases for Matt and made our way back to the Left Bank via the Louvre complex (just the outside).  As usual, the place was crawling with tourists and people hawking cheap souvenirs.  After taking the obligatory pictures it was back to the hotel to drop off our spoils and head back out to visit the Saint Germaine neighborhood (including re-visiting the fabulous and design-y Hermes store housed in an old swimming pool).

 

 

Savvy shopper!

We ended the day with a trip to the Eiffel Tower at dusk, just in time to see it glowing with golden light.

 

For dinner we had reservations at a small restaurant called Franck Enée.  Matt checked his email just before leaving for dinner and found a message stating our reservation was cancelled (??).  Huh, we didn't do that.  We decided to go anyway and when checking in the host confirmed our reservations had been cancelled, but they could seat us anyway (we were lucky, it was a very small but nice place).   The menu was only in French so we had to do a bit of guessing and the host spoke a little English and made some suggestions.  For dinner we both started with more foie gras, then it was rabbit for Kate (the restaurant's specialty) and boeuf for Matt, followed by a desert of lemon tarte and "chocolate surprise".  It's a prix fixe menu that's very reasonably priced for the quality and quantity of food!  We left happy and full for our wander back home, hoping to burn off a few calories from our indulgent dinner! 

Sunday was culture day.  We like to balance our fun with intellectual activities as well!  We started by visiting Museum l'Orangerie, famous for housing Monet's eight Water Lilies murals.  Amazing.  In addition to these large paintings there was art from other impressionists, including Cezanne, Renoir, Matisse and Picasso.  It was nice and very manageable (aka small).  Following this, we walked to the Rodin Museum to visit the garden (home of The Thinker).

We ended our trip with a stroll up towards the Champs Elysees (hello, we found out Banana Republic was open on Sundays!) before heading back to our hotel and then to the train station.  Overall it was a lovely weekend that felt more like late spring/early fall than the middle of winter.  And train travel is so nice and easy!  Maybe we'll squeeze in a third trip before we head back to the States, who knows!