Back to London!

The trusty Eurostar got us back to London with no problems at all. (TRAVEL TIP: going from london to Paris is chaotic and poorly designed. Get there EARLY unless you have Business Premeire service. From Paris to London was literally the opposite — quiet, organized and efficient. No need to arrive hugely early.)

We took a black cab from St. Pancras to our flat in Islington, the lovely and delightful ‘Prime Location Sleeps 6 London N1’ by Liz Lau.  This was a gorgeous location and place to sleep. Liz gave us a bottle of wine and breakfast makings. The beds are wonderful, the space airy and clean, the shower great. HIGHLY recommended. (And the neighborhood looks fantastic for restaurants!)

We had dinner that evening at the Brassiere Palm Court, which was great, overall, even though you might think we were a little tired of French food.   Our friends started with goat cheese salad and baked brie, we had the onion soup and a salad. For mains they had a delicious pork chop and excellent steak, while we had risotto and mussels. Everyone was happy with their meal and with the price (197 pounds which included 3 aperitifs, 2 bottles of water, and a 41 lb bottle of wine).

Then we went to see a show! We saw Hay Fever, a Noel Coward play at the Duke of York Theater. It was brilliant. Hilarious and endearing, somewhat subtle and very well-written, the actors did a wonderful job of bringing the comedy to life. The audience was a little slow to warm, but us Americans were loud in our appreciation, and the second act went far better.

We ended up at a little café across the street to have dessert and talk about the show. La Roche had a nice selection of sweets, and good coffee for those who enjoy them. (I had a glass of wine and was content.)

Today was a travel & dining day.

We were up fairly early and took the Tube to St. Pancreas International to take the Eurostar train through the Chunnel to Paris. The line was HUGE — more than a little bit of a madhouse, and worrisome. Worst of all: we thought we’d have time for coffee & croissants at the station. Turns out there was a Café Nero inside the ‘border control’ area and we had *just* enough time to buy a bit of breakfast before we boarded.

The Eurostar was nice, nothing special. It was only marred by the child in the seats across the aisle who had no concept of ‘inside voice’ and never nice stopped talking/ making noise.

Picking up the car (rented through Auto Europe and reserved at Europcar) was easy. Best of all: they let us put our luggage away and then leave the car parked in their garage wile we went to lunch at Terminus Nord. This restaurant came highly recommended, and seemed particularly lovely as a setting.

The food was good, but overpriced. We spent 2.5 hours for a starter (crab & avocado, salad, pea soup), main (sea bass fillet with a potato ‘cappuccino’ and mushrooms confit, pan seared duck breast with sweet potato mango tartin, sausages with sauerkraut, and pork tenderloin) and dessert (profiteroles w/ vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce). It was a lovely meal, but service was a bit spotty (even for Paris) and (like I said) we were surprised by the final cost.

Our trip to Balleroy was uneventful, although getting out of Paris was no fun. Our house is lovely — a perfect French Country Manor out in the middle of no where. Firm beds (YES!), comfortable furniture, a huge kitchen . . .  It was perfect.

For dinner we walked next door to Manoir de la Drome. Turns out that we had perfect timing as they were just opening (and are closed on Wed nights, so we’d have missed out entirely). This was a perfect, fabulous, luxurious meal that was utterly superb. (Can you tell I enjoyed it?)

We fell into bed late, too little sleep ahead for the long day coming.