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Gotta Go Away, Now!
Apr. 14th, 2016 10:19 pmOn the Saturday evening, we had a meal booked at a restaurant for 8pm, meaning we had about two and a half hours to kill after we finished our wine. Unfortunately, the weather had started to deteriorate but we didn't let this bother us, deciding to go over to the Centre Pompidou in the fourth arrondissement to check out its rather unique design. The building is designed inside-out, with different coloured pipework adorning its frontage while external elevators trapped inside transparent perspex tubes can whisk you to the sixth floor, where there is an ample viewing platform. Air vents and electrical cables also form part of its external facade while on the other side of the square upon which it is situated, there are huge industrial vents tilting towards it, adding to the industrial feel. It was controversial when it opened in 1977 but since then, it has become something of an iconic landmark and it houses a number of museums, including France's national contemporary and modern art museum. There are also cinemas and other artistic sites located within, but the key feature is the external architecture. We walked around the building trying to find an entrance other than the main one but alas we could not, with us being unable to enter through the only other doors we could see leadng to the perspex escalators. I would have loved to have spent some time inside this wonder but the queue snaking out of the main entrance was quite long and the weather had descended into that annoying drizzle which makes you wetter than you realise until its too late. None of our party fancied waiting in this, so we decided to head towards a rather gaudy set of metallic sculptures which turned out to be part of a dormant fountain before settling inside the charming church of Saint Merry, where a Christening rehersal was taking place. Crossing the old north-south Roman Road, this church was build between 1500 and 1550 with two special architecural features - a wide side aisle in the south and a similar design to Notre Dame. Largely of Gothic style but with English perpendicular in the windows, the design enabled light to diffuse throughout the building while it still retained its reverential atmosphere. The alter was particularly impressive and it was definitely worth walking around for fifteen minutes, largely so we didn't get wet.
After this pleasant diversion, we headed back to the Metro stop but along the way, we found a shop selling produce unique to the French island of Reunion. Situated in the Indian Ocean, I hadn't thought about the produce of this island before, and most of it seemed to be exceptionally strong liquour and chocolate. With only having hand luggage, the liquour wasn't really an option, but I did buy some rather delicious if expensive white chocolate infused with the flavour of vanilla bourbon, having the familiar black freckles of vanilla pods contained within. The vanilla bourbon really added to the creaminess of the chocolate and it was great to suck as we headed back towards the Jardin du Luxembourg area, where the restaurant was situated. We still had about an hour to kill though so we stopped off at one of the local craft beer bars I had researched before our travels, the fantastically named Brewberry. This was only five minutes away from our restaurant and has a shop on one side of the road and a bar on the other. We had to wait a few minutes for some seats but soon some became available and we got to try a range of impressive beers, many of which I had never seen before. We also managed to convince a sceptical Kate about the range of beers on offer these days, with her being less of a fan of bitter standard varieties. We introduced her to some excellent fruity beers though including an apple infused mead and a tart raspberry sour one, and although she wasn't impressed by the coconut stout that Matt and I ordered, she was very enthusiastic about the different drinks she tried. Unfortunately, the prices in this bar were quite expensive, as was typical for beer across the city, but you pay for quality I guess and we certainly got that.
Our eatery was another recommendation of Matt's, Le Coupe-Chou, which have been serving food in the city in 1962. It's a place that is difficult to find, with its frontage covered by vines and only a non-descript wooden door down an alleyway highlighting what it is. Inside, the restaurant had a rustic French feel, all snug and with pale wooden panels, with dim atmospheric lighting the only real light source. The view out of the window and onto the small Parisian square was very evocative, what you would picture in your mind's eye really, while the meal here was exquisite, like it had been in the Bergamote the night before, while the wine was another strong variety (although perhaps slightly not as good). The service, however, was a little hap-hazard and Wolfie and Kate ended up with the wrong duck dishes, with Kate having meat which was rarer than she would have liked. I went for a starter of potato and leek soup with a main of beef bourginon, the latter of which certainly did not disappoint. For dessert, I eschewed the cheese and opted instead for the café gourmand, a popular sweet here consisting of a cup of coffee (or tea) and three mini-desserts. Ours were a creme brulee, a rich chocolate mousse and something else which I can't quite remember, and it was certainly an indulgent if manageable way to end a meal. Certainly for someone who struggles with two courses let alone three in the UK, the portion sizes here were reasonable without being overbearing and I remember leaving the restaurant feeling satisfied but not bloated, which is always the sign of a good meal. Our final destination of the night was bohemian punky bar Le Piano Vache, which was incredibly busy on account of it being a Saturday night. We did manage to find a seat at the bar and not fancying paying over the odds for a beer, we opted instead to stick to wine as we enjoyed the ambience of bright young things having a typically Parisian yet moderately grimy night out. The music in the bar was quite infectious, with many tunes from the old days of punk, and the atmosphere was definitely worth staying for, so much so that we ended up missing our train and having to stay for an additional half hour. I consequently bought another drink before we all headed off, back on the train, tired but happy. The journey back turned out to be quicker than we had expected on account of the train leaving five minutes early and then the driver forgetting to stop at about seven stations, much to the annoyance of some of the passengers whose stops had been missed out. The driver must have thought he was still operating on the daytime timetable but there was no excessive sense of exasperation, suggesting that this tends to happen on more than one occasion. Matt was certainly loving it and was delighted to be back home earlier. We said goodbye at the station but then headed around the small town of Bures-sur-Yvette seeing what we could discover, even though the cold was rather biting at this time of night. Aside from a church, a park, a few shops and a single bar which for some reason closed at 8pm, there wasn't an awful lot to see, but the place was charming enough we thought before we headed back to the B&B for a well-earned rest, skirting past the takeaway pizza place on the end of the street which too wasn't open particularly late. A party town this certainly was not.
After this pleasant diversion, we headed back to the Metro stop but along the way, we found a shop selling produce unique to the French island of Reunion. Situated in the Indian Ocean, I hadn't thought about the produce of this island before, and most of it seemed to be exceptionally strong liquour and chocolate. With only having hand luggage, the liquour wasn't really an option, but I did buy some rather delicious if expensive white chocolate infused with the flavour of vanilla bourbon, having the familiar black freckles of vanilla pods contained within. The vanilla bourbon really added to the creaminess of the chocolate and it was great to suck as we headed back towards the Jardin du Luxembourg area, where the restaurant was situated. We still had about an hour to kill though so we stopped off at one of the local craft beer bars I had researched before our travels, the fantastically named Brewberry. This was only five minutes away from our restaurant and has a shop on one side of the road and a bar on the other. We had to wait a few minutes for some seats but soon some became available and we got to try a range of impressive beers, many of which I had never seen before. We also managed to convince a sceptical Kate about the range of beers on offer these days, with her being less of a fan of bitter standard varieties. We introduced her to some excellent fruity beers though including an apple infused mead and a tart raspberry sour one, and although she wasn't impressed by the coconut stout that Matt and I ordered, she was very enthusiastic about the different drinks she tried. Unfortunately, the prices in this bar were quite expensive, as was typical for beer across the city, but you pay for quality I guess and we certainly got that.
Our eatery was another recommendation of Matt's, Le Coupe-Chou, which have been serving food in the city in 1962. It's a place that is difficult to find, with its frontage covered by vines and only a non-descript wooden door down an alleyway highlighting what it is. Inside, the restaurant had a rustic French feel, all snug and with pale wooden panels, with dim atmospheric lighting the only real light source. The view out of the window and onto the small Parisian square was very evocative, what you would picture in your mind's eye really, while the meal here was exquisite, like it had been in the Bergamote the night before, while the wine was another strong variety (although perhaps slightly not as good). The service, however, was a little hap-hazard and Wolfie and Kate ended up with the wrong duck dishes, with Kate having meat which was rarer than she would have liked. I went for a starter of potato and leek soup with a main of beef bourginon, the latter of which certainly did not disappoint. For dessert, I eschewed the cheese and opted instead for the café gourmand, a popular sweet here consisting of a cup of coffee (or tea) and three mini-desserts. Ours were a creme brulee, a rich chocolate mousse and something else which I can't quite remember, and it was certainly an indulgent if manageable way to end a meal. Certainly for someone who struggles with two courses let alone three in the UK, the portion sizes here were reasonable without being overbearing and I remember leaving the restaurant feeling satisfied but not bloated, which is always the sign of a good meal. Our final destination of the night was bohemian punky bar Le Piano Vache, which was incredibly busy on account of it being a Saturday night. We did manage to find a seat at the bar and not fancying paying over the odds for a beer, we opted instead to stick to wine as we enjoyed the ambience of bright young things having a typically Parisian yet moderately grimy night out. The music in the bar was quite infectious, with many tunes from the old days of punk, and the atmosphere was definitely worth staying for, so much so that we ended up missing our train and having to stay for an additional half hour. I consequently bought another drink before we all headed off, back on the train, tired but happy. The journey back turned out to be quicker than we had expected on account of the train leaving five minutes early and then the driver forgetting to stop at about seven stations, much to the annoyance of some of the passengers whose stops had been missed out. The driver must have thought he was still operating on the daytime timetable but there was no excessive sense of exasperation, suggesting that this tends to happen on more than one occasion. Matt was certainly loving it and was delighted to be back home earlier. We said goodbye at the station but then headed around the small town of Bures-sur-Yvette seeing what we could discover, even though the cold was rather biting at this time of night. Aside from a church, a park, a few shops and a single bar which for some reason closed at 8pm, there wasn't an awful lot to see, but the place was charming enough we thought before we headed back to the B&B for a well-earned rest, skirting past the takeaway pizza place on the end of the street which too wasn't open particularly late. A party town this certainly was not.
