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Tag: France

Off to Paris, and a good start!

Published on 27 July 2021

It’s not yet the trip I’ve been planning for since 2019, but at least I’m back on an international train again, this time with destination Paris!

I’ve been to the City of Light several times before, but I can’t remember ever having spent the night here as a tourist. That’s about to change!

Like most of my days out and about, I start with coffee, and since the Ten Belles roastery was only a short walk from the Gare du Nord, that was my first destination.

Then it was time to check into my Ibis Styles hotel, just to drop off some stuff, and make sure there actually was a room waiting for me. Luckily, it was! And yes, that is a single bed, before booking I didn’t even know hotels still had these… But hey, that’s a couple of euros saved I can now spend on beer!

Day 10 – The Journey Home

Published on 3 June 2019 
Reached this post by just scrolling through my blog? 
If you want to read about this trip from start to finish, instead of in reverse order, click here!

Today we left Italy to go home again, taking the final three trains of this . A quick beer stop in Zürich at Drinks of the World—only to take home this time, not to drink in—and another changeover in Paris.

However, this stop didn’t quite go as planned: instead of having beers and dinner in BBP Canal, we went hunting for my wallet, which had been stolen from my not-so-safe ‘train’ backpack… And that after eight days without any problems in the Italy with my PacSafe sling…

According to the Tile in my wallet, it was last seen near metro Bastille, but after looking for it for a while, we had to give up so we wouldn’t miss our train home. We eventually reported the theft with the police in Gare du Nord, just before our Thalys home.

Done reading about this trip? Resume reading my blog in the usual order!

Day 1 – Paris

Published on 25 May 2019

The first day of a trip is always such a busy day, especially if you want to make the most of the stops along the way. It started off quite relaxed though, comfortably waiting for our train in the Thalys Lounge.

Once arrived in Paris, we dropped off our bag at a NannyBag point, and continued to the first BrewDog bar in France: BrewDog Le Marais.

After lunch, we went for coffee at Ob-La-Di, and stocked up on cheese at Fromagerie Jouannault.

Our only real French beer bar of the day was Hoppy Corner, but it didn’t disappoint! A bit less French, but on our list anyway, were BBP – Pigalle and Mikkeller Bar Paris.

In the end, we had to hurry a bit to catch our Thello sleeper train, but we made it!

Off to Scotland Again!

Published on 13 September 2015

And we’re off to Scotland again!
French border control went faster than ever, but the British decided to let their sniffer dog have a go at us and our stuff first… Nothing was found though, so without any further interruption we can continue to the Eurotunnel terminal.

Homeward

Published on 18 May 2014

After a speedy night ride to London — we arrived half an hour early — I managed to grab the front row seats again in the bus to Brussels, and this time nobody insisted on joining me there.
Eurotunnel went as planned as well, France was a breeze, but Belgium slowed us down with a traffic jam before Ghent. Welcome to Belgium?
So, I guess that was the end of this trip again already…

Start the countdown to September! 🙂