Hotel du Grand Jardin

L’Hotel du Grand Jardin is a 2 stars hotel in Cassis, near Marseille. We stayed there for three nights mid September. The hotel is very well situated, only a couple of minutes walking distance from the Port of Cassis. If you want to go hiking the Calanques, which we highly recommend, you’ll have to walk for about 30 minutes to get on the trail.

The Cassis train station is quite far away from the village centre so if you’ arrive by train you’ll have to either get a cab or take the bus. The taxi cab is quick but will cost you 15 Euro for a ride to the village. The bus is slower and only goes once an hour or so, but it only costs 80 cents and it drops you 3 minutes away from the Hotel du Grand Jardin.

The room was quite small – that’s actually the case of 90% of hotel rooms in France – but was kept very clean. On the negative side of things, the toilet seat was broken and the quality if the TV is very bad. You’ll say you don’t travel all the way down there to watch TV, and you’re right, but when the weather is bad there isn’t much else you can do…

One major disadvantage of the Hotel du Grand Jardin is that walls are very thin and you hear every noise your neighbours make. The door locks make a dreadful noise when you turn the key and we literally jumped up a couple of times when your neighbours return to their room late at night thinking somebody’s forcing our door.

With all that in mind, we found the price of 76 Euro per night to be a fair one and we recommend this hotel for a short stay. Be careful though: breakfast served in the loby costs 10 Euro per person and they also ask 12 Euro extra per night if you want to park your car in the garage. I don’t know about the garage, but I don’t really get the 10 Euro / person price for breakfast. All you have to do step outside, walk 50 metres and have the same thing in a café for 6 Euro, which is what we did.

Bea’s

Bea’s is a quality South American (mainly Columbian) / Asian fast food in the Champs-Élysées area in Paris. Their main treats are Columbian dishes such as, but not limited to, picadillo or Columbian meatballs on rice of various asian flavors. They also have yakitory and noodles along with some other Asian snacks.

Food is great and the place is clean. You can either eat on site or order to take away. Prices are very reasonable given the area, with a three course meal costing between 11 and 13 Euro. A place I highly recommend.

Address: 2, rue Saint Phillipe du Roule, 75008, Paris
or: 131, rue du Fbg Saint Honoré, 75008, Paris
Phone: +33-(0)145.610.031

Okame

Okame is a an excellent sushi bar at Place des Ternes in Paris, which is very close to the Arc de Triomphe. All the staff is Japanese and lots of Japanese and Japanese speaking people come there for sushi and bento. The chef is an old Japanese grandpa, handling the knifes like a master. So, unlike must sushi places in Paris, this is the real thing, not some Chinese or Vietnamese shop which turned sushi for the big bucks or because the competition was killing them. And prices are very reasonable.

So, go there and enjoy. They make all traditional raw fish dishes: sushi, sashimi, chirashi and maki but also bento and many traditional Japanese snacks. Beware, it’s not a big restaurant, just a small sushi bar so you should arrive around noon if you want to sit down. You can also call to order or take your lunch away and enjoy it in the Monceau Park, only five minutes away

Address: 235 fg St-Honoré 75008 Paris
Phone: 01 46 22 95 03

La Ferme de Marie

La Ferme de Marie is a very nice place to have lunch when being at La Defance, Paris’ business and financial quarter. You can get a wide range of traditional french bistro dishes at a reasonable price. Quality is very good, all dishes being cooked in house. Being a high quality house with moderate prices the place is usually packed, so I highly recommend you place your lunch reservations by 11.

So, this is a place I highly recommend. The address is 14 bld Mission Marchand, 92400 Courbevoie and their phone number is 01 41 25 78 47.

Enjoy!

Galileo Galilei Airport, Pisa, Italy

We landed there a Saturday morning for a one week vacation in Tuscany and left one week later, a Saturday Afternoon.

Arriving was perfect. The airport was empty, we got off the plane, luggage arrived very quickly and off we went.

Flying out was a totally different story. We arrived to the airport two hours in advance and there was a huge mess. Travelers like us running in all directions. We were looking at the small displays but couldn’t find our flight. After a couple of minutes they displayed a message saying there’s a strike going on and that some of the flights were canceled or delayed. No indication of which flights were actually affected. We couldn’t find anyone able to tell us about our flight. So after waiting for a while, we noticed the Easy-Jet logo appeared at one of the check-in counters. We went over there and that was our flight. There was no announcement though. Check-in went OK, and so did the security check – although the place was very, very crowded.

Then we arrived at the boarding area. Again, no indication of our flight. No idea for how long we’ll have to wait. We finally managed to find an airport employee who told us the Easy-Jet flight to Paris is going to be next at “that gate”. So we went there. The flight before didn’t even start to board.

All seats in the hall were already taken and twice as many people were standing. After an hour or so the flight before finished boarding and after another half an hour our flight’s number appeared on the display by the gate. So we were waiting, waiting… after a while, our flight number on the screen was replaced with another one. There was a huge line behind me – basically a full plane worth of people – and nobody seemed to notice anything. No announcement, of course. So I grab an airport official passing by and ask: “sorry, isn’t the Easy-Jet flight to Paris supposed to board at this gate?”. The guy looks at me and and says: “Oh, it’s at this other gate now”. So basically they had switched gates for the flights without telling anyone. Go wonder. So everybody heard the guy and we all started to run at the other gate. And of course passengers at the other gate started to run towards us, because all of a sudden they realized their flight was moved to our gate. I’ll let you imagine the clash.

So, at some point, we managed to board. But the plane wouldn’t leave because the Pisa Airport staff had loaded our luggage in another plane, and the luggage from that flight was loaded in our plane. Luckily, they realized that before we took off. After this got settled – it took a while – the plane moved a little, but then it immediately stopped. The pilot told us the tractor used to push the plane on the track for takeoff broke down, so we had to wait for another one to become available.

So, what was a really great vacation in Tuscany ended with a disaster. Problem is, Galileo Galilei in Pisa is a very small airport, but Tuscany is surfing the tourism wave and they squeeze in it three to four times the traffic it was designed to handle. And it’s a nightmare. The structures are not appropriate – halls are small and have very few seats for waiting, it’s getting really hot and there is no air conditioning, passengers are barely informed of anything and the personnel is not trained to handle this amount of traffic.

Tuscany

I just returned from a one week vacation in Tuscany and it was just great. Food is great, people are nice and weather is gorgeous.

So, one by one…. I had some of the greatest food ever. They have excellent restaurants serving fancy meals at very attractive prices. When I say attractive it means that in Paris, for example, you’d pay twice or three times the money for the same quality.

Italians has four types of dishes: antipasti, “primi piatti”, “secondi piatti” and desert. Antipasti are appetizers, “primi piati” constitute the first course and “secondi piatti” the main dish. One thing you should be aware of is that meats don’t generally have a side dish, you’ll have to order that apart. Typical side dishes are mixed grilled vegetables, spinach or pasta.

The service is generally great and the bill was always accurate. I mention this because friends with whom I traveled confirmed horror stories I heard about overcharged restaurant bills in Rome, with deserts and drinks that had never been ordered being systematically added to your bill. No such thing in Tuscany. We’ve been to restaurants in Pisa, Florence, Sienna, San Gimignano, Lucca and also to Ravena and never had a restaurant bill problem.

Driving in Tuscany is not such a bad experience as you’d expect. Roads and highways are of lesser quality than what you’d find in France or Germany but still good and drivers are surprisingly respectful of speed limits. Tuscany, however, it still Italy and there is a certain level of chaos in the way these people drive, especially in larger cities such as Florence and Pisa. Here are a few unusual situations I have encountered while driving:

• going full speed on the highway from Pisa to Florence. All of a sudden the traffic jams. Wonder why? Two cars were stopped on the left – that’s inner – lane, probably because of an accident. Drivers were standing on the highway, yelling at each other.
• bicycles and pedestrians arriving in front of you, against traffic, on your lane is not an unusual thing. You’ll freak out the first couple of times but you’ll get used to it
• small villages don’t have sidewalks and roads bending sharply around buildings provide for a lot blind corners. So beware of pedestrians walking in the middle of the street – can’t really blame them, since there’s no sidewalk – or even better, cars parked in the street

We stayed at something called “Agriturismo”, which is some sort of an inn. Actually it was a house with three isolated apartments and a swimming pool. Our apartment was a two bedroom, living room and fully equipped kitchen. Everything looked spotless and brand new. If that would have been a hotel suite in NYC or Paris, you would have payed a fortune for it. We only payed less than 600 EUR for four, for a week.

The only problem we had in Tuscany was flying out of Pisa. Not the flight itself, but check-in and boarding part. If something could have gone bad, it did. But there will be a special post about that.

Siam Kitchen

Siam Kitchen is an excellent Thai restaurant, caught in between San Francisco’s Financial Quarter and China Town. Food is really great and authentic, the best Thai I ever had. Without being classy – if you’d be familiar with San Francisco restaurants, you’d rate it somewhere between a Henry’s Hunan and Naan-N-Curry – Siam Kitchen is a very welcoming place and the quality of food is just great.

Siam Kitchen is located at 668 Sacramento St., right between Kearny St and Montgomery St. You can call them for reservations or order to go at (415) 391-8988‎.

Kitchen Club

The Kitchen Club, on 30 Prince Street in New York city is an excellent Dutch / Japanese fusion restaurant. It serves great meals and great deserts. The wine is also quite good. If you’re looking for an original lunch or dining experience in Soho, go there!

Tlaloc, Sabor Mexicano

Tlaloc is a great place Mexican restaurant in San Francisco’s Financial District. Conveniently located in Commerce Street, between Sansome and Montgommery, it offer one of the most authentic Mexican food experiences. All their greens, vegetables and eggs are organic and fresh. A place I highly recommend if you’re looking for lunch in the financial district.

Aux Amis du Beaujolais

Aux Amis du Beaujolais is a great place to have traditional French lunch or dinner near the Champs Elysées. Ranging from tartare to grilled beef, andouillete and duck, meals are authentic and taste great. Coffee is fine and of course you can taste a selection of good bordeaux and beaujolais whine. Prices, in the 12 – 18 euros range, are quite affordable given the neighbourhood.

Aux Amis du Beaujolais has been a family business since 1921.

Reservations: +33 (0)1 45 63 92 21
Web site: http://aux-amis-du-beaujolais.com/