Christmas approaching! This time we had decided to spend it together in Angers (the rest of the Turtiainen clan having decided to go on a cruise to the Red Sea – not a bad option either). Isabelle had kindly invited us to spend New Year’s Eve at her parent’s place in Brittany near Nantes, which fit in nicely with our plans. After exploring various options, we decided to take the train in the end – ending up with the following itinerary: Antibes-Paris-Angers-Nantes-Antibes.
The first leg of the journey took us from Antibes to Paris, on the night train (in my opinion a great way to travel – as long as you manage to sleep on the train, of course). Things didn’t start off very well, as we realised there were no trains from Cagnes-sur-Mer to Antibes (due to a strike, what else?). Fortunately, Hannu, who was returning from his shopping trip, was able to drive us down to Antibes. Other than that, our trip was eventless, and we arrived in Gare d’Austerliz in Paris on schedule, bright ‘n early in the morning.
We had a very busy social schedule for the day, so without further ado, sped down to Gare Montparnasse (from where our train for Angers was departing later on), where we left our luggage in a locker. We then jumped on the metro again, and headed down to Pantin, at the outskirts of Paris, for our scheduled breakfast at CoCo’s place. We spent a couple of very pleasant hours catching up on the latest news and inspecting her typically cozy Parisian apartment (which she had recently bought), munching down croissants and fresh baguette.
From there we jumped on the metro again, and headed for our lunchtime rendez-vous, with Sarah and Bruno, near Bastille. We were actually a bit early, so had time to check out the local market hall with all the tasty Christmas food on display – nice for working up an appetite. Sarah and Bruno had, as always, picked a top eatery – this time a small and cozy epicerie called “Les Crocs”. The food was very good indeed – I had a nice plate of charcuterie followed by a very nice (and big!) home-cooked sausage and mashed potatoes. Simple, copious and very tasty – just the way I like my food ;-).
Our appetites sated, we sped down to Republique, where we were meeting Milene, a good friend of Mathilde’s from her mad ERASMUS days in Perugia. We only had time for a quick drink with her – but it was good to be able to catch up with her as well, short and sweet though it was.
Time was pressing, so back we got on the metro, and headed back down to Gare Montparnasse, where we were meeting Muriel and Mathilde’s lovely niece and whirlwind nephews (we only spent about 2 hours with them but that didn’t stop them from making short work of my leather jacket ;-). Good thing we didn’t have desert at lunch – as we headed down for a very tasty crepe indeed at the Creperie Josselin – a real Parisian institution, apparently.
We then headed back to the train station – where I still had time for one last pint before catching the train – with Emmanuel, and old mate of mine from my student days in Edinburgh. It had been nearly 10 years since our Scottish odyssey, and hadn’t met since, so emotions ran amok. Well, I’m exaggerating a bit – but it was great to hear the latest anyway. With promises of more beer and catching up next time we were in Paris, we rushed off to catch the train for Angers...
The first leg of the journey took us from Antibes to Paris, on the night train (in my opinion a great way to travel – as long as you manage to sleep on the train, of course). Things didn’t start off very well, as we realised there were no trains from Cagnes-sur-Mer to Antibes (due to a strike, what else?). Fortunately, Hannu, who was returning from his shopping trip, was able to drive us down to Antibes. Other than that, our trip was eventless, and we arrived in Gare d’Austerliz in Paris on schedule, bright ‘n early in the morning.
We had a very busy social schedule for the day, so without further ado, sped down to Gare Montparnasse (from where our train for Angers was departing later on), where we left our luggage in a locker. We then jumped on the metro again, and headed down to Pantin, at the outskirts of Paris, for our scheduled breakfast at CoCo’s place. We spent a couple of very pleasant hours catching up on the latest news and inspecting her typically cozy Parisian apartment (which she had recently bought), munching down croissants and fresh baguette. 
From there we jumped on the metro again, and headed for our lunchtime rendez-vous, with Sarah and Bruno, near Bastille. We were actually a bit early, so had time to check out the local market hall with all the tasty Christmas food on display – nice for working up an appetite. Sarah and Bruno had, as always, picked a top eatery – this time a small and cozy epicerie called “Les Crocs”. The food was very good indeed – I had a nice plate of charcuterie followed by a very nice (and big!) home-cooked sausage and mashed potatoes. Simple, copious and very tasty – just the way I like my food ;-). 
Our appetites sated, we sped down to Republique, where we were meeting Milene, a good friend of Mathilde’s from her mad ERASMUS days in Perugia. We only had time for a quick drink with her – but it was good to be able to catch up with her as well, short and sweet though it was. Time was pressing, so back we got on the metro, and headed back down to Gare Montparnasse, where we were meeting Muriel and Mathilde’s lovely niece and whirlwind nephews (we only spent about 2 hours with them but that didn’t stop them from making short work of my leather jacket ;-). Good thing we didn’t have desert at lunch – as we headed down for a very tasty crepe indeed at the Creperie Josselin – a real Parisian institution, apparently.
We then headed back to the train station – where I still had time for one last pint before catching the train – with Emmanuel, and old mate of mine from my student days in Edinburgh. It had been nearly 10 years since our Scottish odyssey, and hadn’t met since, so emotions ran amok. Well, I’m exaggerating a bit – but it was great to hear the latest anyway. With promises of more beer and catching up next time we were in Paris, we rushed off to catch the train for Angers...
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