Nice people thread part 8 - worth the wait

Spirit_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

I thought "bite the butler" was some posh term

So did I.

Hope tootsies are reducing.

lostinrates

Spirit wrote: »

So did I.

Hope tootsies are reducing.

Super DH is running me a cool bath now. They are
HUGE. . The swelling is annoying my Achilles' tendons and the right one starting to bruise.


Really nice day though, certainly worth it. They were really interesting people, and lovely, and had wonderful adorable children, ( I'm a sucker for sweet kids, but these were as engaging as nice people kids) and interesting news.


We watched gliders do the best display yet over the yard, tumbling, spinning, all quite terrifying. It's scorching here, the first week in ages and ages ( inc mych of the winter, our fields stayed pretty green this year ) there has been no significant grass growth.

Generali

Spirit wrote: »

My all time favourite holiday for the head Musee d'Orsay. Go straight up to the floor with Manet/van Gogh/Toulouse paintings and rodin sculpture. To queue jump to get in, clutch a moble phone to your ear and walk confidently past the queue whilst speaking French or in a French accent.


Napoleon's apartments at the Louvre.

Sacre-Coeur in Montmatre - lovely basillica, great views, interesting bit of Paris. A good walk up and you can take the funicular if you prefer.

Galeries Lafayette (on Boulevard Houseman) to browse

Any proper restaurant for traditional french cooking in a backstreet location - Zagat is a great guide.

A boat trip along the Seine helps give a sense of perspective.

If you have never done Disney you can get a good feel for it in an afternoon/evening as it is only a metro ride away.

I have spent many short trips there amusing myself whilst OH was there for work when he worked in a commercial world. Generali is expert as he lived there.

Paris is a great walking city so having a general mooch is great.

Musee D'Orsay is amazing as the La Louvre. The outdoor swimming pool next to the Orsay is great.

Le Chien Qui Fume (The Smoking Dog) in Chatalet Les Halles looks like a classic tourist trap but is actually an excellent bistro-style restaurant.

Montmartre: look out for the scalpers; there are some shocking con artists up there. In general, watch out for pickpockets. Supposedly they can pull a cigarette out of a bucket of razor blades.

Brasserie Julien on Faubourg St Denis is a great old restaurant in an old part of Paris. Up the road is the Petits Ecuries where poor people used to stable their horses before walking into Paris because the toll at the Porte Saint Denis was less on foot. Early money saving! Just mind yourself in and around the 10e Arrondissement which this is in. If you walk up from the centre, Rue Saint Denis is the road to take as it is a red light district so the pimps keep crime off the streets as they don't want attention from the police! They used to do a brilliant late night supper menu from 11pm which was great value and you'll sit there surrounded by actors, models and news readers, none of whom you'll recognise! They do the best ever chocolate sauce for profiteroles.

The best view across the city is from L'Arc de Triomphe. Tour Eiffel is too high up. However the restaurant on 2e Etage of the Eiffel Tower is great although very, very expensive.

If you're still there on Sunday it's the final stage of the Tour de France. That's well worth seeing, there's nothing really like it in the UK. A little secret is to go to the Rue de Rivoli to watch: it's on the laps they do of Paris at the end but it's not as packed as the Champs Elysee.

If you want to know what's on, Cinemascope is very cheap and is available from all street newspaper vendors. It's in French. It has a section of Soiree Sexe or at least did! Apparently it's considered rude to arrive as a solo male: couples, groups and single ladies only.

The Shakespeare bookshop on the Left Bank is an institution: an old English Language bookshop.

One of the great boulangeries is on the corner of Rue des Petits Ecuries and Faubourg St Denis (Metro Chateau D'Eau). Again 10th Arrondissement warning.

If you want to see a film in English, pick an American film in VO rather than VF.

If you go to the Moulin Rouge, remember it's in a red light district and you will never get a cab from there in a million years of waiting. I've seen many a scared, lost tourist outside.

Remember that most cafes have 3 prices for drinks: standing at the bar, sitting indoors and sitting outdoors in ascending order. Food is the same price inside or out.

Terminus Restaurant opposite Gare du Nord has pretty good food (nothing amazing but not disappointing) but is my favourite place to watch waiters work.

Quick burger is disgustingly awful. MacDonalds sells beer which tastes of nothing but it is somehow amusing to have a beer in a Maccas. France is their most profitable market.

If you go to the back streets around La Bourse you can buy old bond and share certificates pretty cheaply and one of those makes an interesting decoration, especially if you can get one with a coupon or two still attached.

The food market at Monparnasse is great.

I have an unaccountable liking for Twinnuts (peanuts in a crispy, flavoured coating).

Disney? Meh.

The Centre Pompidou is worth a visit. Loads of Eurotrash outside but don't let that put you off.

Let me know if you want more.

misskool

Gosh Gen, I'm only there for 3 days, not 3 weeks!

I've been once (about 10 years ago?) and remember galleries lafayette, rodin, louvre and eating outside with my parents. but now going alone (OH running out of holiday so not coming) and friend working during the day so very very pleased to have loads to do!

Thanks viva, spirit, zag for all concurring with very similar things!

Question for zag mostly but anyone else is welcome to chip in, I'm looking for a specific reference (not QAA) or systematic review for research-led teaching in HE in UK. I'd like to point out that this is obviously the best as you have the expert teaching you the subect they are expert in but of course, may be missing out on other aspects. Googling not helping and I'm not a specialist. What's the leading journal? Or book search?

zagubov

misskool wrote: »

Gosh Gen, I'm only there for 3 days, not 3 weeks!

I've been once (about 10 years ago?) and remember galleries lafayette, rodin, louvre and eating outside with my parents. but now going alone (OH running out of holiday so not coming) and friend working during the day so very very pleased to have loads to do!

Thanks viva, spirit, zag for all concurring with very similar things!

Question for zag mostly but anyone else is welcome to chip in, I'm looking for a specific reference (not QAA) or systematic review for research-led teaching in HE in UK. I'd like to point out that this is obviously the best as you have the expert teaching you the subect they are expert in but of course, may be missing out on other aspects. Googling not helping and I'm not a specialist. What's the leading journal? Or book search?

Tricky that. I'm thinking Birkbeck or Greenwich's education departments might be somewhere to start.

Not sure ther'll be tons out there. I've heard this country spends more money researching glue than researching education.

misskool

zagubov wrote: »

Tricky that. I'm thinking Birkbeck or Greenwich's education departments might be somewhere to start.

Not sure ther'll be tons out there. I've heard this country spends more money researching glue than researching education.

They don't need to spend much. I am not planning on doing this ever again

michaels

It's all gone wrong.

I have bought white 'tote' bags for the party bags with the plan being to iron on a printed image and then the girls decorate them. However I was looking at some cotton ones and then saw I could choose 'recycled' ones instead from the same supplier which I thought would be greener...but it turns out the recycled ones are plastic not cotton which I discovered when I applied the hot iron... :eek:

Not sure what the way forward is now with the party 13 hours away (Where is that shrug shoulders icon when you need it?)

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

misskool wrote: »

what are NP's favorite things to do in paris? going on tuesday and haven't got time to look things up.

Go to this restaurant.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d718143-Reviews-Auberge_des_Pyrenees_Cevennes-Paris_Ile_de_France.html

It is my favourite place to eat in Paris, bar none.

It's not posh, but rather rustic, with traditional country fare..... in fact it's bordering on eccentric.... complete with crazy chef/owner, character locals, and a small scruffy dog that wanders round beneath the tables eating crumbs.

The cassoulet is to die for, the wine cellar is full of hidden gems for not a lot of money, and the cheese board would make Gen jealous forever.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

silvercar wrote: »

I agree and we thought of doing it. Do it with friends and you find that you all want it at the same time because either you've all got similar age kids are you all want a winter break. Do it with family and the same thing applies .

Indeed.

The plane share I was in worked well because it was 4 different people with totally different time requirements.

One was an airline pilot, so away much of the time and immensely flexible scheduling, one was a lawyer who worked M-F 9-5, one was a hotelier who worked a lot of nights and weekends and most holidays, and the other was me.... And my schedule is all over the place but fairly flexible.

I'd imagine a holiday house share would work well with a similar group, the trick being not to get 4 or 6 people with the same lifestyle and holiday requirements.

Find a family with school age kids and they'll want a few weeks in summer and easter break, a retiree might want a bit of time over winter somewhere a bit warmer, a hotelier would have to work most holidays and weekends, and people like me are just flexible all year round as we make our own schedule to some extent.

The boat share I was involved with had a similar mix of people.

It works well if you can find that.

zagubov

misskool wrote: »

what are NP's favorite things to do in paris? going on tuesday and haven't got time to look things up.

It's a great city for Monet paintings; from a biologist's point of view it's interesting to note the change in colours of his waterlily paintings during the 1920s when he had an operation that enabled him to see ultraviolet light.

Paris is a great reminder of what London could be like if it was run by people who could think about cities in a joined-up way.:beer: