Waiting for my blog updates is a little like waiting for a bus – none come for ages, then two come at once. I suspect that’s probably a case of when I have time versus when I don’t, but whatever the reason, there will be two updates today.

We’re into the summer season of public holidays in France. Yesterday was a public holiday, and nearly everyone in the country takes today off to make a four-day weekend. Anne-Laure was left stranded in Paris by Neil (who, due to his UK contract, was forced to work on Thursday and Friday) so we took pity on her and had her over for dinner. It was also a great excuse for me to see my local butcher about a beautiful rack of lamb.

So cold cucumber & mint soup to start, rack of lamb with balsamic reduction, roast potatoes, and long-stemmed broccoli, and a tarte aux fraises for dessert, all washed down with a bottle of Côtes de Provence to mark the beginning of summer. It’s nice to finally have some time off to get back into the kitchen and begin cooking properly again. Picard’s frozen foods are a Godsend when you’re busy during the week, but they’re no substitute for the real deal.

Anyhow, a nearly perfect execution. Nearly. The balsamic reduction was more complicated than I had imagined, so it is understandable that I forgot to add the seared cherry tomatoes I had so carefully selected (even having made a special shopping trip to find tomatoes that were still on the vine so they would look nice on the place). They were meant to be the centre-piece on the place, but luckily the lamb turned out so perfectly that no one noticed. Until Aude asked “what are these tomatoes doing here by the stove? Did you mean to use them?” Never mind, they’ll go nicely with some pasta, shrimp, white wine and basil tonight.

Sadly, Anne Laure had to drag herself into work today – but Aude and I managed to take the “pont” and had the day off. Aude suggested we head down to my favourite Vietnamese restaurant for something to eat – so off we went. It’s a little hole-in-the-wall near Tolbiac, but it’s one of my favourite restaurants in Paris for lunch. Quick, cheap, and the food is great.

Song Huong Restaurant, just around the corner from Tolbiac Metro and one of my favourites. Many thanks to Julien for introducing me to it!

This place is always busy, as is the restaurant next door, which specializes in pho. Both are cheap and cheerful, but I prefer this one as it has a wider variety of food (the other one serves nothing but pho in about 16 different combinations) and I think the quality is a little better. There are typically waits to get into both, but the one next door is always busier after having found its way into Lonely Planet. Neil insists that his Vietnamese place is better – we’ve yet to experience it ourselves (any time you want to invite us, Neil, we’ll be happy to join you!) but for my money, this place is pretty good.

After lunch, I headed up to Concorde to hit WH Smith, the English language bookstore. I rarely buy anything here – the choice is limited and the books are all twice the price, but it’s still a great way to pass an afternoon. And the walk back from the bookstore to the apartment, through the Jardins des Tulieries, is a nice 30-minute stroll, perfect for people-watching.

Photographically-speaking, I’ve been uninspired recently, hardly taking any photos at all. The weather was beautiful and I was convinced I could find something to snap, even if it was just touristy shots of Paris. “Getting back onto my horse” and all that. So here are a few shots of touristy Paris on a perfect spring afternoon. Wish you were here?

Looking down the Jardins des Tuileries

Tour Eiffel from the Jardins des Tuileries

You know what they say… Some days, you’re the pigeon. Other days, you’re the statue.

Sunbathers on the lawn in front of the Louvre. The trick to enjoying the sunny weather in Paris is to find your patch of green grass, stake your claim, and soak up the sun.

Looking into the courtyard at the Louvre

Detail of one of the buildings at the Louvre

Paris is an interesting city. Despite throngs of tourists, there is nearly always a quiet place to lose yourself if you look hard enough.

Tourists take over the Pont des Arts, enjoying the good weather.

A view of the Seine from the Pont des Arts. I didn’t notice until after I had taken the shot that someone had drawn a cheeky smiley face on the lamp. Which I think makes it even better.

French car, Parisian parking. Not a centimetre to spare!

 

After a long day of flying from the UK, with a very early start, Aude finally arrived in Istanbul early Friday evening. We headed down to Baghdad Street, on the Asian side, for a quick dinner of kebabs. Our cab driver was the worst that I’ve encountered in Istanbul – and that’s saying a lot. In the end, we got out and walked, fearing for both our lives and our stomachs if we continued on in the taxi.

I don’t know where this myth started about the Turks having great food. Sure, you can get your choice of lamb or chicken grilled to perfection at most places. But that’s about it for variety. Maybe a salad or some fish, grilled without any sauce. For the record, if I never eat Turkish food again, it will be too soon. The diet is one part of this country I certainly won’t miss. The Turkish have one of the highest smoking rates in Europe – nearly 90% of adults here smoke. And they have a correspondingly low life expectancy. But I suspect that their early death has nothing to do with their smoking – they smoke so they don’t have to eat their rubbish food, and eventually they face their millionth kebab and just give up the will to live.

Never mind. Aude had brought some champagne with her, so we had a few glasses and called it an early night back at the hotel.

Saturday morning, I hired a car and driver to spend the day with us. I did the same thing when I was in Sydney and Bangkok, and I remain convinced that this is the best way to see any city if you’re short on time. Our chauffeur whisked us off to the European side of Istanbul (via ferry, which was a nice way to get our first views of the old city) and then from one place to another, no waiting, no confusion, no language difficulties, and most importantly, no hassle. He even recommended a great fish restaurant for us at lunch. We had the terrace to ourselves, and had a great time watching the world go by.

Aude did a great job setting out our itinerary (I’m usually useless at things like this, and happily handed over the guide book and delegated all responsibility for planning our day, my role having ended at booking the car.) We took in all the big sights in the old city – the Topkapi Palace, the Aya Sofya, the Grand Bazaar, and the Egyptian Spice market. It was a great day out, and the weather stayed absolutely perfect for us.

I took loads of photos, but I’ve chosen a small handful for this website. I’ll stick the rest up later when I finally have some time.

Matt and Aude on the ferry from the Asian side of Istanbul to the European side

A group of Muslim women visiting the Topkapi Palace

There are cats everywhere in Istanbul. Here’s one of the little guys peering out of a fountain at the Palace.

Matthew standing outside the entrace to the kitchen at the Topkapi Palace.

The entrance to the inner courtyard at the Topkapi Palace.

Aude in the gardens of the Topkapi Palace, enjoying the perfect weather on a November morning.

Aude on the stairs in the gardens at the Topkapi Palace.

A view of the Asian side of Istanbul

One of the mosaic doorways at the Topkapi Palace

Lunch in an Istanbul restaurant

Fresh fish!

Aude outside the Aya Sofya

Aya Sofya

Aya Sofya. Clearly the signs didn’t apply to the cats.

Inside Aya Sofya

Inside Aya Sofya

The Blue Mosque

The Blue Mosque

Aya Sofya, looking fantastic in the setting sun

A balloon seller

The Grand Bazaar

Gold sellers at the Grand Bazaar

The Egyptian spice market

Uh oh! Aude needs to be on the lookout for counterfeit products — they’re everywhere!

Our first night out in Istanbul was a bit of a mixed bag, as we clearly struggled with both language difficulties and cultural norms. Based on the recommendation of the concierge at the hotel, we headed down to the harbour to find a restaurant. We didn’t have a specific place in mind, but we were told that there were plenty of good places and that we’d find one if we simply walked around the area.

After a few minutes of walking around, found a place that looked okay. There was a rather formidable woman in the window rolling dough and cooking something, and the place looked busy enough, so we went in.

Enticing us into a restaurant, Turkish-style

Our first struggle was ordering a few beers. We ordered beers, and they were brought out for us – but they were weak and warm. After using our best sign language to indicate that we’d prefer cold beer, we were presented with a bucket of ice cubes! At this point, we sort of gave up on the beer idea and decided to order some wine as well. After considerable misunderstanding, the guests at the next table kindly stepped in and explained that the restaurant was Muslim and therefore didn’t serve any alcohol – which explained why our (apparently non-alcoholic) beer tasted so terrible. We reverted to tea.

Matt and Swami tuck into a Turkish feast

The second problem was trying to explain that our colleague, Swami, was a vegetarian. The concept of a vegetarian is apparently unheard of in Turkey. After explaining politely to the waiter that ‘chicken’ wasn’t really a vegetarian option, we finally ended up ordering something from the big woman in the window – as best we can tell, it was some sort of bread with cheese and spinach. It wasn’t entirely successful, and Swami supplemented his dinner with a few bowls of peanuts at the bar we found afterwards.

Swami in the bar, enjoying a vegetarian diet of peanuts and beer…

We were drawn into the bar by the live music – which seemed like a good idea at the time. In fact, once you’ve heard the millionth song played on the lute with a dodgy Turkish singer, you’re about ready to shoot yourself. He kept turning to us and apparently asking for our requests, but as my Turkish is a little rusty, we weren’t able to comply. He seemed pretty disappointed that we weren’t singing along.

The taxi from hell…

Our taxi ride back to the hotel was a little hair-raising, even by Turkish standards. I suspect we should have been tipped off by the sticker on the side of the cab. Hanging from the rear-view mirror was a shark’s tooth, which indicates slightly more risk-taking behaviour on the part of the taxi driver than, say, a crucifix. We made it back in one piece, but we were definitely more ‘shaken’ than ‘stirred’.

The hotel we’re staying at is brand new, but quality control doesn’t seem to have factored into the equation. Everything is falling apart despite its newness. The light switches are all wonky. The tap on the sink doesn’t work property. The tap on the shower came off the wall when I tried to turn it on. The air conditioning in the conference room doesn’t work. And the lights seem to go on and off at random intervals, plunging our conference room into darkness. At least it adds some excitement to the day.

Finally, a moment of light relief. Realise, of course, that I don’t normally use a bidet. And that I didn’t really intend to use a bidet. But curiosity got the better of me, so I decided to see how the combined toilet / bidet worked. Fast forward to a jet of water shooting out across the bathroom and out into the hallway and frantic mopping up with towels. I’ll stick to toilet paper, thanks.

Another early start today, as I wanted to get out to see the flea market at Clarke Quay which is held every Sunday. The quizzical look I got from the doorman when I asked for a taxi to Clarke Quay at 9am on a Sunday should have been my tip-off. “Why you want to go so early?” he asked.

Trusting my guidebook (thanks a lot, Neil!), we set off for the market despite the doorman’s warning. And when we arrived at Clarke Quay, it was totally empty and everything was closed. The only other people around were a handful of other tourists. I couldn’t see whether they were clutching the same guidebook as I was, but there was definitely no sign of a market.

All dressed up and nowhere to go! After a few minutes looking around the attractions of Clarke Quay (definitely a good place to come back to in the evening) we headed across the bridge to the Swisshotel and had a coffee.

Gina scopes out a few places around Clarke Quay that she’d like to return to later…

There are nearly as many cats here as in Turkey. This one was clearly pregnant…

Around 10:30, we once again followed Gina’s hunger pangs. She’d been given the name of a good, authentic dim sum place. Given my previous experience with her “authentic” restaurants, I was a little dubious – particularly when I saw the sign for the place (and, inside the aging elevator, the “No urinating!” warning). But the food was good, and we ate like kings.

Gina only brings me to the classiest places.

Happy as a pig in mud!

True to form, we spent the afternoon shopping on Orchard Road, then back to the hotel for a quick nap. I headed out a little later on to snap some more photos of Singapore – they’ll be up on here as soon as I get a chance to edit them.

It never fails to amaze me what you can buy in Asia. And yes, it does just what it says on the tin. If you don’t like human placenta, you can also buy sheep or goat placentas. Never let it be said that the customer isn’t king here!