Adieu mon amour: last days of the trip in Paris

Where to stay:

After staying at Marias on right bank of the Seine river, this time we stayed at Montparnasse (14^th arrondissement) which is on the left bank. Hotel Du Midi Paris is located right in front of the Montparnasse train station which is very convenient as it is a stop for the RER B (blue) line to Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Last minute shopping:
Aside from the usual shopping districts like Les Halles, Paris also has its share of outlet shopping at  La Vallée Village. To get there you can take the RER A (red line) and drop off at Val d'Europe station which is one stop before Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy-Parcs (disneyland).

Theoretically you can probably cover la Vallee village and disneyland on the same trip. I would advice staying the night at Marne-la-Vallee as the the disney parks will take at least a full day to explore on their own.

Form Val d'Europe station, simply walk over to the super big shopping mall across (just follow the crowd). The mall itself carries lots of international as well as domestic brands. Walking through and exiting through the other end of the mall you will come right up to la vallee village.

One section of the shopping mall

Entrance to the outlet stores

Where to eat in Latin Quarter:

When we first visited Paris 7 years back, we accidentally discovered raclette in a restaurant in Latin Quarter and fell in love with the dish. It is actually a type of Swiss cheese that is eaten by melting the cheese and accompanied by condiments such as cured ham, pickles, potatoes etc. 

Since then, we’ve been keeping an eye out for it and only found one Swiss restaurant in Singapore that served a much toned down version that wasn’t very satisfying. Furthermore, the restaurant has closed down couple of years back as well. Therefore, 1 of our wish list items in Paris was to have another raclette again. Therefore on the first night back from Lyon, we decided to walk to Latin Quarter for a raclette hunt.

We searched for about an hour and there were nowhere close. We were about to give up in regret until one of the small alleys suddenly seem a little familiar. But then again most of the stone paved alleys look the same in Paris. We decided to follow our instincts and the little street led us to a small square with restaurants and bars full of patrons. Taking our pick amongst the split roads, we walked further down one of the small street and found our first cheese specialist restaurant!

Even better, there were several of them along the same street! Your truly was starving by then, we’ve walked for about 90min, and hence we didn’t bother searching for the same restaurant from 7 years ago and settled for the one that “felt right” (since our instinct had served well thus far).

chess specialist!

Spoilt for choice

Seeing that we are foreigners (it was pretty obvious as we were the only table of Asians in the restaurant), the very friendly boss came over to demonstrate how to enjoy the raclette to us. He also chatted with us and upon learning that we are on our honeymoon, called out to the bartender for something special for us.

french onion soup to warm up the stomach

cozy interior

our raclette set!

melted goodness

Complimentary champagne cocktails

Rue de Pot du Fer is where it is

We absolutely enjoyed the raclette and service!

Where to eat in Montparnasse:

We were looking for a place near our hotel in Montparnasse for dinner and came across Maison Peret that serves traditional French cuisine. The menu looked really interesting with stuff sausages etc. One dish in particular that perk my interest was chou farci frais = cabbage wrap. I contemplated trying it but in the end opted for adventurous andouillette. Just after we placed our orders, most of the tables around us all ordered the cabbage! Oh how I regret!

Maison Peret

my andouilette using real pig intestines as wrapping

Therefore the next day, we just had to go back and have the chou farci. We absolutely loved the waiter whom we indicated “un express” and an express service was what we got. He was witty, funny and kept chasing the kitchen for us to ensure we had a smooth sailing seating. Much thanks to him, we finished our lunch in an hour which is a very rare feat in France! Leaving us plenty of time to get back to the hotel to collect our luggage and grab the RER to CDG airport. 

oh-so-good chou farci

After a memorable 28 days journey around France, it’s time to bid farewell to the country of love.

Thank you to all whom we met along the journey whom welcomed us into their homes, offered impeccable service, gave wonderful advice and making our honeymoon so pleasant and unforgettable.

Till the next big adventure :)

Au revoir et a bientot France!