France Day 12 - TGV & 404

We left Cassis under the cover of night - okay it was about 7am - to leave plenty of time to navigate through Marseille, return the car and get on the train. We found the train station; no problem. We found out that we needed to return the car at the train station after asking a station employee; no problem. THEN we tried to find a gas station; problem. We eventually found a station and the attendant told me to close my door and beware of thieves on scooters; great addition to the mounting tension! THEN we tried to find our way back to the train station and that's where the fighting turned vicious. It was the most stressful part of the trip for all of us - the driver, the navigator and the back seat passenger who was praying we'd just find the station already!

We finally did and had some (but not much) time to spare so we got breakfast at the station. I had a cafe noisette, warm brioche and a yogurt with blackberries. Even breakfast standing train station is delicious and satisfying!

And the train ride was a blast! I've been on the Acela but compared to the high speed train, you may as well be walking! After letting RRR & Mitch make the first trip out of our train car, I eventually navigated my way to the snack car, an adventure in itself, for an espresso and a croissant. The barista was kind enough to put a cover on it for me - probably to protect the passengers I had to pass on the way back to my seat! During our trip, we had a bit of time to catch up on our travel journals and talk about what we wanted to accomplish in Paris. The last dinner pick was mine and I was getting nervous since I didn't have one selected yet - the pressure was on!

Finally got back to the Hilton and eventually made our way to Monmartre to visit the Basilique du Sacre Cour, one of Paris' best known landmarks. As expected it was overrun with tourists, but it was so beautiful I was able to look beyond it and the views from the top of the hill was breathtaking! It was lunchtime, so we navigated our way past the sidewalk artists trying to coerce tourist into paying for sketches and picked out our lunch items.

I went with a ouef (egg), jamon, fromage, and tomato crepe - it was absolutely delicious! Not quite exactly authentic street food I was hoping to find but as close as one could get in a highly trafficked tourist mecca!

We wandered through Pigalle, one of Paris' sex districts, giggled at the sex shops like we were five, and made a pit stop at Lavinia, in a wine shop that Mitch wanted to visit. We had a glass of wine there and RRR & I each purchased two half bottles to take home: a 2004 Domaine des Espiers from Gigondas and a 2005 Pierre-Marie Chermette Domaine du Vissoux from Fleurie. We didn't want to carry much more than that since liquid restrictions prevented us from carrying it on the plane and I was a bit hesitant to shove it in my suitcase. But I digress...from the main point of this entry - DINNER!

RRR's pick was tonight and she chose the North African restaurant 404. We stopped in the bar next door with Tibetan-inspired and East Village-type vibe for a super strong drink and then popped next door sat down for our meal. The decor of 404 was very "One Thousand and One Nights" with communal seating. And once again, the service was friendly and watching the chef through the open kitchen was a blast! He was even cool enough to let us take his picture, what a good sport. I think it was payback for the amusement we gave him as we gushed and analyzed all the wonderful spices, tastes and flavors of our family style meal. This is how it went down:

We chose a 1995 Chateau Tellagh Medea, an Algerian wine, and thanks to the waiter chose the following for our family style meal:

Bread: this had the texture of focaccia with a hint of corriander
Lentilles en salade a la Marocaine (lentil salad): crisp veggies, tender lentils
Tangine de Boulettes de Kefta aux ouefs: a tangine of lamb meatballs with eggs
Brochettes de Kefta Grilles: grilled lamb skewers, well-seasoned tasty meat
Couscous aux 7 Legumes: veggie couscous with cooked vegetables

For desert, I walked over to the open counter with the waiter and chose four cookies for us to sample: date pastry, an eggroll type desert with honey, rosewater wrapped in a filo pastry, a cream puff type pastry but with a bit harder crust, and an almond paste type cookie. All of this and excellent coffee, what a fantastic pick!