Fleeced

Posted by Rosie 

fleeced

 flēsd/

verb

past tense of fleece

informal - obtain a great deal of money from (someone), typically by overcharging or swindling them.


Those of you who saw my post earlier in the week about our week-end trip to Paris will see that we had a great time.   There was however one rather large fly in the ointment that did put a bit of a damper on our trip, namely that we were totally fleeced by the restaurant where we ate on Saturday evening.

To be avoided :(

It was a small family run place just across the roundabout from our flat.  It looked lovely and when Ben and I walked past it having dropped Simon and Tom at the rugby the night before the food smells coming from it smelt delicious.  It was pricey but we accepted that Paris prices are more than Normandy and it had the advantage of being really close so there was no need to drive to it.  

Unfortunately it turned out to be a very bad choice.

Initially it was fine - the ambiance was good and we perused the menu salivating ever so slightly at the thought of the French culinary delights we were about to eat.  So 18€ for a piece of salmon is expensive and 25€ for some John Dory VERY expensive but this was for our 20th wedding anniversary so we were happy to push the boat out a bit.  Hang on though - those prices EXCLUDED extras such as veg or salad which were 4€ each.  Hmmmmm.  Not good.

We ordered and then we waited.  In fairness it wasn't too long in coming but then they weren't exactly heaving with customers.  When it did arrive there were bits were missing - a portion of chips and only afterwards did we realise that Simon's fish from the Specials Board was supposed to come with spinach and it hadn't.  My salmon came with what the waiter called purée, in other words mashed potato but I can say that what I got was NOT purée.  It was a small bowl of almost liquid potato with some odd green bits in it.  How I was meant to eat this with a fork was beyond me.  My salmon was was well cooked but Simon said his John Dory was overcooked.  Ben's steak hâché (burger) was OK but in France you are always asked how you want your burger cooked (well done, rare etc) and he wasn't, although luckily it came out how he liked it.  Tom's mussels were small and the sauce very odd.  All this came to 63€.  Add in a bottle of wine at 28€ (nice but probably about 6€ wholesale) plus 2 soft drinks and the bill came to 107€.  We didn't stop for dessert and went to leave still feeling hungry and definitely feeling fleeced.  On the way out we spoke to a waiter and aired our complaints but he simply shrugged his shoulders and said that was Paris prices, no mention of the poor food.  He was neither surprised or concerned,

Later we had a bit of a search online and all too quickly on TripAdviser and a French restaurant review site we found that Le Parc, Rue de Château, Boulogne-Billancourt has some very poor reviews.  It would appear they rely on passing tourist trade not expecting diners to return and fleece them for what-ever they can.  

We wrote our negative reviews on both sites as we filled up with cake I had brought with us.  When writing a review for our apartment we said what a bad meal we had had at Le Parc and suggested to the owner that he warn other guests from going.  Anyone can have a one off bad meal or something they don't particularly like - but this was not a one off - it was deliberate over-pricing of poorly prepared food.  It wasn't what we had hoped to have for this special meal.

A different view of Paris

Posted by Rosie

We went to Paris this weekend - a rare family trip away.  Here are some of the photos we took which I hope gives you a very different view of Paris.

From our apartment we could see the Eiffel Tower - terrible focus as I didn't have a camera stand but you get the idea.  This 125 year old edifice still knows how to strut her stuff!

Isn't she pretty in Spring?

We chose not to go up The Eiffel Tower - unless you pre-book you have to queue for ages so we decided on another vantage point - the Montparnasse Tower.  No queue here and it has the fastest lift in Europe which in 38 seconds takes you to a height of 196 meters (over 640 ft).  A final flight of stairs and you are on the outdoor viewing platform where you get the most fantastic panoramic view of Paris.  And of course if you go up the Eiffel Tower you don't get to see her do you?!

 A couple of shop/bars names caught my eye:

Mold Bat:

and Chicken Clothes (sadly not for our feathered friends which was a pity!)

and I got to see a Hippopotamus!

We have no idea what these cyclists were demonstrating about but they were very colourful, very loud and upset a few car drivers!

We managed to book our week-end to coincide with the Paris Marathon - it was a fabulous atmosphere and we cheered on the brave runners.

Near La Place de la Concorde are several sculptures of hands - this tiny one looked so lonely on it's large granite plinth that Ben felt it needed a comforting touch.

We went to Montmartre and yes - we really did see a man hanging off a lamppost by one hand spinning a football.  He had been doing the most amazing "keepy uppy" on the plinth below which in itself was incredible but his talent appeared to have no  limits.  He climbed this lamppost whilst spinning the ball on a pen held in his mouth before doing more mind boggling ball control.  A truly talented man. (Montmartre and the Basilica of Sacre Coeur were wonderful too but this is somethihg you don't see every day in Paris!)

Finally, we were made to feel at home.  There was a cow just down the road from our apartment!  Now who would have expected that!

Have you been to Paris and seen some unusual things? Please do let us know.

Sorted!

Posted by Rosie

sorted

ˈsɔːtɪd/

adjective

  Brit.informal

organized, arranged, or dealt with satisfactorily.

A bit of history:

A couple of years ago the following conversation took place in our house:

Simon, "Rosie, would you like to go to Rome to celebrate our wedding anniversary?"
Rosie, "and pray tell which teams will be playing rugby at the same time as our trip?"
Simon, "Damn!"

You see Simon likes rugby but I don't.

This year, as once again we near our wedding anniversary there is a rugby match Simon would like to see, in Paris so knowing that the wool could not be pulled over my eyes, he came up with Plan B.  He suggested we could go with 2 friends and whilst the blokes went off to watch the rugby we girls could do something else.  I know that all sounds rather sexist but that would actually make 4 poeple very happy ... except for the slight problem of our friends not being able to come. Foiled.

Plan C was needed.  "We could go with the boys!"  I suggested.  Simon and Tom, who also likes watching rugby, could go the match on the Friday night whilst Ben and I could do our own thing and then we could have a weekend "en famille" in Paris.  Yup - that would work.  However, living on a smallholding with lots of animals and having a gite means that for all four of us to go away together some detailed planning would be needed.

1. Animals - luckily a neighbour had recently said that she would be happy to pop over and feed the farm animals and cats.  Sorted!

The Louvre

2.  Find accommodation - Simon set to trawling hotel booking sites without too much success and rather a lot of groaning at the prices when I had a lightbulb moment. We have recently listed the gite on AirBnB* and wondered if we could find something suitable on there.  The map feature made it easy to locate places near the rugby stadium and we sent off a couple of emails.  One person got back saying his place was not available and another never got back.  However 3rd time lucky we found and booked a very nice looking apartment just 1km from the stadium. It was cheaper than any hotel Simon looked at and has free parking, a kitchen so we can eat in on the first night and being an apartment will just be a whole lot easier than a hotel when travelling with the boys.  Sorted!

3.  Book rugby tickets -  I left Simon doing this and after much grumbling and occasional swearing he managed to get tickets booked AND printed (Printer was playing silly whatsits!). Sorted!

4.  Dogs - our animal sitter can't look after the dogs however a couple of phone calls later and this was also sorted.  Ironically the dogs are going to the friends who cannot come to the rugby for the weekend.  Sorted!

5.  Get the boys out of school early - Hopefully Ben's teacher won't mind if he leaves an hour early (i am yet to ask) and Tom luckily has a free period last thing on a Friday so can leave early anyway. Half sorted! 

Notre Dame

6.  Itinerary - with only a weekend to visit and one evening taken up with rugby we need to organise what we want to do in Paris before we go.  To date this is still at a list stage but high up on this agenda are a trip to the Catacombs and a bus or boat ride around the main tourist sites. We can't book a trip up the Eiffel Tower this late and don't want to queue for several hours and I have been outvoted on going to Versailles (sulk) ... so as I type this part of the trip isn't quite sorted but will with luck be finalised at the weekend. To be sorted!

With several changes of plan, loads of telephone calls and much sorting we may actually be fairly close to getting a family trip away.  It is a bit of a rare event for us all to go away together and as you can see needs much sorting.  That said, Simon and I did manage a trip to Paris two years ago when the boys had a school trip away.  It was then we had the photo of us below taken - but can anyone tell us the significance of the steps?

Parisian steps.

* You can view our AirBnB listing here if you want but if you do want to book a holiday with us you are better coming direct to save the paying the AirBnB booking fee!