It's my last morning in Bordeaux, and thankfully I've chosen a train that doesn't depart too early. That meant I could still sit and enjoy breakfast on the patio at La Maison d'Estournel.
September 14, 2026
Three 3 stars in France day 4: Bordeaux to Paris
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It's my last morning in Bordeaux, and thankfully I've chosen a train that doesn't depart too early. That meant I could still sit and enjoy breakfast on the patio at La Maison d'Estournel.
As usual, I picked up the viennoiserie...
Today I also grabbed a crêpe from the stack on the table, and spread some caramel and chocolate on top.
My driver from yesterday came to drive me to Gare Bordeaux Saint-Jean, and we had a good conversation along the way. But before we get into the city, I asked him to make a couple of stops so I could take better pictures in the warm, morning light. First stop was, of course, where I had dinner last night - Château Lafite-Rothschild.
It's my last morning in Bordeaux, and thankfully I've chosen a train that doesn't depart too early. That meant I could still sit and enjoy breakfast on the patio at La Maison d'Estournel.
September 13, 2026
Three 3 stars in France day 3: 100 years of Lafite-Rothschild
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Enfin, la pièce de résistance!
The main reason I flew all the way to France and planned this trip was tonight's dinner, which came at the joint invitation of Château Lafite-Rothschild and Caprice. Three years ago the Hairy Chevalier invited me to dinner at Château d'Yquem, and that was an amazing experience. Tonight we are back in Bordeaux, but a little further north in Pauillac.
Upon arriving at the château, we were received jointly by Antoine Granger and Victor Petiot. We got to chill on the lawn just outside with Champagne and canapés while we waited for everyone to arrive.
Enfin, la pièce de résistance!
Three 3 stars in France day 3: les forts de Vauban
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It's Sunday morning in Bordeaux, and I'm up early because I have a long day ahead of me. After admiring the sun rising over the vineyards from my room at La Maison d'Estournel, I went downstairs to grab some breakfast before my journey this morning.
September 12, 2026
Three 3 stars in France day 2: a day in Saint-Estephe
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I'm off to Bordeaux today for the highlight of this trip, and this is the reason I chose to stay next to Gare de Montparnasse. I checked out early in the morning, rolled my suitcase downhill, and got inside the station looking for breakfast. My first choice was actually McDonald's, as I love to try local offerings everywhere I travel. But I didn't see anything interesting that was "French" on their menu, and that was a little strange. I spotted a Yann Couvreur Cafe and knew this would be my breakfast spot. It's a no-brainer. I got myself a couple of viennoiseries and a chocolat chaud.
Croissant - absolutely nothing to complain about here.
Kouign amann - very crunchy from the sugar coating. Love it.
I'm off to Bordeaux today for the highlight of this trip, and this is the reason I chose to stay next to Gare de Montparnasse. I checked out early in the morning, rolled my suitcase downhill, and got inside the station looking for breakfast. My first choice was actually McDonald's, as I love to try local offerings everywhere I travel. But I didn't see anything interesting that was "French" on their menu, and that was a little strange. I spotted a Yann Couvreur Cafe and knew this would be my breakfast spot. It's a no-brainer. I got myself a couple of viennoiseries and a chocolat chaud.
September 11, 2026
Three 3-stars in France day 1: a painful arrival in Paris
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One of the details I missed while booking my flight on Qatar Airways was that my flight would be arriving in Terminal 1 at Paris Charles de Gaulle. This is the oldest terminal, and as we were parking at our gate, I could see that the other airlines using this terminal were the likes of Turkish Airways, Saudia, Egyptair... ALL from Muslim countries. This was a sign of things to come. I had heard about the long lines at EU border checkpoints for months, ever since the new EU Entry/Exit System was introduced. As I exited the plane quickly on account of being in Business Class, I would have been ahead of many passengers from my flight. I passed by the automatic kiosks set up for registration for EES, but saw that all of them - somewhere about 16, I would guess - were "out of order". So we would do the biometric registration manually, then... Thanks to the delay on the tarmac in Doha, we landed close to 3 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. Add to this that we were in the oldest terminal, with passengers flying mostly on Middle Eastern airlines, you can see that once you strip out the EU nationals and ones carrying passports from 4 special countries - U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Japan - who would have easy entry, I was surrounded by mostly brown people. It's Friday afternoon, the French immigration officers couldn't really care less about what happens to us, and I found myself standing in line with at least 150 people in front of me, and only 3 immigration counters open. Those three counters subsequently became divided into two separate queues, with two counters serving families with children, and the rest of us - I'm guessing 100 people in front of me - waiting in line for ONE officer. As the afternoon went on, three working counters became two, and just before it was my turn to get processed, the single counter processing people without kids went dark. ONE counter left. By the time I cleared immigration, I had stood in line for TWO HOURS. My luggage had been waiting to be collected for a long, long time... I had originally thought 4½ hours would be sufficient for me to clear immigration, get to my hotel for check-in, then walk to dinner. Now I wasn't sure. I grabbed a taxi and hoped for the best, but it was close to 5:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon when I left the airport. Traffic. The quickest way, apparently, was to loop over to the west side and come in through Porte Maillot, pass the Arc de Triomphe, cross the Pont de l'Alma to the left bank, and eventually arrive at Hotel Mercure Paris Gare Montparnasse TGV. Check-in was quick, and I called the restaurant from my room to tell them - in my very broken French - that I was gonna be about 30 minutes late for my booking. I quickly changed out of the clothes I had been wearing, then walked as quickly as I could to my destination over 1 km away. I know I looked very flustered when I arrived at Joséphine Chez Dumonet, but the staff recognized me instantly and led me to my table. How many single Asian diners were they expecting? Anyway, it was obvious that the majority of their patrons were tourists...
I munched on some bread and breakfast radishes while waiting for my food to arrive.
One of the details I missed while booking my flight on Qatar Airways was that my flight would be arriving in Terminal 1 at Paris Charles de Gaulle. This is the oldest terminal, and as we were parking at our gate, I could see that the other airlines using this terminal were the likes of Turkish Airways, Saudia, Egyptair... ALL from Muslim countries. This was a sign of things to come. I had heard about the long lines at EU border checkpoints for months, ever since the new EU Entry/Exit System was introduced. As I exited the plane quickly on account of being in Business Class, I would have been ahead of many passengers from my flight. I passed by the automatic kiosks set up for registration for EES, but saw that all of them - somewhere about 16, I would guess - were "out of order". So we would do the biometric registration manually, then... Thanks to the delay on the tarmac in Doha, we landed close to 3 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. Add to this that we were in the oldest terminal, with passengers flying mostly on Middle Eastern airlines, you can see that once you strip out the EU nationals and ones carrying passports from 4 special countries - U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Japan - who would have easy entry, I was surrounded by mostly brown people. It's Friday afternoon, the French immigration officers couldn't really care less about what happens to us, and I found myself standing in line with at least 150 people in front of me, and only 3 immigration counters open. Those three counters subsequently became divided into two separate queues, with two counters serving families with children, and the rest of us - I'm guessing 100 people in front of me - waiting in line for ONE officer. As the afternoon went on, three working counters became two, and just before it was my turn to get processed, the single counter processing people without kids went dark. ONE counter left. By the time I cleared immigration, I had stood in line for TWO HOURS. My luggage had been waiting to be collected for a long, long time... I had originally thought 4½ hours would be sufficient for me to clear immigration, get to my hotel for check-in, then walk to dinner. Now I wasn't sure. I grabbed a taxi and hoped for the best, but it was close to 5:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon when I left the airport. Traffic. The quickest way, apparently, was to loop over to the west side and come in through Porte Maillot, pass the Arc de Triomphe, cross the Pont de l'Alma to the left bank, and eventually arrive at Hotel Mercure Paris Gare Montparnasse TGV. Check-in was quick, and I called the restaurant from my room to tell them - in my very broken French - that I was gonna be about 30 minutes late for my booking. I quickly changed out of the clothes I had been wearing, then walked as quickly as I could to my destination over 1 km away. I know I looked very flustered when I arrived at Joséphine Chez Dumonet, but the staff recognized me instantly and led me to my table. How many single Asian diners were they expecting? Anyway, it was obvious that the majority of their patrons were tourists...
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