I haven't been posting recently. I've been kinda busy meeting friends and such before my trip.
Anyway, I'm in Paris again for 3 days, then 1 day travel to Amsterdam, then 3 days in Amsterdam then fly out. So including 1 day flying in and 1 day flying out, I'm out for 9 days this time.
I'm pretty much doing nothing in Paris this round. Just hanging out at the hotel and going to the supermarket to buy food for my own meals. My wife has dinner plans for 2 nights in Paris, so I'm on my own. I'm ok with eating pretty cheap food from the Carrefour.
The main highlight would probably be our time in Amsterdam cos it's our first time there.
So the cost for our trip will be estimated to be around $1,300 for my flight, and $700 for the hotel in Amsterdam for 3 nights, plus $150 for the train between Paris and Amsterdam. And for any food and drink incurred.
So it's kinda like $2,150 for a "short 3 day trip" to Amsterdam for us. Since I take the Paris part of the trip as essentially nothing much.
I've gotten used to eating supermarket food. It's quite good actually. Makes me feel better than spending almost double the amount as compared to at the restaurant.
2 roasted chicken thighs €4.95,
1 loaf of bread €1.35,
1 pkt of tomatoes €0.99,
1 jar of pork pate (it's something like a spread) €1.78.
Total cost €9.07
Items are on the right of the picture.
This should last me for 3-4 meals, whilst my wife enjoys her meals with her colleagues.
The rest of the stuff in the picture are things which we managed to stash away from the plane on our flight here.
Overall I find that food prices here are pretty reasonable. A loaf of bread plus the chicken thighs would easily feed me for 2 meals. And that would cost me less than S$10, which is a steal for 2 meals in Paris. The chicken and bread is pretty good stuff too.
I wonder why locals don't do this more often. Or maybe they do, and I just don't know it. But I reckon it would get boring if I ate it everyday. There isn't really much cheap warm food available at supermarkets. The chicken is all I could find. That's why I bought the jar of pork spread.
I ate both the chicken and pork spread on my previous trip here, so I know they they would be pretty nice.
During my previous trip I also tried salmon, tuna, olive, hummus spread on my bread, but I didn't like them as much.
If I had a stove and a pot, I could probably make some pasta too. Raw pasta is really cheap over here as it's their staple food.
Which is quite interesting cos it's pretty easy to find cheap and convenient food in Paris. Just that it's not going to be found in a restaurant where someone serves you. The cheapest restaurant I found serves a value set at €15 for a big main dish and a big dessert. Which I find pretty reasonable in terms of price and value, but it probably not sustainable to be eating like that on a daily basis.
A Nutella crepe from a roadside kiosk is €3, which I find exceptionally expansive just for a snack. Cos I could have a whole meal for that price.
Anyway that's all for today. Maybe I'll walk around a little and I'll find something else to write about.
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