Got Milk?

[Carrie_Cat]

Originally Posted by catkin

Right that's that problem solved, now, how do I get a decent cup of coffee?!

Although I don't mind drinking medium stength white coffee once in a while at the end of a meal or at someone's house I don't find it thirst quenching in the same way as I do my 'normal' coffee which I take weak, black and with cold water instead of the milk - me fussy?
Even in this country it's hard enough to find - but on the continent?! Can anyone remember if there are any hot water dispensers in the restaurant (we're staying in HNY) as I didn't find any last time and after a few days I was desperate for a cup. We will ask for a kettle in the room but it would be nice to find some to have with a meal.

I find the black coffee that you buy in the parks weak. Especially in the Cable Car Bake Shop, it's stronger in the Studios at Blockbuster Café but you are looking for the weak sort

If you in a restaurant that serves you a cup of coffée as opposed to a paper goblet type thingy ask for a café allongé and un verre d'eau. Then you will get a watered down expresso in a large cup and you can pour some of the cold water from the glass into further diluting it and cooling it at the same time

Same thing can be obtained at Starbucks and even at McDo, though at McDo you won't need the verre d'eau in the coffée as it's pretty weak as it is

[steve_rob]

Well I did promise, so here's an expanded take on Jakaru's original guide to buying milk - with photos!

First things first, get yourself to the station between Disneyland Park and the Village. This is the station entrance on the park side that is nearer the RER platforms (while the Village entrance is nearer the TGV/Eurostar platforms), but it doesn't matter which side you go in as you can walk between them.



Straight ahead you'll find a bank of ticket machines - you want to go to these green ones.



You need to use the big grey scroll wheel on the machine to choose "Acheter les tickets" and then on the second page, you can choose English language and everything is a lot easier from there!

Now as far as I could see, there were no options for return tickets, only one-way, so choose Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy as your departure station and Val D'Europe as your destination. I have a feeling it was ¬1.60 per ticket, but unfortunately I can't remember exactly and the RATP.fr website only gives you prices to stations from the centre of Paris!

Anyway, your ticket should look like this:



Follow these signs:



And you'll end up at these gates (there's actually a set of gates on both sides of you - it doesn't matter which ones you take as you end up at the same place). Put your ticket in the gate and pass through.



Go down the escalator to the platform.



Now you can look at a map if you want, but there's no real need as we're only going one stop.



There are overhead displays showing you what stations the next train to arrive will be stopping at, but all trains are going to stop at Val D'Europe, so don't worry.

Board the first train that arrives, if there isn't already one waiting, which there might well be, considering we're at the end of the line here.



And just in case you forget what the inside of a train looks like... (not the only stare I got from someone wondering why the heck I was taking photos of the most mundane things!)



About three minutes later, you will arrive at Val D'Europe station, so exit on to the platform and look for the signs.



We want Exit (Sortie) number 1, which is helpfully signposted for "Centre commerical" as well, which is where we're going, so bear left. You can either go up the stairs, or take the lift just behind them to get up to the station concourse level.



Once on the upper level, pass through the gates as before.



You'll get your ticket back, but it's not longer any use to you - you'll need to buy another one for the return journey.

Head out of the main doors on to the street and you'll be faced with this view.



You want to turn right and head towards the shopping centre, although it's not obvious that it's there if you haven't been there before (and there's no signs that I could see). Can you see the glass dome poking out from the side of the tree? That's where you are going.



After walking past a number of shops, you'll come to a T-junction that you need to cross. I have no idea if this is a proper pedestrian crossing or not, but everyone was walking straight out in front of cars and they were stopping, so I say just go for it!



And now you get your first glimpse of the centre itself, with your entrance helpfully being labelled "Passage de la Gare", so at least you'll know what door to head out of when going back to the station.



Here's the view once you get inside the centre:



Now the Auchan hypermarket is on two levels, but the food section is on the lower level (the upper level is clothes, homewares, DIY stuff etc.), so I'd suggest you either go down the stairs straight in front of you, or head down the corridor on the left of this photo, which leads to:



...a set of escalators/travelators going down to exactly the same place. The down is the ones on the far side by the way. Whichever you choose, you'll end up here, with Auchan on the left:



Keep on walking to the far end to find the main entrance (I think there are a number of ways in, but it's easier to navigate the store from this point and you've got more chance of finding a basket here).

I took a photo here and almost got in trouble with a security guard! "Pas de photo monsieur!". I quickly remembered "désolé!" from my French GCSE and put my camera away and he seemed happy, then got round the corner and took it out and started snapping away again! Anyway, here's the shot that nearly got me thrown in French prison or something (the story sounds better if I make it sound worse!)



Go straight ahead and head to the back of the store. By all means, meander through the aisles looking at all the wonderful stuff, but as this guide is purely about milk, I'm heading straight there and going back for everything else later!

On the back wall, you should very quickly find this section:



This is the UHT section we all know and dislike. The good news is the fresh milk is just behind us (and slightly to the left). Turn around and hopefully you should see this aisle:



It's the first section on the aisle we're interested in (where all the red and blue capped bottles are). A close-up shot:



We bought a number of brands to test, but these are the ones we settled on as being the nearest to British milk. Neither of them tasted exactly the same when drunk alone (although not bad), but when in cereal or in tea, or consumed while eating my morning croissants, it was very hard to tell any difference, and there certainly was no after taste.

Semi-skimmed:


Full-fat:


Unfortunately, there was no skimmed alternative in fresh milk that was palatable, though my wife (who is the skimmed milk drinker) did say that she thought the semi skimmed wasn't quite as creamy as British versions, so it was acceptable for her.

After that, you're on your own to pay for your groceries and exit the store. Having already had my run-in with authority, I wasn't about to take pictures of the checkouts!

Back to the station, buy a ticket to "Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy" and remember to go to the other platform to catch the train this time - this one has an escalator down if that's any help in remembering!

And of course, make sure you take a trip to the ice machine so that you can keep your milk cool for the morning. The first day, I did sneak it into breakfast in a bag, but I soon realised that nobody was bothered and just took it in openly for the rest of the holiday.

Have fun!

[netimka]

I'm not so much fuss re milk by love your photo story we will be using rer to move around so this is very helpfully... and all the commitment to forum to take some pics inside supermarket risking jail
well done and thanks a lot

[Ware Bears]

Originally Posted by steve_rob

Anyway, here's the shot that nearly got me thrown in French prison or something (the story sounds better if I make it sound worse!)

Originally Posted by netimka

and all the commitment to forum to take some pics inside supermarket risking jail

Love your dedication Steve thanks very much for risking your liberty to do this, it's very much appreciated and I'm sure it's going to be very helpful to people.

[Ms Poppins]

I don't bother with the milk, but think I might try to reenact this purely to pay homage to your very risky photo shoot

[stargatebarbie]

laughing so much this is so wonderful i dont mind the milk but may take this journey as it would be so funny you are the jedi master of the Dis we all can learn from you brilliant :r otfl2:

[Jakaru]

Kudos for doing my trip with photos! pretty much spot on as I recall it.

For those like me who don't use skimmed or semi in this country though, would recommend my original choice of the Lait Frais, which can be seen on the shelves in the photos there too.

I quizzed a French colleague about the milk thing, and her interpretation (as it seems to be a subject to opinion area, oddly) was the there'll be a difference between the fridge stored Lait that could still be uht or at even partially uht, whereas Frais is literally Fresh. (as I say, I've heard and read differing opinions on what it's supposed to be, but to my taste, Frais is what to Aim for, skimmed fans of course might be better with a less rich but not necessarily non uht option)

Think of it I suppose as us in the uk prominently putting uht on labels, but mostly assuming fresh on normal milk, over there its the opposite.

[Figgygirl]

Excellent thread about travelling to Val DE and milk you can buy there!
Can anyone help regarding buying lactose free milk / rice milk / soya milk for people with Lactose allergy? How can those bottles be identified?

This is also a very good report with photos of Val DE shopping centre which some may like to read, by Kerouac.

http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ay&thread=4344

The Rendez-Vous Disney store is sadly no longer there, but there is a shop that sells Princess dresses for € 30.

[Carrie_Cat]

Originally Posted by Figgygirl

Excellent thread about travelling to Val DE and milk you can buy there!
Can anyone help regarding buying lactose free milk / rice milk / soya milk for people with Lactose allergy? How can those bottles be identified?

This is also a very good report with photos of Val DE shopping centre which some may like to read, by Kerouac.

http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ay&thread=4344

The Rendez-Vous Disney store is sadly no longer there, but there is a shop that sells Princess dresses for € 30.

They (soja/riz) are not bottles but tetrabriks. All of them are like UHT so are not kept in fridges.

The rice and soja are sold in the Bio section and the Lactose free (in fact it's 90% reduced lactose ) is with the other UHT milk on the back wall.

The Auchan own brand is the cheapest for soja/rice but there are others all in the same place.

Soja

http://www.auchandirect.fr/frontoffi.../article/35024

http://www.auchandirect.fr/frontoffi.../article/30894

Rice

http://www.auchandirect.fr/frontoffi.../article/60936

90% lactose reduced

http://www.lactalischf.fr/fiche_prod...-A-DIGERER-1-L

This one exists in 50cl bottles the other 2 are 1 litre cartons.

On site all the hotels have soja milk and you can get it in Starbucks if you ask as I have it over there.

There is also a shop specialised in Bio products called La Vie Claire just behind the CC - when you at the restaurant end go through the back doors onto the Place de Toscane .

They will sell soja/rice/oat milk and maybe a lactose (100%) free
http://www.lavieclaire.com/magasin-b...0-val-d-europe

[Figgygirl]

Thank you for adding this additional useful info and links Carrie.

[rockcow]

I love this thread! Excuse my ignorance, but what is UHT milk? I have a 19 year old daughter that cannot go a day without a glass of milk. She loves it! Does anyone know the equivalent to USA types ?

[Figgygirl]

Originally Posted by rockcow

I love this thread! Excuse my ignorance, but what is UHT milk? I have a 19 year old daughter that cannot go a day without a glass of milk. She loves it! Does anyone know the equivalent to USA types ?

Hi Rockow,

UHT stands for Ultra Heat Treatment. This page will explain it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-h...ure_processing

The main benefit is that it doesn't have to be refrigerated until after it has been opened, and has a long shelf life, which is why it is also known as long life milk. It does taste slightly different to our ordinary full fat, semi skimmed or skimmed cow's milk, and some people don't like it.

Does that help you identify a similar milk in the USA?

[rockcow]

Thanks Figgygirl! I think we will stick to the skimmed!