Parisian Restaurant (10243) - The first floor is done!

The first floor is now complete - inside, outside, backside, frontside. :)

Let's start with a look at the rear of the restaurant - we've never really had a peek back here before. It's a tidy little area that looks surprisingly well kept. There is even an awning over the back door. The expected collection of garbage bins is here, though surprisingly the large bin is located directly below one of the main windows into the dining room. Not really the sort of view I would want if I were a patron. And please don't open that window in the summer time!

There is also a nice climbing vine plant crawling up the back wall, giving it some lushness and life. And if we look close enough, we can see a rat sniffing around the green garbage can - there must be some old cheese in there or something. Better not let the health inspectors see that!

If we take a peek inside the trash bin, we can see there is the usual collection of foodstuffs in there ... I can see a couple of bones, some rotting fruit ...

And now we move around to the front of the building. The stairs leading to the second floor are completed and there is even a very fashionable street light on the corner.

The upstairs terrace of the restaurant is also complete - and again, the decor is very elegant and fits with the overall look and feel of the downstairs part of the restaurant. There are a couple of lamps to light the area with a tasteful hanging planter attached to each lamp post. This is once again a small dining area with seating only for 4 and a small wine bar located against the wall.

Parisian Restaurant (10243) The restaurant is almost done!

The building is really starting to look like a real restaurant now. We've got drapes in the dining rooms, walls fully built up including windows, awnings and external lights. The stairs heading up to the second floor are complete and ready for use. We've even got the menu board outside and a large awning protecting the front entrance.

Here is a snapshot of the front entrance - it is looking MUCH more elegant and very French! There are some plants (they look like spider plants) behind the park bench and by the railing of the stairs. This adds some much needed color to the area which is otherwise pretty dark with a prevalence of browns, blacks and greys. You can also see the elegant marble colonnades that flank the front entrance and really make the restaurant look classy. There is also a menu board out front that patrons can peruse as they await their tables (which will likely be a long wait given the very limited number of seats in the establishment!) There is also a large sign atop the front entrance awning proclaiming the name of the restaurant, which of course is Chez Albert.

Here we see a closer view of the stairs going up to the second level. The stairs are framed by hand-carved wooden rails so tipsy patrons don't end up taking a tumble as they are moving up and down. You'll also notice that there is a window looking into the kitchen from the base of the stairs - so much the better to be able to tempt people into dining at the restaurant.

Continuing with our examination of the exterior of the restaurant, we see a series of subtle lantern lights that hang unobtrusively above the terraced dining area. They yellow shade of the lights casts enough light that diners can see perfectly well at night but not enough to be blinding. Their method of attachment to the main structure of the building via wrought iron struts is also pleasingly graceful. The large bay windows allow a clear view right through the restaurant so that guests inside can see what is going on outside and vice versa.

We now move into the interior of the establishment. The windows are frame with a heavy set of drapes that are sure to keep out all light when they are drawn. These will be particularly useful if the interior of the restaurant is booked for a special occasion and the guests want to have some privacy for their celebrations. With the drapes in place, there is no longer any room to maneuver around the tables on that side of the room, leaving the dining room even more cramped than it originally seemed.

And finally, we see an overall shot of the building as it currently stands. There are just a few small details left to complete the first floor of the building. We can hardly wait to see what the second floor looks like!

Parisian Restaurant (10243) - Let's Build a Wall!

Construction continues on our restaurant as we've put up the back wall of the building. We've also started on some of the interior details and amenities, including the wine cabinet in the dining room and a clock in the kitchen.

Here we see the wine cabinet with the most popular vintages on display. There are a number of drawers in the cabinet as well, presumably to keep things like openers, glasses, etc. Pierre is also bustling over to refill madamme's glass.

And there is the clock, hanging in a very visible place on the kitchen wall. It definitely needs a central location so the chef can keep an eye on his timing between delivery of courses. You never want to keep your patrons waiting too long at a fine establishment like Chez Albert!

And here we have a shot of the entire assembly as it currently stands. I have yet to decide whether I like the shade of green that is used. On the one hand, I think it's an elegantly muted color (you don't want anything garish in a fancy restaurant) while not being too boring (as a beige or white would be). But on the other, as my mom says, it's a baby diaper poo green, which is kind of disgusting for a dining establishment.

Parisian Restaurant (10243) - We have staff!

Slowly but surely, the restaurant is starting to take shape. Last night, we introduced the restaurant staff .... or at least just the first 2 hires. For such a high-class establishment, I hope that there will be more people manning their stations.

The first addition was our venerable Chef Albert himself. Having acquired all the tools he needs (he has hung these on the wall of the kitchen behind his carving station), he is diligently at work carving a massive turkey that looks like it is bigger than he is!

Also, the mystery of the random cheese box that I mentioned yesterday was solved last night. It's actually the bottom of a fridge! We finished building the fridge and also added a top shelf to it, holding a bottle of milk and a carton of cream.

Our second staffing addition was of our trusty head waiter Pierre. Here he is bringing a bottle of Dom Perignon to the happy couple.

We started putting together the walls of the building, fleshing it out and having it look more like a restaurant. The first floor flight of external stairs also went in.

Parisian Restaurant (10243) - First Customers!

Tonight, we started getting some customers in the restaurant. Realistically speaking, this is a little odd seeing as how the rest of the restaurant has not been built yet but what the heck, this is Legoland, not real life!

At a private table in the main dining room, we see someone proposing to his sweetheart (with what looks more like a wrist band than a ring).

It looks like someone couldn't finish their croissant and has left it on the table outside. What a waste!! The waiter hasn't had a chance to come and clean it up yet. The shrubbery on the terrace has been augmented with some potted flowers - they look like yellow hibiscus.

And here is a shot of the entire set as it currently stands. The girl riding by on the scooter looks like she is eyeballing the croissant on the table and wondering if the couple inside would notice if she were to pop on over and just help herself to it. It doesn't look like it has been touched, after all!

Parisian Restaurant (10243) - Yay! FOOD!

We decided we would start off our 2018 Lego adventures with this set, since we are both enamored with food. Plus, this set looked really good :)

I, personally, have often eyeballed the various city creator sets that Lego has released and thought how neat it might be to build a small Lego city for display. Mom was more reticent but has so far agreed that she really likes the look of this set. As we have been building this set, I have been putting on youtube videos on the Ipad of other adult fans of Lego reviewing some of the other modular building sets. She has had a pretty positive response to them so this could be the start of another series of possible future additions to our collection.

This set actually belongs to my sister and her fiance. They bought it a few years ago as they are both big fans of Paris and of French fare. However, they haven't had a chance to build it and were gracious enough to allow us to be the first to build the set. So I guess, you can say, it's on loan to us.

Even from the very start of the build, it's clear that there is a lot of detail in this set and that they have done well capturing the essence of "French-ness" with the design and the colors they have chosen. Up first is the scooter, of course. This is the first set that we have seen with the scooter and are pretty impressed with it. It rolls very smoothly and balances quite well if you position the kickstand so it is just touching the table surface.

The detailing gets better from there. Below is a picture of the foundation for the set. Starting from the bottom left, you can see what will eventually be the street-side terrace for diners. The stones in this area have been carefully laid such that CHEZ is spelled out very discreetly. This is in homage to the name of the establishment, which is "Chez Albert", something which becomes much more obvious later on when the signs are hung.

Surrounding the terrace is an organic fence of greenery, giving diners some privacy from passersby while lending some freshness to the experience. Leading up to the front entrance is an elegant red, brick walkway.

The interior of the restaurant flooring is just as detailed as the outside. The main dining area has hardwood flooring in two shades. A darker wood to frame the dining room while the middle section is made of a lighter shade.

The kitchen tiling done in white and blue checkers is very reminiscent of what a classic french restaurant would have.

Here we see some of the detail that has gone into the kitchen area. To the left is what appears to be the pastry station, as there is a pie (with a whipped topping) and a couple of cupcakes cooling on the countertop. Buttressed into the corner of the kitchen is a large sink. Directly facing us seems to be the drying area for cleaned plates and glasses with a prep counter beside that. There seems to be a cheese container snugged into the right corner of the kitchen. And at the very bottom, you can just see the handle of a broom - gotta keep the kitchen clean! We wouldn't want the health inspectors to have any findings.

Here is the kitchen from a different angle and with the island installed. It looks like someone has been busy cooking and roasting away since we last visited. There is a large turkey cooling on the countertop and pot of something bubbling away on the range.

We move to take a look at the seating in our restaurant. It's a small and cozy restaurant, with only seating for 2 small tables for 2 in the main dining room and a few seats on the terrace outside. There is also a bench just outside the restaurant where a customer can enjoy a quick snack and coffee.

 

Nanoblock Violin - A New Experience

My sister got us this nanoblock set to try out. As the name suggests, the concept is very similar to that of Lego except that the pieces are much MUCH smaller (hence NANO).

The sets range in difficulty level from 1 (easiest) to 5. The Violin set was a 1 and had less than 100 pieces in it.

Putting this set together took a lot more concentration and deliberate action than Lego sets due to the much smaller scale of everything. The pieces were so small that you had to be really careful in how they were handled. And god forbid you dropped any of them!!

The instruction set was also tiny. It comprised one side of a single sheet of paper (probably about 8" x8" large). Multiple steps were squeezed into a single diagram and the printing itself was of nano dimensions. All in all, it made for a pretty tough time deciphering what had to be done. That being said, since it was a small set, it only took us a little over an hour to complete it.

The final set is not as sturdy as most Lego sets. Additionally, the bow has no method of securing it to the baseplate and simply leans against the violin, making it extremely easy to dislodge.

The level of detail of the set is ok but nothing extraordinary. One of the nanoblock's mottos is that the smaller the pieces, the more detailed the set. However, that only works if the set itself hasn't shrunk comparably in size. If both the set and the pieces are smaller, nothing has been accomplished other than to shrink the scale of the final model.

All in all, it wasn't a terrible set but I think we will be sticking to Lego from now on.