 Poster: A snowHead
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Mrs G is keen (desperate!) to visit that large-liiking mall outside the eurotunnel terminal at Calais. Is it worth the effort to arrive a couple of hours early and pop in there? Is it 24 hours even? Ta.
CG
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Citi Europe.
Open 8am till 10pm Mon-Sat. Closed Sun.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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What is she hoping to find there?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@pam w, does it matter? she wants to go. I've been a couple of times ..not for years though..there's a lot of nice shops that we don't see in the UK
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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There's a huge Carrefour, some passable shopping centre restaurants, and generally clean toilets. Think that's the limit of my Citi Europe experience 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Well not a lot we talk about on Snowheads "matters", does it? Interesting though. I've driven past it loads of times, never been in. Usually in a hurry either to get south, or to get on a train. And I've not seen discussion about it here before.
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@pam w, it sounded like a challenge, maybe you didn't mean it that way
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Huge Carrefour as @Mjit says, but in our experience it doesn’t carry a decent range of wine - seen better variety and better bottles at, eg, Sallenches Carrefour. We’ve used it for cheap fuel and picnic supplies heading E, but would typically stick up on wine and food to take home much earlier than Calais.
No experience of other shops at citieurope.
The nearby Ibis budget offers a strange experience - it’s used by the CRS squads (lots and lots of them) on migrant patrol. Odd sharing the breakfast buffet with riot cops in their body armour and armed!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Inboard wrote: |
| The nearby Ibis budget offers a strange experience - it’s used by the CRS squads (lots and lots of them) on migrant patrol. Odd sharing the breakfast buffet with riot cops in their body armour and armed! |
Secure though 
Used to use Cité Europe a lot years ago. Wine used to be good, was one of the few places in France where you could get a good selection of New World wines. Back when diesel in France was a huge amount cheaper than the UK that was always our last fuel fill up.
@Charliegolf, Website is here if https://www.citeeurope.co.uk/ if you want to check what's there.
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| pam w wrote: |
| What is she hoping to find there? |
Unicorns
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Context: we usually come barrelling in trying to get 'the train before ours'- that's me! She always comments on 'wanting a look'. So I just wondered if it was any good; and maybe get better snacks than the tosh in the terminal.
Since I posted, we thought we'd go in there on the way out, in order to obviate the 'me' above.
If you knew what she puts up with, you'd agree it's not a lot to shop for an hour or two with her!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Charliegolf,  She gets an hour's shopping, you get a week's skiing? My brother and sister in law visited us in Les Saisies a few times. She wasn't a skier, but definitely WAS a shopper. One day when he questioned how much her latest haul of Alpine tat had cost, she said "Tell me again how much your ski pass for the day costs?". He shut up.
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I once met a Frenchman who told me the most expensive place to shop in France is .........Calais, so we stay away from shopping there!
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
The nearby Ibis budget offers a strange experience - it’s used by the CRS squads (lots and lots of them) on migrant patrol. Odd sharing the breakfast buffet with riot cops in their body armour and armed!
Secure though
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It's the CRS so I would not be so sure.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Charliegolf wrote: |
| So I just wondered if it was any good; and maybe get better snacks than the tosh in the terminal. |
You can certainly get better food, both quality and price wise, be that stopping for a quick meal or just grabbing the old baguette and cheese to make your own in the car while you cross.
We've generally used it when we've made much better time than expected and could use a little time out of the saddle, rather than getting home an hour or so earlier than planned.
That said either our planning has gotten better or just the improved food in the French terminal (back before they were concessions I can remember 3 of us, all starving young gent's having driven up from the south of France ordered a pizza...and left half of it, it was that bad) but not been in for a number of years.
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Poster: A snowHead
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If I was wanting to have a potter round the shops I'd NOT have wanted to have my husband tagging along. I'd probably have parked him in a coffee shop with a newspaper.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@pam w, who would carry all your shopping though?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I'd manage, @ster  Quality not quantity. For satisfactory shopping you need to know what you want, and know your way around. I used to enjoy shopping in Chichester, because I did know my way around, but so many shops have shut the experience is not what it was. The thought of just bimbling at random round some huge French shopping centre would not be my idea of a fun day out.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@pam w, My wife parked me outside there with the dog and I had to spend an hour fending off young men who wanted a lift to the UK in the boot.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Matt1959,
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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If it's the Carrefour that's in the mall it's quite big but poorly stocked with stuff tbh. Beer, wine, chocs were poor, cheeses were average for me. The mall is a waste of time. Don't bother with it. Warning if you do go you can easily miss your train!!
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Rather than spend time in either the terminal or the Cité de Europe, we head into Calais and the Au Calice brasserie. A much better way to spend a couple of hours than a shopping mall.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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The better shopping is 500m up the road in what is now called the Channel Outlet, used to be Emerald Coast. Bought some Killy jackets and trousers there for well under half price many years ago.
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FAQ
