Our Travels...London

For our winter break from school we had one week off, and we decided to spend it touring the UK and Ireland. Our first stop was London. Now, I have actually been to London once before, about 6 years ago now, can you believe it's been that long?! But I liked it even better the second time around!!!

On the Friday when we arrived we had a hard time finding the apartment we were renting.. which took up most of the morning. We spent the afternoon exploring a few neighborhoods in East London nearby where we were staying: Angel and Islington. The areas house a ton of little cafes, independent shops, designers and those kind of lifestyle stores where they sell a little bit of everything. It was a nice way to start of our travels because we were just laid back and took our time with everything not rushing about from attraction to attraction. We saved that all up for Saturday when we boarded a double decker bus and did a hop-on-off tour hitting all the major attractions like Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and English Parliament, Buckingham Palace, London Bridge and even the recreation of The Globe Theater where Shakespeare's play's used to be performed. 

in front of the palace

Imitating the Royal Guard..you used to be able to walk right up to him.

The Globe Theater

The weather was FREEZING cold the entire week in all 3 cities -- we layered up. Thank goodness I bought a good scarf!! 

We warmed up with high tea at the Palm Court Hotel on Park Lane, like fancy English ladies. But we also succumed to middle class pleasures like FISH AND CHIPS! yummm 

  Even though there was lots of traditional pub food to be found in London, it is a city full of international cuisine. We got a good recommendation from a local to check out the Vietnamese area in town and we had some "pho" which is a traditional Vietnamese soup. It was the first time I had tried it, and it was pretty good. Mind you, anything that was warm was appealing to me we were frozen solid from the wind and rain!

Our last little excursion in London was to ride the London Eye! We got some fantastic views of the city even though it was raining. 

The View

Happy Halloween!

and last but not least... we got a little taste of the familliar when we met up with our friend Steph who is living just outside London for law school. So nice to have friends abroad!! More of you need to travel so I can keep visiting new places ahah

read the sign - the English have a sense of humor at least!

Just for You...Luke

This won't be of interest to most of you, but this one is just to remind someone special that I'm always thinking of them, even while I'm far away!

More than halfway through, I'll be home soon! xo

A Taste of Home...Mom and Dad!

Hey everyone!
Sorry it's taken me so long to blog. I haven't been in the writing mood, and then we left for our winter break, jetting off to Ireland, England, and Scotland!

But that's for another post.... This post is about my lovely parents who so graciously came to visit their  nomad traveler daughter in France!

Our weekend together was pretty nice, I'm a great tour guide and wanted to show them all around Lyon! They on the other hand wanted to take things slow and relax, so we didn't get to see EVERYTHING as I had planned, but they were pretty content with the highlights.

 When they arrived I set out a beautiful "degustation" which is the French word which refers to something like a tasting, an assortment of various dishes and little appetizers. I have been collecting various local foods from all the places I have visited, in anticipation of their arrival and so I set out a little platter that included:
- Serrano Ham from Barcelona
- Regional Olives from Montpellier in the South of France
- Handmade Swiss Chocolate, Milk and Caramel from Geneva
- French Pastries, Baguette and Cheese from our favorite bakery around the corner
- Red Wine from Bordeaux (I haven't actually been there yet, I was able to find that in Lyon)
                                   

Together, we visited Vieux Lyon and the Fourviere Basilica which you saw in my other posts, had dinner at a really fancy French restaurant which also happens to have a Michelin Star, went out for drinks every night (I got partiers for parents!), got groceries at the market and did a bit of shopping!

The nicest thing about having them here was having the comfort of someone else looking out for me. Even though Cassandra and I have been here together, I think that we really feel like we're truly on our own in a way that is different from when we just lived downtown. Being so far away we are forced to be a lot more independent  So I got a little break from being a grown up, and mom made dinner one night, and they just took care of me for a few days. But it was weird to still be in charge of all the planning of the trip because anyone who knows my mother knows she looks up all the places (usually restaurants) she wants to try when she's in a new city. It was funny to be leading the direction and itinerary for the day because I'm used to just following them when we travel.

Next, we took the train together to Paris where I stayed with them for one night.

At the station

In Paris, we went with dad to the food show. The show was pretty cool, but I think the samples were my favorite part!! The next day mom and I explored the city together. We visited Louis the 14th's beautiful palace, Versailles and we took a walk in downtown to the Gallery Lafayette, a huge department store housed in a gorgeous building.

inside of the dome at Layfayette

salami at the food show

                     

                     

Overall, it was great having them visit. The only problem, was that seeing them made me miss home a little! While I have been having a great time here as you can see from all my other posts, I am feeling like I'm ready to come home. Our life here has been anything but routine, and now and then you long for family and friends to hang out with, comfort you, and give you that sense of place. 

But I have just less than two months to go! So I will not allow myself to dwell...too much, because I'm sure once I'm back home dealing with snow, slush and a hard semester at uoft I will long for the weekends when my only worry was whether to catch the flight to Barcelona or to Berlin!!

More to come, love ale

Exploring...Lyon: Festivals!

This weekend Cassandra's parents visited us in Lyon. We all lucked out because there happened to be a wine festival going on right in the square by our house. For 1 Euro you got your own glass and you could sample and taste any wine from each tent. All wines came from the Beaujolais area, in the Rhone Alps region which is close to Lyon.

Cheers!

 And we were lucky enough to see a show put on by Guignol - the famous marionette associated with Lyon. He is a canut, which is a traditional silk worker, from maybe the 18th century when Lyon was a major silk making hub. He was often involved in political satire and skits that represented the hardship canuts faced when the industry began to become more technologically based. Today, the shows aren't so dark, he's just a funny muppet - but I've seen a version up close, he's really creepy looking. 

Our Travels...Paris, Part Two

No post about Paris is complete without a picture of the Eiffel Tower 

Paris is for lovers! Good thing I brought Cazz! lol

rainy weather

On Saturday night we went to the Famous Moulin Rouge! We had a table for 2 and a bottle of Champagne! It was fun to get dressed up, but honestly the show was a bit of a disappointment. The costumes were very French and they lived up to my expectations very flashy and sexy, but the songs and the dance numbers lacked pizzazz. I think I was expecting a more burlesque style show, and what I got was the quality of a Mexican Resort Dance Number. The men were much more talented than the women, and there were a few acts in between to tie over the audience during costumes changes. All in all I'm glad we went but I wouldn't do it again - I think the show has strayed from its traditional roots. 

Ironically, we had planned to eat at a fancy restaurant before the show since we were already dressed up. But we should have booked ahead because on a Saturday night in Paris everything was already booked up for the night. In the end, we were in a rush to make the show so we ended up eating at the fast food burger place, Quick, next door to the Moulin Rouge!!! What a sight we were in Nylons, full makeup and heels, eating cheese burgers and fries! lol We had to laugh at ourselves, it was too ridiculous. 

On our way to the Musee D'Orsay we passed a bridge, covered in locks. We asked around, to find out what was going on, since it seemed out, and we found out that a new tradition has developed over the last 3 years where you purchase a lock, write your name and if you're a couple the name of your sweetheart, lock the lock and toss the key into the river. It's about fate and luck, and if you're single love will find you and if you're not then you secure you're bond with the lock. I made Cassandra do one and I think I'll wait till I'm in Paris next month with Luke to do my own. 

Like I said in the last posted we visited the Sacre Coeur in Montmarte. I lit a candle in the church for my family and friends back at home, hope my prayers are answered!

Montmarte was a really nice area of the city, with lots of cafe's an art market, a mime, and street vendors!

 

And finally... no French trip is complete without some macaroons! We lined up outside La Duree to get a taste of some of Paris' most famous macaroons. We weren't allowed to take pictures outside the boutique  so you'll have to be content with this picture. We got salted caramel and something with marshmallow. But a local directed us to another bakery instead, Piere Hemes, which sold wayyyy better tasting macaroons, so if you're ever in Paris don't bother with the line up at La Duree just head around the corner to Pierre Hermes they're delicious!

 And that's the end of Paris, for now... I'll be back again with mes parents, next weekend, so hopefully I'll get to see everything I missed. The city is so huge that it would take months to really know it, and find all those local hangouts that us tourists aspire to stumble upon!!

Love ale

Our Travels...Paris, Part One

It's the one you've all been waiting for haha! Paris. 

On the first day oh Paris, my sights were set on Notre Dame. We entered the inside of the cathedral and also went up into the turrets to see the famous bell. There is one picture of me in front of the church hunched over - pretending to be Quasimodo. Another fun fact, there was a restaurant just around the corner called Esmeralda  I thought that was hilarious. The view from the top was soo nice!! I'm so glad we did it, and the stain glass windows inside were really breathtaking. A bit of history, the church was actually mean to be torn down at some point to make room for more housing and development, but Victor Hugo's story The Hunchback of Notre Dame produced a gothic revival and the citizens protested to keep the church in place.

We also, visited the Louvre on the Friday we arrived since it was open late. We didn't have a lot of time in the museum but we got to all the highlights like the Mona Lisa, sculpture of Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory we also walked through the Egyptian exhibit - the Louvre has the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts after Cairo. That picture is of a real mummy! All in all it was OK, I'm not really a fan of museums and I don't know anything about art so I'm glad we didn't spend too much time there. 

The other monuments we visited were the Sacre Coeur, the Bastille, the Eiffel Tower, Champs D'Elysee and Arc de Triomphe. Wish we had made it to Versaille but with the bad weather we were slowed down and we didn't end up having the time. :( 

Monument for the French People, the Bastille, put up in memory of the Storming of the Bastille - when Parisian citizens stood up against monarchy and stormed the prison (bastille) in protest. That's cazz and me doing our own version of storming at the tower.

 

It's a shame but after all our sight seeing we weren't left with very much time to shop. We made our way on Monday to an antiques area where we saw some really amazing things, including shops full of piles of vintage Chanel jewellery and 17th century antiques, watches, clothes, etc. We also went to another district to shop in the boutiques where we could find more French designers and less mainstream shops, like on the Champs D'Elysee. We had the most delicious breakfast there in the shopping area because it wasn't very tourist-y. We had a Croque Madam (bread, ham, cheese, egg) , which is a play on the Croque Monsieur (bread, ham cheese). It's so funny because all the different variations have their own name, like a little Croque Family. 

Vintage Shopping in Paris!
This is not the actual fur coat that I was going to buy, the one I liked was nicer!

We went out for a nice dinner one night, and ate at a Michelin Star restaurant called La Tablette. The food was really good and reasonably priced! Good thing Cassandra and I both enjoy a good meal!