Weekly Musings

2015 - Week 11
'She hits like ecstacy'
(The Wombats - Greek Tragedy)

This week didn't go quite as expected, as after a quick trip to the doctors on Monday morning with a pain in my side that I'd had all weekend, I was admitted to hospital with suspected appendicitis! Luckily after numerous tests and a scan it turned out to be nothing serious, and I was discharged on Wednesday, which wasn't a moment too soon if I'm honest. As someone who is usually very active, being confined to a bed for 3 days with little explanation was sheer hell, although the nurses (and contrary to popular belief, the food) were brilliant.

Upon my return home Abi brought me some flowers from the girls, which was so thoughtful, and then Jason came to mine in the evening and we chilled out and got a Dominoes. I've never been so happy to be back in my own bed!

Another reason I was hugely grateful to be well and back home was that this weekend my sister and I took my mum to Paris as a belated 50th birthday present. I would not have been impressed if I had had to miss out on that! We got a flight very early yesterday morning from Liverpool (return flight was £105), and landed at 10.30am. It was my fourth time to the city, so I felt quite comfortable wandering around, and enjoyed playing tour guide for my mum who has been once before but a long time ago, and my sister who was on her first visit.

We managed to cram a lot into the brief trip - yesterday we saw the Sacre Coeur, the Moulin Rouge, did a bit of a shopping, had a fabulous steak and then went to see Mugler Follies, a show at Le Comedia. It was without doubt one of the most bizarre yet amazing performances I have ever seen. It had, to name a few, men in platform heels and corsets, women poledancing in nipple tassles, aerial artists, comedy opera singers... all with costumes designed by Thierry Mugler. I am so glad that we decided to go, as it was completely unplanned and last minute! 

Today after some breakfast we went to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysees, the Louvre, Notre Dame, and took mum for afternoon tea at La Duree as it was Mother's Day. I was impressed at how quickly we were seated; the cakes were delicious, and it was all so pretty. It was the most lovely weekend, although I am now absolutely shattered after arriving back half an hour ago!

Traveller's Tales...

Paris (part 2)

On Saturday I woke up at half eight as Mo text me, and I didn't feel too bad, though I had a bit of a headache. I eventually got up at half ten and had a shower, and then felt awful! We headed out at around twelve toward Le Marais, which is the vintagey shopping area, which I love, and picked up a sandwich along the way (ham, chicken and creme fraiche - yum!) and a Starbucks. I found a really nice men's checked shirt for 5 euros, but apart from that didn't buy anything, although Claire got a pair of black leather shorts like mine. 

After that we headed towards Notre Dame. Although I have seen it twice before I have never been inside, and Claire said it is amazing so I thought we'd pop in. It was a mistake though, as it was absolutely heaving (we later learned it was the first ringing of the new bell to mark 850 years of it standing) so we didn't make it inside after all! Once we had eventually squeezed our way out we got a Nutella crepe and then went to the shop to get some food and drink for that evening. I bought a bottle of champagne for under two euros to mix with some fruit juice, absolute bargain!

We had little cheese and ham pancakes with quinoa and green beans for tea, and then started getting ready for a night out. Elliot and Gez came round to Claire's for predrinks, and we played drinking games and generally larked around getting drunk. It got to half one and we decided to make a move so ordered a taxi and went to an Irish bar again where we were supposed to meet some more friends. However, we couldn't find them anywhere, so left after twenty minutes, to find that it was impossible for us to flag down a taxi , and it was freezing! We eventually caught a bus, and collapsed into bed at 4am.

Yesterday I actually felt fine, but Claire was pretty hungover. We stayed asleep in bed until gone twelve, and then got up and dressed ready to do something with my last day. We were intending going to L'opera Garnier, a theatre and museum that is supposed to be gorgeous, but they were doing renovation work so we go there after it had shut for the day which was frustrating - we had checked online and everything! Instead we went to Les Invalides, where Napoleon is buried, which was huge and had pretty architecture and statues inside.

On the way back to the metro we noticed that a few stops were closed, and discovered that there was a protest against gay marriage and adoption going on, which was a bit scary, we nearly got trampled on quite a few times! It was quite eerie too, as the Champs Elysée was completely closed off to traffic. As we had to walk all the way back, we stopped and had a quick look in Abercrombie, which was insane, five floors of clothes and lots of half naked men wandering around! 

We then went to an exhibition centre where there was a wine tasting event happening that we had been given free tickets for. We were handed a glass and shown into one of three halls all choc-a-block with stalls each offering four or five types of wine, it was enormous! We tried three red wines and two champagnes before calling it a day, as we were so tired from walking everywhere. On the way back to Claire's flat we stopped and got some sushi for tea - twelve pieces with salad and soup was only 12 euros, incredible! It tasted really good, and we watched a film whilst I finished packing and set my alarm for 6.30am ready to leave the next morning. Paris never disappoints!

Traveller's Tales...

A Parisian Adventure (days 3 & 4)

On Saturday we all woke late and fuzzy headed, to be greeted with cups of tea and amazing pastries courtesy of Laura's boyfriend who was also staying for a week. After we'd lounged around for a while, we got up and went via the Arc de Triomphe to the Palais de Tokyo- an exhibition centre that has a retro photobooth that we made full use of, coming out with some memorable photos. We had a drink at the cafe there, which was pricey, but had a lovely view of the Eiffel Tower and in the sunshine (which was now at 29 degrees) it was gorgeous.

Afterwards we wandered towards the Jardin Des Tuileries, a park next to the Louvre, and stopped at a restaurant under the trees there for a late lunch. I had a cheese, ham and mushroom crepe with salad- it was yummy! Eating at somewhere with such a great view made it all the better as well. We then just chilled out in the sun for a couple of hours, before waltzing home. Along the way we saw the Louvre, and the Palais du Louvre as well as the Pont des Arts which is known for being covered in padlocks inscribed with loved-up couples' names.

We stopped at a supermarket and a boulangerie on the way home to pick up a few bits for tea. As we had eaten so late we decided to just have snacks and a dessert- I bought a custard and chocolate pastry that we had with vanilla nut and speculoos flavour ice cream. We ate whilst watching Inception, which I enjoyed seeing again to pick up the bits I missed the first time. After it had finished we hit the hay as we were all knackered from the lack of sleep the night before!

On Sunday, my final day, we went to the vintage section of the city. We passed the Notre Dame on the way, and stopped for lunch at HD Diner, a 50s style restaurant. Inside was a whirlwind of turquoise and Barbie pink, and each table had a fake jukebox attached to it. I had a burger with guacamole and avocado in it, that came with french fries, and an oreo cookie milkshake, that arrived complete with whipped cream and a cherry on top- I felt like a character in Grease!

I bought a couple of silk scarves from the vintage shops, but it was so hot, we lost our desire to search through more mountains of clothes, and retired to the park near Laura's house equipped with a salad nicoise and a baguette with some super smelly scrummy cheese. When we returned home we watched The Social Network, which I thought was really good considering some of the bad reviews it had got, and then I packed for home. I went to bed fairly early as I had to be up at 4am to come home- I didn't want to leave! I will definitely be returning to Paris in the future; I can't believe it's taken me this long to go there for the first time!