Paris in the Winter

Paris 19/20^th Jan. Post by LP

We booked this trip some time ago…. Me being the planner, wanted to see the Louvre during winter, as I thought less people and shop the sales in Paris and not so dependant on weather as we’d be indoors.

We left first thing on Saturday morning, the station has now moved to Kings Cross, as new tracks were laid for Eurostar, which shaved 30mins of the trip. Previously the Eurostar would go at normal speed till it reached France and then full steam ahead as their tracks are newer. Now we are blitzing through UK and France and in 2 hours and 15mins, we are in the middle of Paris. We made our way to our hotel and off course the fist thing we did was visited our favourite pho restaurant in district 13. The pho was a bit salty for my liking, but still very tasty.

The rest of the afternoon was shopping at La Fayette… again I was in heaven , the frenzy made me dizzy, people everywhere which for me is a turnoff, I enjoy to shop in a calm and less frantic environment, but that’s abit too much to ask when you want to find bargains! I found shoes I liked, but the thought of trying to get a sales assistant to find the other pair, lining up to pay was too much for me, so I exited empty handed. We then made our way to the Sacre Coeur, Joe has been fascinated by this church since our first visit to Paris, so we came back to do more exploring. It’s situated high on a hill, which looks down to Paris which provides a great view…

It’s getting dark by 5pm, so to take advantage of lighting we made our way back to Notre Dame to take some night shoots. I am taking more of an interest in photography and was quite proud of my creation with my little camera… I tell Joe, he’ll be faced with some competition soon!

Sunday, we finally made it to the Louvre. What an amazing museum!! It’s so big, so we noted all our must sees and worked out the most efficient way of seeing it. Our must do list included the painting of Mona Lisa and Marie Madeleine, statue of Aphrodite and Psyche & cupid, and Winged Victory of Samothrace. The highlight for us was Napolean’s apartment; the photos we took did not do it justice. The extravagance was out of this world, the luscious furniture, the luxurious fabric of the curtains, the details of ornaments, and the gigantic sparking chandelier! We were told that if we looked at each item in the museum for 30 seconds, it will take us 9 whole months to finish it!

After the Louvre we went on last minute search for French wine and pate to bring back with us… So hard trying to find any shops opened on Sunday, but we finally found one!! Nearly missed our train ride home, we virtually got onto the train and a few minutes later, it started moving… Close call!

One Shoppers delight, shopping in London

SHOPPING the sales

Our first weekend back in London, and I am itching to hit the shops to check out the sales…I had to gently coax Joe out, but also be mindful that I really don’t need anything, as we did spend abit for Christmas (Joe got his Apple Mac, and I got my digital piano). Shopping now are just for “wants”. We hit the Westend (Oxford and Regent St) on Saturday… it seemed most people had the same idea and only the crappy stuff were left.

On Sunday, I wanted to go to Knightsbridge as the more boutique stores as well as Harvey Nicols and Harrods were known for their sales. Joe found a cosy café to settle himself in whilst I hit the shops! Everyone was rushing for Harrods, and I couldn’t bear the crowd so I went to Harvey Nicols instead.. ohhh.. I was in heaven… the shoe selection, jimmy choos, sergio’s, marc Jacobs, so many to choose from!! And the clothes… a huge rack of Tsubi jeans, 7’s, marc Jacobs, paul and Joe, moschino!! Literally rows and rows of clothes to choose from… although everything was on sale, it’s still so expensive…. I am a lot more sensible these days, as I’m not as compulsive as before. I would invest in beautiful garments, only if I totally LOVE it… however my weakness still remains in handbag. Last year I bought the black Luella Giselle, after much tossing between the red or black, driving Joe up the wall… GUESS what?? The red is on 50% off… I really did a backward flip when I saw it and now I am the proud owner of 2 Luella Giselle, one in black and one in red!.

Christmas 07 - Sydney

We recently went home to Sydney for a huge dose of family and friends time. We were lucky enough to be able to spend time at home during Christmas time. It was also an opportunity to eat up all our favourite foods that we've been missing while living over here in London, like good Viet food, our mum's home cooked meals, a good meaty BBQ, ultra fresh juicy seafood and great coffee!!

Lisa got back to Sydney a week earlier than I did and got to enjoy more time with family and friends and ultimately ate more. During our time back, we visit our favorite Vietnamese restaurants in Bankstown (for bun bo hue) and Cabramatta (banh canh and com tam bi). We had huge feast of our parents cooking over our parent's house for Christmas, and for Boxing day had a wonderful BBQ dinner over our friends, Linda and Khamy's place. They always throw a mean party and this time was no different, always stocked up on alcohol, and always too much other good BBQ food. We have not been so stuffed for a long time, to the point we could not move.
The following day we headed to the Sydney Fish Market @ Pyrmont with my brothers and cousin for some fresh seafood. On order was Salmon sashimi, a kilo of prawns, a couple of fish and chips and some Calamari rings. Yyyuuuuummmmmm!!!!
To top off the time we were back, we were treated to beautiful weather in Sydney, 26+ degree average days, sunny, and not a cloud in the sky. We were quite fortunate actually, because it's been raining in Sydney for the past month or so. The weeks we were both back home in Sydney was perfect, and could not imagine it being better.

We caught up with family, friends, saw Lisa's new nephew, some of our friends new babies, good food, good weather, good coffee… what more could we asked for?

We ended off our holiday with a short break in Hong Kong to break up our flight home. We spent New Years in Hong Kong, in our hotel, not feeling very festive, as it's not the same to be without our friends during this time of year. In Hong Kong, Lisa had went on some retail therapy, and we both went on another dining feast, eating as much of the street food and the yummy wonton noodle soups as could fit into our stomachs, because we knew when we boarded the plan, we won't be getting any of this good cheap food anymore for a while.
Reality could not hit us harder than when we landed at Heathrow, although the upgrade to Business Class was most welcomed! . When we left Sydney, it was sunny, warm and 27 degrees, however London was cloudy, gloomy, cold, rainy and 3 degrees……bbbrrrrrrr! Sigh…..