Short Sojourn: Solo Paris Day 3

This morning I rose a little earlier but left about the same time because I had to pack up my things. I did sleep better because the medication I bought yesterday kicked in, and it was good stuff! I had hoped today to get a chance to climb the dome at Notre Dame, and had downloaded an all which allowed me to get in the queue - however when I checked out the first time around 11 or said a4 hour wait, so I decided to check in later after I was done with other things... And when I did, 6:47pm was fully booked out! Oh well, I'm sure I'll be back in Paris eventually anyway.

Instead after checking out and leaving my bags in the hotel, I headed to my only stop for the day... The Louvre! I had planned to do the whole museum, and even though I was there 6 hours I still didn't quite manage it. But I did most of it this time - all the highlights (La Jaconde, Winged Victory of Samothrace, Venus De Milo) as well as much of the rest of the museum. I went on a hunt for as many art kitties as I could find, and particularly enjoyed the top floor, which I had never been to before and contains almost exclusively French paintings. There were some beautiful ones and ones which made me laugh as well.

(I just liked this guys face!)

I also love the basement of the Sully wing, which has the history of the Louvre from medieval fortress to Royal Palace to museum. You can go and see and even touch the 12th century foundations, which I love. Also the Egyptian stuff on that floor which is also cool, although there seemed to be quite a lot of things which had been removed for cleaning/maintenance, which was a shame.

So I wandered for a few hours, then popped out to grab a sandwich for lunch, before returning back into the museum to do the rest of it. I really enjoyed just wandering and seeing all the different arts as much as possible, although between today and yesterday I think I'm all museumed out for a while!

I left the Louvre at about 6, walked back to the hotel to get my bags, and then walked back up to Gare du Nord. Grabbed some dinner, some treats for at home, and now chilling in the lounge waiting for the train. I am quite early, but better that than late!

Short Sojourn: Solo Paris Day 2

This morning I woke up still feeling rough, though I did sleep a little better. I took my time getting ready and left not much before 11, for a long stroll down the river Seine to the Eiffel Tower. It was a long walk (an hour) but a pleasant one in the summer sunshine. I got a glimpse of the tower the whole way, although when I got up close I saw it had construction all around the bottom. Oh well, I ticked that one off the list, an essential part of any visit to Paris.

Then I walked halfway back to the Musee d'Orsay, which had been recommended to me but I had never actually visited myself. First I had lunch in the cafe which was fine (baguette and water), then I spent quite a few hours exploring the museum. It isn't huge, but boy is there a lot to see! The building itself is really cool, it's in an old train station which was built for the world's fair and still has that amazing style to it. Inside it super sleek and modern looking despite being filled with so much old art.

There was so much cool stuff to see, I do enjoy French art! Lots of Rodin, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet... All the best ones. I particularly love Monet and Van Gogh are my favourites and I do love seeing them up close. I spent a good 3+ hours just wandering and admiring the art, so peaceful and reflective. It was a really pleasant way to spend the day.

After that I wasn't feeling so well with the cold getting worse, so I braved a pharmacy in French to get myself some cold and flu medication and had a rest before dinner. For dinner I went just around the corner to a French restaurant called Poulette. I had a basil lemonade, with duck for entree and octopus with pea puree for mains. It was super delicious and I have started to enjoy dining alone with my Kindle for company.

On the way back to the hotel I went the long way and found a gelato place! Perfect dessert. I got lemon and blackcurrant, really yummy and the perfect finish to the evening as I headed back to the hotel for the evening.

Short Sojourn: Solo Paris Day 1

After such a terrible evening, during which I melted but also couldn't breathe because my whole face was blocked up, I slept terribly and let myself sleep in. Which meant that I didn't get up until after 10, but that's okay. First thing I headed to the Montmatre area of Paris, which was about a 45 minute walk from my hotel. My intention was for today to be fabric shopping day!

I started at Les Coupons de St Pierre, on the Place St Pierre. It is the biggest and linked to Marche Saint Pierre which is across the street. The coupons are precut lengths (mostly 3m) which are labelled with prices and ready to buy. Super convenient for people like me who want to buy fabric, but are terrible at French! I picked up a cut of poly which I think will make a nice slinky dress and maybe some pajamas, and a 2.7m cut of a gorgeous African wax cotton. I had actually looked for wax cotton last trip to Paris but at that stage could only find it in 6m cuts, which is way too much for one person! So I picked up those for €10 each.

Then I decided I was hungry and had lunch at the most convenient nearby place, which happened to be a McDonald's... Oops? It was tasty though and quick, which is what I wanted. Then I headed back up and went up what felt like a trillion steps up to the top of the hill to the Sacre Couer to check it out. When I had checked the opening times on Google I had read warnings about scalpers who the strings on you and then make you buy them, and being on my own I was worried about them, but I didn't even see anyone like that which was reassuring. There was no queue to get in, even! It is gorgeous inside and I spent a while admiring the gorgeous architecture before heading back down those many steps.

Back down the hill I noticed another coupon shop I hadn't seen before, Sacres Coupons on Rue d'Orsel. In there I found another few pieces, one of cotton and one poly, which weren't 3m cuts but were such lovely fabrics. They set me back another €25 for them both. And then, on my way back to the route to the hotel, I found in the "3m for €5" bin out the front of Les Coupons de St Pierre which had some lovely cotton in... So I got 2! Doing well then.

Then I headed back to the hotel to have a brief rest and drop off my purchases, before heading out for a walk in the opposite direction to a fancy sewing shop called Anna Ka Bazaar. They are known for their lovely curated selection and the line of fabric Atelier Brunette, which they make themselves. So I splurged on a length of Atelier Brunette sweater knit to make another Linden sweater like my favourite sweater from last autumn.

On my way back to the hotel I stopped at a patisserie to pick up some macaroons for dessert, and dropped those and my purchases back in the hotel again (they are delicious, by the way). Then I headed out to dinner to a creperie nearby which I had noticed the evening before. I had ham and goats cheese for main, and honey and lemon for dessert with homemade lemonade, which was delicious and also hopefully helped me with my cold as well. I took my friend Bri's advice and brought my Kindle with me to dinner which was great advice which I will do again, it helped pass the time without being on my phone.

Now I'm settled back in my room, nibbling my macaroons and typing this up. Then Netflix before bed! Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight...

Short Sojourn: Solo Paris Day 0.5

While we were holidaying in Barcelona back at Easter time, I happened to look online at Eurostar train tickets to Paris, as we had mentioned that I might like to go to Paris over the summer. And lo and behold, on the Eurostar website I found those fabled £29 each way tickets to Paris while I was on summer break! So yesterday, after taking Katya to her first vet appointment (she did brilliantly!) and settling her in for her first afternoon solo, I headed out to St Pancras station with a very large backpack ready for the train. I got to St Pancras with plenty of time to spare so had time for a sandwich and drink before we had to board the train.

Security was super easy and very fast which was such a relief, and the train itself was uneventful. I had a window seat and basically knitted and watched Netflix the whole way (it is only just over 2 hours). I have to admit, I am a bit nervous about this trip, as I haven't travelled on my own basically since I was 18 (on my gap year - since then I travelled with family, friends, or Richard). I was nervous about a few things, including finding my way around and how I would look to others (young, vulnerable and alone). But I think this trip will be important for boosting my confidence.

I didn't get into Paris until 6:47pm because of the time difference, so I headed straight to my hotel on Rue de Cygne near Chatelet-Les Halles. It's very close actually to the AirBnB where Richard and I stayed last time we were in Paris so I do know the area a little. I have a single room, right off the staircase, with just a teeny bed and a sink. I share a bathroom which is directly above me with the room above that, but so far I haven't seen them at all. After I checked in and unpacked a bit, I decided it was time for a walk, so I walked down to the Seine to have a look at the river. It was all looking lovely as usual as I headed over the river to the only bakery I could find that was still open. Smith's Bakery sold delicious baguette, so I got a brie one and a palmier for dessert and decided that I was quite tired and wanted to head back to the room to eat dinner.

I ate dinner in the room, watched some bedtime Netflix and then tried to sleep. It was very hot though, and I found it difficult, plus the sore throat I had been nursing for a couple of days has migrated up into my head to become a full cold so safe to say it wasn't the best night.

Life Upgrade: New Kitty!

After Wimbledon on Saturday, we drove out to Egham to get the newest member of our family... A kitten!

She is just about the cutest thing, and settling in really well. After just one peeing-on-the-floor incident, she is using the kitty litter properly, she eats really well, and aside from being cold in the car home (I just wrapped her in a blanket) and a little crying at 4am, she's been really well behaved. Not to mention, super cute!!!

Amazing Experience: Wimbledon (again)

On Friday, I got a phone call. I had entered a competition a few weeks back by downloading an HSBC app to my phone. What had I won? Oh, only Centre Court seats at Wimbledon for the Women's Final!!!

So we got all dressed up (because it's guaranteed Centre Court seats on a final day, so who knows how many famous people you might see?), and headed to Wimbledon station all leisurely like around 10:30. There was a special HSBC shuttle (a Jaguar) to drive us over to Gate 9, which is where the entrance to the VIP Village is with all the hospitality chalets (their phrase, not mine) is. We were greeted with Pimms and champagne, which we drank on the deck as we chatted about the day and waited for lunchtime. There were cameras around filming people as they chatted, including us, which was a bit of a strange experience.

Lunch was served at 12pm, and it was amazing! We got to pick which and starter we wanted (Richard and I both had king prawns with mayonnaise and cucumber) which was totally delicious, and then luckily instead of having 7 mains and 4 salads to choose from, we had the main course buffet style! I had some poached salmon, pulled ham hock, kung pao duck and a few savoury tarts as well as bread. Everything was delicious. It was then almost 1pm, and with the men's semi final set to resume at 1, we got our goodie bags (with seat cushion, Wimbledon radio and pockets for snacks) as well as cold water, Pimms and Haagen Daaz and headed to the court.

Our seats were in section 317, which is actually quite close to the Royal Box. We could see Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton and even Emma Watson in the box! We did miss the first point though, so we had to wait until the end of the first three games before we could go to our seats. The tennis was amazing - they both clearly wanted it so much and there was some amazing rallying going on! As I'm sure you know, Djokovic won but it was a close thing and some amazing tennis got played. We were so pleased and feel so lucky to have been able to see that as well as what was to come.

The men finished playing at 3:35, so they announced a half hour delay before the start of the women's. So we returned to the hospitality area for some afternoon tea of little sandwiches, cakes and scones. Then, armed with fresh Pimms and cold water, was returned to our seats. Again we missed the first three games (although 3 games in the ladies is much faster than 3 games in the mens) but it was a very interesting match to watch after the men's. Serena didn't seem to move around very much and barely ran at all- but she didn't look injured, only tired. Kerber had some strange footwork which meant some of her shots she had to crouch to hit because her feet weren't in the right position, and she seemed to be the queen of getting back shots she shouldn't have been able to return! In the end, it was a straight sets win to Kerber for her first Wimbledon win. It was really cool to be able to watch that experience for her.

We stayed to watch the presentation of the awards, then headed back to the hospitality area to pick up our gifts - personalised Championship towels for each of us! A very cool memory and an amazing experience! Definitely once in a lifetime... Although I hope not.

Cultural Experience: V&A Fashioned by Nature

Today before running some errands in the city, I decided to take myself off to my favourite museum, the V&A, and see what was on. They currently have 2 fashion related exhibitions - however one, about Frida Pablo was fully booked for today (and I suspect quite a few days in advance - I shall book it when I get back from Paris for a later date in the summer), so I instead got a ticket for the one in the fashion exhibition space. It was called Fashioned by Nature, and had two interesting angles.

The first angle was about the history of natural textiles sources. That was interesting, with information on things as basic as cotton to pineapple fibres woven into silk. There was refereence to Australia when speaking about mother of pearl (I didn't realise that about 90% of all the mother of pearl was from the Torres Strait) and loads of samples demonstrating the uses of the different materials.

The upstairs area was devoted to modern day designers who use ethical and sustainable fabrics, including clothes made from glass fibres and a handbag made from mushroom fibres! I was less interested in these designs (too modern for me), but the ethical angle was very relevant and interesting.

The second angle of the exhibition was the use of natural motifs in clothing. This included things as simple as floral embroidery, to embellished dresses covered in jewel beetle shells. They also talked about designs inspired by birds and animals, and had samples of mink, beaver fur, and birds on accessories!

It may have only been a small exhibition, but it was very interesting and I think relevant to the increasingly sustainable focus on fashion over the last few years.

But just you wait... Tomorrow there is even more excitement!!!

Day Out: Wimbledon 2018

It's Wimbledon season! And this time around, we actually live much closer (like a 30 minute walk) to the grounds! So, after I finished work on Friday (I'm now on Summer Holidays, YEAH!!!) I headed home and tidied up the flat so that Jess could come over! She went to the Protocol boat party, then headed over but we didn't get to bed until midnight... So we got less than 4 hours of sleep before getting up at 3:45.

We left the house around 4:30 and walked to the Queue, which unfortunately means going the long way around the park but meant that we arrived around 5:15am. We got our queue cards and guides and joined the queue! We were numbers 03551, 03552, and 03553, which is better than Jess had last year on the Saturday (8th July), but worse than when I went on the 7th last year (which was a Friday). There wasn't much playing games in the queue, we were all so tired after the week (and in my case, going out on Friday to celebrate the summer holidays!), so we mostly just chatted and napped until te morning was up. We first moved about 7:30 to squish up the queue after all the tents had been packed away, then again at 9:00 when the queue started to move out of the field. By 9:30 we were moving properly and the queue moved faster than I remembered from last year. Queue highlights included free swag - strawberries from the Estee Lauder team and a free tennis ball jam doughnut from Doughnut Time and Amazon Prime (I'm sure they'd want me to tell you that the US Open is exclusively live on Prime in return for that delicious doughtnut!)

We were at the main gates and getting our tickets by 11 - we had hoped to maybe get a Centre Court seat between us, but there were only grounds tickets left by that point. That was fine, we'd sussed out the draw while in the queue and headed to Court 3 (after getting ourselves a program of course) to watch Ashleigh Barty (an Australian) play in the ladies singles. She was playing Daria Kasatkina, and was doing really well in the beginning of the first set - until towards the end of it she was broken against. Unfortunately, that was the beginning of the end for her, as she never really recovered from that break and lost 7-5 6-3.

Then we decided it was lunch time as it was almost 1pm. We picked up lunch from one of the food areas (burgers and chips for Richard and Jess, chicken teriyaki for me, with lots of cold drinks) and sat on the Murray Mound to watch Nadal playing on the big screen while we ate.

After that we decided it would be a good time to go for a wander, browse the shop and do a few other things. We started with the shop, and picked up a few souvenirs - a Gentlemen's Championship towel for Richard, a mini sports towel for us (now our hand towel in the bathroom), and the mini candle set (3 - fresh cut grass, strawberries and fizz, and english rose scented) for me. Richard also got a special plastic beer glass which he got with beer in it from the bar and brought home. Then it was just before 3pm, at which time 2 things happen - resale tickets for Centre Court and Courts 1 and 2 go on sale, and they have a sale of used championship balls (as in, the balls that go away when the call 'new balls' and make the ball changes!). So Richard stayed in the ball resale queue, and Jess and I went to the ticket resale queue. We had only just arrived though, when they said that there weren't any, and to come back at 6pm. Oh well. So we rejoined Richard and bought a can each (one for us, one for Jess) of used championship balls. They are labelled with 'Slazenger Wimbledon 2018' on them, and even had bits of authentic Wimbledon grass attached to some!!! They even come in a specially branded tin. We have decided to set aside 1 of the 3 balls to be a permanent souvenir, and the other 2 are going to be special cat toys!

Then we picked up some strawberries and cream (free to HSBC cardholders like myself and Jess), and headed to Court 6, but the queue was massive. So we went to Court 18 instead where there was another Australian lady playing. Daria Gavrilova (#26 seed) was playing against Aliaksandra Sasnovich from Belarus. It wasn't a close match (6-3, 6-1), but was still interesting to watch, especially to see someone get aggressive. Gavrilova threw her racquet, challenged a call, and even got an obscenity warning before the match was over!

That was the last match scheduled for that court, but there were extra matches on the schedule. These matches are apparently not given to any particular court, but filled in as courts are finished for the day. Richard was keen on seeing some Men's Singles, but we didn't want to move courts as we had good seats, so instead we stayed as Men's Doubles was on next! It was a fabulous match - Brits Liam Broady and Scott Clayton against Maximo Gonzalez and Nicholas Jarry (both from countries in South America). It was really good tennis - fast paced and exciting. There were a few body hits, challenged calls which were correct, and at one point the umpire overruled a linesperson. Unfortunately one of the body hits was on Liam Broady's wrist, and after taking a medical timeout and playing a few more games, they withdrew from the match, ending it early. Score was 7-6 (6-4) 6-3 1-2 when they retired, which was a shame.

By that point, it was after 6pm, and we were all shattered. None of the outside courts had any good matches left, and we didn't want to sit back on the Mound with everyone else, so we decided to head home. We were too hot to walk so we ended up catching an Uber home and getting straight into a cold shower! It was 31 and we spent most of the day sitting in the sun, so it was a very hot and sweaty day, but the strict application of sunscreen made sure that nobody got sunburnt and we all had a lovely day. You do sleep well after a day like that though! What a brilliant day - and next year, bring on Wimbledon 2019!!!

Theatre Trip: Strictly Ballroom

STRICTLY BALLROOM

Picadilly Theatre
Date: 3rd July (Tuesday), 7:30pm
Seats: Stalls Row Q 8-9

Understudies: Ivan de Freitas (Wally Strand), Christopher D Hunt (Merv)

(With Loren from work!)

So, it's taken me all year to make real hanging-outside-work-other-than-the-pub friends, but I managed it, and just in time too! When Loren, my friend from work, mentioned she wanted to see Strictly Ballroom before she heads back to Australia next week, she knew she was talking to the right person. And I could get £25 seats through the TodayTix rush app!

So after we finished work today, we headed into Piccadilly instead of heading home, and started with food. Five Guys is so delish, and it was empty enough that we could sit there and chat for ages until it was time to go to the theatre.

While our rush seats were not front row, they were pretty good. There were a few moment with restricted vision when people walked over the top of the set or were in the box, but nothing that leaning forwards couldn't fix.

The show itself was very different to what I remembered. I had seen it back in Sydney with Mum at the Lyric theatre. I do remember that it had the lead from Dance Academy and the dad was from the Essgee Pirates of Penzance (Drew Forsyth), but not much else. This version had really cool music arrangement, very Baz Luhrmann on its arrangement. Plus, they invented a new character, Wally Strand, whose role was basically to be the 'internal voices' of the characters. That meant he did a lot of the singing!

That role is usually played by Will Young, who is a big pop singer, but he was out last night and we had Ivan de Freitas step in as the understudy. He was great - it's a big sing, there's dancing and even roller skates involved. Although he did stack it on the skates - he skated to a set piece he then had to step up onto, and then he just fell! He said 'it's okay, I'm fine!', got up again, and they kept going. Nothing major!

Scott (Jonny Labey) was amazing - I have to admit to being a little bit worried when I saw he had been on EastEnders, but I needn't have worried. He clearly knew what he was doing and was a beautiful dancer. When he had to sing (2 lines) he was good too, but clearly his dancing is awesome. His accent was also one of the least bad (they all had Australian accents of varying bogan-ness, most being borderline ridiculous).

Fran (Zizi Strallen) was also great! She had really good awkwardness and comic timing, and really showed the progression of Fran, especially through the sequence where she learned the dances, as her hair and costume changed throughout the number to show the progression of her character. I've also now seen 3 of the 4 Strallen sisters (and all the main ones) - Scarlett was in the Oklahoma prom last summer, and Summer is currently in Young Frankenstein.

Tina Sparkles and Ken Railings (Charlotte Hooch and Gary Watson) were my favorites in terms of dancing. Charlotte was just all legs, so flexible and such a brilliant dancer. Gary totally had down the mad grinning and super enthusiastic dancing of Ken and he was so over the top! Even drunk he played so well. The dancing generally was excellent, it really makes me want to learn to dance and everyone was on their feet during the curtain call to dance along!

Of course, being based on a classic Australian film, there were rather a lot of Australian touches. Firstly, their accents were hilarious and bogan. So bogan, I worry that British people think we actually sound like that! I also appreciated the swearing, in a way that made it more Aussie. Mostly it was the little touches that got me, like the street lights. Just like home!

All in all, a highly enjoyable evening that will make you want to dance all the way home!!! I certainly did, if only subtly. Don't want too many strange looks on the Tube...

Day Out: Brighton and St Albans

On a sunny Saturday, for no reason other than it was going to be a lovely day, I decided to go with some friends to Brighton! Bri and Patrick live in St Albans, so the plan was to catch a train to East Croydon, where I would get on the same train as them to Brighton for the day. It went really smoothly, I made it on the correct train, even in the same carriage, and then only one stop away, the train stopped. The train in front of us had a signal failure, got stuck, and we had to stop. Luckily we were at a station, so they made us disembark, change platforms and change to the next Gatwick Airport train so that we could get to Brighton. It seemed like it was going to be a really big disruption, but in the end it was only about 15 minutes. We were lucky enough to get off the train quickly, make it to a good spot on the platform, and onto the very next train! It was even a fast train to Brighton in the end.

When we arrived, we decided the first thing we wanted to do was get lunch, so we walked to the pier. When we got there, however, we had done a quick google and realised that one of the apparent best fish and chip shops in the city was only 10 minutes walk away! So we strolled up and down the pier, as you do, then returned back the way we had come to the Regency restaurant.

The fish and chips was pretty great! I'm not sure that it was the best fish and chips I've ever had, but it was definitely very good and I haven't had excellent fish and chips in ages. Well worth it. Then we went for a stroll towards and around the Laines. We stopped off at my favourites, Choccywoccydoodah and the antique sword shop. They were super interesting as usual!

Then we wandered over to the Pavilion, which of course I had seen from the outside often, but we went inside, which I'd never done. It was really interesting, with lots of beautiful period furniture, and I learnt a lot about George (the 3rd?), including how ridiculed he was... He loved food, and parties, and apparently once had a meal with 100 courses at the Pavilion, so no wonder he ended up obese! Apparently he was one of the first people to use what was effectively a wheelchair because he was so big. Wow.

After that we had some tasty icecream (but not banoffee pie, which we pointed out to the shop was growing mould!), and then headed back to the train. It was a lovely sunny hot day, with weather which is frankly quite Australian.

Then we caught the train back to St Albans, which was much smoother than the other journey, made delicious pasta and drank cocktails while we watched Bake Off. A lovely way to end an evening.

On Sunday morning, we went to Gail's for breakfast. Their brioche French toast was just as good as their cinnamon buns! Then I headed home - and what a delightful weekend.