4 days in Paris (2014) | PART II | November

part deux

As first timers in Paris, this place offers such beauty, culture and inviting Parisian delights. Much of our time was seeing the beautiful sights and enjoying good food. A lot of people who we know who has been to Paris warns us that Parisians are unfriendly.  We found it the complete opposite. I know we all experience differences when in any country we're in, but we did have the most enjoyable time we could have possibly had and we are so grateful to have been treated so nicely by everyone that we met along the way.  

We had locals protecting us from the pick pockets that were trying to prowl on Kev and I and then an argument between the locals and the thieves broke out on the train that we were on!  It re-assuring to know that there are people who’ll cover each other’s backs, and in an incident like this, it was very touching.  

Our trip ended with lunch at L'Avant Comptoir, a small but fun stand-up wine bar where you order food from the menu that dangles from the ceiling. They have many small plates that for you to try and the atmosphere is very easy going.  This stand up wine bar was made popular among food enthusiasts by the famous American Chef Anthony Bourdain. We can see many locals and people from all over the world here, enjoying good conversations.  

We stood next to a Parisian lady, in her 70s, rather quirky, wearing googled glasses and a hat, offered her food & wine with us, and we offered ours, and we chatted like old friends as her presence made us so comfortable.   To the other side of us, an Australian man, who is a chef, told us he had traveled all the way to this place just to try the food based on a recommendation made by his friend, also a chef, shares his foie gras with us because we told him we never eaten it before. He was shocked and really wanted us to try it, so we did. It wasn't to our taste but we appreciated his kindness to us. We had to leave to catch our flight,  and we gave him our plate of meat which we couldn't finish. We will never forget how friendly and generous the people are and meeting them was one of our last highlights of our trip.  This place really is a gem.  It was by far the best couple hours of our time spent in here. 

Paris, you have been so good to us.  Au revoir. 

Four days in Paris (2014) | Marking our 13th Year Anniversary | PART I

Kev and I have been together for over a decade. Having said that, we only married for 3.5 years ago. For every year that we have been together, we always mark the occasion.

Last year, for our thirteenth anniversary, a trip to Paris seemed romantically appropriate. As loved up as we possibly can be, we poured even more cheese over us by visiting a gorgeous city where kissing selfies are completely and utterly allowed. To be honest, we did not expect to fall in love with Paris, but we did,  head over heels, twice over.

It was so nice waking up in Paris with you, Kev….

Happy Anniversary x

 part un

NYC Final days 8 and 9 (2014) | Times Square | F L A T I R O N B U I L D I N G | Cha An Tea House | American Museum of Natural History | Central Park

Our last couple days in New York had come round far too quickly. We pretty much seen and done what we initially had planned for this trip and so I was happy to leave knowing that we experienced what we wanted to in the past nine days.   Briefly, the last few days included:

ô A last visit to Times Square. We shopped in American Eagle and was able to get our faces plastered on the large TV outside!  Yay!  We also spotted a Sponge bob post box! Cute!

ô We fancied something Asian-inspired so we headed to a cute Japanese ‘Tea House’ for lunch.  They had an extensive tea list, sweets and snacks and we ordered a bento style lunch set and a Chef’s Selection Dessert Sampler for dessert.

ô A visit to an iconic landmark. The Flat Iron Building was another must see when in NYC.  Viewing pictures from other bloggers and Instagram prior to our trip amazed me and I knew that we had to view this building for ourselves.  It is a triangular 22-storey steel framework building. At a certain angle the building appears completely one dimensional and as you see it from another angle, it becomes 3-dimensional again. Such a clever architectural structure.

ô A visit to NYC wouldn't be complete without a Broadway show. Although we initially wanted to see ‘Aladdin’, we opted for Chicago because we booked tickets last minute and Chicago was the only show available for our preferred date.  Nonetheless, it was a great performance.

ô The following day, we visit the American Museum of Natural History. This was the only museum we could squeeze into our trip as time was of the essence, however,  we were nicely occupied with the variety of exhibitions that were in place. 

ô Magnolia Bakery – we had to sample a few of their delicious baked goodies!

ô A final stop to Central Park to visit new areas of the park as our visit on day 5 was not long enough to cover the whole park! 

ô We needed a bite to eat before heading to the airport. Bubba Gump did the job nicely.

If you have been to NYC, what were your favourite moments?