Paris

Emma and I started our day very early catching the bus in London from outside a McDonald's near Baker St station. The trip down was fairly uneventful - I saw the famous cliffs of Dover and ferried across the English Channel for the first time. We were later arriving at our hotel than expected but it didn't really matter.

We stayed at the Ibis Hotel in La Defense, which is about 30 minutes walk from the Arc de Triomphe and the beginning of the Champs Elysees, less than 10 minutes on the metro, and on one of the newer and more frequent metro lines. It was really good and probably cheaper than staying more centrally. Still not far away at all though! It was all organised as part of the tour anyway so we didn't have a choice.

The first night we wandered towards the central city and found a nice wee (ha ha, that's the Scots in me coming out) place to eat that didn't seem very touristy and was on kindof a back street. One of the first things I noticed was that the staff were smoking! I've obviously become accustomed to not having to deal with this any more! Anyway, the meal was great, and pretty cheap.

Next was meeting up with others from our tour for a Cabaret show in town. Unfortunately, we were late for meeting the tour leader at the metro station but a kind man near the metro station asked us if we were lost, and although we probably could have figured out where the theatre was he was able to point us in the right direction straight away. So nice! And the tour leader was on his way back for us anyway.

The show we went to see was Paradis Latin, and you will be able to see from the link what it was like. All that you would expect of a cabaret show!! Lots of sparkles, skin, singing, and an amazing trapeze artist too! He was especially impressive. There was, as you would expect (and can see in the pictures on the website!!), lots of topless dancing from both the men and women - all part of the show!

As part of the entry fee you got a free drink - Emma got a glass of champagne and I asked for a half bottle of white wine. I got a full bottle of wine all to myself because they said they had no half bottles left, and the waiter kept coming to top up Emma's glass. And they didn't ask for any more money!! I didn't manage to finish my wine. It was quite funny too because the waiter kept flirting with Emma every time he went past. I think it is sort of expected of them but it was still funny.

The next day started with a bus tour around the city. We saw the Eiffel Tower, the Hôtel des Invalides, the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay and lots of other sights. The next organised thing for the tour was a boat trip but we decided to flag that and headed on the metro up to Montmartre and the Sacré-Cœur.

When I go back to Paris I would definitely like to spend more time in Montmartre. The streets are smaller and it seems as though there would be a lot of interesting bits to explore.

We leisurely made our way up the stairs to the Sacré-Cœur, stopping to look at the view and at the street performers on the steps half way up. The view over Paris from outside the basilica is fantastic. It was a bit hazy when we were up there but the best thing about it is that it's free! Inside was very impressive. Don't know how else to describe it. Definitely worth a visit.

We headed back to the bottom of the hill and got some crepes (mmmmm), then decided to walk back to town so we could exlore a bit and see what we found. It was really cool. We got some fresh lychees from a greengrocer and saw an amazing sweet shop, a pâtisserie, and a fishmonger's with all the goods laid out beautifully. We also came across some old churches, a huge shopping centre with Christmas lights all around it, the Opera House, and the Place Vendôme, the home of the Ritz hotel which Mohamed Al-Fayed owns, with a few onlookers trying to catch a glimpse of someone famous.

New Year's Eve Day was the day for our exploration of the Louvre, or at least part of it. It took us from about 9am until 1pm to see The Winged Victory of Samothrace, Greek sculptures, the Venus de Milo, the Italian paintings, including the Mona Lisa and other famous da Vinci paintings (this was one of my favourites), German, Flemish and Dutch paintings (including The Lacemaker by Jan Vermeer), and French sculptures. And then we were exhausted so went to get crepes for lunch. I had my own personal tour guide for the Italian paintings in Emma, whose art history lessons from school came flooding back to her. It definitely gave me more of an appreciation for why these paintings are considered to be master works of art and also an understanding of the progression of techniques and the like. I still don't really understand why the Mona Lisa is so amazing. I liked other paintings much more.

Em and I both found it a bit annoying that so many people were taking photos and none of the staff were stopping them. This was even though it said in the guide that photography was forbidden in the Italian wing. Some people were taking photos of EVERYTHING! Grrrrr.

To be continued...

Paris photos - New Year's Eve

I went on a coach tour to Paris with Emma for New Year's Eve (and two nights before). It was really good!

I'm guessing most of these won't really need captions... I'll write about the trip sometime soon.






















The dome of the Hotel des Invalides reflected in a bus window

















Emma and the Sacré-Cœur

















Contemplating a sculpture in the Tuilleries Gardens near the Louvre

















The main entrance to the Louvre


















New Year's Eve!

Christmas photos

Trafalgar Square, December 23rd



















London icons :-)

Frost in East Kilbride (where I work)

My trip home

I went home to New Zealand for three weeks in November and December. The reason for travelling at this time was for Nick and Tash's wedding on November 24th. It was a good coincidence that it was also about 18 months since I'd left New Zealand and I had always thought I would go home for a visit after about 18 months.

I'm not really sure how to comment on a wedding - words don't seem enough. The ceremony was lovely and very moving, and the rest of the afternoon/evening was heaps of fun - good food, dancing, chatting, excellent company... :-) It was nice to hang out with some of my Kiwi London friends in New Zealand, and also good to catch up with some of the crowd from Invercargill, and to have all these people meet each other! The brunch at Tash's mum's house the next day was great too - very relaxed, and hot! I thought I wasn't sitting in the sun but got sunburnt all the same!

Beck and Steve



















Sarah and I














Mr and Mrs Nick and Tash receiving their marriage certificate from the celebrant

















Nick and Tash and the amazing Bay of Plenty sunset

















The day before the wedding was my birthday so I wasn't expecting much because a wedding is much more exciting than a birthday! But I was very pleasantly surprised by some fantastic presents and wishes from lots of people. Thank you all! The first minutes of my birthday (using the NZ time zone) were spent in the rooftop pool at Singapore Airport. Very nice :-)

A bit of an aside - before our swim Beck and I did a free 2 hour tour of Singapore that is offered to anyone who is there in transit for five hours or more. I would definitely recommend! And if you have more time after the tour, you're allowed to go back into town and have a look around before coming back for your flight.

Back to NZ...

The next step of my trip was a night Ohope with my sister Kim, then she drove me to Rotorua to stay with my sister, brother-in-law, and niece for a few days. Last time I saw my niece Phaedra she was only a few months old and now she is two! She is talking more every day and managed to turn my name into "Lilise" or something like that. Although apparently now she can actually say Lisa!


Phaedra and I on the swing at play-group


















After an all-too-short few days in Rotorua I bussed to Wellington and spent two nights there with my friend Charlotte and then flew down to Invercargill, where I was just in time for the Envronment Southland Christmas party. The theme was Bad Taste and I managed to come up with something by layering a lot of my clothes and over-doing the make-up. See for yourself...




















It was a really good night and a great way to catch up with all my ex-workmates. It took some of them a while to realise that I have actually been away since last April!

Needless to say, the next few days were spent catching up with lots of people, including a walk on the beach with wigs on :-) (as you do!)















From Invercargill I made my way back up the South Island, with stops in Lauder (Central Otago) and Christchurch to see more friends. By the time I got back to Blenheim I was quite tired. Bus travel and catch-up drinks every night really takes it's toll! ;-)

So, one night in Blenheim and then off to Punga Cove with the family for the weekend. The weather wasn't fantastic but that didn't stop us from going water-skiing and swimming. Especially when there is a spa pool to warm up in afterwards!

We visited Ship Cove, which we hadn't been to for ages. There has been some work there recently and there were really interesting information boards about Captain Cook and his interactions with the Maori and all the history about the area. It was probably also the calmest water and the warmest weather we saw all weekend and we didn't have our togs!

Mum, Dad, Briar and Kim













We got back on Monday and the rest of the week until I left on Friday was good and relaxing, with a walk, a bike ride, yummy dinners, and a winery lunch. Excellent.

On the way back I had a really long stopover in Singapore which wasn't actually too bad. I got a room for 6 hours (you can't beat horizontal sleep), had a massage and a swim in the pool, and wandered around the shops quite a lot.

Then back to London for a night before coming home to Glasgow on the train.