Adver-city

Day 2 in Paris and the city was really trying to defeat me. I had a great day the day before wandering around aimlessly, but after 21hrs in a plane seat and a couple of long walks carrying the 20kg of luggage I have with me, it seems I had been a bit over ambitious in the 4hr walk I took that morning I got in.

After a night of blister-popping (sorry, but hearing about it can't be anywhere near as painful as experiencing it) I woke up with really sore calves and aching feet. deterred Pushing past the pain, I set out for breakfast. I had read about a supposedly fantastic market close to where I am staying, and I was hoping to find there some fruit and possibly cheese that I could supplement with a boulangerie item or two for breakfast. The market was not great. It might be better on the weekends, and granted the strawberries I had were so sweet I could eat them with their leaves still on, but that was my first let down of the morning. The boulangerie I had in mind (another recommendation from a blog) was closed and there was a big sign on the door with only two words I understood: "closed" and "police"- not a great combo.
Yesterday, I found a lovely spot to eat my mandatory macaron looking out at people basking on the sun-drenched banks of a small canal close to Bastille. Having failed in the bread and cheese department and quickly approaching my chosen picnic spot, I decided that my punnet of strawberries would have to do.
The beautiful grassy areas I had seen people sunbaking on yesterday had the sprinklers going so I had to sit on the stone edging of the grass, which was pleasant until some crazy gardener came over talking to me in French about my strawberries. I explained that I didn't speak french and couldn't understand him but he continued to babble wildly in French, then proceeded to try and grab the strawberries out of my hand, and kept saying the word "allergic". I had to rescue my bag from being drenched by the hose he was watering the flowers with, and as I stood up to get away from him my camera fell from my lap into a puddle.

/petit dejeuner of strawberries /picnicking around BastilleSo with my breakfast plan failing in every possible way, I wondered what to do next. My plan had been to walk around the Marais but with my feet aching I decided I just needed to find a place where I could sit and read my book and not be harassed by crazy people.

So I faced my metro aversion head on and made my way to Jardin du Luxembourg where I planned to read my book in peace until it was time to head to the Tim Burton Exhibition at the Musee du Cinémathèque that I had pre-booked tickets for. In the spirit of wanting to see as much of Paris as I could I got off the metro at the Hôtel de Ville so I could walk through Île de la Cité. This was a bad idea. I was hounded by vendors, beggars, and people wanting donations for charities, all of them making the mistake of thinking I had any money to give them. Also I grossly misjudged how far the gardens were from here. 28 degrees, bad mood, screaming feet. I was desperate for some aircon, a seat and a drink so I popped into the McDonalds right next to the gardens. I sat with my drink lamenting the events of the morning. I considered finding the nearest metro and just going back to my hotel, I was just in no mood to enjoy myself. But, since I had made such an effort to get there, I decided I should at least look at the gardens.

/ Hôtel de Ville

/ across the Seine

This was where the day lifted. These gardens are my new favorite spot in Paris. There were kids playing, toy boats on a pond, a beautiful palace and best of all grass you were ALLOWED to sit on. I truly lost track of time lying there in the sun, reading my favorite book, laughing quietly at this guy who was doing a mixture of breakdancing and karate.

Luckily I set the alarm in my phone to give me enough time to get to the Tim burton exhibition, otherwise i would have been there til sundown. The travel gods did their best to ruin my trip to Tim Burton, with a sign pointing me the wrong way and my taking the wrong 5 flights of stairs in the museum to end up at the end instead of beginning of the exhibit. But a nice security man lead me through some secret doors to the front and despite him explaining with a little too much enjoyment to the girls taking tickets that I had climbed the wrong stairs and looked so exhausted that he felt sorry for me, my feet were glad he didn't send me down again.

The exhibit had me literally ooh-ing and ah-ing and even laughing out loud. I am a huge TB fan and it was the sole reason I stopped in Paris before I met my friend Rachel in Barcelona. The Nightmare Before Christmas and Sleepy Hollow are among my favourite movies with Edward Scissorhands coming in as my all time favourite. I stood for a good 5 minutes examining every inch of that costume, not to mention repeating over and over in my head "Johnny Depp wore this, Johhny Depp wore this".
I took 2 photos before being told off but it was the same security guy as before so he accepted my excuse that I hadn't seen the signs at the entrance. So a great end to a kind of crappy day. Nothing improves my mood like Depp/Burton magic.

Get Lost

So after months of planning, plans flying out the window, stressing, replanning, and more stressing, I finally made it to Paris this morning- the first stop on my 6 month trip across Europe and North America. After a tearful goodbye to my parents in Perth, followed by an explosives residue AND body pat down test from people I sincerely hope worked for the airport security, I boarded my first flight to Singapore.

A hop, skip and a jump later, I was in Paris. Well actually it was more like 2 planes, a bus, another plane, 2 trains and a walk. But I really can't complain seeing as I lucked out to get a whole 3 seat row to myself from Singapore to London. The sleep that resulted from this piece of fortune is one of two reasons I am in such a good mood while I write this. Because I arrived in Paris at 11am I could only drop my bags at my hotel and freshen up with a spare top I had in my carry-on, then I had to go find something to do before I could get into my room at 2pm. I left the hotel and started walking- half thinking about how gross I felt, half wondering if I should get some lunch. I decided not to take a map with me, and by "decided" I mean I got two blocks from my hotel and realized I forgot to ask for one and was too embarrassed/ lazy to go back. But, as luck would have it, another 2 blocks down the street I had taken I spied the gold statue on the top of the giant column in Place de la Bastille. This was the area I stayed with my sister Gemma 3 years ago so I knew which direction would take me where. I decided heading down to the Seine was as good an idea as any and formed a plan to get some lunch on the Left Bank. Of course I only made it past 2 patisseries before I caved and bought a 90c macaron. But seriously I would like to see you walk past this window and not buy anything. As a side note, I completed the whole transaction in French and didn't embarrass myself... That I know of...

Without a map it was a case of "know the general direction, make it up as you go along". So my route was not what you would call direct. I wandered into some gardens and followed about 20 signs to a menagerie which I thought would be fun. But it turned out you had to pay. So, after paying my respects to some kangaroos that I could spy through the fence, I had to walk all the way back through the gardens to the place I came in as I couldn't find another way out (even after cutting through a bush and stumbling across a girl lying on the ground, tanning in a bikini).

I soon made it to Notre Dame which was ever so slightly more crowded than when I was here in the middle of winter. But I found a quiet street with a little sushi place that had tables small enough that I didn't feel weird sitting by myself.

Finally, I made it to my hotel and had that long awaited shower. My room is so nice it actually made me want to cry when I stepped inside. I am now freshly showered lying in bed writing this-which is the second reason I'm in such a good mood.

Bisous xx

Taster

It's officially less than 2 weeks until I leave my home town of Perth to embark on a 6 month trip across Europe and North America. Over the weekend I snuck in a whirlwind visit to Hobart and Sydney, which served as a little taster of the months of travel ahead.

The last and only time I have been to Hobart was when I was 2 years old, so I wanted to pack as much as I possibly could into the 24hrs available.
Because we were going to watch the West Coast Eagles take on (and beat) North Melbourne in the afternoon, we woke up bright and early (before the sun in fact) to make our way over to the Salamanca markets. They were stocked with the usual adorable local products, but while homemade whiskey tasting at 8am was tempting, the only purchases I made were a $1 Oliebollen- a nice, warm, traditional Dutch doughnut-esque dumpling with apple and sultanas, coated in cinnamon sugar- and a pair of thick gloves. Both were necessary purchases needed to warm me up, as I drastically underestimated how cold it would be.

/ sunrise from my window / Oliebollen / eskimo shoppers

Next up was breakfast at a cute little cafe called Tricycle, which was endearingly and not so subtly decorated with its namesake mode of transportation. The breakfast was ok but this place got extra points for having little blankets draped over the chairs for customers to snuggle up in.

/ cycles and cute spoons @ Tricycle

We then jumped in the car to get out to the MONA, located further up the bank of the Derwent River. I have to say the "Museum of Old and New Art" has got to be the most unoriginal name for a gallery ever. So unoriginal in fact that it HAS to be intentional, because this is not your average gallery. The building is stunning. You start with panoramic river views as you enter the building, then descend in a glass elevator through 15m of sandstone, reminiscent of traveling down a mine shaft. The first thing you come across is the bar, which now tops the list of my dream party venues (see photo below that doesn't come close to doing it justice), then you're left without a clear direction as you start to get lost in secret rooms, passageways and behind the odd curtain. I could gush about this place for a while but instead I will just provide a taste for you all and tell you to go as soon as possible.

x

/ coolest water feature ever

/ my favourite piece- this was viewed by looking through a window into a giant bronze head

/ yes the books are blank inside... don't tell them that I checked...