"Crepe au bananes et Nutella, je t'aime"

I lied!!! Twice! Firstly, I'm not in England, yet I'm posting again. Secondly, we didn't have perfect weather again because the rain came tonight. BUT I did go out and have crepes just before it poured. That's not to say we escaped the rain because we then went on to walk to the Eiffel Tower in it. The intention was not in order to get soaked feet (because wet feet is one of the worst feelings), it was to see the tower lit up at night. Unfortunately, we arrived an hour and a half early for the lighting of the tower and decided it wouldn't be an enjoyable wait in the cold. One upside of rain: lines are drastically shorter than in nice weather. Shame we'd already been up...but not really because the view was probably nicer in the clear. We elected to take the metro back.
For the record, I do like walking in the rain so long as I don't have to go to work or school. I have also been known to drag people out into it with me (sometimes against their will but I can usually get them to forgive me and have fun by the end of the walk).

Our creperie of choice:


My crepe in the park. (and nutella on my tooth. oops)
The clear-up on our way back to the hotel.
And with that, I'm off.
xoxo,
Freyja

Nympheas

Today was another nice day in Paris, albeit a little cooler. We had some clouds and perhaps a bit of rain this morning but it brightened up well in the afternoon .
It went from this:
To this: All within half an hour.
This is our current view from the hotel room (current meaning 10 minutes ago when I took the picture):

After our petit dejeuner and promenade in the morning we waited in line (who knew?!) to get into Le Musee de L'Orangerie which has Monet's waterlily paintings.
Here we are in line....we're happy because the line was only about 50 people deep which was a first. Monet's canvases were really impressive both artistically and in size; they spanned entire walls and were about four feet tall. We also saw paintings by Renoir, Picasso, Cezanne, Rousseau, and Derain. There may have been a couple other artists in there as well that I'm forgetting. Having hoped to go to Giverny (it's closed on Mondays), the museum was a close second.



After L'Orangerie we made our way back to the cafes to have lunch. This reminds me, we encountered something a bit funny last night (Sunday night) when going out for dinner. The area that our hotel is in has a lot of bakeries, restaurants, and even a grocery store, all of which were closed. We walked a fair ways through the side streets, seeing only one or two people. Having realized it was Sunday, we did expect a lot of things to close down but perhaps not quite to the extreme that they were. Eventually, we got to Les Champs Elysee and found that the entire tourist population of Paris was there (alright, more or less). All the stores, cafes, and restaurants were not only open but very busy, and it was a little weird given that a short walk away it was quiet and deserted.

Presently we're going out for crepes so I will stop here. I couldn't forgive myself if I didn't have just one crepe the entire time I was in Paris...all four days.
Next time I write will be in England!
xoxo,
F

Paris

Well I'm not entirely sure where to start so I'll go with what we've been up to. Our hotel is near L'Arc De Triomphe so we walked there on our first day and continued down the Champs Elysee towards Place de la Concorde, Jardin des Tuilleries, and Le Louvre. We continued from there to Notre Dame de Paris and then made our way back. Yesterday we spent most of our day going to the Tour Eiffel, a bit of shopping, and then out for dinner. Today we went to Versailles which took most of the day but we're also giving ourselves time to be lazy before dinner. The French relax (read: most things are closed) on Sundays so why can't we?

Now that the listing off where we've been is out of the way...here are some stories/observations.
Last time I was in Paris was 9 years ago and I don't really remember quite so many tourists. We've been met with a lot of lines reminiscent of those at Canada's Wonderland but in this case there isn't a stomach-churning roller-coaster ride at the end. We didn't make it into Notre Dame the other day for precisely that reason (not the lack of roller-coaster, just the length of line)....we were also a little put-out by someone who was wearing a scary mask and sneaking up to people, including us. I'm not a fan of mascots, clowns, or people wearing full rubber face masks. In short, they give me the creeps. Perhaps that's why I don't fancy going to Hollywood Blvd again! This guy, perhaps trying to be Quasimodo, got a lot of good screams out of people. Not us though; we just jumped about a foot then went to find a spot to enjoy our pain au chocolat.

We have had beautiful weather the entire time we've been here- much to Lizz's dismay, as she burns easily. I especially love it because they were calling for rain this weekend and we haven't seen a drop. Knock on wood. The only time the heat becomes a little hard to handle is when you're standing for an hour and a half in full sun waiting to get into Versailles and then finding that you'll have to stand in another two hour line to get in after buying your tickets. Unfortunately that wasn't hypothetical so we elected to go stand in the shorter 20 minute line to get into the gardens instead. It worked out well in my opinion!

Todays slower pace was welcome after the last couple days of walking round for hours on end. I walked 1338 steps yesterday at the Eiffel tower! Half up, half down that is. We started off counting then stopped because every increment of ten was painted on the steps which made things a little easier. The general opinion is that their counting was off by one. I'm not too fussed either way, it's just a lot of steps.

That's about it for now. We're leaving Paris on Tuesday to Cambridge, England and I can safely say I will miss the croissants but hope not to miss the weather here too much.
xoxo,
F

P.S Have any of you had Orangina? It's quite good. However, these ads have put me off really wanting to drink it. The word that comes to my mind is bizarre.

Where in the world am I now?

I'm still smelling the flowers. (Though now Lizz has joined me in this)
A fountain at Place de la Concorde
L'Arc De Triomphe is a close walk from our hotel.
Our petit dejeuner in the hotel. No one makes croissants like the French (in my opinion).
Myself, Jessica, Lizz on our first day in Paris.
Sally! She enjoyed walking through the muddiest of pools and at this point she's quite clean by comparison.
Strichen, Scotland
"Fire Door, Keep shut; Way Out and Cafe; Fire Exit Keep Clear"....What would you do? Go through to the Cafe or keep the door shut?
A lighthouse lens
The new lighthouse viewed from the old one that was retired in 1991.
Hallo,

This will be short as we're heading out soon but I just wanted to update everyone that I'm fine. I was in Scotland from the 20th-24th and am currently in Paris. It's been a really busy few days and I feel like I'm all too familiar with airports now having spent too much time in them- particularly Luton.
Scotland was great, the weather was perfect and I was sorry I was only there for a few days to see everyone. I was also glad to only see the weather in London from the dryness of the airports because it was typically English.
We're off to see the Tour Eiffel now so I will update things more later!
Hope everyone is doing well
xoxo,
F

And now, for something completely different.

War Memorial in Seoul. I will post more pictures of this later.




Pretty wise dixie cups if you ask me.
Look for the blue skies and you'll know it's a happy day...
Sweat anyone?

North Seoul tower in the upper left cornerDowntown Seoul

Safety First: If you look closely you can see that the workers don't have harnesses on. They're essentially balanced on scafolding about 20 or so floors up.

The last day in Korea has come and gone and I'm off to England tomorrow. I wish I could say I had a really exciting and busy last day, but I would be lying. I've come down with a fairly unpleasant cold- as colds tend to be- and spent the day trying to get over it and stay inside where the air is fresh. That said, I did venture out to get some night shots of Seoul.

After 17 days in Korea I've only got one criticism to make (amongst all the good things about Korea)....the driving is scary. I've seen some of the most jaw-dropping traffic moves and even though they don't seem to phase any of the other drivers, they've made me resolve to never drive in Korea should the opportunity arise. What I would like to see change though, more than the tricky moves, is the way parents carry their infants on their laps while driving. I consider myself fairly open minded but not so open that my brain falls out. Perhaps they have their reasons....who knows. To all of those who come to Toronto and say the drivers are nuts, you've not seen anything :)
Safe driving!
xoxo,
F

So long and thanks for all the fish

We've all seen sites like engrish.com with the funny t-shirts, food products, etc that abound in Asia. I've definitely seen a fair share of them in person so here are some of my pictures.

Note: they are saving the earth.

The whole subway station had signs for Ontario tourism. (I know it's not an engrish or konglish sign but I had to put it up here anyway)
I didn't realize that running a corner store was so dangerous...
The shirt didn't come with a prize as advertised. Spot the spelling mistake because spotting the randomness isn't hard.
You can get a degree in PMS!!! Pre Medical School that is.
I know what they're getting at, it's just not the most eloquent way of putting it so I found it amusing.
This just about sums up Soju. It is a high % alcoholic drink that is sold in ~500ml bottles for under a dollar: Finding someone passed out on the street from drinking too much Soju is not difficult. I can't speak for anyone else, but my instinct would be to not go to this restaurant based on it's advert...the dog peeing is a nice touch.
It's my last day in Korea tomorrow and I'm kind of excited to be moving on even though I've enjoyed it here!

Seoul

Size and elevation of mounds are directly related to the level of importance of the person. 63 building from one of the many bridges.


The lit-up hall

63 Building with metal trees
Hallo,

Yesterday was spent walking around the city. We went to see some Royal Tombs (which I affectionately refer to as fancy mounds of dirt), 63 building, one of the many electronics markets, and all the street markets in between. 63 Building is the 3rd tallest building in Seoul and you can go up to the Skydeck to get a 360 degree view of the city. The view was not remarkable because of the yellow dust but the building itself was neat: the most fun was had taking pictures in a hall with a doorway that changed colours.
By the end of the day my legs and back felt like they were going to fall off, which might have been interesting, but I'm thankful they didn't because it means I can go out and do it all over again today!
xoxo,
F