London I

2nd December


Last eclair in Paris
The Eurostar ride from Paris was very very boring and kind of painful. I can't read, watch movies or do pretty much anything on transport due to motion sickness and resorted to being bored for the entire ride. It was painful because of the change in air pressure in the tunnel. Ah well. I have to say that the UK customs/ immigration is one of the most difficult that I have experienced. Last time, the woman grilled me with all these weird quetions, "why are you travelling by yourself?" "Why are you coming to the UK if you don't know anyone", which at the time I thought was a little weird. This time round, the man was really cold. Well colder than the average immigration officer. The weird thing wa that he asked how many days we were also going to be in the Republic of Ireland (as we didn't include it in our total duration question on the form). In hindsight, the Republic of Ireland isn't even in the UK so I have no idea why it was any of his concern.

We stayed at the same place that I stayed at last time, near the Swiss Cottage tube station which is just outside Zone 1.


Regent Park



First stop was an early dinner/ super super late lunch at Bone Daddies, allegedly the best ramen in London.




Tantanmen 2

T22

They both tasted really weird. They weren't meant to taste traditional but the flavours were really really weird. The Tantanmen 2 that I ordered felt as though someone had poured an obscene amount of peanut butter with the broth. Not a very pleasant experience, especially with the compulsory service charge added (not happy Jan).

Regent Street and Oxford Street were insanely packed but also very very pretty with all the Christmas lights. I'm not the biggest fan of shopping and when I do shop, I shop with a plan. However we did pop into Hamleys on Regent Street which was opened in 1881. It is the oldest toy shop in the world and it has 7 floors of toys! The best part was definitely the employees who were trialing the toys around the store and also performing magic tricks.












Disney store!!

Paris IV

2nd December
It was another super gloomy day in Paris and it was also my last day. First stop was the Louvre and there were quite a few people at the museum compared to my previous visit.






Museums make me really tired for some reason. I also brought my film SLR and my BW film with me. Kind of worried about all the x-ray scanners that I have gone through/ still need to go through. Hoping for the best. The back of the camera seems to pop out randomly and I forgot to bring tape and ended up using bandaids to secure the backing. Awkward.

A. wanted to eat at Ladurée so we visited for dessert. I don't have much of a sweet tooth and had also never tried anything from them before. I settled on hot chocolate (what is a visit to Paris without hot chocolate) and a lemon tart to counter the chocolate sweetness.




Not the best to be honest.













Bridge from Inception. Aka Pont de Bir Hakeim



Overall Thoughts
I walked away from Paris with a more positive view than after my previous visit. I walked a lot around Paris, in the touristry areas and also the less touristy areas inadvertently since I got a little lost (nothing like Rome. I don't think anything will beat my experience in Rome).

Would I re-visit?
Not anytime soon. Unlike a lot of people it seem, I don't love the city (though I did enjoy it) and have had my fill for the time being.

Paris III

When researching for things to see and do in Paris, I stumbled upon information about La Petite Ceinture. This refers to the old railway line that runs around Paris. I thought it would have been as interesting as the Belt Line in Atlanta. I was initially on a mission to find a way onto the railway track however I later realised that it would be a time consuming process since I couldn't find any information about entry points on the internet/Google. In the end, I decided that it would be for another day (hopefully before they turn it into something else!) and settled on walking the Plantee Promenade. Plantee Promenade is a 4.7km walk that follows the old Vincennes railway line which starts near Bastille and ends at the Charles-Péguy Square. It is very similar to the High Line in NYC however the Plantee Promenade was inaugurated in 1993, which was 16 years before the one in NYC.


Visiting Bastille Markets first.


Freshly made churros for 2 euros!
It was a very cold day (4 degrees) and there were a lot of people running on the path.












The coolest thing ever at Jardin de Reuilly. A free sparkling water fountain!

Paris II

I never thought that I suffered from jet lag before, however I think I am still in the process of sorting it out now, three days into my trip. Unbeknownst to me, the two weeks of only getting 6hrs a sleep a night has altered my body clock so that I currently wake up naturally after around 7hrs. For the first night, I became dead tired at 5pm meaning that I then woke up at 12am. Second night, I slept at 7pm and woke at 2am and last night (at the time of writing this post) I went to bed at 10pm and woke up at 4am. When I wake up, I feel completely refreshed albeit a little sore from the walking done on the previous day.

29th November
It was stated to be a relatively clear day so we decided to head up over to the Sacré Cœur. Last time I went, Sunbear and I parted with 5 Euros due to the African men and their string bracelets. This time I was a little more vigilant and walked super fast past them, although to be fair they were also occupied with their tourists already. This one guy was surrounded by 4 men, the poor guy. The view from the top was amazing although visibility was a little affected by the fog.










It was a Saturday so the area in Printemps and Galeries Lafayette was jam packed with people. A crazily amount of people. I hate crowds and I don't understand how anyone can shop in such conditions.


The upside down Christmas tree.






The day ended at Jardin des Luxembourg. French children are dressed so nicely and are so so adorable.






I ordered soup of the day, although I had no idea what it was (and no one actually told me). Nonetheless, it was delicious.

Paris I

This was my second time in Paris and to be quite frank, I didn't remember a whole lot from my first time. In some respects, it was similar to my first impressions of NYC; everything was so cool since I had always wanted to see those places and do those things. But I didn't really walk away with either a positive or particularly negative experience. It may well have also been due to the fact that, at the time, I was completely laissez faire about everything. This time, I came armed with more research, more knowledge and more awareness about the things that I wanted to see in the city.

28th November 2014


Last time, I stayed near Nation metro in the 19th arr. This time, I am staying outside the ring circle in Pantin.
It only cost 4 Euros to climb the stairs to the second level of the Eiffel Tower (as opposed to 7,50 for the elevator) and it was a nice walk up, nothing too scary or difficult. Luckily, the skies cleared up a little and the view from the second floor was amazing. I already knew that Paris was a very big city, but to see it from that vantage point just reaffirmed what I already knew.














I stumbled upon the Christmas market on Avenue des Champs-Elysees. It was a bit random to be honest especially with the English Christmas songs playing alongside with the noises from the busy street too. Ate some pretty awful chips (frites) and had some mulled wine (vin chaud). There was this amazing ham and melted raclette cheese baguette at this stall, but it was just a little pricy for my liking. But now in hindsight, maybe it was worth trying. (I love cheese).


The chairs at Jardin des Tuileries were so relaxing especially after a very long day of walking.

Around the World Blog Hop

I've seen this tag floating around the blogsphere for a while and I was recently tagged by the lovely Rosa Dyn from Avec Rosa. Check out her blog if you haven't: she's quirky, she's crazily creative and also incredibly bold with not only her lip colour choices, but also her hair colour!

1. What am I working on?
I am currently working on setting up my travel journal for my Grad Trip. Last time I went on my major trip, I had originally intended on keeping a diary however it soon turned into an electronic diary and slowly but surely, I completely forgot about it. This time around, I definitely want to keep track of what happens everyday, to document my experiences and my feelings, the good and the bad. Well, I'll try.

2. How does your work differ from others of its genre?
Not entirely sure what my 'work' is; actually not entirely sure what this question is asking. I guess the 'work' that I've been keeping up with for the longest has been this blog. It's not in a genre in my honest opinion. Actually, it's more a mismatch of everything. I write about my travels, my personal thoughts, places where I've eaten. Just a bit of everything.

3. Why do you write/create what you do?
I write for myself and that is why my blog is kind of all over the place with no niche or theme. I write about my life because I like to document things (I've had a private diary since I was 14). I also enjoy taking photos and blogging allows me to use those photos in a meaningful way, otherwise they would just sit in my folders on my harddrive "collecting dust". I think that is the downside of the digital photography era.

4. How does your writing/creating process work?
When I used to make graphics, I always kept an eye out for interesting angles during tv shows that I could screencap to subsequently make icons. These days, I am aware of things that are happening around me that may inspire a post on my blog. I don't mean to say that I write for the sake of having something on my blog, but it forces me to look at life with a different angle, usually a more positive angle since I don't want to be Debbie Downer on here. I edit my photos first (usually when I am watching a tv show) and then write afterwards. It's usually a pretty quick process.

Keeping with the title, "Around the World", I have tried to select a few blogs that are from different locations. People I am tagging:
Eena - California | Eva - Sydney, Australia | Laila - Munich, Germany (although currently on a gap year in South East Asia)