Christmas 2018

It’s January and I haven’t even written about our Christmas! Ugh It’s been busy! We cheated this year and bought our Christmas tree pre-cut.

We went to bright nights in Massachusetts to get in the Christmas spirit.

We found out there’s a cat shelter just down the road from us in Coventry so in December we started volunteering which I just love, kitties galore.

We finally tried out this place called Little Marks BBQ that we drive past a lot. It reminds me of a band my friends and I used to watch play when I was a teenager and the food was really good.

We went to whole foods to stock up on good munchies.

On Christmas Day we went to Kim’s parents house in the morning and had Christmas cocktails Kim’s sister made

And eggs benedict for breakfast.

And both Kim and I were thoroughly spoilt, I got some awesome gifts.

And that was our December round up, albeit a late one!

London Town

It was finally the end of our adventures in Paris and Kimberly and I headed towards the Eurostar… just look at this queue.

Kim packed a her suitcase so large that on the way there she could not physically lift it so I had to cart the damn thing about for her. On the way back she could just about manage it but ended up with a lovely bruised knee (don’t feel sorry for her, that’s how she learns her lesson to pack lightly).

As she was flying out the next day we stayed the night in London in a hotel called Malmaison which I thought was just awesome, massive shower and all the free toiletries and stuff were really nice and the brands matched.

The room had beautiful interesting furniture, free magazines like Marie Claire left out for you to flick through.

I even wanted to eat the stuff out of the mini bar, I took great delight in playing with the espresso machine and selecting a good apple to eat the next day. Kim was more interested in doing her hair and sorting out her luggage but I know where my priorities lie.

Then once we’d dumped our bags we set off out to meet my dear friend Nadine at a restaurant she chose in Covent Garden called Maxwells.

We got tasty food and shared this ginormous cocktail, so yeah that was fun.

And then Nadine led us to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, I’d never been before so it was nice to have a look round at all the stuff there.

It was pretty cold there, just to make it feel extra wintery but it was really busy (although maybe not as busy as it is during the day?).

We found one stall that had a blacksmith who engraved horse shoes with letters and numbers of your choice and so Nadine, who recently got engaged, got one for her fiance.

We got Crepes too, yum. The next morning at the hotel we didn’t have to check out until 12 so we had a lazy morning and monster breakfast.

Such a big breakfast.

Really big…

So that was delicious. Then we had to wait an hour or two so we went and got coffee and played cards (we’re so cool). They have a pigeon scaring falcon man that wonders round, see in the hi-vis jacket?

And then it was the train home… wah

Wine & Dine

So as part of my Christmas gift from Kimberly she had organised a wine tasting (thoughtful!), we had wanted to try somewhere like this in London but hadn’t gotten round to it time wise. So we popped into Wine by One.

It was so nice there, the staff especially were lovely – that was the big contrast in France. The customer service there in general is pretty poor but every now and then it was even better than the kind we’re used to. People would go out of their way to help us or speak to us in English once they noticed how crappy our French was. At Wine by One they really went the extra mile to be helpful and explain how everything worked. When you first go in you put a small deposit down for a card and put money onto it, we each put 10 euros on our cards and this was enough for us. You then put your card into the machine and choose a wine and whether you want a sample, half a glass or a full glass. The prices for each are shown.

There were also iPads that told you a bit about each wine which was interesting to look at, they were in French but you could pretty much figure out what they were getting at and pick out names of fruit and things.

You could also purchase a full bottle of any of the wines to take home with you. We started on the whites, moved to the Rose and then went to the dessert wines. Neither of us enjoy red wine so we skipped that out but they had a large selection, over 100 wines every day that change all the time.

Some of the wines were really cheap but some where crazy expensive and the staff there were telling us how it was a nice way for people to get to try expensive wines without committing to a bottle which is true. I also thought it was a good place to figure out what you do and don’t like wine wise if, like me, you know bugger all about wines. Earlier that day we’d browsed around Paris which was lovely, we’d done Versailles in the morning so we had nothing else on the agenda. We found ourselves walking down a bit of a designer street with shops I didn’t dare go in in case we broke something hideously expensive.

But we soon made it back into the normal shops, I particularly enjoyed this sweet/biscuit shop we found. Mainly because they gave out samples…

And then we decided to go into a diner type restaurant (because we’d been talking about diners that day for some reason).

It was surprisingly nice there, I got some old fashioned cloudy lemonade.

And a tasty burger, I thought it was sweet how in France they couldn’t resist making fries a little nicer with some herbs. Bless them, they just want their food to be nice, and it really was.

Versailles

The day we went to Versailles was pretty wet and windy, we got the train there from Paris and got in using our metro tickets and then… well no one checked them so we got there for free – bonus!

We had to wait in a really long queue to get in, luckily we were in between two couples with umbrellas so we were shielded from the freezing cold wind. And then in we got… it was very gold.

It was also very Marie Antoinette, it was restored to her era and it was pretty obvious that people were more interested in her than all the kings who didn’t get much of a look in in the souvenirs department.

The tour led you through a pretty large amount of the palace I thought, and all the well known rooms. It was pretty busy as you can see but no where near as rammed as the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre or Disney.

The ceilings and chandeliers were lovely.

This is Marie Antoinette’s bedroom, outside the gold railing is where she’d go when she was ready for all the ladies to attend her.

There were a few bedrooms they let you see but without anything in them like hair brushes or clothes or any personal items it was hard to imagine them being used. There were a few portraits of Napoleon thrown in for good measure about the walls.

I always think Napoleon looks a bit like my dad. Anyways, we stopped by half way for a quick lunch which was nice and then by that time the weather had improved.

Unfortunately the gardens and the Petit Trianon were closed for the weather. We’d prepaid to see them so we went for a refund and chaos ensued… Perhaps you’d better ask Kim what happened on that matter.

Disneyland & Fondue

On Boxing Day we got up suuuuper early and joined a tour operator’s coach because we went to…

Disneyland! Aaaahhhh

I had been to Disneyworld before but my parents took me when I was 3 so I can hardly remember anything, but Kim’s been before and has also been on a Disney Cruise randomly enough… I didn’t know those existed but there we are.

It looked lovely, everywhere was really decorated so it felt all Christmassy.

But other than that it was a lot like any other theme park.

The queues were just like any other theme park too sadly, even on Boxing Day it was rammed. We did the Buzz Lightyear ride with no line.

But then it was queue time… next to French people… smoking… in front of the no smoking sign. Ugh.

After this we could not go anywhere without queueing, rides, food, toilets… everything.

And as nice as everything looked and all the staff were…

And the tasty food was… (how many hot dogs did I eat this trip?? Millions)

And the rides were… there is a limit to how much queueing with French people trying to push past you and smoke in your face that I can take.

Don’t get me wrong, we had fun.

Small World is still my favourite ever.

But there were definite improvements to be made. And yes yes we could have bought fast passes to every ride, but why should we pay extra to go on a ride we already paid to go on? Ugh!

There was a Walt Disney Studios Park too that we had a look round.

And that wasn’t as busy so we thought, until we spotted the 170 minute queue for this… err no?

We did go on a lot of smaller rides though.

We had booked transport to and from Disney with a tour operator and we got back really late. Luckily a restaurant I found on Tripadvisor let us in without a reservation, Pan Vin Fromage. And we had fondue… oh my god. Literally this was the best meal I’ve ever had in my life. So so good.

If I’m ever so ill I need my food fed to me or liquefied or I’m on death row and need a last meal – give me this please.

The Eiffel Tower & Seine River Boat Tour

I know it’s New Years today (4th year of my blog!) but I’m being slow and this is what Kimberly and I did on Christmas Day, it was kind of odd to decide what to do with no family or BBC as is tradition. So we decided to take a trip out after opening our gifts (woo – stockings forever!).

So we took this double decker train to the Eiffel Tower which I rather liked (novelty!).

It was so packed, I pre-booked tickets but I could see a lot of Asian tourists that hadn’t and they must have waited hours and hours. We overheard other English speaking tourists wondering why everyone else was out on Christmas Day, so many shops were open and christmas market stalls. All of the bakeries we went past were open – madness!

But we piled in the lift and up to the top we went.

Why can’t French people queue? This is a main fault of theirs, I’m sorry France but your poor ability to queue and rudeness will not do… French people looked genuinely surprised when I told them not to push in front of me, quite literally everywhere we went. Rant over, apologies to the French people who were very nice. We got some snacks on the first level of the Eiffel Tower, Kimberly got cream and waffles everywhere.

And then we got up to the next level and had pink champagne, wasn’t that nice. And only ten euros which I thinks not that bad really.

Then we had a little shufty around.

And back down we went – it was cold up there! I’d also booked a little river trip on a boat on the Seine.

And that was nice and warm and pretty, even if the audio tour bit was bizarre.

It was given by a recording of a male tour guide and the Seine river personified as this lady and they spoke to each other calling one another “my dear”… really odd. But you know… different cultures or whatever.

That’s one of the love padlock bridges and you can see where they’ve started removing some of the panels because they’re worried about the weight of all the locks on the bridge.

So then we parked up and went back to our apartment where we each had a decorative Christmas cake from the local boulangerie and some baked Camembert with baguette which I expertly prepared in the mad microwave/grill/oven thing I couldn’t figure out. Come to think of it I don’t know if I baked the cheese or microwaved it or grilled it… I definitely did something though and it worked.

Arc De Triomphe, Christmas Market & Nutcracker

This is a long post because we packed in loads this day. Kim and I started off at the Arc De Triomphe but we decided not to go up because… you know… stairs.

I had read that every year from the Arc De Triomphe down the Champs Elysees they ran a Christmas Market so we headed off past all the shops towards it which was such a nice walk.

And then we got to the market itself, there were all sorts of hand crafted things there and different gifts and souvenirs to buy.

It was cold and busy but nice to browse.

My favourite part was all the different food stalls though, they sold all sorts.

I bought this delicious hot dog that had cheese already inside it – best ever!

And we got some mulled wine (vin chaud).

And then we continued onwards! It was a long old walk, and it was cold and a little bit rainy.

At the end of the market was this big ferris wheel, which we would have gone on except a certain friend of mine (who shall remain nameless – you know who you are!) told me that in a romantic trip to Paris she had… uhh… “pleasured” her beloved on said ferris wheel. So thanks for that nameless friend, ruined that one didn’t you? I can’t look at that wheel without envisioning it… oh yuck.

Anyways, then we turned around and started to walk up the other side of the market, we stopped on the way to get hot spiced apple juice.

Then we took a short ride on the metro to see the Moulin Rouge, but only from the outside. The tickets were like £100 each and I don’t care that much about seeing naked ladies dancing (also I thought the film was just dreadful).

After that we took another short Metro ride to the Bastille where the fortress used to be (the Metro really is very good in Paris).

And we had some pizza at a restaurant with the slowest service ever.

And then we went to the L’Opera Bastille.

And settled down to watch the nutcracker ballet for Christmas Eve, and it was very good. When we finally got home I looked on my iPhone and it said we had walked 12 miles that day… no wonder my feet were sore!

Catacombes De Paris

By the time we finally got to our apartment in Paris and unpacked it was getting a bit late but we thought we’d try and fit in the Catacombs. The queue was massive because you couldn’t buy tickets in advance, you just had to try your luck.

The queue was about an hour and a half so we split up and I left Kim to go and get rations. Embarrassingly our first meal in Paris was at McDonalds but we needed something to eat on the go!

Did you know the McDonalds in Paris have a separate bakery counter where they sell macaroons and stuff?

We got in just before the last admission and paid our 10 euros, which I didn’t think was that expensive.

The catacombs are basically old abandoned mine shafts that run for miles underneath the city, one day the graveyards got too full and Paris had no where to put their dead. Look how many bloody steps I had to climb up and down.

So we trekked down some carved out tunnels and decorative bits and bobs.

And then to the bodies… artfully arranged.

They went on forever, the sheer volume of femurs and skulls.

Oddly enough I didn’t spot a rib cage or pelvis the entire stretch though, no hands, feet… what did they do with them all?

Off To Paris

So Kim and I left Wiltshire, and set off to Paris, we got the tube to St Pancras.

And finding the Eurostar and getting through security etc was relatively painless.

Before we knew it we were there. I do wish they’d make the channel tunnel a bit more scenic though, they should make its replacement out of glass so everyone can see under the sea. In fact I’d even be happy if they just recreated this with tv screens. They need to look into that.

We got the Paris Metro to our apartment – the Metro is so good here, very fast and easy to navigate. This is our apartment –

The showers kind of hard to use without splashing the floor but never mind, it’s not my floor.

This is our courtyard, the apartment is one building back from the main street on the 3rd floor, and is typical of all the flats in this area. Heaving our cases up 3 flights of beautifully polished wooden stairs was not fun.

Our bedroom’s a pretty good size and also over looks the courtyard.

And the lounge is very comfy.

Although there’s a mystery switch on the wall and we can’t figure out what it does…

More later!

Do You Stocking?

Now that Christmas has passed for another year, I can pose a question – do you do stockings? My family have always done stockings and now the boyfriend and I do stockings for each other too. We have developed rules over the years, the stockings must contain: an orange (may be chocolate), nuts, chocolate coins, and each item cannot cost more than £10.

This is the stocking I did for the boyfriend, I find men hard to buy for, I just don’t think there is as much for them in the shops as there are for women. The big win here was the yo-yo which he messed around with for ages.

And I did my Mum a stocking this year too, I found her really easy to buy for, I kept seeing things and thinking oh yes she’d like that and having to stop myself from buying too much! Got lots of her favourite make up brand samples (more were added too after this photo) from eBay and a make up counter.

But always the same feeling after doing a stocking, what on earth do I put in next year? I used to have a lovely stocking for myself with a skiing Santa but unfortunately I forgot it and left it at my Dad’s house when I moved, it’s probably been chucked away by now 😦 ho hum!