Paris!! Again!!

Yes, yes I'm in Paris again! Having the Eurostar now at King's Cross certainly makes it convenient to travel after work on a Friday. Mooey already left for Paris and it's kinda boring sitting in terminals alone, so I treated myself to some Peyton and Byrne cupcakes. No photos , I couldn't be bothered taking out my camera. But I do like the cupcakes here. Mmmmmmm cupcakes!

Paris part deux - here I come!

Hampton Court Palace

Ever since I did a bit of research for the Tower of London, I put Hampton Court Palace on my list as one of those places I needed to visit before leaving this place. Why? It's a fairly unknown tourist attraction when compared to Big Ben, The Eye and all the other London-y stuff. However, this palace is the former residence of Henry VIII and having been brought up in one of the youngest countries, it still bewilders me that "Wow! I'm in a really old palace! Wow! I'm where that big, fat, orange-bearded English King with the 6 wives once lived!" Relatively speaking, 500 years is not all that long ago but yeah, I'm fascinated by old stuff in general. Geek.

We managed to suck Kt into coming with us. Well I guess it was more like she didn't have anything else to do today and decided to give 'culture' a go. Lunch was planned for Borough, which may have swayed her too.

Moo being a cannibal.

The best summery conditions were turned on for us and after a short-ish train ride to the outskirts of London we reached our destination. We were all a bit surprised at how quaint and picturesque the whole Hampton Court area was. Where was the smog? Where were the crowds? Where were the knife stabbing gangs? A walk over a stone bridge brought us to the path of the palace. It's not terribly statuesque or pretty but it has the red-brick charm.

Must...do.... audio tour.... touristy stuff......

The fake pies in the kitchen. The fake pot full of fake pie filling.

The palace gardens are free to public entry and were so well manicured, just the perfect place for a picnic or a book reading session. If they had wifi, I could sit here and blog too.

The gardens are meant to have some similarity to those in Versailles. We'll see when I go next week! Look! Triangle trees!

My tulip patch.

Oh that's right. One of the drawing cards to Hampton Court Palace was the garden maze. Don't go out of your way for it. I wanted to go cos it was a childhood fantasy.

Moo and Kt making their way through. Moo attempting to get to the centre more quickly.

We're at the centre! Moo and I doing impersonations of each other.

An ice cream cart was conveniently located outside the palace grounds on the way to the station. You betcha we stopped for ice cream treats.

Frozen Ribena. Really, I could just make that at home. But if it's in a tube, alright, I'll give you some cash.

Kt couldn't even stop for one last pose with the Thames without Frozen Ribena.

It's definitely not an essential on the London To-Do list but if you don't mind the travel, want to see a different side of London or just feel like being 'English', pop down to Hampton Court Palace. I wish I had a dog; I would walk it here!

Mooey's Here! (again!)

Following her travels to the big ol' U.S of A, Moo is visiting me again in London. I mean if you're gonna fly all the way to Florida and NYC, you might as well skip over the Atlantic to the British Isles. Especially if you can freeload accommodation.

I'm gonna force her to do a few things with like visit Hampton Court Palace and we'll also have another hang in Paris. Instant travel buddy!

Barcelona: Day 3

To go to Barcelona and to not visit La Sagrada Familia is unspeakable. It's kinda the symbol of city peeps! It's in view from all angles of the city; you can't escape it like how you can't escape the Eiffel Tower of Paris, the Harbour Bridge of Sydney and the trannies of Bangkok.

Church after church in Europe - they all start to look the same. But not Gaudi's church; he's a Gothic architect extraordinaire! The 'bony' appearance of the building is his signature but you know, this isn't an essay and I'm not going to bore my myself nor anyone else about style, structure, symbology blah blah blah blah - I gave you a link above! Though, I do have to say the mathematical precision achieved by simple methods was pretty impressive. The inner nerd strikes again!

Who's a happy tourist with the audio tour? The exterior of the front entrance.


Yeah, it's the interior.


Back of the church. Fruits topping the side naves.

I could post more photos up but this would just get boring and anyway, photos don't really capture the atmosphere of the place. Well, at least not my photos. There's a bit of tragic story about Gaudi. He got a bit down and died before the church's completion.... which is planned for the year 2026. Yep, that's right, they're still trying to finish it.

Being in a Gaudi mood, we made our way to Park Güell, the site of many Gaudi works and his own house.

Someone not looking very happy about the imminent steep trek. My view of fellow trekkers.

Having escalators up that hill certainly helps.


The view from the top of the hill with Barcelona's own Gherkin.

Time was not our friend today and by the time we completed the ascent (it didn't that long, really) it was evident that planes would be missed and friendships destroyed if the descent to the park was made.

Here is my 'so close yet so far' photo of the park. One day, I shall return!

Tummies needed a final feed before boarding our respective flights and the La Boqueria market was the choice venue. Even though it was the Spanish lunch time, for some reason a lot of the market stalls were shutting up shop :( We ended up at a tapas restaurant that was probably more tourist trap than genuine fare.

Market entrance

Snacks galore


I nearly dropped a croquette, hence Kt's face - really!


Freshly squeezed juices. Hard to come by in London. For dessert, I opted for fruit rather than add to the ice cream tally.

My souvenir. White chocolate with dried strawberry pieces. Yum!

Well, my backpack and I were left to our own devices as everyone deserted me for their earlier flights. Damn Ryanair and their one-flight-out-of-Girona schedule. In that time, I wandered the streets and bought a few tacky magnets.

One more rumble on La Rambla.

In my solidarity I also stumbled into Barcelona's Chinatown. Us chinks always manage to find each other somehow. What I was actually looking for was the Arc de Triomf; the Spanish, Moorish lesser known version of the Parisian Neoclassical counterpart. Maybe not worth a special trip to visit, but it is located at the end of a long pedestrianised boulevard where one can enjoy a good ol' book on a park bench.

Yeah, there are a few things Barcelona does in the way of Paris but with Spanish flair. Maybe that's why I like it so much. If Paris and Barcelona were sisters, I'd wanna hang out with them! Paris would be the pretty, refined, elegant, older sister while Barcelona, though not much younger would be the sexy (but not slutty sexy), relaxed, funky younger sibling. I will return one day!

The flight back to London was as painful as the arrival except I ran into some people I knew and at least had some company on the Stansted Express..... which got cancelled and we had to board a replacement bus service instead..... ugh!

Barcelona: Day 2

Day two in Barcelona started off with a quick jaunt to Parc de Montjuic to view the Palau Nacional, the nearby museum which I mistook for former palace grounds. Nope, nothing to do with a palace here.

This is where the Asian Camera Gang executed their attack.

How embarrassing. Dammit, I got caught in a Chinese Camera Stance!

The Palau Nacional, before and after Asian Gang attack.

The view of grounds from the building.

We didn't bother to go in; no-one was particularly interested in being indoors while the Spanish sun bathed us. Barcelona was fast becoming one of my top cities. The relaxed vibe, the sun, the shopping strip, the sun, jamon... the sun!

Barcelona from the viewing area. You can just make out the Sagrada Familia.

We decided to next take the teleferic (cable car) up the Montjuic which is I dunno, the main mountain in Barcelona. You realise I did little research for this trip.

You kinda forget that maps have their limitations and can't represent the gradient of a mountain properly. So with varying levels of fitness, we made our way through Parc Montjuic to the cable car.

I saw a lovely aged, curly tree on the way. Kt showed us how fit she was.

Yah, that's the cable car and the view from inside.

At the peak of Montjuic was a fortress, the not so imaginatively titled Castell de Montjuic.

Outside the castle. Inside the castle. I could put a whole heap more photos but it just gets boring seeing snapshots.

The funicular was the choice mode of transportation to bring us down from the summit, after which we invaded a local bicycle hire. Me being the shittiest bike rider on the planet wasn't too keen on the whole idea but you know, you gotta take one for the team. I'm glad to say I survived the whole ordeal without killing myself or anyone else. Only barely so... But I am rather upset that my favourite flats I bought from Paris last year got caught on the pedal and now have an unsightly hole. :(

Barcelona is a bike city but it seems they do not supply enough bike stands. We made the best of a bad situation and piled all our 8 bikes onto one pole and 4 bike chains. Hmmm... ingenious!

We had ridden through the bustling La Rambla and found ourselves at Barceloneta beach.... the beach!! I don't have the affinity for beaches that is expected of Aussies but after being in the UK and seeing the unsightly pebble beaches on offer, you learn to appreciate sand in all forms.

Oh hey that's a cool structure. L’Estel Ferit - The Wounded Star. Me being well, me the tourist. The others enjoying the view in a less conspicuous fashion.

Yes, now J and I must dip our feet in the water.


After returning our bikes in exchange for the Metro, we met the largest vending machine ever.

Post resting and dipping in the hotel pool, we revisited the base of Montjuic for the nightly musical fountain show before the late din dins. My faithful little camera demonstrated it's age and limited capability of capturing any worthwhile images but here goes...

The fountains of Plaça d'Espanya with the Palau Nacional in the background. Quite purdy.

Sunday night seemed to be the exception for late meals, either that or something was terribly wrong with our chosen restaurant, El Nou Ramonet which was almost empty upon our arrival. Needless to say we were fawned over by the courteous staff.

Fish samples on display.
Heeeeeeeerrrrrreee fishy fishy fisheeeee!!! Only a select few people would get that, so for those who don't check out this youtube clip...

I guess I can't call myself a Spanish/Catalan food critic - wtf would I know really? But the food here was delish! Our meal was accompanied by red and white Sangria and you know, me luvs the Sangria. Tonight was also the night where RN the Viet showed us what a real Chinese Burn was. There's another version? I'm quite resistant to the twisting arm kind, it's quite alleviating when you have itchy eczema. RN's pinching and rubbing version actually hurt!

Paella to share for starters. My monkfish with garlic sauce... mmmmmmmm so yummy... I definitely would return for this dish!

*sigh* Content stomachs and slightly tipsy, off we returned to the hotel, but not before taking this shot.

Barcelona: Day 1

Yippee! May is the best month because there are TWO public holidays which means we get TWO long weekends! Yaaaaaay! This time around, I joined an asian tour group (aka my friends) and made my way to Barcelona.

Advice for future travelers to Barcelona. Unless you like spending 90mins on a bus from Girona or Reuss airport to Barcelona city, avoid Ryanair at all costs. Yeah the flight was cheap, but I will never be able to buy back my time on the bus. Nothing eventful happened on the bus and that was why people shouldn't take it! Oh, and also the coach bus tickets need to be bought inside the terminal with cash only. Take my tip, it will save you much pain. But for all you unfortunate souls who end up at Girona, check out Barcelona Bus for timetable info.

J and I took earlier flights than the others and arrived at different airports, but made our own way to the hotel with no problems. I hadn't managed to navigate Barcelona yet, opting for a taxi to transport me from the bus terminal to the hotel. Jade had managed to traverse the metro system and knew the location of the nearest train station to the hotel. Unfortunately, as the equation goes, J + Me = Dumbass.

The others jetted in about 2 hours after us. I followed J to explore our surroundings (without a useful version of a map) and find a restaurant to park ourselves while waiting for the others to arrive. Confusion and much walking around in circles resulted as neither of us were able to provide suitable directions and a map location to the other party. A cloud of anger confronted me once our paths finally met and lunch was eaten in an air of restrained fury.

Quite funny now, but not funny then. Hahahahaha....

Minature blunt axes to cut our pizzas. Mmmmmm.... croquettes.

Aftewards we took in a few sights, going to check out Catalunya Square (Placa de Catalunya). Ice cream stop mandatory!

We had a wander down La Rambla, which I was advised was a bit seedy but I must be somewhat seedy because I thought it was fine. Girls being girls, we decided that we wanted to shop. We minced our way around Avinguda Diagonal and Passeig de Gràcia - Barcelona's version of the Champs Elysees. Quite a lovely Catalonian take on the tree-lined avenue but with waaay more shops!

This one's for you, Moo. Don't it look like the Champs?

Admist the retail therapy-break, we managed to fit in a peek at some Gaudi architecture.
Outside the La Casa Batlló. We didn't go in, too much shopping to be done. Kt deciding that walking down the street was not her game.

La Pedrera. By now it was getting too dark and we were getting a bit grumpy. Uber-cool Gaudi stuff though.

The problem with the Spanish is their eating regime. Dinner is late and many restaurants don't open for business until 8pm. We were all starving by the time we got El Cangrejo Loco to Port Olympic. It was getting a bit chilly too.

My entree - The Crazy Mussels as per the menu listing. They don't look that crazy to me.

Mmmmm ... paella.

Dessert.... how can I go past a Rasperry Creme Brulee. I can't remember the actual Spanish name.

The waiter was lovely and rather amused to be serving our Hong Kong Triad, so to appease us, gave us complimentary shots of some sort of alcohol. It didn't taste that great.

The view of Port Olympic.

We taxied it back to our hotel and collapsed into bed. Early morning flights suck!