Weekend in Paris...


Just back from a quick trip to Paris over the weekend.. our first trip there and a shame to have to say that it wasn't the best trip we've had.. probably the worst out of the 3 trips away we've done so far.. not to say Paris wasn't a nice city.. just not sure we were awed by it.. maybe it was our high expectations?.. had we been spoilt from our previous trips? Was it the tacky hotel room wallpaper ( i thought it was cute n kitchy in a French kinda way.. not for Des)? Perhaps we needed a better guide book? Yes to all of the above factors. Definitely have to rectify that and give Paris another chance..

Our first day didn't start out the best..actually it was pretty underwhelming and couldn't wait till it was over!(No i shouldn't say that.. we did have a nice night time view of the city and the Tour Eiffel from the top of the Arc de Triomphe and some nice nutella crepes.)
After dropping our luggage off at our decidedly NOT actually 3 stars worth hotel.. we headed to the Champs Elysee to search out some food.. after strolling up and down the avenue.. we couldn't find a decent priced place to have some lunch... since Des was trembling and nearly fainting by then.. we just walked into some fast food joint selling baguettes and quiches.. Des was pretty disappointed as he was definitely looking for something more substantial but isn't eating baguettes the French thing to do?

While we were looking for lunch we did get stopped outside the LV shop by a Chinese couple.. they were wanting us to help them buy some extra LV bags as they'd supposedly reached their buying quota and not allowed in the shop anymore!!! Well we weren't so sure about their story and Des was way too hungry to feel like stopping into LV to help ppl buy some bags so we politely declined and kept walking! I wouldn't have minded going in though!! Haha.. (I actually think that the Chinese couple were targeting good Chinese citizens into some scam. We weren't getting fooled. Not as dumb as I look ;o) - D.)

To help find our bearings in Paris we decided to take a Bateaux Mouches (boat tour) along the Seine after lunch... BIG mistake... definitely not a good idea anyone! Don't do it.. or if you do make sure you go on a differently operated one.. the boat trip was an hour but they just rushed through everything.. i was feeling stressed out just trying to keep up with the different places the recorded voice was pointing out, in 5 different languages mind you.. so by the time the voice had got to your language you wouldn't have been at the place they were going on about! (And who the hell knows which direction is port or starboard?!! - D.) Not the nice and relaxing experience I was expecting... anyway i realize it's all about raking in the money from the tourists at that kind of price. Still 7 euros...

By late arvo it was time for a snack and we found ourselves in Montparnasse. a nice area with lotsa creperies. Yum.. so we had nutella crepes and coffee there. (This is the place that we're try to find a hotel in next time we go - D.)

Headed back to Arc de Triomphe so that we could make our way to the top and see the city night lights... now that was pretty and we got to see the Eiffel Tower light show that happens on the hour. It just goes crazy with sparkly lights and made it really hard for me to take a decent photo of.. also was cool to watch the traffic go round the Arc de Triomphe since it's a 12 way roundabout (with no lane markings) and them French ppl are crazy drivers..

By the time we were done at Arc de Triomphe it was 9pm and time to get some dinner so we headed to Montmartre. Home of the Moulin Rouge and red light district.. Had more troubles finding a place to eat and quite frustrated when we went into a restaurant and waited to be seated but no one acknowledges you.. the same waitress must have walked past us 5 times. Gave up and left.. we ended up having dinner at a Chez Leon de Brussels (of mussels and frites fame, which we ate at in Brussels) chain restaurant..not our idea of French dining..and we didn't do the mussels.. oh well by the end of the night we were buggered after such a long and mostly disappointing day. Time to cut our losses and sleep that day away.


We decided Sunday was gonna be our day and it was much better. We headed to the Musee d'Orsay first which is home to many paintings by Monet, Van Gogh and Renoir.. the museum was not too big which made it easy to go through the collections without getting too bored. This was followed by lunch back at a different creperie in Montparnasse..we knew we were onto a good thing there! (Not Montmarte... that's the red light district. I got them confused all the time - D.)



After lunch it was time to do what we had to do.. Des especially... go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower.. even though the lines were long and we had to wait, it was definitely worth going up and it's just something you have to do when in Paris i guess! Des got clammy hands and butterflies when we reached the 2nd tier (cos I'm a major acrophobic - D.) .. and that's like only a 3rd the way to the top.. so i reminded him there was still the next lift ride to get to the top!! But when we reached the top he was good as gold and pretty chuffed!

Dinner was more to our liking that evening and i got to have Boeuf Bourgignon.. while Des had Duck with some rich sauce.. very French and just the way we wanted! Too full but we made room for ice cream..

For our last day we really only had half a day to do stuff so we saved it for the Louvre museum.. very big and hard to do it all with full concentration.. lucky we went to see Mona Lisa first thing before all the crowds and tour groups..shame no photos can be taken inside of that gallery. You do see the odd tourist take a photo (with flash mind you) and then pretend, oh no, it wasn't me. i didn't do anything.. Funny how an entire wall is dedicated to that painting (which isn't big) and people come from round the world just to see it even though it's behind a glass wall and you can't get very close to it at all and there are so many prints and replicas out there.. hmm who knows if that's even the real one that's on display!!! I definitely was more excited about the Impressionist paintings in D'Orsay myself. Well, we came, we saw!

So that was Paris.. and boy was Des happy to be going back to London!! He was even asking if we could catch the earlier train back!! hehe.. Poor thing..i really think we need to give it another chance..and with a better guide book so we know where to go and stay!!

Perhaps not the most romantic weekend for Des and I.. but glad love was in the air down in Watson's Bay this weekend.. congrats to my sis and SK who've just got engaged.. i think the amazing race is only just beginning luvvy! Many roadblocks and detours to come!! haha xo

View to Arc de Triomphe taken from Champs Elysee

Des at the top of EIffel Tower!

View from the top of Eiffel..see the roads radiating out from the Arc de Triomphe

Van Gogh n Des..distant relatives?

Monet paintings in D'Orsay

French cakes....

Notre Dame Cathedral

The Seine and Eiffel Tower

Working at Uni again... And those crazy Brits.

Just finished the third day of a new one month temp assignment. It's not too bad. I'm working in the Dept of Computing at Imperial College in South Kensington. It's nice to be back in academic admin. The people are nice and friendly and very helpful. However, my role is not strictly admin as I'll also be doing some secretarial stuff too. Long story short, I pissed off my temp agency but they got sweet on me again and I got this position. She said, "Imperial College are looking for a temp to fill in for some vacancies". Read: They've got three vacancies they need someone to cover for cheap. So, eventually I'll be doing all three people's positions until they find someone to take the positions permanently. Maybe I could even get one of them if they like me enough. So far, I've just been doing admissions-related stuff for a couple of research groups. Not the same as what I was doing back home though as this time I'm looking after Research Assistant/Associate and PhD applications for the Dept. It's quite cool cos I can get another good insight to the other side of the process of applications and what's happening to Tam's applications.
At the end of this appointment, I've also been offered a 6-month contract at that place I was working at before where I did jack-all. I think that was the kind of job I was looking for when we first set off here - something where you get paid pretty well and involving not much work. In short, a cushy, "dream" job. Makes you think though, sure it sounds good, but dammit, I'm going to get so damn bored there. And it probably won't help my skills or knowledge base. I'm probably not going to take it. A few days a Week is fine, but I'm not sure I could last one month there, let alone six. Need something more challenging and stimulating.
Tam got offered a job last week, which she accepted. After some deep thinking she emailed them this morning to decline the offer cos the pay's not actually that good, and also due to it being far away. Hopefully something better will come along soon cos she's getting quite bored and is itching to start getting some pounds to go and do some serious retail therapy. She's got an interview on Friday anyway just up the road from home, so fingers crossed.
We figured out one of the other reasons why we haven't been getting many call-backs from our applications. The Royal Post hasn't been delivering our letters in a timely fashion. She called up one place following up her application and found out her application had been received ten days after the closing date. Tam investigated and found out today that our First Class postage stamps weren't enough to cover our heavy application packs, so the Post Office dilly-dallied around. Apparently, our applications have been too heavy or something and we should buy more expensive stamps. Since when has "First" Class never been good enough?
One of the things you hear about coming over to the UK is how hard it is to set up a bank account, like its almost impossible. Tam signed up with First Contact and they helped her set up an account when we got here. It's been almost three months now and I still don't have one (I'm getting paid into her account). You gotta have so many different items for proof of ID. Finally got everything I thought you needed and went into the local NatWest bank yesterday with my passport and a gas bill (for proof of address). The customer service rep said I needed a second gas bill. When I explained that we just moved in and won't get one for three months cos its a quarterly bill she said I'd have to wait till then. Then she spied that my passport was Australian and then stated that our government has forbidden them to letting Aussies open bank accounts anymore. What the fuck?! I said in much nicer terms. She said its not NatWest's fault and to take it up with my govt. I should have told her where she could take it up. But I left, walked into the HSBC up the road and am now halfway into opening an account. Just have to attend an interview next week with my passport and gas bill and that's that. So, a hint for anyone who comes over, don't go to those NatWest pricks. Geez, banks suck all over the world huh? Also, you can't sign up with just any doctor/medical centre. It depends on where you live, and not just the suburb, but the street and where abouts you are on that street. Tam walked up the road to the medical centre at the local shopping centre to register us (in case of emergencies), and was told that they don't service us. We gotta go somewhere else and they won't tell you. You need to call up some hotline and tell them your postcode and address and then they'll look it up and let you know where to go. One of our housemates says that we should get used to this kind of stuff. It's the British way, apparently. Things don't come easy. And they don't always do things right. Or give you the right information. But we've managed to get most things sorted out, so we're not too bummed about it. Anyway, we're going to Paris this weekend. Yay!! Taking the Eurostar again early Saturday morning and coming back on Monday evening. Let you know about all that when we get back.

MUSSELS in BRUSSELS...

Having nothing to do for this weekend we decided to go away somewhere (before we get stuck down with jobs). We checked out lastminute.com and booked a cheap two night getaway to Brussels, Belgium. We left early Friday morning taking the Eurostar train. It took just over 2 hours for us to leave London behind and cut through France to arrive in the capital of Belgium, the EU, and Art Nouveau - Brussels.

From the Brussels Midi station we caught a tram towards the city centre (as per instructions on our hotel's website to get there) and after almost getting lost right off the bat, we managed to locate the main street and our hotel, realising that it would have been easier just to walk to the hotel directly from the hotel (which we did when we left this morning). That's one of the good things about the Eurostar. It's not like catching a plane where they have to have airports on the outskirts of the city and you gotta bus it or train it into the city, with the Eurostar it takes you right in the middle of the city. We checked into our hotel (the Eurostars Grand Place Hotel) which was conveniently located on one of the main strips in Lower Town in the heart of the city, dropped off our stuff and then headed out for some sightseeing and lunch.

Our first "sight" was the famous Mannekin Pis. Its a fountain set atop a street corner and is a statue of a little boy having a pee.

The folk story is that this quick-thinking young whipper snapper used his brains and a full bladder to put out a fire threatening to burn the city down. Some locals dress him up each day in different outfits. Its one of those things like the start of each Simpsons episode that keep you coming back. There are also related statues (although not as popular) of a little girl who is apparently the boy's sister Jeanneke, and a dog, Zinneke, scattered around the city centre. Among other things, these statues are said to symbolise the national spirit of the country.




I always used to think of Jean Claude Van-Damme when I thought of Brussels. He's the "Muscles from Brussels". I always thought it was something they called him because it rhymed and was catchy. I really should have known better. Moules et frites (Mussels and chips) are the national food and our guide book informed us that you should only eat mussels in months with the letter "R". Being September, our first meal was an order of moules et frites each from the Lonely Planet recommended Chez Leon. The mussels were juicy and delicious. Needless to say, we both emptied our pots and had had enough mussels to last for the whole Brussels experience. Time to move on to other things. Other things Belgium is famous for are Belgian waffles, Belgian Chocolates, and Belgian beer. Well, been there, done that, bought the shirt.

The waffles were fantastic. We got our first two from a shop called Papillon, where the queue was long and the waffles were fresh, hot and sweet.


We didn't eat many chocolates there, but we did buy half a kilo to bring back to London to eat. We got a 250g mixed selection from the upmarket Neuhaus, and later on, another 250g mixed selection from the less expensive, but popular Leonidas ("just to compare" argued Tam).

I've never been much of a sweets person, but the waffles and chocolates in Brussels were mind-altering. The delicious Speculoos biscuits are also to die for.

As Tam mentioned in our last blog entry, having drank too much beer one night with our housemates a week and a bit ago, I had been avoiding alcohol.


But, being in a country where they literally have hundreds of varieties of beer, I couldn't resist. Its hard to say "no" in a country that when faced with a choice between drinking buttermilk or beer as a substitute for the tainted water to avoid the plague, they went with and stuck with beer. God bless St Arnold. Between us, we compiled a list of the different beers that we sampled:
1. Maes Pils (a local cheapie)
2. Mort Subite Framboise (Mort Subite translates as "instant death". These are kind of "girly" beers, easy to drink and sweet. Framboise being raspberries-flavoured)
3. Mort Subite Peche (peach-flavoured)
4. Mort Subite Kriek (cherry-flavoured)
5. Grimbergen Brune
6. Belle-Vue Framboise (similar to Mort Subite but stronger and not as sweet)
7. Belle-Vue Kriek
8. Vieux Temps
9. Floris Apple (extremely sweet apple cider)
10. Tremens Delirium (the one with the pink elephants!)
11. Orval (not one of my faves. very hard to drink Trappist beer)
12. Jupiler
13. Westmalle Dubble
14. Chimay (blue)
Nowhere near as extensive as our gelato feat, but still quite impressive for a non-beer drinker and me recovering from a self-induced aversion to beer. You also have to consider that Belgian beers are typically much stronger than the ones we're used to back home. A 5% alcohol beer would be considered "light". Belgian beers normally range from between 7-12%. We managed to visit four pubs: 'A la Mort Subite' (which they named the drink after), 'A la Bonne Vieux Temps', 'Le Cirio', and the Nouveau Art decked 'Falstaff'. A few pubs also sell a "Half and half" drink which is very nice. It's half champagne and half white wine.


It was after a while that we realised we had come to Brussels at a really good time, just when they were celebrating the 175th anniversary of when the state of Belgium was founded. There was a festive air and the 15th century market square the Grand Place had food and beer stalls and was packed out with tourists and locals.



There was music, gaily dressed dancing men, gigantic puppet dolls, and allsorts. The thing I got most excited about was not the food or beer or the fact that Belgians appreciate comic strips as art (they invented Smurfs, Tintin, and Lucky Luke!). No, it was the Horse Parade (see photos). I don't know why, but it was just one of the most fantastic things which we stumbled upon.



The only bad thing that happened on our getaway was last night when I got pickpocketed. We were walking back to our hotel when these three guys came up to us and tried to "have a chat". They said hello to us in Chinese and then when we told them to go away in English one of the guys came right up to us and started dancing close up to me. Practically dancing on my leg and singing something. Then he left us alone and joined his mates. I patted myself down and realised I didn't have my mobile anymore. I couldn't feel him take it because I had my passport in a hidden pouch under that pocket. So I turned and ran after them. They saw me and gave my phone back to me without arguing or trouble. That's when I cracked dancing boy upside the head and roundhouse kicked his friends into the oncoming traffic. It's funny how you only think of what you should have done in situations like that after they've happened and you sit and stew on them for a bit. I took my phone back on one of his friends and walked back with Tam to the hotel. Guess I learnt a lesson there. Next time something like that happens, I'll be ready. Keeping a mental repertoire of how to act in certain situations. We were lucky that time. We didn't take many photos after that as we left our phones and Tam's camera and everything back in the hotel.


Another cool thing that we stumbled upon, was on our second visit to the Mannekin Pis. In line with the festivities, the Belle-Vue beer company had rigged up the fountain in such a way that Mannekin was peeing out Belle-Vue Framboise, which they were catching with cups and passing out to the crowd. I don't think there's many that can say that they've drunk cherry-flavored beer pissed out by a national icon, but Tam and I have.

MURAL ART....

Horse Parade..

Grand Place gothic architecture





Place du Jeu de Balle - Flea Markets

Lots of trash..lots of treasure..just gotta find what your looking for.





Breakfast at a cafe in Jeu de Balle

Oyster and Seafood Fair among other things...

Well it's been a pretty uneventful week...have been settling into our new home and Des has been off hard at work doing some filing for the local housing office..and i've been the good 'wife' keeping house and doing other trivial things...thank goodness i have interviews coming up as i'm getting a bit stir-crazy and itching to get my hands into work again....hmm am sure i will be taking those words back soon enough but for now it's true..

The housemates are real 'choice bro'..and if we stay around around long enough we may end up coming home with some kiwi accents! how about that..just getting in touch with my kiwi roots i guess..

Went for 'quiet' drinks with the housemates down at the Eagle which is a local pub and really quite a nice english pub with nice comfy sofas and even a large beer garden out the back. Tried some really nice strawberry beer from belgium called Fruli..YUM...if only all beer tasted like this...it all ended a bit messy (if you want the gory details..just ask..i may be at liberty to say) for someone in particularly..but i'm not naming any names!!! Truly becoming an englishman i say..
Anyway so far this weekend we've been to the Oyster and Seafood Fair which was held down near London Bridge along the Thames..they had stalls set up selling all types of seafoody things and we had a plate of mussels in a garlic white wine sauce (bit overcooked but i guess hard to control in such a large pot)...and also some freshly shucked oysters with a bit of chorizo on top..tasty with lemon n some tabasco sauce.

Tomorrow we're thinking of heading out to the Old Spitalfield Markets which are suppose to be good...not quite sure what they sell i think a bit of everything so Des might even be able to pick up an old guitar for cheap..

Well at least one of us isn't turning pommy..i even managed to get away without talking 'bout the weather in the blog..well close enough..

missing all at home
xxoo

Hays Galleria..bit like the Rocks in Sydney..

Big pots of mussels, prawns and marinara

Seafoody things..

Lots of oysters...