Paris - Part Deux

I resist the urge to write this blog entry in French...and it's probably for the better as I'm sure I overestimate my French skills :) I guess that I can admit that this visit to Paris was a little inspiring. I all of a sudden want to pick up a French book and wear red lipstick.

I spent the weekend re-visiting Paris with 2 of my favourite Elena's. I call this entry Paris - Part Deux as it is my second visit to the city since August. Nonetheless I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I still felt like a kid in the toy store coming back. I loved the city in the fall (what it looked like and the lack of tourists that is, not the actual temperature, because it was brutal), and all the new experiences (and tasty things) that I got to try.

Here's a colourful recap of our visit. I believe that these pictures will do more justice telling you about this trip than my words. After all, Paris is a city that likes to be seen.

~Le Louvre~

Le Louvre and I have met again...only this time I got in! I must admit, I sort of love traveling this time of the year. We literally managed to walk into the museum, no lineups or anything! I'm pretty sure that's the fist in the entire history of the museum...

Le Louvre from the outside

 We actually managed to walk almost the entire museum in 4 hours. Of course, it becomes a sensory overload after about 30 minutes, but the audioguides that we got really helped to learn more about the art and appreciate it.

Mona Lisa

There she is! We actually had to fight about 50 other tourists to get this close to her, hence the overexcited faces in the picture :) I think that I probably thought the same thing as everyone when they see her: I wish the picture was bigger and that it wasn't behind glass...Still cool though!

Admiring the Italian art wing

Venus de Milo

Here's the other lady we really wanted to meet. I think I liked Venus better than Mona, as there's an aura of mystery about her - they still don't know who sculpted her or how old she is.

Napoleon's apartments (that I want to live in)

 ~Streets of Paris~

 The Paris version of the London Eye :)

Happy Reunion on Champs Elysees!

We find the other Elena who was busy with conferences and work earlier.

Christmas tree at Galeries Lafayette

Wicked department store with wicked stuff and the most beautiful department store ceiling in the world. Accodrding to the tourist guide, this store is the second most visited Paris destination after Le Louvre. Take that Eiffel Tower!

Yes these are snails, and yes I ate them. Yummy!

Notre Dame

Grandiose church with terrifying gargoyles 

!!Crepes!!

Saturday was officially a crepes day. We ate crepes all day...it was the best day ever lol. My fave is the one with salty caramel (also depicted in this picture). We also drank hot red wine all day. Good discovery on that, Elena V.!

Eiffel Tower

I did my second Eiffel Tower climb! Kind of funny, because I've never even climbed the CN Tower :)

The Catacombs

We decided to be brave and pay a visit to the Parisian catacombs that house the remains of 6 million Parisians. The bones have been relocated from various cemeteries to the catacombs over decades as the cemeteries were getting overcrowded. This created a 2 km long tunnel of bones that we walked through. I should also mention that it's 135 steps below the ground. Very eerie but cool experience!..They also checked our bags upon exit to make sure we didn't steal any bones...

!!Le Financier!!

I'd like to think that I saved the best picture for last. Meet Le Financier, the dessert that I have been obsessing about trying for over a month. It's a classic Parisian dessert that has been created to be eaten by bankers without getting their fingers sticky...and I thought sticky fingers are better for counting money hehe. Anyways, it was absolutely delicious and tastes like an almond tart. Big fan!

AU REVOIR! :)

High Tea in London

I know, it's shocking, but I JUST had my first High Tea experience in London, and it was aaawesome!
My thanks goes to a very special girl who organized the whole shabang as a very special Birthday/Wedding/Welcome to London gift. Thank you Bela, love! I know you will be reading this :)

Here's how it works: you go to a fancy tea room that usually in a fancy hotel (we went to the Ritz, which is the fanciest one of them all as it takes 3 months to get a reservation!). Once seated, you have 1.5 hours to eat your finger sandwiches, scones and cakes (yes, it must be in that order) while being serenaded by a pianist. I got in trouble for having a dirty plate...can't take me anywhere hehehe! Here's a recap of our lovely afternoon:

Doing it high society style

Delicious birthday surprise!

Present time :)

 Powder room vogue

Out and about in Reykjavik

We decided to spend our last half day in Iceland exploring Reykjavik. I think that Reykjavik is the smallest capital city I've ever been to (population of about 270K or 70% of Iceland). It is by no means a bad thing though, and makes for a very serene and quaint atmosphere, which gives the city a lovely feel.

We stayed in an apartment right smack in the middle of downtown, so all we had to do was step outside to be surrounded by a multitude of boutique shops, cafes and restaurants. Here's a recap of our gallivanting around the city in pictures:

View from the balcony

The city pond

People were playing soccer on ice while we were trying to keep our balance hehe.

Feeding the duckies (and the swans and the geese)

There was a crazy geese fight that broke out shortly after...life in a frozen pond ain't easy!

View from the top

We went to the top of the city church to see the view of the city and snap these shots.

Making friends with the locals

Food - Icelandic style!

The Blue Lagoon by day and Aurora Borealis by night

Our Day 2 in Iceland consisted of a day trip to the Blue Lagoon (we thought that we needed a break after our icy waterfall adventures and a long night of birthday celebrations :), and a night trip into the Icelandic wilderness to see the spectacular northern lights!

THE BLUE LAGOON


Those of you who watch The Bachelorette have probably already recognized this name, as this is the same place where Ally took her slew of boyfriends for some romantic time :) 


The Blue Lagoon is a hot springs area located, well, pretty much in the middle of a lava field. It got formed thanks to a crack in the earth's crust through which hot water gets pumped up from the underneath. The water is packed with minerals and algae and is very good for you. They also have mud and salts that do miracles for your skin. I couldn't resist getting a salt scrub, which is a pretty cool pampering experience, as they exfoliate your skin while floating you in the water. It's a spectacular place that looks like a giant milky blue steaming bath with an occasional geyser  here and there.

 Arriving!

The view

Colour of the water

Geyser where the hot water comes from

Swimming around...

 ...followed by lounging around :)

AURORA BOREALIS


Our relaxing day called for a night time adventure, so we took the tour into the wilderness for a chance to see the northern lights, which we did! We quickly learned that we actually got quite lucky. Aurora Borealis requires a clear day to be seen, and even still, it's not guaranteed. The phenomenon is caused by magnetic particles from the sun eruptions entering the earth's atmosphere and interacting with it, however, the eruptions happen in cycles of 11 years, peaking in the years 5 and 6 of the cycle, and this year we are still at the beginning of a new cycle which will peak in 2014. In the last 2 years northern light activity has been minimal, and just began to come back this year, which is what we witnessed! I guess you can say that all the lucky stars have aligned for us on this day :)


I admit that the northern lights have been on my bucket list for a while, and I can proudly check them off now! :) It's a fascinating thing to see - the lights cover a large portion of the sky usually in a ribbon or a swirl shape, and change shapes really quickly. What's even cooler is that your naked eye sees it as white, but the camera captures it as bright emerald green. 


We had 6 cameras with us, only 2 of which have been able to capture the lights. It's not an easy task without a fancy digital SLR of some kind. I'd like to give a special honorary mention to Anna's and Vi's cameras and Bela's photography training hehe.

Iceland - tectonic plates, geysers, icy waterfalls and whale meat

This weekend was filled with yet another adventure - a girly trip to Iceland! It went something like this: 7 girls, 3 days, 1 birthday to celebrate.

If I had to pick a word to describe Iceland, I would say that it's absolutely enchanting. It's a place like nowhere else in the world - being situated between North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, it has a lot of volcanic and earthquake activity that creates its beautiful landscape, and many geysers and hot springs (i.e. the Blue Lagoon!) The population is a mere 300,000 people, 70% of whom live in the capital, Reykjavik, so once you drive out of the city covered with quaint red roof houses, it's nothing but snow and moss covered mountains, fields of lava formations, and grand pastures. Because of the variations in elevation, you can find yourself driving through a snow covered mountain, then through a moss covered lava field, then through a pasture, all within the span of 20 minutes...and all the views are spectacular!

Speaking of pastures, Iceland has only 3 industries - fishing, raising cattle and thermal electricity production (nothing grows there as summer temperatures reach only about 10 degrees). This means lots and lots of yummy fresh fish and farm raised meat! In fact, all food in Iceland has been spectacular - we tried lamb soup (that even I had 2 servings of, and I don't eat soup), lobster, lobster soup, scallops, shrimp, cod, salmon, antelope, steak, various pastries, sandwiches, the-best-date-cake-I've-ever-had-in-my-life, and even local delicacies such as dried fish and...whale meat...which we rejected...and we are not the bunch who gets grossed out by food, but whale meat is seriously not edible...and this is why people shouldn't eat whale, amongst many other moral reasons of course.

Here's a recap of our Day 1 adventures (in pictures, of course ;)

The gang: Anna, Carmen, moi, Jessie the birthday girl, Bela, Rachel and Vi in our signature Russian hats

P.S. I think that the whole town thought that we were either crazy or celebrities, because everywhere we went we were recognized as the hat girls

On the edge of the North American tectonic plate

This was uber cool, as we stared down a ridge that separates one tectonic plate from another.

Icy Waterfall

We actually walked all the way from the elevated observation platform to the waterfall down an icy path. Some of us escaped unharmed, while other not so lucky with bruised hands and knees from falling.

Geyser valley

 Pretty neat place to be in, as the whole valley is filled with erupting geysers. We saw 3 eruptions!..and managed to catch them on cam (we were pretty proud of ourselves hehe). Most geysers are roped off, as the water that comes out is 80-100 degrees Celsius. The eruptions are usually followed by a giant cloud of sulfur, that doesn't smell very nice.

Icelandic landscapes

As I mentioned, the landscape changes from pastures to snowy mountains to lava fields. The sun rises at about 10 and sets at about 3, and the middle picture is of the sunset.

Evening feast

That's the rejected whale meat on our forks. Safe the whales and don't try it!