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Brussels

December 28, 2009 by Leave a Comment

My last minute escape from Paris has seen me end up in nearby Brussels. For the most part it has been grey and drizzling but the sun has made an appearance a couple of times.

We were able to see most of the city within the first few hours of arriving but spent the last two days exploring further out from the city centre. I was surprised to see the city is still as beautiful as I remember even though it looks like everything needs a good clean but it no doubt looks better in spring and summer.

Of course there is plenty to eat and drink – chips, waffles, chocolate, beer etc – all good.

I got a special deal with the Sofitel hotel which included a chocolate tasting which was delicious. We especially loved that :) Here are a few of my favourite photos of Brussels.

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Filed Under: Belgium Tagged With: ,

Belgian Chocolates

December 28, 2009 by 2 Comments

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Filed Under: Belgium Tagged With: , ,

A Little Snow

December 25, 2009 by Leave a Comment

The great thing about the recent freezing weather was the snow that came with it. Unfortunately it only really snowed on one day and it didn’t last long on the ground. I had hoped it would snow again so I could go out and take lots of photos of Paris under the snow but it wasn’t meant to be.

From My Apartment

Hotel de Ville

Me in The Snow

Pompidou Centre

Filed Under: France Tagged With: , ,

Noel

December 25, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Christmas Day – the most boring and pointless day of the year.

I slept in until 1pm. Had cream cheese on baguette for lunch, washed down with a delicious glass of Redbull. Not much else to do but play tourist in the City of Lights.

The only mildly entertaining event of the day was seeing Le Pere Noel being driven around Paris in a sidecar with 10 motor cycle police escorts.

Arc de Triomphe

Champs Elysees

Le Petit Palais

Pont Alexandre III

La Tour Eiffel

Avenue Montaigne

Christmas Decorations

Filed Under: France Tagged With: , ,

Kindle Europe

December 24, 2009 by Leave a Comment

If you love to read and in particular if you love to read and to travel then you’ve got to get a Kindle. I got mine a few weeks ago and I love it!

It can store up to 1500 books so you can read whatever you want whenever you want. You connect to Amazon via wifi from anywhere in the world, including in Europe (for free), and it takes 2 seconds to buy and download a new book.

What I love most is that I can just take the Kindle with me when travelling and don’t have to carry 2 or 3 heavy books. So if I want to read say a Lonely Planet guide of the destination and another book then I easily can and if I don’t like what I’m reading, I can just download another book and read that instead.

Even though the Kindle is kind of expensive, I do think it’ll work out cheaper in the long run. If you live in France, you know how ridiculously expensive English language books are. Even if you order from Amazon.fr or Amazon.co.uk the prices are really inflated. Or if you do buy from Amazon.com where the books are cheaper, you still have to pay for postage which adds quite a bit to the cost. So with the Kindle, the price of a book is slightly less than what you would pay for the physical book and there is no postage so, win!

Kindle Europe

They don’t sell the Kindle here in France or anywhere in Europe, you have to buy it from Amazon.com in the US. They ship it by international courier and customs duty is paid directly to Amazon but it’ll arrive in Europe after 2 or 3 days which is great.

The only real negative I’ve found about the Kindle is that, it seems, you can only get the American version of books which means American spelling and American grammar, which I find annoying, but you can’t have everything I suppose.

You can order your Kindle from Amazon here.

 Kindle Europe

Filed Under: France Tagged With: , , ,

Holidays

December 24, 2009 by Leave a Comment

December is a really quiet month for me, work wise. I’m actually kind of lost without any work to do :( I’ve seen seen 3 movies this week already and read 2 books but now I don’t know what to do.

I would have gone away earlier but F had a few dentist appointments so we couldn’t go anywhere. I do have one last trip planned before the end of the year though. Three days in Brussels, starting Boxing Day and then 4 days in Amsterdam for the New Year. I’ve been to both a couple of times before but that was 7 or 8 years ago. Will be interesting to see how they have changed, if at all.

I don’t have anything booked after Amsterdam so I might travel around the Netherlands a bit, maybe to Maastricht and somewhere else. We’ll see…

Hope everyone has a great New Year!

Filed Under: General Tagged With: ,

Perth 2009

December 18, 2009 by Leave a Comment

I went home to Perth a few months ago. It had been 4 years since my last visit so it was great to catch up with friends and family. It was the middle of winter and freezing and I had to get up at 5:30am every morning to go to work, but I still managed to have a good time :)

Looking Tired

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Filed Under: Australia Tagged With: , ,

Jade

December 16, 2009 by Leave a Comment

20 years old and still going strong. Well, Jade is deaf and possibly going blind, and has arthritis and kidney problems, but hey, not bad for her age.

Jade

Jade

Jade in Perth

Filed Under: Australia Tagged With: , ,

Cupcakes

December 15, 2009 by 4 Comments

Yes, even I can make cupcakes!

Cupcakes

Filed Under: Australia Tagged With: ,

La Maison

December 14, 2009 by 2 Comments

I’d love to buy an apartment in Paris one day and hopefully I will in the not too distant future. Before I do that, I want to get another property in Australia. I have a buyers agent looking for properties for me in Manly and hopefully I’ll put an offer on an apartment there before the end of the year. Not that I plan on moving to Sydney any time soon, but you never know…

For the moment, all I have is my little house in Perth. The house is worthless but the land, not so much :P

Here is a pic of ma maison which I took a couple of months ago when I was in Perth.

Ardross

Filed Under: Australia Tagged With: ,

Reason #1058 to Hate France

December 13, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Every now and then I have to send money to my British bank account. I do this by wire transfer and it usually takes 24 hours to go from my Australian bank account to the British one. Last week I had to wire some money to a company in Israel and again, that took 24 hours.

When I transfer money to my French bank account, how long does it take? 24 hours? 48 hours? Mais, non! It takes 15 days of course!

Filed Under: France Tagged With: ,

Margarita

December 11, 2009 by Leave a Comment

35ml Tequila
20ml Cointreau
15ml Lime Juice
Ice

Throw everything in a cocktail shaker, shake well, pour into a glass dipped in salt. Drink up.

Drunk in 5 minutes, guaranteed :)

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Filed Under: General Tagged With: ,

Bread Maker

December 10, 2009 by 1 Comment

While it might seem strange to want to bake your own bread in France, the home of the brilliant baguette, it is nice to be able to make your own and have your house filled with the delicious scent of freshly baked bread. Plus I like to eat organic food and the organic boulangerie near my house isn’t that great. So I got myself a machine a pain.

The first two loaves were a bit of a disaster. I think the problem was the flour. The white bread setting requires flour Type 55 but it seems the organic flour only comes in Type 65 or higher. This isn’t quite white flour, although it’s not wholemeal either, but I think I should have run it on the wholemeal program. Otherwise, the problem was the yeast because it just didn’t rise enough.

In the end I got a ready to go bread mix and it worked perfectly. Delicious home made bread with sun dried tomatoes.

Next up I’m going to try pizza, brioche, and maybe even a cake.

Kenwood Bread Maker

Fail

Fail

Sun Dried Tomato Bread

Filed Under: General Tagged With: ,

London x 2

December 9, 2009 by 3 Comments

I went to London at the beginning of October for a working holiday. London is not one of my favourite places so was happy to be in and out in a few days. Then my brother calls and tells me he’s going to London and will I meet him there. Great, visiting London twice in one month.

I only went for 3 days but at least I got to spend some time with my niece, as well as my brother and sister in law, who I don’t get to see all that often.

Hyde Par

Alex and Katarina

Katarina

Feeding the Swans

Baby K

Smiles

Slide

Filed Under: United Kingdom Tagged With:

Dog Toilet

December 9, 2009 by 3 Comments

I saw this dog toilet on a recent trip to London. When are we getting them here in Paris?

Dog Toilet

Filed Under: United Kingdom Tagged With:

Religion

October 27, 2009 by 5 Comments

Religion-Flowchart_1

Filed Under: General

France vs Austria | Stade de France

October 24, 2009 by Leave a Comment

I never imagined I would find myself at a soccer football match but last week I made my way out to Stade de France to see France vs Austria. I booked the tickets a few months ago, more than anything just so I could say I’ve been to a football match, but also because F is a football fan and he wanted to go.

At first I was worried that it was going to be full of thugs and it might be violent but it wasn’t at all the uncivilized event I thought it was going to be. The fans were fairly quiet and calm, cheering at the 3 French goals and booing at the 1 Austrian goal. Maybe things would have been different if the opposing team was more competitive or, heaven forbid, France had lost. Actually, I must admit, the atmosphere was great. Some of the fans near us were hilarious and every oh la la! and c’est pas vrai! cracked me up. I’m also happy to say I got to see Thierry Henri play (and score a goal), one of the few footballers I actually know and like.

Next I think I’m going to see Paris St Germain play at Parc des Princes. I live just down the road from the ground so I can always hear the fans cheering when a game is on which always makes me wonder what I’m missing out on. Probably nothing but it will be good to see for myself.

Of course, it goes without saying that soccer is one of the most boring sports that exists and it will never be as exciting as an Aussie Rules match but when in Rome…

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Filed Under: France Tagged With: , ,

Femme de Menage a Paris

September 30, 2009 by Leave a Comment

If anyone is looking for a excellent, hard working house keeper, let me know because my current femme de menage is looking for work. She is by far the best cleaner I’ve ever had and she seems to love ironing (which is amazing in itself) . Aside from always being 15-30 minutes late, I can’t recommend her enough :)

Payment is negotiable but 10E/hour seems to be the going rate. Give her a try, you won’t regret it :P

Filed Under: France
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