Europe - Part 2

Day 2 in Paris was so fun, but so difficult to deal with. I was officially sick and getting worse by the minute. I tried and tried and tried to keep myself going but it got really hard to breathe or talk and I just wanted to cry. But I couldn't let this hold the family back and waste a day, so I tried to power on.

This was the street our hotel was located. I found a Louis Vuitton shopping bag and box down this street. Parisians throw away designer stuff like its toilet paper, I swear!

Paris & I being fat with our bellies

 

 The back of my neck after lugging around my SLR for just half an hour.

 Earrings from H&M

 Ma & Pa

 Breakfast in France is shit. Its a croissant with coffee. But the coffee is more like brown water. It's especially bad when you're from Melbourne and know what amazing coffee tastes like. Jesus. It was even worse than Mc Donalds coffee. Bleurgh!

 My dad is deathly afraid of heights/large drops so when he saw me next to the wall of the river he flipped out and yelled at me to move away before I fell in hahaha

 WORLD IS (Y)OURS

 

 

 The bridge of locks! I was most anticipating seeing this in Paris.

The bridge of locks is one of my top 5 things I saw while in Europe. It's a bridge where lovers, partners, husbands and wives write their name on a padlock and declare their endless love for each other by snapping the lock on to the bridge fence and throwing the key into the river to symbolize their unbreakable love for one another. Its just such a darling idea that has been going on for years, but occasionally the district council cuts off the wire which holds the locks because they just get far too packed and heavy over the years (I saw a lock on the bridge that was marked 2008, so they mustn't have torn down the wire in a few years)
There are apparently 2 different bridges that hold the locks; One is for lovers, and the other bridge is for long term committed partners. We only saw this bridge, so I'm not really sure how things have changed for the ol' bridge of locks. Also, if you plan on going there, this bridge is cross from the Louvre. That large building at the end of the bridge is entrance into the back courtyard of the Louvre which takes you to the main entrance.

 You can see the Eiffel Tower from the bridge!

 This guy made my day. He was fulfilling the ultimate Paris stereotype. A jolly fat man with a moustache and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth playing the piano accordion while you're crossing a bridge and walking over the Sienne. Needless to say, we gave him all the change we had and he just smiled and nodded with ask almost falling off his smoke & continued playing for the other lovebirds and tourists crossing the bridge.

We went to the Louvre but unfortunately didn't get to see all of it because I started feeling even more sick and needed to get back to the hotel. We stayed for a few hours and didn't even get to finish seeing one full level properly. To be honest, I wasn't particularly interested in going anyway because I just had a lot of other things I wanted to see and do that were a bit higher on my priority list, but that's what happens when you go with your family.. you have to stick with the group.
The amazing thing about the Louvre was that we literally walked right in! People were telling us to be prepared for a 2 hour wait to get in, but because it was raining and everyone ran elsewhere for shelter, the line was completely free haha The line for the women's toilets was even longer which made me laugh.
what really interested me was the art on each ceiling in the building. They were absolutely divine!

 Sams awesome Sphinx photo. I just let him take the reigns with the photos and he did an awesome job, hey!

 We went back to the hotel to find out how I could visit a doctor and the hotel arranged for a doctor to come over. It cost 90 Euros! 90 EUROS! Thats like $130 AUD to see a GP which made me feel even more sick! But thank god he came over because he gave me some antibiotics and I was on the mend fast.
Oh! That's another important thing to note! Pharmacies are pretty much on every corner and are easily identifiable by a fluro green cross light out the front of the store. The pharmacists are really helpful and in some cases can help you more than a doctor over here in Aus can. You walk in and tell them your symptoms and they give you the best thing you can get to help you (without needing a prescription) which I thought was really handy.

I may have to do part 3 tomorrow because it takes forever to upload these photos!
Til then, au revoir!

Europe - Part 1

I'm finally back and rested from our European adventures! I have so much to write about this trip that I'm going to have to write it all up in a number of posts. I'll also be doing some reviews on the airline we used and the places we stayed because it was a little difficult to find accurate and decent reviews, so if anyone comes across mine, they may find it useful.
So lets start from day 1... We (my mum, dad, sister, Sam & I.) arrived at Tulla airport in Melbourne at 6am to fly to Paris via Guangzhou, China. We were flying with China Southern Airlines (no other reason aside from it being the cheapest to fly all 5 of us). It was about 9 hours to China and then a 5 hour stopover. This being my (and my family's) first time flying overseas, we were shitting our pants. Not because we were afraid of flying, but because we're all so fidgety ha ha. We managed to get through that flight with little stress, but once we arrived in China, it was terrrrrrriiiiiibbbblllleeeee! I cant even begin to explain! We completely forgot to factor in that china was going to be stinking hot because it was summer there, so we walked off the plane in our winter gear only to be punched in the face with 35 degree heat and 99% humidity. We fought through the heat for the 5 hour stopover time and were finally on our flight to Paris! 12 hours and a lot of mini, restless sleeps later, we were finally there! It was smooth sailing to our hotel and we were all ready to battle each other for first dibs of the shower. We were staying at the Hotel Alexandrie which was located in Bastille in the 11th arrondissement (which we later found out was the lower-middle class area of Paris, according to locals of other arrondissements. Its kind of like the Maribyrnong of Paris. Fancy stuff, but not as fancy as any other places. Mediocre, but a perfect distance away/close to all the good stuff). When we got to the hotel we found that there was something going on with our room and it was just a big mix up and wouldn't be sorted for what turned out to be 5 hours. We were too exhausted from the flights to explore, so we just sat in the lobby. At one point, I nearly fell asleep so Sam and I went to explore. We saw heaps of lovely things and picked up some food, but that triggered my cold to begin...
We finally got our room sorted and settled in then went to explore some more but before we knew it we were back and had fallen asleep before 6pm. So much for not getting jet lag...

 Gare De Lyon train station which was a 5 minute stroll from our hotel which had local trains underneath in the subway, but on the ground floor there were international trains that travelled through Europe.

 We were only a 5 minute walk from this monument in Bastille and this was where all the crowds were when they elected the new French president. You could hear the hooting and champagne bottles popping from our hotel room so loudly until 4am the next morning. It was like New Years celebrations. I cant imagine what it would've been like if the president had stayed the same... eep.

Sam being cute

 This is Mum, Dad, Me & my younger sister, Paris. Can you tell how obsessed my mum is with this beautiful city? My sister was pissed at the endless "Paris, how are you enjoying being in Paris? eh, Paris?" jokes I was making. I'm still not done with those jokes... muahaha!

 The creepiest moving masks you will ever see in this magic/gag shop.

 This store was dedicated to Michael Jackson and played his music super loudly. I don't think you could even buy anything there. Probably just a gigantic, creepy M.J shrine...

Australia themed cafe we didnt get to go to. Coz in Australia crocs run amok and have their own lane on our roads... *sigh

Our first proper day in Paris was spent walking heaps and managing to walk to Galleries Lafayette which is pretty much like David Jones, but like 400 times more expensive and flashy. It was so beautiful architecturally on the inside and the brands they sold in there were overwhelming. It felt like literally every designer I have ever heard of in my entire life had part of their line selling there. We also went to H&M which I was DYING for because we don't have it here in Aus and I've got to say I was super disappointed. There were heaps of things on the French website that went up to a sz 18, but all I saw was sz 10s. That being said, I did find 2 things and a bunch of jewellery (all of which i"ll be wearing in the next few weeks and taking pictures of), but otherwise, Paris in general wasn't being so nice to me when it came to clothing in size 18/20.

On to part 2!

Freaks & Geeks getup

 

 

 

This jacket always makes me feel like I'm Lindsay Weir and the day I wore this outfit (continuing on to today) I've been feeling like a burnout. Being unemployed (yet again..) sucks. I've gotten into this slump where all I do is stay at home searching eBay for amazing finds, eating cheese sandwiches and watching trashy tv shows online. And putting this dress on made me see how much weight I've gained in the time I've been home. I feel too depressed to go outside and be active so I stay couped up inside eating and wearing tracksuit pants and then when I realize what I'm doing I think 'Dita Von Teese would be disgusted that i even own tracksuit pants. WHAT AM I DOING WITH MYSELF?!'. But then I get distracted and do some housework and go back about my day. I need to get my ass into gear and become a sz 16/18 again not a sz 20/22. I have fabulous dresses that are waiting to be worn on my old body goddamnit!


Jacket: Cotton On (from over 5 years ago)
Dress: Forever 21 via eBay
Necklace: By the wonderful Natalie Perkins via Fancy Lady Industries

Cotton On Online Store

Eventhough we're trying to save up some money for Europe, I'm still making online purchases to rebuild my wardrobe. While searching for things I could add to my new wardrobe I realized that I never really look at the online stores of chain shops. I had a look at Cotton On's online store to see if they had anything cheaper than their already redic cheap prices. Thank god I did because I found the shoes I've been eyeing for the longest time on sale!

I'm usually not one for heels, but for some reason I just love these and I can walk in them perfectly fine. And of course, I couldn't just buy one thing, I had to buy all the good things that were on sale haha
I'm so pleased with how fast the package arrived. It wasn't even a week before I received my goodies. Cotton On, you've done it again ;)