starry starry night, paint your palette blue and grey

this is going to be my last post about my time in paris, and i do hope they haven't been too dull for you! as well as wanting to show you my pictures & share my thoughts on the sights, it is also a way for me to keep a kind of online journal that i can look back on & think about my memories from that trip.

this post is going to be a little photograph laden, so i don't blame you if you don't get to the end! i have been thinking about setting up a flickr, but i think i would just feel like a bit of a ponce as i don't think of myself as a photographer in any way.

the musee d'orsay. i chose this place over the louvre as it has a famous impressionists gallery, which just happens to be my favourite art form. there was quite a queue to get in, but the 40 minute wait wasn't too bad because i got to spend just as much time looking at the van goghs (favourite artist alert) and exploring the many degas pieces, an artist who i had never really looked at before.

the view along the champs elysees (i think) towards the arc de triomphe. it was a pretty overcast day, so some of the photos came out a bit dark & misty.

submarine poster along the champs elysees. i also saw one for the trip with the caption "une comedie SO BRITISH"

the arc de triomphe was pretty impressive, i was actually quite surprised as i was expecting it to be about the same size as marble arch in london, but it was bloody massive!

a very busy laduree, not the one that i visited though.

a distant eiffel tower.

mother & i did plan to get off the sightseeing bus at the eiffel tower, but i decided not to because it was chucking it down by that point & we weren't going to go up it as we're both pretty scared of heights.

i was impressed by how intricate the metalwork was, it really was rather beautiful.

paris as a whole was very beautiful, and i would love to go again another time, as i don't feel you can see it all in one visit.

padlock

one of my favourite sights from my trip to paris was found completely by accident. after walking through the courtyard of the louvre (although i didn't actually go in the gallery as the queue was like 3 hours long), we crossed the road to wait for the sightseeing bus & on the bridge behind us were hundreds and hundreds of padlocks.

i'm not sure what tradition/superstition this is, or even the name of the bridge, but lots of the locks seemed to have inscriptions of names & hearts, so i'm guessing it's something to do with wishing for everlasting love. after all, paris is the city of love.

i just loved the huge range of locks that were there, all kinds of colours, shapes and sizes. some were old, plain & rusty and some were shiny and newer-looking.

some had no writing whatsoever, some had rudimentary initials daubed on in tip-ex or paint, and some had personalised & poetic inscriptions. i think this is such a lovely thing to do, and i truly was amazed.

hello, there's a queue.

another one of my favourite things-i-did-in-paris was visiting laduree on rue royale (one of three patisseries in the capital i believe). i have heard, and seen, a lot about macarons (yes, macarons. macaroon is the americanised name which really annoys me.) but i had never actually eaten any myself until now, and they were unbelievable!

mother & i had eight between us, i had vanilla, raspberry & mint, soft salted caramel and chocolate, and mother had the same except swapped the chocolate for pistachio. it's hard to describe how they tasted; they were very sweet & had a lovely, albeit strange texture, kind of like a biscuity cake if that makes any sense at all!

sorry about my slightly bizarre table photos, i don't think i'm going to make it as a food blogger any time soon.

the raspberry was my favourite, mainly because it was the least sweet, & i don't have that much of a sweet tooth. the vanilla & chocolate were also lovely, i really would recommend visiting laduree if you're ever in paris (even though it is pretty pricey!). the one we visited was not particularly busy, although there were a few people who pushed past us prompting the (brilliant) australian woman behind us to shout "hello, there's a queue!"

i also caved in at the airport & bought a box of eight to take home with me, 15 euros, eek.

the flavours i got were raspberry & mint, melon, vanilla and chocolate, lovely! still have two left which i think i will have later with a glass of cream soda, just to really crank up the sugaryness.

a dreaded sunny day, so i meet you at the cemetery gates.

hello! i have returned from paris, which was so so amazing. i had a really lovely time, and i've scheduled a couple of posts about my favourite moments so i don't overload you all with too many pictures in this post!

the hotel we stayed in was really lovely (the guy at the check-in desk looked like a young ray la montagne, bonjour.), and only ten minutes away from pere lachaise cemetery which i was really looking forward to seeing. it may be a tad morbid for some, but i find cemeteries & graveyards really beautiful places. i think they say a lot about human nature, and people's personalities too - some graves were very elaborate & impressive, whereas others were smaller & more understated.

i was in awe the whole time, and could have wandered around the cemetery all day. i do, however, feel it is definitely important to respect those who have left us & i assure you i wasn't just walking around snapping pictures like some crazed tourist, i was very aware that - while the pere lachaise cemetery is a major tourist attraction in paris - it is still used as a graveyard today.

unfortunately, as we were walking around the cemetery it started to rain pretty heavily, and then we could hear a heavy rumble of thunder overhead and a few intermittent flashes of lighting. while this was very atmospheric & somewhat sinister (it felt very mary shelley's frankenstein, which i finished reading about a month ago), it made taking photographs somewhat of a farce as i didn't want to get any water in my camera lens. this meant that whenever i wanted to take a picture i had to get my mother to hold an umbrella over me and then shuffle about as i took photographs. it was a tad on the ridiculous side.

the rain also meant we spent rather a long time searching for jim morrison's grave as the route was very slippy and that part of the cemetery was very confusing to get around. eventually we found it, after passing it twice without realising.

apparently one of the traditions for visitors of the cemetery is to drink alcohol, take drugs or have sex on his grave (i seriously am not kidding!), so now there is a permanent security guard there, something which i find rather hilarious.

oscar wilde's grave was, by comparison, very easy to find, mainly because it's a huge stone structure covered in lipstick kisses (another tradition for tourists). people had left all sorts of gifts there, from paper cranes to an aerosol of breath freshener. oscar wilde truly is one of my favourite writers; he's witty, insightful, very clever, a feminist and had a way with words which is beautifully poetic as well as being crystal clear.

also, ten points to anyone who recognised the smiths/oscar wilde related song in the post title.

a paraphased quote from oscar.

there is something so beautiful about a moss-covered grave.

in other news, i saw harry potter last night with two of my friends! it was so good, really went beyond my expectations (even though the ron/hermione kiss was a bit weird compared to how its depicted in the book) & i must admit i welled up a fair few times.

roman holiday

hello everyone!

late on wednesday night, i arrived back from rome to a very rainy, very cold newcastle. although truth be told, rome was not that unrainy & warm itself!

i have a hallowe'en party tomorrow (you're damn right i put the apostrophe in!), so i wanted to post the rome pictures first, so i didn't get all muddled up.

also, regarding that giveaway i've been failing to do for so long, i have had a cracking idea for what to do for it, which i shall definitely be posting on in the next two weeks. if not, you can all have my guts for garters - and what attractive garters they shall be!

disturbing imagery over, now for some less disturbing images (oh yes, i can link things with the best of them);

this was some pretty arch thing by the colosseum. i'll be honest, i don't know what half these buildings are. rome is chock full of ruins you know! i mean, state the obvious, but it really is! you literally cannot take 5 steps without another one popping into view.

i actually know what this building is! it's a monument to the "father of italy", victorini or something along those lines. anyway, it's a huuuuge building made of white marble & i think part of it is a museum/art gallery. i say i think because i visited a vincent van gogh exhibition while i was in rome & i'm fairly sure it was in this building, but i'm becoming less & less sure of that even as i type! the exhibition was incredible, i could just stare at his paintings for hours. luckily starry night wasn't there or i would have had to be dragged out the building!

edit; yeah, so i was wrong. paha, i am such a historical knowledge failure! the van gogh exhibition was in a completely different place, however i do have a valid reason for being confused as this white building was covered in posters for the exhibition.

trevy fountain, of course.

there's a really dorky photo of me throwing a coin over my shoulder here, which i don't think even went in!

buildings in rome are just. so. pretty.

the colosseum, seen from our open-top bus!

the hotel we stayed in was in walking distance from here, although we couldn't actually see it from there which was a bit of a bummer.



i was pretty tired the first day we arrived, so while we waited for my cousin etd to arrive, i did a bit of light reading on our cute little balcony. i don't know if you can see the title, but what i was reading was lolita by vladimir nabokov - which i have now finished.

viva la vida (or death and all his friends)

holaaa! as you can see, i have now returned from spain!

i must apologised for the slightly delayed post (i arrived back on saturday), there was a bit of a water/laptop incident but it's all sorted now!

thank you for all the lovely comments while i was away, i shall reply to all of the soon & wrap up the giveaway post soon! unfortunately, my camera got a bit of sand in the lens while i was on holiday & doesn't work any more (although i'm getting it fixed tonight!) so sadly new photographs on my posts might be a bit thin on the ground from here on in. not to worry though, i have plenty of things to post about anyway! beginning with a few holiday snaps that i was able to take;

the view from our little residence

our friend the gecko.

the underground caves we visited one day.

we also visited the pablo picasso museum in malaga while we were there, which was really amazing. i'm not a huge fan of picasso's work, but i respect him huge amounts. there were quite a few sketches of his that i found very interesting, because he could actually draw. i know that sounds a bit silly, but i didn't realise how good he was at just drawing - i mean, you'd never guess from his paintings that he could recreate the human form so well. i managed to spend nearly 8 euros on postcards of his work!

tomorrow is my first day back at school & i haven't done all the work i was supposed to, eek! goodbye until next time (:

isabella necessary

- scheduled post -

i will be on holiday until 4th of september

*

seeing as i'm currently away on holiday, i thought i would make at leats one of my scheduled posts holiday themed. so, without further ado, here are my holiday essentials.

number one; skincare.

i have dry skin & on holiday with all the sun & sea water it can tend to dry out even more, so i always pack a good, light moisturiser & some handcream. of course, suncream is a must! generally i wear factors 30-40 as i have very pale skin, factor 20 (as shown here) is for those cloudy days. face wipes i think are always good to have too, especially as i can't really be bothered with a proper routine on holiday.

number two; hair products

for me, dry hair shampoo is an absolute godsend! i wash my hair every day on holiday anyway, but it's nice just to give your hair a bit of a lift after a long day. i always pack plenty of hairgrips & bobbles too, especially as my hair looks unbelievably unpresentable in the heat (serious frizz issues people).

number three; electrical equipment

it is the most frustrating thing when you go away to find that you're left your charger for your camera at home. this has happened to me several times, & i was not at all happy. now i'm making sure i pack them, so as to avoid any frustration!

number four; jewellery & accessories

i am a major overpacker. seriously, it is so so difficult for me to pack light! it's very annoying to because i rarely ever wear any jewellery, & i never wear about half of the clothes i take with me. this is the only jewellery i'm allowing myself to take with me this year - two pairs of earrings (one stud pair & one dangly), three necklaces, two changeable chains & two pendants & two bracelets. i'm also taking a few flowers & ribbons for my hair.