Honeymooning in…PARIS!

Posted in City, Coffee, Europe, France by La Vie By C

We chose to finish off our honeymoon in très romantique Paris. We stayed in the Sofitel Paris Le Faubourg which is in a fantastic location, right around the corner from Concorde metro station and the Hotel de Crillon (side note: that’s one amaaaaaaazing hotel). The Sofitel is on the same street as the American embassy and there were police on each end of the street blocking vehicular access…just a little odd. The Sofitel has Hermès toiletries so let’s just say we now have quite a collection 😉 We didn’t really hang around the hotel at all (there’s not really that much to it), instead we spent as much time as possible traipsing the cobblestone streets. The hotel is just across the road from the Jardin des Tuileries so it’s really a wonderful location if you like pottering about.

We had cocktails at Les Ambassadeurs at the Hotel de Crilllon just around the corner one evening. One should be overdressed for this activity!! Luckily, I had my wedding shoes (read: rent) to ‘spruce up’ my holey jeans. HA!

Said shoes/babies…

We bought some tickets to the Moulin Rouge one afternoon for that evening. There are a few sittings most nights; we chose the 9pm with a bottle of champagne. The seating in there is super tight but the cabaret show is worth seeing. They do have live animals as part of the show which we were not expecting; not really necessary to be honest but something to bear in mind…

Moulin Rouge

Visiting the Louvre

We purchased tickets online a couple of days before visiting the Louvre. It was our first visit and hopefully not our last so we just decided to do a little of the museum, check out the Mona Lisa, good ol Venus di Milo and just a little bit more. We need to leave some stuff for future trips to Paris so we only went in for about 3 hours – I think you could spend a month just getting meandering the halls here.

Lots of people queue outside the Pyramid but if you go downstairs in to the shopping centre, Le Carrousel du Louvre, you can pick up tickets in the tobacco shop, La Civette du Louvre if you fancy skipping any queues 🙂

Carrousel Arc de Triomphe

The Louvre Pyramid

Pavillon Richelieu

You can pick up Louvre Tickets here

We used this entrance – in the Carrousel du Louvre shopping centre

Already lost

Getting all artsy

Beautiful inside, beautiful outside

Venus di Milo

View from inside the Louvre

She’s beautiful at night too

Visiting Musée de l’Orangerie

After a trip to the Louvre it only makes sense to walk down the beautifully manicured Jardin des Tuileries to the Musée de l’Orangerie. Although we’ve been before it’s going to be forever on my list to do in Paris since Monet is without question the greatest artist that ever did live. For sure next visit we’ll do Monet’s garden in Giverny.

Jardin des Tuileries

Oh to look at this Renoir every day…

Renoir

Miles of Monet

Getting a closer look

Water Lillies

Visiting the Eiffel Tower

We took an evening trip to visit the Eiffel Tower after pizza and a wander by the Seine one evening. It was a last minute decision (like most experiences when we’re travelling) but when there’s no queue you just seize the day!

Sunsets

Pont Alexandre III

The perfect evening

Eiffel Tower

In all her splendour

I don’t even know how to explain this chap!

What can I see!!

View from the Eiffel Tower

Oh so pretty!

Rue Gustave Eiffel

Parisian Wanderings

Are there any ugly buildings in Paris?

Strolling the Seine

Coffee stop!

Shop fronts

Petite street strolls

Les Deux Magots, Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Saint-Germain-des-Prés

27Jan2018

A stroll through Chateau de Versailles

Posted in City, Europe, France, UNESCO by La Vie By C

We took a taxi (c.€50) from Paris to Versailles because we just could not be faffed getting on public transport PLUS it was before 9am AND we were on honeymoon. Easy decision!

Tickets (Versailles is not open on Mondays)

We didn’t purchase a ticket in advance as visiting was a last minute decisions for us; even though we arrived quite early we still had to queue for a good hour. I’d definitely recommend picking up a ticket in advance. It was worth the queue though!

On admission we high-tailed it upstairs to get a hot chocolate from Angelina, sustenance for the hours we knew we’d be walking around the gardens! We checked out the Hall of Mirrors first, actually we ended up inadvertently skipping the queue (which starts outside in the main entrance courtyard – to your right if you’re looking in the entrance gate), by going in the opposite direction to everyone else! After we checked out bedrooms, hallways, ceilings and floors we wandered out to the stunning gardens and spent most of our visit out there. During the summer months, there are musical fountain shows; basically there’s classical music playing and the fountains are ‘dancing’ to the rhythm. We meandered through the gardens for a couple of hours and after we exited the Chateau de Versailles we crossed the road and visited the Coach Gallery. It only opens in the afternoon and is quite small but houses the most ornate horsey paraphernalia you could possibly imagine! It’s free so worth a little trip in. We caught the train back (RER C) in to Paris after lunch in a local spot. Such a lovely morning and afternoon!

Kind of an ornate entrance

What an entrance gate!

Queuing…

I could wake up here!

Beautiful ceiling

You know what this place needs more of? Gold.

A bust at Versailles

And another…

Welcome to the Hall of Mirrors

Hall of Mirrors

Pretty epic first impression!!

Garden Arches

Those colours!!

Latona Fountain

The Coach Gallery

The Coach Gallery

Sleds!

1Jan2018

Monaco, Èze and Avignon, the French Riviera

Posted in Europe, France, UNESCO by La Vie By C

Monaco

We left Genoa/Genova in Italy for the 2 hour jaunt across the French border in to the stunning French Riveria, stopping off at Monaco for a quick coffee on the way. I had been to Monaco on a girls trip a few years ago so had done the Prince’s Palace and seen all about Princess Grace, not exactly something John was too into visiting but from last trip, I recommend taking a tour of the palace if you can fit it in. As we wandered Monaco’s waterside, I thought I’d give a cappuccino a go, randomly at the Wine Palace Monte-Carlo, it was AMAZING. John just goes for a long black but that was apparently awesome too. At a wine shop.Who knew?!

Prince’s Palace of Monaco up on the hill

Views for everyone!

Yep, that’s a yacht in a yacht

Back of the Casino Monte Carlo

Botero’s Adam et Eve

Èze, France

If you’re looking for the most beautiful village in the universe, get yourself to Èze. It’s just a 15 minute drive uphill from Monaco. We spent a few hours meandering this little medieval spot (mostly looking for a parking spot – haha – this is like 40% accurate – it did take us ages and we ended up parking quite a bit away and walking in to the village – or you could just park at the Fragonard factory/perfumerie right at the base of the village). There are lots of little cafes, shops and art galleries to check out in Èze. The scent of lavender emanates from even the stones here – you can pick up soaps, pillows, post-cards, lotions, candles…whatever you can think of that you could possibly put a drop of lavender in here. We stopped for lunch at Deli’ and it was delicious. The staff were very helpful too. We brought home some flavoured olive oils here from A L’Olivier and I’m now planning our next trip to Èze…which is looking likely to revolve around olive oil. Rightly so.

Village map

Èze

Taking in the surroundings

Bougainvillea, gets me every time

Craving the ancient

Lavande

Inspo!

Who wouldn’t like a French escape pad?

Gorgeous

The Church of Èze

Garden of Èze

I’ll take them all!

Teas, herbs and spices

Avignon, France

We continued on our journey for about another 3 hours from Èze to Avignon, and spent the night at La Mirande. You really need to follow the hotel’s directions to find yourself at their door – it’s not easy to drive around Avignon; all one-way and closed off minuscule streets. We just had an evening in Avignon, a UNESCO listed site, so took a wander around and had dinner at the hotel’s garden restaurant and a morning courtyard breakfast before leaving for the drive to PARIS!! Avignon is a lovely town to spend some time. There are lots of shops here for souvenir hunting but also plenty of history. The Palace of the Popes/Palais des Papes was built in the 14th century as Avignon was the seat of the papacy back then. It sits right in front of La Mirande; there’s even a passageway from the downstairs kitchen/cooking school across to the palace.

The Pont Saint-Bénézet/Pont d’Avignon bridge houses the church of St. Nicholas and is a must visit on a trip to Avignon. Four of the original 22 arches still stand.

La Mirande

Cosy rooms at La Mirande

Palais des Papes

Pont Saint-Bénézet/Pont d’Avignon

Options, options!!

Opera Theatre d’Avignon

Strolling in Avignon

Soaps all around

Mmm tea!

31Dec2017

Cinque Terre, Italy

Posted in Beach, Europe, Italy by La Vie By C

Our time at the Cinque Terre, or five villages on the Italian coast was really more of a whistle-stop tour. We were in the area and couldn’t just pass by without checking it out. Obviously. We drove from Rome up the coast as we needed to spend one night in Genoa before hopping back over the border in to France. It’s actually a much easier trip from Florence – just about 2 hours drive. The Cinque Terre was a necessary stop on our route as we just had to get some vitamin sea 🙂 It’s hard to pick just one village to stop off at so we settled on checking out a few, research for a possible future longer trip I guess! Honestly, the parking situation isn’t great but it’s also not as much of a nightmare as the internet makes out. If you can, forego bringing the car but there are parking spots if you’re patient. Leave space for gelato 😉

Here’s a little photo essay of our afternoon drive-by:

Oh yeah!

That there is vino growing land

Those views

Corniglia

The colours here – just beautiful

Talk about an enticing entrance

Vernazza; flood damage from 2011

Vernazza’s streets

Vernazza

Vernazza’s beach

Fishing time!

Perfect lunch spot!

31Dec2017

Rome, Italy

Posted in City, Europe, Italy, Shopping by La Vie By C

We drove from Florence down to Rome, stopping in beautiful Siena and then the Abbey of San Galgano (a gothic roof-less church – great pit stop!) en-route. It’s a nice leisurely drive with stunning scenery if you get off the main roads.

Olive Groves

Abbey of San Galgano

We stayed in a lovely AirBnB just off the Spanish Steps and the Piazza di Spagna; it was a wonderful location – walking distance to everything!! We headed straight for cocktails on our first evening in Rome. The Hassler Hotel has a great garden bar called the Palm Court. It was very quiet so we just had some cocktails and played our first game of backgammon. Hooked…

Babingtons Tea Rooms (so English in the middle of Rome) sits right next to the Spanish Steps and is a great (albeit with a saucy price tag) place for afternoon tea or a light lunch. I opted to go all Audrey Hepburn and chose their Vacanze Romane tea…all about those little roses.

Spanish Steps with the Babington Tea Rooms on the bottom left

Babington’s tea choice

Babingtons

Just down the street, on Via Condotti, is Antico Caffe Greco, Roma’s oldest cafe – established in 1760. Wowsers! Make like a local and grap a cappuccino in the morning standing at the bar. Apparently it was quite the spot for the literary crowd back in the day. It’s dark, with red walls adorned with art, absolutely worth a look. There’s plenty of shopping around this area. & Other Stories was hit up 😉

Caffe Grecco

We did a lot of meandering around Rome’s streets; taking in many, many gelato spots. We happened upon the Trevvi Fountain on numerous occasions, a nice little treat. It’s jammed packed with people 100% of the time – coins are flying left, right and centre and there are police screaming at tourists not to touch anything. Not a relaxing spot but beautiful all the same.

Trevvi Fountain

This car needs to be in my life

We happened upon the Pantheon a few times – it’s absolutely worth a wander in – it’s beautiful (and free). The doors are amazing – they’re bronze and mega #doorsoftheworld. It’s a good stop en-route to La Gelateria Frigidarium. Must visit. We tried a few but I’m a stracciatella lady all the way. Dipped in chocolate. Oh yeah. There’s a stunning square called Piazza Navona just around the corner from here, it’s probably the world’s most beautiful square. The perfect location for a romantic evening stroll (with gelato dripping down your arms)…

Pantheon

The oculus or roof of the Pantheon

Pantheon entrance

Those doors!

You can’t go to Rome and not visit the Colosseum and Roman Forum area. The queues and heat there are INSANE. Pre-book so you don’t have to queue and definitely bring water. Sorted!

Colosseum

Roman Forum

Surprises around every corner

Walking away from the Colosseum we came across a Botero exhibition at Museo Central del Risorgimento, on Piazza Venezia. We first came across Botero in Colombia so we’ve been admirers ever since.

Botero’s bronze horse

Forgotten Rome…beauty

The Vatican

We got up bright and early to go visit the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel on our last day in Rome. Got there and turns out the Sistine Chapel was closed!! There are a few odd dates in the whole year when it’s closed and pretty typically we picked one of these dates haha. I had seen it on a school tour a while back but it sucks that John didn’t get to see the Sistine Chapel. Guess we’ll have to go back!

This way!

St. Peter’s Basilica

9Oct2017

Siena, Italy

Posted in City, Europe, Italy by La Vie By C

Well, Siena’s rather pretty!! We only had a couple of hours here as we were travelling to Rome but we got a great vibe and can’t wait to return! We were really lucky with our timing as the whole city was decorated beautifully for the Palio di Siena, a horse-race held twice a year (July and August) with 10 horses racing from the city’s 17 contrade/districts. Each contrade has a unique colourful flag and they’re hung with pride out of the buildings in the city. We were in Siena a few days before the August race and all of the main square, Piazza del Campo, is encircled with a grandstand. There’s lots of restaurants underneath which were open – the heat was ridiculous there so we sat in for a drink in a cafe that had misting machines over the tables – look out for them – my favourite invention EVER!! Siena’s Palio features in James Bond – Quantum of Solace. There’s a great article on the event here.

Arriving in Siena

Siena’s contrade

I think this should be my team!

We started our morning at Caffe Fiorella Torrefazione for cappuccinos standing at the bar. How very Italiano of us!! As we meandered around the cobblestoned streets, sidestepping the crowds and visiting little shops. We came across a little deli called Pizzicheria De Miccoli which is an attraction in itself. It’s brimming with charcuterie, cheeses and paninis out the door! The exterior is insta-worthy for sure. It’s worth a trip in for a takeaway panini for a picnic later in the day…unless you’re vegetarian.

Morning!

Piazza del Camp

I’ll take it all!

Siena has one of the most beautiful cathedrals I’ve ever seen. There’s so much pink!! It’s stunning. The queues start early and there’s no shade so I’d recommend going as early as possible if you want to get inside.

Siena’s beautiful Cathedral

Up close

Getting ready…

La Vie by C

Category Archives: Europe

Honeymooning in…PARIS!

A stroll through Chateau de Versailles

Monaco, Èze and Avignon, the French Riviera

Cinque Terre, Italy

Rome, Italy

Siena, Italy

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