Monday, June 16, 2014

Guess who's back? Part 2.

Hi lovelies,

Welcome to Part 2 of my Euro trip.  If you're interested, you can find Part 1 here.

From Paris:

The very famous Notre Dame cathedral. I'm going to go on photo overload because it was so stunning inside, it actually brought tears to my eyes.



Keep reading after the jump!





No trip to Paris would be complete without a visit to Laduree. This was located on the Champs Elysee and the tea rooms inside were simply beautiful.
Laduree Champs Elysee.
Naturally, I had to drop in to take a look when I came across Sephora while walking along the Champs Elysee. Unfortunately, they weren't keen on me taking photos (not sure why?) so I will leave it at just this one photo.
Sephora Champs Elysee.
No visit to Paris was complete without a visit to the Eiffel Tower. It was incredibly cold the day we visited, so we didn't end up going up as the queue was incredibly long, but it was lovely looking at it nevertheless. We also visited at night but the night view photos are on my DSLR and haven't been uploaded yet.
Le Eiffel Tower.
Another place I'd always wanted to visit was the Pont des Arts, the famous 'bridge of love' which spans the River Seine. You can just see the back of the Louvre Museum at the end of the bridge. If you aren't familiar with it, couples are known to attach padlocks signifying their love to the bridge, throwing the key into the Seine. There have been concerns about the weight of the locks putting stress on the structure of the bridge and the rusting keys causing contamination in the river, some of which may be warranted as a section of the bridge collapsed just last week. Nevertheless, it's quite a beautiful sight and one which touches the heart of this hopeless romantic (it's also a great place to get drawn into a tourist scam so be warned if you ever visit).
Pont des Arts.
After strolling the Pont des Arts, we made our way to the Louvre. I took this panoramic shot because it reminded me of a scene from Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code.
The Louvre.
The museum was massive and I could happily have spent an entire week wandering its many halls. I did manage to see the Impressionist piece it's most famous for, which brings me to...
The Mona Lisa.
Because I'm just a little bit entranced with the pyramid, let's just look at another photo of it...


From Belgium:

My aunt was attending a conference so I tagged along to explore Belgium. We stayed in Brussels for 4 days, and here are some of the things we saw.

Mannekin Pis is a very famous statue in Brussels, and I will let you read about it here. In case you're wondering, yes, it IS a statue of a little boy urinating into a fountain (and that is a word I never thought would appear on my blog).


The Grand Place is a famous landmark in Brussels and a World Heritage Site. While it's beautiful in the daytime, it's truly stunning at night.

 If you know who Tin Tin is, there was a little shop in Brussels dedicated to him!

While in Brussels, we stayed at the very creatively named hotel, 'The Hotel'. Naturally, it was the very same hotel that Obama decided to stay in on his visit to Brussels! It was rather interesting as there were police, secret service and many other security personnel out and about. Metal detectors and security screens were set up in the foyer, and there were snipers positioned in the buildings surrounding the hotel.

I also took the train to Bruges, about an hour and a half outside of Brussels. It's a lovely city that's also on the World Heritage Site.


It's full of canals and beautiful architecture!

And the highest profusion of gourmet chocolate shops I've ever seen!

There you have it, lovelies...my European adventure. Thank you again for staying with me through everything, I appreciate the support more than I can ever express!

Much love,
MM.
x

14 comments:

  1. I really want to visit Paris too!! Nevermind, glad to hear you enjoyed your vacation!

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    1. You really should, Reshma! I never thought I would, so it was literally a dream come true!

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  2. what fantastic pictures!! I'm glad you saw so many European wonders -love Bruges, it's a fabulous place!

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    1. Lou, THANK YOU so much for taking the time to meet me in Paris and all the travel tips!!! I really appreciate it! It was so good catching up! I hope I get to see you again soon! ♥

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  3. Welcome back beautiful!!! So glad to see you enjoyed your trip, it's made me green with envy and I want to go back and do Europe again!

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    1. Thank you, sweetheart! Honestly, writing this made me nostalgic too, I feel like hopping on the next flight back there!

      xx

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  4. That's weird about Sephora not letting you take pictures. And those padlocks! Ahh... I'm a bit of a hopeless romantic too, so that's sweet, although the rusting... not so good.

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    1. I thought so too! The staff were generally lovely, but when I was trying to take a few snaps of the interior, one came up to me, wagging her finger and saying 'no, no, no'! Go figure!

      I agree, they should just sell padlocks with biodegradable keys. :P

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  5. Wow, I loved checking out your photos, hun. I'm happy to see that you had an amazing time. However, selfishly, I'm glad you're back xx

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    1. Thank you so much, Michelle!
      Can't wait to catch up on everything I've missed out on. :)

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  6. I have some friends who just recently got married and on their honeymoon they put a lock on that bridge. Soo romantic! You trip looks amazing, what a wonderful experience. Glad to see you enjoyed your trip and also happy to see you back!

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  7. I'm overwhelmed by the sheer volume of padlocks on that bridge. I can just imagine it would be a bit of tourist trap! I particularly love the Brussels canal photo as it looks so green and serene - I'm sure you must be carrying lots of wonderful memories with you because it looks like the trip of a lifetime. :)

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    1. Oh Vita, you have no idea! There were padlocks UPON padlocks UPON padlocks!

      There were also con artists working the bridge, they would pick up a 'gold' ring and try to hand it to you...if you said it wasn't yours, they'd suggest you take it as a sign of good luck...and then they'd try to follow you and ask for money!

      That photo from Bruges is one of my favourites from this trip. :) I confess to feeling a little bit nostalgic for Europe!

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