Adventure

Paris Part 2, Saturday

Posted on July 11, 2012July 9, 2012 by ghotiindustries

We disembarked from the Metro at the Place de la Concorde, stopping briefly to get rained on and take pictures of a dramatic sky over the Tour Eiffel.

Then it was a leisurely stroll through the Jardin Des Tuileries where we stopped for coffee and to spend time with the ducks absorbing the atmosphere.

We happened across a free photography exhibit going on in the gardens that was a single photographer who had taken over 2 million photographs out of his single window in Korea. It was in incredible display that highlighted for us what a difference decent equipment and printing/framing can make to the end product of your photography.

It was then on to the Musée du Louvre! This was such a big thing for me! I can’t even describe to you how excited I was. Of course the thousands of other patrons that day felt similar I’m sure…

The queue management was exceptional, and though the line was long, we didn’t wait long to go through the metal detectors, and we were under the giant glass pyramid!

With limited time we headed for medieval Louvre and the Egyptian artefacts. There is so much to see that we just had to make a decision and this wing won the coin toss for this visit. Next visit I’ll see paintings. But you can’t really complain when there’s this.

This just reminds me that I need to work on my hand writing!

Walking through crowds and photographing everything we saw was taking up time though, and we had tickets that night which required a sprucing up and a change of outfit! We had tickets to dinner and a show!

Dinner was at La Fermette Beuf. And my picture of their décor simply doesn’t do the place justice! Click on the link!

It was incredible, and the food delicious! I suddenly want a house decorated all in Art Nouveau! Oh no, wait … I’ve always wanted that …

But we had a show to get to, and time was running out! And we discovered the hard way that seating is not reserved and we would have done well to get there earlier, and will the next time we go.

But as a birthday present to Himself, we went to the Crazy Horse! (SFW Wiki link)

It was an awesome show! Some skits were better than others, some held our attention better, but all in all the show was well worth the trip!

And of course, the tower is a beacon in the night.

One day left!

Adventure is out there!

Posted on July 9, 2012July 9, 2012 by ghotiindustries

Oh the places you’ll go, the things you’ll see! – Dr Suess

So this post may not be entirely normal, as this weekend I did something that I’ve never done before. Actually, I did several things that I’ve never done before! The first was boarding a train to travel internationally.

Now, this may not mean much to most people, but when you grow up in Australia, when you catch a train, you can only ever get to other parts of Australia. Even traveling in a straight line for days, you still only reach more of Australia!

We were on a train for just over 3 hours (a trip to Canberra), and ended up here…

Yes, that’s right. We went to PARIS! *has a moment* Left on Friday night after work, and were back Sunday afternoon.

We have a gift though. We crossed countries (I’ve now been through Belgium! Another first!), and changed major international city, and still wound up in the Red Light District.

This is the day we woke up to. Weather was threatening rain, and given a friend of mine had just left Paris a few days earlier and it had been so hot she was unable to sleep, I was grateful for the respite in the heat.

This is the most comfortable bed I have slept in since arriving in Europe, and I’m not afraid to admit it. I can’t wait for our stuff to arrive. And the hotel had REAL black out curtains. *cries tears of joy*

Over breakfast we planned out our day. Wouldn’t be France without croissants and espresso. We’ll just gloss over the fact that this is what Himself has for breakfast every day…

Yet again, the architecture defines the city. The beautiful ironwork balustrades, covered with plant boxes, shutters, and the windows in the rooves. This is Paris.

Then it as off to the Metro to begin our days excitement!

I can’t get over how well looked after, clean, efficient, and old the metro is!

This’ll be a big week for posting folks, I hope you don’t mind too much following along on our adventure! 😀

Movements

Posted on June 29, 2012July 3, 2013 by ghotiindustries

For the past few months we have been living in the centre of it all.

Very near here in fact.

And on the other side …

For the hell of it, this is a photo of garbage night in Amsterdam. This takes place twice a week, and the piles of rubbish along the tiny narrow streets average 5’ high, 3’ deep, and 20’ long. It’s an experience! Especially when you’re surrounded by pubs, cafes, and restaurants!

In one hectic weekend, we went out of town to a wedding. This involved driving for the first time in Continental Europe. It was an experience! Sorry for the blur, but my eyes were having trouble focusing on the drive back at 1am!

We caught up with some more tourists who I took for a brief tour around Amsterdam. (though this wasn’t technically on the weekend, but a few days later. They were at the same wedding on the weekend… does that count?)

We also moved all our stuff to a new, and yet still temporary, abode. This is now what’s down the road from us. Still a canal, but just a touch greener!

I can’t wait to discover what’s at the end of this path!

I’ve also been getting lots of fabulous old fashioned post! So now I just have to write back to you all! Thank you so much! I’ve missed having pen pals! 😀

Visiting Volendam, Marken, and Windmills

Posted on June 18, 2012June 18, 2012 by ghotiindustries

Tourist Season had a second shot this weekend. Our guests were very generous and purchased us tickets on a tour! So we stepped out of Amsterdam for just a few short but fun-filled hours!

We began our little tour by hopping on a bus at the Damrak and heading for Zaanse Schans to play in some real, old fashioned, still working, windmills.

This particular windmill was a spice windmill where they were grinding mustard.

But there were a host of other windmills in the surrounding area and the smell of cocoa being ground pervaded the air. It was delicious!

Then we were herded back on to the bus and zoomed off to our next destination! The quaint little fishing village of Volendam.

There was plenty to see here, and it was all geared towards the tourist dollar. We spotted four different shops where you could dress up in “authentic” dress to have your picture taken. Himself declined, so I took photos of the boats instead.

Time slipped away and we were shuffled off on our own boat to our next and final destination of Marken. It was here in amongst the traditional houses that we saw a brief talk on how they make cheese from cow, sheep, and goat milk. All these cheeses were delicious! We also saw a demonstation on how clogs are made!

They are made from either poplar or willow and are still worn by farmers today.

It was quite something to see! I will buy some, I just didn’t want to feel rushed into a decision today.

Then it was back on the bus and returned to Amsterdam! All up, five hours well spent. I can’t wait to go back to each destination with some more time to take a LOT more photos!

Himself had a birthday

Posted on May 30, 2012 by ghotiindustries

Himself had a birthday. We decided that in honour of this occasion, we would go somewhere we hadn’t been yet; Leidseplein!

With a high concentration of bars, pubs, clubs, and cafes, we knew we’d be sure to find something that suited us.

The first place that had looked likely in an online search provided us with pre-dinner drinks.

Not the cocktails we were hoping for, but it was the poor nervous barmans first night on the job and he was a touch clueless. Sweet, but clueless. By the way, that is how you get mixed drinks in Amsterdam. If you’re lucky it’s the liquor (vodka) in one glass and a bottle of what you decide to mix it with. If you’re unlucky it’s a glass of each. They turn up as 4 separate items on the receipt too!

We were the only patron in that bar and it was 8:30. It was also a Tuesday night. We shuffled on.

ambling up the road a bit we stumbled across an Italian Trattoria. You’d think after Leichhardt we would have had enough Italian food, but in we went. Himself likes Italian!

We began with a wine selection

Then antipasto

Followed by calamari fritti

And as usual, we were too busy eating it to get a photo of the veal saltimbocca. (Veal with prosciutto and cheese) Trust me, it was delicious.

We were the third couple in there. Of the other two, one were English tourists, and the other were American tourists, and as we were leaving another group of Americans came in for pizza.

The two staff who were on seemed very taken with the fact that we were practicing our overly rusty Italian on them. We all had fun. 🙂

The fountain outside hotel Americana puts on a good show too.

Then it was time to take in the final sights as we waited for the tram to take us home.

Thank you Leidseplein, it was a truly lovely evening.

And happy Birthday Himself. May the adventures only continue My Love. *smoochies*

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