What to do in Paris on a Sunday

If you love shopping and ever decide go to Paris for a short while be sure to avoid being there on a Sunday as practically everything is closed! Yes! Even Lafayette, Colette, Chanel and any other big shops that you associate with Paris! (Except for the huge Louis Vuitton shop on the Champs Elysees) So what can you do? Having only one day with my mum in Paris, I was determined to find some fun activities for us to do - even if there was going to be no shopping involved!

So this is what we ended up doing ...

Have a nice long brunch 

We went to Angelina, which I talked about in my last post. Eat a few courses, slowly enjoying your warm beverage and all the pastries and other delicious things you can. Just take your time! (Look at all the food we had! Think about how long we took! Yup! Relax!)


Take a stroll in a park

I was really lucky to have been blessed with a few days of sun and warmth. (Literally the first time I'd seen the sun in over a month due to typical London weather and monsoon style rain in Hong Kong every day). I was so not used to being warm that I wore totally inappropriate winter clothing and ended up melting in my woollen dress. So we visited the Jardin de Tuileries as it was close by. It was full of tourists and Parisians wearing minimal clothing, sunbathing on the green chairs - just enjoying life! Another amazing park to visit is obviously the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Visit a museum

The Louvre is free on the first Sunday of every month. Obviously this means even longer lines. We decided not to go to the Louvre anyway for fear of queuing, even though it wasn't the first Sunday of the month (but it's the Louvre, what do you expect)

Instead we visited the Musee d'Orangerie with their massive Monet paintings and other wide range of impressionist paintings. It's small, and only has two floors (one of which is just occupied with 8 of those massive Monet paintings) so it's a refreshing little museum.

We also visited the Musee d'Orsay as there is a good deal if you buy tickets to the two museums, costing 16€. Like most museums in Paris, it is free for EU residents aged 18-24, just show your passport/ID.The Musee d'Orsay is absolutely huge and has billions of rooms filled with paintings (it has the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings in the whole world), sculptures, photography and even antique furniture from all over the world.  It has many floors and I personally thought it was a too big (after one art museum, then the next), we spent a good 4-5 hours walking around museums that day, and I was hot and uncomfortable and tired. So wear comfy shoes and check the weather forecast (and BELIEVE it!) 

Mum has had enough of all the Art and has chained herself to this weird sofa thing...

After getting kicked out of the museum as it closed at 6:30, I decided that it was time for mussels, even though I was still so full from my brunch.

Have Mussels at Leon de Bruxelles

The iconic mussel place that I always go to in France. It might be a chain, and it might be in London now too, but they just have the most delicious mussels and although the service is a bit shit most of the time, the food is just the best.
And what's even better? ALL YOU CAN EAT MUSSELS + FRIES EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT! (For only like 22€!)

Oh yes! Sadly I was a little too full from brunch to attempt that challenge.

Of course there is so much more you can do on a Sunday in Paris that I haven't included here, such as visiting a market in the morning, like the flea market or some food markets (which is something I wanted to do but didn't get around to doing it the end!) or just the standard, tourist style sightseeing (Tour Eiffel, Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur etc.)

Paris : Brunch at Angelina's

Angelina is a beautiful cafe/restaurant  on Rue de Rrivoli right opposite the Jardin de Tuleries, often featured on TV and magazines with a shop selling tea time goods and a patisserie filled with with goodies.

We decided to go for the brunch set which consisted of :

Tea, coffee or their renowned hot chocolate. 

I highly recommend the hot chocolate as it is what Angelina is famous. It is like no other hot chocolate I've ever drunken. It's dense, creamy and oh so chocolatey without being so sweet it gives you diabetes.

Orange, grapefruit or lemon juice. 

My mum decided to be gutsy and go for the lemon juice, and lemme tell u this, its definitely not for the faint hearted. It is literally just a squeezed lemon....

Bread and jam/honey

A selection of pastries : raisin pastry, pain au chocolat and a croissant.

Eggs, and you could choose between scrambled, boiled, fried or omelette. I got the omelette. For 3€ extra you can add ham and cheese and that's what I did (but only cheese since I don't eat meat).

An entree : Foie gras pâté with toast and fig chutney or Norwegian smoked salmon with creme fraiche and blinis (which is what I got)

Fruit salad  (which I forgot to take a picture of...but it is just some chopped fruits in a bowl....instead...here is a photo of me and my mum.)

2 macarons (which are rather mediocre as they didn't melt in your mouth Pierre Herme style...)

All for 39€! Definitely cheaper than individually ordering different things (just the hot chocolate is 7.50€, or the omelette is usually like 15€!)

We also got tried the truffle ravioli (24€) as it sounded so tempting and good but I was a little disappointed as the fillings of the ravioli were very cheesy but not very truffley :(

Overall it was a lovely Sunday brunch experience, and I think that the brunch set is really worth it as me and my mum actually shared it (as well as the ravioli) and by the end we were absolutely stuffed! There is also a very lovely ambiance and decor (so very French!) but it tends to be rather touristy (but if you're a tourist too, why the hell not!)

And then life happened?

Hi everyone. It has been a little too long. I guess life just happened like it always does, and all I have now is a bunch of incomplete blogposts saved as drafts...

But I have been truly insanely busy so far. I started university in London (very exciting times, and guess what potentially a lot to blog about!). The beauty about living in London is that it is so easy to go anywhere I want. Without the fuss of parents, and with the benefits of cheap tickets and being so close to so many exciting places in Europe, I could hop on a plane for a weekend trip to anywhere I want anytime! Oh, and being an adult helps too.

Tourist life in Amsterdam...

Sneaky trip to Brighton!

And to Edinburgh in hopes of molesting a Scotland High Cow...

Oh and lets not forget my little trip to Oxford where all i did was buy Roti and go to a club.

So stay tuned as I promise there will be more to come! I'm in Hong Kong now for Easter break, but I'm going to Paris at the end of this week for some shopping and food just to then return to London for a few weeks of exams but then to be greeted by a month of doing NOTHING in London (again another great opportunity to explore London's full glory) and then I'll be going to Russia for a month!

Told you it was going to be exciting! Then this summer it's probably going to be Hong Kong again, New York, and if i'm lucky I might get to follow my mum on her travels somewhere exotic and new.

Meanwhile I should try and finish those blog posts so there is something to read about!

Summer in Forte Dei Marmi

One of the main problems of doing something interesting instead of sitting at home, is that I have to sacrifice internet and my connection with the world.

Although the beach along the coast (Forte dei Marmi, Cinquale, Massa, etc.) all claimed to have wifi, it was obviously a piece of shit and never worked (unless I started walking up and down the shore waving my ipod touch around like a lunatic).

I have been going to Forte dei Marmi since I was 5 or 6, so here are some things to do in the area.

• The boardwalk is filled with "bagni" or beach clubs, all complete with a restaurant/bar, cabins and umbrellas with loungers for you to rent for a day, a week or the whole summer. Of course, prices vary and so do the facilities. On a budget? Look around for the communal/free beaches. You will have to either burn to crisp in the sun or bring those huge umbrella things. 

Photo found here

• Apart from basking in the sun and ogling hot lifeguards while running up and down the beach trying to stalk celebrities or the famous footballer, Buffon at his own Beach Club, Forte dei Marmi is well known for it's shopping. With many cute boutiques and typical designer shops. But beware, the stuff here isn't cheap. 

Photo found here

• Tired of the sky high prices of the shops and boutiques mentioned above? Well on Wednesdays and Sunday mornings, there is a huge "mercato" or market in the square/area (don't worry you'll find it), selling branded/designer bikinis, shoes, clothes, fur coats, cashmere, accessories and everything else that constitutes a woman's wet dream. (Seriously, prada shoes for 80 euros!) There are also a lot of stalls selling home stuff, so table cloths, plates, glasses, whatever. I recommend you go early, like 8:30/9ish as it gets packed already at that time, and it gets hotter and... (going onto my next point)

Photo found here

• There is never enough parking, so I also suggest you rent a bike if your beach, house/hotel and the shopping area is relatively close by. Forte dei Marmi is always filled with stylish tanned women, with 6 inch wedge heels cycling around on bicycles. How they do it? Even I don't know (believe I've tried, and had to run back home to change into flip flops)
• The Clubbing here is supposed to be quite good. With some really fancy clubs with footballers and celebrities. There are also a few parties on the beach and I went to one one night, but it was rather average, it was so dark I couldn't see the faces of the guys who tried to dance with me 
• There's also a luna park in between Forte dei Marmi and Cinquale every summer. They have some really thrilling rides (which are sort of expensive as you pay each ride you go on), but it's always great fun with a group of friends. 

Then there's the food. To be precise, the SEAfood. There are a whole range of fancy expensive restaurants for the rich (Russian tourists) to splurge all their cash on, as well as a small little shack on the beach serving plates of fresh calamari at very low prices

 Looking for something impressive but more in the middle? Try Gilda. It looks fancy actually, but the prices won't force you to sell your house and camp out under a bridge for the next month. A bagni/beach club in the daytime, it transforms to a beautiful candlelit restaurant on the beach, in the sand. Remember not to wear heels as you'll look like an idiot  (like me).  

Service was kinda iffy. They seemed to be understaffed, as they were all running around frantically, while yelling at each other. Not to mention there were enough tables for the people waiting, but not enough people to prepare the tables for the customers. But they apologized and all.

Since we're asian and like to try each other's food, we ordered three dishes to share. 

Grilled Tuna. There was so much tuna that I kind of got sick of tuna for the day. (There was more tuna under that mountain)

Raw fish antipasto. The closest to sashimi i've had in weeks. Pardon the empty oyster shell, I have an oyster obsession and ate it the second it arrived. Personally the oyster wasn't cold enough.

Steamed seafood salad. With cuttlefish or squid, I can never tell the difference. Each dish cost 15 euros, and was quite a big portion so it filled me up quite nicely!

The website of the bagni/beach clubf and restaurant can be found here

LV for Lago Verde! (not Louis Vuitton...)

What do you do when you're buried deep in the Alps, and it's a sunny day? You go hiking of course! At least, according to my dad, who decided to take us to "Valle Stretta" or "Vallée Étroite" or "Narrow Valley" in English, which is politically speaking part of France, but geographically in Italy, about 20 minutes away from Bardonecchia in the Piedmont region.

From Bardonecchia we drove to "Rif 3 Alpini" where you then have to park your car and continue by foot. We went up to Lago verde and then back.

Not being an outdoor-sy type at all, I completely ignored my mum's suggestion of packing a pair of sneakers into my suitcases. Now, I'd hate to admit it but I do kind of wish I did listen to her since I showed up "hiking" like this :

I have to admit, I love this outfit! But I guess it is more suitable to shopping in Milan than hiking! At first, when I arrived, I thought, pfft yeah whatever, hiking my asshole, it's a path on flat ground. NO PROBLEM! But I was so wrong.

It was more like climbing up/down rocks like this! We walked from Valle Stretta where we parked our car, to a nearby lake named "Lago Verde", or green lake. (See map above)

About 1 hour later, we arrived at "LV"! Yes, it is literally a green lake, which should be due to some algae or something. It looked like a nice place to have a picnic and chill, but we didn't bring food so we rested for a while and then turned back.

Overall I thought it was nice to take photos, as there was some beautiful scenery in the surrounding mountains and rivers and for people who like hiking or trekking this would be a  perfect activity on a sunny summer's day.  

Oh and Nature lovers would love this place as well. There are so many multicoloured flowers, green grass, butterflies (and horrible bugs). Obviously not really my thing, as I am more of a city girl (Hong Kong <3) but I must admit it was very beautiful nonetheless. 

After our long 3 hour walk,we were absolutely starving. We have heard that the polenta here is absolutely to die for so we decided to have polenta. (Not to mention that they only serve polenta at the only two restaurants there)

They have three types of polenta here : with sausages and meat, concia (which is with gorgonzola and fontina cheese) and also with porcini mushrooms. We decided to order a bit of each and try them all. I mixed my concia with mushrooms (as I do not eat meat). I must say, although I am usually not a big fan of polenta, this polenta tasted different from the polenta that my nonna makes and tasted really good. Only problem was there was a bit of meat in the tomato sauce and so I couldn't eat any, and I found a piece of meat in my mushrooms too and freaked out. 

I recommended that you make a reservation before you hike, as it is a very small family owned restaurant and a reservation is necessary if you intend on eating here.