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 you 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!)

xx Vagabond Girl

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.

Medieval Festival in Briançon, France

I apologize for the lack of posting in the past 2 weeks! Normally, I tend to sit at home a lot doing nothing, hence allowing time for me to blog to the extent that I don't know what to blog about. However, the past few weeks, I have been going out so much, everyday, with friends, eating, drinking, shopping to the point that although I had loads to blog about, I had no time to blog! I guess we can't have it all in life!

Anyway, I finally left Hong Kong for her annual summer vacation in Europe. For the first week, I will be staying in Bardonecchia in Italy, which is in the Piedmont region . I have to admit that I am more of a beach girl than a countryside/mountain girl, and I generally have more fun at the beach, meeting new friends and swimming. In the countryside..I don't really know what to do (well now I can catch up on blogging I guess!). I like taking walks, but mainly around town/shops! The only plus to the countryside and the amazing mountains that surround me is the fact that they are much more fun to photograph.

Bardonecchia is only about 10 minutes away from the French border, and 30 minutes from the city with the highest altitude in the European Union, Briançon, famous for it's UNESCO World Heritage site - a huge citadel/fort built in the 1700s. And what luck! The day we went was during the weekend of the Medieval Festival!

We were taken back in time to the Medieval times,with people and children dressed up in costumes. All waiters and waitresses included! There was a marketplace, full of stalls selling jewellery, food (medieval style), costumes and shoes for those willing to join in and even weapons and armours for kids (or adults) wanting to try out the medieval way of life. Hay and straw was scattered throughout the streets, and there was live music and dancing, not to mention very entertaining "beggars"/tramps to really enhance the theme.

I must say the kids running around the town were simply adorable! The little boys all holding swords and bows, trying to fight each other. The little girls in long dresses and pink or purple head dresses with flowy bits running around living their dreams as princesses in a castle. It made me want to be a kid again to join in the fun! 

We decided to go for some crepes to rest our legs and have a snack. Instead of going for the regular Nutella and banana that I love, I decided to try something new. The crepe flambee with triple sec and vanilla ice cream particularly caught my eye. 

It was basically a crepe with a scoop of ice cream on top, which was drenched in cointreau, and then set on fire! However it didn't burn very well, so a lot of the alcohol remained, so I basically had a crepe drenched in alcohol, but the burnt bits tasted orangey and made the crepe kind of crispy too. At first, they brought me a crepe with grand marnier, but they misunderstood and didnt give me the ice cream, so they brought me another one. Thank god, since the ice cream really helps balance out the flavours.

My dad on the other hand had a crepe with honey and walnuts. I didnt really like it (but maybe it's because I dislike honey and I'm not a big fan of walnuts either), but he thought it was good. I personally prefer crepes which have the ingredients inside the crepe, not folded and just dumped on top. For mine, I think it's acceptable for the ingredients not to be inside the crepe as it wouldn't really work otherwise.

From the outer walls of the citadel, there are some spectacular views of the hills, as well as these little cubby holes, presumably used in the past as lookout posts. 

We soon got thirsty, and decided to go for a glass of wine...and French fries too! (Diet? What diet?)

It sure was a great outing for the afternoon, and the old citadel is stunning, with it's quaint little streets, and water flowing down the middle of the main road in a little canal thing. And being lucky enough to witness the fantastic Medieval festival was more than I could ever ask for!