A Month with Babushka

In Kazan we were all assigned host families to stay with for the month who would provide a place for us to stay as well as breakfast. Some people got families but most, including myself, got a Babushka (or a grandmother).

When we received a list with all our hosts on them, I knew I had a good one. Her name was Galina Marina, and me and my friends had already decided that she's probably magical. Anyone with a name like that would be! 

She spoke 0 English so it was all down to me to try and string together as much Russian as possible with the aid of a dictionary to communicate with her. The first day was a nightmare as I didn't know how to tell her I was full and she wouldn't stop giving me food. 

But when I found out how to "I'm full" in Russian, I realised that it was absolutely useless as she would just keep reassuring me that I was hungry. Every morning Babushka would make an absurd amount of food for me. (Which sometimes included dodgy looking fish... for breakfast!!!!)

All this food is for me. Only for me.

My first impression of Babushka was... crazy? The first day we met she just casually took her dress off in front of me while changing. OK... the next day she was topless and I just so happened to walk past her room.... OK... 2 days later... I open the front door and find her changing (again) but then 2 men walk out of her room. (They turned out to be her son and grand-son but my initial response was WTFBBQ of course) Then the 3 weeks after that she just chilled in a tshirt and underwear around the house. Oh and one day I came home to find her and her best friend just chilling in their underwear.

Did I mention that my babushka laughs at fat people? Yeah.... 

Babushka's living room/bed room. On the left you can see the gift I got her from Hong Kong 

NO!!! JUST NO!!!! Нет! Никогда!

I was really looking forward to taking a photo with her before I left as she was such an amazing host, but she freaked out and wouldn't let me as she is incredibly vain and very hung up over the fact that she is now old (therefore she doesn't let people take photos of her :/ )

We had a DMC one night. I was just asking her if she only had one son, and she merely replied saying "Yes. He doesn't love me." Talk about awkward. I just sipped my tea and looked down. But then I told her "At least you have a lot of friends" because Babushka is a crazy social butterfly. She has so many friends and her two phones never stop ringing (and she's never off the phone... unless she's out or she has friends from Nizhny Novgorod over) 

Babushka loved my clothes, and everyday she would make me parade around the house and twirl for her. (She frequently asked whether my mother made my clothes.... I don't know anyone who's mother makes their clothes for them.) Our relationship escalated, and before I knew it she would come and stroke my head and my back, when I fell asleep over the covers she'd come and put a blanket over me and when she left me notes she called me красавица (Beautiful girl). She became just like my grandmother and I became like her grand daughter.  

I'm going to miss her so much. She was so sweet, and I learnt so much Russian from staying from her. She told me I can go back to visit any time, so maybe one day I will.

xx Vagabond Girl

Привет из России!

I am currently in Kazan, in the Tartarstan Republic which a mere 12 hour overnight train journey away from Moscow in Kazan. Since I study Russian at University, we all got sent to Russia after our first year classes and exams to live with host families and attend even more classes during our summer break - for a month!

  
I only have a few days left now to take as many photos as I can and do as much as I can as well! So far I have spent most of my time on the beach on the bank of the Volga in attempts to get an amazing tan, but I have spent time doing other things as well!

So stay tuned for more to come!

xx Vagabond Girl

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

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!