Eurovison!

It's that time again for the Annual Eurovision Song contest. This time its held in Düsseldorf, Germany. To sum it up, there are 20 or so contestants from Europe (hence the EURO-vision) and they sing either in their language or in English, after the respective countries vote who they enjoyed and the most votes of a country wins and the winning country will host the following year.

The first time I watched it was in 1999. I think it was held in Jerusalem that year..just flicking channels and came across the Eurovision. Glued watching the show, because it was funny and catchy cheesy songs in not-so-perfect English TEHEHE.

I don't know how many Australians watch Eurovision, but it seems to be a fan base to Eurovision and thanks to SBS and commentary from Sam Pang and Julie Zemiro, it makes it hilarious with their funny commentary for each contestants.

No matter how bad, cheesy, funny, weird, crazy choreography and bad fashion tastes (some) its still good entertainment. Lots of Pinks, Lady Gagas, Britney Spears, Shakiras, Enriques, Bon Jovi, Bieber, Aguleria, Blue, Aqua and other boy bands..well you name it!

Its the Factor X of Europe..I bet you Simon Cowell is sitting on his sofa with whoever and gasbagging how bad or extremely bad the artists were HAHAHA.

Tomorrow (Sunday 15th is the finals and will see who wins this years Eurovision). Cannot wait.

I'm getting my Eurovision On!

In the Fruity Cult now :P

I have definitely joined the fruity cult now - technologically speaking. APPLE! The iPod, an iPhone and now have finally brought myself an Apple MacBook Pro. I originally planned on buying the MacBook after my vacation, but hence it was eating my mind away that I decided to buy it, after all the reasonings, the pros and cons of having it now (or having it later) etc... . I brought it and justified to myself (and partial blame that Myer's had a sale), as well as that my Dell Laptop has 'cancer' I just wanted a new laptop. Funny, because my Dell still works..only just... yet the smell of something new is so nice...well you know what I mean.

Absolutely love my new laptop....

....then there is the iPad..hrm...well I guess I could...*insert voice-over from Happy Meal MacDonald Commerical* "Collect all Apples."

To loose weight and 2million other New Year Resolutions.

Firstly, Happy New Year everyone. 2011, hrm what will it hold for me, for all of us?

Resolutions usually the norm for the coming new year. Resolutions are goals and I quote from my brother Ray "actions to be taken, to become a better person, so one can enjoy a greater and higher quality of life!" Thanks Ray. I sit here, pondering... "Do I really need to do a resolution for 2011?" I've come to realise that whenever I try to make my resolution, it ends up being a continuation to the next year. The obvious things like too busy, will do it later etc... . Then when it is towards the end of the year, you start to panic, because you never got to finish the 'resolution' and feel as if you have failed for the year.

Okay I use to be like that, nevertheless, I never was much of a resolutionist (not sure if that is a word), I am one of the person that goes with the flow (and still do). To me it seems its just small goals throughout the year, just like everyone else making goals for new projects etc... . The obvious resolutions that normally come up are:

A) Exercise more/ loose weight
B) Save more money or house/travel/car
C) Quit smoking/ alcohol
D) Pay up credit card bills etc...

I know a few resolutions I have thought of and I have completed or still continuing i.e. learn a language, travelling to the Americas and Europe, new car.

Sometimes I guess its just nice to be creative with your resolutions. But my mind does not go to extreme with resolutions, because I'd be in 'the thinker position' to come up with a 'brilliant out-of-this-world resolution,' for hours.

Just like I said, just make small goals and a deadline throughout the year and by the time you would have completed your 'resolution.'

... If not you will eventually achieve your goals one way or another...

Happy Resolution to all of you..... :P.

Au Revoir Paris....Hello North of France

Sunday 28th November
Checked out from the Best Western Victor Hugo Hotel, brought my final Parisian souviners, had lunch at one of the restaurants in Champs Elysees then headed to the Charles de Gaulle Etoile Metro Station to transfer to Gare du Nord. Caught one of the bullet trains from Paris to Lille, a city in the north of France. It was only a 1 hour train ride, which felt like a 30 minute ride (well duh it's a bullet train, it zoom, zoom, zooms!) The train arrived at Lille-Europe Station...."Viv - Welcome to Lille!" Waited outside for Céline and Seb to pick us up. Whoa, for a girl who is accostumed to warmer temperature, it was like a temperature shock to be in a place which was 2°c and windy...BRRR! When it is cold, it is okay-ish, but when its windy, it is icy cold. I think since I touched down in Paris, I have lost count on how many times I habe said F"_- it's cold!
Céline and her husband qarrived and picked us up and a 30 minute or so drive from the station their parent's place in a small town. Unpacked our gear and settled down in the kitchen chatting for a while and then they left. Rémy and I rested for a while and then got ready to head to Céline and Seb's place for drinks, watching football, chatting with them and then later on their parents arrived to visit before heading back home. Rémy and I stayed a little bit more and then just before midnight went back home.

Le Ch'tis as seen in the French movie Welcome to the Sticks, Céline; Seb and Rémy told me some ch'tisque that I may see or hear during my stay here in the north of France. The movie was based round the area, a little further than Lille, but I guess it covers part of Lille. Making me intrigued about the Ch'tis.

Monday 29th November
A cold Monday and while Rémy went off to uni mid-morning, I had a very lazy Monday morning. It was cold and some snow outside, tucked myself back to bed on facebook (of course) and watching French programmes, even dubbed American soap opera Days of our Lives. Trying to grasps some words or even try to understand, however I only managed to hear verbs I recognised (d'oh!) Towards the evening had lovely dinner and then went to Rémy's sisters place to watch Barcelona vs. Real Madrid. OMG.... I haven't seen so much close up of Cristiano Ronaldo, since the FIFA 2010 World Cup! Had to laugh at Real Madrid's goalkeeper and Captain Iker Casillas because he was so pissed off that his team was losing. So the score was 5 - 0, Barcelona won. During the game things were heating up as some kind of punch up with the players from both team and then on another part, Ronaldo pushing one of the men in the opposing team (Barcelona)....I think he got a yellow card for that. After the game chatted and drank somemore and just before 1am left their place and headed back home.

Tuesday 30th November
Still fighting off my friggen jetlag, stayed at home while Rémy went to class till 5pm. Nothing, just ate, showered, watched télé, facebook then ZZZZzzzzzz... . Oh and inbetween stared outside the window seeing the snow topped fields....ZZZzzzzzz!

Pretty Paris

Saturday 27th November
Our second last day in Pretty Paris. We missed out on our petit dejuner because we got up late. We got ready and just headed straight to Avenue des Champs Elysees, through to the marchés there and had our vin chaud and I had my crepe with sugar while Rémy had his waffle.We looked at some things in the marché de noel before heading out to the Place de la Concorde and through to the Jardin des Tuileries. I could imagine how life could have been in the 1800s; walking through this huge garden just before the Lourve (or is it the Louvre? I still get it muddled up).

The Louvre
An enormous place, where I cannot imagine how King Louis or Napoleon can live in there! Its HUGE!!!! Its as if they have combined the Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital together side by side! Now that's huge! The famous glass pyramids at the front of the Louvre (yes another photo opportunity) and then went downstairs to enter the Museum. Rémy and I did not cover all the places inside the Louvre, you have to have at least 2 or 3 days to be dedicated in walking through all the artwork with your trusty walkman - talking you through all the artworks either in Japanese, Spanish, Russian, or Arabic, just to name a few. We only covered a small part and only got to see the world famous Leonardo De Vinci's Mona Lisa. Small, yet a dozen of people stand from afar to catch a glimpse of it. (Yes I was *add sarcasm* so interested!)... . Just like every other tourist, took a photo of it. The paintings of certain people or just paintings of certain events qre magnificent. It is amazing in those days, people have a lot of talent. When it comes to portraits they paintings are real and the colours, shadings oh gosh I sound like a critic! A few paintings are large and I always wonder how artists back then had the patience and dedication to finish a piece of artwork. Some have been painted over 3 years or more. WHOA! Unlike nowadays someone would probably chuck a tantrum!
Even the ceilings are covered with religious themed paintings with golden borders and then the French windows outlooking the many statues, lining up the palace and then overlooking the garden. Wonderful. Well words at times cannnot express how magnificent the Louvre is. After seeing what we wanted to see it was au revoir to the Louvre and headed near the pont neuf for dejuner. The difference with Australian Cafés/restaurant and French is that the staff of the place finds the time to talk to their customers. Rémy had a short conversation with the manager of the restaurant and then asked directions to get to certain places for our next galavanting. With thanks we then headed outise to the little island where the Conciergerie and Notre Dame is.

Notre Dame on the Island
Another famous building where we all know Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. Takes place. Magnificent church with lovely interior and stained-glassed windows, again I had to pinch myself as I still couldn't believe I step foot in the Notre Dame. I also put 2Euros donation so I could light a tea-candle and then Rémy and I sat down on one of the seats. I prayed a little just saying 'thank you etc...' Then took more photos before heading out to another Church - Basilique du Sacré Coeur.

Went to the Métro from Notre Dame to Monmartre. Below the Sacré Coeur it was a tad messy than say the Champ Elysees, guess the older part of Paris (so yes I saw a bit of dirtiness in Paris). Walked through so many souviner stores (yes I am a sucker for those) till Rémy and I saw the Basilique du Sacré Coeur. *Jaw drop*

Basilique du Sacré Coeur
Another beautiful church; built later than the Notre Dame in the 1800s. High on the hill, you see an outlook of parts of Paris and what I say the only skyscraper in Paris (probably not, but I say it is) a tall building from afar (which was probably close to La Defense- the financial section of Paris). Speaking of skyscrapers, if you haven't been to Paris, you don't see many, unlike ifyou were in New York. Walking on more stairs (and I swear that is one of the reason as to why French people are slim - a lot of stairs to walk up and down!) towards the Sacré Coeur, before the entrance, there was a crowd around 4 men dancing - pop n locking, old and new hip hop and breakdancing. Luckily I managed to see some and cheered them on. They were great! Afterwards step foot into the church. No photos allowed inside, but again it was wonderful interior; statues and all. Beautiful. Then we walked outside to Monmartre to see the many cute cobbled streets and stores surrounding the Sacré Coeur, an area where artists displayed and drew pictures and alas! I finally saw an accordian player! Walked down further and headed to Pigalle.

Pigalle
Guess it is like the Valley in Brisbane and King's Cross in Sydney. A mixture of sinner and saint in this area of Paris. The famous windmill of what is the Moulin Rouge - if I had the time I would have loved to see a show and have dinner there... Next time....next time. Walked through the main street and looked at some interesting stores then before heading to the Musée de L'erotisme. Seven levels of everything erotic past and present all over the world. It was very interesting place and I would recommend it to of course people over 18 years of age!
After, we had dinner at French equivalent of MacDonalds 'Quick' and then headed back to our hotel for a last stay.

Until then

A Bientot

V x

Paris

Not a certain heiress but the city. Paris! It has been one of my many destination dreams to come to Paris. Seen the city in many movies and of course Travel shows and I cannot believe that I have made it to the city of lights! Before moving on cutting long story short, returned to Kléber for the remainder of our stay in Paris, unfortunately still couldn't stay there so they transferred us to the Best Western Victor Hugo Hotel (which I have to admit was better) and with free wi-fi!

Paris, when thinking of Paris its the Eiffel Tower, the Lourve, Moulin Rouge and of course the cliché of rude people, dog poo, people wearing stripes etc... . Okay you may get the odd rudeness (which I have had my share of rudeness), all in all it has been fantastique!

I am in awe of everything here in Paris. The streets, architecture, monuments, food, mulled wine and people. Sometimes I think I have stepped onto a postcard or movie set, but no, it's the real deal. Seeing Paris is amazing. People here are so stylish and even if it doesn't match, they find a way to match it! Crazy hats that look like fluro green road kill, still looks stylish.

L'Arc de Triomphe is a huge monument built during Napoleon era (and not going any further to anymore history, look up on wikipedia ha!). It is in the middle of a very busy roundabout and to get to the middle is underground to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. You have to be fou to cross the road to the middle. It looks nice during the evening with the lights on and the lights along the Avenue des Champs Elysees.


Eiffel Tower according to my Lonely Planet Paris book (thank gosh for lonely planet books) over 250 million have ascended the tower to date. I got goosebumps when I saw the tower from crossing a bridge, over the River Seine. Walking through the beautiful streets/Rues in Invalides Rémy and I were getting closer and closer to the Tower. Finally got there and WOW! Two options to get up there - 1: Elevator or 2: The Stairs. We opt to climb the stairs, the reason was that the line was shorter than the elevators. LOL. Paid about 9 something Euros to climb the stairs. Tough work, huffing and puffing to the top, partial top. Six hundred and sixty-nine steps and during that it was getting dark, cloudy and then finally snowed! Beautiful view from the top and even more when it snowed. The rooftops of building covered by the white powder, despite it being cold at the top, it was brilliant! I can tick off my list that I have visited the Eiffel Tower.



Afterwards, more walking then the métro then walked back to our hotel to rest for another day of Parisian adventure.



Until then



à bientot



V

Touch down in Paris

The flight from Incheon Seoul to Charles de Gaulle Paris was an 11-hour flight. Ate, slept, listened to music on my iPad-seque screen and watched movies (in between slept while watching Inception, then watched it again since I missed the other part). Once the plane touched down in Paris a mixture of excitement and nervousness crossed my mind. Happy to be here and see Rémy, since 5 months ago, Paris, the food, scenery, the monuments and nervous as I only know "un petit peu français."

Touch down at Charles de Gaulle Airport, Thursday evening of Nov 25th, went through customs (woo hoo got my passport stamped!) and then got my suitcase and then information center about how to get to Paris via A. the taxi, B. Bus or C. Train. I took the cheaper option and took the train. Took about 1 hour to Chatelet Les Halles to change over to next train. Oh gosh, I found myself below the métro lost through the winding maze to the next train.... Yea spot the lost tourist! Finally got on the next train thanks with the help of the train staff member reached Charles de Gaulle Etoile stop. More stairs up to the wonderful Champs Elysees Avenue and L'Arc de Triomphe. I am in awe! AMAZING.

Now, the challange to catch a taxi. Hailed one, unfortunately he finished his shift, tried hailing another one, til a man told me to catch it on the other side of the road. Thanked him kindly then went to the direction he told me to go and caught one to the hotel I booked called Kléber Hotel Champs Elysees Tour Eiffel Paris. Unfortunately was not able to stay there and for their reason "water issues/pipes." They kindly made me un café, while I waited for Rémy to come. The staff member explained it again to Rémy what happened and then they transferred us to another hotel for the night. Went to the other hotel and lets just say it was a down grade to what i stayed at Incheon. Couldn't complain much, at least it we had a place to stay. The view from the window of the room, is wht I expected though, very French - the window balcony, the buildings, streets, trés belle!

Until then,

à bientot

V