A little detour in our trip to Bordeaux

A little detour in our trip to Bordeaux
Bordeaux, France

Bordeaux, France


Ah, the joys of the wonderful snow. We caught our train from St Malo to Le Mans, and then asked directions to catch our next train. Conductor – “That train is not running.” Us – “Qua?!” Conductor – “Because of the …. uh… snow” Fantastique! Luckily, there was another train to Paris where we could book a ticket on a direct train. On the way to Paris, the conductor gave us a sympathetic smile and laughed at our miming of snow when seeing our invalidated tickets. Ena struck up an interesting conversation with a French woman who shared the set of four seats on the Bordeaux train. Much charades, Franco-English, and laughter. She made fun of our accents (it wasn’t hard with my dodgy French). We got into Bordeaux a little late, but managed to get ourselves to the hotel via tram (yet another form of transport to figure out. Dear lord…) Another city conquered!


Snow at the seaside

Snow at the seaside
Saint-Malo, France

Saint-Malo, France


Well, so much for our trip to the Mont St Michel. Because of the snow the buses were cancelled. We were a bit relieved anyway, because we would have been stuck out there all day in the whipping cold winds (the buses only head back to St Malo at 5pm).

So instead we went for a wander in the walls of the Old Town. It’s such a beautiful little area, with cobblestone roads, lantern-lined alleys and tall stone buildings squeezed together. The snow made the streets all the more dream-like, except when a runaway snowflake would blow into my eyes….

I bought a couple of souvenir trinkets at a marine-themed store, whose speciality was brass, wood and naval furniture.

The wind started picking up and the snow began to come at us sideways, so we headed back to our room for a quick warm up, and went out again for lunch. Needless to say, we stayed there a while, pitying the poor people who were trying to brave the whirling snow.


Day trip to Cancale – mussels, crepes and cider

Day trip to Cancale – mussels, crepes and cider
Saint-Malo, France

Saint-Malo, France


Gah! So cold…. We decided to venture our way to the seaside town of Cancale, legendary for fresh shucked oysters off the jetty. We froze our proverbials off waiting for the bus in, which made us reconsider our original plan to stay a little longer in St Malo…. We were the only fool tourists on the bus, and we saw several people cursing the weather as we walked to the beach front. Abandoning the jetty idea, we found a little creperie whose hostess gave as a hearty ‘Welcome to Brittany!’. Yeah thanks, glad to be here. The only patrons in the place, we had a great chat to her and enjoyed the local staple of cider and la complete (a crepe with ham, egg, and cheese pronounced complet), chilli mussels, and poached pear crepe flambé. All very good. It seemed even the locals were a bit put off by the weather. We were told the forecast for tomorrow’s journey to Mont St Michel, a castle on a tidal island, would be snow… And the buses would be cancelled.


Travel day to St Malo

Travel day to St Malo
Saint-Malo, France

Saint-Malo, France


We checked out of our gorgeous room, to make our way to the train station ready for our journey to St Malo. We stocked up on snacks for our journey and had lunch before we boarded the train. Ena’s broken French came in handy trying to explain what we wanted to order. After a train trip through a very cloudy but pretty countryside, we arrived to a chilly little station. Asking directions from the ticket office, we were told (via half English/half French charades) it was a 15 min walk down the road… in the freezing cold. Incredulous, we started examining the maps at the bus stops; an icy rain started to come down. We tried our luck again, and the lady helpfully pointed us to the (empty) taxi rank with a grin, despite her colleagues insisting that they would walk it! We were never so glad to see a cab. The driver was very lovely (a rare thing it seems); he heaved our bags and wished us luck. The hotel is right in the middle of the Old Town, a medieval village of cobble stones and narrow streets walled off from the rest of the modern development. Just outside the walls is a bus stop, the tourism office, and a marina full of boats. The noise of seagulls echoing off the stone buildings from our hotel window was surprisingly relaxing. I think I’ll really enjoy it here.


Booking tickets and the red light district

Booking tickets and the red light district
Paris, France

Paris, France


We didn’t do much today except organise our tickets. We are now officially heading to St Malo (the oysters are fabulously fresh and there’s a gothic castle on an island that we want to see), and Bordeaux (wine ahoy!). We ventured into the district around the Moulin Rouge for dinner. Wow…! We didn’t realise how seedy it would be. Nevertheless, the dinner was simply beautiful. I had the lamb shank that fell off the bone, and Ena had a succulent duck breast glazed in rosemary and honey. If you are ever in the area, go to Chez Toinette. They fit us in without a booking and the service was as good as the food.


Pretty Paris in the cold and wet

Pretty Paris in the cold and wet
Paris, France

Paris, France


We wandered to sights today, down the Champs-Élysées purchasing an emergency umbrella and poncho on the way. We didn’t expect it to rain; London was starting to get warm and quite inviting as we were leaving. Still, we saw the Arc de Triomphe, outside of the Louvre, the Grand and Petit Palais and the rather rainy Jardin des Tuileries. The hotel recommended a lovely place for dinner, where I had fish with a walnut crust and a glass of wine.


Eurostar and dinner in the room

Eurostar and dinner in the room
Paris, France

Paris, France


We left London behind as we made our way to beautiful Paris via train. Arriving at the Paris station was a harrowing experience, between the could-not-care-less ticket officer (who was very efficient, but didn’t explain…well, anything) and a (suspiciously!) friendly metro guide, who went on to pay for our ticket and then hurry us through the gates as if he had done something dodgy… Our broken and frankly awful French (a queer combination of ‘stayanised French words with a Japanese accent) managed to get us to the right area, with only a few false starts. Our hotel, Hotel Secret de Paris is boutique little place right near the Moulin Rouge. We walked into a purple clad reception area to a freshly squeezed orange juice before being whisked up to our room in a mirrored colour-lit lift. Our room for the night was the Eiffel Tower room (http://www.hotel-design-secret-de-pari s.com/en/design-hotel-secret-de-paris-r oom-eiffel.html). We decided it was best that we stay in for the night and have room service, as Ena had developed a nasty cold (worse than lady-flu!) just before our train this morning. I opted for the escargot and creme brûlée, while Ena dined on thyme-marinated lamb and gateau chocolat au noir.


Rowan Atkinson and Camden Town

Rowan Atkinson and Camden Town
London, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom


I think we are finally mastering the public transport in London. We navigated our way to Camden today to find ourselves in a market that bordered between the Thailand knock-offs (we bought some Dr Dre Beat headphones that seemed a dime a dozen) and Harajuku style gothic jewellery, punk clothing and street food. I saw far too many things I loved but would not fit in my backpack. I settled instead for a dragon earring. I also found myself a bargain warm jacket for £15 at the train station. It came in handy to swap my puffy down jacket, and seem less of an obvious foreigner. We popped into St Paul’s Cathedral, which was amazingly beautiful. The architecture is breath-taking, and of course you can’t take photos. So naturally we tried to sneak in a couple…. We also went on a trek to Ledenhall Market, where Harry Potter’s Daigon Alley was filmed. A little anticlimactic for me, but Ena was happy. Dinner was leftover rabbit pie from last night, as we rushed off to West End to see a play. We booked tickets to see Quartermaine’s Terms starring none other than Mr Rowan Atkinson. It was a very thought-provoking and witty performance, although I’m not sure it showed Rowan to the best of his abilities. He played a bumbling teacher that was similar to his Mr Bean performances. The other characters were messy and complicated and very entertaining though.


A day of shopping in London

A day of shopping in London
London, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom


Today we figured we’d be inventive and explore the mean streets of London town in search of a little retail therapy to soothe our jet-lag. Conveniently enough, the bus route into town took us past a street market, where we found ourselves digging through tables and tables of clothing for £1. Elated after our bargain steals at the East St markets, we naturally assumed we were ready for the big bad department stores on Oxford and Regent St… ..we were so wrong. It might’ve been okay had the bus not stopped before Oxford, and had we not gotten ourselves completely lost in Piccadilly. By the time we figured out how to get there, it was dark, our feet were sore and our bones chilled. That being said, the city lights were pretty, and I bagged myself a gorgeous skirt from Zara. Our (grumpy) journey home (fraught with ridiculous traffic jams and endless detours) was brightened by the welcoming atmosphere of The Crooked Well, which was fortunately still serving dinner! We tucked into rabbit and bacon pie and some cocktails (and the best pate ever) before crashing into bed.


Soo jetlagged

Soo jetlagged
London, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom


Brisbane-Singapore-Abu Dhabi-Heathrow I don’t have anything to say about 30 hours on a plane except this: ouch. I’m so sick of being cramped in a tiny space. 6 foot of SJ does not cope well with being kept in less than a metre squared for a day and a half!

Our first impression of London was customs. Very odd. We went through the declare gate just to be safe and were met with one man behind a desk… It was obviously rush hour; he was helping someone else at the time. We were given the all clear based on a cursory glance by another officer at the gate entrance.

Arriving at 7am, our tired brains tried to wrap around the exchange rate, the underground train lines, connection to overground and directions to our b’n’b in Denmark Hill. Thank goodness for the well signposted streets and train stations. Our host Robert suggested that we should go into the city rather than rest to beat the jet lag. Of course, the last thing we want to be doing… Still, we hopped on a bus and wandered around without taking much in, but apparently we saw Westminster Palace, toured the Supreme Court (must have been tired right!), and Trafalgar Square.