k is for kani

09.06.13

paris2s la tour eiffel paris4s la tour eiffel paris5s la tour eiffel paris6s la tour eiffel paris7s la tour eiffel paris9s la tour eiffel paris12s la tour eiffel paris23s la tour eiffel paris24s la tour eiffel paris26s la tour eiffel paris28s la tour eiffel paris29s la tour eiffel paris30s la tour eiffel paris31s la tour eiffel paris34s la tour eiffel {Photos: Tom & I}

So on the day we visited the Eiffel Tower it was pretty murky and dull. It had been raining all week in Paris so there really wasn’t any better day to visit. The Australian Embassy is actually on the road next to the Eiffel Tower and when I saw the blue sky-ed billboard, I secretly missed the warmer weather just a little! When we arrived at the base of the tower, we were pleasantly surprised by a lack of a line. I’ve heard from others that in Summer you can expect a line that goes for almost half a day long and given it’s pretty much the most popular attraction in Paris, I expected at least some sort of line in Winter too. Well nuh uh! The only other people around were a few Australian families behind us (perhaps us Aussies are the only ones who dare travel North every January). They say hot air rises but I certainly did not feel like it did when we went up! The view was well, nice, but it was somewhat tainted by the overenthusiastic clouds which hung gloomily all around. As you can see. When the lady at the ticket stand asked if we wanted a ticket to go all the way up to the top, we thought, of course (and so we bought the 2 level combined ticket) however when we got to the tip, all we saw was whiteness. It was like climbing Jack’s humungous beanstalk – we were literally ‘up in the clouds’! It certainly did not look like a very romantic looking place for proposals (I personally think Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence is the most beautiful place propose haha) and picnics – the Jardin des Tuileries adjacent to the tower also looked uninhabited in its wet and bare state, so perhaps it was not so much a great idea to visit in Winter. I thought I’d share these photos anyway though for no one goes to Paris without posting photos of the Eiffel Tower! Hopefully next time we visit it will be a more summery and vibrant experience.

04.06.13

paris17s parisian memories paris16s parisian memories paris18s parisian memories paris33s parisian memories paris35s parisian memories paris36s parisian memories paris37s1 parisian memories paris38s parisian memories paris15s parisian memories paris41s parisian memories paris19s parisian memories paris21s parisian memories paris22s parisian memories paris1s parisian memories paris14s parisian memories other2s parisian memories paris1s1 parisian memories paris2s parisian memories paris3s parisian memories paris4s parisian memories paris5s parisian memories paris6s parisian memories paris7s parisian memories paris8s parisian memories paris9s parisian memories paris10s parisian memories paris11s parisian memories paris12s parisian memories paris15s1 parisian memories paris16s1 parisian memories paris37s parisian memories

{Photos: Tom & I}

Sitting in the middle of a patents validity trial paper today got me daydreaming about Europe and how I just wish I could teleport myself from my study desk to experience Summer in Paris. It’s been almost five months since Tom & I visited and perhaps five months too late to post these photos. However, photos of Paris cannot go unshared and flipping through these on my laptop makes me think about how beautiful the city really was. I think when I first wrote about Paris on my blog, I was actually in Paris and writhing from so much pain – having caught a bout of food poisoning and spending the majority of our week there attempting to recover whilst watching the rain fall 24 hours a day from our apartment window. It was not a comforting scene to accompany my uncomfortable, sick self. Coupled with the fact that no one understood our attempts to speak broken French or English – though I did happen to have a meaningful conversation in mandarin with the Celine eyewear shop assistant at Galeries Lafayette, I was not in a good mood! I think I wrote about how overrated Paris was back then.

But now, I kind of miss the place. I miss the architecture and how it sort of reminds me of a romanticised London. I miss the quirky Parisian ways – I have never seen anyone park their car so close to another and I can confirm that when people drive their cars out of their spots contact with cars on both sides is guaranteed. Not something that I’d be very pleased about if I were in Australia (given this pretty much happened to me a few days ago when someone drove into the back of my car) but apparently it is normal in Paris as evidenced in the photo above. I would also be lying if I said I didn’t miss the food there – sure I got sick of baguettes after the third day however the variety of pastries, cakes, breads and cheese and chocolate stuffed buns in each local boulangerie (or bakery) meant that you could visit the same shop for a couple of weeks and still not have had the chance to try it all. In Paris, open air flower stalls were everywhere and bottled water (and alcohol) was sold at the cheapest prices I had ever seen. 0.20 euro for 1.4 litres of water! And it gets even better when you start noticing that Parisians like to face the street when they sit outside bistros. When I met with Typhaine on my last day there, she revealed that it was because Parisians love to watch the street and people as they eat.

For me, it’s the little things like this that made Paris a place to miss. Tom & I barely visited many tourist attractions properly as we were feeling too sick to travel far, so the experiences we had walking down the streets of central Paris near our apartment are what form the majority of my Parisian memories and are the things that I miss most. I hope you enjoy these photos from our time there!

31.05.13

yellow1s butter yellow2s butter yellow4s butter yellow5s butter yellow6s butter yellow7s butter yellow8s butter yellow9s butter yellow10s butter yellow12 butter Wearing: Elm Knitwear yellow jumper, Zara shirt, ASOS pephem skirt, Bohemia bag, ASOS heels and Karen Walker bunny ring {via Beginning Boutique} {Photos: Tom}

Time really flies when you’re busy! I really didn’t think it had been this many days since I last blogged and when I checked when my last blog post was today, I was quite shocked at how long it had been. A heap of events have happened between before and now. Mostly, I have been studying for my end of semester exams coming up. Sometimes it’s very difficult to juggle my blog, store and study – all of which feel like full time jobs for me. However with exams looming, I’ve had to re-order my priorities (just temporarily!)

And to make one of the most hectic weeks at uni even more crazy, I’ve actually been helping our family search for a new house – we’ve been going to multiple inspections every week and just two days ago, we bought a new house! I’ve been living in the same house since I was very young so I’m excited for this new change – though it also means I’ll be having to start packing my life into cardboard boxes as soon as I finish my exams. I’ve been in a very floaty happy mood since then until yesterday, a very sweet citizen of the world drove into the back of my car, had the nerve to beep me for driving apparently too slow (I was stunned at what had just happened), overtook me then zoomed right off.. urgh.

Now just before I run off again to go to an evening pilates class in an attempt to stop thinking about my now non-perfect exterior of my car and then block in some late night study, I thought I’d quickly press publish on a post featuring one of my favourite shades of the season – yellow. It seems as if I’m being very successful in acquiring pieces in this colour however I am yet to come across that much elusive buttery coat!