Paris Day 1

Mandy:

First day in Paris was shopping day!!! It was a perfect time to do some shopping because Paris was having their semi annual sale. That meant lots and lots of Asians fighting to get their hand on a good deal at Galleries Lafayette. People were lined up for Louis Vuitton even though they never have sales! Craziness. I have never experienced shopping at a department store where you have to line up to shop at a particular brand. We went to the shoe floor and had to line up to see the Tod's. I managed to buy a pair of cream loafers. After that we made our way in the blistering heat to the flagship Longchamp store which has NO air conditioning. It was a very uncomfortable experience but I got a good deal on two of their classic bags.

Out of place modern art gallery at Galleries Lafayette

Norman the pack mule - holding the day's worth of shopping

After that we took a break at the famous Angelina cafe. I got the signature iced hot chocolate (for €8!) and the mount blanc pastry (for €8!!). Norm got the Foie gras dish. The food was good but my dishes were way too sweet eaten together. It was the most expensive hot chocolate I will ever try.

Froid Chocolat L'Africain, Mont Blanc Pastry, and Foie Gras Brioche

Mandy very happy to be sitting down

  

Dinner we went to restaurant Comptoir de la Gastronomie, which specialized in French food. We googled this restaurant and it turned out to be highly rated and reasonably priced. We indulged in escargot, more duck foie gras, and other French cuisine. It was delicious and norm thinks that we will definitely return there for another round of French food. After a satisfying dinner, we headed back to our place for much needed rest and relaxation after a long and hot day.

Eating escargot with a special utensil. Delicious!

Swarm of locals watching a Eurocup game outside of a cafe.

Bonjour Paris!

Mandy:


We arrived in Paris hopeful that the city will be more exciting than Amsterdam. We were not disappointed. Although the smell of body odor and the amount of people on the trains were not a very good first impression of the city. However, we made our way to our home which is a two story apartment in the Marais neighborhood. We rented it from a local Parisian off of the website airbnb.com. So far the apartment has been amazing and the streets nearby are always bustling with locals having dinner or buying groceries. I definitely recommend using airbnb to experience a city more like a local rather than a tourist.

Our home in Paris

After dropping off our bags and freshening up we had dinner at a nearby restaurant called Bianco. The food was MUCH better than the food we ha in Amsterdam and it was comparable in price. The only unenjoyable part of dinner was that Parisians love to smoke and eat dinner. Thus, I was breathing secondhand smoke the entire time :(

Jambon and fromage pizza and charcuterie 

It was still bright out after dinner so we decided to wander the streets and stumbled to the Louvre! Although it was 10pm there were still a lot of people there taking pictures. Imagine how many people are there during the day.... We walked a bit more and saw a carnival. We stopped for some cotton candy and to enjoy the atmosphere. I don't think Parisians go on roller coasters much because locals were going crazy over one ride that would not be a big attraction at Wonderland. (Note: We ended up walking to the Louvre and to the carnival almost every night we were in Paris, hahah. Don't know why)

In the Louvre courtyard

In front of the Louvre Pyramid entrance

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

Unflattering photo of Mandy eating the cotton candy at the carnival

We decided to sleep with the windows open because it was quite warm out. BAD IDEA! The locals stay up late and wake up very early and sound travels far in our little cluster of homes.

Amsterdam Day 2

Norman:


The second day we woke up feeling better than the first and decided to check out the more southern parts of central Amsterdam, namely the Museum District and Vondelpark. The Museum District is actually my favourite part of Amsterdam, both in terms of attractions and overall beauty of the city. And of course, as tourists, we had to take the picture in front of the the big Amsterdam letters!

The tram rails greenery

Easy part was getting up... hard part is getting down

From then, we went to the Van Gogh Museum. Though I was skeptical that I'd be able to apprepciate art, reading the museum's description and giving context to the artwork allowed me to appreciate the genius behind Vincent Van Gogh. Most interestingly was his evolution as an artist, and his technique and style advanced rapidly over the short 10 years he was an artist. Who knows, maybe now I will become an art aficionado when I grow up.

Park outside of the Van Gogh Museum

Afternoon Dutch snack.. Stroopwafel 

Afterwards, we continued enjoying the weather and went to Vondelpark to line on the grass and soak up some sun. Vondelpark is quite pretty, and the park was quite packed the day we went. I bought a beer, laid on the grass and Mandy and I enjoyed the sunshine that Amsterdam seldom receives.

We then had plans to check out Albert Cuyp market, but we relaxed for too long at Vondelpark, and unfortunately by the time we got there, many of the stands were closing. We decided to head back to Dam Square, check out some of the sights there. Mandy ordered a "small" order of fries as an appetizer before dinner, but and it turned out to get a gigantic portion that both Mandy and I could not finish together.  We killed more time by wandering Amsterdam and hanging out at another coffee shop, but Amsterdam was starting to bore us. We decided to head home, rest up for a little and then go back into the city to check out Red Light District at night.

We had dinner at Wagamama because we were craving noodles (poor choice...), but wandering Red Light District at night was very interesting. We had some fun checking out the prostitutes, and even hanging back to see if anyone would solicit them (we noticed a few people bargaining and entering). Afterwards, went back and pack to move on to our next destination.

The red lit blockade goes up everyday at 7pm to prevent cars from entering the Red Light District

Overall impression of Amsterdam is that it is pretty cool in a sense that it's the only place where there are coffee shops and prostitutes on display, but two days in Amsterdam was already a little bit too long.

Amsterdam Day 1

Norman:

So we arrived in Amsterdam, slightly tired (Mandy: EXTREMELY EXHAUSTED). First impression of Amsterdam is not good - the people we've asked for help were not very helpful and fairly condescending. I'm sure it doesn't represent the overall Dutch population, but still a rude awakening to the friendliness I was expecting. We showed the tram lady the map to our hotel and she decided not to tell us that we should get off two stops after the one we said we would... We wandered for a good 20 minutes with our luggage until we found our hotel. We were still fairly exhausted from Hackney weekend so we bought burgers at a restaurant next door called Burgermeester and chilled out at our hotel until the next morning.

Trio of mini burgers: 1. Tuna 2. Beef with mango salsa 3. Beef with truffle egg

Day 1:


After waking up way past the time we were supposed to, we first went to the Anne Frank Museum. We heard numerous warnings to make sure we get there early or be prepared to queue and those warnings were 100% correct - we arrived around noon and had to wait in line for more than an hour before we got in. I think it was actually well worth the wait; the museum does a pretty good job at emulating how it would have been to be hiding from the Nazis during that era. (We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house.)

Mandy in front of the Anne Frank Museum with a very large queue waiting to get in

From then on, we wandered the streets to end up at Noordermarket and checked out a local coffee shop called Dampkring. It was a popular coffee shop and we understood why.. Good music, atmosphere, freshly squeezed orange juice and the service was good. The second coffee shop we went to called Bulldog was not nearly as good.

Coffee Shop

After that we continued to wander the streets and ended up in Dam Square, which is a central area in Amsterdam. It was still fairly early out, and we went through our itinerary much faster than we anticipated, so we thought we'd check out the Red Light district (despite it being blatantly bright out). We were trying to check out the many Amsterdam prostitutes but so early on, there were only a few that were scantily clad behind the glass doors. Eventually, we checked out Casa Rosso, which is a live sex show. Thirty-five euros each and we could stay there as long as we wanted! It was fairly entertaining when we first entered, but each act subsequently became less entertaining as the night went on. Eventually, we left and decided to retire early and replenish our batteries for  Day 2.

Me at Dam Square

Last Day (8) in London

Norman:


So comes the time that Mandy and I leave the London and continue on our way across Europe. However, the last day, we ended up off with a bang by attending the BBC Radio 1 Hackney Weekend! 

Intense tickets with our pictures on it so that we can't sell it.

There was an amazing line-up of artists, great festival atmosphere and best of all, it was FREE! (Mandy: It was a painful process of refreshing the website to sign up for the free tickets for 40 minutes straight. Totally worth it.) I went with a few of my friends who also happened to get their hands on free tickets. Variety of music was there (Jack White, Calvin Harris, Will.i.am, Swedish House Mafia, etc). For the full line-up, check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/events/e9wmxj/performances.


Probably one of the best days in London I've had, we partied for a lot of the morning, sat on the grass and enjoyed the brief good weather and danced for the rest of the evening. The sets we watched in chronological order: Deadmau5, Annie Mac, Nero, Nicky Minaj, Calvin Harris, Swedish House Mafia, and finally Jay-Z. Jay-Z was headlining the Saturday show and absolutely killed it, bringing on surprise guests Rihanna, M.I.A and Kanye West. We left exhausted, but awestruck. The Hackney weekend is really getting me hyped up for Swedish House Mafia when we return to London. EXCITED!! Tomorrow we're off to catch a semi-early train to Amsterdam!


Mandy:


Unfortunately our plans to go to an after party did not happen. We were exhausted!! For some strange reason during the entire 10 hours we were at the festival I didn't not eat or use the washroom. Good because the washrooms were gross but probably bad for my body. I'll pretend it was an intense work out day. We wanted to take a before and after photo but were too disgusting for an after photo, haha. The journey back home was a bit miserable. A swarm of people all headed to the same train station trying to fit into one train AND it was raining pretty  hard. Luckily we didn't catch a cold. 

Before Photo

Right after Deadmau5

During Annie Mac (best set of the day)

Jay-Z to end the night

London Day 7

Mandy:


After a night of vodka overindulgence we had a late start to the day. We woke up in time for lunch at Viet Pho. The pho was not as good as Toronto but it was decent for London standards. The broth tasted like 100% MSG.


After lunch we went to Oxford Circus (for the third time this week!) to find a fanny pack (or bum back according to the English) for our festivities tomorrow. 


When we got back home there were two fire trucks outside the residence. Luckily we just missed a fire evacuation of the whole building.

After everyone was allowed back into the building

Overall, today was a very rainy and lazy day. We mostly stayed in to do laundry, pack and rest up for tomorrow. The plan for tomorrow is to go to the (free!!) Hackney Concert during the day and go to Ministry of Sound at night. Hopefully we're still young enough to pull it off and we don't miss our train the next afternoon to Amsterdam.... 

London Day 6

Norman:


Sigh, the days in London are dwindling down. Very bittersweet that we'll be leaving London but going to go see new countries! First stop yesterday was the massive British Museum. There were a lot of cool exhibits. Another very important aspect about the museums in London is that admission is very reasonably priced: free! We stayed there for about an hour wandering the various rooms.

Very life like statue head that was staring into Mandy's soul

Me looking at stuff in the China section

Next stop after the British museum was Camden Market, which is a collection of street vendors, restaurants and food stalls. This was actually my first time in Camden market and I wish I visited Camden Market more often - it's a pretty vibrant area with a lot to see and do. This was also Mandy's first London attraction outside of Zone 1! Only bad thing is that the London weather was starting to be uncooperative and carrying and umbrella around is a little troublesome. We did end up buying a few trinkets 

Camden Market on a rainy day

Afterwards, we headed back into Central London for afternoon tea at St. Paul's Cathedral. Afternoon tea was decent - I can start to see why the English value afternoon tea so highly. Savory sandwiches, scones with clotted cream + jam, macaroons and tarts. While we were there, we thought we'd also check out St. Paul's Cathedral and the neighboring Paternoster Square. I was hoping to see some Occupy Wall Street protesters, but they were not to be found.

Me in front of the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral

Artistic picture of afternoon tea?

From then, we went back home to hang out before heading to my friend's place for dinner. Doug cooked up a beef brisket feast and it was immensely satisfying. Coupled with some drinking and the night ended up being very enjoyable.

Amazing meal!

That's it for now!




Mandy:


I am still astounded by the fact that three people finished a forty of vodka over dinner. I guess that's normal for Norman now =P
Because of all that alcohol we missed the last train to our station and had to take one of the red double decker buses. The ride reminded me of HK.