Coming down with a major headache

I didn't feel well last night, and when I got up after 11 hours of sleep this morning, I had a major headache and running nose. I think the cold weather from London is finally catching up with me.

It's a sunny day today. Feeling a bit bitter, I decided to stay in and rest, hopefully get well tomorrow and go out again for the rest of the week before we go home. We've been here for over 4 weeks, but there are still places that I haven't visited yet.... I didn't plan to get sick a week before we go home.

I hope I will feel better tomorrow.

Local Mall

So, after running around and finishing some errands, I decided to head out for a few hours. Because it's mid afternoon already, and visiting museums isn't an ideal thing to do within short hours, I decided to head to the mall where the locals shop.


This mall looks pretty much like the malls we have in US. I liked the live music, cozy resting area with comfortable chairs and the bright skylight ceiling design. I wasn't in a mood to shop, but it was a great short afternoon walk in the mall.

Sorry, I simply don't understand you, Madame

So, as my Monday morning routine, I carried the laundry to the laundromat. I always had a book to read while I was waiting for the laundry to be done.

As I was reading, a lady started having a conversation with me. The reason I knew she was talking to me, was because I was the only other person in that laundromat. She was very talkative and excited with full facial expression, and I had to nod my head with a big smile without knowing what she was talking about. I politely asked her in French if she could speak English, and she gave me a big "NO." I thought that would be the end of conversation.

But she continued talking to me, in much slower speed, more gentle tone, and more facial expression, hoping I would understand her and engage in the conversations. As attentive as I listened to her and as hard as I tried to understand her, I simply didn't get anything she said. She didn't know that it's not the speed she talked, but it's the language barrier I had with her.

I realize that I have the same tendency to slow down when talking to French people in English, and they simply don't get what I say either. As frustrated as I felt, I appreciated the lady being so friendly and keeping me in the non-conversational conversations. And because of that, I may start learning some French.

A day after London trip

There's daylight saving in Europe as well, and we had to move our clock one hour ahead at 2am on Sunday. By the time we were ready to go to bed, it was almost 3am, daylight saving time.

It was like 10:30am when we woke up. We both were still tired and didn't feel like doing anything at all. Resting for another 30 minutes or so, we made a few calls back to Taiwan via Skype. I fixed some simple pasta for lunch, and we were talking about going out. And what happened next? We ended up staying at the hotel the whole time, because someone was napping...

Publish Post

Heading back to Paris

So, it pretty much concluded our day in London. We didn’t get to hop on and hop off the bus that much, and we didn’t get on the River Thames cruise. As fast as we walked and tried to hit many spots, we didn’t have time to stop by the famous Harrods and Piccadilly Circus. We wish the weather could have had been warmer and dry for us, and there weren’t any G20 demonstration. The weather was just weird; it rained and all of a sudden got sunny for 5 minutes, and then it came down with heavy cloud, icy rain, snow flakes and hails. We were simply confused about the weather pattern in London.

We got back to our hotel in Paris shortly after 11pm. It's been a long day.

If there’s any recommendation I would give out, definitely come to London in summer time and stay for at least 2 days to enjoy the city. Even if you come during summer, still make sure to bring a jacket or windbreaker with you. And of course, try to void any possible demonstration or rally because that can surely ruin your plans.

St Paul's Cathedral and Kensington Palace

I think I read it from somewhere saying that St Paul's Cathedral is the oldest church in London. One thing for sure is that it has survived from the non-stop bombing between Oct 1940 and April 1941. It still stands still today. Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married in this church. There was a mass or service when we arrived, and of course, we were not allowed to get inside. What a bummer!




Kensington Palace
Since we were at where Princess Di got married, we might as well visit where her palace was. We walked through "Kensington Garden" community where offers luxury houses for ambassadors from different countries. The whole long block was quiet and secured by a station. And no photography is allowed! It's a very pleasant walk, not only by its serene setting but also by the architectural designs of different ambassador residences. As we walked along, we were joking that we would graciously accept any houses on the block, even the ugliest one. Haha.

Kensington Palace seemed unusually quiet to me. I thought it would be busier than what we saw. I am sure it was a popular palace when Princess Di was alive. The gate was locked and we didn't see any guards. I know it's not, but somehow it felt abandoned to me. Across from the Palace, it's a huge park called Kensington Park. I am sure it gets crowded during the summer time when weather is nice.

Tower Bridge and Tower of London

Tower Bridge

So we were both cold, hungry and tired. After finding something to eat, we took a few photos of the Tower Bridge.

A lot of people mistakenly call "Tower Bridge" as "London Bridge." There is "London Bridge" but it's not as amazing looking as "Tower Bridge." The Tower Bridge was quite different from what we pictured. We thought it was made out of steel, but the towers were actually constructed with stone. The government must have cleaned it and repainted it just recently. It looked new and shinning. The weather was getting unbearable, and to save some time, we didn’t walk on the bridge.


Tower of London

This place was first constructed in the year of 1078. Standing on the outer wall, we could really picture how wars were fought during the medieval times. The Tower of London was both a place of King’s residence and a fortress, and now it is a big tourist spot because all the precious royal jewels are kept there. We went into the royal vault to get a closer look at all the jewels used during a coronation ceremony. We saw the Crowns, the Orbs and Scepters, swords and many other items from all the kings and queens from hundreds of years ago. The jewelry themselves were stunning, but we were most amazed by how GOD was really the center of this country, and the royal family. Even thought these were the kings and queens of the land, literally everything we saw had something that resembled: “For the Glory of God” on it. Even the windows on the Tower Walls are in the shape of a cross.

Palace of Westminster

We hopped on the bus and got to our next stop, Palace of Westminster. Palace of Westminster is known as the Houses of Parliament. The building is breath taking and is right by the River Thames. The clock tower, known as Big Ben, is so beautiful, and it makes a great part of the Houses.

Right across the street is the Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and is also a working church. Founded in the 10th century, the Abbey is designed in the shape of a cross.

We wanted to hop back on the bus to head to our next stop. It was so freezing cold and windy. After standing by the bus stop and waiting for the bus about 20 minutes, we realized that the bus might never come because there was a big G-20 demonstration and rally right in the route of the bus. So we decided to head underground and take the Tube. Thanks to all the London local and Tube maps Patricia brought for us, we were able to escape from the rally and continue on our London tour.

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham is such a tourist place where we saw tons of visitors, including ourselves. haha. We didn’t get to see “changing the guard” because they don’t change the guard everyday from Autumn to Spring. Of course, we couldn’t get inside of the palace during this time of the year, however, from the decorative front gate, sculptures on the columns and well designed and built Victoria Monument, it isn’t hard to imagine how beautiful the palace is.

Here we come, London!

After a 2.5 hour ride, we arrived in London!! It’s local time, 9:35am. My math doesn’t sound right to you? London is an hour behind Paris, therefore, we gained one extra hour in London. ☺

Being in Paris for 4 weeks really made our visit to London a great joy. As soon as we arrived at the King’s Cross, St, Pancras international train station, we once again could understand and communicate with others in English. Putting the British accent aside, it was a great relief and I felt like I was home again.

I thought we would be totally on our own when we arrived in London. A day before we left for London, I met with a friend’s daughter, Patricia, in Paris who is studying abroad in London this semester. She came to Paris with her school excursion trip on Thursday, and I asked her to bring me the London local and tube maps (subway system in London is called the Tube) for references. Patricia was kind to give me not only the maps but also great routes and ideas to explore London in just one day.

A local London guide met us outside of the train platform, and he took us to take a the hop-on hop-off tour bus. As soon as we stepped out of the station, we instantly felt that Paris was cold, but London was insanely colder. The wind blew right through our coats and penetrated through the bones. We got on the hop-on hop-off bus and ready to go to our first destination, Buckingham Palace. Rain started coming down, now we were both wet AND cold.

Getting ready for London

I checked the Eurostar train ticket to London, and the price was range between $250 - $300 Euro round trip per person. I thought that was expensive. I remembered that the local tour offered a One-day Liberty Tour to London. Liberty tour means they book the round trip train ticket for you from Paris to London and once you arrive in London, you are on your own. The price is much cheaper than buying the tickets on our own. After calculating the cost, I decided to go with the liberty tour option.

Our Eurostar train departed at 8am on Sat, which means we had to once again get up at 5am and be at the tour office at 6:45am to be bused to the train station. The train station in Paris is called Gare du Nord, and boy it is a magnificent station!

On the way to the train station, we were given a package including our train tickets, London local map, hop-on hop-off bus tickets and River Thames cruise tickets. The tour guide reminded us not to miss the return train; the tickets were not changeable, neither refundable, so make sure to be at the station on time and come back to Paris.

The station, unlike others I have been, is huge and considered as an international station. It is so huge, it felt like an airport to a point. After passing through the security check, we reached the customs, both French and British customs. I thought it was kind of fun to depart from Frence and 3 steps later arrive in UK.



The train ride was about 2 and half hours long. The highlight of the ride was going through the longest undersea tunnel in the world, which took about 20 minutes. Feel anything? It was dark, of course, and I felt some air pressure in my ears. Europstar’s average speed is 185 miles per hour. It doesn’t look as new as the train I saw from its website and pamphlets, but it’s a comfortable journey.

Killing a bird for dinner…

After 2 short days of sunny and warm weather last week, it’s cold and rain has been on and off for the whole week thus far. The temperature is in the high 30s and low 40s, but with humidity, it definitely feels colder.

This is our 4th week in Paris. I somehow feel cold and lack of energy most of the time. I hope I am not coming down with a cold or something…. There are still so many places I want to visit, but I just don’t feel like to go out at all. I stay in the tiny room most of the time this week, "trying" to get online, reading books or simply being a couch potato. Surprisingly, I am getting used to this tiny space. It’s so small; it makes everything so reachable within a step or two. I am afraid that I will get a cultural shock when I go back to the US. Haha

I was thinking what we should have for dinner, so I went to the nearby grocery store to get some ideas. Not being able to read French makes grocery shopping really challenging. I can’t read any labels, and that makes the choice of selections very limited. I basically buy food based on the pictures shown on the packaging. And of course, because of that, we’ve been having pasta, salad, bread and more pasta for the past weeks, and today I really want something other than pasta.

Got in the grocery store, as my routine, I started with the fruit and veggie section. I was just there this Monday, and things haven’t changed much since. So I went from the veggie section to the diary section and my basket was still empty. Whatever items I know, I am kind of tired of eating them; and whatever items I don’t know, they are still foreigners to me and I don’t dare to try them. Then I got to the meat section, I saw some chicken. I decided to make some hearty chicken soup tonight.

So, here is the whole chicken I got. As I pulled it out of the package, I realized that I needed to clean it and cut it open before I could fit it in the cooking pot. I felt like that I was murdering a chicken with a not-so-sharp bread knife….. Why bread knife? That's the only knife we've got in the kitchen. Can you see the tiny kitchen? The chicken in a way looks so big all of a sudden. ☺ The seasonings this kitchen provides are salt and pepper only. So, I threw in some onions to help spice up the soup base. After cooking it for about 3 hours, I hope the soup turns out delicious.

Laudree Macarons

We’ve seen colorful macarons in almost every pastry shop in Paris. A friend told us that Laudree on Champs Elysee has the best macarons. So, we waited till the weekends, hoping for a romantic and tasty afternoon tea/coffee break at Laudree.

The restaurant’s décor is very soothing and classy. Based on the color of packaging and window display they use, I would have mistaken it as a lotion or beauty store. We arrived at the restaurant around 2pm on Sat, and there was a long line of people waiting to either get a table or buy some to go. We decided to walk on Champs Elysee for a while and come back a little bit later.

So, we came back to the restaurant around 4ish, and the line was incredibly long. We both stood in line for about 5 or 10 minutes and there’s simply no movement. The aroma of macarons and coffee was filled up the whole restaurant, and it smelled so good. But we decided to leave because the outlook of having a table within an hour of wait was just impossible. I told Spencer that I would come back one of the weekdays to pick some up for us.

A couple of days later, through a new friend, Veronique, I met in Paris, I learned that there’s another Laudree location in Paris and it’s less crowded. So eagerly wanting to try some Laudree macarons, I went to the store and took a box home.

Veronique told me that macarons are very popular even among Parisians. Main ingredients of macarons are egg whites and almond powder. Even they are small in size, they are rich in flavors. I know they are not cheap, so I got the smallest box containing 6 macarons. The cost of the box, $9.30 Euro. I had to say, the packaging presentation is tasty and the flavors are very rich in very single bite, and the taste and aroma stayed in your mouth for quite a long time. If you haven’t tried one, you should! I thought it was quite impressive!

Basiliek van het Heilig Bloed

In plain English, Basiliek van het Heilig Bloed means “Chapel of the Precious Blood.” Built in the 12th century, this church consists of 2 chapels; the lower chapel has retained its original structure and the upper chapel is where the Relic of the Holy Blood located. We learned that 2 drops of the blood of Jesus Christ was brought to Brugge in 1149 after the Crusade.

We went upstairs to the chapel looking for the Holy relic. We saw people lining up toward an altar, so we just followed where the crowd was. Waiting for a couple of minutes, we went up to the altar and saw this crystal phial containing the blood of Christ. the phial is protected by another container. Without knowing much, we both placed our hands on the glass container, like others did, and stood there for seconds and the nun gave us a very small pamphlet when we started heading down from the altar.

My tears were in my eyes and I was touched. This is what the little pamphlet reads:

“Lord,
You are the source of all love.
You showed it through Jesus who shed his blood for us.
We ask You:
Open our hearts, make them as generous as Yours.
Give us a heart eager to serve others.
Let us be the expression of Your smile on the world.
Amen.”

As soon as we read the prayer from the pamphlet, there’s an announcement in English saying that everyone can go up to the altar and pray over the Holy Blood. Spencer saw me sitting down and no sign of moving, he asked me if I wanted to go up to the altar again. I hesitated for a few seconds, because we were just there a minute or two ago and I felt that I might be too greedy doing that twice within minutes. But once again, both of us stood up and were heading to the altar. This time, we both took our time and said a long prayer over the Holy Blood, and I just couldn’t stop my tears.

I didn't know why, but my tears simply wouldn't stop. While I am writing this blog remembering that day in the church, I realize that it was such a peaceful and intimate moment, and I felt I was that close to God, physically. Because of me, we ended up spending most of our time in this little church during our Brugge trip. Sorry, Spencer! As I am writing this blog, my tears are in my eyes again...(I didn't get to take any photos of the phial... The photo is the upper chapel view.)

BEST LUNCH!

Not sure if it was because we were in a good mood, or Brugge just felt so... European, I felt the lunch we had was just fantastic. We went to this local restaurant recommended by our tour guide. It wasn't cheap, but wasn't ourtrageously expensive either.

As Faye always says, it is cheaper to order from a pre-set menu. In our case, we choose:

Faye: Fish soup > Steamed mussles > Chocolate Mouse

Spencer: Shrimp Crockett > Pan-fried Codd > Chocolate Mouse.

The food was fresh, light in flavor, simple and filling.

FAYE'S APPETIZER: FISH SOUP = A+
It's just fish broth, but with a heavy taste to it. Initially it took some getting used to, but it got better and better with each spspoonful. The soup is garnished with a small tiny lobster, but the bottom half is filled with tiny shrimps.






FAYE'S MAIN DISH: STEAMED MUSSELS = A
What can we say... a big bucket of fresh, meaty mussles! Tender, sweet and FRESH. There were so much of it we both had to work hard to finish it. We could have had the dish just plain, but the waiter offered us garlic cream sauce, which was also awesome.



SPENCER'S APPETIZER: SHRIMP CROCKETT = B+
It was richer than we expected, very... shrimp tasting. But after a few bites in combination with the vegetables next to it, we wanted more. The outside was deep fried, hard, crispy and crunchy, and the inside is like a puree of Shrimp, very, very tasty.



SPENCER'S MAIN DISH: PAN FRIED COD = A+
I've never tasted fish meat that's so "tight". Not tough, but tight. It was perfectly cooked that I could still taste the freshness. The meat of it came right off of the bones,a nd the seasoning was light so nothing was covering over the taste of the fish.

DESSERT: CHOCOLATE MOUSE = A
We waited forever for this dessert, probably at least 20 minutes. To be honest, we were too full to finish it, but it was so rich and silky and smooth. We ordered a cup of tea to wash everything down, I wish I had cup of coffee to go with it, it would have been just perfect.


Overall it was a great experience. Not only the food was good, the waiter was friendly, the view was lovely, and the weather was great as well. It was actually the first time in Europe which I was able to slow down and enjoy myself. There was no rush rush for the train, no looking up directions, it was just there, sitting there, chatting with Faye without having an agenda or a goal...

We have to go back there again.

Begijnhof

Begijnhof complex was founded in the 13th century to accommodate single women, and most of them were lace makers. In 1928, this complex was abandoned, and in 1930, nuns settled in the Begijnhof and they still live there today. As we entered into the square, we saw quite a few of nuns walking in and out of the church. It’s a very peaceful and serene environment. We couldn’t stop noticing the bright yellow flowers in the square. Our tour guy explained to us that Spring is a very beautiful yet short season in Brugge. And we were lucky to see the blossom of the flowers.


I guess because of this wonderful season of colors, there’s a couple shooting for their wedding photos in the square. I quickly snapped my camera on this shy bride-to-be. Hmm, I wasn’t sure if she’s shy or she’s actually cold. It was about 33 degrees when we got there, and I had my heavy scarf, hat and gloves on. I guess we do everything for love and out of love even it’s freezing out there. Haha. I am so mean today, but I had to admit that her dress was very beautiful!

We saw this “nun” statue on one of the nearby restaurants’ roof. It just amused the both of us. This is the coolest nun I’ve ever seen. I think even the nuns at my high school will agree with me on this. Haha.

Brugge (Bruges), Belgium

Brugge is one of the most perfectly preserved medieval town in Europe. It was established between the 7th and 9th century and it became an important world port in the 13th century. By the early 16th century, the canal couldn’t be navigated because it’s filled with mud, and the port had to be closed.

Brugge is famous for its gothic styled townhall. The lace work and Belgium chocolate and waffle are also well known in the world. I am not a lace person, as much as I appreciate its detailed work and design, I can’t say much about it.Paris is definitely a beautiful metropolitan city. However, I had to say that Brugge is the picture-perfect European city I could ever imagine; canoes on a narrow canal, the clicking sound from the horse shoes running on the cobbled stone streets, relaxing outdoor cafés, town squares where people stroll and gather, and of course the breath-taking (gothic) architectures.



I guess I am more into the country-style side of Europe. haha. I wish I could share more photos here. But I am sure you could taste how wonderful this small town is from these few photos.

Getting ready for Brugge, Belgium

Today we visited a city called Brugge in Belgium with a local bus tour. We didn’t know much about the city when we booked the tour, but according to the tour literature, Brugge is the most charming town in Belgium and known as “the Venice of the North.” So it should be beautiful and worth the trip.

The bus would leave its tour office for Brugge at 7:15am, which meant we had to leave our hotel around 6:15am to catch the Metro to make sure we didn’t miss the bus. It was quite early and Metro station was quiet and empty. Either the weight on Metro was light or I was excited to visit Belgium, I felt that the Metro ride this morning was faster and more pleasant than usual.

By the time we got to the tour office at 7am, there were plenty of people waiting for their buses to different destinations. Needing to use the restroom and inject some caffeine to wake us up, we went to the café across the street. These must be the most expensive coffee and tea I’ve ever had in my life. Each cup holds about 5oz of coffee and tea, and each cup costs $4.50 Euro. I had to sip it slowly instead drinking it like the way I usually do. Every single drop literally costs 50 cents.


So, when our bus came, we were like, “wow, it’s a double-decker bus. Cool!” We’d never rode one before, and this would be an exciting ride! Actually, Spencer was definitely more excited about the bus than me. Haha. The bus ride from Paris to Brugge was about 4 hours, including a 30-minute break in the middle of the journey. The bus was quite comfortable and the ride was easy and smooth.

For Princess Diana’s Lovers

So I came to see this golden flame which is an exact copy of the flame held by the Status of Liberty in New York. The flame was surprisingly big to me. The flame stands above the underpass where Princess Diana was killed in 1997 (I think the year was right), and it has become an unofficial monument to her memory.