Paris

At the end of our guided tour, I extended my trip to Paris and spent a very very rushed 4 days there.

I arrived into Paris city itself at approximately 6 ish in the evening and how else better than to spend the next 2 days on the hop on hop off bus, taking you to see the major attractions of the city.

Where the moulin rouge movie was shot..

The Paris Nord, busiest train station in the entire Europe....

And the louvre. I speat 1/2 a day walking inside as my mom was too busy shopping in LaFayette to want to accompany me to see some paintaings (which is definitely not enough- i only did the paintings). And of course, my first stop was to go check out the Mona Lisa which took me maybe 20 minutes to locate. And u had to push ur way through the crowd to take a decent picture of it. Tickets priced at E9.50, definitely more worthwhile than the Van Gogh musuem in Amsterdam!

The Notre Dam...

A view of some bridge from the bus...

The very famous shopping street, Champs Elysees - did not manage to shop here due to time constraint.

Don't think I need to explain further what the tower below is...when I saw the queue to go up the Eiffel, I just gave up!

On the last day, before taking the train to Amsterdam, I had breakkie in Fauchon Paris. All I can say is, for the price u pay, it's definitely worth every cent!!

Due to my last minute shopping, I nearly missed the train...hahah so my advice is, if taking the train and unsure of your way around the station, PLEASE DO GO EARLY! hehehehe..I got there 45 mins earlier to collect my tickets but the self service kiosks did not recognize my booking.......thank god for the 25 minute delay in the train!

XoXo, till my next post - final stop in europe...Amsterdam with Cal and Yugin where we started drinking at 12 in the heineken brewery!

Portugal

The last of my 15 days tour in Spain, Portugal and Morocco ended with a 2 nights stay in Lisbon, Mariott Hotel. (After which Paris and Amsterdam was entirely on my own)

The magnificent Hieronymite Monastery with Vasco Da Gama's tomb. ( I hope I am correct with this as I was halfasleep when visiting our 1001th church/cathedral)

Belem tower....

The Fado - portugese singing and dancing. I found it sooooooo utterly boring I had to walk out halfway just after dinner, not even 1/2 into their performance!

At Sintra visiting the summer palace...

...and just will u look at this kitchen. Amazing....every housewife's dream!

On the way to Cascais...a stunning view from the bus on the Altantic Ocean

I have this thing for taking maccas pictures everywhere I go. The McRoyal in Portugal. Ok tasting only-la.

Yummy shroom tapas for our farewell dinner as the tour comes to an end.

And the best way to end a Sunday and the end of the tour is some tequillas and beer with some new found friends in the Mariott bar! whalalalala!

I have genuinely enjoyed my 15 days tour of Spain, Portugal and Morocco with Tralfagar and strongly recommend anyone with intention to follow a tour group. Although I must say that there were too many optionals that we had to pay for. The optional dinners however, are something we did not regret going to..cept the Fado of course! I will sum up the entire trip in the next few posts.

Xoxo..till my next post.....the romantic city of Parieeeeee!

The Medinas in Fes

The biggest Medina (old city) in Morocco with more than 20,000 little streets inside.

We made a visit to this Medina and to make sure everyone in the tour got out safely from the narrow alleys, we needed a guide in the front and some 'usher' at the back.

The shops in the medinas remind you of life in the 14th century.

Here's a peddlar selling snails in a little shop.

People use donkeys in the Medinas to cart their wares and stuff around as as means of transport.

One of the bigger 'corporations' selling carpets.

..and shoes...

and this is the tannery..

3 guesses for what shop this is!!!

..and that everyone, is the real estate agent in the medina. Cool eh!

XoXo..coming up- Portugal

Sevilla

My last Spanish destination before heading off to Portugal for the final of my 15 days tour with Tralfagar ended in Sevilla. Of all the places, I guess this had to be my favourite. The beautiful seceneries topped with shopping. Don't ask me why we did not shop in Madrid earlier on!

That night we were treated to a spectacular Flamenco. They say you have not come to Sevilla unless u have watched the Flamenco.

The famous bull ring in Sevilla.

Very very good food. Apparently the owner's son wanted to marry my friend, Cathy. I won't mind living in Sevilla but apparently it gets up to 45 degrees in the summer.

Wonder why some people are turned off by the sight of hanging cured hams. They're soooooo yummy.

The Cathedral that houses the real Christopher Columbus' tomb.

And the tomb itself - already proven to have the real CC inside.

Nothing beats a stroll down Maria Luisa park on a chilly morning.

I have not been able to blog properly on my Europe trip for the past 3 weeks due to limited internet connection. Now that I'm back home, after my final post in Europe, prop another 3 more to go - Paris, Amsterdam and Lisboa, I will prepare a summary of the entire trip!

And here's signing off with a horse cart. XoXo

Ourika Valley, Marrakesh

First of all, let me apologize for the lack of posts lately. It's because it's so difficult to get free wifi in Europe. Even when I'm paying Euro 8 in Amsterdam for 24 hrs, the connection sucks big time.

I'm finally going back tomorrow after 3 weeks away from home.

Now only do I get the chance to blog about my adventures in Marrakesh - Ourika Valley. We had the chance to visit a Berber family in the outskirts of town and get a feel of their humble lifestyle and taste freashly made bread and mint tea.

Berber kids!

The steam room! How much do you pay for gym membership and be able to use the steam bath. Here's a DIY one!

In this Berber house lives 4 generation of people under one roof.

The old lady of the house who's 70 graciously serving us mint tea. The frangrance and the aroma of the mint tea served here is something you will not be able to find in the shops outside.

Here's really yummy bread with olive oil and honey and homemade butter. Do u know they do not live with refridgerators!

Awww...so sweeeeet!

And the cooking area.

I'm keeping this post really short as I just came back from the Ice Bar in Amsterdam and doing some last minute packing before leaving for home tomorrow morning.......I will really miss my fun holiday.

XoXo till my next post!