Category Archives: Travel Guides & Memoirs

26. Top Tips for Visiting the Louvre & Moulin Rouge

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The last time I went to Paris it took me three days to explore the long galleries of the Musée du Louvre. This time, experience under my belt, we nailed it in a day.

Walking the great halls of this immense fortress-turned-palace-turned-museum, I wonder at the nobles who served here in an age long ago, the kings and queens who ruled from here, the artists who lived in this epic building. Was it just as grand before Napoleon I renovated and restructured it? In any matter, the Louvre is a work of art itself, from it’s medieval foundations to it’s French Renaissance architecture… let alone the fortune lying within its belly. No wonder the monarchy was overthrown!

in pursuit of | wings

Even the walls and ceilings are a work of art in itself.

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25. A Walking Tour of Paris on the Champs Elysees

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We step out of our apartment and tip toe down the narrow, lopsided, spiral staircase. The steps are uneven with wear and some have crumbled away over time. I don’t mind the steep descent so much this morning, but it wasn’t much fun lugging our suitcases up these yesterday. (Or at least, it wasn’t much fun for my husband, while the house-keeper chatted to me about the local restaurants and showed me around the apartment!)

in pursuit of | wings

It is Saturday and the Marché Baudoyer has sprung up across the road. Wandering through the marquee-ed lanes, it is exactly like what we’ve read about Paris’ open air markets; everything we’ve expected – and more.
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24. Eurail & Restaurant Review: Thalys Trains & 58 Tour Eiffel

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The city of lights; an icon of romance, and the center of cuisine at it’s finest, has fascinated me for as long as I remember. There is a magic about her that is undefinable, undebatable, and unrivalled… a charm that can be found in every fromage-filled baguette, in the two-minute stillness between metro services, in the late-night aperitifs of the Marais, and the luxurious boutiques selling designer books, designer ballet shoes, or designer incense. Even in the way the Parisians love their dogs, and the way they smoke cigarettes without a care for tomorrow. From the lawns beneath the Eiffel tower, to the pyramids of the Louvre, and all the tourist traps inbetween – I love the very essence of Paris. I can still hear the buskers singing tribute to Edith on the street-corners, still feel the rain on my face as we zipped around Paris one midnight on the back of a scooter, still feel my heart jump out of my chest as we stepped off that train at Paris, Gare du Nord, September 7th 2012.

in pursuit of | wings
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22. A Two-Day Itinerary for Cologne & the Nurburgring

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The Hotel Domstern is simple but clean, with friendly staff (although everyone we have met so far in Germany is friendly – we are greeted with cheery “hallo!”‘s everywhere we go!) and caters a decent breakfast. We wolf down some more delicious European yoghurt – this time the iconic German flavour, kirsche (cherry). To accompany it, plenty of bread, meat and cheese of course. We have a big day ahead – he will need a proper feed!

in pursuit of | wings

in pursuit of | wings

We set off to the Nurburgring so that he can play out every boy’s life-long dream to race around the legendary Green Hell. He’s been drilling himself for years on each corner, every dip and bump and ripple on the Playstation and the Xbox, lap after lap imprinted in his memory. Now, a mere hour’s drive from track, he has a grin to rival Heath Ledger’s Joker plastered across his face.
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21. Eurail Review: Deutsche Bahn

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Crossing over into Germany on the train, we are startled when the dialect on the speakers suddenly switches. From the alien Czech, I am relieved to hear the comforting, familiar sound of Deutsch. We soon arrive at Berlin Haubtbahnhof (ja, Berlin!), where we jump on our connecting service.

in pursuit of | wings

Unable to find our reserved First-Class seats, the attendant tells us that we need to move to the train behind us. I take it to mean, there’s another train physically connected to this one, and that we’ll need to get off at the next stop and run along the platform to get back on. He understands this is as, we’ve taken the wrong train and need to get off, and get on the next one that comes along.

I am right, of course.
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