Bastille Day

Happy Bastille Day everyone. I wanted to write a quick post addressing this day, one, because it’s a great weekend to be a French person (or a Francophile) and two, because I have considered France to be my spiritual home for a while now, ever since I first set foot out of Lamarck Caulaincourt Metro station, I fell in love. So far I’ve been to three and a half places in France; Paris, Bordeaux, Nice, and Disneyland Paris, and I have no doubt that I’ll visit more places in the future. I’ll leave some pictures below so you can see all of these beautiful places, and I hope everyone has had a brilliant 14th July.

Nic

xx

Bordeaux

Long time no blog over here, I do apologise, I have been busy though, and there’ll be regular content again from here on in. Ok time to talk about today’s post. I recently took a trip to Bordeaux for my 30th birthday, and we managed to pack a fair bit in to the two days we were there, so I thought I’d write a post about it.

We arrived in Bordeaux at 12:52, after taking a TGV train from Paris (which lead to some stunning views of the French countryside), and we decided to first get some lunch in a red top cafe before heading to check in to our hotel. After we’d checked in, we went for a wander, and found an impressive church and town hall building with a few cafes in the area, and, seeing as it was happy hour, we decided to stop for a glass of wine before more sightseeing. Then, as we weren’t overly hungry after our huge lunch, and because our hotel room was actually also a self catering apartment, we bought some pasta and some meats and cheeses, and baguette, and went back to the hotel with a bottle of wine, ready for our second day.

The second day started off with a lot more sightseeing, we did over 25,000 steps on that one day, where we saw the miroir d’eau, the most famous non-wine related thing in Bordeaux, and it was amazing. We then went  and had lunch and did some wine tasting, which was a great way to spend my birthday afternoon. Then we did more sightseeing, ticking off various places on the free map/guide we got from our hotel, and when we were heading back in the direction of our hotel to get ready for tea, we saw a dance group doing tango demonstrations outside a cafe, so we watched them for a while, before having a wonderful evening meal and more wine and cheese (well, if you can’t do that in Bordeaux then where can you?) we then grabbed some more wine for a nightcap, and went to bed very happy, and having had a brilliant little trip for my birthday.

Nic

xx

Nice Day 2

The second day we were in Nice, we woke up early, headed to Brioche Doree for croissants, pain au chocolats and tea and coffee, then we decided we wanted to go and explore the old town. We went to the Opera and the Hotel de Ville, Cours Saleya, home to a daily flower market, and around the streets of the old town. We then decided to head up to the site of the Chateau, which was absolutely beautiful and offered some stunning views of the city.

After walking up many many stairs to get up the Chateau, we quickly had some lunch and then had a bit more of a wander round the old town, taking some outfit photos, and generally soaking up the atmosphere, before getting an ice cream and sitting along the promenade. Lee and I both said that we liked the slower pace of life in Nice than our usual haunt Paris, as it made a change for a weekend to take things slowly.

After our walk along the promenade, we went to a red top cafe (a must for me in France) for a couple of drinks before settling on somewhere to go for an early tea before having to head back to the airport. As we both wanted to try the other stereotypical French starter: frog's legs, we decided to return to the place we ate the night before, as it was the only menu I'd seen it on. So we went there and had the frog's legs (which were very nice in my opinion) and then one of the nicest steaks I've ever had in my life, washed down with a bottle of red wine. We then went to get a fridge magnet for my mum, and then headed to the airport, deciding we would definitely return to the French Riviera in the future to go resort hopping. 

It was a lovely weekend, and one I would definitely recommend to anyone wanting a short, peaceful break not too far from home.

Nic

xx

Place Masséna

Dress, Bag, Shoes- Primark / Sunglasses- ASOS

So last weekend in Nice, I took a step out of my comfort zone and took some outfit pictures in a busy square full of people. Check me out. In all seriousness now, as soon as we saw these beautiful pink buildings in Nice old town, I knew I wanted to have some outfit photos here in my new dress. Whenever I go on holiday, I always have to buy at least one new outfit, and I thought, seeing as we were going to the French Riviera, I would buy some stripes, and I matched the theme of Nice perfectly; there were boating/sailing shops everywhere.

Naturally, being me, I had to add something playful to the outfit, and because the weather was absolutely beautiful in Nice, I decided I wanted to take my little ice cream handbag. Will I ever dress like a grown up? Who knows. All I know is, I love not taking myself too seriously when it comes to dressing, which I hope I'll keep doing for years to come. I felt like I matched perfectly with the aesthetic of Nice old town, which is what matters here.

Nic

xx

Nice Day 1

Last weekend, Lee and I took a trip to Nice in the south of France to celebrate Lee's 30th. After umming and ahhing for the longest time on where to go, Lee finally settled on France, after all, we do claim to love France but, until now, have only been to Paris. So we decided on Nice. We flew early from Manchester, and a quick two and a bit hours later, we were in Nice. The first thing we did after the very short ride from the airport into the centre was to stroll along the Promenade des Anglais and take in the stunning beach views. It really was the most beautiful place. After a while soaking up the serene atmosphere, we went to the place we spent a lot of time over the weekend: the Zone Pietonne, or, pedestrian zone, which is a street that has no cars driving up it, aka heaven, where we went to a cafe and had an absolutely huge pizza and a glass of red wine. 

Suitably full after our meal, we continued exploring, stopping for drinks and sit downs along the way, taking in the sights such as the Nice Notre Dame and a glimpse of the Old Town, before checking in to our hotel, and having a quick freshen up before heading out to find somewhere to eat our evening meal. We found a place on the Zone Pietonne, and ordered some local food and a French delicacy that Lee was eager to try: snails. They reminded me a bit of mushrooms, but they were ok. We washed it all down with a bottle of wine, and then went to another bar for a couple of drinks before heading back to our hotel, ready for a very full second day.

Nic

xx