Le Journal de +Louise

Bonjour à tout!

Greetings from Paris!

As a super early birthday present, I’ve had the chance once again to traipse the cobble stoned streets of Paris =)

Despite the long almost 24 hour plane ride, the biblical hives breakout from my what seemed to be an allergic reaction to anti-biotics, and spots of rainy patches, the city welcomed us back with open arms.

The past few days we have laughed, shopped, eaten, wandered and left footprints all over Paris.

More photos to follow!

The.best.chocolate.fudge. Ever.

Flourless, 100% dark chocolate. Perfect.

Leo’s home made chocolate fudge has been road tested by the fussy palettes of family and friends. And, of course, a big stamp of approval from me! I have finally kicked my Nutella addiction, but this, this is really something else.

I giggle everytime I look at this picture. Leo refused to give in to sore right arm muscles from all the batter whisking, and so he came up with this:

Our very own industrial mixer!

For those who are puzzled, it’s actually a metal whisker attached to a power drill. Brilliant, yes?

I’m thinking of secretly sneaking a line into his wedding vow that reads, ” And I will promise you, a life time of home made flourless chocolate fudge ahead…”

We went to Sassafras, Mount Dandenong, a couple of weekends ago, just a short 1 hour leisure drive from Melbourne.

This part of town is always great for some browsing and a spot of vintage shopping…

Our favourite piece: A vintage wooden Michelin Man rocking a cigar…

The last time we came the line that snaked around Miss Marples Tea Room was intimidating, however, this time around we were determined to a table. This place, crowded as it always is, does not accept reservations. We had to leave our names and come back at a certain designated time.

Miss Marples Tea Room (after much googling) is a memorabilia gallery of Agatha Christie’s fictional character (Leo and I embarrassingly thought that it was some old English lady whom, post WWII for some reason ended up in this part of the world and decided to open up an english tea house!)

Miss Marples’ famous jam, which went very well with the scones later on…

Quaint english setting with pink tea rose table cloths….

Exposed wooden beams, framed vintage prints of Miss Marples, old teapots and waitresses in black dresses and white aprons whizzing in and out of the kitchens with mountains of food…

The scones I had were a little bit dry but we might just brave the crowds and drop by again for the giant sundaes =)

{Trip Report 09 Nov 08 & 10 Nov 08}

We awoke bright and early, had a hearty breakfast wheeled and trolleyed right into our room by Christian =)

We decided to take it slow and strolled leisurely into the town centre and towards the river.

A “human sculpture” outside the Uffizi Gallery…

Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio is the medieval bridge over the Arno River and is occupied by jewellers, souvenir sellers and art dealers.

I went hunting for vintage brooches, haggled and went home with 3 authentic shell cameos =)

We stopped by for some delectable gelati…

We went across the bridge and stumbled upon Papier Arti E Mestieri, a lovely quaint papier shop in Piazza di Santa Maria Soprano. The entire shop is filled with gorgeous leather bound journals, handmade marbled paper, tooled bookmarks and handstamped cards.

Before dinner, we caught a cab to Piazza Michaelangelo to bask in Florence’s golden skyline…

We celebrated my birthday at Golden View Open Bar, by the Ponte Vecchio, where we had the best seafood dinner, still unrivaled till today.

We were meant to only spend 3 days in Florence, having booked an early morning train heading towards Venice. However, we encountered a train strike (again) but this time, trains were cancelled for the ENTIRE day. We had to ring our hotel in Venice to hopefully be able to cancel the first night stay and thankfully, the owners were kind enough to not charge us a penalty. I rang Christian and he was able to put us up in one of the smaller rooms, so we dragged our sorry selves back to the BnB; to recover from the ordeal, we stopped by Santa Maria Novella Perfumeria, an opulent baroque gallery that houses fragrances, tonics, rose water and soaps. A bit pricey but I bought a bottle of ‘Angels of Florence’ as a souvenir =)

Trip Report – {Florence 8 Nov 2008}

A trip to Florence is not complete if you do not visit its famous designer outlets. So we dedicated day 2 for some retail therapy.

Took a bus tour to Space Outlet in Montervarchi, after a journey of approximately 1-1.5 hours, the bus arrived at a very unassumingly large black building. This houses all the glittery Pradas at (somewhat) amazingly discounted prices. The security procedure was extremely vigilant, therefore no photos within the building.

We found this outlet a tad too overwhelming (probably because the tour only allocated 1.5 hours of shopping time at Space) God knows I don’t shop well under pressure!

Prada score: 1 bag, 1 coin purse and a pair of tooled leather shoes for Leo.

Next stop: The Mall

The Mall is about 1/2 hour’s drive from Space and consists of outlet stores such as Alexander McQueen (sigh), La Perla, Marni, Gucci, and Yves Saint Laurent. Here we spent the allocated 2 hours and 45 minutes leisurely strolling the stores and trying to avoid the complete hysteria that is in the Gucci outlet.

Score: A demure set of La Perla, a trio of Marni brooches.

We went back to Alloro, freshened up and went out for a quick bite.

Florence, with its cobble stoned streets and beautiful Renaissance architecture, all bathed in warm yellow light is indeed a sight to behold.

We wandered around the streets before heading back. A big day ahead tomorrow, my birthday! =)

While the northern hemisphere is mostly waist deep in snow, Melbourne scorched today.

The mercury shot up to 43C; total fire ban, people urged to stay indoors and city workers are advised to head home early.

Another sleepless night ahead =(

Trip Report – {Rome 6 Nov 2008}

Today marked the our final day in Rome. We woke up at the crack of dawn, revisited the Trevi, threw coins over our shoulders, and hoped for the possibility of returning to the Eternal City one day.

Next stop: Florence =)

Nope. Still here. Time to dust off these cobwebs (haven’t we all heard that before!).

In laws were here for Christmas and ushering in of the New Year. Had way too much food, spent way too much and took way too few pictures.

So here’s to a brand new 12 months, may they be filled with lots of love, merriment, light and endless possibilities! =)