European Vacation 2016: London Calling

Bon Jour,

Just arrived back last week from 2 weeks in Europe, well part of Europe, well, 2 countries actually!

Went to spend some time with my favourite youngest daughter and her young man in London Calling, then some time in Paris (always a good idea).

Travelled with my friend who shall be known as "M" as she prefers to travel incognito, this was going to be a bit different to previous trips as this was "girls" time so very different to travelling with our  significant others.

Started off as all good journeys do with a couple of liquid beverages  (definitely more than 100 millilitres involved! ) in the Qantas Club and before long we were London bound.

The young ones are living in a up and coming area of London called Shoreditch. I think of it as the sort of area that "Call the Midwife" would have been working in during the 1950's. Now it is a cross between Brooklyn, Newtown and Surry Hills. Think cafes, small bars, creative workspace hubs and lots of hipsters! Lots of buildings are being renovated and repurposed a lot of urban regeneration going on. Its very close to the city and has great transport options.

While in London we did Borough Markets, which I cannot do justice to in words, the only thing I can recommend  is you have to go and do yourself a flavour! I managed to score my favourite white asparagus and did a bit of cooking for the hosts one night.

Sunday,  it was time to channel our "inner rock chicks" and take in the  Rolling Stones exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery

Well,  that was 2 1/2 hours well spent.  I was amazed at what they had managed to keep over the years, old set lists, even clothes worn back in the early 1960's. The ultimate experience was the special 3D concert where we were on stage with Mick!  If you are going to be in London this year take time to see it, you will not be disappointed.

The final big thing we did in London was to get our "Kinky Boots" on. I had wanted to see this show 2 years ago, but never had time, so made sure we booked tickets before we left home this time and on our final night in London we had a girls night out with favourite youngest daughter at the west end theatre. The show will not be here in Sydney for another 2 years I think so I'm glad that we got to see it. Great costumes and great music. 

Next day we were off on Eurostar to Paris, so stay tuned for Paris Adventures.

Trains, planes and stuff.....

Last weekend I went with my sister to Paris, as you do!

I had arrived in Amsterdam earlier that week, got myself on European time and then we were off!

And boy do they do trains in Europe well.

This is what I recorded on my app, Dashboard on  the Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris, and I think we actually went faster than this later on!

Insert sad face here,  in Australia, we can look forward to speeds of 80kmh.


So read it and weep people, it's now 11pm in London, so I'm off to bed as I'm doing Regents Canal  tomorrow!

Choices, choices, choices,

I've really got myself in a dilemma! After attending Cordon Bleu open day last Saturday Paris, I did a personal guided tour of  cordon bleu london......



And now I'm torn!

Both have pros and cons and I'm spending a lot of brain power trying to reason which school would be the best and which City has the most to offer.

Paris has the history, the markets and of course the French!

London, which was the second cordon bleu school outside Paris has decidedly better facilities, French chefs and I can speak the language.

so, you can see my decision is not easy,

Yes it could be, I could just go to Cordon Bleu in Sydney , but what's the fun  in that?

So maybe you can help me......


If YOU had to make a decision where would you go.........

Stay tuned.....

Letter from Paris

I can't get any photos to load on via the iPad, so I am going to treat you with a letter from Paris...

Pictures will come at a letter date.

Dear Diary,

Today I arrived in Paris!  This is my about my 6th visit and still the excitement remains when I see the Tour Eiffel, symbol of Paris.

I'm here to attend an open day for

Le Cordon Bleu Paris cooking school  in preparation for my grown up gap year.

My sister is my support person, because you need someone to be your unbiased eyes and ears for things like this.

The weather is brilliant much warmer than I expected, I suppose I could blame climate change for that! :-)

We are staying at a lovely hotel on the Rive Gauche, which describes me to a tee,a bit left of centre!

We are going to do the hop on hop off bus, a comedy show and visit some sites, so,I'll close this letter now and will write another day.

Love gg

Friday on my mind....

So I've come to the end of my second gap year week and what did I do?

The answer is...
nothing much!

I worked at the hospital on Monday,  but the rest of the week was totally devoted to
my birthday celebrations!

I also had some more gap year planning on my to do list,

and now that's done I can reward myself with a fabulous girlfriends lunch date today in a lovely location HERE, in the southern highlands

Part of my gap year planning involves a reconnaissance trip to Europe in September to attend an open day at Le Cordon Bleu for prospective students, to check out the rental apartments in Paris and to go and see my sister who has moved to Amsterdam. I'm also doing a side trip to London to see my niece her new baby and some more family. Favourite first daughter from NYC is flying over to visit with me in London as well, and we plan to do some Westend shows, and some day trips to Bath, Oxford and Stratford Upon Avon.

Oh, and I might have done a bit of op shopping too this week, and I cannot confirm or deny that I might have purchased yet more furniture, but I'll save that reveal  for another day.

I'm out to lunch, so enjoy your Friday!

Making up for lost time.....

Once upon a time, there was a woman who did everything she was expected to do: got an education, got a qualification, got married, ( maybe not in that exact order) had a family, worked hard and raised that family and then.....

what happened to her?.......  ( ...insert thoughts here)

 I think I need to go there!

Well, it's not going to be me!








NO!

Because I've made a decision to take a GRAY GAP YEAR ( although I'm not gray, but if I said a blonde gap year what would people make of that? You'd all think I'd gone all Paris Hilton etc, etc....)
and spend some time, doing nothing much, .... ( insert pregnant pause here)


and then something I've always wanted to do and never thought I could/would do *

(* you have to read to the end to find out).

My significant other found out about my decision on Facebook (as we do these days), when I decided to quit my very well paying corporate job and swan around at home.

To his credit he did not question my decision and fully supported it  (might be due to the fact that he gets to partake in my gap year as well)



I seem to have missed out  on a of a lot of things, that are now considered a right of passage.



like schoolies, (wasn't invented when I left school)

The swanning around  university doing nothing much or being involved in student politics, (I went as  mature student with 4 children)  so,  I was not doing much swanning around or drinking free beer with the student association. Plus I hate the smell of beer.

Free tertiary education, (I got an education and a  HECS debt too!)  paid now!

Baby bonus.
I thought that was the baby you got to take home from hospital!  Not the money for a flat screen TV, so you watch TV and don't have the time or inclination to make more babies!

Family tax credits, (I credit my family with staying together and providing 4 new taxpayers for the economy)

Child Care Subsidy, when the aforementioned flat screen TV fails to work and you have another child, just old enough to mind the younger one!


so you can get my drift...
so

now the big news... ( insert drum roll...)

Glenquarry Goddess is going global!

I'm off the Europe in 6 weeks time for some sister time  (my sister had moved to Amsterdam for work, she is the  BIG TIME corporate gal!)  and to spend some time with my sister in law whose daughter is going to have a baby in mid/late September and then do some free time travel to check out my gap year haunt*

For those who do not know, (and there is only a handful of you left)  I'm going to live in Paris for 4 months next year and study at  Le Cordon Bleu,

if you're not aware of it,   you might have seen the film "Julie and Julia"  well I am studying at the same place Julia Child did!

So I will be a post modern version of Julia Child with an Australian accent!

so, my new blog is going to be all about

Minding the Gap! (Year)

So please mind the gap, and stay tuned.....

Badges of Honour

Today is the last day of the Sydney Monorail winding its way around Darling Harbour and the city. From what I have been hearing in the media, it won't be missed a lot,  but it reminded me that I had a piece of history related to the monorail.

Here it is

a badge from the original protest against the monorail. I have managed to keep it all these years in a box where I keep old coins and badges. 

As I was looking for it I came across a couple more vintage badges from the late 1970's,  from the time when Gough Whitlam had been sacked as Prime Minister and Malcolm Fraser installed.  One even managed to combine 2 political protest movements, the sacking of Gough and the exporting of uranium as shown below..

I think that is meant to be the opposite of a good day!

My favourite, and don't you love the caricature?

It got me to thinking as I am wont to do, we don't seem to do or wear badges like we used to. I had quite a collection over the years, some hilarious, some philosophical and some downright silly. However they were a good way to convey what you were thinking, a bit like wearing your heart on your sleeve, you wore your badge on your lapel. Here are a couple of other oldies but goodies.

Mothers Day circa 1989 or 1990, Mothers got free rides at Luna Park on Mothers Day, and I sure got my mother's day worth!

Need I say more??

I have been known to wear this one to work on occasions!

A good message for all of us

Remember the "flat cat" craze of the mid 1990's, I loved them, this one especially appealed to me.

A funny story about one of my most favourite badges. I bought this particular  one in Leichhardt around 1980 on a Saturday morning after a big Friday night, it read "I used to feel young". 

I kept it and wore it occasionally and then on my first trip to Paris I had it on my backpack. At this point the badge was 22 years old, so it really DID mean what it said.   

Well,  while visiting Napoleon's tomb, it fell off my bag and down into the crypt where he was buried  and then bounced along the marble floor. If any of you know it you know it's all very quiet and solemn so the noise of the badge running along the floor made so much noise, that I got spooked and picked up my bag and slunk out, hoping not to get arrested!

Here is a pic of the inside, I was up the top and it fell down from there.

However,  I  do think of that badge from time to time, and if anyone ever found it down there near Napoleon's tomb and wonder how it got there, and how apt it was,  saying;

"I used to feel young" indeed you did Emperor!

What about you, did you ever "get into" badges, or do you think they should make a comeback??

Going Stationary on Stationery...... no longer

Do you remember the olden days, about 15 years ago, before email and the internet??

Do you remember being taught how to set out a letter at school?

Do you remember learning how to write Thank you letters etc?

Did you ever have a pen pal?

Do you remember stationery? 

I remember my favourite letter writing paper when I was a young girl was Croxley Deckle does anyone remember that?  It was quite thick with a lovely crinkly edge to it, really quite posh if I may say so.

I must say I have always been a great lover of good stationery and pens remember my post of last year about my penchant for hotel pens?

Well I have quite a collection of stationery, postcards, letter cards etc  that I collect/purchase from all over the place, but you know what?  Because of our now instant communication systems I hardly every use them, which is quite sad as they sit lonely (but not unloved) in my desk drawer.

So I have decided to resurrect the old fashioned letter, so this week I have written letters to 5 people I know and love so if you keep a look out you might see something in your non-virtual letter box real soon!

So I am calling on all of you to no longer be stationary on stationery and spend a few minutes writing a real proper letter to your nearest and dearest!

BTW does the spelling of stationary/stationery confuse you, here's a tip  (courtesy of  the Significant Other)  remember "E" for envelope, then you'll never go wrong! 

Here are some of my favourite stationery pieces.

The Bon Jour Cards I purchased at  the Toulouse Lautrec  exhibition in Canberra this year 

As you can see I'm a sucker for anything French!

You should see the sexist Ads on the 50's cards!

Pretty patterned Letter Cards

Some hotel stationery