Tinkerbell's Pages

Our weekend in Paris...

Am back from Paris - got home at about 1am this morning then had to get up to go and pick big sister up from Gatwick, so am quite knackered! Had a fab weekend, didn't go to many of the typical touristy places because boyfriend and I have both been to Paris twice before and we had so much to fit into our time there! We did, however, go to the Louvre (lovely pic taken by me!) because boyfriend hadn't been before and he had just finished reading The Da Vinci Code! Saw the Mona Lisa, Venus De Milo etc. Also went to the Jardin des Plantes on Friday afternoon which is massive park with botanical gardens and a zoo. It was pretty cool in the Parisian sunshine.

Saturday was the big night though - going to see Radiohead at the Domaine National de Saint Cloud (a massive park on the banks of the Seine). There had been rain showers on and off all day, so I was sure that we were going to get soaked come evening with no shelter, but when we arrived at the park at about 6pm the sun came out! It didn't rain at all that evening, so we were able to enjoy the concert and stay dry! It was really cool and funny to hear the crowd singing along to all the songs with their French accents. Quite bizarre - kept forgetting that we were actually in France!

I had made the mistake of pointing out a Star Wars exhibition at the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (like the Science Museum in London, but much bigger with a widescreen cinema, aquarium etc.) to the boyfriend and it turned out that it was finishing yesterday, so we managed to fit that in too. That kept him happy for about an hour and a half before we had to catch the Eurostar home : )

On going off on my travels again...

Well, I'm off on my travels again tomorrow - this time to Paris for the weekend. Hmmm, must start counting the euros - haven't got much money left over from Tenerife. Have looked at the weather forecast and it doesn't look too bad, except for on Saturday when it is no doubt going to rain. Oh well, at least we're staying in a nice hotel and not camping out in the horrible weather (been there, done that, getting too old for all the effort now!) At least if we do get soaked at the gig, we can go back to the hotel and have a nice hot shower and sleep in a warm bed : ) The weather is scheduled to be even worse for London though - what do you expect? It is Bank Holiday Weekend after all!

Once I'm home it will back to reality though - getting ready for the new school year and all : ( At least I've got my birthday to look forward to and hopefully lots of cool pressies! Oh well, must stop stalling and go and pack my stuff. You can look forward to hearing all the latest news when I return on Monday. Au revoir! x

On returning back to the reality of rainy Britain...

Am back from my lovely sunny week in Tenerife - hope you haven't missed me too much! Had a really lazy week - mainly sunbathing, eating and drinking cocktails - can't be bad. We were also really lucky not to be affected by all the delays and cancellations at the airport on the way there and back. Now I'm home with my suitcase still half full of all my worldly goods, a big pile of washing to do and no food in the flat. And it's raining. Had a good sleep last night, after only catching a few winks on the plane home early on Saturday morning and then rushing off to a birthday party last night. Somehow sitting in a rainy garden in Surrey didn't quite match up to sitting in a beachfront bar in Tenerife, but I guess it's time to get back to reality!

Can't really complain though - am off to Paris for the Bank Holiday weekend on Friday and am going to see Radiohead in concert there! Hope the weather is OK because the concert takes place in a park on the banks of the Seine. Then it's my 29th birthday on the 29th, so I've got the trauma of getting older and dangerously close to 30 to look forward to... : )

On preparing for my summer holiday...

This is a picture of where the boyfriend and I shall be arriving in the early hours of Saturday morning! Can't believe that we are actually leaving for our summer holiday on Friday evening - am SO unprepared for it. Usually I am ultra-organised and by this stage of the proceedings would normally have lists the length of my arm of things I need to buy before we leave, things I need to pack and have sorted out the euros etc., but this year I've done virtually nothing. I have so far managed to remove my suitcase from the depths of the wardrobe where it's being living for the last 12 months and have half-heartedly put some summer holiday clothes in a pile to take with me, but that's it. I have also arranged for big sister to drop us off at Gatwick on Friday, but that's as far as it goes.

So I guess today it's time for action - it's on with the washing machine, out with the notepad and down to the High Street to change some money. Also got to hunt down some books for holiday reading and track down all the paperwork (including the travel insurance documents). And then for the packing - one of life's evil necessities. I never know what to take and what to leave behind, but I usually do OK. Judging by the pathetic state of the weather today (grey, cloudy and showery), I think we're leaving just at the right time : )

On rocking out in Paris ...

I am not renowned for my spontaneity (much to my big sis's annoyance at times). I am the sort of person who has to plan things out meticulously, do my research and carefully weigh out the pros and cons before I put any plans into action. I am the most typical Virgo you can imagine. However, things were different today. Maybe it was the heat going to my head or the fact that my brain was fried from attempting to write end-of-year reports for hours, but I decided to do something JUST LIKE THAT. Probably not such a good idea, since (as you already know if you've read my previous blogs) I am TOTALLY broke at the moment. This didn't stop me. I got any email about short breaks in Europe. One mentioned the word Radiohead and that was it - I was hooked.

Less than half an hour later (after a brief 'consultation' with the boyfriend), I had booked a weekend in Paris. It's the weekend of the August Bank Holiday and a special treat since my birthday's on the Tuesday. We're staying for two nights in a B&B and on the Saturday night, going to Rock En Seine which is a festival being headlined by Radiohead (see http://www.rockenseine.com/). How cool is that?! So what if we really can't afford it?! So what if we only get back from our trip to Tenerife less than a week beforehand?! Life's too short to worry about such trivialities!!! : )