London and Paris... A drive by

We arrived into London Heathrow feeling refreshed after our luxurious premium economy upgrade (a little treat we added for ourselves when we booked our flights) and excited for the start of the European leg of our journey. Whilst our time in London was only short, it essentially served to split our holiday into two parts. The most obvious reason for splitting our trip like this is to work off the uncomfortable jet lag that would inevitably rear it's ugly head as a result of going backwards in time from America to England (If I'm completely honest we were still feeling the effects of the Australia to America flight as well). Aside from the necessity of recovering in a place that was comfortable and familiar, we used our time in London to be normal... This involved a night on the town with friends, several aimless wanderings through the city, a visit to the cinema and some shopping. I find that this simple act of normalcy (by which I mean "not being a tourist") serves to re-calibrate your senses giving you renewed vigor with which to take on the next leg of your journey. On top of all this our stop over afforded us the luxury of dumping a combined 15kg of luggage weight on my dear friend Daniel (Thaaaaaaaanks Daniel!)

In order to stagger the train journey to our next major destination (Spain), we decided that we would include another short stopover in Paris. Now I am the first person to preach positive thinking and the old "give it a red hot go" philosophy when it comes to visiting a new city, but I am also the first to tell people that Paris is not always the beautiful city of love that every one makes it out to be. Paris is the sort of city that can sometimes take a few tries to get right... After two visits, I myself am still trying... But I have faith that I will have Paris down to a fine art by the time I return!



The beautiful Pont de l'Archevêché adorned with hundreds of thousands of "Love Locks" declaring undying commitment between lovers. One of the growing (albeit slowly) collection of things I like about Paris.

Shanwah's tasty tip: I am cheating a little here because I discovered this tasty tip during my last visit to the city of lights with Jade and Ross. On our first adventure to Paris, we stayed in a teeny tiny apartment in the very centre of The city. This fantastic location afforded us the ability to wander to many a tourist destination with ease and get to the Louvre early enough to avoid the lines... It was also next door to a quant little Chinese restaurant. The "Palais Royal Hong Kong" seemed the logical choice when we couldn't be bothered to walk to a traditional French restaurant (it was also a great place to eat while waiting for the laundry as there was a laundromat next door) and the price was definitely right for the money conscious travelers that we were. The French/Oriental gem served up some fantastic Chinese specialties full of flavor and much needed greenery...not to mention that the service had us tipping generously!