Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Europe!!

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I'm back from Europe!! :D :D :D


I've been away from this blog for too long!!! I missed it soo much. But after returning on the 5th, between getting back to life, and catching up on all that I missed in college, somehow I haven't found time to do a write-up on my trip. Oh I had the time! But I just haven't been able to put into words what I felt on the vacation. All I can say was, it was the best one, I'm so happy I went. It gave me a nice break from the mess that is called life, and I had great fun. Here are some of the best moments, I'll try and keep it as short as possible -


I was travelling with a horde of cousins from here, with a few joining us over there. So I couldn't do EVERYTHING I wanted, since when you're travelling with so many people, you can't go off anywhere without them, especially since we had children with us too. Even still, I had a lot of fun. Only thing I couldn't manage was going to the Wilton store, which disappointed me a lot in the start, but was for the good, since I was already massively over the baggage limit, not even halfway through the trip.


On the flight to Paris, like a true food blogger, I watched Julie and Julia :P


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I fell in love with Paris. The beauty. The weather. The hustle-bustle of the city, while still maintaining a strange calm in it. And I don't know where the 'French people are rude' myth came, because EVERY single person I came across was beyond sweet and helpful. We did the usual tourist-y things like go on the city tour, visit Eiffel etc etc. I really piled on a lot of weight in Paris, eating SO much amazing food. Especially street-side hot crepes while shivering in the cold! The above picture is of Champs-Élysées, on Christmas Day. There were numerous markets, and we all went all out on the food there!


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And of course, there were the macarons! Pierre Hermé's Macarons! They were great, perfect texture, but I've realised, I just don't like macarons too much, I found them way too sweet!


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And this way the day I had the most FUN in paris! Disneyland! It was truly magical. I've vowed to visit the other two Disneyland's asap, I loved it so much! Loved the rides, the shows, the everything. I would love to work at Disney :P


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The Barcelona market La Boqueria, which was pure heaven for any food lover! I can't even begin to describe the amount of things I bought here!!


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I fell in love with the creations at the chocolate museum, they were so amazing! Wish we could eat them, though :P


From Barcelona, we went on to Andorra, which is a tourist destination for shoppers and ski-ers, and is where my cousins live. It is this part of the tour that was real fun, where we did a lot of exciting things, Paris and Barcelona, though both cities I totally love, didn't have too many exciting things to do, it's more just marvelling at the beauty of things.


In Andorra, I experienced snowfall for the first time in my life, and how fitting that it was in the first few hours of the new year. Gave me a wonderful start!


First time in snow!!! EVER!!


Please ignore all the flab you can see, I was carrying loads of holiday weight. And yes, I was freezing, but I was so excited, I ran out without my coat! In Andorra, we ice-skated, skiied, played paintball in the snow, sat on a 5.3 km long ride... basically had the best time ever!! Though I was covered in bruises by the end of it all :P


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So in all, I think I still managed to create a horrendously long post. There is just soo much to talk about. To sum it up, I had the best vacation ever, really bonded with my cousins, and got a new perspective on life over here as well!! I'm going to try and make this an annual thing! :P :P

15 comments:

  1. So when are you coming to FL to visit Disney World? LOL! Looks like you are having a fantastic time. That market is insane!
    ~ingrid

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  2. What a great trip for you! Yay for snow! (For seeing it for the first time. We have had bitter cold and over a foot of snow for weeks now and well, now it's getting a little old!)

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  3. yes indeed, people in paris are so sweet and helpful, nothing rude about them :D

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  4. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. Making this an annual tradition would be so much fun. I hope that one day I'll be able to visit more of Europe. Everything looks so much prettier there than North America. The building and the food. I think everything we eat here is fast food!

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  5. Welcome back! It looks like you had a great time here!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  6. Wow, Avanika! Sounds like you really had the trip of a lifetime. I am green with envy! And how fitting that you watched Julie & Julia on the way to Paris! I love hearing that you experienced snow for the first time.

    This is a beautiful post.

    Happy new year to you, Avanika!

    :) Jane

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  7. wow what a nice trip. Glad you enjoyed it :)

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  8. Ingrid - Haha soon I hope!! It really was. That was just one stall!!

    Katrina - Yup, I saw your post. I can get where you're coming from, but for me, those pictures were pure heaven :)

    rookiebaker - Lol, are you from Paris?

    Steph - It really is. But North America has its own charm!

    Rosa - Thanks :) I sure did!

    Jane - You're so sweet! Take a vacation, then! It did wonders for me, mentally!

    Natalie - :) I only wish I could have come to Malta to visit you, though!

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  9. Aww looks like you had a ball! That chocolate museum is to die for :O I must visit that one day. And flab?? No way I don't see any!

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  10. Lol, you're too sweet, Lorraine. But there is a lot! Trust me. And the museum was AH-MA-ZING. I may put up more pics later!

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  11. The barcelona market looks wonderful.. and disney land :O..i envy u... =]

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  12. Oh Europe looks fab! and the Barcelona market?
    well those sweets look so inviting! diabetics nightmare!
    nice blog youve got here :)

    http://bittersweetbigarade.blogspot.com

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  13. Love the photo of you in the snow...you look pretty for someone freezing to death in that mini dress!!! I was in Barcelona this past summer at the Boqueria Market as well - I am in love with that place. Especially this one little wine shop there!

    ps: The first photo is very cool :)

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  14. Bigarade - Ha, the entire trip was a diabetes and cholesterol inducing time!

    Erika - Thanks so much :) We had a lot of fun clicking those pics!

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