paris fashion moment

rachel and i were in collette, an uber cool shop in paris, and we saw karl lagerfeld.

who? i hear you ask... this is him:



he's the head fashion designer for chanel, like a god in the fashion world. he was dressed remarkably similar to that picture, except he had on black pants with a silver stripe down the sides and silver fingerless gloves. he had a little entourage of boys to carry his (many) bags of shopping, one of whom was wearing a boxing flighter belt.

of course us and karl, well, we got along like old mates and he invted us back to his place for a barbie.

the strangest thing was we were standing at the shop counter right next to him, and there was a whole window of people on the street taking photos of him with their mobiles. we were probably in the background of the photos. should have given him rabbit ears.

x

paris

ahhh gay par-ee...

so lovely, so romantic, soooo… many queues. I really love paris, I know it’s a cliché, but just can’t help it.











here's the catacombs, a series of underground caves filled to the brim with human bones… not so lovely, but very interesting.



Rachel’s having a good long look to see if she recognises anyone.



Thanks so much to Rachel and her dad, I was lucky enough to be able to stay in their flat in the 4th arrondissement. Reminded me again about how much better it is staying at someone’s place in a foreign city, makes you feel like you can sink a little into the city instead on remaining on the surface as a tourist.

banana and nutella crepe – heaven



creme caramel - never fails



the shrine above the underpass where Diana died (stumbled across this - truly bizarre)



the louvre – i went to go one weekend and the line was about 58 hours long, so went back and luckily got straight in. still huge crowds…



you can't take pics of the mona lisa any more. But this is what it woud be like to be the Venus de Milo. Lots of people taking your photo, more people standing with their backs to you having their photo taken, onkly a few people actually looking at you.



Loved the Palais de Tokyo gallery, I think my favourite works were these:



This boy figure would intermittently whack its head against the wall like a jackhammer, so loud you could hear it in a few rooms away.



The real boy here tried to imitate him, ended up in tears of course.



Its hard to get a sense of this work from the pictures, but it was a small room with a large loop of cassette tape flying around the outside, kept buoyant by airflow from the circle of fans in the centre.





So simple but beautifully effective. The tape kept you pinned against the wall, it would gently brush up and down against you like it was caressing you.

x

zurich

I really only went to Zurich because it was a good halfway point between Vienna and Paris. I caught the overnight train there, got a sleeper car coz I thought it would be romantic (sooooo not). But its such a pretty place – just wandering the streets was great.



The first day I followed a walk in my guidebook that took me on a path around the centre of the city. Walking around was pretty much all I could afford to do, this place was sooo incredibly expensive!! Everyone was so loaded, I’ve never seen so many luxury cars and expensive shops in such a small place. It is the world centre of banking so I guess to be expected, but was pretty eye-opening.





Ohhh, some pretty swans on the Limmat river...



The transport system is incredibly efficient. Its said that you can set your watch by the trains, they are so reliably on time.



Surprising - I’m sure you’ll all agree – but I managed to find a bakery or 3. This is Sprungli, one of Zurich’s best known and most revered sweet makers. They make these macaroons which are almost too pretty to eat. But I did.





Zurich is also the home to Freitag, a company that makes bags and wallets out of recycled truck tarpaulin and seat belts. I visited their headquarters, an amazing building constructed out of stacked shipping containers, which were gutted and refitted.



The structure is positioned so that you can watch the trucks on the highway through its glass end walls. Its so cool.



Then you can climb to the top to the truck viewing platform complete with binoculars to spot trucks on the highway.



This is the one I spotted...



Also visited a Le Corbusier building, totally cool. Unfortunately couldn’t get inside (I still jumped the fence and pressed my face up against the glass).





I also found a bookshop that had a whole department of books to describe Swiss etiquette and culture. One book said that Australians think that people everywhere are basically Australian, and are therefore surprised when they encounter people who act differently. The book also described australians as like peaches (ie with thin skin) and Swiss as like coconuts, with thick defensive outer skin that is hard to break through. I'm not really sure what I think about this...

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vienna

vienna is all class.

my guidebook said it was "sweet and bitter". i'm not sure what they mean by that, maybe they mean that the city is absolutely gorgeous but the people are pretty snooty. if so, then they're spot on.



This was my hotel (not). its the Hotel Sacher, yes chocolate lovers, it the home of the Sachertorte (for you un-foodies that is an amazing dense kinda mud cake) The true recipe is still a secret. I was going to go have a slice at their cafe but couldn't get past the American tourists.



Being the home of music, thought I should go along to the opera. Bought a standing room ticket to see 'Robert Devereaux' at the State Opera House (thats it above), an opera about Queen Elizabeth I – it was absolutely unbelieveably amazing. (blew the one in Prague away). I know it’s a big call, but the most amazing opera singing I have ever heard – actually almost brought me to tears.

Even the buskers in Vienna are classy.



And the window displays are classy too, in a euro-trashy kinda way.





Viennese Art Nouveau architecture is amazing - this is the Secession, a beautiful exhibition building originally built for the 'Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession'.





and the Majolica Haus by Otto Wagner, an apartment building.



couldn't get inside to have a look but this is what its like....



Not so Nouveau, but this is the Hofburgh, a vast castle inhabited until the early 20th century by the imperial family, now is basically the office of the Austrian President - and a very impressive office it is!



This is the Museumquatier, a complex of about 7 different museums. The best one was the MUMOK (Museum Moderner Kunst (Art)), it had a massive survey show of comtemporary photography - was just vast and amazing!



There were these huge specially round seats designed for people to just lay about and soak up the sun and the atmosphere. Here's the frühstück (breakfast) I had at a cafe in the museum courtyard...



on the last night, a few people from the hostel went to get dessert – that’s mine in the front, a nutella sundae. I only got through about half of it. (that's John, an irish guy - he was heading for Munich for the octoberfest)



L x

prague

Day one in Prague started about as perfectly as you could hope for.

On the train from I met some nice people from Adelaide, and someone had thoughtfully left their copy of the Guardian behind. I had booked a hostel that looked palatial on their website (usually means it will be a complete dump), I followed the instructions provided on the website to get to the hostel, and they were perfect. Only took me a few minutes to get there, and the tram stopped right outside… yeah. When I arrived, it was actually nice, like really nice! But even better, it was an old building that had been renovated, so it didn’t stick out from the surrounding buildings. There were a few people sitting in the lounge area talking, not yob-like or too quiet. They were even playing St Germain in the foyer. I immediately decided to stay 2 extra nights (which they of course had available just by luck) – I had a feeling I was gonna like this town.

The guy at the reception desk was so helpful, without being annoyingly happy. He gave me a map and pointed out where we were, where the city centre was, and where the trams and underground lines went. There was a lift, so no lugging the case up millions of stairs. I had decided to go luxury style this time, and get a single room – the room was clean, they windows opened right up, it had a massive bed, new linen and massive fluffy pillows… heaven.



The hostel wasn’t in a tourist area, which is perfect for coz it means you see people going about their daily business, and get a much better sense of what the city is like. On the tram I saw a man carrying a bag of hay, and another man carrying a huge tv antenna.

I quickly discovered that this place is cheap – like really cheap! Was able to catch up with Selena, Chloe and Danny again for a final farewell dinner – I was gunning for some good eastern European meat dishes, but they were sick of it already – so chinese it was. We ate a feast for about $5 each.

Bought a ticket to whatever was on in the Opera House that night – it was Madama Butterfly. I think they wheeled out the C-list orchestra, was ok but nothing to write home about (well maybe to blog about). But the interior of the theatre was amazing…





un petit miroir so you can check yourself before going out for drinks at interval...



And after the opera I had this for dinner...



Yes, I actually ate that. (you can even see a bite – couldn’t wait to get the camera out)

Next day wandered about in the old city and Prague Castle, and walked over the Charles Bridge…



all the little shops have great window displays – Bridget, this ones for you…



On the last night went to a traditional beer hall and had Goulash and Budvar, the local favourite beer.



The were hoards of tourists in Prague, especially around the old city, and the really annoying loud pushy (often American) kind. Ruined the experience a bit, but Prague still rocked!

L x