Deauville, Trouville & the Cider route

There's really one thing that lacks in Paris: the sea!!

Nevertheless, Normandy is not that far away. 

The water is quite freezing & the sky often grey, but you can still walk on the beach, loose your sight over the infinity of the ocean & get that feeling... 

(you know what I mean or am I the only one feeling that good by the ocean?)

If we're really lucky there are also waves & we can even surf! Otherwise it's just enjoyable to escape Paris, spend some time outdoor by the beach & eat seafood ;)

Starting with mussels & french fries on a Friday evening in Trouville, where my lovely hubby brought me for the weekend :)

As incredible as it might seem, we ate all the mussels. I have proof.

Having a walk after dinner, we ended up at the little fun-fair, where we had some rides before going back to our home for the week-end, tired & happy.

We stayed in this nice bed & breakfast, Villa Caroline, which is located in a beautiful family house built in 1830. 

They only have 4 rooms, each one decorated in a particular way to make you travel faraway: we were in the Malabar room, which took us to India, the other rooms are Venice, Zanzibar & Essaouira.

Another advantage of Villa Carolina is its position, 100 m  from the beach.

The beach in Trouville is a long sand stretch surrounded by beautiful mansions. 

After a yummy breakfast, we had a morning walk on the beach

virtually house hunting...

My favorite pick being, of course, the pink mansion ;)

We continued our walk through the little streets 

until the Fish Market.

Where we arrived just in time for lunch :) 

Nothing better than to pick your favorite seafood directly from the market & enjoy it with a glass of wine

 & the best company ever :)

Cheers! :D

Trouville & Deauville are two different towns, but they're touching each other; so no matter where you're staying (I personally prefer Trouville as it seems nicer & more "real" to me, if you know what I mean) you can easily walk from one to another.

So follow me as we cross the river 

& reach Deauville & its famous beach walk "Les Planches". 

Every year Deauville hosts the American Film Festival & the film making industry is omnipresent on the beach.

We walked a little more on the beach & into town, marveling at the houses, that in Deauville aren't bad either ;)

Plus, they have the cutest LV boutique ever!

We crossed again the port to go back to Trouville

Where we ended our day with more seafood. Can one ever have too much seafood? ;)

We started the following morning in same exact way than the previous one: walking on the beach (honestly, every day should start this way).

Except that, frustrated from being outside the water, I tried to bathe despite the cold. Unsuccessfully.

There was not even some wind to sail... So we wandered a bit more the town little streets

Stopping here & there at the several art galleries

as well as to look at the artworks outside the galleries

Keen to explore more the surroundings, we ventured inland to take the cider route. Apple cider is mainly produced in Normandy and the cider route is a road that passes through the region & crosses several apple farms. 

You're welcome to stop & visit the farms, learn about apple cider production, taste the different varieties of cider & buy some bottles to take home.

I've already been there once a couple of years ago, when I road-tripped in Normandy with one of my best friends. I have very good memories of that trip & it was very nice to take that road again. I have a particularly vivid souvenir of an old, suggestive, little church, from where you have a beautiful view over the valley.

We found that church again.  :)

We stopped for lunch in a cute village, Beuvrons-en-Auge

where we had crepes on the main square, before continuing the road to Paris.

As always, we had a very good time in Normandy. So I guess it's safe to say, see you very soon Northern Territory of France :)

Zürich between lakes and mountains

Claire was the first person I met when I arrived in Paris – I won’t say how many years ago because, frankly, counting years it's becoming more & more annoying... 

I was in the subway going back home from an acting class when this girl, who was also in the class, came to talk to me.
She thought I was crying, probably sad because I was away from my family... For the record, I just have very sensitive eyes...

Anyway, we exchanged our numbers & she told me she would have called me. I honestly didn't think she would have really called. But she actually did & a couple of days later we went out with other friends to watch "Bridget Jones' diary".

And that was the beginning of a very beautiful friendship.

Regrettably, a couple of years ago she moved to Zurich where she lives happily with her very cute & very blonde family.

So now I can't see her very often, but I can go to Switzerland for the weekend ;)

When I thought of Zurich, I had images of serious men dressed up in black suits, carrying their suitcases on their way to work, of modern bright buildings occupied by all the big banks, coming to my mind.

I couldn't be wronger: Zurich is a cute, small & very clean little city, built around a beautiful lake & surrounded by mountains. 

Nature is everywhere & it's really easy to access. 

Starting from a walk in the mountains on Saturday morning...

Last time I came, the panorama was quite different, but equally beautiful.

Which one do you prefer?

The destination of our walk was a mountain restaurant, where we were supposed to have lunch… Before realizing that none of us had cash, but only credit cards… That the restaurant didn’t accept! 
This is apparently quite common in Swiss mountains; so if you’re in the corner don’t forget your wallet! ;)

We ended up sharing two soups and continue our hike. We arrived to a sort of a bobsleigh slope we wanted to take to get down the mountain, and they luckily accepted credit cards (and sold ice-creams!)

The bobsleigh was super fun!! The ride was quite long and you could really go fast! Mick was driving and I was happily screaming!

On our way home, we continued to marvel at the endless series of green, luxuriant mountains ending in blue beautiful lakes.

On Sunday morning, despite the grey weather, we enjoyed the other natural attraction Zurich has to offer: the lake. 

Now, this wasn't just like going to the countryside and swimming in a lake. Zurich’s lake is more like going to the beach: you have green grasses to lay down and sunbathe, volleyball fields, playgrounds for children, a floating platform to sunbathe in the middle of the water, boats for renting and a toboggan, that we enjoyed very much!

The water was freezing though; it took me like 30 minutes to enter in it, while around me people were easily jumping in the water like if it was the Caribbean sea… But once in it, it really felt good and invigorating. I'd love to have such a swim every morning! I would feel so good!

Unfortunately, after a good lunch and some more talk, it was already the time to take our train back to Paris, where we arrived happy and relaxed! :D

Atomium, Bruxelles

A couple of days ago we went to Liège, Belgium for my brilliant brother in law Ph.D.

I didn't plan on writing a post about this trip, as we went there very quickly, and I thought we would have just gone to the university to listen to his Ph.D. thesis & spent some time with the family.

Which we actually did. But the day after the Ph.D. thesis & the celebration party, we went to Brussels.

I must admit Brussels is not a city I particularly like (what do you think about it?), but we went to a place I've never heard of before & I found quite amusing: the Atomium.

The Atomium is a monument built for the 1958 World's Fair, that represents the cell of an iron crystal, magnified 165 billion times.

It's quite impressive &  its construction was a technical exploit, as you can imagine by looking at the pictures taken during the construction works.

Speaking of that, 6 of the 9 spheres are open to the public; the highest offers a beautiful 360° view over Bruxelles.

In the other ones, you can enjoy a permanent exhibition on the design & the construction of the monument, as well as a temporary exhibition. 

During our visit, the temporary exhibition was "Talk", a sounds & lights experience from the collective of artists Visual System. It was a futuristic exhibition, which I found suited the place really well.

In the central tube, the lift taking the visitors up to the highest sphere was the faster lift never constructed at the time of the World's Fair in 1958.

There is also a sphere for children, where groups of children can spend the night sleeping in circular beds in little spheres & looking at the stars. No need to say, I was very jealous of that!

At least, we were able to play like children outside the Atomium...

Carrying the Atomium's weight on our little shoulders was quite tiring though... So we decided to go to Bruxelles' main square to have a drink in the sun & possibly a chocolate waffle, I mean, we were in Belgium after all, could I possibly leave the country without having had a waffle?! ;p

The place was particularly beautiful shining in the sun...

We sat in a cafe, chatting, admiring the buildings surrounding us & enjoying the last moments spent with the family.

Soon enough, it was time to take the road back home. But not before having had my chocolate waffle!! :D