Outfit of the Day - black leather jacket over blue lacey dress

"In a world of trends, I want to remain classic." - Iman

This picture was taken in Paris, France, during the Winter season. I donned my black Trench coat with fur trim over my black leather jacket; the blue lacey flare dress was beneath. The look was completed with black tights and thigh-high boots.

Dress: bought in Korea (around SGD$69.90)

Leather Jacket: United Colors of Benetton (SGD$200.00)

Black Trench coat: H&M (SGD$129.00)

Tights: Marks and Spencer (SGD$29.90)

Boots: MyGlamorous (SGD$59.90)

Bag: Christian Dior

Outfit of the Day - white woollen coat over dark blue mini dress

"O Dionysus, we feel you near,stirring like molten lavaunder the ravaged earth,flowing from the wounds of your treesin tears of sap,screaming with the rageof your hunted beasts." - Euripides

No, this ain't what it seems. I was reaching out for just the wine cup, really I was!  Dionysus is no doubt one of my favoritest gods - being the one who precedes over wine, arts, pleasure and fertility. Wine and arts got me. I even dreamed of him once, out of the royal midnight blue.

This photo was taken in the Louvre, Paris. I was decked out in Winter gear of a white gingham wollen coat over navy blue mini-dress with high collar and fringe. In my hands was a Trench Coat for the cold weather outdoors - black, polyester with fur trim. Black tights completed the look.

Dress: Bought from Hong Kong
White Coat: Sixties (SGD$69.90)
Black Coat: H&M (SGD$129.00)
Necklace: Tiffany and Co

The Honeymoon Series [viii] - Paris, France

After touring the beautiful, more rural Lorraine and Fontainebleau (review here), we ventured into city living - beautiful, beautiful Paris, the city often associated with glamour, elegance and high fashion.

PLACES OF INTEREST

Besides being a beautiful, fashionable city lined with shops and the latest trends, arts and culture of France are also evident in Paris itself. We explored the city for some iconic landmarks bearing traces of long history as well as art.

EIFFEL TOWER
Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007, Paris, France
Website: http://www.toureiffel.paris/en.html
Opening Hours: 9.30am to 11.00pm daily
Ticket Prices: Between 7 euros to 17 euros per person

Named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, this wrought-iron lattice tower is a icon by day and a sparkling diamond in the night. One can climb or take the lift up to the top of the tower, and view Paris from the top; there are also restaurants as well as souvenir shops within the tower itself.

THE LOUVRE MUSEUM (MUSEE DU LOUVRE)
75058 Paris, France
Website: http://www.louvre.fr/en
Opening Hours: 9.00am to 6.00pm daily except Tuesdays
Ticket Prices: 17 euros per person

After the novel and movie "The Da Vinci Code",  I am sure that The Louvre Museum needs no introduction. It is the largest museum in the world and houses one of the most impressive art collection in history. From the pyramid entrance, one accesses many different art galleries of paintings and sculptured arts; there are many, many galleries such as Eastern Antiquities, Islamic Art, Egyptian Antiquities, Greek, Etruscan & Roman Antiquities and Arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americans etc, giving us an international art appreciation opportunity.

ARC DE TRIOMPHE
Place Charles de Gaulle, 75008, Paris, France
Website: http://www.arcdetriompheparis.com
Opening Hours: 10.00am to 10.30pm
Ticket Prices: 12 euros per person

One of the most famous monuments in Paris, standing tall and strong at the end of Champ-Elysees - the Arc De Triomphe was built between the years 1806 to 1836, in honour of the French soldiers who fought for France, particularly those who battled in the Napoleonic wars. Engraved on the inside and top of the Arc are the names of the generals and wars fought.

PLACE DE LA CONCORDE / LUXOR OBELISK / FERRIS WHEEL
75008, Paris, France
Website: https://frenchmoments.eu/place-de-la-concorde-paris
Website: https://www.google.com.sg/#q=ferris+wheel+paris

One of the largest major public squares in Paris, the Place de la Concorde is situated along the Seine River and separate the Tuileries Gardens from the beginning of the Champs-Elysees. Renowned for its important part in French history, this majestic square is chosen for many happy or sad national gatherings.

Some of the most impressive monuments within the Place de la Concorde itself are the Fontaines de la Concorde, also known as "The Fountain of River Commerce and Navigation",  The Luxor Obelisk (a 23-metres tall Egyptian monolithic pink granite monument given to the French in 1829 by the Egyptian viceroy), and the Le Grande Roue de Paris (60-metre tall Ferris Wheel).

LES INVALIDES
Place des Invalides, 75007, Paris, France
Website: http://www.musee-armee.fr/en/english-version.html
Opening Hours: 10.00am to 5.00pm
Ticket Prices: 11 euros per person

More commonly known as the "Hotel national des Invalides", this complex of buildings contain museums and monuments. It was founded in 1671 by King Louis XIV, the Sun King, for providence of accommodation and care for wounded soldiers. Among them are the Napoleon's tomb, Dome Church and army museums.

SEINE RIVER CRUISE
The Seine River Cruise allows us the opportunity to view most of Paris' iconic monuments such as Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Louvre Museum, as well as the river banks via an hour's long cruise ride, complete with audio introductions in different languages.  There are several cruise operators offering the river cruise service, beginning at 15 euros per person. We went with Bateaux Parisiens, website: http://www.bateauxparisiens.com/en/cruise-tours.html.

ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE
126 Rue de I'Universite, 75355, Paris, France
Website: http://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/decouvrir-l-assemblee/visiter-l-assemblee-nationale

The lower house of the French Parliament, and visits to the Palais-Bourbon are available. Public entrance is at 33 Quai d'Orsay, 75007, Paris, France.

SHOPPING

One could never miss out on shopping in Paris. Whether you choose local designers, high fashion or discount outlet malls, everyone brings home something from this beautiful city known for its ahead-of-time fashion.

CHAMPS-ELYSEES
8th arrondissement of Paris, France
Website: http://www.champselysees-paris.com

The Avenue des Champs-Elysees is a 1.9 kilometres long avenue stretching between Place de la Concorde and Place Charles de Gaulle, containing many trendy boutiques and restaurants. You could find many familiar high fashion brand names and street brand names as well as skincare brands on the signboards of these shops.

GALERIES LAFAYETTE
Website: http://haussmann.galerieslafayette.com/en

An upmarket French chain department store with many outlets across France itself, Galeries Lafayette has 3 buildings in Paris itself - one for male, one for female, and one for family. There are many shops and brands within the department stores, from high fashion clothes, bags and jewellery to high street fashion brands, etc. Be prepared to spend hours on end here browsing the boutiques and buying to your heart's contend.


ONE NATION
1 Rue du President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 78340, Les Clayes-sous-Bois, France
Website: http://www.onenation.fr/en/contact

One of the largest and newest outlet shopping mall in Paris, opened by none other than the Galeries Lafayette Group, dedicated to fashion and luxury brands.


LA VALLEE VILLAGE
3 Cours de la Garonne, Serris, France
Website: https://www.lavalleevillage.com/fr/home

One of the best outside-Paris outlet mall with a village setting and has more brands than its competitors, La Vallée Village boosts of brands which has very few outlet stores such as Celine, Givenchy, and Christian Lacroix etc. The discounts are authentic and often deep.

CHRISTMAS MARKET / FAIR / BAZAAR
Along Champs Elysees and stretching all the way to Place de la Concorde in November to December, one can experience beautiful atmosphere at the Christmas Market  - buying gift items, Christmas decor, hot red wine, hot beer, food items etc, or have fun on the theme park rides. It is beautiful and definitely brings out the Christmas spirit in anyone.

RESTAURANTS

Don't ask me why out of the 2 days in Paris, we only managed to enjoy one French meal - whereas the other meals were taken at Chinese restaurants. No, I don't miss Asian food and no, our tour package ain't ratty nor with some cheapo tour agency.  One wishes for French Onion Soup, Escargots, Foie Gras etc when in France!

MAXIM'S DE PARIS
3 Rue Royale, 75008, Paris, France
Website: http://maxims-de-paris.com/en/

The place to be! But reservations need to be made way in advance. A renowned restaurant with history tracing back to year 1893, and is known throughout the world. I would be here someday for their French food.

FAUCHON RESTAURANT
Charles de Gaulle Airport Terminal 2A, Level 2, Roissy-en-France 95700, France
Website: http://www.parisaeroport.fr/en/passengers/shops/shopping/store/fauchon

Gifts store, fresh chocolates and now a restaurant concept on level 2 of the Charles de Gaulle Airport, after check-in area. The restaurant with its classy black exterior lit by neon pink letterings is hard to miss, and the menu comprises mainly Western dishes.

NAME: UNKNOWN
A French restaurant with pretty decor in Paris, near the Galeries Lafayette malls area. I guess we were too excited to order, and thus forgot the name. Here was where we had Duck Confit and Escargots.

CAVIAR HOUSE & PRUNIER SEAFOOD BAR
Charles de Gaulle Airport Terminal 2A, Level 1, Tremblay-en-France 93290, France
Website: https://www.caviarhouse-prunier.com/paris-bars

Loved the classy white bar counter settings, especially when hunting for food during flights-intervals. Therefore I had a foie gras with glass of wine. Must admit that I prefer seared foie gras - for the goose paste in this form tastes more like a pate.

BURGER HOUSE
Small burger joint near Courtyard Marriott Hotel, Paris. It looks normal but no shyt - we had one of the best burgers we had ever tried - thick, juicy beef patties with lots of cheese. We returned the next night to try their Beef-Chicken Burger, having the best of both worlds.

LA FONTAINE DE JADE RESTAURANT
54 Avenue Bosquet, 75007,  Paris, France
Website: http://www.fontainedejade.be

Beautiful Oriental decor, and I grudgingly admit that the food was quite good. We had dishes of soup, fish, vegetables, pork, omelette and beef.

4SAISONS BEEF NOODLE RESTAURANT
90 Rue de Provence, 75009, Paris, France

Near the Printemps Galleria Opera area is a Chinese / Vietnamese restaurant serving beef noodles, fried rice, etc Asian dishes - often packed with diners. I thought the food was so-so only, but having hot soup in cold wintry weather is always welcomed.

ACCOMMODATION

Finally we reached the sleeping quarters. We stayed 2 nights in Marriott Courtyard, a hotel on the outskirts of Paris city, reachable by tram. This gave us the opportunity to ride their local public transport - rather easy to get around.

COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT PARIS LA DEFENSE
91 Boulevard Charles de Gaulle Colombes, 92700, Paris, France
Website: http://courtyard-by-marriott-paris-la-defense-west-colombes-hotel.booked.net

I think this should be the hotel we stayed at - either that, or Courtyard by Marriott Saint Denis. Their structure and facilities look awfully familiar. Never mind - rooms were spacious, and I really love how the toilet cubicle was separate from the bathroom. There were few restaurants / eateries nearby, but close enough to airport. This hotel is around 200 euros a night, including breakfast.

Overall, I enjoyed my French holiday - again, because I love everything French, from the culture to the language to the fashion to the food and the arts. Having said that, thank you for reading about my Honeymoon Series Part 8. Do keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming Part 9 - on Switzerland tour! Here's wishing you dears a good weekend ahead.




For other parts of The Honeymoon Series:
(i) Honeymoon Series part 1 - selecting the destinations (click here)
(ii) Honeymoon Series part 2 - researching and booking (click here)
(iii) Honeymoon Series part 3 - preparing for the trip (click here)
(iv) Honeymoon Series part 4 - Rome, Italy (click here)
(v) Honeymoon Series part 5 - Siena, Florence & Pisa, Italy (click here)
(vi) Honeymoon Series part 6 - Venice & Milan (click here)
(vii) Honeymoon Series part 7 - Lorraine & Fontainebleau (click here)

The Honeymoon Series [vii] - Lorraine and Fontainebleau, France

After our Italian tour in the past few posts of The Honeymoon Series (review here), we arrived at Metz region in Lorraine, France.

Now, Metz is a charming provincial city in France's north-eastern Lorraine region, complete with beautiful gardens and lush leafy promenades along the Moselle and Seille rivers; it also boosts of a rich archeological past. Lorraine itself is a historical and cultural region of north-eastern France.

Fontainebleau, on the other hand, is a town southeast of Paris (around 3 hours' drive), known for opulent Fontainebleau Palace. Fontainebleau is also renowed for its scenic forest of Fontainebleau and being home to Insead.

PLACES OF INTEREST

Some of the prominent places of interest in Metz, Lorraine regions are the Catherdral St. Etienne (gothic fine cathedral with stained glass), Centre Pompidou Metz, The Cour d'Or Museum, The Opera Theatre, Temple Neuf, The Templars Chapel, Place St. Louis, and The Arsenal, The Station, the marinas etc.

METZ CITY CENTRE
Criss-crossing Central Metz are stunning historical streets and numerous hotel particuliers (bourgeois townhouses) dating from the 12th to 16th century, as well as grand edifices from the 18th century. Most of the Metz tourist attractions mentioned above are found in Metz City Centre and easily accessible by various modes of transportation.

In Fontainebleau, the attractions are is mainly the Palace / Chateau and forest. See more information below. What attracted me deeply is the fact that my favorite Queen Mary (Stuart) had a brief stay there before.

PALACE OF FONTAINEBLEAU / CHATEAU DE FONTAINEBLEAU
77300, Fontainebleau, France
Website: http://www.musee-chateau-fontainebleau.fr/spip.php?lang=en
Opening hours: Everyday except Tuesdays 9.30am to 5.00pm
Ticket price: 11 euros

Dubbed by Napoleon as "the true home of Kings, the house of ages" (Saint Helena, August 1816), The Palace of Fontainebleau dates back to the year 1100, housing generations of royalty, some of the more prominent ones being King Napoleon, King Philip III, King Francis I, King Charles VII, King Henry II, King Louis XII, Catherine de Medici etc.  This magnificent chateau has over 1,500 rooms and 130 acres of parklands and gardens.

The interior is richly adorned with various kinds of art, gilded carvings, frescoes, tapestries, intricate wood carvings, panelings and famous paintings. It is truly a beautiful building rich in arts and history.

SHOPPING

Small malls and shops are readily available within the city centre of Metz itself, being a trading centre for many years. Trendy boutiques, local crafts stores, shops selling collectors' items and decorative objects, lingerie and leather goods are widely available in the city's many neighbourhoods. The main shopping streets would be Rue Serpenoise and Rue des Clercs - which house big and international chain department stores such as Galeries Lafayette, FNAC, Printemps etc), as well as other branded boutiques.  Marques Avenue and Metz Flea Market (the latter in Metz Congress Hall) are 2 other avenues to consider as well.

MARCHE COUVERT
15 Rue d'Estrees, 57000, Metz, France

Known as the "Metz covered  market", this used to be a bishop's palace, now a historical with permanent stalls and shops in a large covered structure and home to fresh local produce and traditional local retailers.

RESTAURANTS

We stayed a night in Metz and a night in Fontainbleu - Metz' meal was arranged by the tour group while the latter was home-cooked. But rest assured there are plenty of good restaurants and bars around Metz and Fontainbleu regions, whether you are looking for traditional French meals or international cuisine

BRASSERIE FLO
2 Bis Rue Gambetta, 57000, Metz, France
Website: http://www.flo-metz.fr

A beautiful French restaurant complete with stone and glass decor as well as heavyset chandeliers. We enjoyed a 3-course meal consisting of Salad (lettuce, beetroot, radish and carrot), baked Salmon and a Creme Brulee dessert.

ACCOMMODATION

We stayed in Novotel Hotel in Metz, Lorraine. As for Fontainbleu, it is in the residence of a friend's, whose address is not convenience for us to disclose - but the views from the windows are gorgeous. Photos shall reveal more. What we loved about French hotels are that they are spacious and the toilet cubicles are separated from the bathrooms (hygiene!)

NOVOTEL METZ CENTRE HOTEL
Place des Paraiges, Centre Saint Jacques, 57000, Metz, France.
Website: http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-0589-novotel-metz-centre/index.shtml

This hotel is a stone's throw from Metz train station and in the heart of the old city, with spacious rooms and good facilities. This hotel is under the Accor Hotel group, and our room was about 100 euros a night.

FRIEND'S RESIDENCE
Resided in a friend's beautiful home in Fontainebleu region, and this was the window view.  Expect lots of nature, as well as grand French doors and windows in spacious, comfortable settings. Thank you for hosting us.


Herein concludes our out-of-city visits in France. Keep a close lookout for our visit to Paris, France, coming right up in The Honeymoon Series Part 9.



For backtracks:
(i) Honeymoon Series part 1 - selecting the destinations (click here)
(ii) Honeymoon Series part 2 - researching and booking (click here)
(iii) Honeymoon Series part 3 - preparing for the trip (click here)
(iv) Honeymoon Series part 4 - Rome, Italy (click here)
(v) Honeymoon Series part 5 - Siena, Florence & Pisa, Italy (click here)
(vi) Honeymoon Series part 6 - Venice and Milan, Italy (click here)

Poem: Haiku of Prayer for Paris

The acts of vile men, 

Have shaken the world once more, 

And nowhere is safe. 

The lives that were lost, 

And the ones fighting for theirs, 

Will be in our prayers.  

May Paris be blessed, 

And restored to its beauty; 

The killers, perished. 

Copyright © 2016 thearcticstar

Peace for France

The acts of vile men,

Have shaken the world once more,

And nowhere is safe.

The lives that were lost,

And the ones fighting for theirs,

Will be in our prayers. 

May Paris be blessed,

And restored to its beauty;

The killers, perished.

I woke up this morning to hear about the terrorists' attack on Paris as a Friday 13th act.  How vile is this, to sacrifice hundreds of lives in a beautiful city. My heartfelt prayers go out to those who have departed in the heinous act, to those who are currently fightly bravely for their lives in the hospitals, and to the families / kin who have lost their loved ones in this tragic event.

This would be a dark and chaotic moment in France currently, to be violated by the acts of others this way - unexpected, cruel, and unprecedented. Please stay strong, Paris.  Justice will prevail and the destroyers shall have their just deserts.

Still, a sad turn of events. It has shown us that nowhere is safe anymore, and humanity has but a faint grasp on reality right now.