More Paris

Another anniversary visit to Paris later and more recommends and non-recommends. Good Places to visit: Musee des Arts et Metiers (Science Museum), immortalised in the novel Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco it houses said pendulum along with a weird and wonderful array of science equipment, vehicles, gadgets housed in amazing buildings including an old church. Any churches, you can just nip in and there are some amazing gothic, baroque, romanesque, you name it, interiors to ogle. Rodin Museum, lovely if decrepit mansion of gorgeous figure sculptures set in formal gardens. Watch out for sociopathic pigeons by cafe though. Bad places: The Louvre, amazing collections set in some fantastic rooms but a frankly insane and panic inducing quantity of people. The Pantheon, weird church/republican shrine with creepy catacomb and hilariously awful triumphalist paintings. Also had not heard of most of the famous people in there anyway. Go see Tomb of Napoleon in Les Invalides instead, that is fantastic. Good places to eat: Cojean Cafe on small square east of Louvre (never eat in the Louvre) serves interesting sandwiches and salads. La Greuze on Rue Soufflot near the Sorbonne has Belgian food, great steaks and a mind-boggling selection of beer. Brasserie Balzar on Rue des Ecoles in the same area for classic French food in an original 30s interior and waiters with big aprons and 'taches.

See Leeds

For the second stop-off of the holiday we went to Leeds. We stayed in the Malmaison Hotel which was really great, even if it was just down from the gay village. Highlights of Leeds include The Royal Armouries (spend a whole day, as well as amazing collections they have fascinating talks, re-enactors, jousting, falconry etc etc). Shopping is a must in Leeds with beautiful covered arcades housing seriously designer shops and nifty eateries to many vintage and alternative outlets. We liked OK Comics (great selection with a relaxing sofa area for reading) and Rose & Co with gorgeous historic shop interior, amazing toiletries (Zam-Buk!) and retro dresses and undies downstairs including Stop Staring, in the girliest shop imaginable. Also huge Borders with many many amazing books (although half price Art of Dior book was too heavy to carry, sadly.) The Leeds Market is the original home of M&S and now houses fantastic butchers, bakers, cafes and market stalls selling Everything at great prices.

Rediscovered authors

I'm not sure how this was sparked off but I am currently re-enjoying (is that a word?) some of my favourite books and authors from my younger years. Alice in Wonderland is more a work of philosphical genius so is always worth going back to. Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series is still fantastic, but best of all is Diana Wynne Jones. I'm currently enjoying The Ogre Downstairs which is, inexplicably, out of print at the moment and just finished Charmed Life and Howl's Moving Castle. HMC is also an amazing animated film which is highly recommended, apparently Castle in the Sky (ditto) is also one of Diana's but I haven't read that yet. I used to read a lot of fantasy when I was younger, a genre I still really like when I can find anything entertaining.

Natural Beauty

Avoid chemical overload (and before anyone complains I know everything is made of chemicals...) but I mean petrochemicals, preservatives etc. You don't want that stuff soaking into your skin and hair do you? Natural beauty products can be a bit hit and miss but these are my fave lines. Lush, for fun bathproducts especially the famous bath bombs, totally non-allergic creams with wonderful floral scents. Burts Bees, which my Mum introduced me to, are fantastic and more reliable in terms of textures and results. Dead Sea by Yarden has minerals from the Dead Sea in which help exzema and skin problems, they do a great facewash and bath products including a scarily vigorous body scrub and amazing frankincense scented bath salt with floaty petals.

TV is like Buses

All the good programmes come at once! Currently I am enjoying The Proms, Coast series 2, Desperate Romantics with the gorgeous Aidan Turner, What to Eat Now and Economy Gastronomy. Better Half is loving The Sky at Night. We also have a great programme about the history of the Open University on the HDD Recorder. (Along with many films I feel I ought to see but always end up watching Alias on DVD instead, possibly my favourite programme of all time. Mostly I watch it while Better Half plays World of Warcraft, to drown out the shouts of Kill the Orc!) Really I feel good TV should be saved for the long Aberdonian winters when I hibernate with stodge for months, but thanks anyway to the BBC.

Plantmania

As I am an unlucky person with no garden (btw why do people with gardens always moan about what hard work they are, so tactless...) my growing energy is channelled into my houseplants. I have eighteen currently in a small flat. If you are worried about growing plants do just give it a go as most are pretty forgiving really. Most interesting are... venus flytrap (carnivorous plant, I am very fascinated by these) cycad (dinosaur era fern, grows new leaves in a big batch annually) and aloe vera (a new one, sap from leaves heals sunburn).I rescue plants from work and from the 'almost dead' section in B&Q. Sadly in Aberdeen the long dark winters kill many of my herb plants including all my attempts to grow indoor chillies.

Bruges Report I

Places we visited......
Stadhuis, town hall dating back to 1375
Basilica of the Holy Blood, with actual blood from Jesus
Church of our Lady, tombs of Charles the Bold and Mary of Burgandy, Michaelangelo sculpture
Gruuthuse Museum, 1400s house with lovely interiors and old chapel
Hans Memling Museum, interesting medieval hospital with amazing altarpiece by Hans Memling
St Salvator Cathedral, huge church from 1100s on
Groeninge Museum, art and applied arts from early Renaissance
Folk Museum, in old almshouses
St Anna's Church, amazing baroque interior in black, white and gold

Bruges is a great city for walking, crammed with tiny old streets and interesting shops.