Summer in England & Paris

Back from our trip to England and Paris!

It felt liberating not having to wear a mask all.the.time. Unfortunately, despite the precautions we took, we still caught COVID-19 while on vacation. Bummer, right? I caught it first, some time before our long weekend in Paris, and then Hubby next. We strongly suspect I'd caught it from an acquaintance who was in London for the Insol conference. Strangely, our friends and travel companions for this trip DT and AL did not come down with it, but then, they'd just recovered from COVID-19, so maybe the antibodies in their immune system helped.

Lacroix (Splattergirl) enjoying a wonderful English summer day at the Kew Gardens, 26 June (IG).

We both had mild symptoms, mine were so mild that I didn't even know I had it at first. It only became apparent when my nose started running and I felt strangely fatigued. But I recovered quickly without any lingering symptoms, and tested negative not long after.

We did get to enjoy a few sunny summer days in England during the trip. We managed to get out to the Kew Gardens despite the National Rail strikes. It did mean a longer ride and a longer walk. We should've bused from the station...but Kew on a fine summer day is just perfect.

I also got my hands on The Kew Gardens Cookbook from the gift shop, whoopee~!

Also made my pilgrimage to Liberty, bought loads of tea, jams and biscuits from Fortnum & Mason, shopped at Harrods and got the RC tea set I wanted... And we ate lots of yummy food including a morning at Borough Market, a delicious chef's table lunch at Dinner by HB, and an amazing dinner at Alain Ducasse. Plus, on our last evening, AL and I satisfied our craving for English Sunday roast at Hawksmoor. That Alain Ducasse dinner in London, along with our dinner at Vivant 2 and the very Parisian steak frites dinner at the historic Chartier in Paris, were some of the highlights of this trip.

Leisurely stroll through the Tuileries, and ending up outside the Louvre, Paris (1 July).

Our time in Paris turned out superb. Maybe we got lucky because we had a great time. We didn't get mugged or scammed, met really friendly French people who happily shared their food recommendations, and ate very well.

I didn't go into the Louvre (or the Musee d'Orsay) and fell in love with macarons, both would have been unthinkable a month before. I just thought it was too nice a summer day to spend jostling crowds in the Louvre, and I didn't want to spend my time in Paris too focused on ticking off my travel checklist. I sort of threw the list out and decided to go with the flow. We did see the Eiffel Tower, the Pont des Invalides, Pont Alexandre III, etc. as we strolled along the Seine. My photos turned out terrible or boring at best.

As for falling in love with macarons...almost no one could possibly dislike Pierre Hermé macarons. Am going to hunt up some when we are next in Tokyo (fingers crossed, in October....). It would be awesome we get a Pierre Hermé branch in Singapore....

If there was anything I regretted on this trip, it would be not taking more and better photographs. Lacroix and my M4/3 Lumix stayed in my bag quite a lot of the time, and I suck at using the iPhone 7 camera. (Time to get the next gen iPhone which has more camera functions!)

Pierre Hermes macarons (clockwise from top-left): Magnifique, Jardin Japonais, Ispahan (yes, the famous lychee rose combo), Veloute Infiniment Yuzu, Aka, Infiniment Sesame Noir, Depayse, Jardin Zen. (IG)

Anyway...hate to flash and dash, but more on this trip another time ~ ~ ~