Paris - Musee Madness

Today we visited the monstrous Musee du Louvre, the relaxing Musee de L'Orangerie, and the jam packed Musee D'Orsay. We managed to get to the line for the Louvre before it opened... thank god! It really set us up well for the rest of the day.



The Louvre is just so massive; around every corner there's a room off the main track that has priceless masterpieces or artefacts, but it's just so overwhelming that you end up walking past and meh-ing at pretty much all of it. We decided to trust the guide and made our way to the recommended highlights, spending a bit more time in the Egyptian wing to enjoy the mummies and hieroglyphics which we found to be the most fun wing of the Louvre. Despite the huge lines there didn't seem to be much of a crowd (probably because the place is so huge!) and we really enjoyed taking our time in the air conditioning!



We stopped for some lunch in the Tuileries before heading off to Musee de L'Orangerie, which is such a relaxing place to visit. Even waiting in the shady tree covered line was relaxing! We decided to buy the joint passport for L'Orangerie and D'Orsay, which ended up being a great idea. We took Monet's advice and reduced our stress levels by enjoying his paintings of lilies and lakes, and then headed towards Musee D'Orsay, for which we were prepared to wait in a long line and were pleasantly surprised when we got straight in with our dual museum passport.

Our highlight from D'Orsay was the huge Monet and Van Gogh collections. Andrew decided that Monet was his favourite, and I got butterflies when Starry Night over the Rhone popped up around a corner - I had forgotten that it was there. I don't know why, but the Starry Night paintings make me really happy. I will definitely have to cupcakify Starry Night over the Rhone, since I've already done Starry Night.



Tonight we're off to see the Eiffel tower sparkle!

Paris - Versailles

Last night we had an amazing dinner at Le Grand Bistro close by to where we're staying. Andrew had his first taste of escargot (he really liked them!), we both had our first steak frittes, and I had my millionth creme brulee. 

After an amazing dinner and a bottle of wine we could only manage one sight today, the golden Chateau Versailles. 

After the longest wait yet we saw the Palace and the Gardens including a fountain show choreographed to classical music. 

Tonight we are doing... nothing! I guess recovering from sunburn and voltarening shin splints is something, but a relaxing night in is in desperate need!

Paris - Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame

Today was day 1 of doing the tourist thing by visiting the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, crossing a few ponts along the way. We spent most of the day waiting in the line for the Eiffel Tower, and once we got to the front there was a little hand written sign saying that they weren't selling tickets to the summit because it was too busy, so we'd have to buy them at the second floor. After catching the elevator up, we waited in line to buy the ticket, then waited in line to get to the top which summed to about 2h of waiting, but... it was totally worth it. The view from the summit is really incredible, my favourite way to see Paris from above. Lunch in the gardens was relaxing, I was so grateful for that baguette! Also, a handstand:

We crossed Pont Alexandre III and stopped to look at Pont des Artes (which was covered in locks) on the way to Notre Dame. Along the way we had a gypsy try the "mon dieu I just found a wedding ring!" scam, took me a couple of seconds to realise but that was the first time I'd seen that one!

At Notre Dame we decided to wait in the line to go up the towers since it seemed slightly shorter than the line for the chapel, and it was in the shade thank god! If we weren't already buggered, the stairs to the top of Notre Damn definitely took care of that, but again, totally worth it for the view and the close up view of the extremely creepy gargoyles (seriously what the hell religion, there was some really intense gargoyle death sculptures and saints wielding knives) and also a lot of rows of what looked suspiciously like balls. We are absolutely shattered after walking around the whole of Paris, I am switching to my running shoes for Versailles tomorrow!

Perth to Paris

We're in Europe!

Today was our first taste of Paris (and pain au chocolat), and apart from being pretty exhausted after the long flight we've had a confiture-packed first day.

This morning we had a bit of a sleep in but perked right up after some french pastries for breakfast and a stroll with Chad and the boys through a local fresh fruit and veg market which also sold an amazing selection of bread and cheese.



We spent the afternoon at the Jardin D'Acclimatation theme park for Keanu's birthday, the boys had a blast! It was a beautiful theme park that runs all year round within amazing national park gardens and surrounded by French landscape and architecture, very different from what we're used to at the Perth Royal Show!

The boys braved a ride on the roller coaster and the speed planes, but I think that the scariest ride of all for the boys was the glass maze (the ride for which it was my turn to chaperone). It probably didn't help that everyone told them that some people never get out and you can still see some of the skeletons of the lost children that didn't make it out alive. It also didn't help that to get out of the otherwise friendly maze you had to go through this dark room with monster mannequins, which I could not for the life of me convince Hayden to go through, he was pretty sure it was the dark room of certain maze death.

I took Hayden back and we went out where we came in, but of course this meant that I lost Keanu and his friend, who were lost inside running around panicking and hitting their little heads into the glass walls as they ran around every corner. They (and every other lost child) forgot the tip the nice woman at the entrance told them which was to always walk with your hands out in front. It was really hard not to laugh at the constant loud bangs of kids hitting their heads.


After running back in and tracking down the boys who had been going around in circles for I'm sure what seemed like hours I taught them the all important maze rule of running your left hand along the left wall and following that around until you get out. What an amazing ordeal!

After stopping off home we headed back out to the Champs Elysees and the Arc du Triumph. The Champs Elysees was really busy with tourists and Sunday shoppers. I bought a lipstick from the biggest makeup supermarket I've ever seen, Sephora. It was overwhelming! An assault of  perfume hit you in the face as you stepped in, and unfortunately we were headed for the Dior counter which was at the back, probably strategically placed, like the milk isle of makeup.

The Arc du Triumph was our first big Paris sight, and we decided to go to the top which was a first for all of us. The view was beautiful, and was a great sneak peak of what we're going to be seeing for the rest of our week here.



Tonight we're all heading out for dinner at a French bistro, I cannot wait to devour a steak frites!

M-m-month of May

Some E Cup cakes for a friend who just got an amazing set of new boobies:



A cupcakified immunity necklace for our end of season Survivor party:



Emma and Joe are married! Emma was a classic beauty:



We were three dove pink bridesmaids:



Tame Impala were incredible at the Belvoir Amphitheatre:




And as always, George:

Happy Easter!

To celebrate, here are some pictures of Mr George Pancake Puffington.

2013 Fremantle Chilli Festival

The Fremantle Chilli Festival is a yearly event where all things chilli are celebrated throughout the weekend at the Fremantle Esplanade. A chilli festival in Western Australia at the start of Autumn does't sound like the best idea since the weather is still at it's summery worst, but the crowds still came out and flooded Freo like chilli was famous.


This year the weather was more forgiving (last year it almost hit 40 degrees!) and although it was a bit humid the overcastness made it the perfect day for spending 5 hours in the middle of the day eating chillies in all of it's glorious forms.

We had a bunch of weird and wonderful things including fried mice (not what it sounds like), chilli beer, chilli hotdogs, chilli nougat, chilli fudge, chilli salt, all sorts of chilli sauces, pastes and dip, and chilli chocolate cupcakes (mine are better).


Last year we tried a slice of the what was the 2nd hottest chilli in the world at the time (the ghost chilli) and actually thought we were going to die, so of course this year we decided to try the current hottest chilli in the world (the trinidad scorpion). However this year it was in paste-form, and was nowhere near as hot as the ghost chilli, but we definitely wrote it off to early because it kept ramping up for a good 5minutes after the first kick died off.




I didn't experience the same panic I did last year though - having a slice of the ghost chilli was something unlike I'd ever experienced. It wasn't like a really hot chilli, it ignited some other response which completely immobilised us into drooling heaps on the lawn and for about 5minutes all we could do was concentrate on not dying.




We finished off the day with a La Paleta Mexican ice treat, yum! I was a little disappointed that they didn't have some of their really different flavours (like strawberry and basil) on offer, but the two we chose (raspberry & plum and salted caramel) were really delicious and definitely hit the spot as chilli first aid.


I really appreciate that there are festivals dedicated to things like chilli. All I need now is a festival dedicated to salt and another festival dedicated to bunnies!

WAPPS 2013

Last weekend I survived the West Australian Summer Pole Camp together with the WA Pole Performance Showcase. It was awesome but I'm so glad it's over! I did workshops with the amazing Natasha Wang, the beautiful Jamilla Deville, the super flexy Luxe, but my favourite by far was strength pole with Lisa Chastity, she is so strong and lovely! Her daughter and husband helped spot and give everyone pointers throughout the workshop, it must be so cool to have a whole family of pole performers.




I did a group performance with the Pole Fever girls and also a solo performance at this years WAPPS, and both went really well despite the absolute terror and stress before hand!



I got a terrible video of our group performance on the night, but here's a video of us at practice (our costumes are in the picture above).


WA Pole camp is going to be even bigger next year, I can't wait!

Sky High Trapeze

Sky High Trapeze is Perth's only flying trapeze rig, and it's being packed up in February so that the operators can focus on performing. Luckily we made it in before it got packed up!



Andrew was a complete natural and got a double backflip even though it was his first time. I knew he would be awesome at it, and I'm so glad he had a good time because the lesson was my Christmas present to him! It was my second time, but I think I was actually more terrified this time because of the crazy wind. I think that climbing the ladder is probably the scariest part (which is apparently what a lot of people say), but a close second is leaning out to grab the trapeze bar with your second hand - letting go of the rigging never got easier for me.





For anyone who hasn't tried it, I highly recommend taking a lesson. It's a lot scarier, a lot faster, and a lot more fun than it looks. When you get your timing right and get the movements at the right place in the swing it's a really cool feeling. Don't forget to point your toes!

I'm going to keep an eye on what the Sky High Trapeze group goes on to next. They had been teaching for quite a long time and were keen to get back to performing. They're planning to start training in trapeze, tumbling, and Chinese pole, so hopefully they do some performing in Perth before they leave to tour the world.

Triple J Hottest 100 of 2012

My Votes:

• Tame Impala - Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
• Tame Impala - Mind Mischief
• Tame Impala - Elephant
• Grimes - Oblivion
• Grimes - Genesis
• Sures - Poseidon
• The xx - Angels
• TZU - Beginning of the End
• Abbe May - Karmageddon
• Skrillex - Bangarang

Would have loved to fit in:

• Bat for Lashes - Laura
• Calvin Harris - Sweet Nothing (ft Florence Welch)
• Dirty Projectors - Gun Has No Trigger
• Icona Pop - I Love It
• Miike Snow - Paddling Out
• Presets - Youth in Trouble

Lonerism (Tame Impala) and Visions (Grimes) are my two most played albums of 2012, I can't get enough of them! I've also been listening to SBTRKT a lot, but unfortunately I got into him a little bit late since his album (SBTRKT) was released last year. 

The reset of my votes are pretty strange, really just songs I've thought were awesome but haven't really got into the bands. I just had to vote for Bangarang because it was such a workout anthem, and love it or hate it, it will always remind me of burpees and frog squats in 2012! 

I can't guess this year's #1!

Edit:
NOOOOO I forgot Melody's Echo Chamber!!! I Follow You :(