Where to Eat in Biarritz

When it rains in Biarritz (and it does that a lot) you eat. And that is pretty much what I did when I spent a weekend on the French Atlantic coast a few weeks ago.

My flight from Gatwick was so early, that I found myself having breakfast in Biarritz at ten in the morning. I found a fresh and modern looking brasserie called La Coupole right by the bus stop where the airport shuttle had dropped me and I wandered in for a typically French croissant, baguette and cafe au lait breakfast.

Christmas Food Around the World

Ah Christmas time again. The time of stuffing your face and suffering from heartburn. When you watch TV, it is all about the food at Christmas time. Having lived in a few countries, I have had Christmas dinners in different shapes and sizes consisting of lots of different dishes. A good time to

Growing up in the Netherlands, Sinterklaas was a bigger event than Christmas, but it didn't really come with food. Unless you count candy as food, there are the spiced biscuits also known as pepernoten, the taai taai or ginger biscuits and lots of marzipan. Christmas dinner was usually a cook your own in the fondue pot. Lots of fun guaranteed especially when the bits of meat got lost in the grease.

Photo by Thomas under Creative Common Licence

Top Tips for a Weekend in Lyon

Lyon had been on my top list of places to go to for a long long time and last weekend I finally made it happen. I spent not much longer than 24 hours in this pretty city which also happens to be a foodie heaven. Here is what I got up to.

Review of Mama Shelter Lyon

How important is a hotel when you travel abroad? As I travel alone quite a bit, I'm always looking for that home away from home feel to a hotel. I most certainly found that at Mama Shelter on a whirlwind weekend break to Lyon.

Champagne Tasting in Champagne

Who doesn't like a glass of bubbly? I know I do. So when my friends asked if I wanted to join them on a weekend trip to go champagne tasting in Champagne, I didn't hesitate. What better place to drink it straight from the source? We drove to Folkestone, maneuvered the car onto the train to Calais and continued on the other side towards Epernay, which would be our base for the weekend.

Things to Do in Lille

I didn't really know what to expect of Lille when I went there last weekend, but I was pleasantly surprised to find many things to do in Lille. All I knew about this town in the north of France was, that it is the first stop on the Eurostar line to Brussels and Paris, but there's a lot more to it than that. This is how I spent my two days here:

Shopping
Lille is a veritable shopping Walhalla and there's something for every wallet size. Rue du Molinel holds the high street brands, but if you want to splurge, head to rue de la Grande Chausseé where you'll find all the famous big label brands. Rue de la Clef is good for independent boutiques and in Rue Masurel you can browse through stylish home design shops.

Domaine de Chavagnac in Lille

I love eating out in restaurants in France and when I was getting ready for some dining out in Lille last weekend I was really chuffed when I found a quirky eatery called Domaine de Chavagnac in the Rue de Gand.

Cafe Meert in Lille

One thing the French know how to do extremely well is pastries and when I was in France over the weekend I couldn't resist indulging in some delicious ones at Cafe Meert in Lille.

Le Brueghel Hotel in Lille

Sometimes you just need to get off the island that is Great Britain, so this weekend I hopped on the Eurostar and went across the Channel to check out Lille in France. I'd stumbled upon an article in the Guardian which recommended Hotel Le Brueghel so I checked myself into a room here.

Wandering around the Marais in Paris

I love wandering around the Marais in Paris. Which is exactly what I do every time I'm there. It's my favourite neighborhood to do this in. The Marais is located right in the heart of the city, on the Right Bank of the river Seine. It's one of the most historic areas in Paris, but also one of the most trendy areas. You'll find many quirky shops, top-notch restaurants and hip cafes here, but also some interesting museums and art galleries.

Photo by Sonja Schloesser

Crying over the Eiffel Tower

I was going through some holiday pics on the weekend and found one of me and my friends posing in front of the Eiffel Tower on a weekend trip to Paris, a few years ago.

It brought back some memories of when I saw the iconic construction for the first time, when I was in Paris, working as a nanny.

I was a French language student in Brussels and had had some problems passing some of the exams in the spring. So after the retake sessions in August were finished,  I set off on the Thalys to Paris to work as a nanny and brush up on my French.  And ooh lala, was I going to have a fabulous time.

My room  in the 16th arrondissement, was a 7th floor walk up, right on the top floor. It was a former 'chambre de bonne' which means that butlers and maids used to live here. It wasn't quite like the Ritz Hotel in Paris, but it was all very bohemian and Parisian.  And when balancing on a stool and sticking my head out of the skylight, I could even see the tip of the Eiffel Tower. It was also just around the corner of the Trocadero which offered a fantastic view of the Eiffel Tower  that didn't require a balancing act. As soon as I settled into my new home, that's exactly where I went.

As I was taking in the beautiful sight of Eiffel's magnificent piece of work, I received a call from the school in Brussels telling me that I had massively flunked my French tests in the retake session. Of course I couldn't help but cry. I was bawling, unstoppable I was.

It must have been a strange sight: This young Dutch girl, watching the iconic Parisian construction, overcome with emotions and tears gushing down her cheeks.

Fact is that the Trocadero complex is the best place to view the Eiffel Tower, but I bet it never had that kind of effect on any tourist visiting Paris. That's for sure.