Paris Day Three: The Louvre and Chartier

Yes, the weather was that grey today!

*WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS PARTIAL NUDITY* 

Musée du Louvre is one of the world's largest museums and the most visited art museum in the world. Today, it was certainly a crazily busy day with streams of tourists (mostly Chinese it seemed). 

The negatives:

• The Louvre is absolutely ginormous and is pretty much a giant maze. We did manage to navigate ourselves round, but it was certainly a trek, as my legs got so tired - far more tiring than climbing the Eiffel Tower! 
• The crowds in front of the Mona Lisa were ridiculous! Everyone was pushing and shoving to get a snap of the famous painting. There was a total of 6 "body"-guards in front of the painting and they were very vigilant with anyone who would act out of order.

• We went to the Galeries Lafayette, which I thought was pretty boring. It was the same as every other big department store regardless of whatever city in the world you are. The ceiling was quite cool though. Afterwards, we went to H&M (again, but a different one), but yet again, I didn't manage to find anything I fancied. 

The positives: 

• I'm not really an appreciator of fine arts, but there were some cool paintings, statues, ornaments, furniture etc and I did enjoy the museum, despite what my feet were telling my brain.

Tehehe

Venus de Milo

The metro station...

• Yesterday, by chance, we stumbled across this really busy restaurant with a queue to get in that went around the corner of the street. Luckily there was no queue today, so we decided to go inside for a meal. We were pleasantly surprised as our meal was delicious (One steak, lamb and sea bream). Turns out Boullion Chartier used to be a soup kitchen or broullion over 100 years ago, but now is a restaurant that is popular amoung both native Parisians and tourists. Lots of the original decor has been retained - there are lots of little draws where regulars used to store their napkins and there were also racks on top of your head to put your coat and bags. Service is very speedy and the entire restaurant was packed to the point of having to share tables with others. My favourite aspect of the restaurant though, was that they would scribble the bill onto the paper table cloth, and work it out using some speedy mental arithmetic - a nice personal touch to a fantastic meal. 

That was my day today, how was yours?

Bye!

Rebecca x

Paris Day Two: Arc de Triomphe and Tour Eiffel

Today was a day involving climbing lots of stairs and doing lots of queuing up. 

The negatives:

• There were lots of dodgy looking foreign men selling tacky Eiffel tower keyrings. I'm pretty sure what they were doing was illegal as they would quickly scamper when they saw the police arrive. My mum took a picture of one of these men as she's annoying like that, and boy, he looked like he wanted to attack her or something and he did. He grabbed my mum by her arm and my mum quickly retaliated with some verbal abuse and then we were on our way. 

• The queues were really quite long for both the Eiffel tower and Arc de Triomphe. However, considering it was the Easter weekend, it was shorter than I anticipated. When we reached the 1st floor of the Eiffel tower I realised just how long the snaking queues were. 

• I forgot to take over the picture taking, so I only have the ones my rents took. This photo could've been so good if my mum didn't cut off the bottoms of the cars.  

• After the Arc de Tromphe and Tour Eiffel, we reached this museum called Grand Palais, and went to this exhibition called "Beauté animale". It was honestly very underwhelming, as there wasn't much on display and the entry tickets were quite expensive. I do not recommend anyone to go visit it, unless you have a museum pass of some sort. 
• I had a citron and fraises flavoured ice cream and was very yummy. However it was also a bit of a rip-off at 4euros. Oh well, it's now in my tummy. 
• We also walked around Champs-Élysées and there was a huge H&M that I simply had to go in as my local one is absolute rubbish. I didn't buy anything though, which was sad. 

The positives:

• The weather was pretty good to begin with, although it did soon deteriorate. We walked up to the second level of the Eiffel Tower and then took the elevator (you couldn't walk any further from here on) all the way to the top. We reached 281m above the ground and I was very concerned about the amount of radiation I was receiving from being so close to the satellite dishes at the top of the tower. The aerial view was pretty good though and I was surprised to find that all the new developments in Paris were pretty much confined to a small area, and much of the uniform marble architecture has been retained. 

My dad's camera's white balance is a bit off. 

• There was also all these people in this huge conga line chanting this French song underneath the Eiffel Tower. I'm not sure what they were singing about, but it sounded like it could've either been a protest, or some sort of scout group. 

• We also reached the top of Arc de Triomphe (I keep thinking its Marble Arch), although it seemed way less high, after the Eiffel Tower. 

• I reckon I now have thighs of steel after all this climbing. 

That's all for today! If I'm back tomorrow early again, and have time, see you tomorrow for another post. 

Rebecca x

Reading my map. For some reason my hair looks far more red than it actually is now. Oh well. 

Paris Day One: Arrival

Today we went on the 11.24 Eurostar train from Kings Cross St. Pancreas, to Paris Nord and commenced our Paris holiday. Here are some things I noticed:

The negatives:

• The first thing that happened when we got out of the train carriage is that some very rude people barged us out of the way in the station. 
• Lots of people in France smoke.
• We don't have a complementary breakfast in our hotel! 
• Parks in Paris don't seem to have grass - just all this white sand. As it as not rained in a while here, it was so dusty. Today it was ridiculously windy, so there was a full blown sand storm in my face. 

My boots after walking through the park. 

The positives:

• Paris is known as the city of love and there were also quite a few Chinese couples having wedding photos taken in front of the landmarks with their obnoxious dresses. We saw a total of three couples having these pictures taken within about 10 minutes - they seemed so Chinese and so out of place.

• I set next to this REALLY cute Chinese toddler on the Eurostar. She had her hair in little bunchies, and had a bunny ears headband. Odd, how the only 5 Chinese people in our entire carriage ended up on the same row... 
• Since we only arrived at around 3pm, we just decided to go out and have a walk around town. Here are some random pictures my dad took. 

With cool HDI settings, although the white balance is a bit messed. 

Tomorrow, I will take over the photography, as my dad took these images today. Hopefully I will get some good ones.

See you tomorrow,



Rebecca x
P.S. I'm afraid that these posts are going to have to be quite late, as I am really tired after entire days out. I might just save them to all do at once at the end of the holidays, but I don't want to break my BEDIE.

My Hottest Pictures

As my dad has recently just reorganised all our photographs onto the network drive, I decided that I'll find some good ones to put on my blog. However, then I thought what was the fun in that? So instead, I have put some of my least attractive photos up. ENJOY!

A collage of photos from 2003-2007. Click for a close ups of my dashing visage.

I don't have any photos from before 2003, as they all physical prints or rolls of film. And as for ones after 2007, they are just too recent and embarressing for the viewing of world-wide-web. Perhaps in another 5 years time, I'll put some more up!

Au revoir!


Rebecca x

P.S. I'm sorry that this post is so short and brief - I couldn't think of what to blog about.
P.P.S. Just like to give out to a huge thanks to everyone who has been on my blog today! I have had the most views today on my blog ever since it's birth - over 200 views woop! It may not seem like very many to most people, but I'm so proud! 
P.P.P.S I am going to Paris tomorrow morning for a few days, so I'm not too sure what's going to happen to BEDIE. I am informed that there is internet at the hotel that we are staying at, and also I am bringing my laptop, so I will try as hard as possible to blog the entire duration that I'm on holiday, promise!

Chinese Stereotypes Tag

Hello everyone. For today's post, I was completely stumped (again) for what to write about, so I went onto Youtube to find a tag to do. Low and behold, I came across the "Chinese Tag Game" and thought it would be perfect to do in the form of a blog post!

I'm sorry that the panda looks slightly deformed.

• Do you have pressure to get straight As at school?

• Yes, of course. Unlike the Chinese stereotype, this pressure is mostly from myself rather than from my rents- sometimes I don't even show my parents my reports or exam results, unless I want to flaunt it in their faces when I get annoyed. But I suppose my inner pressure is from my parenting and upbringing to always achieve, so yes, I have pressure to get straight As.

• What part of China are you from? 

• I was born in this country, but both my parents are from the north-east of China. My dad is from Heilongjiang and my mum is from Jilin. However, my mum did spend most of her childhood in Sichuan, Chengdu, and our ancestry does go back quite far there, so I don't really know what she'd count herself as. I suppose I'll say the north-east, but I only have one relative left living there.

From the head of the chicken.

• Do you fit into the Chinese stereotype?

• No:
• "East Asian women have been portrayed as aggressive or opportunistic sexual beings or predatory gold diggers using their feminine wiles."
1. Okay this came up when I typed Chinese stereotypes into wiki, and that definitely doesn't apply for me...
• I am not a master of martial arts, although I wish I were!
• I hate K-pop, J-pop, XYZ-pop...
• I don't wear glasses.
• Yes:
• I am very short.
• My eyes are squinty - but that's not a stereotype, that's a fact.
• I do like maths.
• I have eaten dog before. 
• This was when I went to Changbaishan mountains on holiday once when I was 7 or something. It was by the China and North Korea border, and the local delicacy was dog meat. At this time I was very young and I didn't really know what was going on, so I just ate it! Before you guys freak out and call RSPCA, very few people in China still eat dog meat - this restaurant was pretty much purely for tourists, so that they can "experience" the entire authentic culture. In their culture, dog is seen as a type of meat rather than a pet, just as pork and beef is in our culture, so I don't think we should judge and discriminate, simply because it is a cultural difference. (Before you guys all run off and tell everyone that ALL Chinese people eat dog, this is NOT true, as it was literally only a small ethnic minority that eat it - in fact most Chinese people are against it as I discovered when most of the rest of our tour group refused to eat it. It's only when the line between livestock and pets starts to blur, that is when we should start to be worried.)
• I like to save.
• Yes this is true. Us Chinese are love saving. Why? Since China is such a vast country (it is 37x the size of the UK and houses 1/5 of the world's population), so having a "nanny" state is simply not an option. That is why the Chinese always have vast savings, in case if one day disaster strikes, there is no safety net of a government that can afford to give out endless benefits, like in this country. Saving is just part of the culture. 
• I am a bad driver. 
• Well, I technically don't know this yet, but I can't imagine myself being very good at driving.
• I play a musical instrument. 
• You should see my orchestra, about 50% of the 1st violins are Chinese. 
• I had a bowl cut.
• Oh yeah, rocking the mushroom hair!

Teheh, it's me... oh dear!

• Rice or chao mein?

• Hmm, I don't like this question as it assumes that all Chinese people eat rice or fried noodles, which isn't true. There is a north/south split within the country though. Northerners have wheat as their main food source, since conditions are drier and colder. It isn't as humid and hot as the south, where conditions are perfect for growing rice. Since I could be seen as a "northerner", noodles would be the logical choice. However, the dominance and importance of rice in China is so significant, to the extent of the character for "cooked rice" (饭) is also means "food" in general. This is just like how the character for "home" (家) also means "family". It's quite interesting learning about how characters are derived. Anyway, I would go for rice.

• Does your future partner have to be Chinese too?

• I suppose I haven't thought that far into the future, but I suppose there is no pressure for this to be the case.

• Do you speak Chinese? Say something. 

• Ah, this is where I encounter a problem with having this as a blog post instead of a Youtube video. So instead I think I might type something for you guys who speak Chinese, or have the initiative to copy this into Google Translate.  

大家好! 如果你读不懂我写的中文， 你就是一只臭猪. 

但是, 如果你能了解这两句话，我爱你. 

• Ahaha, even though my Chinese is not that great, I can even tell what I just wrote is written so terribly. Sorry guys who are fluent Chinese speakers for my poor linguistic skills.   

I tag all my Chinese friends who have blogs to do this tag! (Just realised all my friends who have blogs are Chinese...)

1. Yingcen
2. Kevin
3. Wendy
4. Natalie 
5. Andy
6. David
7. And whoever wants to do it!

That is all,


Rebecca x
P.S. Check out the new tabs I made for my pages under my header! I have sorted everything out into 3 categories: Style (fashion, hair etc), Music and Life.
P.P.S I realise that this post is a day late! I'm trying to no break my BEDIE (Blog Every Day In Easter), but it's hard. I will write another post tonight to compensate, so look out for that.

The Raging Cows of Boxmoor - The Standoff

Today instead of writing an extensive post, I thought I might as well make a video about a humourous event that occurred today.

And yipee I have finally figured out how to use HTML to embed a Youtube video. And please ignore my shrieking in the video - I was very excited.

Today I went to an antique shop in Boxmoor known as "The Swan". Then we bumped into these cows and went home. I should've brought a decent camera to take so shots as it was so lovely and sunny outside but my dad was in a bad mood so I didn't want to ask him. Instead I took some snaps with my phone camera, which is okay, but doesn't compare with my dad's Canon or Nikon. Nonetheless here they are:

This old man accompanied by his old dog was so cute!

Sigh, could've been so good if I brought a decent camera :(

I will have a better post tomorrow!


Rebecca x

A diary entry from 3rd April 2007

Today I was a bit brain dead for what to write for today's post, so I looked in one of my old note books and found a diary entry I wrote 5 years ago on this very day, when I was 10 years old. Back then during the holidays, I would also aim to try and write longer diary entries, but would often fail as I wasn't very persistent. However, this day was one where I actually wrote alot, and I thought I might as well share it with you guys. I do still remember this day very vividly as I was during the Easter holidays, and I did enjoy it very much. Below, I have copied out the diary entry, letter for letter, thus there are some terrible spelling mistakes, but I thought I might as well leave them in for authenticity.

3rd April 2007
Today was a cool day coz it was Kathryn's b-day! lol! In the mornin' I woke up and got dressed (as usual). I was gunna wear the pink top I love but mum was stupid and didn't wash da clothes so I had to wear this green choosbi top. 

Anyway, Mary came round and we dug a hole and found clay. Mary came round because it was Kathryn's birthday. Yay! 

Kathyrn party was sooo cool We went to the pottery project as it was amazing! lol before that, when Kathryn picked me up and Mary. It was sooo imbarasing coz the house was a tip! 
Anyway, at the party we chose an object to paint. I chose a gecko. I really wanted the penguin but the other Rebecca allready picked it up. Grrr!!Anyway, my gecko looked quite good, but I think I did too many dots on it! Oh well! By the time the other Rebecca had done three things, most of us only had done one!

After the painting, we went back to KT's house. We played in the garden for a while. We did this couse thing. It was really dumb coz Emma, she went round to the shed leaving Mary, Ellie and me behind when when me and ellie did it, we got told off well badly! Stupid Emma. Then we ate and watched this "Queen's Nose" which was sooo lame but the "Clutter Nutters" was on and that was good. Then we played more games and then we went home. 

Just before I started writing this, I made a timetable of what I'm gunna do in the holidays. By gum I've made myself do a lot of work! (I signed it) The holiday isn't really a holiday for me! I've given myself to much work. Oh well, it's good me isn't it? I'm getting tired now so nighty-night. 

P.S. How come no one is every on Msn? It wierd!

My thoughts on the diary entry

• My style of writing back then is still so similar to how it is now. I still over use exclamation marks and have terrible spelling
• I don't think your stupid Emma! I just call anyone who annoyed me stupid. It just got really angry back then as I got into trouble for going round the back of the shed, when she didn't! I remember there was a Tracy Beaker style wig in that shed, and it amused us greatly by trying it on.
  
• I clearly remember digging up the clay, and then making it into a little man who we then painted with a red long sleeved t-shirt and blue jeans. However, since he was made out of clay we literally dug up, he quickly disintegrated and limbs were falling out. 
• I am still really proud of my gecko that I painted. I'll insert an image of it here.

Still quite pleased with how this turned out.

I thought I was hilarious by writing "Hand Painted by Me"

• I can't believe I wrote "by gum". 
• Even back then I was obsessed with the Internet, and I remember chatting on MSN with a variety of emoticons was all the rage.  
• I also used to use P.S. in my diary entries then, as I do now!!!
• In addition, back then I also used to miss out words when I wrote my diary entry! This is something only my friend the other week pointed out - sometimes when I write posts quickly or do not proof read them, I have sentences that have entire words omitted and I would not notice. This is mostly likely simply because my brain is working faster than my fingers. I suppose I had the same problem even back then. 

My conclusion
Reading this diary entry back again has just made me realised I haven't particularly changed over the last 5 years. Yes, I have matured, but my attitude, things that get me annoyed and priorities in life really haven't changed. I still care alot about my clothes, get easily annoyed by some situations, and am very motivated and driven to do something productive during holidays. However, with the last point, I never seem to succeed in.

Even though it is only technically the second day of the Easter break, I am already getting into some sort of weird routine, that I strangely enough seem to really be enjoying:

• 10.00-11.00am: wake and get up
• 12.00-12.30pm: have brunch/lunch/breakfast
• 12.30- 8.00pm: mill around all day doing pointless stuff
• 8.00-10.00pm: do some Chinese revision
• 10.00pm-11.00pm: write a blog post
  
• 11.00pm-1.00am: read the hunger games
• 1.00-10.00am: sleep
• ...et répétez

Love,


Rebecca x
P.S. I have a few more diary entries similar to this about my 2007 Easter holiday. You interested in a few more?
P.P.S. Cheers to all you guys following my blog this Easter, don't forget to follow it via Google Friend Connect - all you need is a Google account (a Youtube account works too!). Also, you can make a little bookmark with a tiny little brain logo on your bookmark bar by doing as follows:

Trash Telly

Today as I was having a walk down our street, it suddenly hit me that if you look into every single household, there is always a television flickering in the living room and usually a family congregated around it. This made me think about the power media has on our lives. I was going to write a deep and meaningful post on it, but then I decided I cannot be bothered, so instead, I am going to write a post on all the trash telly that I watch!

I don't spend that much time in a week watching tv, but there are a few shows that have been on lately and I have been enjoying. They are all pretty lighthearted, superficial and meaningless, but that's what I like about them. I like to think that I am an intellectual person, but I really am not, especially with my choice of television programs.

The Apprentice
Ah, I have always liked the business aspect of the show, but what I find most entertaining is the misfortune of some contestants on the show. Sometimes these egotistical contestants gets things so wrong and seem so stupid and therefore I enjoy it thoroughly. Even though there has only been two episodes in this series, some of the contestants seem absolutely rubbish and have no common sense. I am currently rooting for Duane Bryan out of the boys, and Laura Hog out of the girls, but time will tell their fates. I can't believe the girls went with "Splish-splash" instead of the tap cozzie, and the boys went for the bin instead of the scourer rubber clothes. Silly people.

A compilation of funny Apprentice mugshots that I found on Google Images

Here is a video about the true meaning behind the Apprentice.

Waterloo Road
The acting on Waterloo Road is absolutely terrible, yet I find this show so addictive to watch. This week's episode had this weird "To Kill a Mockingbird"-esque storyline which was extremely badly presented. Even though the acting is outstandingly bad, I seem to always get so emotional watching it. I do think it's good that they do address a wide range of social issues, but most of the time the storyline is completely unbelievable.

Skins
Again, this a show where the story lines are beyond ridiculous. It is just constantly about sex, drugs, violence and drinking, but yet again I seem to keep watching it. The acting is not as dire on Skins compared to Waterloo Road, but only very marginally. One thing I did used to like about it was its visual look of it - I really liked the characters individual looks and outfits. However, now in this series, they have a new stylist, and he/she is a load of rubbish. Frankie and Rich now look so unlike their characters personalities. I liked it when they were all stereotypical and extreme. The only person who still seems to be dressed with some sense of individuality is Alo!

I realise their characters have changed, but could their stylists be any lazier?

Take Me Out
Okay, this is really embarrassing, but this is a guilty pleasure. The guys are always so cocky and the girls are so desperate. The dates never seem to work out as the guys can only chose the girls based on appearance, and some girls are so desperate that they fling themselves at anyone who comes down the love lift. Nonetheless, this show is a bit of fun, and I can't deny that I enjoy it.

The Voice
This was a show I wasn't really expecting much out of, but I have really been enjoying it lately. Reasons why I like it:

• The judges are all pretty good, even though no one seems to know who the dude from The Script is, but he seems pretty popular with the ladies.
• They seem to gel really well, unlike BGT where none of the judges ever talk to each other. 
• The focus is on the good singers, rather than mocking the misfortune of the terrible ones.

However, it does have some things that aren't so great as since there is the gimmick-ey "blind" audition, lots of great singers are missed. Some of the contestants also seem really annoyingly arrogant. But all in all, this is for filling my need for a dose of reality tv on a Saturday, so I am happy.

Tis all for today,


Rebecca x

Day of in the life of a stereotypical female

As I was mentally planning out this post about my day today, I realised that it conformed to the oldest gender stereotypes - I spent the day cooking and shopping (I'm afraid I don't clean). I spent the day with MP, and we went into town shopping and afterwards decided to cook dinner for my rents.

Shopping:

The leggings and a closeup of my crotch. I still need to work out how this camera works... though thought I may as well include it. Made it black and white to make it seem "artistic".

Ah, I love shopping. My main aim was to find a prom dress, but I was quickly sidetracked. I bought this pair of stripey leggings (first mentioned wanting them in this post) at last! They are literally everywhere on the high street, seeing as most shops all seem to carry the same stock. I got these from this shop called "Hype", which from the outside looks terrible, but has turned out to be where I seem to spend most of my money! It has a load of the same stock as more expensive shops, but for really low prices (nothing is more than £10) and they change their stock really regularly, so everytime I go there, after some digging, I find something new and awesome. This has also taught me to buy anything I see that catches my eye, as it will probably be gone the next time I go. Apart from these leggings being slightly too big since they are size 10 and the fact that they are more white than black, they are pretty much perfect. I especially like the thick polyester material, instead of thin cotton as I can wear them as trousers without fear of the dreaded camel toe. Also, they were only 7 squid. 

I'm not 100% sure why I bought this dress; it makes me look like a crazy dark gypsy/hippy lady, but I love it. I have decided that I am going to attempt to make my dress sense more out there and interesting over the course of this year, instead of conforming to the bland, boring attire of the masses. Therefore, I thought I might as well jump in the deep end with this tie-dye dress. It was only £7 from New Look in the sale and it looks good hitched up so it looks like a short dress as well. 

It's good to know that it is still possible to find some great bargains on the high street, if you search hard enough and know what you are looking for. One sad thing is that, however, it is becoming increasingly vacant, as more and more shops fall into administration. 

Here is a little crop top that I really wanted to buy from Topshop but I ended up not picking it up, although now I slightly regret it. It literally screams out for me to buy it, but when I tried it on, the size 8 was slightly too big. Now I kinda really want it, since I have a £20 Topshop voucher, but I do think that £12 is extortionate for half a top... But I can imagine so many awesome outfits with it. Oh what a predicament!

1st outfit has a 90s grunge vibe. Crop top would be worn under the checked shirt, which  would be unbuttoned, but tied at the waist. 2nd outfit would have the crop top underneath the sheer black over sized shirt, buttoned up to the top.

Cooking:
Today, I decided to make potato gratin with MP and I think it turned out pretty good. We accompanied it with this savoy cabbage and chicken stir fry, which we made up ourselves. We improvised the chicken marinade, but it turned out well. Afterwards, we realised that there was not enough veg, so we also added a rocket and various other veg salad, topped with some improvised oil and vinegar dressing. It was actually quite fun and here are a few things I realised:

• This was probably the first time I've formally cooked for my entire family. It feels good to know that you have the capability to feed a family. I just hope no one ends up with food poisoning.
• Chicken that you buy from the supermarkets is horrible. It was ridiculously fatty and oily, compared to some guinea fowl breast that we had in our fridge and decided to add to the chicken. 
• Savoy cabbage is ridiculously cheap (ours was only 50p and we only used about half of it) Overall, the meal only cost £4.20 for 4 people, so I think that is pretty darn good. 

So yes, that was my day. I hope not all the other day's post in my BEDIE are not as mundane as this one. I didn't really know what to write about. Sorry.

Here are some of the things I want to achieve over Easter (carrying on from yesterday's post)

1. Start a jewellery making business
1. Wow, that makes it sound rather elaborate, but I really want to start making some of my own jewellery to sell. I have already started making lists of all the supplies I need to purchase before I can start making. It's something I've wanted to for a while now and I can't wait to get started.
2. Blog Every Day In Easter (BEDIE)
3. Go do some shopping
4. Start my revision

Good day,


Rebecca x
P.S. My dad has just bought a new Canon PowerShot G1X, which is an absolute dream to use. The interface is not particularly user friendly, but I am slowly learning how to use it. Now all I need to do is to figure out a way of taking pictures of myself, then I can finally start my fashion blog. Woop.