In love for the first time

After 23 years of being in a relationship, I fell in love for the first time. He wooed me tirelessly but I never paid any attention or knew how deep and patient this love is. I always thought I'm not worthy of a love like this. But this is what He told me: I love you with an everlasting love. (Jer 31:3) You do not need to do anything to win my love for you because I already love you. I am not a liar. (Num 23:19) I love you and that is the truth. The truth will set you free. (John 8:32)

I was deeply touched by the promise and declaration of such love. Although I've been a Christian for more than 2 decades, I never understood what it really means to be a child of God. Nor have I experienced His love for me. Last Christmas, I cried out to Him to show Himself to me, to proof to me that He exists, that He cares for me. Since then, He has not stopped wooing me. He has been relentless in His efforts to proof His love to me. He is the almighty God who creates heaven and earth and sent His son, Jesus, to die for me. He has done it all. He has proven His love for me thousands of years ago. I am but a speck of dust. Yet, He goes all out to pursue my love, to soften my cynical heart. In Him, I know I need not strive. In the midst of storms and chaos, I can hide under His wings. He says, 'Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10). My grace is sufficient for you. (2 Cor 12:9)'

The Script

In this MTV era, it is hard to come by good singers who write music with integrity and depth. That is why The Script is a rare gem. The 3 Dublin blokes sing songs about the broken-hearted that touch the hearts of the young (my teen) and the old (me). I especially like their song 'For the First Time', about a couple struggling to find their place in the world. It kind of reminds me of my early years of marriage. My hubby was studying for his Masters and I was starting out as a teacher. We were always worried about money but somehow God provided and we were never lacking. Thinking back, it was a tough time but it cemented our bond and solidified our marriage. I believe if we had not gone through hardship together and stayed the course, our marriage may not have survived. So, for young couples who just started out, it's a long journey ahead but take heart, you can always rely on your partner through the ups and downs, especially the downs. Never say, 'I give up!'

London: Shopping, Eating and Musical

I didn't think I would love London this much. I guess the nice weather and the freedom to do what I wanted at my own time for 4 whole days was the main attraction. London is a great place to shop and eat. Although the exchange rate is about S$2 for 1 pound, most things are affordable, if you look hard enough.

Shopping

My favourite shopping places:

1. Primark, Oxford Street - tops are about 5 to 8 pounds on average with cool high street label designs but long queue for fitting room, patience and time essential
2. H&M, Knightsbridge & Oxford Street - pricier than Primark but cheaper than most high street labels, tops are about 12 to 24 pounds on average and dresses between 15 to 35 pounds
3. Marks & Spencer (M&S), everywhere - good quality underwear & slips and cakes
4. Nex - nice jeans with various lengths and a petite collection
5. Neal's Yard, Covent Garden & Borough Market - great natural facial products and travel size essential oils

A coat from H&M. Marked down to 15 pounds. Had to get it.

Primark entrance at 1130am on Sunday. Young and old crowding outside waiting to get a piece of the action. (Bottom)

Harrods is a posh mall with interior that resembles a 5 star hotel. Each restroom had a restroom lady greeting you and offering you perfumes that are sold in the stores for sampling.

Harrods food hall. This is no food court. Everything here are of good quality and very expensive.

Eating - London's glorious food

Our first dinner In London was in Bugis Street Restaurant in Millenium hotel, just across the street from our hotel at Cromwell Kensington Holiday Inn. This restaurant and the Millenium hotel were owned by Singaporeans. The Penang fried kway tiao and garlic pork ribs are ok if you really miss Asian food.

We had Indian curry, apparently London's new national dish, on the second night. It was very good and spicy too.

This Victorian cake was bought at M&S in one of the afternoons when I was feeling like I needed cake. I went back hotel early with this precious and ate nearly half of it.

My most expensive lunch in London was at this dim sum store in Harrods food hall. I was craving for dim sum somehow and ordered the set that set me back 28 pounds. I was expecting some major gorging but when I finished the 3 dishes of 5 dumplings, 1 scallop and 3 small fishcake, and was told that there wasn't anymore, I sat there drinking my pretty Jasmine tea and thinking, 'That was the most expensive dim sum I had ever eaten.'

Another one of those afternoons, tired of shopping, and finding myself in the company of a good pastry. Laduree is a famous French pattiserie. This eclair cost me 3.50 pounds. It tasted really good with the Duchy milk I bought from Waitrose.

My hubby packed Gourmet burgers back to the hotel one of the nights. I had the burger with avocado and bacon - it was so juicy and yummy and huge. It was so good I nearly finished the whole damn burger. The onion rings were awesome too. Man, I really ate a lot in London. Luckily, I walked a lot too. So I didn't gain any weight, much to the suprise and disgust of many people.

On the advice of my hubby, I went to check out South Kensington to have a look-see. Didn't find anything new there, just the usual high street boutiques. I was hungry as I practically skipped the boring egg and bacon English breakfast provided by the hotel. I went into a shop called Claire, which could also be found in Australia, bought some cute mirrors and asked the counter girl for lunch recommendation. She said to go to Sticky Fingers for some wholesome English food. The place looked more American than English but was opened by one of the Rolling Stones member, who was English. Anyhow, I ordered half a slab of dry-rub ribs with coleslaw and onion rings. This was, like, kids' meal but I was diasappointed that I could not even finish the very delicious onion rings, so the sticky toffee pudding was out of the question. The waiter, who looked like one of the Glee cast, had the forsight to stop me from ordering dessert at the outset.

Luckily, on the second last day, I had the opportunity to taste a traditional English pudding at one of the pubs in Covent Garden. Actually, it was a small restaurant above the pub. The pub in London in daytime is a little deceiving. It looked really quiet on the outside, until you stick your head in, which was what I did and got a shock. It was full of men drinking beer. I walked calmly to the bartender and asked, 'Do you have pudding?' The bartender, after looking at me for a few seconds and realising that I was a tourist, said, 'Upstairs.' The restaurant looked very different, with sweet old ladies and young families having their afternoon tea. I ordered a toffee pudding with vanilla ice-cream. Not sure if all English pudding taste like this but it was rich and gooey - my kind of afternoon dessert. Wanted to order tea but was worried about the caffeine affecting my good sleep record in Europe, so gave it a miss.

After watching a play on the last night in London, I told my hubby, 'Let's check out that pub that is near Gloucester Tube and 5 minute walk our hotel, called Stanhope Arms. It looks interesting and sells traditional fish and chips.' It turned out to be a great place to hang out. No loud music or heavy smoke. Just a bunch of blokes and a few group of girls having beer and chatting. The fish and chips was really traditional, served with peas. We also ordered an English beer called London Pride. It was light and not bitter.

On the last day, my hubby was free to keep me company, so he suggested going to the Borough Market as I had lamented not having the chance to go to a London market. Dang! I was planning to have another go at Primark at Oxford Street. But this market adventure with my hubby turned out to be really fun.

One of the shops at Borough Market sells the yummiest-looking stuff. I bought a slice of Victorian cake and a slice of Fudgepacker Brownie with toffee bits. Both were heavenly.

We had so much fun tasting all the cheese, dips, strange sausages and bought a chunk of parmagiano cheese from this bloke.

The truffle olive oil from this stall was amazingly fragrant, so despite the glass bottle, we bought a black and white each of truffle oil. They gave us so much pleasure when we ate them at home with crusty bread bought from Cedele and Swiss Bake.

One of those crazy English royal cakes that were sold everywhere to celebrate Will & Kate's wedding.

Spotted this cheese sandwich stall and recalled that I saw something similar in Samantha Brown's programme, so I took a number and joined the queue. It was one of the best things we ate in London. These guys put 3 types of cheese, shallots and garlic between 2 slices of sourdough bread and press them down onto a hot pan until everything melt into a gooey delight.

The fish & chips at the market was better than the one at the Stanshope Arms pub, especially the codfish.

Musical

Wicked is one of the most popular musical in London and won several awards. It tells the story of Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and her friendship with Galinda, later Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz novel, Glinda is the Good Witch of the South). Their friendship struggles through their opposing personalities and viewpoints, rivalry over the same love-interest, their reactions to the Wizard's corrupt government, and, ultimately, Elphaba's public fall from grace.

The performers were great singers, especially the one who played Elphaba. The performance was highly entertaining and had a lot of hilarious moments, especially Galinda's bimbotic manners. We had a great time.

Versailles and Confit Canard

Versailles

It was Friday and tourist season had apparently begun. After the hectic schedule the day before, we wanted to take it easy this day. But we also knew how incredibly stupid it would be not to book tickets for hot tourist attractions in advance. We left for Versailles from the Gare d'Auxterlix train station at about 9.30am. The train cabin filled up by the time we reached Versailles. I'm not a fan of public transport, so I always bring lots of water and some food on day trips to make the travelling more bearable. For this trip, I had with me the M&S easter chocolate eggs. Spring in Paris and London tend to be cold in the morning then hot in the afternoon, then cold again at night. Useful to have a scarf to protect the neck.

Entrance to Versailles, which was flanked by golden gates. (Top) However, everybody was ushered into the premises via another entrance.

The chapel which had a very high ceiling that stretched 2 floors. (Bottom 2)

The entrance into the famous hall of mirrors. (Below)

We took a picture of ourselves through the mirror.

Boudoir of a very opulent and feminine queen.

Exquisite paintings and initials of the occupants adorned all the ceilings of the rooms.

A view of the vast area that is Versailles. It is impossible to walk the entire town by foot.

There was a bistro within the castle that sold sandwiches and other snacks that became our lunch. We shared a ham sandwich and a chocolate waffle. Not the most satisfying lunch we had in Paris.

After seeing the main castle, we took a tram to explore the rest of the estate. Tram ride was less than 10 EUR per person, I think. I anticipated that it would be a hot in the afternoon and had the smarts to wear the t-shirt I bought from Pimky, a mid range French boutique, the day before.

Was tempted to buy the silk scarf that cost 35 EUR but couldn't come up with any reason to buy it. I still have a few scarves at home that are collecting dust.

A primieval pram.

The mood and decor in this smaller castle seemed less elaborate and more simplistic.

A premieval toilet.

A lake in the estate.

We left Versailles at about 4pm, planning to look for the ice-cream parlour Phillipe told us about that was in Rue Mouffetard. Before we hit the entrance of Rue Mouffetard, we wanted to check out the award-winning Carl Marletti pattiserie nearby. Everything looked so darn good. I asked the suited man behind the counter with a phrase I had practised to perfection: 'parlez-vous anglais?' When he said 'oui', I asked for the best 2 pastries there. They were the lemon tart and the chocolate biscuit thingy. I wanted to save some space in my tummy for the Confit Canard that night, so I just ate the chocolate pastry. Oh, it was gooey, crispy awesomeness.

Along Rue Mouffetard, saw this old man playing what looked like an ancient musical instrument while singing some old French folk songs. A boy came along a while later to dance to the tune. Very charming and sweet.

My favourite street in Paris...

My hubby found an ice-cream parlour. Not the one recommended by Phillipe but just as good. He found his beloved pistachio ice-cream and left me shopping in one of the boutiques, where I bought 2 tops for 10 EUR each. Score!

The people at this ice-cream parlour took great efforts to shape the ice-cream to be like a rose before presenting it. I discovered that Amorino, the ice-cream parlour recommended by Phillipe also had the same concept. Not sure who copied whom but the customers are the winners, I say.

The square at Rue Mouffetard. (Top)

Our dinner reservation was at 7pm at a street about 10 minute walk from our B & B. (That's why I'm going back there again - it has everything). We hit the shower and headed out for our much anticipated Confit Canard.

We saw this graffiti on the wall when walking to the restaurant. (Bottom) We thought it was the most beautiful graffiti we ever saw.

We were the first customer there, cos like, Parisians don't eat this early. It was great to have the restaurant to ourselves though and take pictures without being self-conscious.

This apple cider drink was very good. Unlike other liquor that tasted bitter, this one was sweet and tangy with bits of crunchy apples.

The bread plate came with a meat pate which is salty and nice when eaten with the bread.

Both of us ordered the foie gras as a starter each. It was amazing - fragrant and soft on the inside. It was paired with a kind of soft bread, berries and gravy.

My hubby ordered the Confit Canard for the main. It's his favourite. And it was truly the best we have eaten so far - crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside and bursting with flavour. Rather like a nice marriage of crispy pork and roasted duck.

I had the cod fish with vegetables instead cos I figure too much duck would make us quack-out. It was good on its own until you tasted the duck. Then, you would want to throw it away and just kidnap the duck.

One of the best dinner we had in Paris... no crowd and great food. Or maybe because it was our last night in Paris...

The restaurant.

This would the last night for us to try out the Amorino ice-cream, so with just enough tummy space, we walked to my Rue Mouffetard once again. The atmosphere at night was different from the day time - it was more crowded and vibrant, but not rowdy.

The rose-shaped artisan ice-cream from Amorino.

There was a charity-like massage session going on at the square with any donation amount. I was very tempted to try but the clean-freak part of my brain stopped me.

It was a great last night in Paris and we headed back to the familiar small elevator that would take us up to the 3rd floor...