sweat for sweets

Hello lovers! This marks my final recap post of our big trip. The final leg was spent with Duncan’s incredible family in France. The first four nights were spent in Lyon, where Duncan’s brother – Dave – spent the last six months or so doing an exchange through university. Since I knew we would have a tour guide extrordinaire, I didn’t do much research in Lyon & so wasn’t expecting much/didn’t know what to expect! I was blown away. It’s such a wonderful city! It was so great to spend time with Duncan’s family & to also meet all of Dave’s wild Australian & New Zealand friends that he’s met through exchange. Some highlights -

Your eyes are not playing tricks on you – there are giraffes and mountains in those photos. There was a HUGE, beautiful park right by our hotel (literally metres away) in Lyon which just happened to have a zoo (oh, just a few casual elephants, giraffes and hyenas in there .. no biggie!). The mountains & beautiful scenery are from our day trip to Annesy, a small town just about 2.5 hours south east of Lyon. It was the perfect relaxing day.

From Lyon we continued our travels to Paris. I’m actually kind of embarrassed to say that this was my fourth time in Paris. It just so happens that whenever I have travelled to Europe (a total of four times now), I always seem to make it to Paris. Funny thing is, it’s not my favourite! Don’t get me wrong… it’s an absolutely beautiful, lively city with an insane amount to do and see! I just don’t feel that I’ve ever connected with the city, if that makes any sense. It’s just never been a place that’s seemed warm & welcoming to me!

Anyway, we did have an excellent time! Duncan’s parents found an incredible apartment for the clan to stay in, which was absolutely perfect for feeling right at home & for its ability to make healthy meals on the fly! It was also nice to have a space to relax & unwind in.

Some of my favourite moments -

*One of the best meals of my life – mixed green salad with prosciutto, melon, cherry tomatoes, + mint and toast with warm goat cheese on the side (I feel so guilty .. I NEVER have ham/pork .. what is this world coming to?!). This little gem was a ridiculous 18 euro & was found at the Victor Hugo Cafe.

*Arc de Triomphe (have still never gone up it!) + a McBaguette – ha! How classy of you, McDonalds!

*Dan & Laura at the Louvre + the sibs (aren’t they a beautiful family?!)

*The whole famjam + first dinner

*Sacre Coeur + view from the top!

*Momarte + naughty adventures near the Moulin Rouge

*Moulin Rouge + Notre Dame

*The Rose Window + exterior

*Love Bridge (fact: we didn’t actually do this ourselves, but were lucky to quickly find a D+A and pretend it was ours! hahah)

*Ridiculousness – 260 euro for a hair elastic!!!

*Eiffel Tour light show + Musee D’Orsay

*Afternoon tea at Les Deux Magots (just had to do it!) + best macaroons of life (oddly, from a Japanese store!)

*Wine picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower

*Siene River night cruise (we snuck wine on board!)

*Centre Georges Pompidou modern art museum  + original Rothko (eeep!)

*Macaroons at Laduree + last night out at “Showcase”, a bar underneath/part of the bridges .. so cool!

Anndddd that’s a wrap! I hope you’ve enjoyed these recaps of all the places we visited on our euro trip! I apologize if it seemed a digression from my usual nutrition + fitness posts, but thought it would be nice to share all of the amazing things I did + saw! To that end, I do plan on adding a “travel” page on this blog to record my  journeys! I do promise that after tonight I will return to my usual health jam, though!

Hope you’re having a great night!

Love,

A xoxo

Questions

• Have you been to France before? If so, which parts & what were your favourite things to do? Share share share!