Wanderlust

Things to do in Funchal, Madeira

Amy 15th June 2017 Madeira, Miscellaneous, Travel No Comments

You’ve probably noticed that the title of this post is ‘Things to do in Funchal, Madeira’, as opposed to ’10/15/etc Things to do in Funchal, Madeira’. This is because, as I mentioned in my last post, I live here now, and so this list will probably be regularly updated as I find more and more things to do.

1. Cathedral

This cathedral is so cute and small and really opulent inside. Definitely worth a look.

2. CR7 hotel and museum

This is for those of you who like football. Since Cristiano Ronaldo was born in Madeira, he has his own hotel named after him. Shake hands with the statue of Ronaldo outside that looks nothing like him – imagination goes a long way!

3. Cable car to Monte

This is a really nice ride above Funchal. It takes around 15 minutes, so plenty of opportunity to take photos!

4. Tropical Gardens

If there’s one garden that you see in Madeira, make it the tropical gardens. They’re consistently named as some of the most beautiful gardens in the world and they’re stunning. My particular favourite (which has nothing to do with plants) is the geode room. I’ve never seen so many in one place before – or ones that are so big!

5. Toboggan

Imagine a sledge but without the snow. That’s pretty much what this is – but so much faster. You go down 2 km in around 5 minutes. I loved it, it was so much fun! (The one in the picture looks pretty battered – the ones you go down in are much better condition!)

6. Casino

As well as being a casino (obviously), you can have dinner with a show here. The singers have incredible voices!

7. Presidential Gardens

Only 1 euro and when I visited, there were parrots! (I don’t know if the parrots are always there or not…)

8. Santa Maria Street

The street of painted doors. I have spent many a night wandering around the bars here 😉

9. Municipal Gardens

Slap-bang in the middle of town, these gardens are a nice place to go to relax and pretend you’re not in the middle of a city.

10. Santa Catarina Park

My favourite park (after the tropical gardens). I love just sitting and looking down at the marina, or at the pond, where there are usually lots of swans!

Moving to Madeira

Amy 27th May 2017 Madeira, Miscellaneous, Travel No Comments

So, I’ve been AWOL for a bit. But I have the best excuse! I’ve just started working as a holiday rep with TUI and I now live in Madeira! I just got here on Monday, but I love it so far. You guys can expect lots of posts about Madeira in the future, but, to tide you over just now, I’m going to post these lovely photos 🙂

Disneyland Paris

Amy 12th April 201712th April 2017 France, Paris, Travel No Comments

You guys. You have no idea how excited I get at anything to do with Disney. If there’s a bunch of films on TV and one of them is Disney, then it’s on. I have so many Disney teddies (and I just bought a couple more at Disneyland). I think I took around 400-odd photos on this trip to Disneyland, but I’m only going to share a couple dozen, or so (otherwise, we’ll be here all day!)

I need to show a close-up of this guy’s face. It’s amazing:

“Ha! Peasants.”

17 Things to do in Paris

Amy 5th April 2017 France, Paris, Travel No Comments

I visited Paris for the first time almost 9 years ago, and completely fell in love (not as much as I am with Venice, but still a lot). So this year, I finally got the chance to go back! Here’s a list of my Top 17 things to do in Paris 🙂

1. Palace of Versailles

I have wanted to visit the Palace of Versailles for so long now. I finally got the chance to see it and it is so much more impressive than I thought it would be – the gardens even have their own bus service, they’re so huge! I’m going to have a whole post dedicated to it, as I have so many photos to share.

2. Disneyland Paris

I love Disney so much. Disneyland is always great (even though I’ve only visited Disneyworld once – and it was ten years ago – and visited Disneyland Paris once before – and that was nine years ago!). Like Versailles, I have so many photos that I am going to have a post dedicated to Disneyland. But I will say, the new floats for their 25th anniversary are amazing!

3. Shakespeare and Company

Admittedly, not as impressive as the Libreria Acqua Alta in Venice (and I didn’t see any cats!), but Shakespeare and Company is still very cute. I’m a huge bookworm, so anywhere with books makes me happy.

4. Notre Dame

Notre Dame is gorgeous. Definitely see the back of it – it’s so much more impressive than the front.

5. Galeries Lafayette ceiling, and the view from the roof

The ceiling in this place is gorgeous – so much better than the ones in Aberdeen’s department stores. And the view from the roof is incredible – and free!

6. Sacre-Coeur

The view from the church is so worth all the stairs and hills that you’ll climb to get to it. Be aware of men trying to put string on your wrists – this happened to my friend and I so many times! They were really charming, but as soon as they realised we weren’t interested, they turned really aggresive. Just be firm with them!

7. Eiffel Tower

Be there for 9pm – it sparkles! But only for 5 minutes, then you have to wait another hour…

8. Defender of Time

This clock is amazing. It wasn’t working when I saw it – or maybe it was, but it was showing the wrong time?

9. The Louvre

A trip to Paris is not complete without a trip to the Louvre. It’s home to my favourite statue – the Winged Victory of Samothrace (picture above 🙂 )

10. Musee D’Orsay

If you are a huge fan of Van Gogh (like me!), then this is a must – plus the inside is so pretty!

11. Palais Royal

I’m not really sure what the inside is like, as I haven’t seen it. But the outside is really pretty. (And, totally unrelated, my friend and I saw this old man acting strangely and dipping a huge stick into the fountain. Then, fully dressed in a suit, he climbed into the fountain, sat down, and peed! We didn’t know what to do. It was very strange…)

12. Arc de Triomphe

This is a nice easy climb (I say that, but it’s still a couple hundred stairs or so), and it has a nice view (although, I’d still recommend Galeries Lafayette because it’s free, and is nowhere near as busy).

13. Sainte-Chapelle

As you can probably tell from the abundance of photos. the Sainte-Chapelle was definitely a highlight of mine. I love stained glass windows, so I was in heaven.

14. The Conciergerie

I’ve always found prisons fascinating, and this is the one where Marie Antoinette was held, so I would definitely recommend.

15. St Etienne du Mont

This church is adorable and so worth a look.

16. The Catacombs

(Sorry the photo is blurry, I couldn’t really get my camera to focus, as it was really dark). I have a morbid fascination with anything to do with skeletons. I think this was one of my favourite things to do in Paris. The walk through the tunnels to the Catacombs was creepier than the actual Catacombs, as there was no one but my friend and me, and it was so quiet. Once we reached the skeletons, we found more people, so it was a bit less creepy. Over 6 million people are buried (or, rather, stacked) down here!

17. Pere Lachaise Cemetery

Get here before 5pm, as it closes at 6pm!! My friend and I made the mistake of showing up aroudn 5.40 and we had to leave before we got a chance to see anyone famous – it gives me an excuse to go back to Paris, so that I can see the graves of Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf and Chopin (not that I need an excuse to go back to Paris!)

The Weird and Wonderful Outfits of Carnevale

Amy 8th March 2017 Italy, Miscellaneous, Travel, Venice No Comments

I said I’d make a post about the costumes I saw at the Venice Carnival and look! These are some of the most amazing outfits I’ve ever seen – and I have to learn to properly make clothes so I can make some for my niece! (She’s only a year and a half just now. But she’s going to have heaps of outfits when she’s old enough to enjoy fancy-dress- she doesn’t understand Disney yet, and that day can’t come soon enough! 😀 )

(This one was one of my favourites – so sparkly!) You guys have no idea how much I wanted to buy this mask. The fact that I already have four made me stop (plus, this mask was a bit more expensive than I expected! If it’s still there the next time I’m in Venice……..)