These are a few of my favourite stops

The time has come, my little friends, to talk of food and things! (as the walrus put it) Admitedly not all of these things are related to food, but they are related to my holiday, which starts in exactly one hour and 40 minutes. I'm so far from being ready. The house is a mess because we had a dinner party last night, the suitcases are still at the top of the wardrobe, my passport is somewhere at the bottom of a drawer, the sat nav needs updating, BUT: the ferry tickets and hotel reservations are in the process of being printed, and I have a present for everyone we're going to see. Could be worse. 

These are some of the things that just happen to be on the way between destinations. Isn't it nice to know that you can stop for the best pork pie ever on the way to see your favourite aunt ever?  

Melton Mowbray

E. M Shepard, who illustrated Winnie the Pooh and is buried in Lodsworth,

where we will be stopping on our way to...

...this tea room in Brighton

Now I'm off to configure my out of the office automatic email reply. Such fun! 

I don't know how often I'll be posting in the next two weeks, hopefully I'll manage a couple of pictures from time to time. Please cross your fingers for glorious weather because at the moment things aren't looking good for our little camping adventure in the New Forest!

*** fluffy bunny kisses***

Better late than never...

Didn't I promise you a post about Gaudi about a bazillion years ago? 

Also, I've officially run out of things to say. Well no actually I've run out of good pictures of the things I'd like to show you, including a very nice looking bathroom pendant... maybe tomorow! 

In the meantime, here are some of my favourite pics of the Parc Güell that I took a couple of months ago during my visit.

 This is part of a genius water collection system, the rainwater collected on the esplanade above and ran down each column to be used for watering the plants in the parc. I kid you not. Gaudi really was a genius.

 Gaudi lived in this house for a few years.

On to the Sagrada Familia cathedral. I've never really been a fan of religious buildings. To eery for me. Bits of people's bones in solid gold boxes? No thank you. Our guide took us around the outside of the catedral first, explaining what the three facades represented (navitivy, passion, and glory), one of which isn't finished yet, in fact the whole thing won't be completed for another 15 years I think. You can find all the info you need right here. Then he asked us to brace ourselves for what we would find inside. I wasn't at all prepared for what I saw inside. I'm not going to show you or say much about it because I don't want to ruin it for anyone. Let's just say I've never seen anything like it and I was really moved. Here's the outside.

Front facade: nativity

Nativity detail

Nativity detail. the three porticos are separated by two large columns, and at the base of each lies a turtle or a tortoise (one to represent the land and the other the sea; each are symbols of time as something set in stone and unchangeable) (thanks wikipedia)

 These colourful baubles are found at the top of each spire. Pretty!

 This is the back of the catedral, the passion façade. See how it's all about sharp angles while the other side was all soft and sort of melted looking? Crazy stuff.

Now I'm going to go off on a tangent that has nothing to do with Gaudi. At least I don't think so. I don't actually know what this building was and who built it, we spotted it on our way back to the hotel to shower and pack and we had to have a peek inside. It's called Casa Asia.

There was some sort of exhibition inside, strange asian art, short films, pendants, paintings, photos, etc.

I want this in my house

Pendants

Where's the log basket?

Check out the view. Oh I loved Barcelona. Can't wait to go back!

Meanwhile, our UK road trip is coming up!!! Only 4 more sleeps ^^

It's friday...

and I'm really looking forward to doing nothing this weekend, which in my world means doing housework and getting ready for the holidays! 

Some big changes are likely to be happening soon, very exciting, very top secret, and currently very uncertain.

Watch this space, bunnies!

Pinned down

This week's pins are all about design. And about favourites.

Rabbit chair. 'Nuff said. Found here.

 

I need more plates on the wall. Found here 

An infinity of dream chairs. Found here

Bed under the window. Want want want. Found here

And last but not least: meet Pusheen! 

 

 Found here

If you don't know pusheen, please go and waste 15 mins on its website. You won't regret it.

It's a Lille bit funny

Here it is at last! My little story of a weekend spent in Lille. It's been a long time coming and I've been very strict with myself selecting photos for this post. Here they are by theme, in more or less random order.

Let's start with food, and more specifically the inside of the restaurants, or "Estaminets" we went to. These places are only found in the north of France and are usually packed full of old objects. Paintings, little statues, crockery, you name it. 

 

 The food was cheesy and yummy. Maroilles (a strong local cheese) tart was enjoyed several times

Even the coffee is served in a vintage pot and looks terribly inviting. So inviting that I drank two cups and spent all afternoon sweating and trembling.

This yummy estaminet had a courtyard terrace full of string lights and greenery. 

Beautiful

I was told to try out this bakery/tea house, the best in town. I was stuffed after most meals, so on sunday afternoon before catching the train back to Paris, I dragged Boyfriend to the old town one last time for tea.

So much choice!

We went for something simple. Speculoos waffle and red fruit cake. And one last beer for Boyfriend of course. 

The setting was lovely. In Paris you would expect to pay a fortune (and probably queue for 20 mins) just to be allowed to sit down an breathe the air in this kind of place. Here the staff was extremely friendly, we didn't have to listen to our neighbours' conversations, and the prices were very reasonable.

Check out those legs.

Ok, on to our next theme: shops! I didn't buy anything but I did plenty of oogling and drooling. Specially in this place.

They have a shop in Paris which I'm going to have to visit, but this one is bigger and full of really original pieces. Oh if only I had bags of money and a big house.

This is my dream chair. Reduced to €1,000. Not bad really. Not that I have that kind of cash to be spending on furniture.

The building itself was beautiful to start with. Add a wall of pink chairs and headboards and what do you expect? I almost moved in. I seriously almost bought a pink silk cushion until I came to my sense (or may have been dragged back to my senses by guess who) and realised €47 is a lot of money for a cushion.

Coffee table with integrated plant pot. Genius.

This clothes shop was one of my favourites. Mainly because of their wallpaper and clothes hangers. I don't even remember the clothes themselves.

Behold: the biggest (and prettiest) paint shop entrance ever:

This was a coffee shop but I just had to post it. Such a cute name!

"Choppe" in French is a beer glass. Bad play on words. Very bad. I guess this is where the boys go while the girls are shopping.

Now it's time for some random architecture and street photos.

 Funky bunny 

I pinched this photo of the Porte de Paris from here. I only got a night time picture from the ground and this one really does the building justice. 

 To sum it up: great food, great people, great shops and beautiful buildings. AND good weather! Can you see the bunny hiding in the clouds?