Category: Citytrip

A visit to the Louvre

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A trip to Paris isn’t complete without a visit to a museum. There are so many wonderful museums in the city! The most famous one is the Louvre, where you’ll find the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, The Winged Victory and many, many more. You won’t be able to see everything the Louvre has to offer in just one visit.

I’ve been to this museum before, a couple of years ago. My friend knew a secret entrance through the shopping mall underneath the museum, and we went in super fast (and free, as it’s free if you’re under 25). The second time I wanted to visit, this entrance wasn’t so secret anymore and was even more crowded than the regular entrance, the one in the pyramid. That time we quickly decided to visit a less crowded museum, one that became my favourite one in Paris: L’orangerie, where you’ll find Monet’s waterlilies. When we returned this weekend to shop for wedding rings, we decided that now was the time to visit the Louvre.

After looking for wedding rings and seeing the highlights of Paris by night on Saturday, we started our Sunday morning having breakfast like a local. We checked out of the hotel, and walked toward the Louvre, looking for a place to have breakfast. We bought some croissants in a little bakery and ate them on our way to the museum.

Tip: buy your tickets online and pick an early timeslot, and then visit the most famous pieces first

Boyfriend had been in Paris a couple of times, but had yet to visit the Louvre. So this time we bought our tickets online (as was mandatory because of covid) and picked an early timeslot. We were inside the museum in no time instead of having to wait in line for hours.

The Louvre is so big, you really have to make a choice in what to see and what to skip. I had bought a museum guide last time I was there, which is something I really can recommend. You can easily see what the museum has to offer and decide what pieces to check out first. My tip: if you go early in the morning, check out the most famous ones first, as it will only get more and more crowded later in the day.

We decided to visit the roman statues first and saw some really beautiful ones.

Amor & Psyche is one of my favourite pieces. I love how it really tells a story and it is beautifully made. I can look at it for hours.

I don’t really like to take pictures of paintings, so most of my photos from the museum are from statues. I think we spent most of our time wandering these halls, as the art is just so beautiful.

If you’re visiting the Louvre, make sure to look up now and then. The ceilings are magnificent as well. There is so much to see, even things that aren’t really there. For example, at one time, I looked up and stared at the ceiling and saw a tiny baby dragon, that looked like one from how to train your dragon. I pointed but Boyfriend didn’t see it, until I took a picture to show him what I meant. It’s the first picture from these three. The tiny dragon is actually the upside down nose from a lion but I can’t help but see an adorable little creature in there!

We saw all the famous pieces, like this one, The winged victory of Samothrace, or Nike. This one I really liked, it’s so impressive and old and I really like the boat she’s standing on. I also really love to get to know more about these artworks, and the guide I had with me helped me greatly with this, as did the little signs next to the artworks. For instance, did you know that the boat that Nike is standing on, used to be way, way bigger? There’s only little of it left. Luckily, the statue itself has survived a great deal.

The Louvre truly is a magnificent museum. Though it is a bit too crowded for my taste. I like to be able to spend time with some artworks that speak to me, try to figure out the story. We spent quite some time looking at The raft of Meduse to figure out the story, and did a little research on it. But many rooms are so crowded it’s hard to just stand still and look at paintings. Especially if you want to take your time to see why the Mona Lisa is so famous. There’s endless rows of people in front it, waiting for their turn, whilst most of these people ignore the other paintings in the room, that might be just as beautiful.

That having said, if you haven’t visited the Louvre yet, make sure to put it on your list.

Shopping for Wedding Rings in Paris

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When you get engaged, there’s quite a lot of planning that needs to be done and things you need to think about. One such thing is the wedding rings. There are many jewelry stores that offer wedding rings and most of them look a lot alike. As is often the case with wedding rings. I keep saying that, for a lot of people, if they were to take off their rings and put them on a table with a bunch of other people’s rings, none of them would recognize their own ring anymore.

And I don’t want that. I want something fun and unique, but also not too expensive as I would feel very uncomfortable wearing them. It was kind of a pickle.

We have been searching for rings for quite some time, but never found any that felt like us. Until, somehow, I stumbled upon the website of Edenly. A French boutique that sells not-that-expensive but gorgeous and original rings. We could easily pick out what we liked from the website and order them online.

But where’s the fun in that?

For our anniversary, we usually book a trip to celebrate. We went to Venice in 2018, the German Eifel in 2019 and in 2020 Covid hit so we had to stay home. This year, it was the same story and we couldn’t go anywhere. So we were thinking to maybe celebrate our 7,5 year anniversary instead of our 7 years with a trip. And though we were thinking to visit Vienna, a new city, we rather opted for a city that we already knew, so we wouldn’t have to spend too much time planning.

And as the one and only Edenly Boutique happened to be in Paris, the decision was easily made to celebrate our anniversary in the city. It was perfect.

The Edenly Boutique is small and has a lot of charm. It was a perfect little haven. The women in the store were really sweet and showed us a lot of rings for us to try on. After trying a couple, I put one on that I had already seen on the website and it clicked. This was MY ring and I didn’t want to take it off anymore (except for that it wasn’t my size and probable a dummy, but whatever). It was perfect! I’m so glad we went to Paris to check out the rings!

Boyfriend didn’t have an immediate click, as the one he had had in mind, didn’t look that great on his finger. He tried some others and found another beautiful ring he was really happy with.

We found wedding rings in the city of love. Could it have been more perfect? They are ordered and should be here before Christmas. I for one, cannot wait ♥

Returning to Nice: A guide to Vieille Ville

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As I’ve been looking forward to revisiting Nice for years, and our last trip was cut short, I knew I had to get back at the end of summer. It feels kinda silly to visit a city again within a month, but we just felt we hadn’t seen everything we wanted. So we planned another weekend away. We left the Netherlands Thursday night by plane (more info on plane versus roadtrip in a later blogpost) and came back Monday morning, so we would have three more days in this beautiful city.

We started Friday morning by sleeping in. We agreed that this weekend away would be a chill one, one to get some rest as well as seeing some more highlights of Nice. We stayed at Le petit palais which is one of the most beautiful hotels I’ve ever stayed in, not too far from the city center and with a bed that was superduper comfortable. Our relaxing weekend away was off to a good start!

So after the amazing breakfast buffet, we set out to the city. The only plans for today were Vieux Nice and Museum Lascaris when it got too warm. It was August, after all, and the south of France can get quite hot in the summer months.

Vieux Nice or Vieille Ville

One of the highlights of the city that we didn’t get to the first time around, is Vieux Nice, or Old Nice. It’s the oldest part of the city and also the most bustling. I really loved the atmosphere here. There are all kinds of boutiques and restaurants. It kinda reminded me of the hippie markets on Ibiza.

Speaking of markets, these you’ll also find in the old city. If you want some provençal souvenirs, this is the place to be. Vendors sell everything from soap to bags of lavender, but if you’re in the mood for some fruit or if you wanna buy flowers, you’ll also find them here. You’ll find the market every day except Mondays, and from mid-May to mid-September there’s an artisan market at Cours Saleya where vendors sell jewelry, notebooks and other handmade items.

Besides the markets, there are some other great places in Vieux Nice that are definitely worth a visit. First stop? Fenocchio!

Fenocchio is Nice’s number one place to get ice cream. You haven’t been to Nice if you haven’t tried one of their more original flavors. We didn’t have time to check it out last time, so we had to visit on our first day back. Normally I’m a picky eater and don’t really like to try new things. I’m like an opposite foodie. But this I wanted to try! I had two flavours, namely Tomato/Basil and Rosemary, while boyfriend opted for the more ‘normal’ flavours: Lemon and Orange. Other ‘strange’ flavours the store offers are olive, rhubarb, avocado, cactus and beer. I really liked the rosemary icecream. It was very fresh and perfect for a summer’s day. The tomato/basil was… interesting. It kinda tasted like gazpacho ice cream. I didn’t really like it, though it wasn’t really gross or anything. Just, not really my thing. I’m glad I tried it, though!

Later this trip, we went back and I tried Green apple (which I didn’t really like) and vanilla. The vanilla was super yummy, as were the lemon and orange boyfriend had the first time. So even if you’re not craving weird flavours, you could also try Fenocchio for your regulars, as they are really good too!

And if you’re stopping at Fenocchio, get some macaroons at the place next door. Angea has the best macaroons in town. In fact, these were the best I ever had! The store also has some yummy looking frozen yoghurt if that’s your thing!

If you’ve had enough weird flavours or regular icecream, you can also find Bubble waffles in Old Nice! Walk towards Roberto 1er (mind, the pictures on google streetview are old, so it looks a little different) where you can eat bubble waffles with nutella and bueno’s!

Shopping

If you want to do some shopping in Old Nice, there are so many places you can go. It’s a true shopping valhalla and I absolutely loved just browsing the streets, do some window shopping and look at trinkets in the storefronts. Some stores I really loved were Savonnerie, which is located right next to Angea. The store sells soaps, bathbombs and other luxury products that look like cupcakes. All of it looked so beautiful and yummy and it smelled amazing! I bought a bathbomb that I tried out later that night and it turned the entire bath pink and smelling like roses and candy. Best of all: it didn’t leave any residue in the tub like Lush’s always do!

Another store that I loved was Nirvana, which had beautiful clothing, bags and amazing jewelry. Lastly: we found an art gallery that had the most beautiful pieces. I wanted to take it all home with me, but I couldn’t, because we only had hand luggage this time around. I’ll definitely come back to buy a couple of these pieces, or maybe I’ll order some online. The gallery was called WeMood.

Vieux Nice is definitely worth a visit when you’re traveling to Nice. It’s so quaint and charming, with gorgeous architecture, amazing restaurants and lovely shops. I really enjoyed spending some time here!

Nice Guide for Ordinary Travelers

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Wanderlust Wonderland brings you: a travel guide for ordinary travelers, with must-sees, tips and tricks and the most delicious food, for ordinary travelers, like you and me.

I fell in love with Nice the first time I was there. Only fifteen years old on a schooltrip I didn’t even want to be on. But the blue sea stole my heart and I’ve been longing to go back ever since. It’s a beautiful, luxurious place that will steal the heart of every traveler.

When to go

Whatever you do, do NOT go in peak season. In summer the place is crowded and it’s too warm to do anything. Avoid visiting in July or August but go in spring or autumn. It will still be warm and it will be way less crowded.

In february/march the annual Carnaval is held and the city will be very crowded then too. It’s one of the highlights of the city so it’s a good reason for visiting. If you’re not interested, however, avoid these months too or check the website to see when exactly the carnaval is being held.

The same goes for the Tour de France in June/July which somethings goes through the city. Check the website to see if the cyclists go through Nice or not and plan your trip accordingly.

Highlights

Girl in bikini overlooking the blue cote d'azur in Nice, France
The fountain of the Sun, Massena Square, Triton fountain in Nice, France
  • The Promenade des Anglais is one you can’t miss. It’s one of the highlights but also the main road alongside the beach. Take a walk on the Promenade, smell the sea and take a picture with the #Ilovenice sign if you want to be a true tourist
  • The beach itself has to be on your list as well.
  • Nice has several museums that are worth a visit, most highlighted one is Musée Matisse where you can learn more about the artist’s life and work
  • The old city center, or Vieux Nice is another place you can’t miss

Must do

  • Explore Cimiez hill and spend some quiet time in the Monastery gardens
  • Relax and enjoy your time in the city. Visit a bakery in the morning and buy all sorts of yummy buns, bread and macarons and enjoy a lovely picnic or breakfast while looking out to sea
  • Take your time, wander around and get lost. The city is not in a hurry, so why should you be?
  • See Nice at night and see how it lights up

Must eat

Plate of pasta at Cafe de la Place Garibaldi in Nice, France
  • Eat the best icecream at Fenocchio
  • Have dinner at Cafe de la Place Garibaldi
  • You’re in France so you should enjoy the food! Try macarons, baguettes, croissants and all the other delicacies France is famous for. And don’t forget the wine!
  • What better place to try Salade Niçoise than in the city it came from?

Tips

  • Remember, the beach in Nice doesn’t have sand, it has pebbles. And if you’re not used to them, they will hurt your feet (and legs and knees). If you wanna go for a swim, bring watershoes or buy them somewhere in the city.
  • If you’re venturing out at night, check to see opening times before you walk through fences. They might very well be closed and then you’ll be locked in…

The Traveling Bookworm

  • Virginia Johnson – Travels through the French riviera
  • Jo Thomas – Escape to the French Farmhouse
  • Emma Donoghue – Akin

An afternoon in Dijon

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Bonjour! Ever since covid hit, I’ve been aching to visiting France again. More specifically: Nice, in the south of France or The côte d’azur. Because boyfriend didn’t feel quite safe going by plane yet, we opted for a roadtrip. But as the road from the Netherlands to Nice is quite a long one (as we would see on our way back, when we drove 12.000 kilometers in 15 hours) we had booked an hotel in Dijon for our first night, to divide the drive in two.

We had booked a very nice apartment but because of a death in the family, we had to cancel this one and improvise real quick. We decided to go a day earlier and whilst driving we booked our hotel for that night. The apartment wasn’t available for this date so we picked one of cheapest hotel rooms that was still available for that night, but did look for one that was clean and not too far away from the city center. We ended up at Hotel Restaurant Du Stade which was nothing fancy but good enough and clean.

After driving for six hours, taking turns, crossing the Belgian border, then Luxembourgh and then France, without having to go through customs or having to prove we didn’t have covid, we finally arrived in Dijon in the afternoon.

Dijon is such a beautiful medieval city! After checking in, we immediately set out to explore. Lots of houses had these beautiful front yards and balconies filled with plants. It was raining, but we didn’t care much, for we finally arrived and the city we walked in was looking amazing.

The city center is one you cannot stop taking pictures of. There are churches and shops everywhere, small coblestoned streets and interesting architecture. It truly had the charm of a small French town.

We didn’t really have any plans. We had only planned to stay for a day and even as our plans changed and we drove to France a day early, we would still leave for Nice the next. So we decided to just walk around, take in the beautiful buildings and find some place to eat.

Highlights

There are numerous churches in the city. The most impressive one I saw was the Église Notre Dame which was impressive because it had so many gargoyles! The tower can be seen from afar and is looking pretty good in the back of the pictures. The church was built in the 13th century and is now considered a landmark.

Besides the Notre Dame, Dijon also has it’s own Arc de Triomphe, or La Porte Guillaume which was built in the 18th century as an tribute to Prince de Condé, the gouvernour of Burgundy. The arc changed names a couple of times. It started out as Porte de Conde, then became Porte de la liberté during the French Revolution until it got the name it now carries, a reference to Guillaume de Volpiano, an Italian reformist abbot (and apparently also a composer).

Dijon also has a park with a gorgeous fountain, called Darcy Square which is a lovely spot to take pictures or have a picnic, or just walk around in. It’s quiet in here, and though the center isn’t too crowded, there are quite some people about, so if you want some quiet time, I’d definitely recommend visiting this park.

There are doubtless more highlights to this beautiful city that we didn’t really have time for. But even if you don’t have the time to explore much, walking through this city is already a highlight. It has such amazing architecture. One of the things I really liked was the quest for owls.

The owl is a good luck charm for the city. Three centuries ago, a small stone owl was carved into the Notre Dame and it is said that if you touch it with your left hand and make a wish, your wish will come true. The figurine doesn’t look too much like an owl anymore, but there are enough owls depicted in the rest of the city to make up for it. The street that it’s in is also called Rue de la Chouette, the owl street. The owl has become the symbol of the city and nowadays you see it everywhere. There’s even a walking tour, le parcours de la chouette, marked by little brass plaques in the sidewalks that will lead you through the city as some sort of scavenger hunt, guiding you to interesting highlights of the city. You can buy a guidebook at the tourist office. We followed the trail for a bit but we didn’t have that much time (and at the time, we weren’t sure what it was) but next time I’ll definitely do the entire trail!

We had walked for quite some time until we decided to get something to eat. We sat down at Caffe Cosi which had a lot of delicacies France is famous for on the menu, like foie gras and escargots. We later only realized that that means that it’s a restaurant aimed at tourists, but we didn’t care at the moment, for we were hungry. The waiter heard us talk and gave us a German menu, but luckily both of us knew enough French to make it through the original menu. We decided that this would be the only touristic restaurant we would eat at. The food wasn’t bad though. We both wanted to try Boeuf Bourguignon and though there was a lot of fat (and it didn’t look too appetizing) it was actually pretty good. For a dessert we shared the Tarte au Citron et Meringuée, another traditional French dish. It was very sour and not really my thing, but Boyfriend seemed to enjoy it.

Our time in the city was way too short. We had a lovely time and there is so much more that I want to see so I’ll be sure to come back here one day!

Guestpost: Living and Studying abroad for a month

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We all know what good things traveling can bring us. It broadens our horizons, lets us meet new people and educates us a bit about another part of the world. But then, can you really learn a lot by just visiting a place for a few days?

My best friend Ellen took a gap year a couple of years ago, and went to my favourite place in the world (Yes, I am still jealous) for a month to take a language course. I wanted to ask her about her experiences, and what it’s like to live abroad for a month. She agreed it would be fun to write a little guespost about her time in Nice, France.

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Cheese in Alkmaar

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If you would ask my friends and family what my favourite food is, there’s a good chance that cheese is the answer (that or tomato soup). For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved cheese. Of course, my country is famous for this product so I kind of have to like it, though I don’t thing other Dutch people put as much cheese on dishes as I do. Cheese on bread, cheese on pasta, cheese on pizza… The first thing I do when I come back from traveling, is visit the supermarket (usually the big Albert Heijn at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport) to stock up on some cheese. Yeah, you can say that I love it.

Anyways, I came to realize that I never knew how cheese was actually made so when I was making list of things to do in my own country, a visit to a cheese museum quickly made it to the list. And last week I finally came to know how my favourite food is made on our visit to Alkmaar!

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Utrecht guide for ordinary travelers

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Wanderlust Wonderland brings you: a travel guide for ordinary travelers, with must-sees, tips and tricks and the most delicious food, for ordinary travelers, like you and me.

My favourite city in the Netherlands is Utrecht. It’s a charming city that feels very homey. It has all the highlights Amsterdam has, but it is less crowded and feels more comfortable, if you ask me. In this post I want to show you all of my favourite places in Utrecht!

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