Song of the Week - Barry White!

In honour of my aunty Lisa's special birthday last Saturday and for the girls at work who I know are just dying for me to play this to them just one more time...

Foolish

Song of the week - Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up

I needed a little quirky randomness this week and the only songstress who can give me that right now is Eliza Doolittle.  This song reminds me of driving in the rain, jangly bangles and sparkly cider fizzing up my nose.

From Paris with a Colosoul Amount of Love

I have recently started working for a new Perth-based magazine called 'Colosoul'.  I absolutely love it and am so lucky to be writing about what I love: travel and books.  Here is my very first travel review on Paris called 'From Paris With Love'. Hope you enjoy!

xxx

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE

LOCATION

The city of Paris lies in the north-centre of France and lines the Seine River on both sides for a length of approximately eight miles. Paris is the transportation hub of France and hosts six major railroad passenger stations with lines of the national railroad system fanning out in all directions from Central Paris.

HOW TO GET THERE
Air France flies daily to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris from Perth via Singapore.

Prices start at around $1,400 for a return economy flight.

ACCOMMODATION
The city of Paris is separated into twenty districts called arrondissements. Each arrondissement has its own unique culture and flavour and it’s entirely up to you whether you prefer the lively, jovial festival atmosphere of the Latin Quarter, the quaint romantic charm of Montmartre or the trendy hipster culture of Le Marais. Before arranging accommodation in Paris, first work out which area best suits your holiday plans and from there seek out accommodation that matches your needs and taste. Wherever you plan on staying, you are guaranteed a wide assortment of accommodation options ranging from the cheapest of hostels to the most glamorous of hotels.

TOP THINGS TO DO

For the Art Lover

The Louvre

Paris is home to more than 170 museums so whatever your taste in art, you are guaranteed to find something that will appeal to your artistic temperament. Most recently portrayed in Dan Brown’s ‘The Da Vinci Code’, The Louvre is the world’s most famous museum and boasts an unrivalled collection of over sixty thousand accumulated riches that spans thousands of years. This ‘museum among museums’, which once housed the kings of France, is now a centre of learning and enlightenment and is a recognised authority in art, history and culture.

For the Romantic Soul

The Eiffel Tower
More than any other landmark in the world, the Eiffel Tower is the symbolic representation of the romance capital of the world. Built for the 1889 World Exposition by Gustave Eiffel, the iron tower boasts two impressive restaurants and observation decks on the first and second lever. At night, the tower puts on an impressive show of glittering lights from dusk until 2am, the illuminated icon of the City of Lights.

For the Bohemian

Montmartre

The name ‘Montmartre’ comes from the name ‘Mont des Martyrs’ which means ‘Mountain of the Martyrs’ because it is here that the first martyrs of Paris were decapitated by the Romans in 250 A.D. Steeped in a history of religious persecution and pilgrimage, this part of Paris has a reputation for non-conformity and it is perhaps because of this rebellious past that Montmartre became a refuge for Parisian artists and was the home of the impressionists at the end of the 19th century. Today, Montmartre boasts a thriving artist community and tourists can observe artists at work around the area of the Sacre Coeur church and buy their paintings.

For the Traveller on a Budget

The Seine River

Paris is undoubtedly one of the most expensive cities in the world but that doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune to experience the vibrancy of Parisian life. Paris was made for people watching and there is no better way to soak up the ambiance of the city than to take a stroll along the Seine River. Here is where you will see the true heart of Paris, with blushing lovers walking hand in hand, businessmen riding bicycles with baskets holding briefcases and baguettes, and buskers playing can-can tunes on rusty accordions for a few euros.

For the Fashionista

The Champs Elysees

No self-respecting fashionista can justify a trip to Paris without taking a stroll down the Champs Elysees, one of the most famous avenues in the world for upmarket shopping. Running for two kilometres, the avenue is lined with theatres, bistros, restaurants and luxury boutiques and ends at the Arc de Triomphe, the monument built by Napoleon Bonaparte to glorify his victories.

For the Literature Lover

Cathedral of Notre Dame

What lover of the written word has not longed to clap eyes on the inspiration for Victor Hugo’s famous novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame? French for ‘Our Lady of Paris’, Notre Dame de Paris is a Catholic cathedral and is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in all of Europe. The cathedral is free to the public and for a small fee visitors can climb to the Towers of Notre-Dame which offer a panoramic view of the city.

For the Time-Pressed Globetrotter

Open-Top Double Decker Bus Tour

For those who want to get the most out of Paris in the shortest amount of time, an open-top double decker bus tour is the way to go. Not only is this a good way to take in all the major tourist attractions of the city, it’s also a good way to get oriented with the city. One or two day passes can be purchased which allow unlimited bus access and the buses drive by over 50 major sites around Paris.

Colosoul Newest Independent Youth Magazine Perth Western Australia Reviews Lifestyle Travel - From Paris with Love

Six Impossible Things

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Judging books by their covers

How is it that I never have money for phone bills and petrol but always manage to scrape my last few dollars together for new books? These pretty young things were just calling my name on the shelves of Angus and Robertsons, practically free with my staff discount. Practically ;-)

I'm sad to say I'm one of those silly, shallow people guilty of judging books by their covers. I can’t help it, I just love stories wrapped up in pretty jackets! I would rather spend the extra dollars on a luxuriously embossed cover and textured pages than buy the cheaper Penguin version printed on dull toilet paper (again, where do all these extra dollars magically appear from??). And if I see a book that I already own in a prettier version than the one I already have, it’s a pretty big temptation not to buy it again (which is where my collection of Alice in Wonderland books comes from).

I tried to resist buying A Life in Frocks. I really did.  I knew it wasn't the type of book that I like to read and would be one of those forgettable stories that you read and then when a friend asks you what it was like, you can’t remember a thing about it. But after catching my eye for the third time on my meandering around the biography section, I finally succumbed to the inevitable and bought the blasted book!

As suspected, I am about three-quarters of the way through the novel and still don’t really understand what the book is supposed to be about. There was however one section of the book which did strike a cord with me which was when the author wrote of how clothes have the ability to transport us and how certain pieces of clothing not only hold so many memories but say something so essential about the kind of person that we are.

Now, along with being a book hoarder (or bibliophile as a certain someone called me the other day ;-), I am also a major clothes horse! Until recently, my wardrobe was bursting at the seams with clothes that I can't, won't or shouldn't wear anymore and it was only after reading an article in Frankie about reducing our carbon footprints that I was persuaded to go green and donate my unwearable clothes to the less fortunate. As I sorted through my wardrobe, I couldn't pick up a single item of clothing without being reminded of a funny story that accompanied it, a memory of where I was the last time I wore it or the occasion that I bought it for.   Here are some of my most memorable items of clothing and the stories that go with them. I would love to hear some of yours! 

THE KILT

In the same way that the scribbled, stitched and stretched pair of jeans in ‘The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants’ tell a hundred tales of love, loss and travel, my wee Scottish kilt was with me from start to finish on one of the biggest adventures of my life. I bought it at a tartan shop on the Royal Mile when I arrived in Edinburgh in the summer of 2008 and I wore it for the first time to a Ceiledh, where I twirled for hours with sweaty dance partners and drank so much Irn-Bru that my tongue was stained orange. I wore it when I went to Belgium where I ate countless waffles and walked all around the entire town of Brugge with a sprained ankle. I wore it on my first date with Jakob, a Swedish hipster who worked at the Elephant House where I went to write and gave me free lattes and elephant-shaped shortbread biscuits. I wore it during the coldest winter of my life, with German leg-warmers and thick, woollen tights. I wore it with a red beret and a souvineur shirt that read ‘Resident of the Berlin Psychiatric Ward’ in the most culturally clashing outfit imagineable. Putting on my kilt is the equivilant of opening a suitcase full of travel journals and photographs. Every fibre of that tartan fabric screams to me of adventure and mischief and unquenchable wanderlust.


THE PLATFORM TRAINERS

As a twelve year old, I was desperately in love with the Spice Girls. It wasn’t enough that I knew all the songs and dance moves, owned all the memorabilia and had a shrine to them on my bedroom wall; I wanted to BE one of them. As much as it pains me to admit, the red hair that I now sport originates from a time when I was imitating Ginger Spice. So when I saw those gleaming white platform trainers just like the ones that Baby Spice wore in the window of Truworths, I just had to have them. I think up until then my mom had been picking and buying my clothes which made the trainers feel even more grown-up and slightly naughty when I bought them with my own pocket money. They gave me the much needed confidence (and the much needed height!) that I sorely lacked when my family moved from Johannesburg to a tiny seaside town in the Western Cape where I didn’t know a single soul. They came to a sorry end after only a few months of owning them when my spiteful little pooch decided to get her revenge for being left home alone for too long and gobbled them up, laces and all. Maybe she wasn't such a fan of girl power.

THE RED TRENCHCOAT

My red jacket was my signature piece of clothing until I lost it last spring on an unfortunate night out at Lulu’s. It was bought while I was doing my journalism studies at university and became affectionately known as the ‘Lois Lane’ jacket among my friends and writing pals. This coat made me feel like a writer and made me want to work in a busy, bustling newsroom writing thrilling expose’s and doing investigative reporting in black-rimmed spectacles and starched white blouses with the collars popped up. This coat was not made for any wilting wall flower because everywhere I went, I became known as ‘The Girl in the Red Coat’ especially if I wore my matching red beret and clear acrylic umbrella with the cheeky red trim. I think the coat was the equivalent of a tracking device for my friends because they looked even more distraught than me when they found out that my precious coat was no more and all wondered how they would ever find me in a crowd now.

THE PURPLE WIG

Could there be a more frivolous thing to buy than a purple wig? Probably the most pointless of my travel purchases, I bought this on holiday in Sydney at the Paddy markets and spend a very entertaining evening wearing it on our apartment balcony, yelling to people passing by, 'Deal or no deal!!' It did come in handy when I had a 1920's night to go to last year...but that's about it really.

Lots of love,

Miss Manship

xxx