Hong Kong Buys

While we were living in Hong Kong a few years back, we received some Sogo vouchers, which were expiring later this year. Figuring we'd stretch our dollar if we used it during the Hong Kong Summer Sale, we decided to visit Hong Kong a couple of weeks ago. Here's some of my haul :)

Tod's D-Bag

As part of my anniversary present, I got this lovely understated bag. I had wanted a bag with top handles to give my achy shoulders a break. At the same time, I needed a bag that came with a shoulder strap to free up my hands if necessary. And I also wanted it in a colour that could jazz up an outfit, as well as be versatile enough to go with most of my wardrobe. This lovely D-bag (apparently named after Princess Diana) fulfilled my requirements on all counts.

I started carrying my new pet while in Hong Kong, and it was exposed to the rain, the jostling by tourists with their numerous shopping bags. At the end of my first day, I examined my bag with my heart in my throat, expecting it to be scratched and splattered with water spots. To my very pleasant surprise, it was still in pristine condition! No wonder people swear by Tod's! True testament to Tod's fine leathers and craftsmanship :)

My very first DVF wrap dress from Citygate Outlet Mall

(I was initially hesitant about the colours, but I thought the bright colours would help perk me up, and somehow, it looked good on. Although the name of the design is "Flower Tile Large", it looks like mosaic to me, and I love mosaics)

Blue and white embroidered tunic dress fm Zara

Blue and white striped tank fm Zara

Blue Tee fm Zara and Grey Berms fm Espirit

Watercolour skirt fm Zara

Tan Flared Midi Skirt fm Zara

Espadrille Wedges fm a little stall around Fa Yuen Kai

Guilty Pleasures ...

Now that the credit card bills have started to come in, the happiness over my European buys are beginning to turn into guilt... isn't it just tragic that so much happiness can bring so much guilt? But just to prolong the happiness a lil more, here's a family pic of my buys :) ...

And so begins the shopping ban ...

Sniff ...

Sniff ...

Sniff ...

Paris! Day 3 (Last Day)

On our third and last day in Paris, we returned to the Jardin des Tuileries - one of the most visited gardens in Paris. Apparently, it was designed in the French formal style by the same gardener who designed the gardens of the Versaille.

I was enthralled by the gorgeous architecture ... were these the remains of the Tuileries Palace?

We thought this would be a perfect spot to have our Laduree macarons :) ... an afternoon tea in the Tuileries ...

Rose macaron ... this was truly one of the best rose macarons I have ever had ... the rose flavour wasn't too overpowering, was so well complemented by the light cream filling, and together with the slight chewiness of the almonds from the almond meringues, this produced the ultimate macaron! ....

Salted Caramel Macaron .... this would satisfy anyone with a craving for toffee! I thought the balance of saltiness and sweetness of the caramel was wonderful! Delicious!

Erm ... there ought to be a picture here of the Pistachio Macaron we also bought, but ... erm ... I was too eager to sink my teeth into it, I totally forgot to snap a photo! Apologies!

But fortunately, I had the presence of mind to take a photo of this below! Now, this is what bliss looks like!

I had never seen anything like this before ... a macaron cake! They actually call this a cake in Laduree! So, without further ado, let me introduce you to "L'Ispahan" ...

Yes, that is a rose petal atop the lovely almond meringue, and yes, it does taste rather like the rose macaron's almond meringue. But it also has a whole luscious layer of raspberries and LYCHEES sandwiches between the meringues! WOW!!! The combination of flavors was simply amazing! Just looking at the pics now makes me long for one .....

SIGH ... (that was a sigh of contentment :))

So after devouring 3 macarons and 1 macaron cake, we had to walk it off, and this is what we saw along the way .... Musee D'Orsay ...

This was one of my fav museums cos of their beautiful collection of Impressionist paintings. Now, I'm no cultured fan of the arts, but I truly admired these paintings ... they were so beautiful and dreamy ....

Musee D'Orsay sits majestically on the left bank of the River Seine ...

... where we crossed Pont Royal ... one of the many bridges linking the Left Bank to the Right Bank ... a truly scenic view of the pretty bridges over the River Seine ...

Beyond Pont Royale, we followed the road till we came to Blvd St Germain ... and what a pretty boulevard it was! Lovely tall trees and beautiful old buildings line practically the entire street...

Finally, we reached Rue de Rennes, which supposedly had lots of shopping opportunities. However, I didn't find this as charming as I'd thought it'd be ... perhaps I went to the wrong areas? Would love for someone to enlighten me, as I had read rave reviews about the St Germain area being a charming area.

By this time, we were feeling rather hungry, so we found a little cafe and ordered their special: country style beef stew ....

... and my second attempt at duck confit ... I'm afraid I was a lil disappointed in the first duck confit ... not so much cos it wasn't good, but I just had this impression that duck confit was a duck stew with gravy, so I was wondering if all duck confit in Paris was the "dry" kind ... and I guess it is!

After refueling, we had to return to our hotel as we were leaving for London via Eurostar, so we retraced our steps, and happily walked back through the Tuileries. The sun was shining, and the breeze was refreshingly cool, so we decided to take a little break and rest our tired feet ...

The well manicured lawns were amazingly cool beneath us! This was soooo relaxing!

Naturally, I thought this would be a perfect time and place to snap a picture of one of my newest purchases ... a Bottega Veneta Campana! And oh my, what a stunning backdrop for my new pet ....

After we reluctantly pulled ourselves up, we made our way back to our hotel ... but with a slight detour to ....

HERMES!

And what did I get, you ask?

Sorry to disappoint, but it's neither their signature Birkin or Kelly (apparently even if I did have the budget for these bags, I wouldn't have been able to purchase one cos they were completely sold out! We did see loads of Birkins in the shop though ... on the arms of the customers in the shop!!!! Hahahaha ...

We also saw lots of people perusing leather swatches ... I assumed they were placing special orders for Birkins and Kellys.

But to get to the matter at hand ...

what I did pick up from Hermes was a ...

Marwari!

Normally, this style of bag wouldn't attract me, but for some reason, my eyes were drawn to the rouge Marwari on display. Then when the ever so helpful (n stylish!) sales lady presented me with this colour combination, I was torn! But eventually, this gold clemence n ebene vache hunter strapped beauty with its lovely white stitching won out cos I knew it was a classic, and I'd carry it more often in this colour combination.

And part of the reason I fell in love with this bag was that it's so beautifully made in the signature Hermes craftsmanship, yet subtle enough that it didn't shout Hermes. A beautiful practical everyday bag for me :)

Paris! Day 2

Our Day 2 happened to fall on a Sunday, and we had read that most of Paris was closed on Sundays. So, we decided to take the recommendation of my aunt (who used to visit Paris when she was living in London) to go to La Vallee Village, a factory outlet mall in Paris, near Disneyland. So, off we went on the RER, from Auber station, which was nearest our hotel and just outside Printemps/Galeries Lafayette ...

Interestingly, the train was a double-decker train!

There is a shuttle service from the RER station Val D'Europe to La Vallee Village, but the shuttle turned out to be rather a small car which couldn't accomodate all of us. Fortunately, the driver was exceedingly helpful and gave us walking directions, so we got there in about 5 min ...

While it was nowhere as huge as the Premium Outlet Malls in USA, I still rather liked it cos I sometimes felt the American Malls were too overwhelming when I only had a day to spend. So, the size of La Vallee Village was perfect for a day of leisurely browsing, and I managed to cover practically every shop.

As we got there close to lunch time (it's about 40 min away fm Auber RER station to La Vallee Village), we decided to grab a quick lunch at the nearby food court .... and came upon this stall offering Lebanese food! Falafels!!!! One of my fav foods!

I got a falafel wrap/roll ...

Hubby got a chicken kebab wrap/roll ...

And our set came with a dessert ... it was a coconut-y dessert .... interesting ...

Now, on to the shops in La Vallee Village ....

Here's a snapshot of the Ralph Lauren store ... beautiful, isn't it?

(I managed to nab a smart blue and white striped shirt here.)

Celine Boutique ...

(I also picked up a certain something here ... :))

After covering virtually all the shops, I bought some time to consider whether getting the abovementioned certain something from Celine by queuing for some delicious gelato ...

Hubby's pick: Lemon and raspberry sorbet ...

My Gelato: Chocolate (ohhhhh .... this was amazing!!!!!) and pistachio ...

Now, a post about shopping in a Paris factory outlet wouldn't be complete without showing the buys I picked up, yes? **wink wink** ... so, here's my buy from Celine!

A Celine Boogie Bag

(I was told that Celine has stopped making Boogie Bags since Phoebe Philo was hired as designer to revamp the fashion house.)

Also managed to nab two pair of Ferragamos ....

After over ten years of hearing so many people rave about the shoes, and watching so many friends prancing around in them, it's finally my turn!

Later that night, we dragged our tired feet to Laduree on Champs Elysees ...

I wished we had been able to see it during the day, as I'm sure that based on what we saw at night, it would've been absolutely gorgeous!

As the restaurant was full, we made our way to the bar on the other side of the ever-so popular macaron counter where never-ending lines of people were queuing to purchase these famous desserts!

Check out the fancy chairs at the Laduree Bar ...

Our delicious bread platter served with special Laduree butter! I've never ever seen butter presented like this ... and it tasted so different too! Easily one of the best butters I've ever tasted (echoing the sentiment of a fellow diner), and so exquisitely wrapped in the unique Laduree paper ...

We shared a starter: Smoked duck breast with mushrooms salad ...

Beef with shards of cheese served with risotto rice ...

Prawns with shards of cheese and risotto rice ...

For dessert, we were told that ordering the macarons direct from the counter outside the bar would be more inexpensive, so we decided to try something else from the bar, and line-up for the macarons after dinner. I chose to try a dessert that I thought was distinctly French - Mont Blanc ...

After dinner, I was all ready to join the queue for my highly-anticipated macarons when, to my dismay, I found that there was very little variety left!!! As such, we decided to forego the macarons that night, and instead buy them the next day ... our last day in Paris.

And as we were stuffed from dinner, we took a stroll down Champs Elysees to see the Arc de Triumphe up close. Along the way, this is what we saw ...

Yes! The mother of all Louis Vuitton shops worldwide! Impressive!

I was also attracted to the Boss window display ... I liked the floating notes ... and the old gramophone ...

Some beautiful old buildings lining Champs Elysees ...

Even HSBC is housed in such a grand building on Champs Elysees!

And finally, the Arc de Triumphe!