Paris

Paris is one of those cities that you never get sick of. This is now our 3rd visit to Paris and after boarding the Eurostar once more back to London, we knew that we will be back again. This trip was centred around food with my brother and girlfriend in town. Though, we did manage to squeeze in a trip to Opera Garnier, Versailles, and Sacre Coeur.

Gaya Rive Gauche Par Pierre Gagnaire

Continuing our gastronomic tour of Paris, we finished our last night in Paris with a dinner at Pierre Gagnaire. The 1 star Gaya concentrates on seafood throughout the menu. This may have been a spectacular meal on any other night, but dropping from the high of Alain Ducasse from the night before made the meal seem slightly ordinary.

Alain Ducasse at Hotel Plaza Athenee

You only live once, and it was a must to try the godfather of French cooking. Alain Ducasse at Hotel Plaza Athenee is the gem in Ducasse's crown. The show is set at the hotel made famous in Sex and the City, and so Marisa tells me as I have not seen the movie of course. The decadent and magical setting designed by Patrick Jouin was a perfect partnership with food, service and atmosphere. The indulgence in food seemed never ending with trollies of lollies and chocolates that could possibly rival El Bulli? To cap off a perfect night, we were lucky enough to take a tour of the kitchen and to have a casual chat with head chef Christophe Moret.

Restaurant Arbutus, London

In between Croatia and Paris, we managed to squeeze in another michelin star restaurant in London. Having already tried the sister restaurant Wild Honey, we were keen to now try the 1 star Arbutus restaurant. Every meal was very well done, with the highlights being the bouillabaisse and the tarte tartin. Definitely bang for your buck!

Dubrovnik, Croatia

The historical town of Dubrovnik was the next stop on the trip. A stroll through Grad(The old city) allowed you to step back in time temporarily before being interrupted by the numerous tour groups around. After a boat trip around the fortress walls, we were quick to avoid the waves of tourists by retiring back to a private beach near our resort to enjoy a bit more sunshine.

Hvar, Croatia

Even though summer is over, we were eager to catch some more sunshine and a possibly a tan. After nearly 4 hours of driving and a car ferry trip we arrived in Hvar. We were definitely not disappointed with the quaintness of the town and the walls that oozed history. Beautiful sunshine, crystal clear waters of the Adriatic, and being served your fruit cocktail and lunch by your sun bed... this is the life! Time seemed to slow down in a town like this, everything and everybody was so relaxed and chilled that you could spend days here just watching time go by.

Restaurant Gordon Ramsay @ Royal Hospital Road

You have heard of the man, so it was time for us to try the restaurant where it all began. Accompanied by some very welcome guests, we indulged in the 3 star perfectionist dishes. The dishes were nothing that really challenges the palate, but well cooked food with the finest of ingredients. Worth the money?..... once is enough.

Scotland and Lancaster

We took advantage of the bank holiday long weekend to have a road trip up north to Scotland. Our colleagues around us thought that we were crazy due to the mileage that we needed to cover, but we are Australian. The numerous trips to Queensland and Victoria has conditioned us well for the trip. In Scotland, we stayed at a old style country house on the shores of Loch Long. Even though we covered all the important items of haggis, grouse, shortbread, tartan, and the wonderful rolling hills, it was far too short. Our next pit stop was Lancaster, placed nicely between the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales. We did make it to Windermere in the Lake District, but we were overwhelmed with the incessant rain. As always, too much to do in too little time!