Paris part 2 - only parks, no shopping!

Jardin des Tuileries

Jardin des Tuileries is a huge park, which reaches all the way from Place de la Concorde to the museum of Louvre. With its statues, flowers, fountains and the big Ferris wheel, it makes an impression on both the younger as well as the older people.

Can you believe it! An empty square in the middle of Paris. Some occasional, active people jogging around the square and some other, well, not-so-active people immersed in their books, sitting on the benches under the trees. It looked so peaceful to see such a view in this bustling city. Paris does have approximately 27 million visitors each year!

I also ate one of the best ice-creams of my life in this very park. I just loved their different way of buying the ice-cream: first you chose the size of your cup and after that they would fill it up with all your desired flavours. That's right, you could have tasted a bit of every single flavour if you wanted to! As I can't resist chocolate, I chose three or four of them. Yum!

Champs-Élysées

L'Arc de Triomphe. Yep, that's my friend and me in the lower right-hand corner. It was a bit crowded, so to speak...We would have wanted to go shopping on this day, but our tour guide decided that it's such a lovely day for walking on the avenue of champs-élysées. Besides, there are shops on the avenue, so everything should be just great! Well, the shops being luxury fashion boutiques, they didn't really satisfy us students.

Sometimes it is good to pay for experiences rather that t-shirts. I think this is the most important thing I learned during my trip.I must admit, though, that I love fashion and mixing and matching clothes!

After walking for some time on the avenue, we wanted to go rest in a park and take some photos. It was kind of embarrassing to sit near the flowerbed but it was totally worth it! Luckily there weren't that many people staring at us. I'll end this post to these summery photos taken in one of the side gardens of Avenue de Champs-Élysées.

On Saturday we'll be leaving for Gran Canaria, as you probably have noticed the ticking countdown clock on the right-hand side. It means bye-bye for a week, there'll be a bunch of new adventures to share with you guys after that!

A bouncy boat with paragliding

Hey everyone! Haha, I should really figure out another way to start my posts... Anyway, this time I wanted to tell you about one of the best things on a beach holiday. The beach is not only about catching rays and swimming but also about exciting activities. Since I'm afraid of diving, I had to rule out all the options that involved anything to do with it. Luckily we found something else fun: paragliding! This is what we decided to do with my good friend a.k.a room mate Tora. It cost 75€/30min for two.

The whole thing started off by hopping into a boat, which was by the way wobbling recklessly the entire time. We cruised around at full speed and dragged behind us some people who were seated in a giant, rubber life buoy. At that point, I was struggling to hold onto my precious camera as the boat bounced up and down in the waves. I tried to grab onto something that would have kept me from falling out of the boat. Not to mention, we sat on the edges which were really slippery.

Tora said my face looked funny because I looked so terrified. Oh sweet memories... Before we were raised into the sky, I shouted to the men steering the boat if they could please be careful with the landing, as I didn't want to end up being underwater. It must have been hilarious because they had absolutely no intentions to drop us that low! I just had to ensure it, as usual.

High up in the sky...

...and after that down to the sea level so that we could run on the water. Cool!

It wasn't perhaps the smartest move to leave on my skirt, which got soaking wet when they lowered us down. I wouldn't mind doing this all over again but I'll see if I find some new activities in Anfi del Mar. Something similar yet different.

In any case, this is amazing. You get to see such beautiful views, just like a bird!

Pizza & Da Vinci

Milan, 2012. There are so many good reasons to travel to Italy. The food, the art, the fashion, and the people... the list goes on and on. That's why I'm only doing a short list of the sights we saw in Milan.

1. Il Duomo.
   This cathedral is probably the most noticeable landmark of Milan. Since it's in the middle of Milan, you can't really miss it!
2. Teatro alla Scala. This opera house has red seats with extravagant, golden details. Absolutely breathtaking. Also, there is a museum section which tells the history about opera.
3. Sforza castle.
   A beautiful castle with lots of inner wards and places to explore.
4. Corso Buenos Aires. This is a must for all you shopaholic girls! All the affordable shops on the same street - a real relief after roaming around the luxury shops, whose cheapest clothes have a three-digit number on their price tag
5. La Rinascente. A huge department store with all the latest luxury fashion as well as fancy decor and delicious food.
6. Santa Maria Della Grazie. Everyone knows Da Vinci's famous painting The Last Supper, which is from the era of Renaissance. A church called Santa Maria Della Grazie is its home nowadays. You should book the tickets about one month in advance because it's extremely popular! 
7. Vittorio Emanuele II shopping centre. I wouldn't necessarily go shopping here but this place is definitely worth a visit because of its architecture.
8. Museum of Leonardo Da Vinci. All the incredible inventions of Da Vinci in the same museum. You might want to spare some time going through it because this building is b i g.

Vittorio Emanuele II

Il Duomo

restaurant il Marchesino next to the theatre la Scala

shopping at Corso Buenos Aires

Castello Sforzesco - Sforza castle

Pebble beach paradise

Good day everyone!

I'm pretty excited how it's getting sunnier all the time. Spring is coming slow but sure. More importantly, the 28th of February is nearly here! And what's special about that? Because on that day my friend and I will be going to the Canary Islands with my mum and her husband! It's really a dream come true getting out of Finland in the middle of the winter. You know, you kind of get fed up with the -20°C weather and all the warm clothes.

But hey, I wanted to show you something guys. Just in case you find yourself in the French Riviera, I still want to share some of the beautiful places there. This pebble beach is called Les Roches Rouges, which got its name from the huge, red massifs around the area. I tried googling it but the only results were hotels called Roches Rouges and some occasional photos of the cliffs. Location: near St. Raphaël, near camping le Dramont.

île d'Or - the island of gold

...and finally a small campfire by the seaside! We had to put it out, though, because it happened to be illegal to set a fire at the beach.