Waterlilies pond
Sunday
calls for adventures! So Sunday morning (*noon), after a good breakfast, we jumped in the car and
headed to Giverny, a picturesque, little town in Normandy. Giverny is mostly well-known as the impressionist painter Claude Monet had his home and above all his famous gardens there, and one can still visit both.
This is something I've wanted to visit for a long time, so I was more than excited, reaching Giverny.
The place was, unfortunately, fully packed with tourists and I highly recommend you to purchase your tickets online in order to skip the long queue!
Once you enter the garden, you're welcomed by all species of plants and flowers in an incredible burst of colors and smells!
Monet's house is in the middle of the garden, surrounded by flowers. No wonder that with such a view, Monet was so inspired...
^ The view from the window of Monet's bedroom...
I wish I could have the same office and desk!
And the interior of the house isn't bad either...
Isn't this white and blue kitchen a dream?
And by the way, the whole house is pink!!! I guess Monet and I share the same taste... ;p
We kept wandering among the flowers...
Until we arrived to the waterlilies pond, that was just too beautiful!!
Not even all the tourists could disturb the beauty and the calm of the place...
I could have been sitting there watching the pond for ever... If it wasn't for my stomach that started noisily remembering me it was lunch time...
So we left the kingdom of Monet, we grabbed the picnic that we prepared the morning and we walked around until we found a little park where we had lunch and a little nap!
By the way, Giverny is a very touristic place (much more than I expected) and it's full of bar and restaurants. But I still prefer have lunch in the sun, feet in the grass...
In the afternoon, we visited the Museum of Impressionism and its garden. The museum is currently hosting an photography exhibition, in which 5 contemporary photographs give their vision of Monet's gardens through their pictures. I was really glad to find a photos exhibition!
The museum's garden is very beautiful too, it's composed of several little spaces in which flowers are "organized" by color. It's very pleasant to walk around.
And just for the record, the garden is free entrance (not the museum).
We really had a beautiful day in Giverny! Just how Sundays are meant to be! :)
http://thesecretlifeofanactress.blogspot.com/2015/08/waterlilies-pond.html
Magic Sunday
I'm a huge Harry Potter's fan! I'm also secretly convinced that I'm a witch, it's just that Hogwarts did not still send me my acceptance letter, it must be because I relocated so many times and they're having a hard time to find me (which is frankly quite annoying for wizards)... But I'm sure it must not be long now!
So when I saw there was a big Harry Potter exhibition in Paris I knew I had to pay it a visit!
Last grey and rainy Sunday seemed to be the perfect day! So I took my hubby-who-never-read-or-watched-a-single-episode-of-the-saga and we headed to la Cité du Cinema (the city of cinema) in Saint Denis, just outside Paris.
When you enter the first room, you're welcomed to Hogwarts and the sorting hat tells you to which house you belong to. Ok, to be honest there are too many people so just a couple of them can test the hat. I may have lifted my hand to volunteer, but they chose 3 children... But I'm not easy to discourage, so when the entire crowd was heading to the second room, I manage to wear the sorting hat and he confirmed I'm a Gryffondor.
Then you'll find the Hogwarts Express, but you can't go in.
And after that you have several rooms with lots of objects from the movies and a lot of clothes too.
Actually, I was a bit disappointed as I thought everything would have been more interactive, whereas you get to see a lot of props, that is funny, and a lot of costumes, that is less funny as let's be honest they're not like Princess Sissi amazing dresses they're more like H&M basic trousers and t-shirts...
And there is nothing to visit or to try... Or some explication about the shooting...
Even the great hall, it's just the bigger room of the exhibition, but it's not decorated like the real one.
The Hagrid house was funny to see though and all in all I was happy to visit the exhibition and had a nice time.
But I'm not sure whether I suggest you to go. Also I think it's quite expensive for what it is, I had a discount on the tickets, but probably if I've had to pay the full price I wouldn't be that happy.
Have you been there? What did you think?
Anyway, if you wanna have a virtual tour of the Harry Potter exhibition here some more snaps for you!
Let's start with the Gryffondor tower, shall we? Do you have the password for the Fat Lady to let you in?
Now that we settled in, we can join the others in the great hall...
Where lots of colorful candies are waiting for us :)
Before going to Hagrid's to say hello to our big friend!
And to rest a bit on his big chair ;)
But be careful while going to Hagrid's: the forest is populated by weird or dangerous creatures...
Even though not all the weirdos are dangerous ;)
Let's not forget that we still have to go to classes too, after it's a school here...
And we need to learn as much enchantments as possible to fight the dark forces...
...To eventually find the seven horcruxs!
http://thesecretlifeofanactress.blogspot.com/2015/08/magic-sunday_14.html
Insalata di riso
Summer is here!! The weather is super hot, everyone is complaining because of the heat, but I am super happy! I like the heat, I like when in the morning I just have to slip into a little dress and I'm ready to go, I like not to have to dry my hairs after the swimming pool, I also like to take a walk at 3ish pm, you know when you walk down the streets and the concrete sends back the heat (I know I'm kinda weird)... But what I don't like is to cook. So I have to keep it simple and fresh.
And that's when it comes the insalata di riso !
My mum used to make it when I was a child and I remember coming back to school and be very happy when opening the fridge I found the black and white big bowl I knew would contain insalata di riso.
The problem with rice salads is that usually people - or restaurants - put so many things in it, it becomes a rice nonsense...
What I like to put in it, is just a lots of tomatoes (but real, good tomatoes please!), tuna and hard-boiled eggs.
Here what you'll need for a big bowl - you can serve around 6 people or just like me, make a bigger quantity and then keep it in the fridge for the following days (4/5 days in the fridge it's ok).
- 500 g rice
- 5 (more or less depending on their size) beautiful tomatoes
- 3 cans of tunas
- 4 eggs
- Olive oil
- Balsamic vinegar
- Pepper
Cook the rice and keep it a little firm, like if it's written to cook it for 10 minutes, cook it just for 9.
In the same time boil the eggs - 10 minutes and not one more for perfectly hard-boiled eggs! - and cut the tomatoes.
Put the tomatoes in a nice salad bowl, add the rice once it's cooked and the tuna (smash the tuna with a fork before adding it). Season with olive oil (be generous with the olive oil it will prevent the rice to become sticky), balsamic vinegar and pepper.
Once the eggs are done, cut them in small pieces and add to the rice salad.
Mix everything and put in the fridge to cool down.
Enjoy your insalata di riso! :)
http://thesecretlifeofanactress.blogspot.com/2015/07/insalata-di-riso.html
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