The Hermitage - Dunkeld

Last Friday and Saturday, I was lucky enough to be part of a fam-trip organised by my company to visit the Highlands. On the way back to Edinburgh, we stopped at the Hermitage. It started with a walk in the woods. As you can expect in November, the forest displayed its most magnificient colours and smells. The river was running below us, some nuts falling from the trees (one directly on Lauriane’s head) and we could hear the sound of a waterfall. Lauriane and I kept walking while sharing our stories of us kiddos in the woods. We thought it was sad that we were not strolling through forests like that more often since we both love it. We took the decision to call one another if the urge for a walk in the woods was too high, to catch a bus and conquer the surrounding forests. That sounds like a fair deal, right?

A few minutes later, we arrived to a bridge from which we had a splendid view of the waterfall. I was taking a panoramic picture when Christoph arrived with big round eyes (his eyes are usually long and calm) and said out of breath and full of excitement “I just saw a salmon jump in the waterfall! Let’s go to the platform and check if we can see more!”

And so we went. And this happened…

I am still amazed at this video. I have been in Scotland for almost 2 years now and I had never seen salmons jump in the river. First I was looking in the current but I then realized that salmons are famous for going upstream, towards the current. So I followed Christoph’s insctructions, I started to look where he was showing, and I saw it! I still can’t believe this! We were very lucky as they only leap during October and November.

That was definitely a highlight in this fam-trip!

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Flat improvements - The lounge

When we moved in, Dave and I knew that the first room we would have to work on was the lounge. This is where we are sharing good times with our friends and where we hang out every week-end together. Dave wanted to display his guitars and I wanted books and various items on the build-in shelves.  For a while, we had been living with the below setting:

It looked kind of old but people always found it warm and welcoming, which we were proud of. However, we knew we wanted to get rid of the olf dark green sofa and put more colours in the room. For the last month, we have been making a few changes that I wanted to share with you step by step. So here we go!

One afternoon, after a vintage market, I decided to change the pictures in the frame. It was a slight change but while I was doing that, I realized that I HAD to change the colour of the shelves too. Because we are renting our flat, we could not paint the shelves directly, let alone the back-wall. But sure I could create a wall-paper, I thought! With a bit of colored paper and original masking-tape, we managed to change the shelves into a lovely bright blue nest. It only took me about 1 hour, to create long sheets of paper that would not damage the wall but would look ace giving depth and charm to the shelves. Here is the result! I am pretty satisfied of it! Also, organising the books by colours made me seriously smile!

I think this idea is great and I am already looking forward to hunt for funky real wallpaper to replace this one when we will need a change. The advantage of masking tape is that this is very easy to take off the wall and it doesn’t leave any stains. I have used it in my room as well to create a cool frame around a nice picture I found in John Lewis. I took this idea from a website at the time, but I can’t seem to find it anymore… I’d love to give credits back to the lovely person who had this ingenious idea though!

Next episode: the sofa! We managed to find a sofa we both loved, wouhou!!
After going through the lounge displays of Ikea, we found a black lounge table but we could not make up our mind on the same sofa. Price was also an issue. We thought we should leave it for a while and start looking in other places instead of taking an impulsive decision. When we got home, we took a look on Gumtree and there it was! The perfect green sofa, with only one arm but a deep flashy colour that would put great light in the room. We went to pick it up at a hair salon in New Town, we hired a van to bring it back home and carry it to the third floor. After only an hour and all those efforts, here it was, our new lounge!

I love spending time on the new sofa and the large table is ideal when Dave and I both want to use it. There is space for everyone! It really feels like a living welcoming space. What do you think?

The Lion King fever!

On Tuesday the 5th of November, after a long year of patience, Anna, Lauriane and I were finally seating at the Efinburgh Playhouse, on the lower balcony, right in front of the stage, ready to see the musical everyone is talking about: The Lion King.

Seriously, we were like kids during the whole week before, so excited to see the Disney masterpiece become real under our eyes.

I was absolutely amazed from the start to the end! First of all, the characters' voices were so alike to the movie! They all conveyed this feeling that we were meeting some old friends we hadn't seen since childhood. My crush goes to the Rafiki lady, absolutely amazing with both her powerful voice and her crazy screams. 

Then come the costumes... Oh dear! How imaginative were they! As crazy as it sounds, the directors totally managed to make us forget the humans giving life and personality to the animals they portrayed. I am looking forward to the special Lion King Exhibition to find out more about the costumes. The hyenas were absolutely hilarious, and the giraffs were pretty impressiv! Timon and Pumba are absolut masterpieces of acting too.

What about the decor? So colorful! Perfectly adapted to recreate the various environments of the story: the desert, the rocks, the jungle. But also the atmospheres: terrying, sad, happy, proud, resigned or silly. 

Of course, the music is very important. I loved the big orchestra as much as the percusionists implementing sounds here and there as well as rythm to some scenes.

This was a true beautiful experience that I'm very happy to have discovered and I recommend it to the kids inside of you all! 

Have you seen The Lion King yourself? Did you enjoy it as much as the Disney film?

Book Review - Le Confident

For the last week, I have been absolutely drawn in this other French book that I had picked up a bit randomly at the airport in Paris. This book is The Confidant, by Hélène Grémillion.

This is the story of Camille, dealing with the pains and the condoleances letters following her mother's death. She is a publisher, struggling with a man who won’t accept the baby she’s carrying. Among the letters one day came one from Louis telling her about a story. This is the story of Annie, a young painter in the countryside of France, and how her fate will be changed forever from the day she meets a rich young couple during the first years of World War II. As the letters keep coming from Louis, Camille will soon realise that this dramatic story might have taken roots closer than she thinks to her own family.

I think I was first intrigued by the fact that the book is written as letters. Letters sent by Louis, an old friend of Annie, who will reveal years after the truth about this dramatic scheme that he was also part of.

I like how we go through the story as through an investigation. I got really attached to a character, then I realized that there are always two different sides to a story and I started to see all the flaws. Up until the end, I would never have imagined all the secrets revealed. How beautiful it is to be surprised every page of the book!

The last part of the story has kept me awake really, really late on a school night, and I think this is a pretty good proof of the greatness of this book. I read it in French but it has been translated in a few different languages so no excuse: give it a go!

Paloma Faith and the Guy Barker Orchestra

Last week, my friend Helene and I went to a super exciting concert : Paloma Faith and the Guy Barker Orchestra! I had been waiting for this show since September and there it was. The Usher Hall is such a beautiful place. And lucky us: we were at the VERY top of the balcony. Up on my heels, it felt like I was going bungie-jumping! Sorry for the bad quality of my zoom on the coming pictures, we were just really far from the stage...

Guy Barker introduced us to his musicians with excitement and humour. Some of them, he said, were part of orchestras creating the James Bond and Harry Potter musics. They certainly were brilliant! We then got to hear the two chorists of Paloma Faith: Sabrina Moriki and Naomi Miller – the last one being my favourite with her funk, her dynamism and her joy filtering through her warm and strong voice. 

 And then of course, she came on the stage: the amazing Paloma! In her little red dress, she looked like a doll. Her voice filled the room at once, powerful and emotional from the girl who’s seen and lived so many things, both happy and heart-breaking. And then there is this little joke here and there and her cute little laugh. She managed to create such a beautiful atmosphere. I was absorbed! And so was Helene who came with no idea who Paloma Faith was before the singer came on stage.

Do you know Paloma Faith? What do you think of her songs, her music? 

My favourite song is “Picking Up the Pieces” that always brings a tear to my eye – usually in the most stupid place like, say… on my way to work! It’s both very sad and very strong, from the girl who wants to fight to be the one and yet is so deeply in love she has to shut up. 

Cambridge

This week-end, Dave and I have been to England to visit his parents. 2 days of being taken care of by family, visiting cities, partying, eating well, sleeping a lot, walking in the woods, discovering new crafts and shops.

We have spent all our Saturday in Cambridge, which is very close to Dave’s hometown. What a city! I had a real crush! These beautiful university buildings absolutely amazed me. For a big fan of the Tudors like me, it was like living in the series! I thought the “Wedding Cake” building was absolutely gorgeous and so are the bridges over the river. Also Autumn spoilt us with its stunning colours. Isn't it the best season ever?

We went punting with an excellent young guide who explained many historical facts and anecdotes about the universities, the rivalries and life there nowadays. And I definitely think this is the best way to discover the city. It is so picturesque!

Here are a few pictures I  took while we were there. I hope they put stars in your eyes as much as this city put stars in mine!

Cambridge, I'll see you soon!

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