Edinburgh Markets

We've been in Edinburgh for 3 full days now and managed to find 4 markets - 3 foodie ones and 1 vintage! We're staying in the Grassmarket area so first stop was the farmers market there on Saturday morning where I bought some yummy teas from Leith Tea Company. We then went up to Castle Terrace for the farmers market where we found chocolate, craft beers and Scottish tablet - yum! Next we went over to Pippin in Haymarket (one of my Mum's stockists) where I bought some goodies including a motivational Bread & Jam mug and Bomb Cosmetics Sugar and Spice candle tin (smells so good!!) also stopped at Paper Tiger where I picked up some helpful looking books. Later, on a long evening walk, we came across Bruce Munro's Field of Light installation in St. Andrew's Square, it's so pretty - like a meadow of colour changing fairy lights.

On Sunday we headed over to A Spoonful of Vintage fair but it wasn't my lucky vintage hunting day. Then we had ice cream in the rain on our way to Stockbridge market, I got Daisy some doggy doughnuts there! We had lunch at Peter's Yard which I'd heard about through Instagram and I'm glad we did, the pizza was great! The rest of the day was spent in and out of charity shops, still not my lucky day for bargain hunting though. After that we got some macarons - mango, rose and chocolate from Patisserie Madeleine and I bought some cute bits and pieces from Daisy Cheynes but can't share those yet as they're a present.

We finished off the day with cocktails at the Dragonfly Cocktail bar. I had a drink that tasted suspiciously like milkshake called a Raspberry Ripple - finished with sprinkles on the glass! David had a slightly more manly spiced apple flavoured rum drink.

Today was so busy that it's going in a separate blog post!

Bonjour Paris!

It's been just over a day in Paris and we've been trying to make an effort to slow things down after feeling tired from week one of the trip! Our (cosy but tiny) apartment is in the heart of Montmartre so we've spent time exploring the area which is filled with lots of tiny boutiques. We bumped into the Moulin Rouge and the Cafe des 2 Moulins (Amelie cafe!) and tried some patisserie treats. This morning we walked up to Sacré Coeur before it got too busy then headed over to the Marche aux Puces. It's not that affordable for a flea market but there's plenty to look at, including tiny dogs. Afterwards we nipped across town on the metro to the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, saw the Arc de Triomphe then had coffee and chocolate crêpes in a nearby Brasserie... Reading this back I don't think we've been too successful at slowing things down!

A few days in Amsterdam

It's been a frantic few days! I meant to post bite sized chunks of our trip as we went along but only found time to sort through the huge amounts of photos on the train journey to Brussels today (where there was no internet to upload hence why it's so late on now that we're settled into our Belgian apartment). David is keeping a holiday journal so I asked him to help me bullet point what we've been up to... turns out a lot so far! There isn't photos for everything but you get the idea.

1. arrived in Amsterdam. 2. explored Jordaan (we stayed in De Pijp last time). 3. had pizza at Da Portare Via. 4. Walked into town as it got dark. 

5. Wandered around Haarlemmerdijk filled with boutiques. 6. headed to the Museumsplein and came across a vintage market. 7. Museumsplein had a festival of culture on “Uit Markt”. 8. frites mit fritesaus for brunch. 9. House of Bols with cocktails and new honey liqueur! 10. Saw our old holiday neighbourhood and bumped into a food market. 11. headed back into town via the Carrousel pancake house where we had hot chocolate and poffertjes. 12. found a nice patisserie and had my first macaroon of the trip – aardbei. 13. bumped into a David Bowie/Brian Duffy photography exhibition at Foam photo gallery. 14. coffee stop on the way back to apartment. 15. vintage shopping – so many shops to choose from! 16. pizza from La Perla for tea – best we've had since Naples last year. 17. another night time stroll. 

18. unexpected flea market on our way to another market, lots of vintage postcards. 19. Waterlooplein market. 20. reunited with Nilis handmade t-shirts where david bought himself three. 21. accidentally bartered a bargain deal for three time themed necklaces. 22. lunch at the Het Houten Huis, favourite cafe from last trip to Amsterdam. 23. bought more from Haarlemmerdijk boutiques, dutch apple pie teas and praline hot chocolate sticks. 24. more pizza for tea at La Perla. 25. Italian ice creams for after! 26. one last stroll in town. 27. Maoz frites for the late walk home. 28. a quick drink at our local – Jillz for me! 29. home via the rainbow fountains to pack to move on to the next stop...