Parisian Adventures: The Final Farewell & Angelina

With only a few short hours left to soak up as much of Paris as we could, I polished off my breakfast and headed to the bridge that is the pinnacle of Paris.

Pont de l'Archevêché more commonly known as Lovelock Bridge has always fascinated me. 

Whether it’s a love of life or the romantic sort, the notion of cementing your passion with a lock and throwing away the key is definitely a good one in my opinion!

With a love of living on my mind, I purchased my lock from a sweet little tourist shop near the bridge, scribed it and went on a hunt to find my designated space on the bridge to keep my love locked down...

Unfortunately this was seemingly difficult as the bridge is literally bursting with people who have had the same sort of idea.

 Deciding to not be so “status-quo” [that and there really wasn’t any space AT ALL on the bridge]- we headed to Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor to do the honors-

 definitely recommended as there’s just so much more space!

Love successfully locked down, we headed across the bridge to partake in a few more touristy endeavors before our flight.

 Notre Dame de Paris happened to be our first encounter. The epitome of French gothic architecture dating back to 1163- there had to be a selfie somewhere in there...

Jacket from here, Tshirt from here, Jeans from here, Bag from here.

With just a few precious hours to spare, I couldn’t leave one of my favourite cities in the world without visiting the one and only Angelina for some naughty treats.

Now warning readers- usually there’s a minimum of a half an hour Que to get into Angelina but I promise you persistence will definitely pay off!

We lucked out and managed to only Que for around 5 minutes before being seated- and it took us less than that to decide exactly what we wanted.

One last glass of Bordeaux and the carrot tagliatelle to warm us up

And then came the main event.

For my Angelina first-timers; to get or not to get the hot-chocolate is not an option. Get it- and get it with extra whipped cream [if you’re going to do it, do it right!]

The thickest, richest, sweetest yet bitter hot chocolate that you could imagine with an iceberg of whipped cream sinking fast into a sea made of chocolate.

Have another look...

Accompanied by the signature Angelina’s Mont Blanc; a snow topped mountain made of a meringue base piled high with extrusions of chestnut puree and filled to the brim with whipped cream.

Delicious.

Angelina is just as much of a necessity when in Paris as seeing The Eiffel Tower; go, order the hot chocolate and live in glorious sin!

Kopar

After a long day that included a lengthy coach journey to hunt down the absolutely incredible Northern lights, an extensive meander through the centre of Reykjavik to familiarise ourselves with our surroundings

we’d inflicted upon ourselves a state of food deprivation.

 The Nordic people are extremely friendly, so when asking them “where can we eat our weight in delicious food” they all seemed to sing from the same hymn sheet. 

A restaurant called Kopar was the hot two syllable word on everybody’s lips. Famished and quite frankly desperate, we chucked on a pretty outfit, strapped on a pair of boots, not totally appropriate for trudging in the cold weather but whatever! 

Fur Gillet from The Kooples which you can find here 

White and Gold leaf blouse from here

Black Skater Skirt and Studded Boots from Topshop which you can grab here 

Salivating at the thought, we headed over to taste this heavenly dining experience that the Icelandic people raved about. It’s safe to say they weren’t wrong.

Kopar is a treasure to Reykjavik. The unassuming restaurant sits proudly on the marina in the centre of the city, overlooking the string line of boats placed on the harbour.

The restaurant embraces the true rustic edge that Iceland has over the rest of its Nordic counterparts. Luckily upon pre-warning, we’d managed to call up a few hours before and book a table- however warning travellers this restaurant gets seriously busy on a Saturday night!

We shuffled through the bucolic settings to our table and came face to face with our beautiful view for the night

Stunning isn’t it!

Kopar prides itself on using the freshest ingredients that are sourced from local products, both from land and sea, to create an adventurous menu to be sampled by all.

 A glass of Montalto Famiglia from Sicily for me and a round of Violet Mojito’s for my companions we were itching to try the food!

Trawling the menu over seeded butter and a fresh bread basket, never a bad thing, we’d decided on our first [wo]man vs food round.

Lightly fried spicy crab cakes that lay so innocently on a power-packed fluffy remoulade and sweet ‘n’ sour lemon sauce.

Creamy Goat Cheese parcels and Honey Salad accompanied by Rucola, the sweetest candied walnuts and contrasting sour pears.

Oh sweet Cheesus.

With round one being such a success we couldn’t possibly cheat out on round two!

A fanfare Lobster and Crab risotto packed full of delicious flavours enhanced by a shellfish sauce and fennel salad for me. Jaw droppingly amazing.

And a Zucchini “Spaghetti Style” with chick pea balls accompanied by freshly sourced white beans, cherry tomatoes and grapes crowned with hefty shavings of parmesan and basil.

Needless to say- the plates left the table significantly emptier than when they arrived.  

Que mandatory “I’m so full” remarks and “I can’t possibly eat anymore” comments... while skimming over the dessert menu. Enter round 3...

Soft Daim Cheesecake with tangy raspberry sauce, skyr sorbet and sorrel. Skyr, unbeknown to myself, is an Icelandic cultured yoghurt that is somewhat of a specialty in Iceland.

 It’s fresh and zingy which complements the softness of the daim cheesecake- definitely a recipe that I’ll be recreating!

For good measure we also opted for the brownie and after-eight ice cream laced in a coconut caramel sauce. While the brownie could’ve been slightly more gooey, the after-eight ice cream was bloomin’ fantastic!

Full and significantly high in spirits we took a stroll around the harbour and joined the Nordics to dance the night away Icelandic style! 

Aðila! 

Harry Gordon's Bar

My connection with Selfridges is that of a steady long-term relationship.

When times are good they’re really good, we may argue every now and again when I have to queue to demand his time or his service is sloppy but all in all I know I can bank on him when times are rough [or I’ve left gifts to the last minute!] and he will rarely lead me astray [floor plan memorized to a T.]

After whizzing around the store collecting a plethora of canary yellow bags and artfully balancing them on each shoulder, it was time to stop and refuel. My usual haunt, Hix, seemed to be bursting at the seams and in an attempt to spicing up the variety in my life- I went in search of a new oasis in which to quench my thirst and lift my spirits [lift and pour straight into a glass that is.] 

    

Tired with feet singing from the pain that taking my new moccasins out for a spin caused, in the distance swung a glimmer of hope.

Enter... Harry Gordon’s Bar.       

The bar is small in size and very understated, so it didn't blow my mind at first- but as any lady will know- the feet pain will not wait.

Thankful for finally finding a seat, the bags were dropped swiftly to the floor and I was ready to work my way one by one through each of the innovative cocktails. Our colorful attired friend came bounding over accessorized with a smile, and was absolutely delightful in helping us with cocktail selections.

Upon attacking the complimentary savoury popcorn [tomato and mozzarella flavoured- a cheats pizza in a small bite of air] we made our selection and the battle began:

Round 1: The Naked Blush and The Old Fashioned. [No prizes for guessing which was the male and which was the female choice!]

The cocktails were strong but definitely well disguised and smoothly mixed so we glugged away- only later feeling the true effects as the volume of our conversation went from 4 to off the scales as the measure on the glass got fainter.

Post shamelessly requesting consistent top up’s of the magical pizza popcorn, our amazing waiter did what we were all hoping he would and tipped the bag into a fish bowl sized vessel and left us scavengers to incessantly pick.  

Round 2: The House Gin Fizz and The Sparkling Belle- both of which were absolutely scrumptious! 

Someone else clearly caught the shutterbug too...

After sampling a good selection of the cocktail menu, I think it’s fair to say that I underestimated Harry Gordon’s Bar. The staff are extremely helpful and chatty, it’s not as noisy or busy as a few of the other eateries in Selfridges and the cocktails were delectable!  

A definite must visit!