Manc' Christmas Markets

Christmas Markets have become a firm festive favourite of mine, I just adore the combination of good food, drinks and independent shops situated in wooden huts! 

My festive craving was no different this year, I indulged in some nutella pancakes, mould wine and the famous Germany hot dog. Then drank my body weight in colour changing and Christmas inspired cocktails at Alchemist. What more could a girl want?

Merry Christmas!

Manchester Pride 2016

Hello everyone! This weekend I ventured into a Manchester for a different kind of Saturday day out, Manchester Pride! After hearing about the annual parades hitting the UK recently, I did some research into what actually Gay- Pride is. It appeared to be an exciting, fun way to celebrate all sexuality as well as raising Aids and HIV awareness. So we booked our tickets and headed down.

The Parade

Today, Saturday, the main streets of Manchester were decorated in rainbows, glitter and unique fancy dress, from dalmatians to drag. Hundreds lined the streets to welcome the paraders and I was pleasantly surprised to see so many families and young children there, a good way to start the concept equality young. At 1pm the parade hit off, music, dancing and whistle blowing came down the paths. 

Food and Drinks

Once the parade finished, it began raining (typical British weather), so we headed for the nearest restaurant, which actually turned out to be fab. It was called ' The Grill on New York Street'. With fancy decor and a pleasing menu, it was a winner. I had a classic beef burger, washed, more liked gulped down, with a rhubarb and orange fizz cocktail. As we had already purchased tickets to Pride online, we managed to get a 20% discount, which is always welcome!

Canal Street and More

Canal Street AKA. Gay Village. Entering the grounds to the centre of Pride, I was not sure what to expect as I have never been to a Pride before or even a gay club. However, the atmosphere was incredible, so many people packed in the streets outside the pubs and clubs, laughing, singing and dancing in their own little bubble, definitely made the occasion even more cheerful. The drinks were cheap with pints of cider and beer at £2.50 and shots £2. Inside a warehouse was crammed with many charity stands from HIV, RSPCA and many more. The main stage for live music was a few minutes walk from the main strip of the village, to be honest the stage and the area was a lot smaller than I had thought, but yet again the atmosphere was amazing. 

I would recommend anyone to go, I am straight and still had a whale of a time supporting everyone's choice, preference and life style, and so should you. 

Amsterdam Travel Guide 2016

Travelling to a new city is always stressful when you do not know what to see/do and expect. I recently went to Amsterdam thinking the city was going to be infested with weed and other legal drugs, thankfully, it was the opposite. Amsterdam is a  petite city with the famous tall, unique houses running alongside the many canal banks, parked with numerous bikes. Cafes, bars and restaurants appeared frequently on all streets in the old town Amsterdam with vast amounts of tourist shops. So here are my must see's if you are visiting Amsterdam for culture, sights and history.

Anne Franks House| Old Town Amsterdam

Best Time: 5pm onwards

Closing Time: Last let in's are 9pm

Price: Children 10-17| 4.50 euro

Adults| 9 euro

Cafe and shop inside

Of course a Amsterdam Travel Guide would not be complete without the main feature in the city, Anne Frank House. This important landmark is situated on the canal bank :Prinsengracht 263-267, Amsterdam 1016 GV. 

If you cross the nearby bridges onto the opposite side of the canal bank, you will capture the house in full view. If you wish to enter the museum, you need to be prepared for a long wait, when I visited, we went at 4:30pm, thankfully the line had slimmed down at lot to previous times like 11am and 1pm, however we still had a 45 minute wait. If you are planning a trip months in advanced it would be ideal for you to book tickets online, however tickets sell out pronto on the official website, so keep checking! Once inside, the atmosphere is very quiet, videos talking about the Franks lifestyle are played, pictures are hung up on the walls and in each room of the house is detailed information of what the room was used for. Lastly, her actual diaries and short stories are preserved in the museum and history of how her diary became world famous.

  It is a must too see!

Van Gogh Museum 

Best Time: Any Time

Closing Time: 9pm

Price: Under 17 FREE

Adults: 20 euro

Cafe and shop inside

The Van Gogh Museum is placed in the new part of Amsterdam, which has a completely different feel to the Old Town Amsterdam as there is fewer canals and lobsided houses are replaced with lavish, large buildings. The popular I AMsterdam sign is also by the museum. The Van Gogh Museum is different to what I expected, I thought it would be like any other art gallery. It was not. It captured his life before, during and the effect of his work after he died in mass detail. A large collections of paintings set out on each of the three floors in the building, explaining what he experience at the time of the paintings and further paintings from a artists who inspired Gogh, With each painting came an in depth description of why he created the painting and what of. You get to see how his painting techniques and use of colours change as he experiences new things. A collection of his final artwork pieces he painted before he died along with personal information about his life, relationships with friends, his brother and sister in law and how his paintings and himself actually became the fame it is today. I really enjoyed this museum, so unique and perfectly laid out, even the famous sunflowers painting was proudly hung in the first floor gallery!

Boat Tour Around the Canals

Duration: 1 Hour

Best Time: Any time

Price: euro 12 pp

Website: http://www.amsterdamcitytours.com

As Amsterdam is made up of numerous canals with landmarks stretched out alongside them, going on a boat tour is a fantastic way of travelling around the city for a sightseeing trip. You get to go past the train station which is an impressive building, parliament, Anne Franks House, monuments and other quirky museums which you may be interested in later for exploring. I would recommend sitting on the right hand side as that is the side where Anne Franks House and the famous church is placed. Furthermore, sit on a bench where the window can open and close so you can quickly open it if you fancy taking a clearer photograph. Other boat tours are alongside the canal bank which includes fine dining, pizza or burger cruise, hop on hop off boat and the 1 hour boat tour, all at varied prices and times!

Vondel Park

Best Time: Mid Morning/ Afternoon

Price: FREE

Vondel Park is the biggest park in Amsterdam, it contains lots of lakes, water features, grass and woodland area, suited for everyone. The park is friendly to dogs, bikes and children. You can even hire bikes if you like for just euro 10 an hour. Also hidden in the park is a restaurant on a small lake and numerous cafes. A good place to go for some peace and quiet from the hustle of the city. 

Additional Information 

Weather | Like in all countries the weather in Amsterdam changes repeatable. When I went at the beginning of April, it gave out warm temperatures of 18 degrees, however it turned out to be bitterly cold and windy on all days with temperatures lower than 10 degrees. I would definitely recommended taking a thick coat along with a jacker if you are planning on going in Spring. Make sure you take an umbrella!

Food | The price range of meals and dining in the city can range from dirt cheap to expensive. Typically alcohol like beer and wine is the most costly thing on the menu! Across the old town there are numerous places to eat for cheap from burger and hot dog vans too cafes in landmarks like Anne Frank Museum which is surprisingly not costly. For further dining, evening meals can be consumed at the variety of restaurants and pubs across the city, Irish bars and Italian cuisine are hugely popular! 

Amsterdam 2016

Hello! I have just got back from Amsterdam the land of tulips and legalised drugs... Thankfully my visit to the city consisted of eating good food, drinking cocktails and sight seeing. Of course you can not go to Amsterdam without seeing the Anne Franks House which was certainly worth the 40 minute wait in the chilling weather, alongside visiting one of the museums. I would highly recommend the Van Gogh Museum as it gives you an in depth insight into his personal life and how his life experiences impacted his artwork.

Mothers Day

Mothers Day is the set day a year where children and grandchildren get too spoil their mums even more than usual. Usually, every year my brother and I buy our mum a present, make breakfast followed by a day out somewhere. However illness' have put a stop to our plan on going to Llandudno for the day, it is a beach, so instead we went on a brisk walk. It was freezing cold. Despite not feeling my toes, I used my new camera, Nikon J5, to take some shots of our walk.

The Casual Look

Leather Jacket | WALLIS
Top | Primark
Jeans | Topshop
Shoes | Primark
Bag | French Connection
Fur Poof | New Look

For me, the most important thing about fashion, is comfort. I can not feel confident in an item of clothing I am uncomfortable in. My typical day- to- day look usually consists of jeans and a pretty top. As the weather in the UK is hit and miss at the moment, with frosty mornings but sunny afternoons, I'll either be wearing a simple leather jacket (as it goes with everything) or a pretty pastel winter coat to create a more sophisticated look. 

For shoes I tend to pick edgier shoes for more plain outfits like the one featured above. Any shoe that has a chunky heel and a peep toe, is a firm winner in my eyes in creating a more interesting look. I adore this pair of black peep toe boots from Primark, the peep toe combined with the long silver zip definitely makes the shoes look more expensive than £16!

Like shoes, bags play a large role in what makes an outfit good in my wardrobe. Whether a pretty decorated clutch bag to spice up a little black dress or a cute tote bag with the additional fur poof. This bag shown in the picture, was a Christmas present from my parents and I absolutely LOVE it. The long black strap makes it easy to wear, the size is large enough to fit the daily essentials, purse, phone, pouch ect. With the fur poof added, I think it creates a classic/ winters look, also, the bag is made up of two textures, the top flap is a black suede combined with the black leather for the base. 

Coat | Miss Selfridge

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Barcelona Photo Diary| Part 1

Day 1 Arrival and Exploring

On 3rd September my family and I went on a long awaited holiday to Barcelona! My parents prefer staying in apartment/ villa accommodations on our holidays as they don't like the scheduled meals in hotels. The apartment we stayed in was on the first floor of a rather quiet street with a Terence looking out to other buildings. I was surprised at how many palm tree's there are in Barcelona! 

Day 2| Casa Batllo

On Day 2 we woke up fairly early and made a quick 10 minute walk to Casa Batllo which is situated on one of the main streets in Barcelona lined with designer shops and posh restaurants. The building was designed by Gaudi, who is a famous artist/ architecture, many years ago. The front of the building is breath taking with skeleton like balconies which apparently warned off unwanted visitors in previous decades. Throughout the building are amazing stone work, using a ray of colours to brighten up the tall building. 

Day 3| The Harbor 

Day 3 we went on a relaxing walk to the harbor which was a fairly long walk, thankfully we stopped off at an Irish Bar (Typical Brit) to refresh ourselves as the weather was reaching late 20 degrees. The harbor is so pretty filled with many boats for fishing and even cruise ships.