Montmartre is a district in the North of Paris known for it’s theatres, entertainment, and general arty-ness. It spans a few subway stops on the blue metro line, approximately from Barbes Rouchechouart to Blanche (right near the Moulin Rouge). But whether you’re into art and theatre or not, Montmartre will wow you, if for no other reason that it’s geography.

Basically, Montmartre is a city on a hill; a hill so big that from the top, it offers the best aerial view of the entire city of Paris you could possibly get.

Your climb takes you through the streets of the city, through open air markets, tourist gift shops, and plentiful crepe stands as you gradually move closer to the peak.

What you can’t forget to do on your journey to the top is stop and look backwards. As you make your way higher and higher, incy by inch, the sprawling city shows more and more of itself to you.

It’s a district where you feel like you want to take your time, relatively quiet for its level of activity. If you do choose to linger, you’ll find no shortages of spots to do so at, whether it be a quiet cafe, a bar, or a local restaurant. Whatever you do, you’ll want to have plenty of energy for the final leg of your ascent.

Getting past more of the buildings, you’ll come to a point where you’re making your way up steps, through what would be, if the ground were flat, something like the churches courtyard. The Sacre Coeur will be looming with grandiose before you, waiting to share with you the view that it enjoys each and every day. The street performers on the church’s steps are a spectacle indeed, but what comes next is a memory for a lifetime.

Reaching the top and looking backward is breathtaking. Now at the top of the hill looking over the entire city, you proceed to pick out the different objects you recognize in the Parisian skyline. You take the obligatory photos, and you take a seat and a rest on one of the church steps, just in case the view is too much to take standing up.

What happens next depends on who you are. Maybe you lament the way the light hits certain buildings in the scene; Maybe you imagine all the historical figures of France who have surely stood in the same spot and felt the same feelings of awe any number of decades before you; Or maybe you continue to muse at the other tourists, mulling around in random fashion equally unsure of how to properly appreciate the beauty confronting them.

Whoever you are you’ll face the conflict of wondering at what point to trade one memorable scene for another… the view from the cathedral’s steps, to the view inside the cathedral.

The Basilica is a smaller church than the Notre Dame cathedral, and if you’re not an afficionado of gothic architecture or one who appreciates a good cathedral for religious reasons, you might be tempted to skip going inside the Sacre Coeur Basilica. I advise you don’t.

Actually parts of the inside of the Basilica, Elysia and I judged to be more spectacular than that of Notre Dame. For example there’s an enormous single mural painted on the inside of the cathedral’s main dome which in it’s own right is worth the visit.

Even when you’re finished at the cathedral, your time at Montmartre is not up. Next you can make your way back down the hill on whichever route you choose. Here you can wander aimlessly through side streets, cobblestone paths, and countless points at which you can appreciate an historical building in the foreground, and between structures, an aerial view out to the city in the background.

When you retire from the day you’ll feel like you experienced something special, and uniquely Parisian… because you did.

Montmartre is a place to go on your Paris trip where you don’t need to spend any money if you don’t want, where you can spend as long or as little time as you like, and where there’s something to experience that will be pleasing regardless of your age or interests.

Our 4 days in Waikiki, as it happened, resulted in some of the best meals I’ve eaten in my life, and one of those, was at Keo’s Thai Restaurant at Waikiki.

It was by chance that we even ended up at Keo’s really. We were scanning through the hotel book for a place to have dinner: not really the way that great restaurants are normally found. But it was getting late, we were starving and so we made a snap decision.

Cabbing 5 minutes down Ala Moana from the Park Shore we jumped out at Keo’s hoping for the best.

The restaurant was very busy on this particular night, but we managed to get a table out by the street with a nice open air feel. The fit out of the place was intricate, with Thai artwork on the walls, and indoor plants scattered throughout. The atmosphere was energetic with tourists of all kinds enjoying loud conversation and Waikiki breezes.

Elysia and I started out with a couple of cocktails, reasonably priced, and not untasty while we waited for our food.

What we were waiting on was a Thai Vegetable Curry and a Satay Mahi Mahi.

I’m not a big seafood person, but I don’t mind a good piece of fish or a nice shrimp dish. Satay’s too can go either way. Some are on the spicier side and lose my enjoyment as my eyes begin to water, and others are not spicy enough and feel more like you’re eating a meal with melted peanut butter on top. I hadn’t eaten Mahi Mahi before but figuring we were on an island, and it seemed like this fish was super popular in the area, decided I had to try it out.

This Satay Mahi Mahi however was from the first bite, instantly inducted into my top 5 meals of all time. That’s any country, any restaurant, anywhere. Ohhh just remembering it now makes me salivate. Is that gross? Sorry.

The Mahi Mahi was battered. Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside was the coating. Inside the batter was a thick, fleshy, perfectly moist piece of fish of succulence and joy. The satay was right in that middle area, flavorful, peanutty, and with just a touch of spice that you knew was there with no eye water. All of this served on a bed of Thai rice.

Oh how I enjoyed it. I had so much respect for this meal that I conciously stopped eating, despite the deliciousness, just to avoid overindulging and ruining the ability to preserve this memory forever.

We payed the very modest bill (extremely modest considering the meals awesomeness) and made our way back to our hotel, discussing other top 5 meals we’d had and deciding exactly where in the rankings this one fit. Everyone we’ve talked to since about Waikiki, this meal has gotten a mention, the only frustration being not being able to adequetly describe just how fulfilling this meal was.

If you’re in Waikiki and DON’T go to Keo’s… I feel embarrassed for you.

Technorati Tags: Hawaii, Restaurants, Waikiki

The Malecon is also the main tourist drag, filled with mainly older Americans and Canadians escaping their respective winters to grab some sun, take advantage of the exchange rates and pick up a bargain.

Regardless of where you are in Puerto Vallarta, you won’t be more than a 15 minute bus ride from the Malecon. To get there, depending on whether you’re North or South of the Malecon at your hotel, you can get on one of the blue and white buses. Keep your eye on the front of the bus as it arrives because most of them have a list of the popular places they’re stopping written on the front window and you’ll see on many of them “Malecon” or “Centro” to denote that they’ll be stopping in the town center. Alternatively you can jump in a cab. Ask the cab driver “Cuanto Malecon?” and he’ll tell you how much to get there.

As for what you will and can see and do at the Malecon, here’s what you need to know.

1. Maybe leave your swimmers at home.

There’s little bits of sand accessible at the Malecon but it’s the busiest part of Puerto Vallarta AND it’s a really rocky area often with brutal swells. If you want to swim while you’re on Vacation there are many other better beach spots near by.

2. Shopping and Eating

This is basically what you’ll be focusing on as you tackle the Malecon. Walking from one end to the other you’ll pass many a bar, restaurant, and side market. For restaurants you can pick your scale, whether you want medium or high fanciness (look out for the restaurant with the (what seems like) 8 meter high cielings and fancy curtains… looks like you’re eating in a palace. My personal favorite are those with high balconies for a great view out in to the bay on a clear day (as most days are in Vallarta!).

And shopping… yikes. There are a countless little stores selling everything you could want while away on holiday in PV. You MIGHT have trouble finding super practical items and be forced to head back north up the highway to Walmart at the Marina, but for holiday stuff, clothes, towels, charms, bracelets, flip flops, hats, etc, the Malecon will have you covered. OH and I almost forgot, TEQUILA stores. If you’re into that sort of thing you’ll notice store after store with the claim that theirs and only theirs is the best Tequila in Mexico. Lots will give you a free taste too, so if you want to get drunk for free… that’s technically possible at the Malecon too.

One more thing: At the end of the Malecon is a bridge across to Old Town Vallarta. So if you didn’t get enough shopping and markets, or if you want to see a different, slightly quiter more authentic Mexican town, don’t forget to check that out either.

3. Strolling

Maybe the best thing to do at the Malecon… just taking your time, enjoying the view of almost 180 degree mountains and a serene, gently rippling bay against a backdrop of bright blue cloudless sky. There’s lots to do around the Malecon too, behind it, and to either side along the beach, so if you have more energy you won’t quickly be bored.

While the Malecon’s fun, make sure you don’t get sucked in to spending all your time there like alot of tourists. There’s lots to do in PV so allocate your time wisely and take it in for all it’s beauty.

After a whirlwind 3 week stay on the Gold Coast with our friends and families for Christmas we were en route for London, the last leg of our trip before we moved to Mexico! We’d picked up super cheap fares through Air Asia (approximately $700 each one way, incl tax) to fly from the Gold Coast to London with a one night stopover in KL.

We’d decided to spoil ourselves and book a 5 star hotel for our stopover in KL since we were due to arrive at 3pm that afternoon and leave at 1pm the next. What we didn’t know when we booked the hotel is that we’d end up spending more time in the Gold Coast departure lounge than the hotel room…

The day began quite normally, for a departure day at least, we checked in and paid excess baggage for my busting-at-the-seams suitcase, ate an incredibly overpriced and underflavoured airport breakfast, bid a sad farewell to our crying families for the 2nd time, checked out duty free without any interest of purchasing and then took our seats in the boarding lounge.

And that’s when it happened…

The first of approximately 7 delays that would appear on that on that ghastly light board that day in December. In the beginning we were led to believe it was simply delayed because the previous flight was late in from Sydney but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

As 1 hour passed, then another, then another without any explanation we were starting to get slightly antsy. Finally they announced that the plane was unable to land because of bad weather conditions, on the Gold Coast in SUMMER no less!

The next announcement came an hour later when the plane had run out of fuel due to circling for too long and had to go back up to Brisbane to land and refuel.

Another hour passed and Air Asia finally came up with the goods… in the form of $10 vouchers to be spent at the ONE food outlet in the lounge. 45 minutes later and I delivered one bowl of wedges and one bowl of fries to a now considerably antsy Andrew.

By this point they had given up making any announcements and we were 5 hours delayed, bored silly and hearing angry murmurs from passengers all around us who had inevitably missed their connecting flights to their tropical paradise of choice.

Tension was building as we hit the 7 hour mark and, sensing the tension, Air Asia made an announcement – although it wasn’t exactly what we’d hoped – we were receiving another $10 voucher per person. Safe to say, everyones tables were this time laden with alcoholic beverages, not fried goods.

The Air Asia plane we needed to catch (scheduled to arrive at 7:30 that morning) finally touched down, at 4:08pm, amid cheers from the now mildly intoxicated and totally exhausted passengers who were still facing a 9 hour journey to KL, not to mention a day of organizing new flights since hundreds of them had missed their previous connection.

As I dozed off before the plane even left the tarmac, I was silently patting myself on the back that I’d made the choice to book the KL to London flight for the following day – a golden rule of air travel I will continue to follow regardless of the inconvenience stopovers may entail.

Our drawn out departure lounge experience may have faded into a distant airport memory already but Air Asia’s poor performance that day will stick around awhile longer – they didn’t earn a gold star from us that day!

I discovered the author Elizabeth Gilbert in 2008 and absolutely devoured her book “Eat Pray Love” and BOY I’m glad I did because otherwise I would have never found this little piece of heaven!

In Elizabeth’s book she talks about her time in Rome, the amazing self-discoveries she made – and the pizza she had in Naples! In fact, Elizabeth had this to say about the delights she found at Pizzeria Da Michele… “If you go to Naples and don’t eat this pizza, please lie to me later and tell me that you did.”

After a review like that we simply HAD to go when we visited Naples in January 2009!

Armed with a poorly hand-drawn map we braved the noisy streets of Naples in search for this holy grail of pizza! The cobblestone roads, the crazy drivers and the weird and wonderful smells of Naples made the experience even more exciting – you REALLY know you are in Italy!

Finally (after a few wrong turns) we stumbled across “Via Cesare Sersale” a teeny little back road that no tourist (unless they were looking for it) would ever find.  The smell of fresh dough hit us first and then we spotted the queue outside and they were ALL locals – that’s when we knew we were DEFINITELY in for a treat.

We joined the queue outside Pizzeria da Michele and were handed a number which was great except that we don’t know ANY Italian so as they were calling out the numbers we were completely at a loss and just stood their hoping we weren’t losing our place in the line!

Finally after holding up our number with confused expressions many times it was our turn and THAT’S when the fun began…

Stepping inside the Pizzeria Da Michele was like stepping into an Italian dining room in the fifties when the whole family (and extended family) were over for a very boisterous and delicious dinner!

There were four men (of varying ages) crowded around an ancient-looking cash register yelling in Italian at each other, as only family can do, whilst simultaneously bidding farewell AND greeting new customers to their little pizza heaven.

We were hurried to a teeny table before the poor people that were there previously had even got their coats on, unceremoniously plopped down and offered a drink – or that’s what I thought he was asking at least!

There are only two options on the menu at Pizzeria Da Michele – Mozzarella and Marinara – so we ordered one of each with two cokes and waited for the magic to happen!

Sitting in the restaurant is an experience in itself as you watch these amazing pizza creations whipping by you at the speed of light while a team of Italian men work like a well-oiled (and LOUD) machine all around you! The smells are enough to make anybody fall to their knees and BEG for a slice  – luckily it didn’t come to that

I’d say within 15 minutes our wood-fired pizzas were plonked down in front of us and our life changed forever – ok this may be a slight exaggeration but only slightly.

This pizza was like NOTHING we’ve ever had before, EVER, and it puts Dominoes to shame – in fact they should just close up shop right now! We have never looked at pizza the same way after Michele’s pizza and probably never will!

The pizza dough was fluffy, chewy and crunchy at the same time. The sauce was made from scratch and there was just enough of it but not TOO much. And the cheese, well… it was ridiculously amazing! There was no meat, no fancy schmanzy toppings, it was just traditional Italian pizza heaven.

Safe to say, each and every part came together to create the most amazing taste sensation you could EVER imagine. My mouth is salivating just reliving it

Basically what I’m trying to tell you is that you simply CANNOT miss Pizzeria Da Michele’s if you go anywhere near Naples, Italy! This century-old restaurant is a true Italian gem and you should definitely get your behind there before its taken over by tourists from every corner of the globe! And like Elizabeth Gilbert said, If you go to Naples and don’t eat this pizza, please lie to me later and tell me that you did.’

You should definitely check out Pizzeria Da Michele at www.damichele.net