Living the Magic of Europe – Experiencing Paris and Italy

Through the eyes of former Lifestyle Magazine Journalist
(A Railways membership magazine), Rachael Tickner

Circa 2014

In my own words..

This winter I embarked on a month long tour of beautiful Paris and Italy. Having been to Paris a few years ago, it was my first time returning as a married woman and with the memories of our romantic engagement as clear as day in my memory, being back in the world’s most romantic country was very special indeed! It was only June 2011 that we had last enjoyed the beautiful city of Paris and all that it offered, and three years on, the city was just as amazing. This time though, we were able to truly immerse ourselves in the culture and its hidden secrets!

After touching down in Paris, it wasn’t long before we felt like we had never left, checking in to our comfortable boutique hotel in Saint Germain, Saint Germain Hotel. Greeted by the friendly French concierge, we were settled in before no time. After exploring the big icons for the second time, the Eiffel Tower was still a favourite for both my husband Brenton and I. We met up with my lovely friend Renae for our 30^th birthdays and treated ourselves to a private driver for the day and a trip to the “Champagne Country” wine regions. To our delight, we were not disappointed one bit! It exceeded all of our expectations. From the Moet and Chandon tour to the Verve wine tasting, it was surely a day to remember! (Would highly recommend it on your must-see list for your next trip to Paris.)

Another day was spent exploring Disneyland’s two adventure parks. We were game enough to go on all of the rides, which included the famous “Space Mountain and Tower of Terror”. The day was surely one to remember and we experienced the train ride home with fellow tourists and French locals. It was an experience, trying to navigate our way out of the station with 50 exits that all looked exactly the same! A lovely local lady helped us out and as you do with Paris, we discovered a truly breathtaking building which we took in and enjoyed for the rest of the day.

“Disneyland was such a fantastic experience and one which we would highly recommend. I am a big Disney fan and so is my husband. Paris is a magical park with lots to do and see!”

Other sight-seeing in Paris included the city’s tallest building (Tour Montparnasse), which gave us stunning views as far as the eye could see, the Arch de Triomphe, which is just an amazing structure and the Army museum which we spent hours looking at all of the historical armour wear from the soldiers. The Pantheon and Montmarte (also known as Sacre-Coeur), were also popular spots – both offering so much history to learn more about.

We also dined at the country’s oldest restaurant, Cafe Procope, which offered wonderful old-fashioned service and quality French cuisine, including tasting snails for the second time in my life. They were delicious but the garlic marinade certainly does help the taste-buds approval!

After our amazing time in Paris, we hopped on an early plane flight to one of Europe’s other well-known romantic cities – Venice. Here we were absolutely blown away by the truly amazing hotel which funnily enough, was the oldest hotel in Venice, built in the 1100’s. We were treated to first class 5-star service and it was a few days which we will never ever forget. From the private water taxi ride and driver from the airport, we enjoyed every single moment of immersing ourselves in the culture of Italy. We were blown away by the “uniqueness” of a city that was built on water all of those years ago.

The museum was incredible as was the “must do” Gondola ride. We most definitely ate our way through Venice with their delightful Gelato flavours from all of the Gelato parlours on offer.

After an incredible few days in Venice, we caught the train to Florence for six days of exploring the Tuscan countryside and the city of the Renaissance. Here our Italian improved as we started to feel at ease, speaking with our hotel staff and locals as we went along. Florence is amazing for shopping too! We stocked up on plenty of quality leather goods for ourselves and friends and family. The Duomo and the Cathedral interior was incredible to see and walking to the top of both the Duomo and the Bell Tower was something which we will never forget!

 

“We loved every minute of our time in Florence, it was truly incredible and something which we will never ever forget!”

Two of our most memorable day trips including visiting the Tuscan towns of Siena and San Gimignano. The Medieval towns were so interesting and our tour guide Michelle was so knowledgably talented. It was there that we learnt about the Medici family who have had a long history with Italy and had created a lot of wealth in the country. “The Medici balls” are prominent in many parts of Italy and are featured in plenty of the museums. Another wonderful travel memory is of our day trip out to Cinque Terre. We visited 5 fishing towns on the Coastline of the Italian Riviera. The towns were gorgeous and the perfect place for tourists to relax and unwind.

Following our amazing time in Florence, our next stop on the trip was the city of the Pope, Rome. There we visited Vatican City were we fell in love with St Paul’s Batsilica. We also visited the Military Museum Monument which was incredible and also offered a wonderful birds-eye view of the city. Would you believe that we actually bumped in to a lovely couple there from our Tuscan tour, Italy is quite a small country when you think about it! (Especially when tourists are concerned as we love to explore the same well-known sights when we arrive).

Rome also opened our eyes to the array of amazing churches and chapel which were on offer to explore at every street corner. Daily we were blown away by the incredible architecture.

“From Tuscany through until our time in Florence and then on to Rome, our time in Italy was truly amazing in every way possible. There were so many wonderful highlights.”

After Rome, we were whisked off to the Amalfi Coast. The windy roads and the stunning scenery certainly prepare you to the true beauty that awaits. And as the holiday drew to a close, we took this time to relax and unwind. With a boat trip to the beautiful “Positano” we spent our days indulging in home-made family owned Italian restaurants and exploring little alley ways.

What can we say Paris an Italy, it was truly our pleasure. We hope to meet again someday.

Until next time, Amore! Yours in European history, Gelato and stunning Italian sunsets. Xo

The Find Your Fierce event yesterday was simply amazing in every way and everything that I had hoped for. I had wanted to attend for quite some time now, and when my beautiful friend Alana said that she could come with me. I jumped at the chance to attend, and I’m so very glad that we did! We enjoyed an afternoon full of style, good vibes and great company. In parts of the afternoon, I found myself getting quite emotional, as did other women in the crowd. We all got to take home a great little goodie bag too which was fabulous! I loved the complimentary Mama Disrupt magazine and the beautiful coral lip liner from the Curtis Collection especially!

As you can see the styling of the event was second to none and the venue was absolutely beautiful in every way too! A fabulous afternoon and one which I will always treasure. Thank you Find Your Fierce for putting on such a beautiful event and helping empower women, creating a safe space for us to all come together, and walk in feeling like we are all there in the room for the exact same purpose. Anyone who might be thinking of attending in the future, it’s most definitely the best decision that you will ever make. I would highly recommend the investment. I know that this week I’m going to be on a hire from the event. It was my fave event ever and it’s only January! I am sure that the rest of the Australian tour for Kayla and her team will be simply amazing also. I hear that Rockhampton is next on the list! Ladies of Rockhampton, enjoy every single minute! Just like we did. Well done Kayla on a flawless event. It was just perfection in every way. I wish that there were more events like this for women to attend. I feel so inspired after a good night’s sleep. I’m ready to take on the world! x

Images that I love so much – The Little Ones Grow Up so Very Fast – I loved this day so very much! <3 xo

I hope that you enjoy these images as much as we do! A huge, big thank you to our dear friend that I have known since my journo days, Cade of Cade Mooney Photography. You can follow him on his social media pages:- @cademooneyphotography on Instagram and Facebook. His website will be launching in the near future, so stay tuned!

So many precious photo snap memories – I know these moments will be ones that I will look back on and be so very thankful that we captured them. Thank you so much Cade. It means so much to us to have them.

Photos by Cade Mooney Photography. The most amazing photographer and family friend.

Memories and Moments Like These Become More Precious with Time. xo

We love to try and update our family photos every 12-18 months! <3

 

Photos of both the boys, us altogether and us as a couple we had taken on the day.

To top of a great shoot day, we headed to a family fave tourist spot to take the boys for a fun afternoon together visiting the wildlife. It really was such a “tip-top” day. Definitely one I think for the best day ever memories!

Thank you so much for following along on our journey, it means so much to us. We hope that this year, you as a family also have the opportunity to book in a family shoot with your nearest and dearest loved ones! xoxo

Rachael xo

A Really Great Day Out for the Whole Family to Enjoy! We Rate it a Five out of Five Family Experience! There is so much to see and do for all ages.

Saturdays with the Fam Bam!

We will most definitely be back and might even have to look at investing in some annual passes for the future! I hope that you enjoy our Saturday family arvo trip wrap up below with all of the tips and tricks for visiting!

Memories and special moments from today’s fun visit at The Workshops Railway Museum! xo

We paid just under $40 to get in to the Museum. It was $38.50 and it was well worth the money! Kids Under 3 are free too which is great for Little Oscar Bear!

Be sure to follow @theworkshopsrailwaymuseum for updates on activities for School holidays and events throughout the year.

Open 9:30am-4pm Daily, excluding some key Public Holidays. Please visit the website to check on official opening times throughout the year.

We had lunch at the cafe too, kid friendly meals, coffee and cool drinks for the parents and the little ones. Tick, tick in our books! Even the high chairs were super cute, in red and blue Thomas The Tank Engine colours! The boys were treated to a special show bag for $39.95 to share too, jam-packed with awesome Thomas goodies. In Ollie’s words, “I love my bag Mummy!”. He didn’t want to leave after playing in the indoor playground with the little train that Daddy took the boys for a ride on, and he just loved the school holiday “Circus” theme and activities! Daddy and Ollie had fun practicing whilst Oscar and Mummy enjoyed a copy of the local area magazine, Discover Ipswich, which by the way, is a great little read!

Be sure to continue to follow our family adventures. Each weekend, we will aim to be heading out to fun places and ones which are family friendly. Some with admission prices and some not. We look forward to sharing our special adventures with you all. If you ever have any suggestions of where we should visit next, be sure to drop us a line! – editor@thepinkjubilee.com.au. Thanks so much for your ongoing support (it means so much to us all!), and from our family to your beautiful family and most importantly, your gorgeous little ones, “Happy Weekend!”. If you ever see us on your travels, be sure to say hi. We can’t wait to meet all of our blog readers.

XXOO – Rachael, Founder of The Pink Jubilee. XXOO

Loving Ollie’s little faces on the train! Super cute, just seconds a part xo My Big Little Boy. Don’t ever change. Love you so much buddy!

Lunch with the Girls is Sometimes All You Need!

I really enjoyed my day in to the city today. It’s been a while since I popped on a Summer dress on a weekday and enjoyed time with an old girlfriend. It was great, just like the good old days!

I got to enjoy a tour of my friend’s beautiful house. It’s super stunning and I can’t wait to see it all finished once the renovations have been completed!

It was great to see what had also changed in the city. There was so much to see and do! I just adored the new restaurants and cafes on King St. It was so vibrant. I really want to encourage hubby to venture out that way more in the coming weeks and months for special occasions, or simply, as they say, “just for date night!”. We shouldn’t really need an excuse. Even taking the kids to some of the restaurants will work and they will have ball too!

Here are some little snap shots from my adventure’s today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be sure to check out the beautiful Atelier Brasserie at their official website below. We are sure that you will love it as much as we did! We opted to share two of the lunch specials ($20 each) and for $5 each extra, enjoyed a beautiful house class of wine! Sarah opted for the red and I opted for a white. It was wonderful service, a beautiful atmosphere, perfect ambience and the food was 10/10! I must not forget, we also enjoyed a yummy dessert to share together, none other than a delicious Creme brulee! And to finish off our lunch, we enjoyed a cup of tea. I opted for my all-time-fave, Peppermint! I can’t wait to take hubby and the family one day! xo

https://www.atelierbrasserie.com/

Be sure to follow Atelier on Instagram too! @atelierbrasserie

 

I hope that you all had a beautiful day also! Be sure to share with us in the comments section, what restaurants and cafes that you just love around Brisbane and South East Queensland! We can’t wait to hear were we should try, thanks to our valued, ‘The Pink Jubilee readers’! <3 Whether it’s a low key cafe by the water, a bar for kicking up your dancing shoes, or a romantic dining setting for two, or perhaps even a casual number for the whole family to enjoy, we would love to share your tips and tricks with fellow readers. It really is word of mouth, which helps when booking a beautiful restaurant or cafe. Thank you everyone! You are all so inspiring and we love hearing from you. Be sure to drop us a line sometime and tell us what you would love to see more of on the blog. This blog is your blog too. A space to share, inspire and create happiness wherever we go! That’s our little motto here at TPJ HQ editorial office anyway! Life is too short to not enjoy the finer things in life! To treat ourselves to nice little cafes, to indulge, relax and unwind…

Until next time. xoxo Love from Rachael xoxox

It has been 11 years this month since I was blessed with once working at Australia Zoo as their former, Deputy Editor of Australia Zoo CRIKEY! Magazine. I started after the beautiful Jessica Townsend had left for her London adventure and had the pleasure of working alongside the beautiful Sally and Kate, who I now call two dear friends. Kate and I had even worked together before at The Sunshine Coast Daily, which was awesome!

Today we headed to the Zoo just after 1pm and in my opinion, it was the perfect timing with the weather. I think it would have been far too hot if we had opted for any earlier so I’m glad that it worked out a bit later to go with our family plans. The breeze and shady areas as well as the misters and cool water spots make it a comfortable and cool walk around though. I would highly recommend comfy shoes and a hat and to “slip, slop and slap!”

Ollie, our eldest son, absolutely LOVED the tigers! (We spent at least 30-45 minutes at Tiger Island!)

I would highly recommend visiting the Zoo for a family day out and we can’t wait to come back again soon! We will make sure we pack our swimmers next time for the water park.

A very big thank you to my beautiful parents for the generous Christmas gift voucher – which we redeemed for our annual passes. Such a god investment I say!

Our fave snap-shot of the day!

The gorgeous giraffes were just so magical to watch! I really did feel like we could have been in stunning Africa. I would love to visit Africa one day and see the beautiful wildlife in their natural habitat.

Our eldest son, Ollie, (aka, Mr 3.5-year-old) absolutely loved seeing the beautiful tigers!

The beautiful tiger we got to see at Australia Zoo. xo

The boys had a wonderful time in the pram and Ollie went walking to! They were so tired out after the big day. It was a hot one! xo

Father and Son – Daddy and Ollie. xo

Saying hi to the big crocodile! xo

Fast Facts: Kids under 3-years-of-age receive free entry. Oscar bear is only one so he was complimentary for our family annual passes.

We had a mixture of snacks and purchasing lunch at the lovely big cafe. It was great with the big fans and nice and clean cafe amenities. We missed the show with Terri, Bindi and Bob, but hopefully next time around!

We would highly recommend the trip “a must-do” for the school holidays for families. During the week would be great for mums, bubs and dads, and the siblings, if you are after a day out of fun and animal education.

Next time, we also hope to visit the Wildlife Hospital and show the boys all where their mummy used to work on CRIKEY! Magazine stories, back in the day when their mummy and daddy had first met on the Sunshine Coast.

Be sure to follow @australiazoo and @thepinkjubilee and @thebabyblossom on Facebook and Instagram for more blogging adventures of the fam bam. We look forward to continuing to share our life and journey with you!

Our Boys Coming into the World

“The Love which You Have for Your Kids, Truly is a Love Like No Other!”

“Being a Mum of boys is the proudest part of my entire life. I’m so very blessed!” Beyond belief. I never take my family for granted. We are the awesome foursome now. Enjoying this crazy journey of life together.

– With Love, Rachael Elizabeth. <3 xo

Today was full of soaking up the moments with my gorgeous boys, Ollie, 3,5 and Oscar Bear, 1. How lucky a mumma am I? I really truly am, in every single precious essence of the words. I know that I am blessed. I know how much I have wanted to be a mumma and to be a mum that can work with clients at my own pace, in my own time and around my family is another big blessing that I am truly thankful for in 2019. I look forward to sharing some photos this week of some more adventures. From Clay, (aka Play Doh Making), through to reading Peter Rabbit books in bed, to watching FireMan Sam with my eldest, to cuddles and rocking to sleep with my youngest. I will treasure today’s moments for the rest of my life. For every single day in which we wake up on this beautiful earth is a blessing. A blessing like no other. Don’t take life for granted. Enjoy it. Embrace it.

Our craft supplies were from Target and Kmart. <3

Love this beautiful Christmas gift that we received from the Best Aunty ever, aka, My little sister for the boys! Look at the pure joy on gorgeous Oscar’s face! Love it. Side note – Our trusty high chair from IKEA! <3 xo

The below beautiful moment in time and memory from Facebook popped up today. It was taken early in December in 2016 – I absolutely love it so very much and know that I always will! It’s one of my favourite shots ever.

Such Special Memories with Hubby

These photos really have become more special with time and no doubt they will continue to do so as time continues on over the coming years. I’d absolutely love to renew by vows again at 10 years! Here’s to hoping!

Here is a sneak peak of the really beautiful photos that our gorgeous friend and photographer, Sarah Taylor took for us. I just love how she captured them so effortlessly. She is one super duper talented person! xo

Reading our renewal vows with Reverend Dean.

Loved my Alan Pinkus vow renewal shoes! From Myer

My Review dress has been a special dress since our vow renewal day! I loved how it was a touch of French, just like our wedding day was!

Sarah really did capture all of the details so very beautifully. xx Thank you so much Sarah!

The lighting in the cathedral was just stunning.

A perfect afternoon. Flowers were via our wedding florist – @archaraflowers

I also had my hair and make-up done professionally by Kate Caddle in our unit which we also stayed at for our wedding – The Meriton Apartments. This time was a smaller room for us both of course and the difference was we enjoyed a relaxing morning together!

Not the best weather today unfortunately here in Sunny Queensland, but never the less, we ventured out in to the city and had our fossicking stones looked at by two gemologists. (No, unfortunately we can’t retire tomorrow, lol)

Highlights of the tea – visiting the gorgeous Brisbane Arcade. I really am an oldy worldy person at heart. I truly love the antique shops, high tea with fine china and beautiful jewellery stores with milliners and dress shops.

I had my grandmother’s special ring that she kindly gifted me valued too. It’s 48 years old and I have had it for about 12 or 13 years myself. It’s so special to me and will always be kept in the family. I wear it every single day.

We had a nice lunch stop in the Winter Garden and popped in to David Jones. We parked at Queens Plaza and it was awesome. We booked in advance (on the drive there) via the Secure Parking app and I was pleasantly surprised at how much we saved. Especially with our RACQ membership discount! Winner, winner chicken dinner as they say! It was so very easy, we were sent a pin on the booking and even received an email and text message hubby said. I will most definitely be utilising that for our next inner-city trip!

I’m sad that my hubby and the boys Dad is back at work tomorrow for the year as we have had a really love break, but I am going to look at it all in a positive manner, that we can all have a “can do attitude” and get in to the swing of things with kicking our goals for the year and making our dreams for 2019 a reality. At the moment, the kids will both be at home with me, which will save us some money this year and I’m excited to spend some quality time with them. I look forward to you all continuing to follow our journey via my personal blog – @ThePinkJubilee. Thank you so much for following. Much love and hugs from our family to yours. Rachael xo

My getting ready beauty bag routine this morning. xx Check out my fave products below! xx

Photos taken on my iPhoneX. Filter: Instagram filter: #valencia. xo