Downtown: trendy Manhattan in 10 stops

The ice skating lanes popped up everywhere in Manhattan the last few weeks, winter bars are opening, food courts are adapting their menu’s and Macy’s is getting ready for the big yearly parade in 4 days from now: winter is coming and New York is ready! As said before, it is always the best time to go to New York, all year long.

I got lucky, and was appointed travel guide for New York recently. So after being able to give you plenty of details about new discoveries in London, now the city that never sleeps has called me and I have answered and am bringing my discoveries to you. Hope you enjoy the tips. Let’s start with my favorite part of Manhattan: downtown. Here are 10 things to do, see, experience, that haven’t been mentioned in my previous NY post:

1. World Trade Center 1 and its memorial: The 2 big waterfalls are really impressive, symbols of the never ending sorrow after the loss of so many lives, and each name carved in the steel surrounding them. Inside the memorial, audio fragments are played from the last phone calls of the victims on the plane. I haven’t found the courage to enter and listen yet.
2. Orchard Street: in Chinatown Orchard Street combines very old buildings with new trendy concept stores, bars, restaurants and art galleries. All the upcoming stuff can be found there, walk around and discover.
   

   
3. Little Black Radish: a fantastic restaurant in Orchard Street, with an excellent menu and wine choice, and an oyster bar across the street. Very ‘hipster’ style, friendly atmosphere.
   

   
4. Mc Nally Jackson: my favorite bookstore in New York, where I also found the trendy NY guide from Cereals with a lot of great tips. The bookstore has a splendid offer, and also publishes books and has a great coffee bar where you can enjoy your read. They also accepted to sell my French book so I love them even more for that!
   

   
5. Happy Bones: a small cozy coffee bar with a trendy interior, art to display and good causes to sponsor. Coffee with taste and a heart. And in front of it, at the beginning of Little Italy, a big colorful graffiti of Audrey Hepburn on the wall. Gotta love the area.
   

   
6. The Apartment by the Line: in Greene Street you will find all the fancy big interior shops to look at, and somewhere in the middle there is an elevator door on ground level. Open the elevator and press 3rd floor. You will find yourself in a big beautiful typical New York loft with everything that is supposed to be in there: furniture, walk in closet with clothes and shoes, books, even bathroom products… Everything you see is for sale, also the beautiful black and white Cartier Bresson photographs. Walk around, enjoy.
   

   

   

   
7. The Whitney Museum: the museum has recently been moved to the Meatpacking district next to Diana von Furstenberg’s high fashion store, which is not a surprise since she and her husband sponsor the museum of American art. The collections are beautiful, especially the temporary one of the Afro-American Motley, and the building is amazing. Especially the terraces: do not hesitate to have a glass of wine on the rooftop at sunset and enjoy the view. Afterwards you can dine at the Untitled on the ground floor, the food is good but it is still a bit empty at night.
   

   

   

   
8. The High Line: a splendid park/ boardwalk build on an abandoned rail line above the ground, where today a lot of artists gather and people enjoy quite beautiful walks with astonishing views above the city. It is really a must do!
   

   
9. The Standard hotel and the Boom Boom Room: at the start of the High Line you will find the famous Standard hotel and its top floor cocktail bar. Go early enough to be allowed in, and dress up. Remember the elevator where Solange Knowles hit Jay Z? They were at the Boom Boom Room that day. Do bring a well-furnished wallet as one of the exquisite cocktails with a view will easily cost you 20 dollars.
10. Chelsea market: food courts are very hot in New York right now. You can go to the small one in the street of the Whitney before or after a visit to the museum: Gansevoort market, or you can continue to the art galleries district of Chelsea and go to the bigger Chelsea Market. There are all kinds of food stalls there, including one where you can have half a dozen of oysters and a glass of wine for 12 dollar. And the selection of oysters is impressive. Great place for your apero.
    

    

So, that is about all for now. Next time we will cover Midtown more in detail. Liked what you have read? Need an excuse to go? What about Christmas shopping? You will not regret it.

XOXO

Pink coats and art freaks in Chelsea

I was writing my blog post on a postcard of a pink coats painting by an upcoming artist exposing in Saatchi in Chelsea, London. This with an open Harrods home and property magazine for the fall and winter of 2015 underneath, and a Rossini prosecco cocktail from Manicomio Poco in front of me. I was surrounded by posh people; got a glimpse of Cathy Guetta and kids earlier, posh clothes; the girl sitting next to me just left her Givenchy bag on the terrace floor; and posh shops, including Club Monaco that I so love. Need I say more?

After having dropped of a bus of Belgian tourists at Harrods; I went in to walk around a bit and look for new interior ideas. On my way up I saw “ the great writers room” indicated, and went there in the hope to find a literary café. As my book is finally out for sale on Amazon and a few selected libraries, I am a bit obsessed by that for the moment. So I was disappointed to find a room full of fountain pens for sale. So I went for a comforting stroll around the beautiful Marchesa and other nightgowns; to end in the food court and hesitate whether or not to take place at the Oyster bar.

I did not, but continued my walk through Chelsea and its Cadogan Square where you hear the private drivers talking in various languages through the open windows of the waiting Jaguars and Bentley s while the kids are playing in the locked private garden in the middle of the square next to their fathers on the private tennis courts, to get to the famous Saatchi Gallery which I had been dying to visit for quite a while now. The purpose of the Saatchi Gallery is to give young aspiring artists an opportunity to showcase their work; and that is exactly what they did this weekend. Gallerists from all over the world were there to present new artists to the public and to collectors, at the Start Art Fair. It was wonderful to see all the cultural differences and similitudes, and all the art lovers assembled. Some were more eccentric than others, with long red leather coat and boots and curly messy professor hair for example. If the terrace of the Mess at Saatchi would not have been full I would have gone for one of their delicious looking deserts such as a combo of champagne, peach and crystalized rose petals.

But it was full, so I walked around the luxury food market on the Duke of York square with its sushi and caviar and other options, to end up at the terrace of the trendy posh and crowded Manicomio Poco where the young and old came to discuss the exhibition they just attended over a glass of champagne or a cup of tea. There was a surprisingly friendly and relax Sunday feeling hanging around, as my posh neighbors spontaneously started talking to me. Happy cozy Chelsea town, where the happy few are not afraid to mingle with their anonymous peers or occasional lookalikes like me.

The afternoon came to an end, so I had a final walk around the chic boutiques before joining the group again. I couldn’t resist the temptation of the beautiful Club Monaco vitrine and went in. Soft fabrics, perfect cuts, very tempting fall collection. Looking at the prices, they were about 4 times what I paid in Los Angeles back in the days. The city with the highest amount of billionaires on the planet had struck again. I ll wait to catch a plane. To Toulouse next weekend, to help my friend pick her wedding dress. Another adventure is coming up…

XOXO

London: an afternoon walking around Kensington and Notting Hill

So much is happening, and so little time left to tell you all about it… Let’s take a little break to talk to you about London, and a new neighborhood full of discoveries. Later I promise to come back to tell you all about the road trip to Canada, the best bistros in Antwerp, and other things I owe you.

I started working as a city guide for a tour operator about 1,5 months ago. My first destination is London. And on these citytrips, I do have quite some free time to discover new places to be. So I will have regular new posts about London to share with you.

This weekend I did a whole tour on foot, starting from Regent’s Park, to Notting Hill, and ending in Kensington. Believe me; I can feel my feet and legs today! But it was such a beautiful sunny day; I just had to walk around for as much as I could! On the way down, I came across following interesting things to do, see, taste:

• Kensington Gardens, and especially the Pumphouse and Italian Garden: such beauty, fountains, water lilies, flowers, benches carved with love messages… the perfect place to relax, read a book, or just look around and have an ice-cream in the sun.

• Bayswater Road, along Kensington Gardens: on Sunday artists are exposing and selling their work on the gates surrounding the park, these are original paintings, and there are beautiful works there. They are not extremely expensive; a big painting can go for about 250 pound. A very nice walk.

• At the end of the road you get to Notting Hill gate, and just before that there is a cute little store full of deco stuff, jewelry, clothes, in pastel, fluo and trendy colors and shapes: Oliver Bonas. It is not expensive, definitely worth the visit.

• Then you head up northwest, to Portobello Road: this road is full of quirky little shops, antiquaries, bars and restaurants, pastel houses, artists, very charming!

• At the end of the road you get to the place where the Notting Hill movie was shot. On the corner there is a splendid Italian restaurant and wine bar: Negozio Classico. The genuine Italian manager will give you excellent recommendations with pleasure. The wine and food are exquisite, just as the interior is. It is family of the newly opened Avini wine bar in Antwerp, which is also a little pearl. Go there to have lunch, or just to enjoy a glass of wine or prosecco on their terrace!

• Across the street there is another shop I like: the trendy clothes shop AllSaints. An excellent way to digest your lunch is having a little walk amongst their beautiful fabrics.

The area is just full of lovely places! I will definitely have to go back a few times there! Hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. No better way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I walked around with a big smile on my face the whole time. Hope I did not look to silly, but after all … who cares?

Now I will go back to editing my book for the last time. A few last lay-out thingies to strengthen, and then later today it should be available on Amazon. Exiting times!! But more about that later as well. I just had to take a few minutes to tell you all about yesterday.

Have an amazing week!

Stockholm: where yesterday’s Vikings are hiding in trendy black leather

Mid April, we went on a 5 day trip to the North, to the capital of Sweden, Stockholm. The first learning I would like to share is: timing is everything, do not go before May as you will find a lot to be closed during the week. So our trip did not go exactly as planned during the days, but we enjoyed great evenings and had a lot of fun anyway! Walking around all people dressed in black, with the exception of young men dressed in trendy color clothes, we discovered quite a few places. Let me give you my top tips:

1. Restaurants are excellent in Stockholm, quite trendy as it is the capital of design, and with excellent food and drinks – although the alcohol is very expensive there, especially the wine.
   My favorite 5 try-outs were:
   Bar-Bro: a trendy Asian fusion restaurant, which welcomes a young crowd in hip Sodermalm, and has a one room cinema in the basement. Take a few bites to share, they are all wonderful. http://bar-bro.se/                                                                                                         Bistro Sud: A hidden gem in a quiet street of Sodermalm, suggested to us by our AirBnb host, it was a truly delicious meal, very raffinated and French-ish cuisine, stylish decoration and a cozy an intimate boudoir atmosphere. http://www.bistrosud.com/index.html                     
   Speceriet: a new place in the city center, beautiful and trendy, with long counter tables where you sit next to other people without the feeling of being oppressed, no reservations, brilliant minimalistic plates including Swedish specialties, not very expensive. http://www.speceriet.se/?lang=en                                                                                                          
   Taverna Brillo: in the posh neighborhood, seems small outside due to the little terrace, but is huge inside, different rooms with artworks, a big counter, an ice-cream vendor and even a flower shop inside. The Italian food is very decent. http://tavernabrillo.se/en/                    
   Café Dox: An excellent lunch place in one of the charming streets of the old town center – Gamla Stan. It is located in a basement, quite low profile; full of different cozy couches and corners, and offers great Fikka – coffee, sacred for the Swedish – with sweets.                                                                     
2. Even if they are not cheap, the cocktails taste heavenly in Stockholm, especially in the following 5 bars:
   Grannen: we bumped into this place by accident on our first evening there, and it was splendid! Located in the middle of trendy Sodermalm, a big half- basement half-street-way bar, with an eclectic crowd, a lot of hipsters, some blue hair – which seems to be very ‘in’ at the moment -and the best cocktails! It was so good that we went back there as a last stop on our last night in town. http://www.oxelblom.se/grannen/                       
   Story hotel bar: stay at this hotel if you can, but anyway definitely visit their New York – atmosphere cocktail bar. Excellent and great vibe. And a large chill out room next doors in case you want to have a romantic moment. We thought about staying there, but in the end decided to try out AirBnb so didn’t – which by the way is a terrific way to travel as you get much more advice as from most of the hotels. http://www.storyhotels.com/stureplan/bar/                                                                                     
   HTL Lounge Kungsgatan: we went there for diner and drinks, diner was not the best we experienced, but the drinks and the bar were very fine, and in addition to that they pride themselves on their collection of cava’s and champagne.                                               
   Axela: A Churchill look-a-like quiet bar and restaurant, with jazzy music and big leather seats, which also serves very good cocktails in a chill atmosphere.  
   Grand Hotel Stockholm: go there to watch the high society having high tea, or a wedding party, or anything else posh that you would like to witness. The champagne cocktails are delicious! You can also book spa treatments there in their famous spa, which we hesitated to do. Go for it. http://www.grandhotel.se/en/                  
   
3. To go out, we tried the following clubs – besides the cocktail bars:
   Spy Bar: Posh young crowd with a lot of daddy’s money to spend, too young for us, except for a shabby old guy with a grey ponytail who was there to party with his driver and his bodyguard, all 3 totally wasted, and wanted to take us for a ride in his limo. But the location was nice, on a first floor of a big corner building of the shopping district, with old paintings on the walls lightened up by colorful flashlights. And the barman was very friendly and inventive. Good music too, a bit too loungy maybe if you are looking for a heavy party.                                                                                                        
   StureCompagniet: Probably the most renowned club in Stockholm, a huge building in the city center, with lots of floors and rooms with different DJ’s and lightning. Good vibe and great party if you like commercial music. Or if you organize a bachelor party.
4. Stockholm being the city of design, I must tell you about some great interior and design stores:
   Snickerbacken 7: a big old building, garage lookalike, that offers not only design and great brands at outlet prices –especially for clothes and shoes, OMG the shoes-, but also has art expositions and an excellent coffee and brunch bar. Terrific place just to relax and enjoy the beauty of life, or to take your laptop to and write a little. At least that is what I would do if I lived in that city. http://www.snickarbacken7.se/#om_snickarbacken                                     
   Lotta Agaton: a splendid collection of furniture, great interior design taste, but check the opening hours before going. http://www.lottaagaton.se
   Nordiskagalleriet: great design store for furniture and small nice things to have, bought a clothes hanger there and found some inspiration for our new interior in the making. http://www.nordiskagalleriet.se/
   Bolia: ‘Love life and furniture’ says their window! And the interior is truly lovely, full of beautiful pieces. They also have a webshop. I will definitely visit that one once in a while for inspiration.                                                                                                                                          I also had the following stores on my list but did not manage to get there: Grandpa, Dusty Deco Hornstull (www.dustydeco.com), E Torndahl, Plezuro, Asplund (http://www.asplund.org/), Designgalleriet. Tell me about it if you go.
5. Sight-seeing tours: you can take a boat in front of the Grand Hotel to take a tour of Stockholm by water. You can also take a boat to visit the archipelago, as Stockholm is made of thousands of little islands, and enjoy a quiet day off, or have a pic-nick somewhere, just check the timings upfront. In the summer I heard that is it nice to have champagne and strawberries at sunset next to the water, together with the other young people of the city.
6. Cinema like the locals: If you are there on a Sunday evening, go to the one room cinema at BarBro or go to the Rio a bit further up the street to catch a non-commercial movie at an old theater with the locals. Great setting and experience. Have a bite at the excellent BarBro restaurant afterwards. http://www.biorio.se/                
   
7. Gamla Stan: the old city center with colorful narrow streets and churches is charming, walk around, try to get lost, it is so small you probably can’t, look for the smallest street: Mårten Trotzigs Gränd, have fikka in one of the basements.                                                    
8. Castels: Although I was a bit disappointed to not see Viking remainings – watched a few episodes of season 3 in our room to make up for it – there are impressive castles to see too. The one in Gamla Stan is too brutal for me, but the summer castle Drottningholm at Lake Malaren, which is still inhabited by the royal family today, is a delight to see, especially the yellow Vienna style and the beautiful gardens.            
9. Kunstradgarden: it seems that anywhere you go; you always end up on this place, along with the rest of the crowd. Go up through one of the many arty underground metro stations. We went there at the beginning of cherry blossom trees season, so we already had a glimpse of the pink tapestry hanging above half of the place. During the weekends, there is also a kind of medieval market, where we bought a beautiful long-white sheep hair small carpet. Hang around, it is fun to see.                                          
10. Djurgarden: on the green island, you can visit the Vasamuseet – a grand wooden ship out of the 18th century that sunk one mile of the coast and shows you a lot about life on board of such a ship, and Skansen which is like a replica of an early 20th century town with a small zoo attached to it. The bears had just woken from their winter sleep, watching them play and wrestle in a temporary snow fall was a very joyful moment.                    

I hoped to be able to attend a concert of my favorite Swedish singer: Anna Ternheim, but unfortunately she was recording in New York at that moment. She was friendly enough to reply on my facebook query though. Which is cool. Check her dates if you go.

So, quite a few highlights and tips in case you plan to visit the capital of Sweden. That’s all for now. We are planning on going back to London soon, so more on that later. Tips are, as usual, always welcome! Nothing else much, as we are renewing my man’s house, decorating it, hunting beautiful pieces, and planning on moving in together during the summer. Exiting times!

Ciaociao

Paris jour et nuit: new discoveries

Paris is always exiting! There are so many things to do, see, taste, experience… A lot of steady historic beauty filled with ever-changing trends and fashion. Walking around in Paris always feels like home, and home is a thrilling place to be. We discussed the classics before; let’s dive into some of today’s hotspots and some hidden treasures that I can recommend:

JOUR

Temporary exhibitions:
After having had the pleasure to see some of Jeff Koons‘ work on top of the Moma NY, I now saw some more at the Centre Pompidou. The top floor with the huge windows and scenes of classic Paris are a nice contrast with the crazy bright colors of Koons’ work. Gotta love this artist who tries to lower the discrimination threshold between classes by his art, even if your eyes are not a fan of the esthetic aspect of his work. You still have time until the end of April to go and see it. Go by the end of the afternoon, and end your day on the terrace of the Georges with a glass of bubbles and the sunset. I had diner there before, it was excellent and the setting is impressive but I still wouldn’t put high on my restaurant list because the place lacks a bit of soul unfortunately. But for a glass and a framboise macaron: yes! And one more thing: go down one floor, you will find the Cafe Little Boy there, an artwork on which you are invited to contribute by drawing on the wall or writing a message.

The Paris Magnum photography exhibition at the Hotel de Ville, the inside of the building alone is worth the visit. The collection was closed this Sunday, but we had the pleasure to attend the 21st edition of the Maghreb du livre, where writers such as Marek Halter and Rachid Mimouni were present. I bought Marek’s latest (small) book: ‘Reconciliez-vous!’, very much looking forward to the read.

Hidden treasures:

On the Place des Champs Elysees there is a beautiful classic building named Artcurial which is in fact an auction house. The temporary exhibition ‘Regard sur l’Algerie’ was beautiful, and no entrance asked. This collection is set to be sold on Tuesday, glad I could see it before – and sad I cannot share the whole catalogue with you. Definitely worth the visit! And it has an impressive café/ restaurant and library as a bonus.

Not so hidden but always wonderful:

The Nympheas of Monet at the Orangerie, as previously discussed in other articles, remains one of my favorite museums ever. Just sitting there, watching the wonderful huge paintings, nothing can be more relaxing. Maybe the museum could just add a note of classic music to the rooms, that’s all.

Walking on the shores of the Seine, enjoying the sun and the sights, having a coffee on the almost deserted Place Dauphine.

NUIT

Dining in style:

Walking in in the first restaurant you see would be a pity while being in Paris, culinary heaven. So I did my homework upfront, and ended up with a nice selection:

• Le Faust, former Michelin star chef cooking in a splendid cellar décor under one of Paris ‘bridges, with a popular club next to it. Full booked, so will try again next time.
• The Artcurial café: as discussed before, dining in the auction house decorated by a famous interior designer must be quite an experience. Next time we will look for a beautiful Italian resto, we’ll go there.
• Oth Sombath: supposed to be one of the best Thai restaurants in the city, in a nice décor too, but a bit more classic than the Buddha Bar.
• L’AG: one of the new trendy hotspots to try.
• But the one we went to was my 2nd choice after the Faust: le Cinq-Mars. A delight! We were enchanted to have ended up in this small and charming restaurant. It has a beautiful and cosy interior, very intimate, vintage style with modern elements, soft light, a lot of wood, spectacular mirrors, and enough space between the tables to avoid the proximity that has become over the top in most of Paris ‘restaurants. The service was splendid too, full of grand honest smiles and fine wine advice. And the food was just splendid: the suggestion coquilles were the best I ever had. I can understand why celebs love to go dining in this hidden pearl. http://cinq-mars-restaurant.com/

Fashion cocktails:

Want to go for cocktails and models? Head to the bar of the Plaza Athenee. Usually it is open to the public. The setting is impressive, very flashy in the great classic hotel, and the models line up at the bar – and not only during Fashion Week.

Decadent clubbing:

There are plenty of clubs in Paris. The Queen on the Champs-Elysees for example, which is nice and not too high threshold but not the most spectacular one. Or the smaller Cavern Club in Saint-Germain, a basement with much more spirit, and delicious cocktails.

But this time we went to the temple of clubs: Jean Roche’s VIP room Paris. The bouncer selected us from the back of the line to go in, people had to move aside to let us through, and a host was waiting at the entrance to escort us to a table in case we wanted to. Felt good after the Berghain experience, I have to admit. No entrance to pay, but only the prices of the bottles on the menu, starting at 250 euro. You can ask per glass, it is 20 euro per glass. We received Venetian masks, and entered the arena with a dozen professional dancers in the middle. Fireworks, confetti, flashlights, up on the moving podium and here we go! It was fun, decadence all around. For about an hour or two. Then the arrogant young Parisian fils-a-papas started to work on our nerves: too much money being spilled in one place by people who hadn’t earned it. And a homeless guy sleeping on the sidewalk 5 meters further. Life isn’t always fair, is it? So we went back to our hotel, the Hotel Opera Chateaudun – classic and small with excellent beds, nice service and amazing location to do the neighborhoods we wanted to see.

Next time a less classical neighborhood: Montparnasse. Someone just shared some delightful little places with me, can’t wait to head back! But first some other trips lined up… Next week we’ll start with Normandy.

Have a beautiful week!

Go go go to Antwerp, now! Fabulous weekend ahead!

Hi all,

Just a quicky: if you were hesitating on whether or not to pay Antwerp a visit – now is the time! And here are 3 reasons why (besides the sunshine):

1. It is Antwerp Art Weekend: exhibitions, galleries with special shows and late night openings all over town
2. There are also many design shops open, and vintage design for sale such as Eames chairs etc… at Dubieus design at the Winkelhaak (and have a bite in the bar there, it is really cosy and offers good food & prosecco – Bar Oscar)
3. It is the last sales weekend, fantastic sales to be done in high end fashion stores (see sales article for my favorite ones, on the Antwerp page)

I already went on a discovery tour last night in a part of town I don’t visit often: Antwerpen Noord. It was really worth it! Today I will go for the last sales day, and tomorrow more exhibitions in other parts of town. If you need recommendations for a good hotel, just shout.

Have a fabulous art & shopping weekend!

Berlin brut: first 10 to do

I finally got to see Berlin. What a city! At the end of a city trip you know whether you will be back or not, and Berlin definitely deserves more than one tour: 4 days were not enough.

Berlin was a true discovery, not what I expected. You have the very posh areas, the trashy areas, the trendy areas just as in any other city except here they mingle more and trash becomes trendy. The trashier the place, the more difficult to get in. Street art is king. And the best bars are hidden behind curtains and doorbells. Even though it was short, I will share my first 10 favorites with you before diving in further next time:

1. East side gallery: the longest open air gallery in the world, painted by more than 100 artists from all over the world after the fall of the Berlin wall on what remains of it. Amazing!
2. Street art: besides the wall, the whole city is full of graffiti and other forms of street art. Everywhere you look you can find beautiful and crazy pictures decorating buildings in decay.
3. Art galleries in Mitte: in the different Hofe, my favorite had a courtyard full of graffiti, then completely tagged and painted stairs with stickers leading into a little bookshop and a gallery next to it with dark modern and politically tainted art where a charge of 1 euro was asked to help out the artists. While you are there, also hit the cool concept stores. My favorite shopping experience was in ‘Kauf dich Glucklich’ – buy you happy.
4. The Berlin wall memorial and documentation center: very impressive raw remains with individual stories of people who tried to cross the wall and help others do so.
5. The Pergamon museum: and especially the Ishtar gate, which was completely rebuild in the museum. While one cannot agree that taking it away from the original site was justified, enjoying its beauty is still a must. The huge blue gate with yellow lions and dragons and other guardians is one of the most impressive historical buildings I have ever seen.
6. Sammlung boros: the last standing bunker in the city was turned into a modern art museum. Make sure you make reservations upfront as the entry is very restricted and full booked 3 weeks in advance. Many renowned artists have exposed there, such as Ai WeiWei.
7. Panorama view at Postdammerplatz: go there at sunset and enjoy an amazing view over a very living city where everything changes as fast as the traffic lights.
8. Hidden bars: the best bars are hidden behind closed doors. The first night I looked for Bar Tausend for quite a while and did not find it. Afterwards I learned that it was hidden behind an iron door under a bridge and that there was only a doorbell to show for it. Next time I will dress up posh and hit that bell. The best one I did try was the Greendoor cocktail bar in Schoneberg, excellent cocktails and great interior even though the Schoneberg crowd was not that spectacular. Worth the detour.
9. Restaurants: a lot of trendy places that were recommended to me seemed to have closed down during the last months. As said before, in Berlin everything keeps on changing. So I can only share my favorite flavor of the month: a healthy restaurant in a sort of art gallery, with a piano bar and a small lady with big vocal cords: P103 Mischkonzern. Coffe spots are more common and seem to be more steady, try The Barn.
10. The techno scene: besides the city of street art and evolution, it is also the city of techno. The big trashy underground discos are kicking testimonies of that. We tried to get in to Berghain but must have looked too posh. Only people who are very free spirits are allowed, and we must not have looked that completely open-minded to be allowed in the party inferno topped with drugs and dark rooms. After a small stop in the ruin bar Minimal, we did go to Watergate; which also holds techno DJ gods and has an terrific view over the river Spree at night. Make sure you speak a few words of German if you want to be allowed in, the Spanish guys in front of us were not so lucky.

It was fast, it was hectic, it was full of experiences, it was amazing! Berlin, I will be back. What a way to close of 2014…

Happy NewYear!

London on fire

It’s been a while; have some catching up to do… So first: 2 weeks ago, I went to visit my friend Lena in London again. It was Halloween weekend, and Bonfire night. What a crazy concept: let’s celebrate burning a man alive so many years ago by having yearly grandiose fireworks on that date in London. True, the guy tried to blow up the parliament at the time, but still, it is a quite barbarian commemoration. Putting that aside, it was one of the most beautiful fireworks I have ever seen, amongst a huge crowd.

Besides the firework, let me sum up the highlights, which of course I recommend you to try:

1. The exhibition ‘Wildlife photographer of the year’ by National Geographic, in the Natural History Museum. My favorite: a picture of water lilies, shut from under water. What is yours?
2. Having a drink and sushi on top of the world, in the flashy and fancy Sushi Samba – 40th floor, breathtaking view, amazing terrace, sunset, crazy delicious fresh sushi combos born out of Asian an Latin-American fusion… it has it all!
3. Having a cocktail after work at The Drift, amongst suits – bankers and insurance guys etc. Lena had the fish in a bag, which really is what it says, good for some laughs. I tried several other signature cocktails, and a Pornstar Martini which was recommended by Hayley – loved it. + One of the quotes on the menu says: ‘I only drink champagne on two occasions, when I am in love and when I am not.’ Agree, Coco Chanel.
4. Enjoying lunch at the new restaurant John Doe’s Kitchen, in a cozy and trendy place which owns its name to the fact that a crime happened there 10years ago and the place remained empty for 10 years.
5. After next year’s firework in Blackheath, go to a typical Indian restaurant – London is the place for Indian food just as we are for fries. The Taste of Raj offers good food and wine, topped with excellent service.

I did see and do a lot of other things, but I prefer to stick to the highlights of each part of town, to help you make the best out of your next trip. If you do find yourself stuck around King’s Cross station though, take the time to visit the building of the Art University where old meets new in a very interesting architecture and you can pop by the Grain Store while you are there. The drinks are much better than the ones in the business lounge of the Eurostar. And King’s Cross is an upcoming neighborhood, so keep your eyes open for any novelties to share.

Talk to you soon, I do have some other adventures and places to share!

Delft in slow motion

Last weekend was soooo relaxing. My man is working way too hard, and needed a chill out weekend. We went to Delft in the Netherlands, in a very charming hotel: de Plataan, on the well-known Doelenplein where amongst others you also have the popular Lef French-alike bistro – we tried it, it was great-. We chose a room with a theme and got the Amber one, all in Maroccan design. It was full of colors, pillows, waterpipes, Arabic inscriptions etc, including sented candles for the jacuzzi with light therapy. We loved it. We enjoyed spending time on the terrace for probably the last time before the winter, and had a very cosy and elaborated late breakfast in the beautiful main room – with some newspapers that were put at our disposal on the big wooden table. The people there were extremely friendly, and we tried to capture the young black cudly housecat Pluisje to take him home. It was the perfect basis to wander around Delft.

There is not an awful lot to see in Delft, which was just perfect for the type of weekend we wanted. We wandered around the charming little town a lot, following all the small canals, stopping for drinks etc and looking at some fancy stores. We also went to the Vermeer museum, which was quite disappointing as it doesn’t hold one original painting, only reproductions. To see the girl with the pearl earring you need to go to Den Haag.

Some of the cute and trendy places we discovered:

• KEK: a shop with all kind of beautiful wanna-have but not very useful stuff, which also offers excellent sandwiches for brunch, special green smoothies, homemade cakes and very sugary coffees. One of the waitresses gave a ‘Mr.Right’ pillow to my boyfriend, picture perfect! Agree.
• Stads-koffyhuis: best pancakes ever! With view on the skewed tower of the church. Very cosy interior as well.
• Musthaves and Artifort: design interior shops – we found a beautiful massive wooden table there, as well as wooden and white cupboards etc.
• Mooi Lamazi: we had a coffee with a sip of alcohol there, and they made fresh lemon juice on request. The interior is great, with bricks, wood, black lookalike Eames chairs – which we also want for our interior – white, a bit industrial loft, hipsters inside, and very friendly waiters. Try it out. Together with the rest of the above.

Next stop will be London. Again. To visit my friend. Very much looking forward to the small pearls she will have discovered since my last visit. If you have any tips, feel free to share!

A design Sunday afternoon in Brussels

Last weekend, I went on a small Brussels discovery together with an ex-colleague. She is crazy, creative and always smiling, and it was her initiative. She was going to pick up a painting of colorful sheep – discovered in a picture hanging in the woods, don’t ask – and planned on visiting the Horta museum as well. I don’t know much about Brussels, that city always seems very professional and chaotic to me, so I jumped on the occasion to discover something else than La Monnaie and its beautiful opera’s, and the high fashion shops of the Avenue Louise, such as Dior and their cute little pink handbag at about 2000 exaggerated little euros. Which reminds me I still need to visit the high fashion outlet Les Enfants d’Edouard on that street; their facebook page shows a lot of promising stuff at a bit more democratic but still expensive enough prices. I like today’s outfit (worth 1215 euros bag and shoes included), let me show you a picture of it:

The neighborhood we went to on Sunday was Elsene, one of the nicer neighborhoods of Brussels. I parked in a street with some nice boutique design shops, unfortunately closed on Sunday. We met for brunch at a place that had been recommended to me by several friends: Chez Franz. The big terrace on the corner full of green and wood was a bit hidden by the queue of trendy and hipster crowdpeople, waiting for a table in the last summer sun. We went inside and waited at the bar. Beautiful interior. The bartender seemed a bit stressed out; we tried to stay out of his way until we had a table. I took the light brunch, my friend the oriental and my boyfriend the large. All was delicious, including the special prosecco. Great address. Which apparently is also a great bar at night.

Afterwards, we went to see the Horta Museum, in the house Horta used to live in and receive his customers to discuss the architectural plans he drew for them. Art Nouveau all over the place, light, glass, gold, mosaics, Japanese pieces here and there, a greenhouse on the rooftop, and many details everywhere. It was worth the visit.

To end the day, I planned to attend the opening of Arne Quinze‘s last piece of art, One World, the bridge in the Schorre, but the rain discouraged me. When I saw the pictures online afterwards, I didn’t regret it at all. My eyes were not triggered by his so called art work. Happy to have stayed in a more quiet and beautiful past that day.

CiaoCiao