The best view of London? Not necessarily, as you might think, The Shard’s. Try the other side of the Thames… Welcome to the Sky Garden, the highest urban oasis in the City, under a sculptural glass dome. It ticks all the boxes: luxurious setting, full London skyline, outside terrace for the perfect pics, free entry… and even a couple restaurants and bars on site. Breakfast with a 360 degree panorama of the capital anyone? Yoga at sunrise? Spritz cocktail with your sunset? Wow effect guaranteed. Sky Garden
No plans yet? Here are some more cool things to do this weekend in London. If you have tips we haven’t covered, don’t hesitate to leave us a comment below… Taking a Eurostar soon? 23 ideas to have fun around St Pancras this way. ♥ That’s London, baby ♥ 1. Don’t miss West End Live on Trafalgar Square this weekend. 2. See a Lucha Libre show at York Hall. 3. Always wanted to learn to play the violin, guitar, piano, trumpet…? Yamaha in Soho will offer free lessons this weekend. 4. Go and cheer the teams at the London Hong-Kong Dragon Boat Race on Sunday. 5. Have fun at the Union Chapel’s Victorian Summer Fête this Sunday. There will be live music, Pimms, Punch & Judy and games of the era and cakes. Most importantly: come in fancy dress, Victorian if you can. Don’t have anything fitting in your wardrobe? There will be some outfits to try. ♥ Art and culture ♥ 1. Have a look at the Serpentine Gallery’s new summer pavilion. 2. The Greenwich+Docklands festival is back with amazing shows, including illuminated white horses by the Cutty Sark this Friday. 3. Let the […]
Palma is full of surprises… One of them being the vintage train, which has been taking passengers between the capital and Sóller since 1912. It only takes an hour to reach the village, famous for its orange orchards, and oh, it’s such a lovely journey there too: valleys, olive tree fields, countryside and no less than 13 tunnels going right through the Serra de Tramuntana mountains. The wagons, with their varnished wooden interiors, really make you feel like you have stepped in another era yet… most passengers prefer to stay on the outside balconies at the end of each coach, enjoying the warm breeze going through their hair, camera in hand. Arriving in Sóller is quite moving. Miró, as a child, spent his summers here, his mother and grandparents being from the island. This is where he started drawing too… Talk about a source of inspiration! The station even has a mini-museum featuring an impressive collection of his work. If you can, come on a Saturday morning to enjoy the market atmosphere. Skip the main plaça cafés, though, too touristy and wander through the picturesque streets around. At #34 of Caller de San Bartomeu, you will find Es Canto, […]
No plans yet? Here are some more cool things to do this weekend in London. If you have tips we haven’t covered, don’t hesitate to leave us a comment below… Taking a Eurostar soon? 23 ideas to have fun around St Pancras this way. ♥ That’s London, baby ♥ 1. Old Spitalfields Market’s Night Market will host a Campfire Session Friday evening. The evening will include a ride in from the Royal Enfield bikers, live performances, DJs playing music, a biker themed retro photo booth, a vintage exhibition and street food 2. A Naked Bike Ride in London this Saturday? Yes – and it does take place every year. Think of it as a protest against oil dependency, a way to remind you cyclists are actually quite fragile in all that crazy traffic. Add a 60ies vibe – body paints, slogans written straight on the skin. All the details are here – there are 7 points of departures, all itineraries then merging around Westminster Bridge. 3. Lee Bestall’s Chelsea Flower Show garden, which won a silver medal this year, has been moved to Covent Garden for the summer. Yes, apple tree included… 4. It’s party time at […]
We showed you a little glimpse of our first day in Portsmouth recently… After a delightful night at Florence Gardens and a hearty English Breakfast, we were ready to explore further. Little did we expect even a full weekend would not be enough to see everything Portsmouth has to offer! Southsea to Old Portsmouth by the seaside How could we resist a stroll along the beach, first thing in the morning? It’s only a 30 minutes’ walk from Southsea (where our boutique hotel was) to Old Portsmouth. We started at the elegant South Parade Pier, admiring the Victorian bench shelters along the promenade. A little further is Portsmouth Castle, built in great haste in 1544 as Henry VIII fears of a French attack on the city. Indeed a foreign fleet approached, landing on the Isle of Wight instead. The King would watch the Mary Rose, his favourite ship, sink right in front of the castle the following day… The place can be visited between March and October – indulge, entry is free! – and you can wander through the tunnels around the moat. You will even find a microbrewery there and the nearby bandstand often welcomes live […]
No plans yet? Here are some more cool things to do this weekend in London. If you have tips we haven’t covered, don’t hesitate to leave us a comment below… Taking a Eurostar soon? 23 ideas to have fun around St Pancras this way. ♥ That’s London, baby ♥ 1. Pop Brixton is celebrating their second birthday – party time, my friends! There will be DJs Friday evening, a one-day festival on Saturday (music, performances, giant cakes, photo booths and more) and a fantastic brunch inspired by Ghanaian cuisine on Sunday. 2. Sci-fi fan? Wander Into the unknown – the Barbican’s new exhibition. Includes visions of Jules Verne’s worlds, an odyssey into our solar system, vintage artwork promoting Soviet visions of space, a gallery of aliens, iconic spacesuits (some from Star Trek and Interstellar!)… There even is and an installation from the creators of Black Mirror, recreating the 15 Million Merits episode. 3. Need fresh air? Have a picnic at Paddington’s floating garden (you can even rent a boat to explore the canals, even go to Little Venice). Or enjoy the vibrant colours of rhododendrons, in full bloom around London. Or find your inner peace at […]
Baden Baden… so nice they named it twice! Only an hour and a half flight away from London, the most fashionable spa town in Europe is the perfect place to escape the city for a luxurious and relaxing break. Although it is mainly famous for its curative thermal waters, there is so much to do in a Baden Baden that a weekend is simply not enough. Put on your finest summer and evening wear and let’s explore this charming German town! Friedrichsbad “Here at the Friedrichsbad you lose track of time within 10 minutes and track of the world within 20”. So wrote the eternally quotable American novelist Mark Twain about the Friedrichsbad – the Roman-Irish Bath – and a true shrine to the art of bathing. Located at the foot of the Altstadt, Friedrichsbad opened its doors 140 years ago, and combines Roman and Irish bathing traditions to provide visitors with a full sensory experience unlike they have likely had before. Originally catering to the European aristocracy, this stunning neo-Renaissance style bathing house features marble, brass, colorful titles and elaborate frescoes decorating its breathtaking domes. A visit to Friedrichsbad consists of 17 stages different stages following […]
Nothing prepares you for Iceland. It steals your heart within a few hours. A soothing palette of grey, silver, black, blue, green. Carpets of moss covering lava fields, made of up to 50 micro herbs and flowers, which grow ever so slowly it often too a hundred years to make it that wonderfully thick. Dramatic beaches of black sand, brushed by the waves’ white foam. Roads slaloming up and up and finally revealing a view over breathtaking fjords. Adorable villages, irresistible houses which turf roof camouflages in the landscape. Hundreds of waterfalls. Tiny fishing villages, each with its own quaint museum. Expect a sense of adventure at every step. Maybe it’s the immensity of the landscapes. Or the jarred volcanic rock. Or even the geothermal areas where the earth seems so alive – smoking and bubbling. Your day might very well include… a snowball fight in summer, a hike to the top of a volcano, a stroll behind the water curtain of a waterfall, an encounter with whales, seals and puffins, a walk through an ocean of blue lupins. You might even finish the day going horse riding after dinner or enjoying a naturally heated spring in a […]
Palma, day 2. The light is different here. A very light apricot tint to it, like an Instagram filter, softening the slightest detail, making it more beautiful still. Time to put those trainers on, start walking and exploring. I start with the nearby market, Mercat de l’Olivar, famous for its fish stalls and indeed they are spectacular. The fish is so fresh you often see it breathing still… Some are whole, others were peeled of their skin, head still intact. Quite a site for tourists just after breakfast! I indulged in an ice-cream to recover – raw almonds, orange-strawberry, yogurt-comfit orange peels. Fingers licking good indeed. The many courtyards remain fascinating. Some reveal a garden, other stunning bougainvillea, vintage shops, art exhibitions, artists workshops or even yoga lessons. There are more surprises along the way – like these windmills right in the heart of Palma, which were used for water extraction. Detour via Ronda Migjorn, to walk under the shade of its palm trees. There are soap bubbles in the air, reflecting the scene to perfection… A few streets further, well, higher really, I reach the Es Baluard museum, famous for its contemporary exhibitions and its Miro and Picasso […]
Palma. The air, warm, like a wonderful welcoming embrace. 10 degrees in London direct to 18 degrees in Majorca really make you feel alive. I quickly leave my bags at the hotel, just wanting to see the city, make it mine, settling on the Tourist Office as a first goal. Don’t trust your smartphone: it may tell you it’s only a 12 minutes’ walk away, it will take you at least 40… Palma will distract and seduce you at every step – courtyards filled with ferns, spiralling stairs, churches lit by hundreds of candles (each place has its own little shop selling them, as well as rosaries), art galleries. You will get drunk on Palma and the impeccable straight lines advised by Google Maps will become sweet zigzags all over the place. There is little traffic in the centre, a sense of freedom. A walk along La Rambla, line with trees that meet and seem to kiss right above you. Tiny cafés and flower shops, the afternoon breeze bringing the honeyish fragrance of dahlias, gladiolas and lilies your way. Wooden window shutters, an invite to nap, colours cooked then faded by the sun, an Andalousian atmosphere. There ar […]
