Some while back, My Friend, The Planet (otherwise known as Planet Ross) sent me his blue monkey. He’s a funny little figurine with a pointy hat that probably has some sort of spiritual significance, but the only spiritual influence he’s had so far in London has been scaring one of my colleagues so much just…
Category: Travel – bon voyage!
Travel, travel and more travel
Living in the Casa della Signora – Venice revisited
Reluctantly leaving the toasty interior of Taverna San Trovaso behind, Monsieur and I headed for the Collezione Guggenheim, or Guggenheim Collection. This is where I had served as a museum intern, many a moon ago, in the days before every kid had a mobile phone and when we all wrote snail mail, not e-mail, to…
Getting our feet wet in Venice
Monsieur and I slumbered long, that first night in Venice. In fact, we somehow slept through our alarms before finally falling out of bed at an embarrassing 11am. That was stupid. Now we’d have to move fast to make up the time. Our lateness didn’t escape the attention of the hotel receptionist. A man exuding…
Rome-ing in the Rain
For the previous post, From Gladiators to Gondolas… click here. Marcus Agrippa’s Pantheon is a remarkable, cylindrical structure that never dates. Its pediment proudly states: ‘Agrippa me fecit’, or ‘Agrippa made me’, and it’s little wonder that this Roman General had his name emblazoned across this building. Initially constructed in 27AD and rebuilt by Hadrian in…
From Gladiators to Gondolas: to Venice via Rome
I couldn’t believe it when Monsieur confessed he’d never been to Venice. I just about fell out of my (imaginary) gondola, before formulating an emergency itinerary and agreeing travel dates to introduce him to this dreamy city without delay. He needed little persuading. The only problem was that we’d be visiting Venice in winter, so there’d be a…
The Red Flame – a flaming good Big Apple diner
Red Flame Coffee Shop 67 W 44th St, New York 10036 Btwn 5th & 6th Ave Phone: 212-869-3965 Fax: 212-869-4398 Menu link click here. To visit The Red Flame Coffee Shop in Midtown, Manhattan is to have the quintessential New York diner experience. Monsieur and I have visited this bastion of weekend brunch each time we’ve been in…
Cashing in with Cashmore at Blog08
Here’s another Blog08 post, originally written for Londonbloggers.net Pete Cashmore, the famed creator of Mashable, the social networking news site, was the first speaker at Blog08, telling us how to build a blog empire. He should know, because, as the Blog08 site tells us, Mashable has 5 million monthly pageviews and Cashmore was recently named…
Rocking in Clogs at Blog08
[Warning: you may like to grab a cuppa and take your time with this post. It’s a LONG one.] When Andy Bargery announced the London Bloggers Meetup competition where entrants had to state why they felt they deserved a free ticket to Blog08, the day-long conference for bloggers in Amsterdam, I entered for fun. I…
Kissmekwik cards
An Epic trick for getting out of a dark funk on a rainy, grey day when people are losing their jobs and heads all around is to visit a greetings card store where the selection is filled with humourous one-liners. I’ve been known to giggle into a fit of teary laughter doing this before. WARNING:…
Algiubagio in Venice
I’ve been reviewing a lot for Qype recently – a site where real people review what’s hot and what’s not in their hometown or in places they visit. I’m having a lot of fun remembering some of my best (and worst) meals, and learning a lot more about what’s going on in this hectic city; don’t…
Brasserie van Baerle in Amsterdam
We found Brasserie van Baerle in our DK Eyewitness guide to Amsterdam and trekked there on trams in the pouring rain for Sunday lunch. The effort was rewarded as we entered a foyer in a stairwell that could have been in someone’s home, where dripping coats and brollies were taken as we were ushered into…
Casa di David, Amsterdam
Casa di David, Singel 426, 1017 AV Amsterdam, http://www.casadidavid.com Monsieur and I went to Casa di David on the recommendation of a Swissotel receptionist, who goes there frequently and couldn’t rate it highly enough. What a disappointment. We had an 8pm reservation on a Saturday night and because there was a crush of people trying…
Epicurienne 