Hotel Grace La Margna
Built in 1906, the original La Margna was one of the most iconic hotels in St Moritz, a glorious example of Art Nouveau, the style predominant in the early 20th century. With its privileged location, mere minutes from the train station, and panoramic views of the lake, it was a coveted destination in what is […]
Bremont Bamford Aurora
What could sound like the start of a joke: “George Bamford, Davide Cerrato and the English brothers walk into a room…” was actually the genesis of something quite magical, the Bremont Bamford Aurora. Let me give you some background here. Nick and Giles English, founders of Bremont watches, are well-known for their sense of adventure, […]
Extra help on Santa’s wrist
You probably know the fateful song, “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, with which Gene Autry topped the US Billboard charts in 1949. It tells the story of how the oddball reindeer with the bright shiny red nose got to lead all the others. The weather was terrible, there was hardly any visibility and Santa realised the […]
Caviar House at Threadneedles
Success goes with caviar as strawberries go with cream, Caribbean sun with piña coladas, and gin with tonic. Caviar House & Prunier, the only caviar retailer in the world that produces its own caviar, have just opened a fully-fledged restaurant in the heart of the City of London. Located within the 5-star Threadneedles Hotel (part […]
De Sede DS-1025 Terrazza Sofa
Sofas designed to enable the sitter to adopt multiple positions have a long, illustrious pedigree. Charles and Ray Eames’s freeform La Chaise of 1948 allowed the user to sit upright, curl up, recline or sprawl. De Sede’s idiosyncratic yet stylish DS-1025 Terrazza sofa, dreamt up in 1974 by Swiss designer Ubald Klug, offers greater flexibility, […]
Take your time (II)
After Zürich, Lucerne and the Bürgenstock resort (read the story HERE), our next stop was the city of Bern, the capital and political centre of Switzerland. We travelled there by train, which, as you’d probably imagine, run as efficiently as Swiss watches on an easy-to-navigate network. Bear in mind they don’t offer wi-fi, though, depending […]
The Pantry
When one does a lot of restaurant reviews, disappointment is, sometimes, unavoidable. Other times, one is surprised and finds the most magical places, food and people where least expected. This is the case of The Pantry, the newest restaurant in the Hotel Arts Barcelona. What looks like the back door of a delicatessen selling a […]
Beyond Picasso
Considered the most international of the Spanish cities, Barcelona developed a significant arts community in the late 1800s, with artists like Santiago Rusiñol – one of the leaders of the Catalan modernism movement – Ramón Casas and, of course, Antonio Gaudí. Pablo Picasso himself spent nine formative years here, from 1895 to 1904, training as […]
On the dash
In August 1888, Bertha Benz took her husband’s newly invented motorwagen and drove her two sons from Mannheim to Pforzheim, a distance of around 100km. The age of the motor car had begun, and the pioneer model, the Benz, had only a rudimentary dashboard; it was intended to serve the same purpose as the one […]
The French Art of Living
Nestled at the foot of the Vosges du Nord nature park, Villa René Lalique, in Wingen-sur-Moder, France, has become recognised as a unique destination for epicureans. René is a member of the Relais & Châteaux collection and boasts a five-star luxury suite hotel, that offers the opportunity to be emersed in Lalique and enjoy the […]
