Travel Archives • Page 5 of 18 • Berkeley Square Barbarian

The Barbarians started with carbon-offsetting, better late than never

July 16, 2019 8 Comments

The Barbarians fly a lot. Or at least used to. For the past two years I’ve been working mainly abroad, which meant that most Monday mornings, I got up at 3:30am, took a cab to Heathrow at 4:15am, then hopped on an airplane, just to return to London on Friday evenings. Sometimes Ms B and I also met in other locations, so I would take a plane from Frankfurt to New York or Paris while she would do the same from London. Ten years ago, we were even worse, we used to treat ourselves to overseas holiday trips two out of four weekends per month and even added some inland air travel to places like Newquay or Edinburgh. In short, we’ve been doing an awful lot of damage to the planet during those past ten years since we met, and we’ve not been feeling great about it. Could I have […]

Food, Travel

Mask Ball at the Carnival in Venice

May 13, 2019 24 Comments

We had been to Venice during the carnival once before and knew we’d love it. However, this was going to be the first time that we’d attend one of the famous mask balls. We had started our research half a year ahead of time. It turned out that many of the most famous mask balls are invitation-only. The next best (public) mask balls cost €700 or more per person. Even if you were willing to splash out big, it is still not a given that you’ll end up on the guest list, as it’s all very competitive. We finally ended up choosing the ball at the famous five-star Baglioni hotel just a few yards off St. Mark’s Square for €290 per person via VeniceEvents. Initially we had had best intentions to do the proper thing and spend another €500 to €1,200 per person for the costume, make-up, hair, etc., but […]

Food, Fun, Travel

Rock’n’Roll at the Robot Restaurant

April 22, 2019 17 Comments

During our recent trip to Tokyo Ms B & I visited the famous Robot Restaurant, one of the city’s top tourist attractions since it was founded in 2012. Initially it was not aimed at robot-focused tourists but at local businessmen with a penchant for the fairer sex. Within days after opening it made headlines around the world and started an outright frenzy. It’s difficult to describe this eclectic, crazy celebration of childish wonder, intergalactic war, and madness. If you’re looking for a sophisticated art performance or a high-budget Broadway show, then you’re bound to be disappointed. Despite the fact that the performers’ routine is very impressive, well-rehearsed, and finely tuned, and despite the fact that much of the technology, I’m sure, didn’t come cheap, there is still at times a vibe of rogue, low-budget, anarchic street performance. That’s one of the reasons why the show is so much fun to […]

London, Travel

Don’t lose your head, but Hever Castle is absolutely mental, in a good way

April 15, 2019 6 Comments

Last weekend, Ms B & I did what we had been planning on doing for some time: do a day trip to Hever Castle (pronounced like “fever”, not like “never”) in Kent, next to Royal Tunbridge Wells, just an hour’s train ride away from London. Castles and Manors Strictly speaking, Hever is a country house, not a fully-blown castle, ever since its castle-to-manor conversion in the middle of the 15th Century. It is not designed to protect its residents from an attacking army. This is despite the moat and the rope bridge, which remained from the original 1270 A.D. version. However, this is in no way diminishing its appeal as a day trip destination. Cafes and Restaurant Different from most other castles and manors of similar size in the UK, everything is perfectly organised and kept in great shape. There are several cafes and shops spread over the huge premises. […]

Fun, Travel

Learning how to row Venetian style with Row Venice and loving it

April 5, 2019 17 Comments

During our recent visit to Venice, we booked ourselves into a 90-minute €85 rowing training session with Row Venice. They are ranking #1 out of 75 local boat tour operators and watersport activity providers on Tripadvisor, and, for good measure, also had a Certificate of Excellence thrown in on top. For the €85 it was open to us, if we both wanted to have a go at it, or just one of us; in the end Ms B decided it wasn’t her thing, so I became the only student. If you are a larger group, the cost per boat (whether rowing or riding) is as follows: €120 for 3 people, €140 for 4, or €200 for the 5-passenger boat. About Row Venice Row Venice has been founded in the mid-Noughties by Jane Caporal, now 56, from Bristol, UK. She grew up in Australia, married an Italian, and moved to […]

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