We’ve just returned from a visit to this fabulous exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. According to its brochure, “From Selfie to Self-Expression” is “the world’s first exhibition exploring the history of the selfie from the old masters to the present day, and celebrates the creative potential of a form of expression often derided for its inanity”. The first room shows self-portraits of Rembrandt, Edvard Munch, Picasso, Matisse and many of the other greats on i-Phone shaped large electronic displays with actual i-Phones to their bottom right-hand side, showing the Greats’ made-up Instagram profiles with 34,146 likes on the Picasso selfie, and so on. Hilarious. The whole things spreads over three floors, and it gets even better, the further you progress through the many rooms filled with exhibits. We were particularly fond of the exhibit in Gallery 3: “Hello World! […]
The Lighterman – Our Restaurant Review
The Lighterman (named after the men who used to work on the Victorian canal barges called lighters) is located in a stunning minimalist newly-built three-storey building right next to Regency Canal, 5 minutes’ walk from Kings Cross station in a recently revamped area, where no cost seems to have been spared in the effort. We immediately fell in love with the atmosphere and asked to be seated on the street terrace next to pedestrianised Granary Square, where plenty of little children were running around between the water columns of the enormous fountain, clearly having the time of their lives. Service was very quick, professional, and friendly throughout. We ordered Eggs Benedict (£9.50) with an added pair of sausages and bacon (an extra £5 in total), and their signature poached eggs on crushed avocado toast (£9.50). For drinks, we ordered one flat white, one latte (£3 each), one beetroot, orange, […]
Classico, Frankfurt, our Restaurant Review
Since my recent temporary relocation to Frankfurt for a consultancy assignment, I’ve dived into the local culinary scene from Monday to Thursday every evening to explore what’s on offer. Last Monday I was walking towards my hotel from the client’s office when I stumbled across this true gem. Ranking #78 out of 2,000 Frankfurt restaurants (#17 out of 90 fine dining restaurants) on Tripadvisor, Classico doesn’t look particularly upmarket from the outside, with its standard off-the-shelf outdoor seating furniture and – when I arrived – none of the tables covered with tablecloth yet (because the guests were still screening the menus or ordering). It is located centrally, half-way between the Old Opera House (Alte Oper) and the Exhibition Centre (Messe). As soon as the menu arrived, I realised that this was not going to be your average restaurant experience, more like fine dining, certainly judging by the prices. Chef Dimitris […]
England’s Medieval Festival in 2017
How better to spend a glorious summer day than travelling back to the medieval times to the beautiful grounds of Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex? We’d been to a couple of medieval festivals in Germany (see our post on the The Landshut Wedding) and wanted to discover England’s Medieval Festival this year over the August bank holiday weekend. This year is the 25th year the Festival has been running, and so when we were invited to visit for the Sunday, we were excited to do so. Getting there from central London We travelled by train for about 1 hour and 20 minutes from London Victoria to Polegate in East Sussex. From Polegate we took the dedicated shuttle bus to the Medieval Festival at Herstmonceux Castle. The shuttle bus ran every 30 minutes on Sunday and was £7.00 for an adult return ticket. This was by far the fastest […]
Hands down the craziest experience the Barbarians have ever done: Shotover Jet in Queenstown
It’s been several years since Ms B & I visited New Zealand during one of our annual visits to see family and friends in Sydney. We were on a tight schedule and spent nearly the whole five days of our trip in Queenstown, the outdoor capital of the world. The town has a pleasant upmarket backpacker vibe to it. There is an abundance of adventure and extreme sports activities on offer, ranging from bungee jumping to downhill mountain biking and white-water rafting. Since 1965 nearly everyone (almost four million people so far) that visits town seems to end up taking a ride with the Shotover Jet on Shotover Creek, not far from the town centre. £80 per person is a bit on the pricey end of the scale for tourist activities, but it’s worth every penny. I’d happily not eat for a week or two just to be able to […]