Ms B & I love the New Forest and usually try to visit at least once every two years. This post is about our stay last summer. Sometimes it takes us forever to finish a post. But rest assured, the New Forest hasn’t changed a bit since we first visited 8 years ago. We do double-check each venue and activity provider to make sure they’re still rated the same and up and running. In this case, for example, we are happy to report that The Terrace has hired a new, Michelin-starred head chef, since our visit (links below). Our apologies that the photos are not aligned with the headlines of this post. This is because we wanted to spread the photos evenly and chronologically, while there are simply way too many animal photos to squeeze in. The weather forecast for the weekend wasn’t great, which is funny, because during most […]
One Weekend in Paris
We love this beautiful city and usually go there at least once a year to try to do Paris off the beaten track. It’s so convenient from London, too. It takes us 20 minutes to get to St Pancras, then an hour to allow for check-in/customs (shockingly lax, easy, and quick, but hopefully they know what they’re doing) and a quick bite, then a bit over two hours on the train to Gare du Nord. From there it’s three stops to our hotel of choice, 4-star Trianon Rive Gauche, located in the same street as the Palais du Luxembourg. For Paris, it is ok in terms of space (tiny, but less tiny than some other hotel rooms). We don’t like the fact that they got rid of the shower curtains during their recent revamp (what a silly idea, there are only two fixed glass panes, but with a huge opening […]
Lisbon in a Day
I flew into Lisbon last Friday night and had until the next evening, when my train for Porto (more about Porto here) left at 8pm. I was on my own, as I was only going to be joined in Porto by (first) an old friend of mine and (later) by my wife. Unlike me, my wife had already been to Lisbon, loved it, but preferred to stay in London that weekend and party with her girlfriends. I arrived at the hotel at around midnight and gobbled down a rather rare, but very tasty cheese burger at a nearby bar, before logging off. The next morning I got up at 6am, got myself a sandwich and a coffee to go, then explored the street art near Teatro Maria Vitória, which happened to be walking distance from my hotel. More about Lisbon street art here. Then I took a cab to the […]