12 Dunworth Mews

Funny that my first trip to New York City was launched from London, but this trip was special – it was Keitika’s engagement party. For those of you who don’t know Keithika, they are our very good friends whom we met shortly after we moved to London (they are featured in The Windsor Castle post – with Keith playing the role of ‘gentleman’ (hmm, had I known…)). We have since spent many fun days and nights with them and we were thrilled to be able to go to their engagement party. Read more »

It seemed a shame to be leaving London without having made it to Roma before we left so, we booked a quick trip. Our only expectations were to eat, drink and shop – and we did all three, rather excessively. Our trip began with an unexpected surprise – we were upgraded to First Class (a benefit of status with BA). We then checked in to the Hotel Tiziano, near Torre Argentina. Torre Argentina is my favourite place in Roma, as it houses the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary – a charity that takes care of 300+ abandoned cats in a square with the architectural ruins of four temples and the murder site of Julius Ceasar (the square gray stone in one of the photos marks the murder site). www.romancats.com We could even see a tiny bit of the square from our lovely 4th floor balcony. Read more »

Sorry about the lack of posts but it has been busy these last few weeks. We managed to squeeze in a few days in Edinburgh, a most beautiful city! We especially enjoyed Holyrood Park, going there 3 times in our 40 hours in Edinburgh – once to hike Arthur’s Seat, once to trail run the Crags & the park and once to enjoy the view from the Crags. And, of course, we had time to sample whisky.

Just returned from seeing DMB at Wembley. Ears still ringing from the fantastic jamming. Always amused by Dave Matthews and amazed by Boyd Tinsley’s talent. That’s it for shows – no plans to see more NW bands in London

Just a few words about Prague. Stay at the Hotel Josef – it’s centrally located in the Jewish Quarter, with Old Town Square just a short walk away. We were surprised with a bottle of wine upon checking in to our clean, modern and stylish top floor room. And it has one of the best breakfast services that I have enjoyed in Europe.

Be sure to wander the town and get lost in the small side streets and alleys – you’ll find lovely little cafes and beautiful buildings. The architecture is stunning and the buildings are is super condition.

Enjoy Budwar (the real thing) and Staropramen bier.

Rent a peddle boat on the River and tool around the water – preferably with a sandwich and cool bier.

Head across the river to the neighborhood near the Staropramen brewery and have goulash in a bread bowl at Potrefina Husa. You’ll escape most of the tourists and will enjoy the fresh brewery smell in the air.

Have dinner at Klub Architektu, a lower ground cave-like restaurant with a great vegetarian selection of dishes (and many non-veg options too).

Have dinner on the river at Hergetova Cihelna (the sister restaurant to Kampa Park) but make a booking before you head to Prague or else you’ll be eating at 11pm. We enjoyed seafood and wine out on the patio.

Use the Hotel Josef car service to get back to the airport, especially if Libor Hrbek is driving. He gave us a tour of the city as we headed out and gave us great history on the city and the Czech Republic – both past Communist history and present day news. You can book him for private tours.

Three important observations about the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show:
1. It’s big and crowded
2. I was underdressed in a linen sundress because I forgot to put on heels
3. It’s fun wandering around a flower show with a Pimm’s cocktail in hand

I had a ticket to the flower show this evening. It was an absolutely grand evening to wander the Chelsea Royal Hospital grounds – 23C and sunny – to look at garden and flower displays. Last week the show organisers and gardeners were worried that the flowers would be bloomed out because of the warm and sunny weather we have been having. They needn’t have worried as the flowers were stunning. I was somewhat overwhelmed by the size and crowd but my anxiety went away after I had my Pimm’s in hand. I wandered the Great Pavilion tent (the only “indoor” section of the show) and marvelled at the amazing displays. Some of my favourites were the sweet pea grower, the allium grower and the flower & veg arrangements. Outside the tent were the larger display gardens and vendors. I was aching to buy seeds and garden paraphenilia but I had to settle for taking photos of plants that I liked. I hadn’t missed gardening until now. Luckily we’ll be back in Seattle before long and I can get my hands back in the soil.

A Cuatro de Mayo party was held. Many margaritas were drunk. And plans to see Pink Martini were made. Read more »

Saturday morning was spent shopping so I won’t bore you those details (although it did involve Camper shoes). Afterward, we did a bit of sightseeing in Montjuic Park and took the Transbordador Aeri across the port to Barceloneta for lunch (told you we like this neighbourhood). The cable system pulling the cars across the port looked a little dodgy but we hopped on anyway. The worst part was when the car slowed down for the last 20m before each of the two towers it stopped at. But the ride gave us a spectacular view of the city and sea. Read more »

We took a short holiday to Barcelona last weekend. It was nice to escape computers and phones and enjoy some mid-20s warmth. We arrived Thursday evening and checked in to the Chic & Basic Born, which is aptly named. Read more »

Since we will be heading back to Seattle in July, we are frantically trying to hit all the restaurants on our list before we have to leave. Eat and Two Veg was ticked off today. Read more »