Long Weekend in Stockholm

A week ago I travelled to Stockholm for a three day weekend. I have been wanting to visit Stockholm for a very long time, so I was so pleased to be finally visiting the city. Stockholm is a place I've been told a lot about and everyone I know that had visited prior to me going had told me that it's a really pretty and fun city.

We flew up on the Thursday night, and I have to say that even the flight was really lovely especially as we got closer to landing with a beautiful sunset, and below us a multitude of islands. The first realisation about arriving into Sweden was that it was organised. As one friend pointed out to me a couple of days later, living in Italy definitely lowers your expectations about organisation especially, and this is absolutely true!

As accommodation is generally expensive in Stockholm we booked to stay in a hostel called Skanstulls Hostel (http://www.skanstulls.se/en/) which is found in the Sodermalm area of Stockholm. It's quite a cool area with a lot of shopping, plus great cafés, restaurants and bars. The hostel was actually full over the weekend, however it was very clean, had comfortable beds (!) and the location was probably the best thing about it.

On Friday we basically walked the whole day exploring the centre of the city, through Sodermalm, Gamla Stan and Norrmalm, the main downtown area of the city. It's easy to understand why Sodermalm is considered to be one of the coolest areas of the city, it really is full of lovely little shops (especially nice clothes), has an abundance of cafés and good coffee, plus as we discovered later in the day lots of bars and restaurants. Gamla Stan is the oldest part of the city, quite touristy with lots of souvenir shops plus has traditional older buildings, Churches and is nice to walk through. We had lunch on the waterfront in Gamla Stan looking towards the Skeppsholmen and Kastellholmen islands. It was a really sunny warm spring day and so we enjoyed our lunch sitting outside. Actually all the food we ate in Stockholm was really delicious and service was always great. In the afternoon we headed towards Norrmalm, and did a little bit of shopping. Of course in this area there were a couple of huge H&M's, plus more high street brands and the shops were mostly found on pedestrian walkways, so it was easy to wander around. Later in the afternoon we headed back to Sodermalm, and here you can find more independent clothing stores, including a Filippa K store which is a well-known Scandinavian brand and lots of shoe shops too! After such a big day of shopping, walking and being tourists we ended up in one of the main squares of the area, and as it was such a lovely day enjoyed a couple of beers in one of the packed bars. There is a bar called "Snaps" which is I believe really well known in Stockholm, and we were sitting in another adjacent to it. During the evening it did cool down a bit and the bar brought out heaters and even blankets for people to use, which I later discovered is something nearly every bar and restaurant do if they have an outdoor seating area. That night we ate dinner at a great restaurant called "Garlic & Shots", which is on the street Folkungagatan. All their food is cooked with garlic! I definitely recommend this restaurant, good food, service and prices too. There is also a small bar connected to the restaurant.

For Saturday morning we started in a pretty similar manner to Friday...breakfast at a local cafè, a bit of shopping in Sodermalm, another coffee stop and then across the bridge into Gamla Stan where we caught a ferry to the island Djurgarden. Here you can find a small theme park and also Skansen, the zoo. Now, I have to say that I personally am not usually a massive zoo lover, however this particular zoo in Stockholm is really great, and extremely interesting. Not only is there lots of Scandinavian animals, such as wolves, elks, reindeers and bears but also traditional style Swedish designed homes from all regions and also eras. The whole area is nicely laid out and has the feel of walking through a lovely park with lots of trees, and then views towards the city. I enjoyed seeing the animals as well, with quite a few new born such as the baby elks who were just two weeks old. They were very cute! So after the fun of the zoo we headed to lunch at a cafè called "Blå Porten", also on Djurgarden and it served once again great food. Actually the cakes and desserts looked really good, but we didn't partake, just ate some lunch and sat outside in the sun to eat. After lunch we walked over the bridge from Djurgarden into the Ostermalm district. This area is one of the more expensive in Stockholm, and in a way is more suburban than for example Sodermalm. There was also a a few streets with shops, and after sitting to relax in the sun in one square we caught the metro back to our hostel. In the evening, we decided to "stay local" and in the end had a great night. We found a small very cool bar on a street called Skanegatan, and had a few drinks there before heading to a different bar called "Pet Sounds" where its possible to dance downstairs.

Because we needed to start heading to the airport on the Sunday at around 1pm, we didn't do so much on the Sunday besides a walk through Sodermalm and Gamla Stan again. I have to say that Stockholm definitely is a great city to visit. We were lucky to have sunny warm weather the whole time we were there, the people are really laid-back and nice, the city is easy to navigate around, plus as I mentioned below the food was yum too! I actually think it would also be lovely to do a driving tour through Sweden, as even the small amount of countryside that I saw outside of Stockholm was also very beautiful. Go see for yourself I say!!

It's been too long...

Since I posted on my Blog! I can't believe that its been weeks since I wrote here, but I have to say that these past weeks have been pretty crazy. I've been travelling, was sick for almost a week, and also work has been pretty full on...oh, did I mention too that I'm moving back to Sydney at the end of June, so I'm starting to figure out moving my life back to Australia. I've had moments in the past week where I've felt completely frazzled and stressed, but this week I'm feeling like yes I can do it, yes I can. In fact today I should of been flying across to London for three days, but I've re-scheduled the trip till next week because of the new volcanic eruption in Iceland. I was worried of being stuck in London. It wouldn't of been the first time. I was stuck (because of snow) in London last December for an extra six days to what I had planned, and this included my Birthday and Christmas. I had visions yesterday afternoon of the same thing happening again and so I re-booked to go next week. At Christmas time I was lucky, to have been stuck in London rather than say Islamabad where I wouldn't have known a soul. In London I have friends and places to stay, plus I could work at our London office, but during that extra six days, even with lovely people around me, I was very frustrated at not being able to just head out to the airport and hop on a flight to Milano. It was impossible, and this time around I decided to stay put. I just spent a long weekend in Stockholm and it was really great. I'll write a complete blog post about it in the next couple of days, but here are some Hipstamatic pics of Stockholm that I took:

Nice Day for a Royal Wedding

Today, 29th April I plus another billion or so people tuned in to watch Kate (or Catherine as she seems to be referred to more these days) Middleton marry her Prince Charming, William. To be honest this whole week has been just incredible and perhaps even a bit over the top with regards to the media coverage in the lead up to the wedding, and this morning, I could only wonder at how nervous the bride and groom must be feeling. I watched online via the BBC, and also loved the ongoing comments pre and then during the ceremony hurtling through the world of Twitter. Most people just seemed to be in awe at the happy couple themselves, Kate's amazing dress, who was wearing hats and who wasn't, and ruthlessly critiqued everybody else. It has to be said that there seemed to be just a couple of fashion faux pas, and for me most notably Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice (who although had incredible designer hats created by Philip Treacy), their whole ensembles just didn't seem to work.
I'm hardly one to talk about fashion faux pas as I think I'm constantly making them, but perhaps at such an event it would be more suitable to tone down the risk factor. Kate's dress created by Sarah Burton from Alexander McQueen will go down in history as being beautifully designed and suiting her perfectly.

In the end the ceremony and double kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace went off without a hitch and I personally was extremely excited for both Kate and William and I hope that they have a long and happy life together. Hopefully their life will not be matched with the same level of media scrutiny and ongoing stress as Charles and Diana, but we shall see as I think that the media world in general has changed a lot in the last 30 years; hopefully in some ways for the good.

In the last couple of weeks, I have discovered the poetry of Pablo Neruda; better late than never! I'm not sure how I've not heard of him before now, but his poems are really beautiful and so I thought to share some words of his on this special day.

"But I love your feet 
only because they walked 
upon the earth and upon 
the wind and upon the waters, 
until they found me." 
— Pablo Neruda

Have a lovely weekend!

Positano: Paradise

I'm back today after five days in Positano on the Amalfi Coast. I think that this trip was my fifth time to visit Positano, and from that figure you can tell that this beautiful town is one of my favourite parts of Italy!

But before I tell you about my trip to Positano I hadn't written about the last weekend of Salone in Milano. I actually ended up doing quite a bit that weekend. On the Friday night I was with colleagues and we were out and about around via Tortona and Savona, visiting different exhibitions, having a drink or two and also running into friends. On the Saturday afternoon I went for the first time to the Museo del Novecento. Luckily that Saturday afternoon there was not a huge queue outside and we were able to buy our tickets (€5 per person) and go straight in. The Museum is right in Piazza Duomo and next to Palazzo Reale. I have to say its really big, with lots of rooms and paintings and sculptures to see. We were there for a couple of hours, and I was really impressed. The art is all from Italian artists and takes you through the last two hundred or so years in Italy, and the most well known artists of this time. The museum only opened again a couple of months ago and hence the queues of people eager to take a look. Then on Saturday night I had an aperitivo at Roialto to celebrate a couple of friends birthdays and afterwards went with a couple of other friends off to an area about 20-25 minutes out of Milan centre near Sesto for the Kitsune Closing Party for Salone. The party was held in a big ex warehouse and as we discovered when we arrived the one end is in fact a restaurant where every Saturday night they hold a Tango night. So we accidentally walked into the wrong part of the building and had a lovely surprise when seeing couples all dancing tango together and enjoying their own Saturday night. Because we were a little early my friends and I ended up having a drink in this restaurant and watching in awe at the beautiful dancing. It was a really nice surprise, and unexpected addition to our night. The Kitsune party was good with a few different DJ's playing and we stayed there for a few hours before heading home. On the Sunday afternoon I decided to go one last time to Via Tortona because I wanted to go into the Superstudio to see the different exhibitions in there and also take some photos. I was glad that I had made the effort to go to see it and really enjoyed for example the Foscarini stand and their light show. 

So then for Positano! A very close friend of mine is currently living down there so myself and another friend went down to visit her. We flew into Naples and before heading to the coast wanted to try the famous pizzera Da Michele which had been written about by Elizabeth Gilbert in her book Eat Pray Love, and also was included in the film with Julia Roberts biting into a slice of their pizza. The pizzeria is known throughout Italy, even without any famous mentions. It's about a 10 minute walk from the main train station in Naples, Garibaldi. We ate the Doppia Mozzarella pizza which cost €5 for a whole pizza and I have to say it really was delicious. After our yummy pizza we caught the train to Sorrento and then bus to Positano arriving about 9pm. We actually were staying with my friend at her Mum's place and its situated just a little bit out of Positano itself, above Laurito beach. The view from their balcony terrace is out of this world, and even though I've been there before I always marvel at how beautiful it is to look out to sea, across to Positano, and even as far as Capri. The sunsets are great as well! We spent our days relaxing on the balcony, visiting Positano, eating dinner there pretty much every night too. I even had to work for Thursday and Friday, so I did whilst sitting on the balcony looking out to sea!!! Not bad I have to say. I also managed to pick up a little bit of a tan, which is nice after being so pasty white for months.

For one day we also went up to Ravello, which is the hilltop town above Amalfi. It was my second visit to Ravello, as I had been there in 1997 during my first ever trip to Italy. Ravello is not a massive town, and is well known for having magnificent views over the whole coastline plus is easy to walk around and to visit for one day. The most famous place to see the excellent views is Villa Cimbrone which as well as having the best position in the town also has a hotel and beautiful garden. It's possible also to take a walk around the gardens and for us it was really pretty with the spring blossoms a stand-out for me. One day I must go to Japan to see the cherry blossoms! I imagine its stunning. The only drawback of our visit to Ravello was the traffic. We caught the bus from Laurito to Amalfi and then another up to Ravello. We got stuck in some incredible Saturday afternoon traffic on the way back down from Ravello, and the five kilometre distance ended up taking us around one hour to arrive back to Amalfi. So after that we then had to fight to get onto the bus leaving from Amalfi heading to Positano and then onto Sorrento. There were so many people all scrambling to get onboard. As the locals told us the Easter weekend is like the middle of August in terms of overall numbers of tourists visiting and the bus company Sita doesn't actually add any additional services, which is a bit crazy, but quite Italian!


Some nice restaurants to try in Positano are:

Le Tre Sorelle: Its right on the beach, always popular, and you can eat pizza's or primi / secondi meals. The service is friendly and the food always good.
Da Vincenzo: I didn't eat at Da Vincenzo this trip but I have in the past. The food is lovely, also with good service, and the restaurant is popular with locals and tourists.
L'Incanto: Also right on the beach, quite large and we ate a lovely salad there one day for lunch. All types of food available, and again popular with locals and tourists.
La Taverna del Leone: It is actually on the road between Positano and Laurito. They have a few rooms too where people can stay. The restaurant is family run, nicely decorated and again has lovely food. We had a very nice meal and night there. In fact because they are not right in Positano it is possible to arrange a car to pick you up and also take you back to your hotel / pensione after your meal.
Da Adolfo: It was closed during this visit, as its right on Laurito beach and not yet open. I believe its due to open in May. It is really well known for their great lunches, atmosphere and of course location. The best way to get there is by a boat which picks people up at the wharf at Positano. It's also renowned for getting some quite famous clients too. For Aussies its also well known as Amanda Tabberer (daughter of Maggie) was married for a long time to one of the sons of the founders of the restaurant and she worked there for many years before setting up her own business in Positano too.

Here are some photos:

Salone continues: Thu night on Via Tortona

Last night I wandered around to Via Tortona for a bit of a look at Fuori Salone in the area. I just took a brief look and I'm planning to go again in the coming days as there is really a lot to see. I went with a few colleagues and we actually started by stopping by the semi pop-up store that has been set up by Parco Sushi for salone. For €10 its possible to have an aperitivo consisting of five pieces of sushi (really nice and fresh) and a cocktail. After leaving there we wandered along one of the side streets off Via Tortona, took a look at a fashion outlet store, then back onto Tortona and the now busy crowd of people all checking out various stores and exhibitions. Unfortunately the Superstudio at Tortona 27 was closing by the time we reached there, and we instead continued on to the next studio area, where there were still a few exhibitors open. One that was pretty cool was a Dutch design brand who had an open bar and DJ playing great music. It seemed that all the Dutchies were the majority of people on the dance floor!

A couple of pics taken in the last two days at Fuori Salone, Zona Tortona are below:

Salone del Mobile: Tue night at Triennale

Last night I went to the Triennale museum which is situated on the edge of Parco Sempione here in Milano where Campari was holding a Salone del Mobile party, as well as many designers who are also holding their Salone exhibitions throughout the museum. The Campari party was held in the garden bar of the museum. There was loads of people all checking out the different designs as well as enjoying a drink or two and a great brass band was playing and moving around the museum. Actually the band were really fun and had everyone dancing along as well. I particularly liked the exhibit by Maurizio Galente who mixed both beautiful fabrics, furniture design and even a bit of fashion as well.

Here are some photos from last night:

Hola!

This week in Milano is one of the best of the year, as Salone del Mobile (Furniture Fair) takes place. It is a week where Milan becomes truly international with visitors coming from all over the world. The parties are great and people gathering especially at Fuori Salone, which is around Zona Tortona, where thousands of people visit every night and day during the weekend, to see the additional exhibitors to the actual Fair which takes place at Rho. Though the best thing for me is the overall atmosphere in Milan. The city morphs into a really vibrant and fun place to be.

I'll be checking out Fuori Salone on Via Tortona in the next few days and surrounding streets which is always packed with people, checking out the exhibits and parties, so will take some photos to share. This year its great as well as my office is now located on Via Solari, so literally around the corner from all of this action.

The last week has seen some incredible weather in Milan, very un-spring like with temps hitting 28-30 degrees over the weekend. On Sunday I had a great day and went up to Lake Maggiore for the day with friends. We caught the train up to Arona, and then took a boat to Stresa where we had lunch. I even managed to get a little bit sunburnt! After lunch we spent some time relaxing in the sun and then caught the boat back to Arona again. There were a lot of people taking the opportunity to enjoy the great weather as well on the Lake. It was a lovely day, and I took a couple of photos, which you can see below. I've fiddled a little bit with the first one using the Photoshop application from my iPhone...