Portobello Road, London
Photo for CMC © Kevin D. Cordeiro 2009
It’s like visiting old friends, when walking down Portobello Road. The sights and sounds of the street market, the second hand shops and the antiques trade, visited by both Londoners and tourists alike, make you feel at home, right through the heart of Notting Hill.
I’ve been nominated by Erica Johansson who writes at Travel Blissful, to do a Tripbase blog tag for 3 travel secrets of mine – Thank You, Erica!
There are innumerble places of interest to visit when travelling, so in that sense, I would rather that each traveller unravels their own secret places of wonder, be it a state of art museum in a metropolitan state or enjoying a quiet dinner in the backstreets of Florence.
My travel recommendations in this post has to do with the practicalities of travelling in itself…
Secret 1
Drink plenty of water!
Photo for CMC © Jan-Erik Nilsson, Cheryl M. Cordeiro-Nilsson 2009
Long haul flights are not always the most comfortable if you’re not flying Business or First Class. What I’ve found most useful is to have my own bottled water with me, so that I have instant access to water, without having to call for it. I even tend to drink more than necessary when on long flights because of the dehydrating cabin air.
Continue reading “3 travel secrets…”
Natural History Museum, London
Photo for CMC © Kevin D. Cordeiro 2009
If London’s Natural History Museum is on your list of places of interest to visit, then set aside the better part of a day to do this – preferably on a full stomach too – because you could easily spend hours touring not only its exhibition wings, but its surrounding compounds on the outside of this Gibbs and Canning building.
One of three large museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London, along with the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Victorian architecture of this museum is strikingly majestic in contrast to its neighbours.
The London Eye
Photo for CMC © Kevin D. Cordeiro 2009
Tourism has gone global, and it seems that almost every major city in the world – from Berlin to Beijing, Singapore to Melbourne – has its own gigantic ferris wheel as part of its tourist attractions. There are plans for one to be built in Gothenburg, but as Swedish consensus go, the idea is popular with the politicians but not with the majority of the population.
When I read what Sir Richard Rogers (winner of the 2007 Pritzker Architecture Prize) said about the Eye:
The Eye has done for London what the Eiffel Tower did for Paris, which is to give it a symbol and to let people climb above the city and look back down on it. Not just specialists or rich people, but everybody. That’s the beauty of it: it is public and accessible, and it is in a great position at the heart of London.
I was sceptical and had several questions – what type of symbol was it for the British peope? Was it considered an architectural eyesore on the Southern Bank of the River Thames? And was it indeed in a “great position at the heart of London”? Since there isn’t much to view by the Thames, especially at low tide.
The London Eye has been around since 2000 (Singapore opened its Flyer in 2008) and having observed its workings for some time, I think it possesses one of the prettier designs for this type of city attractions. It’s thin, thread-like spokes look impossibly delicate from afar.
And I think I could agree after all, that it does offer people a different perspective of London. The view of the city, from atop the wheel, is quite spectacular!
That many think it a phenomena is also confirmed by the number of visitors The Eye gets in a year. Being one of London’s top tourist attractions, and having won more than 75 awards since it’s opening in 2000.
Above all, it took a team of hundreds of people from 5 different countries, to make this project a reality. So, more than serving its purpose of letting people look down into the city, the structure symbolizes the reality of the global organization of workforces and what can be accomplished in today’s interconnected world.
A large golden ametrine and diamond pendant.
All pictures are from W.A. Bolin, Stockholm, who are having their Autumn/Winter quality auction on Sunday 15 November 2009. Visit their website for more details on the auction, or to place a bid.
Adding to the festive end of year feeling, the Autumn/Winter quality auctions are about to take place in Sweden. Viewing for W.A. Bolin in Stockholm began already today, with a show of some of the most beautiful pieces of jewellery to brighten the short lived days. Most surprising this season was that I fell in love with jewellery that were mostly French made!
The above is no. 1132 from their auction catalogue. A large golden purple ametrine (ca. 30 carats) and diamond pendant with diamonds weighing ca. 1.2 carats.
Continue reading “Favourite pieces of jewellery from W.A. Bolin, Stockholm”
London Guards
Photo for CMC © Kevin D. Cordeiro 2009
I was about seventeen the first time I visited London, and even then, the one distinguishing colour that, from then on, brought associations for me about the city was red.
It seemed a distinct, just a hint, darker shade of fire engine red that echoed throughout the city, whether on the uniforms of the Guards, or at bus-stops, the Underground, restaurants and pubs…
By night.
A vibrant red that for me, has become the heartbeat of the city, a reminder of the day gone by and a reassurance for the day to come, of knowing that the city though quieter by night, is only in temporary slumber.
For a night out this season…iridescent eyeshadow in various vibrant shades, Chanel No. 19, Chanel Aqualumiére lipstick, no. 42, Macao, Chanel nail polish in blush pink, a pair of light gold shoes in silk.
Photo for CMC © Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson 2009
The local shops in Sweden are already decking out in Christmas gear, much to the delight of the early Christmas shoppers! And all these festive shop window displays, whether it’s interior design shops suggesting a state-of-art Christmas tree, a traditional Swedish julbock made of straw and wrapped in red ribbons, or a clothing store suggesting an outfit to a fantastic New Year’s Eve party, heightens the season’s anticipation.
When it comes to what to wear, I think decorative shoes have certainly made their mark this season, with consumers becoming acquainted with eccentric designs from Marc Jacobs to bold chunky heels from Prada and bejewelled heels from Prada’s sister Miu Miu.
Bows affixed to shoes, thanks for designers such as Dolce & Gabbana, Lanvin and Vivien Westwood (hearts on shoes actually), whether front, sides or back, have also made it to the runways, adding to the revelry of dressing for this upcoming Christmas and New Year’s, that are just about 6 to 8 weeks away.
So in this season of parties, I’m already looking forward to a display of exotic looking shoes, casually tossed at entrances, with designs that are as individual as the wearers themselves!
Photo for CMC © Jan-Erik Nilsson 2009
At the chocolate fair, with some of the best nougat in hand.
Photo for CMC © Jan-Erik Nilsson, Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson 2009
If there was anything that could make me get out of bed early on a rainy Saturday morning, this would be it – Gothenburg’s Chocolate and Délicatesse Festival 2009!
It was not just the thought of free chocolate samples at this event that spurred me into action on this soggy morning, but of living and breathing the life and sharing the space of chocolate connoisseurs, even for a few hours, made my day.
Upon arrival at the Göteborgs City Museum, where the event was held, I realized that Swedes loved their chocolates. Almost half of the city of Gothenburg thought the same as I – to get in first – where not even wind and rain would keep them away from this divine manna. The queue to the entrance ran almost 200m, right past Tyska Kyrkan, the German Church that stood beside this museum, touching the tip of Gustaf Adolfs Torg along Norra Hamngatan.
The crowd.
The event hall that spanned one and a half floors of the museum, seemed stiflingly inadequate and compact for this event. Cold and near freezing outdoors, the crowd turned warm very quickly when indoors. Still, having grown up tropical, I was surprised to see some people literally turning to ice-cream eating to keep cool, the queue to the lone ice-cream vendor rivaling the queues of the more attractive chocolate stalls.
Truffles in all forms imaginable. Anyone for a Bailey’s?
at Jeanna Kanold who together with her four daughters are Flickorna Kanold (The Kanold Girls)
The most spectacular view at the event was the vast exhibit of chocolate truffles. The stalls had bite-sized morsels so colourful, the candied sight simply took your breath away! I found myself standing in front of Kanolds for example, just absorbing the artistry of work, and whatever fillings of the truffle seemed secondary; after all, truffles have been around since 1895 (created by M. Dufour in France) and are more or less made with a ganache center coated in chocolate or cocoa powder that is usually spherical, conical, square or curved shape. But soon, the taste test came along and the perspective is shifted when you begin to decide which of these precious heaven-filled small packages you’d like to bring home, the ones with cream, caramel, nuts, berries, nougat, fudge, toffee, mint, liquor etc. The choice to make was mind-boggling!
Continue reading “Gothenburg’s Chocolate and Délicatesse Festival, 2009”
Quizás Grand Cru, Swiss Beschle chocolate made from cocoa beans grown in the indigenous regions of the Venezuelan amazon. It contains only 3 ingredients – cocoa mass (72%), cocoa butter and cane sugar.
Photo for CMC © Jan-Erik Nilsson, Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson 2009
The Gothenburg Chocolate and Delikatess Festival 2009 held recently gave us the opportunity to sample literally hundreds of varieties of chocolates and truffles. We came home with some of our favourites, like this bar of Quizás Grand Cru. This chocolate bar is the result of a Swiss German joint venture of the famous chocolatiers Basel Beschle, and the project developers / Latin America specialists Pascal Wirth and Niklaus Blumer.
Quizás No 2 (72%) Premier Cru Single Origin / Ocumare de la costa Venezuela.
Quizás produce more such chocolate bars made of rare, single bean varieties and single area cocoas, including their Quizás No. 1 (74%) Premier Cru Criollo Porcellana, Criollo Zulia Venezuela and their Quizás No. 2 (72%) Premier Cru Single Origin, Ocumare de la costa Venezuela.
With the world of chocolatiers dreaming up ever more fantasmic chocolate confections in all varieties of flavours mixed into the cocoa (think fruits, nuts, nougat to liquor), it was an about turn to realize that these chocolate bars, when striped down to their bare essentials – single beans from a single region, with only the 3 ingredients of cocoa mass, cocoa butter and cane sugar – could jolt your tastebuds into realizing what gourmet chocolate really is.