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Brighton is the perfect day trip from London. Only an hour by train, there's a beach, a fun pier, great food... and yet I had only been once. I was already planning another trip when I received an invite to spend the weekend at the new Brighton Harbour Hotel with some...
Brighton is the perfect day trip from London. Only an hour by train, there's a beach, a fun pier, great food... and yet I had only been once. I was already planning another trip when I received an invite to spend the weekend at the new Brighton Harbour Hotel with some other bloggers to get to know the real Brighton. Sounds like a plan! Wander around The Lanes If there's one thing you cannot miss, it's wandering around The Lanes. Together with the Brighton Pier this is probably also the most touristy part of the city, but I love it. It's a maze of narrow streets with so many interesting shops. And coffee shops... So many coffee and cake shops! Drink coffee in...
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Coming from the land of 'cheese heads', it shouldn't come as a big surprise that I love (love!) cheese. I could eat it all the time (actually I do). I'm happy to follow any food expert's advise on how to eat more healthy, as long as they don't touch my cheese. This...
I shouldn't have done it.... See what happens when you start talking about nice sunny autumn days? Rain, cold, storm...Everything that's not to like about the British weather. Sorry! So what do you do when looking out of the window makes you want to crawl right back...
Yes, it's official... Autumn has arrived in London. Even though we've been lucky to get some nice sunny days lately, the changing color of the trees says it all. I actually love this season. Sure, I can do without the rain, storms, electric hair and red runny noses,...
I'm meeting my local guide Tobias from Insider London in the Andaz Hotel at Liverpool Street. Insider London offers different kinds of walking tours in London and they've invited me for their East End Explorer tour. I've been to this area before, but today I'm hoping...
It almost felt like I'd stepped into a Mary Poppins movie. With chimney sweeps and women walking around in Victorian dresses. King's Cross went back in time this weekend to explore its gritty industrial past and to celebrate the transformation of the station and area....
The little girl next to me asking her mother 'are we going to fall into the water?' didn't help, but the view from the London Eye was quite amazing nonetheless. Apparently it's all about conquering my fear of heights lately, so when I got invited to visit the London...
See that tall building on the first picture, rising above the rest of London? That's The Shard, London's newest addition to its skyline and currently the tallest building (244m) in Western Europe. I'm not really a big fan of heights. Being from the Netherlands, I'm...
The only reason to get me out of bed at 4am on a Saturday would be to catch a plane to some exotic destination, or to watch a 'you need to experience this' kind of sunrise. This morning however I managed to wake up at that same time, get dressed and cross the city...
Have you heard about the cronut? This love child of a croissant and a donut is the new foodie hype in London. Officially only the one created by pastry chef Dominique Ansel in New York can use the name 'cronut', where you need to wait in line for two hours...
Not only am I going to be in a cookbook...I'm also making an appearance in an actual TV show. For the second episode of Anne's Kitchen she's taking me to Marylebone to show me where she finds inspiration for her recipes. And Anne surprised me with some...
With all the commotion around royal baby George, I felt I needed to learn a bit more about the history of the British royal family. And what better way to do that than to walk around in a palace where many of them have lived since 1689 until today: Kensington Palace....
For some reason I don't buy second-hand books very often. But I find second-hand book markets impossible to resist. Even if I'm not looking for something in particular, and probably won't buy anything, I always love the sight of all those books on display. Some really...
Cupcakes in London are - like pretty much anywhere else in the world - incredibly popular. What's not to like about those sugary, colorful, beautifully decorated little cakes? One of my first stops in London was Hummingbird Bakery that is famous for its American style...
You'd think that for me - being left-handed - moving to England would feel like coming home. Finally a country that understands that 'right' doesn't always have to be right. So if it's the thought that counts, then it's actually quite nice that for that 10 percent of...
Just like most cliches turn out to be true, most tourist attractions are popular for a reason. They're usually worth visiting. And there are so many of them in this city! Even after four months I still haven't ticked all the city highlights boxes. But on the weekends...
The last time my parents and I were in London together, I was fifteen and didn't care much about what I wanted to do, see or eat. This weekend however, they came to visit me. For the first time since I moved to the city. Expecting to have a fabulous weekend.... Oh no,...
Every year the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park commissions a different architect to design a temporary pavilion. This year's pavilion is created by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto. The result is quite impressive. It's like a cloud made out of white steel. No roofs, no...
Unfortunately for me, I have to cross half the city to get there, but I love shopping in Marylebone High Street. Here you'll find Daunt Books, the Conran Shop, The Natural Kitchen, La Fromagerie and other great shops, boutiques and restaurants. So when I read that...
One of the things I love about London is that it has so many beautiful parks. Sure, the city can be smelly and polluted with all its traffic fumes, but there's always a park nearby where you can escape the city buzz and relax. This morning I woke up early and went to...
Even though I've been blogging for only a few months now, I've already met so many great people thanks to this blog. If you think bloggers are these nerdy people who can only communicate via their computer... You're wrong. Bloggers are cool! Well, and a bit nerdy from...
The Burlington Arcade on Piccadilly is really old school London. Fancy stores for the richer happy few. So for me it wouldn't be the place to go to if I want to go shopping, but the walkway itself is beautiful and definitely worth a visit. If only for the 'Burlington...
I don't really get the UK holiday system with its Bank Holidays yet. So I'm not exactly sure why, but this weekend we had the Monday off as well. And the weather was perfect (unlike today) which made it even better. It turned out to be a weekend full of music. On...
Cycling in London is not as easy as riding a bicycle. When you grow up in the Netherlands, as a child you learn how to walk, talk and ride a bicycle (not necessarily in that order). Everybody rides their bike to get around. There are even more bikes than people. So...
When I was living in Paris, every time someone came to visit me, I basically took them to the same places that I knew and liked. Which is great for them (no need to go through tourist guides), but as a result I had to go see the Mona Lisa over and over again instead...
There are so many famous London icons: the Big Ben, the London Eye... and of course the red telephone box and the black cab. Even though you still see black cabs pretty much everywhere you go, you'll also notice that many of them are now being used as a moving...
Remember the house with the blue door where Hugh Grant lived in Notting Hill? Well, in London they don't only like to paint their doors, but you'll find streets like this where each house has a completely different colour. Although the neighbours do seem to have...
Sometimes you just need to be a tourist in your own city. And as it is a long weekend, which means that the city is filled with tourists anyway, I thought why not join them. So I rode my bike -Â through the rain - to Greenwich. On my way to Greenwich Park I walked by...
Sea salt and I, it's a growing love affair. What started as seasoning for my weekend egg, then scrubbing, hair spray.... has now evolved to sea salt in my chocolate. What else? I promised you more chocolate, and did I find the right spot to go to! Artisan du...
You would think that in a city where there is so much to do, there just isn't any time to sit down and read a book. But actually I don't think I've ever seen so many people read in public. It's the perfect way to kill some time on your commute to work or wherever...
I'm a bit of a chocoholic. Nothing new for people who have known me for a while. I thought that by now I kind of gained control over my addiction, but London is just full of temptations. This Saturday I walked by this place called Ben's Cookies and I couldn't resist...