I received a correspondence from Tunisia the other day, an urbex photographer from the capital city of Tunis who likes to shoot unknown and strange places in his hometown. His name is Mourad and he asked if I would be interested in an abandoned house of books he recently … okay– let’s just say he had me at “abandoned […]
Are you watching HBO’s new American sci-fi western thriller, Westworld? (Or at least trying to follow the twisted plot?). Based on Michael Crichton’s 1973 film of the same name, Westworld isn’t your typical historical theme park. Intended for rich vacationers who pay to live out their western fantasies, guests are welcomed to the pioneer town by artificially intelligent […]
I‘ve just returned from a weekend in the middle of nowhere, France, staying in an 11th century chateau with better modern art and design than any major museum I’d ever reluctantly queued up for. And a peculiar thing happened when I got home after 48 blissful hours away. At 10 o’clock on a Sunday evening, I suddenly began re-decorating. In the midst of carefully re-arranging […]
I got a sweet little tip in my email inbox the other day from a gal who collects vintage photographs of women and their motorcycles. Alison Iven compiles them all on her Tumblr, Women Who Ride, which has become an extensive treasure trove for celebrating women riders. It’s endlessly inspirational, and here are some of my favourites… Cuban singer […]
Don’t count on me as a book critic here and I’m certainly no literary connoisseur, but one thing you might be able to rely on is that I’m not bad at sniffing out a good story. And by now, I think I’ve gotten to know the kinds of stories you like pretty well. So I […]
There was once a vibrant neighbourhood in Manhattan known for its stores signs and newspapers written in Arabic, the smell of fresh Baklava wafting from cafés, mothers wearing veils watching their children from the stoop playing in the street. Little Syria existed just south of the current location of the World Trade Center, roughly in present-day Tribeca; […]
The French National Library is one of my favourite places to time travel when I need a good distraction, especially since they have so much of their archives online to get lost in on the Gallica BNF website. Today I found a file with a rather large collection of paper toys of Christmas past from the early […]
In the province of Trapani, Sicily, there’s a portal through time about eighty meters high and seventy meters deep. Nestled inside the natural opening of two mountain peaks, lies a tiny village, consisting of quaint earth-colored houses, a chapel, stables, workshops and one cobbled main street. The village “piazza” of Grotto Mangiapane is located at the mouth of the cave where […]
Tucked away in an overlooked neighbourhood of East London, quieter and smaller than Shoreditch but with the potential to outshine Brick Lane, Exmouth Market is an unsung gem of the city, a failsafe foodie stomping ground, safeguarded by locals and creative start-ups who set up shop in the hood over the last decade. I had made a […]
I once heard this is where French Presidents take their mistresses. Discretely tucked away in a backstreet of South Pigalle, it doesn’t look like much from the outside, but I think that’s the idea. The windows are veiled with curtains hung just high enough so as not to give anything away about what or who is inside… Well, […]
On one hand, they’re undeniably beautiful and intricate patterns that could make a very attractive scarf collection were a fashion designer willing to give them a style comeback. On the other hand, if anyone were to take a second look at your scarf, they would find the image of a communist regime… These are the communist […]
Having grown up a London girl, I always feel too guilty and awkward to stay in a hotel when I go back to visit, so I usually end up crashing on someone’s couch. But London is becoming home to some of the most interesting boutique hotels in the world as of late, which means I’m […]
