Last September I visited TOKYO + KYOTO :

LONDON

One of the oldest pubs in London - The LAMB & FLAG - Rose Street -  Great food and a lovely admosphere.

The Oldest Restaurant (1789) in London - RULES - Maiden Lane  - 
Fantastic food - great cocktails and charming waiters. You can just image yourself dining in the 19th century. What an experience !

FIGUEROA HOTEL in L.A.

A beautiful hotel (cuban/mexican style) in downtown LA right in the middle of all the ugly highrisers (Staples/LALive/Espn etc). A perfect oase....

http://www.figueroahotel.com/ 

ROUTE US 395 (CALIFORNIA)

I saw a short film sometime ago about the old cowboy films that were shot in this area (around Lone Pine). I drove this route and you're in the middle of a Lone Ranger setting.

A great place to stay is the http://www.dowvillamotel.com/ 

A mini movie (flipsnap) of the surroundings.....it just keeps rolling on.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH  (California) part 1

OFF THE BEATEN PATH (California) part 2

OFF THE BEATEN PATH ( California) part 3

OFF THE BEATEN PATH (California) part 4

On the road in California
Taken allsorts of snapshots in small towns - cities - back roads

Cycling over the Golden Gate Bridge

Woweee...what an experience! It is a great way to see the bridge and the surroundings. Half way I thought I was in an action movie, a helicopter came flying towards me and then ducked under the bridge and flew out the other side......pfew, the bridge is so high.

Once you are over the bridge, you can end up in Sausalito. A small village - lovely food - flowers - houses. From there you can take the ferry back to San Francisco and have a great view of the skyline .

Linguini with clams

Ceasar Salad

The Jolly Sportsman
A nice pub, with great food (lunch + dinner) in beautiful country-side surroundings.
Chapel Lane, East Chiltington, East Sussex BN7 3BA    www.thejollysportsman.com

NEW YORK  NEW YORK

Just been for a week and ooh boy, do I love this city. Here some pictures and info.The best way to see the city is on a bike. There are bike rentals allover town but I find the best is http://www.nycvelo.com/ very friendly bike nerds and not so expensive. This time we cycled for 5 days e.g. going along the Hudson, stopping at Chelsea Market ,then up to 93rd Street on Lexington ( a very nice small cookery shop Kitchen Arts & Letters). Across to Central Park /Cooper Hewitt National Design museum where they had a very interesting exhibition of Sonia Delaunay. Then down to Bryant Park where you can sit out on the grass with a good deli sandwich, and finishing at Union Square (my favorite bookstore Barnes&Nobles) where they had an open-air basketball game (NY versa LA).....was very spectacular.
Cycling over the Williamsburg bridge or Brooklyn Bridge is also a great experience...what a view !!!

Here are some great restaurants - coffeebars etc



http://www.pulinosny.com/  http://www.friedmanslunch.com/  http://www.joetheartofcoffee.com/  http://www.laboratoriodelgelato.com/

http://katzsdelicatessen.com/  http://www.freemansrestaurant.com/

http://www.esquinanyc.com/  Outside it looks (and is) a mexican tacobar, once inside you have to get past the big guy at the door and hope he will let you go down to the cellar.I have never eaten such lovely and special mexican food.

http://www.fryingpan.com/   It is an old lightship used by the US Coast Guard as floating Lighthouse. Now it is a great party-boot with drinks and food in a great setting on the Hudson (26th street).

http://www.peelsnyc.com/ A good place in the Lower East to have a cup of coffee or lunch/dinner (near the bycle shop).
http://www.theboweryhotel.com/dining.php Gemma is classy, but on a sunny day you can sit ouside on the Bowery and have some very good italian food.

During the bike rides I noticed so many big and small gardens or flower arrangements etc. Being a gardening addict myself I took some pictures

This last picture is of the High Line http://www.thehighline.org/ It is a wonderful walk from Gansevoort to 20th street. Where you can sit and lounge along the way in between the plants and have a great view over the city. It used to be an old train track (which you can still see among all the lovely greenery).

Just an impression of allsorts of street art I love taking pictures of

We took a day trip to Beacon, upstate on the Hudson near Poughkeepsie. You take the train from Grand Central and get off at 125th street Harlem (near the famous Apollo theater). Then you get the Metro North to Beacon , a great train ride (1.5 hrs) very near the Huson river and the view is great. There we visited DIA-BEACON , a museum of modern art ( Sol Lewitt - Richard Serra - Warhol - Donald Judd e.a). The buildings are really amazing , the size and the light are spectacular . Then a walk into the very small town of Beacon, with some real old american houses, shops etc.

FOOD
Sunday lunchtime, we got on the bike and took the ferry to Amsterdam North, to try out the new fish restaurant STORK. It was great food and the best setting ever, sitting in the sun and staring at the boots going by. Here some pictures:

On the way there...

We were so hungry after the bike ride, that I forgot to take a picture of a full plate. I had very nice shrimp croquettes with lovely crunchy bread and salad

http://www.restaurantstork.nl/

THE BEST FOOD EVER, RIGHT IN THE CENTRE OF AMSTERDAM.
Last friday we had such a wonderful dinner at LOF. The owner and cook , Sander Lauwerens, has magic fingers and his brain is full of special tastes and spectacular combinations. It is really a sensation, but in a humble, clean and original way.
Here are some of the dishes we had served from his kitchen:

Bluefin tuna with soya and yuzu

Risotto with asparagus and cantharel

One of his specialities is his homemade icecream. We always have to test his new flavors and quess what the ingredient is....oh boy this one was so difficult : Spanish and Italian Olive oil.

Fine cut veal with sweetbread

Soft thick curd (hangop) with a very fine wafer of rubarb. The curd is so luscious....you can't stop eating it.

LOF - Haarlemmerstraat 62  1013 ES Amsterdam  The Netherlands  0031206202997

BERLIN - 3 day visit.
Stayed in a good hotel. Very friendly people, fine breakfast and a well stacked bar plus lots of space and many books. www.michelbergerhotel.com



Walked, cycled and took the tram and U/S-bahn. The best way to see the city. I took pictures of the wall art - street life - sunday fleamarket - restaurants and cafe's. Visited a fantastic bookshop www.buecherbogen.com





If your looking for a real German schnitzel with all it's trimmings, go to www.weltrestaurant-markthalle.de
Another restaurant is www.whitetrashfastfood.com , it is a fun place with lots of live music and a cinema.

Visit www.designspongeonline.com/category/city Here you can find loads of great tips on all area's in Berlin (shops/food etc.etc).

A VISIT TO THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL - OPERA MADAME BUTTERFLY

Slipper shop in Barcelona Ciutat Vella.
Many jaquards in all shapes and sizes

JAPAN

I love travelling through Japan - crazy about the people - the food - the creativity - the bookshops - the countryside - the onsen (hot baths) etc etc. Of all my photo's I made strips of life in Japan.

A lovely white view of the canal near my studio in the centre of Amsterdam.

MARRAKECH

Very inspiring city...I was there in the autumn and the colours were incredible. We stayed at a wonderfull small hotel right in the centre. http://www.chambresdamis.com