Subodh Gupta’s Cooking the World – fabulous pots and pans installation – you could even have a meal inside!
From Czechia to Basel to catch the world’s largest Art Fair. Cousins Diego and Christine come for the weekend, and I find them on Friday night, sipping wine with Ross on the banks of the Rhine. Continue reading
The KaiserHaus, where my grandfather Hermann Ungar was born and the most imposing house in the Jewish quarter
We set off early for Boskovice. The drive takes us through gentle undulating hills, with verdant pine forests adorning the hilltops like crowns. Once off the main road, we pass a cart pulled by two handsome palomino horses with a pony trotting alongside and we are in countryside that looks much as I imagine it would have done in my grandfather’s time. Now there are fields of lavender pyrethrum, green wheat and yellow rape, all contrasting with the azure blue of the sky. It reminds me of Ungar’s story The Brothers which describes such a landscape. Continue reading
Bonnie on the Charles Bridge, Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral in the background
This was my fifth trip to Prague, but one with a difference. Eight years after discovering the existence of an older half-sister, I am taking her on a journey to discover her heritage. Bonnie has never been to Prague, let alone Boskovice where our family hail from, and she as thrilled as a little girl waiting for her Christmas presents. Continue reading
Brekekekèx-koàx-koáx! Brekekekèx-koàx-koáx! Richard Morse, our polyglot puzzler and gamer supreme, replies to the frogs’ chorus with this Aritsophenean refrain each night as we sit down to supper in our magical villa overlooking the sea at La Londe-les-Maures. Continue reading
My serenity sculpture down the garden with the camellias, primulas and acer busting into leaf
Almost six months after I started consultations over my poor old hip, I finally saw the consultant at UCLH today, complete with MRI scans. Continue reading
Lining up to be judged!
If you were expecting photos of Heidis in dirndls you will be disappointed. In our village of Champery, today marks the 75th anniversary of the annual parade of the most prized local beauties – the cows that frolic in the high Alp all summer. This event takes place just before the lovelies are put out to grass. Continue reading
Man Friday
After a week on the boat we treat ourselves to a few days of pampering at Soneva Fushi. This is a ‘barefoot luxury’ island, with secluded villas adorning its outer edges like a string of pearls, encompassing verdant rainforest, populated by fruit bats, bunnies, a few chickens and white-breasted waterhens which cluck around followed by fluffy tweeting chicks, and poo liberally on the verandahs. This is our third visit; the last time we came was within a few weeks of Louise’s death so it has bittersweet connotations. But we do remember it being a place of beauty and tranquillity. Continue reading
We are missing our diving now we are based back in Europe. So I booked a sneaky two-week holiday in the Maldives, the first week on a live-aboard, and the second in Soneva Fushi, a ‘barefoot luxury’ resort we repair to when our souls and bodies need replenishing. Continue reading
Baselworld! I should have known something was up when my flight was packed and I was as ever squeezed in the back row by BA. I simply refuse to pay extra to book seats and the punishment is banishment to the last row of the plane. Continue reading
Ross took this fine photo of the Brandenburg Gate using HDR
A romantic weekend break in Berlin. Sounds wonderful, but it gets off to a bad start. Ross and I are all set to arrive simultaneously from London and Basel and meet just in time for pre-dinner drinks in our boutique hotel, i31, in the Mitte area. Continue reading
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