Travel Archives - Page 3 of 14

Fancy Hotel of the Week – Chateau Whistler Christmas

January 13, 2014 By Paola Leave a Comment

We’ve just concluded a weekend of festivities for the Minx’s birthday and it feels like the New Year has finally started. I actually love this time of year as I feel no guilt about sitting indoors in front of my computer, hiding from the unremitting greyness and gloom of a Seattle January, and can actually get sh*t done. Although Christmas feels like a long time ago now, I just wanted to share some photos of our trip to Whistler this year, mostly because we had the most wonderful time. We don’t have any family here in the States, so it’s become our tradition to drive up to Whistler and take a pampering break in a hotel. This year we managed to score a deal and stayed for the first time at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, nestling at the foot of Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler’s Upper Village. And all was utterly perfect. Unfortunately for our finances it was so perfect that we might just have to return every year, deal or no deal. From the minute we drew up at the front entrance, it felt like Christmas had begun. Yes, roaring log fires, a quite ludicrous number of Christmas trees, life-sized gingerbread houses, beautiful wintry walks across the golf course, a big Christmas dinner-dance, macarons and chocolate fondue on tap, a very hard-working Santa and Mrs Claus, and even a Christmas stocking hung on the door of everyone’s room on Christmas morning are going to very difficult to beat.

There was obviously also far too much scope for ‘sparkly light’ photos. Apologies. The Minx-sized gingerbread house was all completely edible and smelt incredible. The view from our room. Not much snow (though enough for the Husband and the Minx to enjoy their skiing) but the golf course was still pretty. On the night before Christmas Mrs Claus read to the kids under the tree. Then we had enjoyed eiswein and macarons in bed while watching a relaxing movie. And Santa’s special stocking delivery the following day was a really magical ouch. Amazing food, gorgeous decorations and quite a good band actually for the big Christmas dinner-dance.

It was really hard to leave.

Grand Hotel of the Week: Fairmont Hotel Vancouver

May 31, 2013 By Paola 2 Comments

There’s a great exhibition currently showing at the Vancouver Art Gallery entitled ‘Grand Hotel: Redesigning Modern Life’. I saw it when I was in Vancouver last month and highly recommend it to anyone in the area who loves hotels like I do.

The exhibition traces the rise of the modern hotel, and celebrates hotel design, hotel life and hotel branding (lots of examples from the Ace Hotels funnily enough). It also, not surprisingly, makes a lot of mention of the venerable Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, just opposite the Vancouver Art Gallery and fabulously located in the heart of downtown, where we stayed on my recent visit to Vancouver.

The iconic copper turrets of the ‘Castle in the City’ are nowadays somewhat lost among the other high rise buildings, and its gargoyles and statues look down on a sea of plate glass, but inside it’s just as you would expect – like its sister hotel the Fairmont Empress, it’s a gracious, elegant, timeless example of what hotel living really ought to be.

That’s not to say that they’ve forgotten all the modern requirements of a luxury hotel. The pool was one of the best hotel pools I’ve seen, and amazing for a tightly-packed downtown location, and the staff was kindness and helpfulness personified.

And on a Friday night the downstairs bar was hopping, and serving fabulous cocktails. I had the new-for-Spring ‘Royal Boulevardier’ cocktail, a heady mix of bourbon, vermouth, Aperol and maple syrup, which was delicious, but will get you royally somethinged if you’re not careful. (Click here for a PDF of Fairmont hotels Modern Classics cocktail menu, complete with recipes).

Our room was spacious, comfortable and supremely elegant.

Reflection of the hotel from our upstairs window

And the gold stickers on the loo rolls made me smile.

Full disclosure: We were given an upgrade to the Gold Lounge in return for a blog post. However, the hotel has has no influence on the contents of this post and all opinions are my own. We just had a right royal time here.

Wonderful Whidbey Island

May 29, 2013 By Paola 6 Comments

No Photoshop filters were harmed in the construction of this photo. It really did look like this.

I’ve been feeling just a tad overwhelmed over the last week or so – moving eleventy million tons of STUFF back into the remodeled kitchen and bathroom; shooting some pics for a friend’s cookbook (yay!); holding the fort while the Husband was in China and generally rushing about like a crazy person.

So when the lovely Clare Barboza told me there were still places left on her 2013 Farm to Table Photography Workshop this weekend on glorious Whidbey Island (just across the water from Seattle), I was wondering whether it might be a bridge (or indeed a ferry ride) too far.

But with the aid of some dear friends taking the Minx for a sleepover, a wonderful Husband babysitting through his jetlag and some frantic late night packing I managed to make it work. And I was SO very glad I did.

I met some mindblowingly talented and just plain delightful women, ate fabulous food (thanks to the amazing Sean, Joe and Christine), drank too much wine; enjoyed gorgeous weather, sunsets, rainbows and scenery; and generally spent some quality time with my camera, which I always find to be incredibly soothing for my soul. We stayed at at the exceptionally comfortable Willow Pond Lake House; visited two farms – Willowood, where they grow organic vegetables and Little Brown Farm where they keep goats and make the most delicious cheese and butter; shopped at the very cute Bayview Farmer’s Market and then got to style and shoot the farm produce.

As with the Gulf Shores workshop I have MUCH to think about and process (and I will be blogging both at much more length), but in the meantime here are a few photos of the gardens at the house and from a pond nearby.

Can you see now why I loved it so much?

Many thanks to Melissa (seen squatting above), who taught me how to ‘paint’ beautiful abstracts like this.

Stay tuned for the full story of the baby vegetables and the baby goats.

Gulf Shores Food Photography Workshop

May 1, 2013 By Paola 10 Comments

Sometimes you have weekends that are almost impossibly inspiring; good for the deepest depths of your soul and quite possibly life changing.

This last weekend I attended a food photography workshop in Gulf Shores Alabama, with the amazing Helene Dujardin of Tartelette (and Senior Photographer at cookbook publisher Oxmoor House) and the equally amazing Seattle-based food photographer Clare Barboza.

I’m still processing what exactly the workshop meant to me (there’ll be a blog post with the images I took later this week), but one of the most quietly inspiring and good-for-the-soul aspects was the location. Who knew that Gulf Shores, Alabama was so incredibly beautiful?

Every day, we took walks on the enormous, blindingly white, sparkly sand beach – like dunes of soft sugar – and admired the seabirds and the soft pastel colours of the seagreen waves, the seashells and the pretty wooden houses on stilts, lined up like so many macarons on the water’s edge (I’m clearly in a dessert-y frame of mind).

It was one of those places that always looks different depending on the light, but always equally enchanting.

Gulf Shores, I’m so sorry I doubted you.

Come take a walk with me.

The name of the house where we were staying seemed hugely appropriate.

And I wondered if the clouds on the flight back were telling me something.

Check out Clare Barboza’s blog post, to see what fun we had. And here’s another blog post from my lovely classmate Jerry Deutsch. I met such fabulous people on this weekend.

Amtrak Train Journey from Seattle to Vancouver

April 17, 2013 By Paola 1 Comment

On Friday I did something very extraordinary and made the trip from Seattle to Vancouver ON. THE. TRAIN.

Of course I used to take trains all the time when I was in Europe, but here on the West Coast (is it different on the East Coast?) trains seem to be few and far between and are a very much mistrusted form of transport.

You have to time your Amtrak train trip to Vancouver perfectly – the train only goes once a day, though there is a bus service.

Which is the most tremendous shame, because once on board you are rewarded with the most stunning journey.

The clouds and rain on the way to Vancouver were quietly beautiful, as the train hugged the coastline and seemed to fly across the water, before turning inland past the pastoral idyll of Skagit County.

And then on Sunday I was welcomed back to the US by the most glorious sunset imaginable.

It really was ridiculously beautiful. Pacific Northwesterners, you have to do this journey at least once.

I’m back in the CreativeLIVE studios once more doing a Lightroom workshop with ace photographer and Lightroom genius Jared Platt. I highly recommend you download this course if you want to get to grips with Lightroom once and for all.

Palm Springs Uptown Design District Shopping and Dining Guide

April 12, 2013 By Paola 4 Comments

I’m off to Vancouver tomorrow bright and early for a weekend with friends, so I thought it was about time I posted up the last of my images from Palm Springs, before I get a whole bunch of new ones.

Truth be told, last time we went to Palm Springs we had been a bit disappointed by the shopping and dining out options. We visited some great places, yes, but overall the downtown area came across as a bit tired and down at heel – resting on its laurels from a bygone era, like a vacationing grandma.

Clearly we weren’t the only people who felt like that because in the intervening three or so years since we were last there a whole district of fabulous shops and boutiques, art galleries, vintage furniture stores and cool restaurants has sprung up – the Palm Springs Uptown Design District, on North Palm Canyon Drive.

The area begins north of Cheeky’s – breakfast here is still a highlight of any trip to Palm Springs, though be sure to get there early as the lines are LONG.

On the other side of the street from Cheeky’s is Copley’s which has a beautiful outside terrace on which to drink superb cocktails and eat excellent food. The highlight for us, though, was the fabulous sticky toffee pudding that British chef Andrew Copley has snuck onto the menu.

We were told by a shop owner that Trio, just north of Copley’s on North Palm Canyon Drive had spearheaded the development of the area, and it certainly was a fabulous place to eat, big and bustly, with a fun and funky interior, impeccable friendly service, and a menu full of upmarket comfort food (and truly excellent mac ‘n cheese for the Minx).

North of Cheeky’s you’ll find some extremely cool vintage furniture stores and Jakes restaurant. We didn’t have a chance to eat at Jakes – though we stuck our heads in and it looked like fun – but it comes highly recommended by people we met at the hotel.

Carry on walking and you’ll reach a small Spanish style hidden courtyard, where’ll you find the fabulous NotNeutral store, selling beautifully designed contemporary homewares. Originally conceived as a temporary pop-up shop, it’s now a perfect fit in the design district. We could have bought the whole store and nearly did.

The courtyard also hides the glamorous interior of Workshop Kitchen + Bar. We really enjoyed this restaurant, from the cool décor to the duck fat fries, the use of seasonal ingredients, the excellent cocktails and the ‘large format’ options, which led to the family sharing a large platter full of mustardy chicken and delicious vegetables.

The pop-up store concept thrives at Raymond Lawrence. Named for the delightfully friendly owners they feature a number of pop-up collections in their quirky store.

We fell in love with these limited edition portraits of vintage Barbies by Judy Ragagli. The cutie in the middle with the curled brown hair ended up coming home with us.

The jewel of the design district is Palm Springs designer Trina Turk’s huge eponymous store, featuring women’s and men’s fashions and the world’s most colourful homewares. Spent a lot of time ogling cushions here.

With the development of the design district, Palm Springs has just become even more fabulous, if rather dangerous for the wallet and waistline. I for one can’t wait to go back and am fascinated to see how it develops over the next few years.

Canoe Island French Camp

April 5, 2013 By Paola 2 Comments

This blog post is by way of a little favour to a friend.

You probably already know how much we love Canoe Island French Camp in this family, and that’s before the Minx has even been to one of their residential camps on her own.

We always have an idyllic time at their Family Camps and I had a magnificent time on my own at Patisserie Camp last year.

Canoe is like a little Garden of Eden dropped into Puget Sound – a perfect little island with its own forest and beaches and astonishing views in every direction. The camping here is high class – you sleep in brand new waterproof canvas tipis and have access to a comfortable club house with a pool, games room and proper indoor washing facilities. There are opportunities to learn French if you’d like – many of the camp counsellors are French – but it’s by no means obligatory and the French atmosphere just adds a delightful touch.

And the food is unbelievable, created by the resident chef and a young pastry chef who take the delectable produce from their own gardens and the surrounding islands and turn it into utterly scrummy restaurant-quality meals. And then there’s the sailing, the kayaking, the tennis, the yoga and the opportunity just to curl up in a hammock looking out to sea with with some knitting or a good book.

The very nicest thing, though, is the laid-back and utterly relaxing vibe. Connie and Joseph, the camp directors, are kindness personified and do everything to make sure your stay is as comfortable as possible. And everyone who works there, even the resident animals, are just so friendly and charming.

Every Spring Connie and Joseph run weekend camps for adults, which allow grown ups to participate in all this magnificence and also contribute to a scholarship fund for financially disadvantaged kids, so they too can benefit from the incredible learning opportunities at Canoe. Each time I spend a weekend there, I feel like I’ve been on a week-long vacation.

Connie asked me if I could promote these weekends on the blog and I am delighted to do so – Canoe is one of my happy places. If you live anywhere close to the Pacific Northwest and want to do some yoga, some art, some cooking, or just learn French, then I can’t recommend these weekends highly enough (and although the price of your stay includes a donation, they really are excellent value for money as you get looked after so very well).

Get more details about the adult camps here. I think you’ll be seeing me and the Minx at the Mother’s Day Camp.

Palm Springs Modernism Week Bus Tour

March 14, 2013 By Paola 5 Comments

Though they were officially sold out, I was lucky enough to squeak my way onto one of the famous Modernist Week bus tours. Apparently if you show up on the day of the tour there’s a good chance of getting on one thanks to no-shows.

I can’t recommend a tour highly enough if you happen to be in Palm Springs for Modernism Week. They’re a great way of getting a real sense of the unique architectural history of Palm Springs and spying on some truly FABULOUS houses.

Come and join me for a trip.

The iconic now Chase bank designed by E.Stewart Williams (who also designed the Edris House) in 1960.

The Bank of America building with its famous blue mosaic wall built in 1959 by Victor Gruen Architects.

The Del Marcos Hotel, one of the earliest examples of Palm Springs modernism, built in 1947 by William F Cody.

This is as close as I got to the world-famous Frey House II, perched in the mountains and designed by Albert Frey in 1963 to blend into its surroundings. Would have loved to have visited this one.

This rather ugly sprawling monstrosity apparently belongs to Barbra Streisand. She didn’t wave.

This gorgeous house was built for Dinah Shore by Donald Wexler in 1963. I’ve found some fun photos of the interior that I will share soon.

Dubbed the “House of the Future’ and designed by William Krisel in the early 1960s, this is the hideaway where Elvis and Priscilla Presley spent their honeymoon. The fabulous Alix Tyler of Modern Kiddo (and previously Strawberry Lemonade) wrote a great post about the interiors and the Elvis connection a couple of years back.

We also saw some groovy private houses built in Modernist style. The great thing about Palm Springs is that the style is not just restricted to a few iconic houses but covers whole neighbourhoods.

These houses with steeply-pitched roofs are called ‘Swiss Misses’.

Here is world famous Kaufman House built by Richard Neutra in 1946. Must find my way in there one day.

And this repurposed gas station is the Palm Springs Visitor Center.

Here is our lovely tour guide. He knew everything about everything to do with Palm Springs.

A very bad picture of a zigzag roof. It’s in there somewhere.

Frank Sinatra’s house, Twin Palms, designed in 1947 also by E. Stewart Williams. Apparently he had to be persuaded hard to get a house in the Modernist style. Now it is impossible to imagine him in anything else.

The beautiful Catholic church of St Theresa (where the funeral of former Palm Springs mayor Sonny Bono was held, with a eulogy by Cher).

A former 1960s hotel has been refurbished as the splendidly-colourful Saguaro. We took a peek inside one day and it looks fabulous.

We again stayed at the Ace which was repurposed from a old Howard Johnson motel (as immortalised in the most recent season of Mad Men).

More private homes.

Nice clerestory windows.

Nice butterfly roof.

FABULOUS orange front door.

Bettered only by the pink front door on the former home of Telly Savalas. Bet you never thought of Kojak with a pink front door.

I think I’d better stop now. I have literally hundreds of photos from this tour, but I suspect my blog is about to explode.

Go Love Your Room: The Edris House

March 5, 2013 By Paola 1 Comment

By great good fortune it was Modernism Week when we were in Palm Springs. Of course I wasn’t organised enough to book many of the house tours before they sold out, but I did manage to wangle a place on the tour of the Edris House, built for Marjorie and William Edris in 1954 by the renowned Palm Springs architect E. Stewart Williams.

It’s not a particularly large or grand house, but is a quite magnificent specimen of mid-century modern desert architecture with all the interior fixtures and fittings still intact and the most breathtaking views. We were lucky enough to go there on an absolutely perfect blue sky day and here’s what greeted us.

Come and have a peek inside.

The charming owner J.R. Roberts has kept all the original fixtures and incorporated his own furniture and art, all bought with the house in mind.

I found the kitchen, with its original cooktop and ovens particularly fascinating. I suspect the previous owners of our house were going for a similar effect in our monstrous kitchen (because of course that makes total sense in a 1912 Craftsman house).

The ceilings almost made me rethink my aversion to the wood panelling in our kitchen and bathroom. Almost. (I think it probably helps if you have amazing floor to ceiling windows with incredible views).

And here’s the lovely owner JR, who considers himself to be more of a custodian than an owner of the house. Mind you, you would be happy and charming if you had a huge walk-in bar at your disposal.

I found this fabulous video of him talking about the house.

Tour of the Edris House from Marilyn Chung on Vimeo.

Photoshop Week at CreativeLIVE absolutely kicked my butt literally, since we were sitting on the most uncomfortable chairs known to man and I was terrified of my piriformis syndrome returning, and figuratively. Who knew that Photoshop and Lightroom could be so riveting? If you are any sort of photographer it is probably worth you downloading at least a few of the courses. All the teachers were without exception fabulous – patient, thorough and clear, with an incredible breadth and depth of knowledge. It was a quite mindblowing experience for me and I know my photography will never be the same again. I can’t recommend it highly enough (and can’t believe how lucky we are to have CreativeLIVE here in Seattle).

Go Love Your Room: The Parker Palm Springs

February 25, 2013 By Paola Leave a Comment

Dear hearts I am BACK - full of eggy breakfasts, date shakes, sunscreen-induced acne and beautiful memories. We had an absolutely fabulicious time.

I have MUCH to share with you. By a triumph of meticulous planning (or possibly fantastic good luck) Winter Break this end happened to coincide with Modernism Week in Palm Springs. Of course, most of the events were sold out before I got my act together, but I did manage to go to one or two fun events, which I will share with you later this week.

Through a triumph of very bad planning however, our flight back from LA coincided with the Oscars, so I still haven’t watched the ceremony, though I understand from Twitter that it was all, how shall we say, not good.

As a result though mirrormirror’s usual in-depth Oscar coverage will not be happening this year. I am desolate, but I hope you will be able to cope.

Instead, here are some pretty pictures of our room at the Jonathan Adler-designer Parker where we stayed for three nights.

The other reason for lack of Oscars coverage is that tomorrow I start six days of intensive Photoshop training courtesy of Creative Live as a member of their live studio audience.

My Photoshop skills suck big time, so I’m very excited to learn from the masters. Catch me on the live broadcast any day this week (except Thursday). Let me know if you’re watching and I will wave!

Oh and here is previous coverage from the Parker a couple of years back. It hasn’t changed a bit.

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Reflection of the hotel from our upstairs window

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