Dienstag, 7. Dezember 2004

Tuscan Tutors. It's a common Florentine fantasy for travellers of every culinary persuasion: take off for Tuscany and learn to cook in this most tasteful of styles. And here is a guide to help you do just that: a review of three culinary divas who open their kitchens and their skills to visitors for a day or a week. Read on for the short version... [Wanda Lust] 2:53:15 PM    comment []

Chalet Delivery Service. Chalet Food is a service that lets you order groceries online up to 72 hours before you arrive in any of the resorts in their extensive list. Your groceries are delivered to your chalet or apartment door the hour you arrive, and these angels of self-catering mercy don't even charge a delivery fee. The prices are worked into their website inventory, which is surprisingly very reasonable when compared to shopping in a resort. In addition to a good range of groceries, they'll also deliver weer, wine and spirits, plus the holiday essentials everyone always forgets, like bin liners! [Wanda Lust] 2:50:59 PM    comment []

Life in the Slow Lane. One of my favourite websites is Slow Travel, a resource for people who prefer to land in one place and stay there for a while, trying out the local life rather than rushing around to squeeze in all the tourist attractions. For one thing, it frees you from the tedious pressure of tourism. For another, there's no better way to find out what rural Tuscan life or urban Parisian living is like than to simply live it, visiting local shops and markets each day and dining in local restuarants not found in the Michelin Guide. [Wanda Lust] 2:50:25 PM    comment []

superfuture Travel Guides. Branded as "urban cartography for global shopping experts," superfuture is not so much a travel guide as a lifestyle guide. The site has unique maps for Tokyo, New York, and Sydney, with the chicest food, clothing, art and bars conveniently dotted around town. Click any dot for a review, or search the site to find anything from exclusive labels to emerging street fashion. The site also has masses of reviews for other, unmapped cities, so if you want to know where in the world to grab a bite or a drink in between shopping expeditions, this one's for you. [Wanda Lust] 2:49:52 PM    comment []

AAA Five Diamond Awards 2005. While European travellers mostly look for star ratings, tourists and business travellers in the USA have trusted the American Automobile Association's diamond rating system for more than 30 years. And the AAA has just released the list of 2005 5 Diamond Award winners, which basically forms a guide to "the best hotels in the US, Canada, Mexico and the Carribean if you've got a lot of dosh." Although having said that, the five-diamondRitz Carlton New Orleans is having a Christmas sale, with rooms starting at a mere $159 a night for 5-diamond luxury. [Hat Tip: Hotel Chatter] [Wanda Lust] 2:49:04 PM    comment []

Shimmering white duplex. Tokyo-based architect Masaki Endoh teamed up with Masahiro Ikeda to design a double apartment on a site at the edge of Shibuya, Tokyo. As the "Natural Ellipse" building is surrounded by "love hotels", its design is vaguely phallic in shape. Clad in fiber-reinforced plastic, the duplex seems almost impermeable. As views were bad, inhabitants only get glimpses of the exterior through the few openings cut into the building skin. But a secret terrace, open to the sky, is contained within (and concealed by) the convex walls of the deeply indented apex. Floored with glass, the terrace is also a skylight shedding luminance into the building and down the stairwell. Via Architectural Record and Architectural Review. [we make money not art] 2:45:07 PM    comment []