Famille Summerbelle

KØBENHAVN (PART 2)

We found Copenhagen to have a very positive outlook and with everyone seemingly cycling or running around the place it just feels really really healthy!

The Danish are very committed to living sustainably and, while visiting the stunning Danish Architectural Centre, we discovered just how progressive and environmentally aware this society is - particularly the sensitivity in terms of developing their built-up environment.Even little things like checking our train times, the website gave us an indication of your CO2 emissions versus a car journey! It feels good. Oh, and apparently the water in the harbour is clean enough to swim in, although it was a bit cold for me to test this!

Copenhagen is a very stylish city. Shops, cafés and bakeries are all beautifully presented, and they feel fresh and exciting. One of my favourite shops was Hay (which I've mentioned before on this blog):

We visited the fantastic Laundromat Café pictured here above. It's a very lively café, with, as the name promises, the opportunity to do a quick clothes wash whilst sipping your latte.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch with our friends from Mimis Circus at the Royal Café. The food was traditional Danish open sandwiches which were heavenly.

Many people had recommended that we visit Tivoli Gardens. At first I have to say that we were a little reluctant. We're not huge fans of the usual mayhem and lemming-like experience of a theme park....but Tivoli was very different. First, we arrived outside the front gate - right in the middle of the city - by bike. Getting in took about 2 mins and the cost of entry, a pretty reasonable 10€ and free for kids. We avoided the high rides (we're all chickens) and just took the kids around the bits for them. They had great fun playing for a few hours - we got lunch at Wagamama!

København (Part 1)

We're spending a few days in Copenhagen. Partly for work and entirely for pleasure!

I'll do a couple of posts over the next few days to share a little of what we have seen. This is my first trip to Denmark (Simon has been for work a few times). My first impressions are really very positive, despite the slightly gloomy weather which greeted us!

The airport is very close to the centre of the city, so it took very little time at all for us to arrive at our home for the duration - a house that we've rented right in the middle of the city. We're staying in a terraced workers cottage located between The Lakes and the National Gallery of Denmark. The road is very charming, with many bikes and children's tricycles and toys scattered randomly. Every evening the children here play in this very calm road. It seems a wonderful community.

Ahh the bicycles….we're big fans of cycling. Actually, we're big fans of coffee and cycling - and this city is overrun by cafes and bike shops! Cycle lanes run everywhere and it is a pure joy to cycle around this city. Locals are a little aggressive on the bikes, so you need to have your wits about you as they zoom on past. We've borrowed a great Christiania Bike, which has the box at the front for the children to sit in. It's very practical and the kids love it!

First morning was a little wet so we visited the Botanical Gardens right next to where we're staying. The buildings are beautiful late 19th Century greenhouses, although the history of the garden dates back to 1600! An elegant spiral staircase takes you to a balcony surrounding the building's dome with a fantastic view of the plants and outside across the gardens.

Cycling in to town the children were treated to an unexpected display of Danish pageantry as a troop of finely dressed soldiers passed us on their way to the palace. Ophelia is a little obsessed with Royalty (she's already invested all of her holiday money in 3 postcards of the Queen and Princess of Denmark) so we made a detour on our bikes to visit the Palace and see some more guards.

The beautiful harbour at Nyhavn is perhaps the most famous view of Copenhagen, but nevertheless well worth a visit. The architecture is wonderful - beautiful old buildings with a luscious spread of colour. It feels so obviously Scandinavian, so clean and precise.

A day in Antwerpen

My mum, my 3 younger sisters and I have been planning this weekend for a year now. The plan was to kill two birds with one stone: go to Eindhoven to visit the numerous events during the Dutch Design Week and to see the graduation show at the Design Academy (my sister Charlotte is in her second year of studies at the school). While we were driving from Paris we thought it would be a good idea to stop on the way in Antwerpen, my first visit to the Belgium city.
Luckily we had truly amazing weather. It was very cold but the sky was crystal clear. It was such a pleasure to stroll through the streets of Antwerpen. We loved all the antique shops and cafes on Kloosterstraat. In one of them there was a little museum filled with hundreds of vintage keyrings, it was very impressive!

Part two Dutch Design Week coming soon...

Why do you love San Francisco?

Summer for the last couple of years has meant a new Famille Summerbelle map...this year is no different.

For all of our maps we've picked cities that have a special place in our heart. So this time...San Francisco. Between work trips and holidays we've had some lovely times in and around the city, plus for the last couple of years Julie's brother has lived just outside of town (working at Stanford Uni).

So, Julie is underway drawing out a map with all the major sites and our favourite picks. We just thought it'd be great fun to ask all of you guys....what do you love about San Francisco?

What are your favourite places to visit in San Francisco - perhaps something or somewhere a little less known (a local secret)?
A shop, a restaurant, a landmark, a statue.....please tell us your favourites and we'll add them to the map!

To make it really worth your while, we'll give away 3 signed copies of the finished San Francisco print to our favourite contributions. Just leave your suggestions in the comments below (and if we need to get more details on location we'll contact you back!).

Please please tell your friends - we'd love to get as many contributions as possible. It makes it much more fun for us - and I'm certain we'll have a great map. You can just click one of the share buttons (twitter, facebook etc) to pass the word on!

Le Diner en blanc

It's been a ritual in Paris over the past 20 years or so, thousands of people all dressed in their best white outfit arrive at the same time to have a posh picnic in a prestigious Parisian location.
You only get invited by friends and the location remains a secret until the last minute (you get told once you are on the coach on the way). This year we were a total of 12000 people: 6000 in the Cour Carrée du Louvre (where we were) and 6000 in front of Notre Dame.

Live band music...

Champagne, foie gras, fresh fruits...all you need for a posh picnic.

My sister was dressed as an Angel. My mum made a fairy light hat!

The Louvre beautifully lit for the evening.

The diner ends with thousands of sparklers. It was very magical.
 

If you live on the other side of the Atlantic, be ready it's coming to NYC and Montreal soon.

Have a great weekend.

Travel the World with Children

Vanessa Boz, her husband and their 2 young children decided to leave behind their comfortable life in London to travel the World for 5 months.
They started in Brazil at the end of last year, followed by South East Asia (Singapore, Burma, North Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam).
Now they are enjoying the sun and beach life in Australia before heading off to South America.
I love following Vanessa's blog Bozaround as it make me travel a little bit and reminds me of our own World trip back in 2008.
One day I hope that we'll be like them on the road again.

For now I'm off to London tomorrow.

Design week

Lots of exciting events this week in London for the Design Festival. I'll be visiting at the end of the week to go and see as much as I can. On my list: 100% Design at Earls Court, Jean Nouvel pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery (West), Tent at the Truman Brewery, Origin at Spitafields Market, Ella Doran (East) and much more if I can squeeze it in my 2 days visit!

From top left: Twist and Lock by Harry Thaler (Tent), Pinch at 100% Design, Aline Johnson Leaf glass design at 100% Design, the Ercol Branch by Harry Parr-Young.

I'll share with you my 'Best of' on my return!

May day

We went for a very nice walk in Paris on May day. It was so nice to walk in empty streets, just looking at shops without spending a penny! The metallic fish mobiles caught my eyes in the Bonpoint shop rue de Tournon.

Le ciel de Paris

I love the work of Alicia Bock and her phottographs of Paris. You can purchase them and other fab photographs on her shop, and view more of her work on her blog.

New colour London slate grey

The London turquoise print has now sold out. We make limited prints of our maps to keep them a little bit special so this one has been replaced by a lovely slate grey colour. We hope you'll like it!

Have a nice weekend

Birds in a cage...photo taken in one of the pet shop on the Quai de la Mégisserie in Paris.

London calling

I'm off to London... yeehaaaa!!I can't believe it's been 8 months since my last visit! I miss it a lot...my friends & family of course, walks in Hampstead park and along the South Bank, the Tate, reading the weekend newspapers in a nice gastro pub, Columbia rd flower market on Sundays, Borough market and the nice coffees from Monmouth, lunch sandwiches from Pret, cappuccinos (I'm sorry but Parisian cafés can't do nice cappuccinos!) and the list can go on...Talking of list This is Naive blog has done an amazing long list of places to see in the big City. Areas, restaurants and shops in London that's worth checking. There are always new places to discover. That's what I'm looking for...

Ketner's

First a big THANK YOU to Rohini from The Beat That My Heart Skipped blog for asking me to be part of 'My Inside Life'. You can get to know me a bit more by reading it!

Browsing at her fab blog I discovered that the legendary London Restaurant and Champagne bar Ketner's has been revamped by Studio Ilse. I am a huge fan of Isle Crawford interiors (Soho House London & NYC, Shoreditch House, Cowshed...), it's always stylish with a homely atmosphere. Next time i'm in town and child free I'm def going to have some champagne there...soon I hope...

Paris, London and other Cities

I often get emails of people asking me advice of the best place to go in Paris for shopping, eating and sight seeing. For a long time I wanted to compile addresses and photos but I never really got round to it. So when I discovered over the weekend the City guides of Tommy's blog Notes by Naive I was so excited. She has a very good selection and lovely retro photos of some of the best places to go in Paris, London, New York, San Francisco, Portland, Singapore and more! This adventurous girl is from Singapore and now based in London. Well done to you and thank you for sharing all your secrets places!