I’m getting ready for a trip to Paris and Rome in March. One of my favorite go-to travel resources is LUXE City Guides. These tiny, fold-out guides are the perfect quick reference. Modern, stylish and spot-on they brilliantly lack superflous text and are void of photographs. LUXE City Guides also has mobile apps, online updates and a really great blog. Have I already checked the LUXE Rome guide for the best gelato in the city? Of course.
www.luxecityguides.com
London Collections: Men is wrapping up today after three days of great looking shows. I love men’s fashion and my two favorite places to follow this London fashion week are, not surprisingly, London Collections’ own website, and also the T Magazine Blog, one of my several times daily reads. In fact, just this morning I watched the live stream of the Burberry Prorsum Autumn/Winter 2014 show. Held in Kensington Gardens, Christopher Bailey presented a stunning collection, amazing coats and jackets. It looks indeed like an exciting year for men’s fashion.
www.londoncollections.co.uk www.tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com
With temperatures below zero, I am happy to have the chance to escape to warmer waters. My good friend and owner of the extraordinary store of the same name, Jung Lee has discovered a new treasure of a book, FRENCH RIVIERA: Living Well Was The Best Revenge. The description on the store website describes the book best by saying: there has never been any place on earth quite like the French Riviera in the 1920s and early 30s. Artists and writers from all over the world—including Picasso, Man Ray, Stravinsky, Coco Chanel, Cocteau, Edith Wharton, Diaghilev, and Hemingway—came to invent a new way of life. It’s no surprise that such a delightful book would be chosen to be among the exquisitely curated objects of Jung’s store.
available at jungleeny.com
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Saint Joseph’s Oratory, Mount Royal, Montreal, 1937
Beginning of the construction of the dome.
© Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount-Royal (115-56), © Héritage Montréal |
Standing at the highest point in Montreal on lovely Mount Royal, Saint Joseph’s Oratory was built over the course of 42 years on a wonderful property with some of the most breathtaking views of the city. The exterior is designed in the classic Beaux-Arts style, its dome being the third largest in the world. The interior, completed in 1966, is decidedly and wonderfully modern.
Saint Brother André, a native Québecois, started a chapel in honor of Saint Joseph in 1904. Having outgrown the space, plans for a larger church were put in place in 1916 and construction of the basilica began in 1924. Masses of followers made pilgrimages to Montreal to see Brother André during his lifetime as he was known to perform miracles. I have long felt a connection to this place because my grandmother was one of those followers in the 1930s who firmly believed she herself was healed by Brother André.
www.saint-joseph.org/en
No trip to Montreal is complete without stopping at one of the city’s wonderful public markets — Marchés Publics de Montréal. Our favorites include the Atwater Market and the Jean-Talon Market. Jean-Talon is especially magnificent. You could spend hours there, it is that huge. In addition to the numerous fruit and vegetable vendors, there are fishmongers and cheesemongers, butchers, sellers of eggs, sweets, wine, olive oil, and flowers, and so much more depending on the season. Open every day, all year long, it definitely feels like the open air markets in Europe, completely transporting.
www.marchespublics-mtl.com
We are planning a trip to Montreal in November, we think one of the best times of year to visit one of North America’s best cities. We thought we would share some of our favorite spots in Montreal this week, quite hard to narrow down in fact because there are so many!
We should start by saying that we eat very well in Montreal. Our go-to restaurants include Olive + Gourmando for lunch and L’Express for dinner, always. This next trip will also include Au Pied de Cochon, a place we have been meaning to go to for years. At the very top of our list is Joe Beef, hands down one of the restaurants we most enjoy, anywhere. It’s not just the food, which is consistently amazing and enlightened and changing daily, but the total experience. The first word that comes to mind is authentic. The vibe is relaxed, friendly, unpretentious, and thoroughly cool. One immediately gets the sense that every person in the building loves being there, staff and guests alike. Joe Beef and its neighbor, Liverpool House, are owned by great friends and Montreal restaurant veterans David McMillan and Frédéric Morin. It feels like a very personal extension of themselves and it is such a pleasure, if only for a meal, to be a part of their fun and happy world. Take a look at their fantastic cookbook and love letter to Montreal, The Art of Living According to Joe Beef. We guarantee, after reading it you will be booking your own trip to their great city.
The Art of Living According to Joe Beef (Ten Speed Press, 2011)
www.joebeef.ca
Inspired by our recent trip to Maine, I ordered a new doormat from the Maine Float Rope Company. Each mat is handwoven in Maine using reclaimed lobster trap float rope. A serious threat to the endangered northern right whale due to entanglement, and ultimately a serious threat to the environment at large, float rope was replaced with sink rope in the state five years ago. Since then literally millions of pounds of float rope have been recovered from the ocean, and it still continues to wash to shore. Banned from landfills, but perfect for its new function, it is seemingly indestructible. Although I chose a stock pattern and color scheme (black with aqua stripes — love!), they do make custom mats. Most importantly, Maine Float Rope Company is a wonderfully ethical business from using recycled packing materials to providing off-season employment to local fisherman and year-round employment to retired citizens of their great state.
www.mainefloatrope.com
We were out on the North Fork of Long Island this past weekend for a wedding. Before we started the set up for the event, we took an early morning walk to the beach. It was the last official day of summer and it could not have felt more serene. It was the perfect ending to a great season.
The BATON team can most often be found setting up for events in our Saint James shirts. We find they are the ideal uniform for the job and they definitely get better with a lot of wear. In fact, among our favorites are those from a special collection at Calypso a few years ago that came perfectly broken in, exactly as we want them to be. We’re planning a trip to Paris in early 2014 and will definitely be on the hunt for vintage Breton striped shirts — after all, Saint James has been in business since the late 19th century!
I looked at my daughters’ summer espadrilles this morning — well worn and much loved. And sadly, quite ready to be retired and replaced with two new pairs next summer. I have coveted espadrilles since my first trip to Spain at age 13. We get ours at La Manual Alpargatera in Barcelona and usually stock up on sizes to be sure we’re ready for the next season. We also buy them as gifts. La Manual Alpargatera has been making espadrilles in the ancient tradition since 1941. It is firmly an institution in Barcelona and an absolute wonderland for the espadrille-obsessed. Instead of mourning the end of summer, I will think about all the great places these lovely handmade shoes have traveled these past few months and how lucky we are.
http://lamanualalpargatera.es/?lang=en
