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See Berlin’s polar bear
For a small bear, he made a big entrance. Knut the polar bear was rejected by his mother when he was born at Berlin Zoo in December 2006 and has been raised by hand by keeper Thomas Dörflein. Annie Leibovitz snapped him with Leonardo DiCaprio for Vanity Fair, massive interest crashed the zoo’s website, and now the public can finally see Knut for themselves. You can watch him playing up to the crowds from 11am to noon, and 2pm to 3pm. In the afternoons, he heads back to Dörflein’s home to have his nap. As all celebrities know, beauty sleep is vital.
Animal activist Frank Albrecht sparked furious debate earlier this year by suggesting that Knut should be put to sleep because polar bears, one of nature’s fiercest lone predators, cannot behave naturally when raised by humans. Other animal groups, including the Born Free Foundation, argue that Knut should not be put down, despite the fact that polar bears should not generally be raised in zoos. Whatever your view, a glimpse of Knut the cute could be hard to resist.
Berlin Zoo
Hardenbergplatz 8, Berlin
+49 (0)30 254 010, www.zoo-berlin.de
Have a red hot massage
As summer rolls around it’s time to add some colour to pasty skin and give sluggish circulation a jolt. At the Hotel Tylösand Spa near Gothenburg the staff will slather you in chili to release feelgood endorphins and stimulate your metabolism. You might feel like a cut of choice meat as you’re basted in olive oil, then rosemary, thyme, hyssop and the all-important hot chili paste. You then bake in cling film for ten minutes before taking a shower and having the staff rub you down with rough-textured gloves – invigorating! Finally, for a lasting afterglow, there’s a massage using chili, peppermint and rosemary oil. The 75-minute treatment costs 795 SEK (€86).
Hotel Tylösand Spa
Tylöhusvägen 1, Halmstad, Sweden
+46 (0)35 30500
www.tylosand.se
Get fit in 20 minutes a week
Twenty minutes a week is all it takes to tone your body, says Danish fitness legend Jørgen Albrechtsen. His Concept 10 10 workout is a one-on-one fitness class with just you, a personal trainer and some lime green resistance machines. You lift heavy weights for 10 seconds and then lower them for 10 seconds, hence the name. “If you work out hard once a week, and watch your calorie intake, you’re going to be the best you can be with the genetic material you have,” Albrechtsen promises. A course of 10 sessions costs 2,250 DKK or €295.
Concept 10 10
Tuborg Parkvej 8, Hellerup, Copenhagen
+45 7027 1019
www.concept1010.com
Discover chocolate for connoisseurs
Over to Barcelona’s Hotel La Florida, where patisserie chef Olivier Fernandez’s Chocolate Sundays, from 5pm to 7.30pm, is no conveyor belt of processed confectionary. For just over €30, this dessert menu shows how chocolate can create different textures within a dish, and each is paired with an appropriate wine. Try the chocolate coulant – hot liquid chocolate in fluffy sponge cake – with a drop of cava. Or how about spiced Breton cake and dark chocolate cream, with an orange dessert wine? Choosing a favourite could take a few visits.
Gran Hotel La Florida
Ctra Vallvidrera al Tibidabo 83-93, Barcelona
+34 93 259 3000
www.hotellaflorida.com
Believe the hype?
The next big thing, or straight in the bin? Sterling’s Sophy Grimshaw takes a look at the latest must haves. This issue: statement perfumes
Gone are the days when all a perfume needed to do was make you smell nice. Today, if your scent is not making an artistic or sociological statement, it’s not working hard enough. To coincide with this year’s exhibition of surrealist art at London’s V&A museum, the city’s Selfridges department store launched Choix, an odourless scent by Dadadandy. That’s right, it’s an alcohol base with no scent added – an unexpected juxtaposition in the best tradition of surrealism. Karen Wells of the store’s beauty department describes Choix as “a collector’s item that will appeal to lovers of surrealism and objets d’art.” I rub a little on my wrist and feel… underwhelmed. Cute horse motif on the bottle, though
From a scent that does nothing to one that claims to change your life: Molecule 01 (pictured), created by Berlin-based Geza Schoen, not only has a pleasantly warm, woody scent, but is a ‘pheremonic’ perfume, thought to draw members of both sexes to you like moths to a flame. I spray it on liberally and wait for someone to propose marriage, or even just a drink. I wait for my editor to offer to buy me lunch. For a homeless person to ask for some spare change. Nothing. At 3pm a friend’s boyfriend calls. A-ha! Could I help choose her birthday present? Um, how about scentless perfume? No?
Choix, €59 for 100ml, www.dadaddandy.com
Molecule 01, €87 for 100ml, www.harveynichols.com
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