Go right now
words by Sophie Grimshaw
now’s the time to…
Take a dip in London’s Theatreland
It’s always a perk if your hotel has pool, but at Haymarket, a new hotel in the part of London’s West End known as Theatreland, the basement-level pool requires bartenders as well as a lifeguard. Guests can order a cocktail at the poolside bar and take a seat at a handful of tables and chairs on the tiles, or do the more conventional thing and simply swim some laps. The question if you’re the swimmer is, will you appreciate having an audience?
Less health-conscious drinkers will appreciate the hotel’s old-fashioned ‘honesty bar’: a guests-only room with a liquor cabinet stocked high, it’s open 24 hours and you’re asked to write your own bill for any 2am gin and tonics. Rooms starts from £245 (about €360).
The Haymarket Hotel
1 Suffolk Place, London
+44 (0)20 7470 4000,
www.haymarkethotel.com
Eat a designer creation
Part kitchen, part concept store, the Rotterdam-based Proef now has an Amsterdam outlet. Karlijn Souren, food designer, describes it as “farm meets design studio”. The name means both ‘experiment’ and ‘tasting’ in Dutch. “Everything we do is based on one concept: to look at food as a designer,” says Souren. Party pieces from Proef’s bespoke catering line include canapés coordinated to match a new lingerie line. The public can drop in for meals on Fridays and weekends, and you can book a business meeting during the week. Creatively-presented organic and macrobiotic dishes include salads with marigold and violet flowers, from €5.
Proef
Gosschalklaan 12, Westergaspark
Amsterdam
+31 (0)2 0682 2656
www.proefamsterdam.nl
Ride the new gravy train
A new high-speed train link has halved the journey time from Paris to the pretty cobbled streets of Strasbourg. The 322kmph train (TGV) service, which began on 10 June, takes two hours 20 minutes to go from Paris Gare de l’Est to the capital of Alsace. From Strasbourg it continues to Colmar and Mulhouse. Onboard facilities include all the meeting rooms a high-powered bureaucrat could want (and they’re soundproof, with power points for laptops), a family area with games and DVDs, plus bar and a buffet. With this easy Paris to Strasbourg transfer now open, plus Sterling’s new flights to Brussels starting in October, we’ve got the beating heart of Europe covered.
Detox with the stars
It was Brigitte Bardot who cut the ribbon that opened the Byblos Hotel 40 years ago. These days you may spot the likes of Giorgio Armani, Beyoncé or Kate Moss by the pool, especially since the hotel’s recent refurbishment. This includes a new Byblos Spa, open to everyone. It has teamed up with French brand Sisley Cosmetics to offer exclusive treatments using plant extracts and essential oils to detox skin. There are six treatment rooms, including one VIP suite with private garden. Relax and renew, then hit the in-house club Les Caves Du Roy. Single rooms from €389.
Spa at Hotel Byblos
Avenue Paul Signac, Saint Tropez, France
+33 (0)4 9456 6812
www.byblos.com
Tried+Tested
This issue: language lessons by podcast
In this internet age, we like to believe we can access any information we need, any time, free of charge. But can we? Is the web the comprehensive time-and money-saver we like to think it is? When I decide it’s time to brush up my rusty high-school French, I begin to look for evening language classes, but my friends are leaping over one another to tell me not to throw my money away: I can learn online, they insist, and for free! I take their advice, scout around iTunes and download a free course, Learn French by Podcast.
Listening to my teacher Amélie recite the French alphabet on my iPod feels productive, but it’s hard to practice making the sounds out loud when I’m on the train. I listen at home, but end up simultaneously reading a novel, which might not help. This is not, as I’d hoped, French by osmosis.
After a few lessons I can introduce myself and say “Je suis journaliste” (I learn there’s no ‘une’ when the French announce their profession), but before I’m told how to so much as check into a hotel or order lunch, we’re onto such unlikely phrases as, “I saw an interesting documentary on television last night.” I begin to long for a real evening class, with a teacher. A teacher who could answer my questions and not tolerate my reading a novel in class. The internet’s services may be free, but for the best life experiences we probably shouldn’t be afraid to step outside our pods once in a while. –Sophy Grimshaw
www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com
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