• Impressions from Giverny

    Everybody has that one place they’ve always wanted to visit. A place that they imagine to be out-of-this-world beautiful or otherwise absolutely incredible. For me, that’s Giverny. Perhaps you have also imagined a place so much in your mind that you inevitably worry you’ll be let down when you see it in real life. After all, Japan has the Paris Syndrome: The shock when people’s vision of Paris doesn’t live up to the city they imagined. Though far away from…

    View Post

    Out and About: On the North Sea Coast – Wangerland & Leer

    The German North Sea Coast is often overlooked by international tourists, in fact, you will struggle to find anyone not speaking German on holiday here. When I was a child, slowly hitting puberty, the area started to seem somewhat backwards, stuck in time, just because of that. The same people every year, the same style of houses everywhere, the same things to do every time, never changing. Yes, the area around Schillig, Wangerland in Lower Saxony, offers all that but…

    View Post

    A Weekend in the Scottish Borders

    With the launch of their new tours of the Scottish Borders, Rabbie’s kindly let me hop on two of them in March to sample the very best the area has to offer. With the opening of the Borders Railway, it has become a lot easier to explore the south of Scotland, and Rabbie’s tours combine a trip on the train with a pickup from Galashiels for a relaxed afternoon trip. The first tour I joined was the all about the…

    View Post

    City Stories: Hello my Name is Paul Smith

    Last weekend I stopped by the Lighthouse in Glasgow for its latest exhibition: Hello my Name is Paul Smith. I’ve long been fascinated by fashion exhibitions, but more recently, I have found that learning about the process behind the garments and the stories behind labels has given me a new appreciation for the details that make brands unique. Saying that, I must admit that I wasn’t overly familiar with the story of Paul Smith – I had seen the brand…

    View Post

    City Stories: Glasgow’s Electric Gardens

    Well, better late than never, I’d say. Back in 2015 (which feels so long ago now), I attended my first Electric Gardens in Glasgow. The year’s title was Lux Botanicum, promising a mix of colourful light installations, fire shows and activities for the whole family. As someone who loves the Glasgow Botanics in any weather, this was a great chance to see them all lit up by night. A friend of mine was just as excited and we took off…

    View Post