The Last Thing Paris Needs is an “Emily in Paris”

“I thought we were past this. I thought we’d moved on from Blair Waldorf’s Gossip Girl-era fantasies of Paris.” A link to the trailer of Netflix’s upcoming show, Emily in Paris, had just been pasted into a long-running group text amongst my circle of well-seasoned, apéro-loving thirty-something ex-pat friends in Paris. The discussion was open…

An Ode to what they call “Duck Architecture”

Now I know. Did you? There’s an official name for all those kitschy roadside buildings shaped like the merchandise they’re selling. Most popular in the 1920s and 30s, giant coffee pots, hot dogs, ice cream cones, beer barrels, farm animals and other eye-catching buildings sprang up along the roadside, competing for the attention of passing…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DXIX)

1. A 350 year old pocket watch carved from a single Colombian emerald, found hidden in a London Cellar For almost 300 years a buried treasure lay undisturbed below one of London’s busiest streets. Discovered by workmen in 1912, the Cheapside Hoard is the greatest single collection of Elizabethan and Stuart jewellery in the world.…

The Vault

The Paris September Guide for La Rentrée 2020

September, which Parisians call La Rentrée, is in our opinion, one of the best months of the year. It’s when Paris comes alive again after the summer drought, everyone’s back from their holidays with a golden glow and eager to mingle. It’s more important than ever to get out into the city and support our local…

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13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DXVIII)

1. This statue hanging in the cellar of an abandoned castle in Italy Found & photographed by urban explorer Romeo Battini. No further information available on the location (trust me, I’ve looked). 2. Roscigno Vecchia, the Italian ghost town with only one inhabitant, Giuseppe Spagnuolo Roscigno has an old town (vecchia) and a new town.…

A Guide to Beirut’s Small Shops & Hidden Gems

It seems as if all we’ve seen of beautiful Beirut lately are images of devastation. Not so long ago, it wasn’t hard to convince people to take a glamorous vacation in Lebanon. It was a playground for movie stars like Brigitte Bardot, Omar Sharif and Peter O’Toole. The Beirut harbour was host to the Queen…

Movie Nights are the New Cocktail Parties: Here’s 50 Films to Gather Around

Even if lockdown and social distancing rules have been loosened where you live, you may still feel that there’s just something not quite right about throwing a house party in the times of Covid. This is probably not a good time to invite judgement from your neighbours, nor potentially invite suspect germs into your home…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DXVII)

1. There’s a pyramid hidden in the Scottish Highlands Hidden away in woodland on the Balmoral Estate in Royal Deeside is an incredible pyramid structure which rises above the trees… Erected by Queen Victoria, it was created in memory of her husband Prince Albert after his death in 1861, aged just 42… A plaque on…

America’s Lost Towns of Black Affluence

Going into this, I don’t think I was prepared at all for how un-unique the story of Florida’s Sugar Hill neighbourhood really was. In the 1950s and 60s, the once upper class and prestigious Black community of Sugar Hill in Jacksonville, was chosen by city officials to be levelled to make way for a multi-lane…

Stop Everything, Live Vicariously in Sweden’s Miniature Mouse World

For a brief moment, why not forget all the troubles of the big ol’ world out there and downsize in this tiny haven built for mice. Sweden has its own kind of Banksy you see; an anonymous artists collective which has been quietly installing miniature mouse-themed urban infrastructure, hidden in plain sight on the streets…