European travels

Before Christmas, Elliot and I took the opportunity of living in London to do a bit of travelling. I don't think Europeans realize how lucky they have it. A 4-hour flight from London can get you to a serious handful of countries; the same flight from Vancouver doesn't even get you to Toronto!

Tivoli Gardens, the oldest amusement park in the world, in Copenhagen.

First, we went to Copenhagen, where we tested out Air B'n'B (a site where you can rent someone's apartment rather than staying in a hotel) with wonderful results. Our lovely apartment was in the Nørrebro area, which was great for getting to most areas of the city.

Swan chairs in the lobby of the Radisson Hotel Blu, completely designed (including interiors) by Arne Jacobsen. Room 606 is still in its original state and can be viewed by request if empty. Unfortunately, someone was staying there when we visited.

Vor Frelsers Kirke (Church of Our Saviour) in Christianshavn, with its amazing, famous corkscrew top.

Iconic buildings in Nyhavn, with plenty of bicycles lining the cobbles. 

Even though plenty of other cities in the world have colourful streets like this (Venice, San Francisco), they're still fun to see. 

Original Arne Jacobsen chairs at the Danish Design Museum. Jacobsen is basically a national hero.

Flagship store of one of my favourite interior design brands, Hay. I discovered the company at Vancouver Special, where I purchased one of its signature, impossible-to-clean-but-amazing Pinocchio rugs (below). 

Pinocchio rugs next to another personal favourite, the Eames elephant. I hope to buy one of these this year. 

Next, we took the train to Edinburgh, Scotland, then hopped on a "luxury" bus with about 30 excited Spanish visitors for an English/Scottish-Spanish wedding. We drove through massive sheets of wind and rain—what one newspaper called a "weather bomb"—to get to Inverlochy Castle. Passing huge trucks flipped onto their sides and dozens of trees ripped out of the ground (one actually tore the right-hand mirror off our coach!) was a bit unnerving.

Nevertheless, we got there and the wedding and castle (which we stayed in) were beautiful.

The lobby of Inverlochy Castle, where we were greeted with champagne and porters. 

It felt very Downton Abbey.

Blurry shot of what I wore to the wedding. 

All the ladies wore fascinators (mine was by Lilliput Hats) and my tartan dress was Luella Bartley for Target.

Finally, we took the Eurostar to Paris. 

We stayed with friends of Elliot's who work for Corteo, the travelling Cirque du Soleil show—Olga is the former gymnastics champion of Ukraine, and Joe is a very talented rigger who likes climbing high things. Their apartment was in the upscale Trocadero district in the 16th and it was only my second visit to Paris (the first was when I was about 14). It is definitely a very livable city....

The pinkest apartment you ever saw.

Snapshots taken at the Louvre.

À bientôt, Paris!