Trip to Zion: Oktober 2013

Samstag, 26. Oktober 2013

British Chic

when we first saw this photo on pinterest, my boyfriend and i fell in love with the idea of having a striped wallpaper in our hallway. tomorrow our laura ashley wallpaper will finally be hung. even though the color of the stripes isn't identical with the color of the wallpaper on the inspirational picture we are more than excited to see the final result. we want the whole apartment to look exceptional. especially i will not be satisfied with everything that's average. in my opinion, the hallway is as important as any other room. the hallway is the first thing visitors will see and it will therefore leave a strong impression.

laura ashley wallpaper. although it doesn't look like expected (we ordered the wallpaper online) i love the look and feel of it. the wallpaper features pearlescent inks which make it more than unusual.

a gold zara home vase. there's nothing better than fresh flowers in a beautiful vase.

an ikea shoe cabinet. i've already put together half of the pieces today.

black photo frames from ikea. i cannot wait to put b/w holiday pictures in these frames...

a scent surround diffuser by jo malone. on of my all-time favorite scents: english pear and freesia. fresh and a little flowery.

Sonntag, 20. Oktober 2013

Take me to... Radisson Blu

for weeks we were in two minds about where to stay in milan. as hotels in italy's fashion capital are utterly overprized we had a hard time finding the right accommodation. i've used airbnb for my last holidays and i was quite satisfied with the places we've slept at. unfortunately, in milan even the chic airbnb apartments are kind of expensive. for short trips i like to spend more money on accommodation because i want to enjoy the few days abroad to the fullest. since we were able to save money on our flight (ryan air, hello!) we decided to book a room from a well-known hotel chain.

i've known radisson blu for a few years but i haven't stayed at a radisson blu before travelling milan. however, my boyfriend and i dined at the le siècle, the radisson blu restaurant in vienna, about two years ago. the food was amazing, the atmosphere felt elitist and the live piano player blew our minds away. i like reminiscing about this dinner.

even though the radisson blu hotel milan is not in milan's city center, the public transport connection is okay. you have to take the metro and the train to reach the hotel. nevertheless, the train ride is short and the time intervals between trains are only slightly longer compared to the subway. what's more, the service offered at radisson blu hotels is outstanding.

when we arrived at the hotel in milan late at night we were greeted warmely by the receptionist bruno. we were asked where our home town was and how our flight had been. as soon as bruno noticed that we were austrian he switched from english to german in a second. things like these might seem trivial at first but these moments linger in your memory. when he told us about our free room upgrade we knew that bruno and the radisson blu had us wrapped around their little fingers. it was our first time staying in a suite and hopefully not our last.

what we particularly liked about our hotel room:

- the extra toilet

- the living room with the couch

- the free nespresso coffee

- the rain shower and the bathtub

- the radisson blu bathrobe

- and the complimentary anna semonin toiletries

sadly, we didn't have enough time to visit the spa area. we would have loved to go swimming and to check out sauna and steam bath. moreover, we would have liked to watch an on demand movie. movie prices are reasonable (4 euros). oh and if you are wondering about the breakfast: we never ate breakfast at the radisson blu because it was too expensive in our opinion (25 hours per person/day).

all in all it can be said that we can highly recommend the radisson blu hotel milan as well as any other radisson blu hotel. i'm also a club carlson member now. i have a soft spot for reward programs and member cards. haha.

and now: scroll down and let the visual room tour begin!

(in case you are interested in my other milan posts: sightseeing in milan and outfit post no. 1. some pictures were taken by my sister because i was using a 50 mm fixed focal length lens.)

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Samstag, 12. Oktober 2013

Back to School

even though i have no courses left to attend there's still this wonderful master thesis to write. i keep pushing it aside but i don't even know why. it would make me feel so much better to hand these pages in already. maybe a new laptop and some jazz music would do the trick. or maybe i just need to sit in our new apartment to finally start writing. let's not get ahead of ourselves. apartment first. master thesis second.

neoprene laptop case by marc by marc jacobs. a stylish laptop needs a stylish laptop case.

jazz café cd from zara home. jazz music is so soothing...

notepad from muji. i'll have to write down everything that pops into my mind.

sterling silver pen by tiffany & co. it's kind of oldschool to use a pen and a piece of paper for notes but i'm a visual person and it helps me to stay focused.

macbook air by apple. what can i say? windows, go to hell! haha.

Freitag, 11. Oktober 2013

Postcards from Milan

what i love about italy so much: the stunning architectural buildings that are so characteristic for each city. the pantheon or the colosseum in rome. the st. peter's basilica in vatican city. the duomo in milan. largest cathedral in italy and fifth largest cathedral worldwide. it is made out of bricks and white marble that changes its color in sunlight. a gothic masterpiece. one could spend hours there only looking at all the structures, statues, pinnacles, flying buttresses and gargoyles. another milan must-see: the galleria vittorio emanuele II. it's enough to walk through, in my opinion. no luxury shopping required to be amazed. during our short trip we also went to the sforza castle, which is a nice contrast to the hectic milan inner city life. on our first day in italy's fashion capital we realized that we could have done sightseeing and shopping there for at least a week (i for my part am particularly sad that we didn't make it to navigli district...). apart from the city itself we were quite overwhelmed by our beautiful hotel suite. pictures to come soon!