Le Fin Gourmand: Luxembourg

Last week I asked my dad if he could take us to eat somewhere nice before I went back to London, especially because I hadn't been to eat anything French the whole time I was in Luxembourg. So we booked a table at Le Fin Gourmand, a well known francophone restaurant in Luxembourg city. Upon entering the restaurant we were greeted by a woman who took our coats and then showed us to our seats. The restaurant is well divided so that it doesn't get too loud in each of the rooms, and from my seat I could look into the kitchen. 

While glancing through the menu I couldn't choose what to eat, I was hoping they'd have at least one dish with crab, but they didn't because they had just switched to their autumn menu. In the end I had sautéd duck liver on a bed of mushrooms and spinach. And as a main dish, veal with canelloni filled with mushrooms on the side. Overall the food was really well prepared and the waiting time between dishes wasn't too long. I hate when they make you wait an hour between the starter and the main dish. Compared to the UK the service was a bit slow, because they don't expect to seat each table twice, so they pamper you a little more. The waitress had a conversation with us about the road works happening outside, and stopped to give her suggestions as well. 

One of the other things I loved was the restaurant's "catch phrase", we don't eat, we dine. And I truly believe that with very good food not only do you care about the flavour but you care about the eating experience and who you share the experience with. 

In conclusion, I ate really well and I had a good time. I'd gladly go there again. But to put it nicely, its not cheap. Here's their website: http://www.lefingourmand.lu/

Cinque Terre

The "Cinque Terre" are a very famous group of villages on the edge of Tuscany. Charlotte and I were able to take a boat trip to see 2 out of the 5 places. We took the boat at 10:10 and off we went for the day. The first stop was Portovenere which is not one of the five villages, but it was beautiful none the less.

We walked around, and then laid down in the sun, appreciating where we were. Charlotte even did a few drawings. We then ran back to the boat, scared that we had missed it. Luckily we didn't. The next pit stop was Vernazza, a town with a very curved cove, perfect for swimming since you didn't get sand in your toes. At this point I thought it would be smart to pretend to be different sea animals. At least I had fun.

The third town was Monterosso, this was the last stop. The village is very cute, smaller than the others. The thing I liked the most about this place was that the train passes in the middle of the buildings, about 50 meters from the waterfront.

If you're ever in Tuscany I really recommend you go see at least one of these towns, they give you a sense of fairytale unlike bigger towns in Italy.

Here's the website for the group of towns: http://www.parks.it/parco.nazionale.cinque.terre/Eindex.php

Fix 126

Fix is a coffee company with 2 stores in London. The one I went to was Fix 126, which is the Shoreditch branch. The wooden bar, and wooden tables give the place a very warm and welcoming feel. Most of the people inside are either chatting quietly, or tapping away at their laptops. You have to make your order at the bar, but unlike other Shoreditch bars they accept card payment for any purchase, so you don't have to worry about finding an ATM before you get there. 

Its set up the same way as Starbucks, you order your drink, they make it, they call out your order, you pick it up, and then you take your seat. Its nicer though, because they have a bigger variety of things to order and the atmosphere is a lot more like a community. I want to go back there soon, because I was able to focus better there than I have been able to focus at home, and it was really for me to study for my marketing exam there. 

Also one of the few other joys of Shoreditch, a random person dressed really creatively can walk in any time making your day more fun and special. Here's their website: http://www.fix-coffee.co.uk/fix-126/

Brighton Beach and Pier

My friends and I wanted to go to Brighton during bank holiday weekend but staying in a hotel Sunday night turned out to be really expensive. So, we decided to make our bank holiday longer and stay in Brighton Monday night instead. We took the train to Brighton from London Bridge, and 20 minutes before our train was supposed to leave the announcement says that our train is cancelled. So we start freaking out, but thankfully during the time we were queuing at the information desk our train was no longer cancelled. So we were able to arrive in Brighton at 11am on Monday.

First thing we did was walk towards the beach. After all, living in a city makes you miss the seaside.  We sat at the beach for about an hour before the wind started making us shiver. I think the fact that there were people laying in their bikinis made me feel even more cold. We then started walking towards the Pier. We stopped at several cute little stands which were selling different beach memorabilia and we went into an adorable pottery shop. 

Once we arrived at the Pier we noticed how crowded this little beach town was. We walked on through to the end of the Pier stopping to look at people on jet skis under us. We decided to take advantage of the fair, and bought 30 tokens and rode on some rides. The scariest ride was "Crazy Mouse" because you were pretty much in a little car over the sea. 

After that I stopped for some traditional fish and chips, because I still hadn't had any since I moved back to the UK. It was incredible. We continued strolling along the beach front until about 3pm when we then headed to our hotel to check-in and leave our bags.