Nick and Pauline's Wedding

Last weekend I went to the wedding of my friends Nick and Pauline at Auchen Castle. A delightful small castle, halfway between Carlisle and Glasgow; outside the Scottish border town of Moffat.

It was a great day. The wedding had taken over the entirety of the castle, which was surprisingly warm and cosy on a winters day. The light hearted vicar started off proceedings with the funniest wedding service I have been to.

Between the ceremony and wedding breakfast was a falconry display. The game keeper had the birds flying through the audience. At one point I was clipped on the ear by one of the bird's wings.

Being a traditional Scottish wedding we had haggis during the wedding breakfast and a ceilidh for the dancing, which I thoroughly enjoyed! The midnight snack, was a new Scottish delicacy to me, the Square Sausage.

Weddings at the castle are obviously a well oiled routine with the minister, photographer and the man that did the falconry display all greeting each other on first name terms.

It was a fantastic day and a chance to catch up with some old friends I haven't seen in a while.

The Electric Boogaloo

On Tuesday night I went to the Brockley Central drinks at Jam Circus. Brockley Central is an excellent local blog run by the hard working Jon, Kate and Nick.

It was good to catch up with some people I hadn't seen since the last drinks and to meet some new faces too.

The evening took a bizarre turn when we were accosted by a man who started with five minutes of abuse about us not really being from Brockley; and that we must all have avatars because we met via a blog. I think we were all struggling not to laugh.

As the evening continued it transpired that he was drinking on his own, and had recently been barred from Moonbow Jakes, another local venue. I thought it was quite ironic considering that he was accusing us of being friendless internet geeks!

Hotel Review: Mama Shelter, Paris

While we were in Paris, Ruth and I stayed at Mama Shelter, having recently read a review of the opening.

Designed by Phillipe Stark the hotel is aiming at the budget end of the market, with some rooms at less than 100 EUR a night. As you'd expect the hotel is pretty design conscious with a young and funky look. There is graffiti on the carpets, polished concrete, black and orange bedrooms and a stylish bar. It sounds as though it could be dreadful, but it is pulled together with aplomb.

I think the hotel hit all the right notes for this segment of the market. The beds and bedding lived up to the 5* luxury hype. There was free internet on a 24'' iMac in every room and a useful information board on every floor listing local events and the upcoming weather. Everything else was pretty minimalist.

It isn't in central Paris and there isn't a lot to do in the local area. However, you can't have everything and the Metro is pretty easy to get around on. My only frustration was the ridiculous keyboard they give you to work the iMac, the mouse didn't work!

Retirement!

It's been an open secret for a while now, but I haven't "officially" told the blog before.

I've decided to take a break from work in 2009 to do some travelling. I booked my flights today and I can't stop grinning like a Cheshire cat. Wooooooh!

Restaurant Review: Le Fumoir, Paris

Ruth and I met our friend Vicky for brunch on the Sunday that we were in Paris.

Vicky had made a reservation for us at Le Fumoir, which is located just behind The Louvre. The classy dark wood saloon definitely requires reservations for the weekend brunch.

I was joking with Vicky before we went, that after New York my expectations of a good brunch had gone up massively. Lucky I wasn't disappointed, they even serve mimosas!

Brunch is a set menu with some limited choices. I had a freshly squeezed orange juice, a selection of fresh breads served with homemade jam; eggs benedict with cured ham and a fresh fruit salad. The highlight for me were the eggs benedict.

It was an ideal place to recuperate after a busy morning of sightseeing in the cold winds of Paris. And hearty enough to keep us going for the rest of the day!

A weekend in Paris!

I'm just back from a weekend in Paris with my sister. We went over on the Eurostar on Friday night and came back on Sunday. It couldn't have been easier and made me wonder why I haven't done it before!

It was an action packed couple of days. On the Saturday we managed to fit in a walk along the Champs Elysees, a visit to the L'Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower (we wanted to go to the top, but the 2 hour queues put us off), Hotel d'Invalides and Musee d'Orsay. I was struck how beautiful a city Paris is; some of the architecture is fabulous. Only spoilt by the hoards of tourists and long queues.

On the Sunday we visited Sainte Chappelle chapel (amazing stain glass windows), Notre Dame, the striking Pantheon and the bohemian Rue de Moufftard Sunday streeet market. In the afternoon we went to Sacre Coeur, it was disappointingly cloudy so the views over Paris weren't as remarkable as they could have been, and the street hawkers the most aggressive we had the misfortune to meet during the weekend.

We were lucky enough to stumble across a few street markets and my French even drew a couple of compliments!

Karaoke!

On my final night in Tokyo I was invited to go for karaoke with my friend Yuki and some of her colleagues and friends. It was an amazing evening, I can't describe how much fun I had.

We went to Fiesta karaoke bar in Roppongi, where we had our own private room with access to costumes, instruments and excellent service at the end of the phone; who kept us topped up with drinks.

The karaoke system was amazingly high tech, with expensive Bose speakers, and fancy controllers that contained every song under the sun and allowed you to change the key of the music and speed it up or down to suit your voice.

There were solos, duets, group songs and standing on the tables. It's only a shame the fun at to come to and end!

Restaurant Review: Alcatraz, Tokyo

I got an email from my friend Wendy saying "Are you still up for dinner.... I want to go somewhere really REALLY crazy. The type of place you only find in Japan." And that his how I found myself having dinner in Alcatraz ER, in the Shibuya district of Tokyo.


The restaurant has a medical prison theme. Guests eat in cells, while the waiters and waitresses run round in doctors and nurses outfits.

You tap on the bars of your cell to attract one of the nurses when you want to order. Drinks come in test tubes, babies bottles, drips and beakers, and have names like the "Acute Medical Stabiliser".

The food comes on surgical trays and was re-assuringly normal after the venue and drinks. It isn't the best food you'll have in Tokyo, but then you don't go to Alcatraz for the food.

You can pay extra to be hand cuffed, and four times a night they turn off all the lights plunging the prison into pitch black. I won't ruin the surprise as to why there were screams coming from the other cells..........

Definitely a Tokyo experience!

Restaurant Review: Gonpachi, Tokyo

I went for dinner on Monday night to Gonpachi in Nishi Azabu with my friends Yuki, Wendy and James. Gonpachi is a famous Tokyo restaurant, where former Prime Minister Koizumi entertained George Bush when he visited Japan.

The restaurant is in a very cool double height building, whose interior inspired the Kill Bill movies. Running round the outside of the upper level are traditional Japanese individually screened booths, where you have to remove your shoes and sit on the floor. On the ground floor there is a large open kitchen and western dark wooden tables.

Every time news guests entered the restaurant there was a load welcoming cry from the waiters and chefs.

The drinks menu has a large section of Saki and Shochu cocktails. I started with the lovely Yuzu and Apple Sour. A smooth cocktail that it would have been easy to drink quite a lot of!

The food is mainly yakitori (grilled skewered meats and fish), with a section of soba noodles which they make fresh daily. We ordered far too much of the excellent food and had a wide selection of grilled chicken, beef, tuna and prawns. The meats were either served simply grilled, marinated or with dipping sauces. Faultlessly tender and succulent. In accompaniment we had some vegetable tempura and the all time Japanese classic; a Ceasar salad (which you oddly see on quite a few menus).

We rounded the evening off with some neat saki from their extensive selection. I highly recommend a visit if you are in Tokyo. A fantastic restaurant and Ganjin friendly if your Japanese is as limited as mine.

Harajuku, Tokyo

On our second day of exploring Tokyo, we decided to visit Harajuku.

I had a great afternoon and evening exploring the area, despite being disappointed by the supposedly two main attractions of the district.

Harajuku is famous for Harajuku girls, or the young fashionistas who strut their stuff on Ometasando and hang around the entrance of Yoyogi Park. Perhaps we were unlucky in not seeing any of the true Harajuku girls, but I think it takes quite a lot to make Londoners who have spent time in Camden stop and stare.

The second big attraction of the area is the Meiji Shrine, which is a Shinto shrine that was built to the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. First opened in the 1920s it was rebuilt in 1958 having been destroyed in WWII. The tall and dramatic Torii gates at the entrance to the park are an impressive way to approach the shrine. I was a little less impressed with the shrine itself. The temple was smaller than I expected and the buildings were a little too "perfect", there was no apparent craftsmanship on display. Even the harvest festival couldn't warm my spirits and I somehow didn't fall for the Meiji Shrine.

What I did love about the area was getting lost in the side streets around Ometasando. There were lots of cool little boutiques and shops. Vintage and second hand fashion, hat shops, younger designers and famous brands. It was like Carnaby Street meets Camden meets Covent Garden, with a healthy dose of Tokyo style. And I don't normally like shopping!

There was quite a strong French culinary influence to the area too, with lots of French style cafes and restaurants dotted around.