Hilton Dubai Jumeirah Resort - Art Dubai 2014

Last week, I took a few days off and went to Dubai with my family to attend the Art Dubai 2014.

My mother loves art and got an invitation from a Japanese gallery owner to this wonderful event. Thanks to him we were able to attend the Art Dubai as "Collectors' Circle" guest, which means that the admission was free, we had the chance to have a private view before the exhibition was opened to the public view, we could attend several programs exclusively organized for Collectors' Circle guest and last but not least we had a complementary car service by Maserati. :D

The first 2 nights we stayed at the Hilton Dubai Jumeirah Resort. Thanks to the Hilton Diamond membership, we got upgraded to the Family Suite with sea view. Apparently, it's one of the oldest hotel in Dubai but it was clean and it didn't look that old to me. The furnitures were maybe a little old-fashioned but it didn't bother me that much. I was so amazed that our room was spacious! :)

The Hilton Dubai Jumeirat Resort (you can see it on the very back on the picture below) is located on the beautiful Jumeirah Beach and Jumeirah Beach Residence Walk (JBR Walk), where you can enjoy various shopping and dining option.

When we were strolling on the beach, we found several beautiful sand sculptures. Look at this huge sandcastle! 

 This turtle looks like real! 

I just found an article about the sand sculptures at JBR - apparently they were made by an Australian artist: Jenny Rosen. She is amaaaa-zing!!!

The night view from our hotel balcony

 

 The Executive Lounge with it's nice view on the sea, beach and the JBR Walk.

 

We really enjoyed our stay at the Hilton DJR even though it was just for 2 nights. The location was fabulous, the food at the executive lounge was good and we had impeccable and friendly service from all of the staffs! 

They were disappointed when we told them that we are staying at another hotel the next following days. They all thought that we weren't satisfied with Hilton... but we explained that we are invited to the Art Dubai and since it's going to take place at Madinat Jumeirah Hotel which is about 15 mins taxi ride away from Hilton, we wanted to stay close to the venue.

And OMG, thank God we also got the chance to stay at the other hotel - it was SO GORGEOUS!!! (Sorry Hilton!)

Hilton Dubai Jumeirah Resort
1 The Walk, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tel: +971 4 399 1111
E-mail: info.jumeirah@hilton.com 

Service: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★                                Value for money:   ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Food:     ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩                               Atmosphere:          ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩



Hotel des Alpes, Flims

Last weekend, I went to Flims, a popular winter sports resort with my work colleagues. 

Every year around March, our company organizes the so called "Schnee-Weekend" (snow-weekend) to socialize with the co-workers and to have fun by doing winter sports together.
We stayed at the "Hotel des Alpes", a comfy and nice 3-star hotel right across the bus station "Flims Waldhaus, Caumasee".

How to get there from Zurich, main station: take the train to Chur (takes about 75 - 90 mins depending on the train), get off at Chur station and take the yellow post bus (Postauto) direction Laax and get off at the bus stop "Flims, Cauma See" (takes about 40 min).

The reception area and the restaurant "il forno" is decorated sweetly like it's Valentine's Day every day with all the red heart-shaped wooden objects. :)

The rooms were also quite pretty, ours had a small kitchen, the room itself was furnished with light colored wood, chalet-like, which is not my taste but perfect for a ski resort hotel and most importantly everything was clean. ;)

There is also an indoor swimming pool and a sauna for the hotel guests.

The cozy "Hausbar", the bar and smoker lounge of the hotel.

A grand piano at the back area of the bar.

The service was friendly and the food at the restaurant was good.

The ski-lift tickets can be bought at the reception which is very practical. The shuttle bus / Postauto across the hotel takes you to the ski-lift area in 5 mins, where you can also rent the winter sports equipments. Those who don't ski or snowboard (like me), you can also have a nice walk to the Cauma Lake (Caumasee) through the woods or to the viewing platform at Conn called "Il Spir". The platform allows a good view of the gorge and the river lying about 380 meters from below.

 Chalet "Steinpilz" (porcino) - what a cute name ;)

The beautiful Cauma Lake is frozen now but in summer you can swim. I need to come back here in summer! Must be nice swimming in such a clear and deep blue water!

 

Hotel des Alpes, Flims

 Promenada 45

7018 Flims Waldhaus

Tel. +41 81 928 25 25

Fax +41 81 928 25 00

www.hoteldesalpes.ch

info@hoteldesalpes.ch

Afternoon Tea at Winter Garden in Landmark Hotel London

When you are in London and love afternoon tea, I can also recommend the Winter Garden of the Landmark Hotel. The ambience is very nice, the food delicious and the service excellent. The eight-storey glass roof atrium with palm trees and live entertainment makes you feel like you are abroad.

 

The Landmark London has a Traditional Afternoon Tea, Chocolate Afternoon Tea, and a Gluten free Afternoon Tea available daily. We all ordered the Traditional Afternoon Tea for £40.

The sandwiches were VERY delicious!! As usual, in London, the afternoon tea sandwiches and the scones get replenished as much as you want and since the sandwiches were sooo good, I just couldn't say "no" whenever the attentive staff asked if I wanted more sandwiches. :-P

But of course I needed space for the scones and pastries so after eating like 10 sandwiches, I finally said "No thank you" and the scones and the pastries were served.

Look at these lovely pastries!

                                                            

                                                                            Raspberry mini cheesecake

 

 Heart-shaped maccaroon

  

After the afternoon tea, we were all happily stuffed and it was already getting dark outside. We stayed here for like 3 hours!

Having dinner at the Winter Garden must be also very nice with these atmospheric lightings!

 

The Landmark Hotel

222 Marylebone Road
London, NW1 6JQ　

(right infront of the Marylebone Tube Station)

Tel: +44 20 7631 8000

www.landmarklondon.co.uk/

Afternoon Tea is served
Mon - Fri: 3:00 - 6:00 PM and

Sat - Sun: 2:30 - 6:30 PM

Service: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★                                Value for money:   ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Food:     ★ ★ ★ ★ ★                                Atmosphere:          ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

 

Afternoon Tea at The Rose Lounge in London

On Valentine's Day, I went to Sofitel London St. James Hotel to have an afternoon tea at "The Rose Lounge" - with my mother. :) Finally, I got to try the real, traditional afternoon tea in England! And it was MARVELOUS! 

We were seated next to the fire place. :)

The delicious sandwiches and the scones were replenished as much as we wanted, the service was impeccable, the atmosphere really cosy and pretty. There was also a harpist who played lovely tunes... I felt like a princess! ♡♡♡

After the sandwiches and scones, you get to chose 2 different pastries from the cake trolley but my mother and I were both SO stuffed! The sandwiches and scones were so good that we couldn't stop ordering more... (^_^;

I decided to get the smallest pastry - a caramel éclair - but just one... My mother did the same but asked the friendly french waitress if she could take it home and the waitress said "of course" and brought a small box with her zipper éclair inside. :)
The price was  £36 each (12.5% service charges included), so a little high for an afternoon tea but for me, it was definitely worth it!

 

I totally loved "The Rose Lounge" and would recommend it to anyone who likes to have an afternoon tea and enjoy a romantic and pretty atmosphere!

"The Rose Lounge" at The Sofitel London St. James

6 Waterloo Place, London SW1Y 4AN, England

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7968 2900

E-mail. thebalcon.london@sofitel.com

www.thebalconlondon.com/roselounge/roselounge.shtm

Service: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★                                Value for money:   ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Food:     ★ ★ ★ ★ ★                                Atmosphere:          ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Yuja Wang in London

About a month ago I visited London for 4 days (I know, I should have written about my trip much earlier on my blog… (^_^;). I went to Yuja Wang's piano concert accompanied by London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Hall. I don't know if you know her but she is AMAZING! A GENIUS! She played one of the most complicated piece by Prokofiev without any mistake!

Like Lang Lang, she is an extremely talented Chinese classical pianist who started playing the piano at the early age and studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and they also both studied with the same teacher - Gary Graffman - at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

When they start playing the piano at concerts, it's like you are under their spell and are mesmerized but at the same time excited and your heart starts beating fast! You can almost feel their energy they are putting into the piano...

Not only her virtuoso performances at the piano attracts much attention but also her very short dress and super high-heels! ;-) That's her style when she is playing at concerts. She draws lots of criticism with that but she simply explains: "I can dress in long skirts when I'm 40." :)

After the concert, Yuja must have been really exhausted but she took time for her fans to give autographs, take pictures and chit chat with them. Very likeable and nice, like a girl next door!