Tag: vacation

Palm Springs Part Two: Things to Do

We got up bright and early for brunch at King’s Highway, the restaurant at Ace Hotel & Swim Club. A little research revealed that before it was remodled, it was a Denny’s! I seriously loved the interior at King’s Highway. The mid-century fab stone on the wall? Yes please! It’s a dream of mine to own a home with that kind of crazy retro stone on the exterior or interior someday. My favorite thing was looking at the marks on the ground where I could picture the outline of the old Denny’s booths and fixtures.

King's Highway, Palm Springs

The food was great! Our host was a little pretentious, and the prices a little steep, especially for the coffee ($3 for a non-refillable iced coffee?) but the pancakes and french toast really hit the spot. The food tilted the scale from “eye-roll” to “awesome.” To be honest… we should have eaten all of our meals here!

King's Highway, Palm Springs

King's Highway, Palm Springs

King's Highway, Palm Springs

After our bellies were full, I did my duty as a design blogger and snooped around the Ace. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to look in a room… they look incredible on the website… but we peeked over the gate into the pool area and walked around the grounds. Definitely a different vibe from our colorful hotel, but everything seemed very cool and went nicely with the desert landscape. I really wanted to hang out at the Saguaro pool the first day and at the Ace pool the second day, but the day-pass was $20! Yikes!

The Ace, Palm Springs

The Ace, Palm Springs

We rode our bikes back to the Saguaro and drove downtown and walked around–just a little bit. The midday sun was roasting! So we grabbed some food at the grocery store and hung out at the pool for the rest of the day. All day! It was so sublime!

Later we got dolled up and went out for dinner–it was our anniversary celebration after all! We went downtown and found a really yummy place, Matchbox Pizza. We had a half Prosciutto and Fig and half “Q Special,” which featured chicken, portabello mushrooms and red peppers. A finer pizza was never had! However, we still had room for more so we followed it up with a little Ben & Jerry’s as we walked around downtown at dusk (it had cooled off some).

Palm Springs

Palm Springs

For our last day, we checked out of the hotel and headed to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. I had no idea what to expect but wow!! Heading from the desert floor to 8,000 feet of altitude was very, very cool! Of course, I was petrified on the tram the whole way up and down. I shudder to remember it! I’m not afraid of heights per se… tall buildings and such don’t bother me, but suspended on a cable? That’s another thing.

Palm Springs Aerial Tram

Palm Springs Aerial Tram

Palm Springs Aerial Tram

Here’s the tram. Can you see Palm Springs in the distance?

Palm Springs Aerial Tram

As some of you know, we try to fit it into the budget to take an anniversary trip every year. Travel is such a passion of ours and we make it a priority! For our first anniversary we visited St Louis (little trip), last year the whole family took a trip to Europe (big trip), and this year Palm Springs was our low-key destination. We were lucky enough to visit Kansas in May and this short but very sweet trip was the perfect getaway to feel refreshed and rejuvenated from work. Now, I guess we’ll stay put for a little while!

In case you missed it, Monday I shared some photos of our hotel The Saguaro. 

Take a Tour: Huyze Anna

I was totally smitten with our rental home in Bruges. It had a young, comfortable vibe and plenty of room for 5 people. When entering, the space seemed narrow but getting past the stairs, everything opened up very nicely. The stairs did seem a little precarious (not that they were wobbly, just narrow) but nobody in our group had any casualties.

I particularly liked the huuuuuge, very old map of Bruges (I believe it was a reprint of the first official map of Bruges. You can take a peek at it in the photo above, on the right edge). Little touches like that reminded us that we were in a very old city!

I especially liked the juxtaposition of the pink accents with the gray-greeny-blue wall. I thought accent walls were out of style? This one pulls it off very well. One thing that helped this accent wall make sense was that the blue color was carried on over into the kitchen, which was located directly to the right of the living area:

Is it crazy that I found this tiny kitchen easier to work with than our own much larger kitchen? I think it had to do with the spacious lower cabinets (eliminating the need for upper cabinets) which really maximized the counter space (the cabinets in our current house are hung too low, creating a very claustrophobic feel when using the workspace). Did I mention the fridge was tiny? There it is, tucked under the counter on the right. Wonder how that would fly in an American kitchen….

The space was very minimal–which is to be expected of a European vacation rental, naturally, although cute boho accents were everywhere.

This little patio was carved out of the kitchen/living room area. It was nice to leave the door open and let in fresh air. All four walls went up 3 stories so it was very private. Most definitely outdoors, but not in the way most Americans consider an outdoor living space.

On the second floor there were two bedrooms. In the first one (with a double and a single bed) there was a shower RIGHT IN THE ROOM. Smart space-saving strategy, but very awkward. The other one had a little “room” in the hallway for the shower. All the bedrooms had a sink in them. Doug and I had the one with two beds–the twin became a dumping ground for laundry and souvenirs. My parents had the room with red curtains.

On the the third floor was my sister’s room. She got her own TV (not pictured) with an assortment of DVDs featuring Garfield and Saw. You know, family favorites.

Outside Stephanie’s room was an awesome rooftop terrace. She wins the best room award (in my opinion).

What do you think? Have you ever stayed in a vacation rental instead of a hotel? I loved it!

Need a recommendation for where to stay? Check out my Your Turn section.

Eurotrip: Part 3 (Paris)

Days 5, 6, and 7: Paris

Early morning on day 5, the family packed up our stuff in Bruges, fit everything in the car, and we parted ways in Lille. We took the train from Lille instead of Bruges because it was way cheaper not to cross any country lines. My parents and sister headed off to England: since they had more time off, they spent a few days there before touring the Loire Valley and ending up in Paris. Due limits on how long we could be away from work, we abbreviated our trip and went straight to Paris.

This was my third visit to the City of Lights, and I was pleased to find myself playing the role of tour guide, and surprised at my own knowledge of how the city was laid out and how to navigate it. We only ran into a few roadbumps on this final leg of our trip, and by this point we were feeling somewhat tired but excited to see what Paris had to offer. Last time I was in Paris was in hot July of 2009 and it was much cooler this time. Jacket weather, but it was very nice. The cloudy skies did feel very Classic Paris.

The first thing we did after getting rid of our suitcase at the hotel was make a bee-line for the famous Marché aux Puces St-Ouen de Clignancourt. At first we were disappointed since all we saw were knockoff handbag and tchotchke dealers, but we pressed on and found the good stuff. Most of the good stuff, anyway. Since Monday was the last day of the market, some vendors had closed up shop so our choices were limited. What I really wanted was to score an unbelievable deal on a rug, but satisfied myself with a couple magazine ads from 1929 and 1933. I will share a photo of them in another post. I was in heaven just browsing, of course.

Doug had a few things that he insisted we see: the Champs-Elysées and the Arc De Triomphe. These were kind of strange requests to me since I thought the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame would get top billing, but I was more than happy to oblige (yes, we saw the Tour, Notre Dame, and the Louvre exterior as well, of course). Then, I learned his big reason to visit the Arc: to practice a little long-exposure photography as you’ll see below. And it took no arm-twisting for us to sample some macarons at Ladurée… they were definitely delicate and indulgent, but I guess I will always prefer a brownie when given my choice of sweets.

Paris has a modern and almost funky side, though, which we were pleased to experience as we walked down Rue de Rivoli and saw the bustling shopping area and took a peek at the construction at Les Halles, which looks like it will be pretty cool once it’s finished–with an underground mall (if I’m not mistaken), an expanded park, and apartments, I think? Anyway, that will be interesting to check back in on next time we’re there (there WILL be a next time, mind you).

We wandered over to the Centre Georges Pompidou and admired it from the outside, but skipped going in. I really am a fan of museums, but have found them to be a big “time suck” if you really only have a few days visiting somewhere (I went into the museum in 2009). While I’m not head over heels for modern art, I find the exterior of the center very fascinating, and always have.

All of these things, mind you, were done and seen on our first day in town–finishing the day with the stunning Tour Eiffel at night. Originally the plan was to go up it, but one elevator was out of service and my knee had been acting up, so we admired from ground-level. Finally, we took the metro to our semi-shady part of town and got back to the hotel. We were so wiped out at the end of the evening it didn’t matter that our room was pretty small and the bed was like a rock. It was clean and secure, so we slept like babies.

The second day we spent familiarizing ourselves with the city in an interesting way–somewhat of a wild goose chase to find my friend who we were supposed to meet up with Tuesday morning. We’d spent the first half of the day attempting to track her down, then gave up and did a little more sightseeing, had a delicious lunch in Montmartre (revisiting a place I LOVED in 2009), and a bit of minor shopping. Finally, we took advantage of the free wi-fi (and bathrooms!) at McDo (McDonalds) and got into contact with my friend. Well, after all was said and done, we got together at 6:00 Tuesday night.

Let’s be honest: our stay in Paris was mainly about the food. We had delicious crepes at the shop at the very bottom of Sacré-Coeur, boeuf bourginon at Le Poulbot in Montmartre, salmon salad at a restaurant near Musee D’Orsay, and even the cheap sandwiches we bought at a street vendor and ate on the banks of the Seine were just terrific. If I didn’t buy enough souvenirs, it is because I was too preoccupied thinking about my next delicious meal. We spent a ton on food but it was totally worth it. That’s my philosophy on travel, anyway.

The final day, we spent the whole morning at the Musée D’Orsay, which is my favorite Paris museum. Out of all the time periods of art, I prefer the impressionists and post-impressionists. I really could spend all day here. Instead, we broke for lunch and had our aforementioned sandwiches and crepes on the Seine. Being that it was our anniversary we took part in the tradition of locking a padlock on the bridge and throwing the key in the river.

You can catch part one here, and part two here. I still want to do an overall wrap up of the impressions of my trip, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!