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Forget Atomic Cafe, just a few metres down the road is the uber cool, but totally unpretentious cafe Agnes Curran.
It serves great java and sells art, antiques and homewares making it really classy and very quirky.
There's something really special about Agnes Curran. It is full of character and a real find; not only that but it is renowned for the Kiwi delicacy Lamingtons: a wedge of sponge soaked in dark chocolate, coated in coconut and served with raspberry jam and cream. The staff are lovely too. What's not to love?
181 Ponsonby Road, Auckland. Tel: 464 9 3601551
Lovely gallery in a superb location specialising in modern and Ligurian art, with possibly the friendliest staff ever.
We arrived to be told it was closed (out of season), but instead of that being that, the staff had a little chat between themselves and decided that it would be OK for us to go and look at everything anyway.
They gave us a book, got the caretaker and he proceeded to take us up to where every piece of art they owned was in storage! Hung on rollers in a vast space in the attic.
No way would they have the space to show everything in the museum, yet they let two tourists have the run of the place. Great fun and a truly once in a lifetime experince. The sort of thing that only the owners and workers of galleries get to do.
Via J. Ruffini 3, Genova
www.museovillacroce.it
When in Amsterdam, even for a one day, do get a culture card with which you get a siginificant discount with all museums, galleries, public transportation and more.
Louvre blues? The antidote is Musee Jacquemart-Andre (B Haussmann, west of Gare St Lazare).
Climb the lightest of monumental staircases to a wonderful private art collection in a sumptuous Second Empire mansion. Splendid audioguide.
And when exhilarated rather than exhausted make for the tearoom, or walk back along Boulevard Haussmann for celebratory lunch at Brasserie Mollard.
One of the nicest ways to spend a day in Paris is to visit the beautiful Musee d'Orsay.
The restaurant on the top floor offers a very reasonably priced lunch and the tea rooms will restore you and your feet with an afternoon tea or something stronger later in the day.
Inspring images from European masters of photographic art. A variety of exhibitions in a stunning building in the Marais district.
Great to visit there is something for everyone Disneyland for the kids and the Moulin Rouge for adults.
If you are on a tight budget there are still lots of things to do get a good guide book and DIY touring round Paris - have also found things to do for free via the internet ie free concerts in parks and churches all over the city.
Pick up an entertainment weekly for details.
Look on a map to see a canal a short wat east of the Gare de Nord. On a Sunday afternoon follow it north to see a giant flea market, live music and eventually a dock area with cafes to sit and watch the day go by. You can have a boat trip along it as well.
After a walk up to Montmartre, go poster shopping at Place Du Tertre.
Go to Paris and get he train out to Auvers. On the way stop off at Pontoise.
Here there is a restaurant called Pave de la Roche. This is run by a young French couple and has the most amazing menu giving you a gastronomic feast.
My favourite starter is cappuccino de moules. Auvers too is a delight and here in this small village you can follow Vincent van Gogh around with copies of his paintings placed around and see the room where he died and the famous church he painted.
The museum is a delight and you get transported back in time, have a pretend train ride and 'sit in a Parisienne Cafe' The whole experience can be done in a day and is a most enjoyable interlude away from the crowds of Paris.
The Hotel Delavigne in Rue Casimir Delavigne is the perfect hideaway for a romantic weekend out of the public view.
Friendly, discreet and inexpensive, you can romp away to your heart's content - the Boulevards Saint-Michel and Saint-Germain-des-Pres are an arm-in-arm stroll away - and relief for the conscience can be had just around the corner at Saint-Sulpice (which is great for Da Vinci Code nerd spotting too).
1 Rue Casimir Delavigne, 75006 Paris. +33 1 4329 3150
www.hoteldelavigne.com
The first major retrospective exhibition of Berthe Morisot's work to be held in France in more than forty years is on view at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille.
The strange and Kitsch front windows of the rue Frochot night clubs and hostess bars are fascinating.
Pulling putters from all over the world, these bars and clubs show their cosmopolitan side by reproducing a German bar front, a Sevillian facade with iron ornements, a typical English pub, an Art Nouveau one and a copy of an American pub.
The street is really small and they all concentrate on both side of it, as if on a small size town dimension. The girls inside bring an exotic touch to the place when they sit at the bars windows.
Visit the behind the scenes artisans, bakers like Gerard Mulot etc for very reasonable tours with samples of food given free.
www.parisinfo.com/visite-paris/decouvrez-les-metiers-et-savoir-faire-des-parisiens/
Make sure you visit the Piscine art gallery while you're in Lille. It's a metro journey away from the centre of town, but it's worth the trip to see this wonderful art gallery converted lovingly from an art deco swimming baths, with the changing cubicles turned into exhibit cases. Every now and again there is even a burst of sound recorded from a busy swimming baths to remind you of the gallery's former purpose.
23 rue de l'Espérance, Roubaix
Open Tuesday-Sunday 11-6. Entry 3 euros
Catch Tram 44 to the Royal Museum of Central Africa. Great tram ride, challenging museum.
About an hour from Mombasa, this community- owned sanctuary has one of the largest concentrations of elephants in Africa.
Tourism is still developing here so you won't meet hordes of vehicles on your game drives. At the main gate you can also make and buy elephant dung paper. Traveller's Camp has just been refurbished and affords some spectacular views. A truly beautiful place.
Tintin addicts have no excuse not to make the pilgrimage to Brussels. First stop is the Musée de la Bande Dessinée where you’ll feel 10 years old again and have to be dragged away by the non-believers in your party.
There are souvenirs aplenty at the Museum shop, with even more at the dedicated Tintin emporium just off the Grande Place.
There’s even something for fans at the Africa Museum, a short tram ride from the town centre, where Hergé got his inspiration for the controversial but formative Tintin in Congo.
Chinese & Japanese Towers.These beautiful oriental buildings are pretty close to each other in the eastern part of Heysel.
From the Atomium you can go there by foot through a big park and passing some nice sights like Monument Leopold I, Chapelle Ste. Anne, and Chateau Royal.
The frontage of the Chinese Pavilion was made in Shanghai in ctr. 17th – 19th.
The Japanese Tower was brought here from Paris.
In the Rue du boucher there is a very small side road named the Schuddeveldgang.
If you walk that through you will see a very small alley at your left.
Walk it right till the end and you will come to one of the two entrances of Theatre Toone. This place consists out of several rooms and one is the theatre room where you can enjoy a traditional local puppet show.
If there are no plays performed then the whole establishment is open as pub.
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