trip to Iceland

Last week my parents, my sister and I went to Iceland. It was very unusual and incredibly fun experience. We purposely wanted to go without our partners just sort of "old family" like when we were kids and it felt like it. There was so much laughter, just a brilliant time. 

I have never been to Iceland before,  its an amazing place. We stayed for 3 days  in Reykjavik ( in this hotel, great location in an old port) and made trips into countryside. Unfortunately there wasn't time to see all places I planned, but still we managed to see loads and come back full of memories. 

It was cold and rainy for a bit, felt like early March, but we had couple of sunny, clear days so we were taking photos like crazy. Some places felt like landing on a moon, actually quite a lot of them, almost surreal, black lava fields everywhere you looked, steam coming out the mountains, hot lakes to bath in....hardly any trees....The grass wasn't green yet in most areas so it evoked the feeling of emptiness and contrast even more, I imagine that in summer when everything turns green it must be wonderful. 

For me this video perfectly captures the island http://vimeo.com/64835157.

Truly unique country, do visit if you can.......

Australia 3. - shops I enjoyed

We got back couple of days ago and after spending almost 30 hours on plane I felt awfully jet legged and exhausted. Due to a wrongly booked flight we had to travel from Brisbane to Melbourne, then to Bangkok, wait 4 hours and then to London. Simply, we left lunchtime on Monday from our apartment and got home on Wednesday morning. Not recommended with 4 year old :) But hey...
Back to this post. When in Melbourne and Sydney I discovered a couple lovely shops which I would like to share with you.
In Melbourne I found MUD which sell beautiful ceramic, the first photo. If I could I'd have bought the whole lot but I'm very happy with a few lovely bowls I purchased.
The second photo is from Little Salon where I bought these cutest neon earrings. Both definitely worth a visit if you are in area.
In Sydney I very much enjoyed Aesop, (3rd. photo) and Seed where I bought way to much clothes for Anya...And the last photo is of lovely Brooke from elementsilove, our Australian stockist. They store wonderful mixture of French and Indian antiques and vintage inspired pieces. Beautiful shop.....

Australia 1.- Melbourne

We are at the end of first week of our holiday. Melbourne was great. The weather was fantastic, we enjoyed loads of sun, salt water....a trip to mountains (Puffing Billy) was refreshing and having our legs out of the windows was quite liberating. The hotel we stayed in (The Prince) was pretty cool with wonderful location but not very child friendly, I know it's more young, party type of hotel but anyway, they were fine but not fantastic.
I went to couple nice little shops as well, but more about that next time.
I hope you are all ok?
x

holiday home

Not sure if you remember from last summer I talked about a house we owe in one really small Czech village. It's not far from a city so it has the perfect combination. But once you there it feels like million miles away from it all. We have repaired couple more rooms this year and it slowly coming together. As any old house ( 300 years old) everything takes a lot of time, hard work and money, so it's slow process but it's wort it. 

This year A. spent almost a month with my parents and I joined them for two weeks, but honestly I wish it could be there for longer. We swan in a river, played badminton in the evening and spent lot of time with family and friends. Ate well, picked berries from our garden, drank a lot of wine and beer and even was learning how to balance on a rope. I'm telling you not easy!

A. didn't miss us at all, she grew up so much in those weeks...summer holiday as it should be.

Enjoy the good weather and another summer weekend!

Amsterdam

We are planning a short trip to Holland in August and this place seems like a perfect place to stay while visiting Amsterdam. By the way have you got  any other tips for hotels or guesthouses in Amsterdam?
maison rikaint found via here

madrid

Last week I got a surprised birthday present from M. It was a short break to Madrid with her. He said " you work so hard, darling. You really deserve a break". So off we went and and it was wonderful. The weather was hot, the hotel was superb and we walked, chatted, ate, drank and slept a lot. I do love my husband, sometimes:)