MacCulloch & Wallis in London

 MacCulloch & Wallis sells fine fabrics and trimmings. The store still looks much the same as it would have done in the decade before (it was established in 1902).
I just happen to visit this shop today. It is located in central London, in 25-26 Dering Street, so just off Regent Street...I happened to see it just by chance...and I love it..I wanted to buy a jar of buttons...but I ended up buying beautiful fabrics...

WGSN - why I didn't know anything about it?

Today I had class from 10.00 to 17.00. My teacher in Fashion Design and Marketing is just great and my collegues really nice people  (interesting enough just one girl is from Uk, all the others come from Japan,South Korea, Poland, Brazil and many many other countries)
Anyway today- among many other things, I found out about WGSN, a fantastic (and free) fashion website .

WGSN is the leading online trend-analysis and research service providing creative and business intelligence for the apparel, style, design and retail industries. ..so have a look at http://www.wgsn.com/?q=experts/58..and you won t regret it!!

 

So I had no time to go around..so I can t post any pics :(((

 

 

Fashion Design and Marketing -Central St Martins here I come!!!

Thank you for booking a course at Central Saint Martins. We are pleased to confirm that you have been successfully registered on the following course:

Course:	Fashion Design And Marketing - (Summer)
Date:	30/08/2011 - 02/09/2011
Time:	10:00 - 17:00
Location:	Southampton Row (Click here for a map)

Right, yes, tomorrow I am starting this course in London at one of the best fashion schools in the world (I have landed at Stansted a few hours ago)..can't wait to start this new adventure!!

Lecce, Martano, Melpigano- escaping the crazy crowd in Salento

Lecce is beautiful, the surrounding beaches amazing, but definitely too crowded, esepcially in August. Me and my cousin had a hard time in finding a beach where we could lay down for a while and enjoy the sun..it seems that 3 Italians out of 5 are spending their holidays in this area of Puglia, called Salento.

Our B&B in Lecce is fantastic..so we keep our basis here and go exploring the villages close by like Martano and Melpignano..they are so incredibly beautiful!!!Pics 1 - 2 Our bed and breakfast Chiesa Greca...great accomodation in the historical city center

Pic 3. Pic from a walk in Lecce

 Pic 4. ME in Martano

Pic 5. The entrance of the main church in Martano

Pic 6. The EMPTY central square in Mepignano

Carmen Rampino, Lecce - Paper pulp or pure art?

Sorry for the long silence..but when I am on holiday it seems I keep forgetting my laptop at home.
I spent 4 beautiful days in Lecce, a city in the South of Italy in a region called Puglia.
Lecce is something like 820 km from my hometown, Bologna (which - strange enough- is almost the same distance between Bologna and Budapest :)
Lecce is a beautiful town, probably my favourite one in the south.
I have slept in a nice B&B in the city center and I spent my days with cousin, Sandra, exploring the surrounding areas - beaches and towns nearby.
Lecce is very famous for its shops selling paper pulp.  The golden age of this art was the second half of the nineteenth century, when many factories were set up  and many statues were created for processions, nativity scenes and holy patrons to donate to churches.
In Lecce I found a nice shop run by a lady, Carmen Rampino. The shop is very small but worth a visit (it is very close the Santa Croce Church). Carmen sells everything from necklaces to small statues...
Below some pics taken in the shop.

Horror Barbie - the best hairdresser in Budapest

I really loved this hairdresser in Budapest. It is located in  Nagymező utca 8 and it is simply great. I paid something like 65000 HUf for a great cut and the staff is simply amazing...and come on, the name is just too cute!!

 

Fregoli - a great shop with top Hungarian brands

During one of my daily walk in Pest, I found out an amazing shop called Fregoli.

It has become one of my favourite shops now as it sells modern Hungarian fashion brands. I JUST LOVE IT!!!!!

It is located in Bástya utca and it offers everything from bicycle-inner-tube-bags through pretty cocktail dresses, to quality outfits and accessories.

I bought a nice little orange bag there and the staff was so incredibly friendly!!!

I must say I fell in love with a brand called Balkantango...check it out at  http://www.balkan-tango.com/

http://www.fregolishop.com/index.php?site=products

A day trip to Esztergom (by motorbike)

Yesterday we decided to take quite a long trip (at least by motorbike) and went to Esztergom which is something like 50km from Budapest (and trust me, with a little vespa is a very looong trip indeed). 

It used to be the old capital of Hungary until the 13th century and it s the most important religious city in Hungary.
Its cathedral, Esztergom Basilica is the largest church in Hungary.

There is also a bridge that connects Hungary with Slovakia and we drove along it as well and spent 1 hour (!!!!) in Slovakia.

Actually we didn t spend much time in Eszetergom as well...I think just a few hours may be enough to get an idea of the city...

Toldi - my favourite cinema in Budapest

Budapest is full of theatres and cinemas...so whenever I am in Budapest I try to take advantage of that and I go out to movies as often as I can. My favourite cinema is Toldi, which belongs to the chain of art mozi (art cinemas - www.artmozi.hu/toldi).

Last night me and my husband went there and watched Az igazság ára (actually I don t even remember the title in English) ...a kind of spy story featuring Matthew McConaughey...the film was nothing special but the movie theatre in itself was absolutely amazing!!!!

Párizsi Nagyáruház, Budapest (or heaven on earth)

In Andrássy Ut, it is my favourite bookshop and caffeteria...go there and indulge on coffee and sweets...for a heavenly memory of Budapest!!!!

Great Market Hall ( Nagyvasarcsarnok) in Budapest

Located in Vámház Körút 1-3, the Great Market Hall is definitely a place to be seen in Budapest.

I went there today and spent 2 hours there. It is the greatest indoor market of Hungary and the atmosphere there is really unique.

Most of the stalls on the ground floor offer produce, meats, pastries, candies, spices, and  paprika, local wines, pastries, fruits and vegetables. The second floor has mainly eateries and souvenirs. 

Here are some pics I took of what I liked inside...

Retrock Shop in Budapest

My husband knows how much I love shopping and actually, more than that, how much I love window shopping...so today he took me to see some nice shops in Budpaest (and believe me, there are plenty of super nice shops). One I fell in love with is called Retrock; it is in central Budapest and is a little gem.
It sells modern, exclusive and entrancing clothes and accessories for both women and men by young Hungarian deisgners: Anh Tuan, Cistas, Je Suis Belle, Nagy Adrienn, Nanushka, Szép Szidónia and Zsega.

i didn't buy anything ..but here are some of the pics I took in the shop.

Retrock is in Henszlmann Imre utca 1.
You can also vist its website at http://www.retrock.com

Szentendre. just 20 km from Budapest

Szentendre is a beautiful little village 20km from Budapest, where artists and galleries proliferate...it s worth going day on a daily trip from Budapest. You can reach it via Danube or by bus...we reached it by motorbike. It took us only 30 minutes!!!

Again random pics of Szentendre.

Pic 1. The Danube

Pics 2-3. Local handicraft

Pics 5-6-7- pics of the village

Random pics of Budapest

Some nice random pics of Budapest that I took in the last 2 days...

Pic 1. Flowers just in front of the Parliament, a few steps from my apartment

 Pic 2. A cinema (mozi in Hungarian) close to the Opera

 Pic 3. The old lady I mentioned in my last post . She is selling flowers for 500 HUF (2 euro) outside a supermarket

 Pic 4. The balcony in Szalayi utca (where my apartment is located)

 Pic 5. Ristorante Krizia, an EXCELLENT Italian restaurant

 Pic 6.  Mathias Church in Buda

 Pic 7. View of  Budapest from Buda