Barcelona City Guide Part One

04/11/16

Welcome, to my first (official) City Guide. First off, Barcelona. We spent five days there last Fall, from September 25th-30th. The weather was great for that time of the year, we even spend one day at the beach! We rented an apartment through Airbnb, we always rent apartment, we find it’s the best way to feel like a local, and you can save on restaurant!!

My guide is divided in three sections, ToDo&See, ToEat and ToSleep or & ToShop. The first one is about my favorite places and activities to do in Barcelona. The second is for course about Food!!! And the last one is either the best neighborhood to stay or Airbnb/Hotel recommendation. Let’s start!

ToDo&See

CASA BATLLÓ 43 PASSEIG DE GRÀCIA, BARCELONA, SPAIN

Gaudi art house. This is the first stop we did in Barcelona, and the first Gaudi genius creation we have seen. You can pay to visit the interior, we didn’t, but if you do I recommend buying your ticket in advance here for 27,50 euro.

LAS RAMBLAS 1 PL. DE CATALUNYA 17-S, BARCELONA, SPAIN

***Tips: don’t shop or eat in the stores and restaurants along this street. Tourist trap is an understatement for this area

Located in the center of town, this street makes it an ideal place to start your visit to Barcelona!

BARCELONETA BEACH

Next stop, Barceloneta Beach. Isn’t like the best to have a clean and beautiful beach in central city?? For us it was, we spend an afternoon there, relaxing our feet after all the walking we did in Barcelona (so much so see and do!!). It was my first swim in the Mediterranean sea and it was memorable. Crystal blue water, we even saw tropical fish, clear sand and there’s different part of the beach depending of what you want. Family more relax area, or music and kind of party area. We selected the family area 😉 It’s free and seriously so good for the soul!

SAGRADA FAMILIA CARRER DE MALLORCA, 401, 08013 BARCELONA, SPAIN

Of course, you can’t visit Barcelona, without a stop at la Sagrada Família, one of the most incredible architectural creation imagined by genius Gaudi. The construction started in March 1882, and yet today it’s still not done. The estimated date of the end of the creation is 2020, and we will be back. While exploring the inside, I couldn’t imagine how he could see all this in his mind, he was truly a Genius. So much details, so many perfections, we have to go, and pay to see the interior. Again, I recommended to book your ticket online in advance here definitely worth the price. A part of the money ticket is for the construction.

PARK GÜELL CARRER D’OLOT

Admission 14 Euro here, make sure to take the access to the Monumental Zone, it’s worth it!! We took a bus to get there from the city, the best way to go in my opinion, a 39 min ride. The Park is so beautiful, again I was in shocked by all the details and he’s genius. My only regret is that we got there too late, (end of afternoon) and the last access to the Monumental Zone was at 19h30 and that’s the one we got. We didn’t had enough time to explore the rest of the Park, we could have stayed there an entire afternoon. One of my favorite part of the city. Admission 14 Euro here,

MACBA & DESIGN MUSEUM MUSEU DEL DISSENY PLAÇA DELS ÀNGELS, 1, 08001 BARCELONA, ESPAGNE / PL. DE LES GLÒRIES CATALANES

Museum, thereù,s plenty of good one in Barcelona, we went to two of them, MACBA, the Museum for Art Contemporary Barcelona & Design Museum Museu del Disseny de Barcelona, we really enjoyed both of them. ***Tips: You can by an Articket; Visit 6 majors art centres in Barcelona for €30 www.articketbcn.org/en/. It’s really worth it if you enjoy visiting museum while you travel. MACBA is bigger than the Design Museum, so plan more time for the first one. When you visit the second one, make sure to make a stop at the Market del Encants an architectural curiosity, and you never know, you might find a treasure 🙂 There’s also a really cool spot outside of Design Museum where you can take a sunbath and admire Torre Agbar.

There’s so many good places to see and visited in Barcelona, I could continue even more. I want to share one last thing, that is free and that require only your feet, it’s to explore the city at night. There’s something with the old building and the light, that make the city so beautiful at night and so special, believe me, it’s going to be you favorite activity.

I hope you will enjoy your trip to Barcelona, of course there is so many other place to see and stuff to do, I gave only my top, If you want more info or idea, please feel free to send me an email.

Stay tune for my ToEat section in my next post

It’s Been A While

03/25/16

Hello, I know it’s been a while since the last time I came here. I think I needed a little break. I traveled a lot for work lately and when I’m home, I spend this quiet time with my family. You deserve an apology and behold, I am sorry.

I’m pretty good, you? My trip last fall in Barcelona – Morocco & Lisbon was amazing and since I travel a lot, I thought I should talk more to travel on this blog. Do not worry, I will not drop the fashion world, its way too much of my life and I cannot live without it!

Would you like customize city guide that I visited? I will soon launch my new, Barcelona, stay tuned !! xxx

New York Photo Diary

06/7/15

Hey! Sorry for my silence of the past week, a lot happened at work lately. I’ve been promoted to Ladies Buyer and it’s been pretty intense since then, I’m sure you understand! I just got back from New York and I took pictures especially to share them with you. I will present them to you as a diary, let’s start!!

The first day we did our usual stores visits, to get inspiration and see what is happening on the East Coast. Most of the pictures have been taken in Soho where our hotel was located.

Saturdays Surf NYC, I love that cute little surf shop, it’s quit unusual to pass by a surf shop in NYC, and that makes it even more special and unique. Only for their coffee, it’s worth the trip

31 Crosby Street
New York, NY 10013

A must in NYC, Opening Ceremony, the classic stairs pictures!!

35 Howard St

New York, NY 10013

MM6, beautiful shop, Maison Martin Margiela is one of my favourite designers, I had to drop by!

91 Grand St
New York, NY,

Converse shop

560 Broadway

New York, NY 10012

Nike Town, with his four or five floors, it is pretty impressive.

6 E 57th St

New York, NY 10022

Here are some inspiring stuff from the streets of New York

Now, let’s talk about food, one of my favorite things to do in New York is to try new restaurants. I have a list on my phone and every time I go, I try a new place. This time our Vice President was kind enough to let me use my list !! We tried two of them, first of, Miss Lily. OMG I was so happy to try it, too good and the atmosphere is really fun. You really must try the corn !!

132 W Houston St
New York, NY,

Then we tried Two Hands for lunch, if you are looking for a healthy place to start your day, this is the place to go. I’ve tried the Avo Toast with a side of chorizo and a cold press juice, Beet, Ginger, Carrot and pineapple, it was perfect!!

For breakfast, my GMM brought me to Balthazar Bakery, it’s a traditional French bistro, on spring street.

80 Spring St

New York, NY 10012

Oh and another must in Soho, is Dean and Deluca. It’s a gourmet food grocery and to-go place, Karim and I always stop there before leaving New York, it’s perfect for a picnic.

560 Broadway

New York, NY 10012

I hope you enjoyed my diary, and don’t be shy if you have any questions!! xx

San Francisco Photo Diary

11/23/14

Photo Diary

I know, I should have done this a month ago, but it’s never to late right? It also makes me look at my pictures again, which it’s pretty cool, bring back the good memories!

We spend four days in San Francisco and we have seen a lot during those days! Our apartment was in Oakland which in the other side side of the water, one of my favourite neighbourhood was there, Bekerly. If you are passing by, you have to go for a picnic at the park near the water, you will have a fantastic view of the Golden gate.

In San Francisco my favourite neighbourhood is definitely Mission District, but I also really liked Outer Sunset (ocean side) and Japantown! Oh and it might look cheesy, but I really enjoyed watching the sea lions at Pier 39!

Here’s my San Francisco Address:

Tartine Bakery 600 Guerrero Street San Francisco, CA 94110 This place is crazy good, you will face a line-up, but it’s definitely worth the wait! Try the Jambon Royale & Gruyère sandwich, delicious!!!
Sea Lions Pier 39

Outer Sunset For a day at the beach, this is the place to be, but you need to have to be lucky to get clear sky without fog...

Daiso Japan Center 22 Peace Plaza, Japantown You should try to go watch a movie at one of the Japanese theatre

Coqueta Pier 5, The Embarcadero, San Francisco, 94111 Great tapas restaurant near the water, not too expensive!

Portland

10/10/14

Hey! I’m back home in Montreal, but vacation Is not finish, I still have until next Tuesday to relax! Here’s the second part of my West Coast Road Trip recap, this time it’s about Portland. We both really enjoyed our time in Portland, it’s a young, fun and colourful city. The public transportation is easy and cheap and there are tons of good restaurants and coffee. What I also enjoy is that music, art and book seem really important for them, and it’s a point that is important for me too.

First let’s start with day one, for our first day, we explored downtown. Of course, I did some shopping ;) since we don’t have a J. Crew here in Montreal I took advantage of the situation you know!! The places you have to visit downtown are; first go grab a good coffee at Stumptown coffee at the Ace Hotel. From there you will be after a two minutes walk at one of the biggest bookstore I ever saw, Powell’s. You might get lost there for a while so you will need a little snack after that and nothing better than Voodoo Doughnut in Portland ;) This place is so cool I was literally like a kid in front of the hundreds of different flavors they have!! Pearl district is the neighbourhood to go for good shopping, after you explored the neighbourhood I recommend Boxer Ramen right in front of the Ace Hotel. The painted walls of this restaurant are just too adorable! We finished our first day downtown at the Portland Fashion Week, without invitation haha! That was so cool, we were practically front row, I wasn’t that impressed by the collections, but still it was a really cool and unplanned experience!

For our second day, we explored Division district, which is on the other side of the river that splits downtown, but first we started our day with a good breakfast at Sweedeedee, it’s a Hipster coffee where they served only organic food and mostly from local market, I really enjoyed it! I really wanted to go to Division to try the famous restaurant Pok-Pok, but we also went to see another famous place for Karim pleasure, Burnside Skatepark, which was built by skateboarders themselves under the Burnside bridge!

We also tried the famous ice-cream place Salt & Straw, after that, we needed to take a walk haha! it was really good, but extremely rich! We went for a small hike at Mount Tabor Park, it’s really beautiful there and it’s a perfect place to take a nap under the sun! We finished our day at Pok-Pok and it was better than what I expected, you really have to go there one time!

On our last day in Portland, we went for a hiking trip to Columbia River Gorge, then we ended our day downtown, we made a quick stop at the Adidas headquarters so we could take pictures of us with the giant Superstar outside the building ;)

This hiking day, was one of the highlights on this trip, it was so beautiful there and it’s only a 40 minutes drive from downtown Portland. The forest is just too beautiful and the Columbia river surrounded by mountains is breathtaking.

Wow! I had a lot to say about Portland right, haha stay tuned for the rest of this adventure!

My Portland address:

Stumptown Coffee at Ace Hotel: 1022 SW Stark St
Portland, OR, USA

Powell’s Book Store: 1005 W Burnside St. between 10th and 11th Ave.
Portland, OR 97209

Voodoo Doughnut: 22 SW 3rd Ave, Portland, OR 97204, USA

Boxer Ramen: 1025 SW Stark St., Portland, Oregon USA

Sweedeedee: 5202 N. Albina Ave. Portland, ORE.

Salt & Straw: 3345 SE Division Street

Pok Pok Restaurant: 3226 SE Division Sreet

Grand Marketplace: 1005 SE Grand Ave, Portland, OR 97214, USA

West Coast Road Trip

10/4/14

Hey! I’m finally able to get Wi-Fi on my computer!! I couldn’t get a connection during our stay in Portland, so I have a lot of catching up to do for you guys!

Let’s start with Seattle, I have showed you some pictures of Ballard, the neighbourhood where we stayed. The second we got there, we took the bus to explore downtown, we started with Pike Place Market, where we had breakfast near the water. It’s a huge market where you can find great local products from food to art. Oh and the first ever Starbuck is there 😉 The Olympic Sculpture Park, was one of my highlights. It’s a gigantic park near the water with tons of great sculptures and there’s a small beach where you can watch the Sea-lions!! Then we went to Nordstorm, haha of course, it’s from Seattle, there was no way I would missed that! I scored a pull-over by Alexander Wang on sale!

At the end of the afternoon we went to visit the Space Neddle, it might look a bit cheesy but seriously, I really enjoyed it! The view of Mount Rainier is breath taking. Oh and we also took a ride on the monorail, so cool, I felt like a kid on a roller coster!!

For our last day we explored the Capitol Hill neighbourhood, my favourite place. There are two places you really have to visit when you go to Seattle, first, my new favourite shop Totokaelo on 10th avenue, the most inspiring shop I have seen for a long time. Then, next door, you have to go to Elliot Bay bookstore, a really good book shop if you are a good reader like me!

Now we are in a small hotel in Eureka, a small town where we stopped between Portland and San Francisco. We are now in California and we will be in San Francisco tomorrow afternoon. Stay tune for the rest of my trip!! xx

Wearing: Biker jacket: H&M / Tee: Boyfriend / Jeans: Zara / Scarf: H&M / Sneaker: Nike / Bag: Herschel /

Ballard

09/27/14

Hi Guys, I just want to leave you a quick note. My vacation started last night, I’m in Seattle right now with Karim !! I don’t have a lot of pictures to share with you yet, but I wanted to let you know that I’m still alive hahaha and that I will post a new editorial really soon stay tuned xx

Tee & Jacket: H&M / Jeans: Levis Sneaker: Nike / Fanny Pack: Herschel / Sunglasses: Toms /

Tips For Packing Smart Part 1

09/21/14

As you may know, I’m starting my vacation next Friday and my boyfriend and I are doing a west coast roadtrip! Starting with Seattle, we will spend three nights there, then three nights in Portland where we are going to eat lots of donuts from Voodoo Donuts yeah!! Then, we will take the road to San Francisco and we will make a stop in a small town on the way there. We are going to spend our last four days in San Francisco, I just can’t wait!!

I have been wanting to do a post on what to bring in your luggage for a two-week light travel for a while. I did a couple of backpack travel so I’m quite good at packing smart now! For part one I’ll start with what to bring on the plane, here’s some of my tips!

What to bring on the plane:

First, for taking the plane, you have to dress comfortable. My best plane outfit include a nice pair of sporty legging, dark ones, black or dark grey. For the top, the best is layering. Start with a good looking but comfortable tank top, cause it can be hot during the landing and depending where’s your destination it can be hot outside too! Then as a second layer use one of your favourite long sleeves. For my part I have a black long sleeves henley shirt, it’ perfect! Always bring a nice scarf, this is a key items for travelling smart, on the flight you can use it as a blanket! During your trip you can use it as a blanket at the park, as a picnic tablecloth and of course when it’s a bit chilly!

On your feet depending the season, wear a pair of shoes or boots that are easy to remove for security check at the airport. During summer a nice pair of Birkenstock is the best! Now in your bag, use a good size tote and bring:

Your favourite book (not too heavy)
Earbuds for a movie or your music
Your Ipad, Ipod, or whatever you have to listen to your music!
Hand Sanitizer
Light snacks; dry fruits, nuts, chocolate, granola bar.
Bottles of water, you need to keep hydrate cause it’s really dry on the plane!!
A rich face and hand cream and use it right before you board.
A pair of comfy socks (cause it’s always freezing on the plane)
A good size scarf
Headache pills (just in case)
Eye mask and a neck cushion

You can find the links on my Polyvore page

Post Card From California

04/6/14

I’m back from California and happy to be be with my love, but I’m already missing warmth and the beach!! We spent most of the week with the Vans team and the spring 2015 collection is fabulous!!! It’s so hard to see a line so in advance and not get to wear it before a year!

As you can imagine I can’t really talk about it, but I can show you some postcard pictures from my trip! You will see that I have a lot of pictures from the beach, when you are from Montreal and you just spent the last five months in the cold, you kind of want to capture the moment!!!!
Enjoy xxx

California

03/30/14

Quick post before I leave for California tomorrow morning!!!! Oh yeah, bye-bye winter, snow and cold weather, hello warm weather!

We are going there to pre-line Vans spring 2015, yes already buying spring for next year, and spring is not even here yet haha!!!

This is what I packed for the week, casual and a lot of Vans!! I won’t be able to blog this week, so If you want ot follow my journey at Vans California headquarters follow my instagram: @Isabelleht have a good week xxx

Vans from left to right: Era Leopard / Era Van Doren Camo / Authentic Liberty /