Berlin Festival of Lights & Some Shop Windows

So the trip to Berlin was lovely as the weather was cool but sunny and blue sky perfect for lots of walking!  Apart from shopping - and yes there was an orange bag in amongst the shopping - there was plenty to see and eat!  First off my trip coincided with The Festival of Lights where some of the big buildings were specially lit at night - it made a really pretty sight:-

The music hall(?) at Gendarmenmarkt.

The Brandenburg Tor

This building had the French flag projected
on it with  a ballerina doing Swan Lake
across it - you can just make it out.

The windows at the Berlin branch of Galleries Lafayette had some interesting displays:-
Here some rather unusual glass stilettos - a collaboration between the Champagne House of Piper Heidsieck and French shoe designer Christian Louboutin.  Whatever next?!

The fish net clad champagne
bottle - ohh la la!



The advert.




















Then something more tame from French shoe makers Repetto - I liked this lovely ballet inspired window!

During the day there were lots of things to see as well such as Checkpoint Charlie-

And something you do not always see on the street!

And the Grosse Stern newly restored - it looked stunning in the bright sunlight!

And the Berlin skyline (part of it) seen from KaDeWe.

Monaco - A Royal Wedding Story

I went to Nice and Monaco at the end of August - the main aim to see HSH Princess Charlene's wedding dress and the exhibition of Royal Courts at the Grimaldi Forum.  The weather was glorious - a nice change from the cool wet UK "summer"! 
First I went to see the Royal Palace which was lovely inside - small compared to most of the other palaces I have seen in Europe and Russia.  After that visit I went down to the Oceanographic Museum to see the Royal Wedding Exhibition.  I was amazed to find one could take photos of the items on display (unlike at Buckingham Palace).  So here are some pics of the exhibition which is on show until 22 November 2011.



The Wedding Car by Lexus - it is a hybrid eco-friendly car.




The foyer and staircase of the museum is lined
 with photographs from the royal wedding.




















The Civil Ceremony








The Religious ceremony.




A first view of the dress and uniform.

Here you see some of the beautiful embroidery and beading on the dress and the orders worn by the Prince.

 

Some more detail of the dress made by Giorgio Armani.

A side view.



Note the covered buttons at the back and the second (detachable) train which was
attached to the back "collar" of the dress.




Back view - the carpet was especially made for the
wedding with wool from New Zealand.



One of the lovely portraits of Princess Charlene.

In a glass cabinet outside the room with the dress and uniform was the beautiful Ocean Tiara given to Princess Charlene as a wedding gift by Prince Albert - it was made by Van Cleef and Arpels with sapphires and diamonds in a swirling wave pattern and can be collapsed to wear as a necklace - indeed the first time Princess Charlene wore it, it was as a necklace - given that she is/was a swimmer it is appropriate that the tiara be called the Ocean Tiara.

So if you happen to be in Monaco before 22 November maybe you would like to visit the museum.  After seeing the royal wedding exhibit I went downstairs to see the fabulous aquariums and all the amazing fish and sea creatures!





Berlin Specials

Well Berlin had some special scarves in store when I went last week.  The Kurfurstendam store has been refitted and the Friedrichstrasse store has closed and a concession has opened within the famous KaDeWe store.   I got to Friedrichstrasse to find Hermes replaced by Nespresso!  It was by pure chance that I found Hermes in KaDeWe.  Anyway to cut a long story short  to celebrate the revamped store and the new concession in KaDeWe Hermes issued a special edition of Brandebourgs in 3 colourways - 2 are 90cms and 1 is a 70cm so feast your eyes:-

90cm black Brandebourgs

The Berlin detail on the bottom right corner.

The second 90cm in very bright colours!

The 70cm in a deep grey/green, pink and apple green.

Was I tempted?  Of course.  But then common sense prevailed - I already have Brandebourgs in the 70cm that was issued in 2008(?) in 2 cws including black and blue so no point having another one really.  If I had got one I think I would have bought the black 90cm.  I loved the pink 70cm but the green of the borders is just not to my taste at all - it is a really dull looking green and this is what would be on show most of all with this scarf, so it was "no".... for now.

While I was in both Berlin stores I was talking to the SAs about stock levels and they all said they only have a reasonably good stock because they are "new" stores so hermes gave them more but they still said that they felt it was very low.  For example just 2 weeks ago, the SA in Harrods told me she has 6 drawers EMPTY - unheard of!  So no idea where all the scarves have gone - it is almost as if Hermes have forgotten the European stores - no one has stock not even FSH in Paris.  If anyone knows please let us know!!

I will try to blog some more about Berlin in due course but I thought you would like to see the 3 special scarves on offer, should you visit Berlin.

Berlin Knot - How To

Reader Pamela requested a "How To" recently for the Berlin Knot so here you go Pamela!

The Berlin Knot with my Tours des Cles 70cm.





Start with a Basic Fold.



Tie a single knot close to the centre of your scarf.



Pull it tighter.



Repeat - tie a second knot.



Pull the knot tighter and as close to the

first as you can.



Pull the knot tighter so it forms a sort of

brotchen/bread roll shape!  You can tease the

folds into shape.

 






  

Now choose which side you like best -

this one with a more knotted look?

Or the flip side with a "smoother" look?

When you have chosen your preferred

side tie the scarf at the back of your neck

with a small knot or a petite MT scarf ring.

A bigger look with a 90cm scarf.

Scarf: Brides de Rebelles.



New Scarf

I was very lucky on Ebay this week I won a brand new scarf which I have been looking to get for a long long time....

Maybe you have guessed?

Ledoux's beautiful La Promenade de Longchamps in my favourite colour pink.

Cowboy knot.

Equestrian with my Fer a Cheval scarf ring used to tie the ends.

Equestrian look with ends tucked in.

MatTai's Criss Cross bow knot with moyenne scarf ring - for details of both see here.

Friendship knot - instructions here.



Hope you like!