Inside Zurich’s finest hotel, Baur au Lac

by Grant Martin on

Zurich is famous as the financial and cultural capital of Switzerland, a vibrant metropolis of over 1.6 million residents, a city full of sharply intelligent, extremely focused, well-dressed people. It’s a clean, refreshing environment, with culture and class balanced perfectly to create the ideal city and tourist destination.

Baur au Lac, arguably the best hotel in the city, reflects these traits perfectly. A boutique, five star member of the Leading Hotels of the World, Baur au Lac (literally, Baur hotel on the Lake) is nestled at the foot of the designer shopping district among the waterfront, canals and lush green parks of Zurich. And with a series of recent renovations, they’ve catapulted to the front of technology, style and culture.

Externally, the first thing that a visitor might notice when visiting Baur au Lac is the Rolls Royce Phantom. This year’s model, it’s just one in a fleet of several luxury vehicles at the hotel’s disposal for picking up guests at the airport or for running errands around to city. And it’s the sort of opulence that guest can used to during their stay.

%Gallery-73743%Before one even enters the proper hotel, it’s best to take a peek into the remodeled Terrasse, a sprawling, stone patio with covered, outdoor seating for light snacks, a full bar and a commanding view over the park just in front of the property. This is a great place for a business lunch, snack before going out into the city or evening beverage before a night out on the town, complete with ample shade, bustling waitstaff and a cool atmosphere.

The adjacent Pavillion Restaurant has also been remodeled and features the finest, modern Mediterranean fare.

Internally, Baur au Lac has just finished a massive remodel to reflect today’s style and culture. It’s difficult to tell from the 1844 architecture outside and the awe that one feels when stepping into the main lobby, but each room reflects all of the current state of the art in hotel quality, complete with flat screen televisions, sprawling, cavernous bathrooms and butler service on every floor.

Specific to this remodel, are the stunning new suites. This year, Baur au Lac finished an extensive remodel to create 22 of them, each an outstanding model of contemporary design and aesthetic. For those in the more traditional frame of mind, classic suites are still available.

You can read more about the hotel at their extensive website, where bookings and other photos of the new suites are available.

Zurich through the wide angle lens

by Grant Martin on

One of the most entertaining instruments in the photographer’s toolbox is the wide angle lens, a massive creature full of glass, angles and depth. Contrary to traditional optics, wide angle lenses broaden the field of view available to the camera, resulting in massive, sprawling images from one single shot. It’s also got the effect of stretching anything at the periphery of the image, so often it can be a poor choice for capturing portraits.

I pretend not to be a either a person well-educated in cameras or a good photographer, but as our colleague Jeremy Kressmann puts it, it’s hard to take a bad picture with a nice lens and a huge sensor inside of your camera.

And so taking advantage of some outstanding fares to Zurich this summer, I put my Canon Rebel to work.

Zurich, the financial capital of Switzerland is a city full of depth, with rolling, lush hills, cobble stone streets, volumes of character, a flawless public transportation system and beautiful lake at its foot. Were one to wring out three Genevas into one city, it would be Zurich. In a way, it’s the perfect candidate for a blogger with a wide angle lens. Take a look.

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Lady in the House: Chef Anne-Sophie Pic’s Simple Elegance

by Kendra Bailey Morris on

As someone who has done her fare share of cooking, I have mad respect for anyone undertaking the daily grind of working in a professional kitchen, let alone running one. Yet as a woman, I can’t help but revel just a wee bit more in the achievements of the many female chefs out there who are gaining the culinary respect they so deserve.

Take Chef Anne-Sophie Pic, for example, of the newly opened, Anne-Sophie Pic at the Beau-Rivage Palace at the Lausanne hotel in Switzerland. Not only was she born with plenty of solid cooking genes (she’s the daughter of Chef Jacque Pic and the granddaughter of Chef Andre Pic, who are both award winning culinarians in their own right), she is currently the only female chef in France to earn three Michelin stars.

With a penchant for creating exquisite dishes plucked straight from the water, Pic’s vision is both elegant and understated. Whether you’re going a la carte or savoring a multi-course “Pic Collection”, Chef Pic reinterprets many classic, regional French specialties with her own unique refinement and flair.

Fresh crab and Aquitaine caviar is accented with “flaked crab jelly” while a ubiquitous slab of foie gras is roasted and topped with a black cardamom peach jam. Pic’s grandfather’s recipe for crayfish tail gratin is honored as is her father’s exercise in gastronomic indulgence, sea bass topped with either 20 grams of golden Osetra caviar from Iran or 30 grams of Aquitaine caviar.Seasonal and regional specialties also make frequent appearances, especially as they relate to Pic’s signature seafood dishes. Wild, red mullets are served with smoked Agria (a type of potato) gnocchi’s “cooked in hot embers” while roasted John Dory is accented with a creamy broad bean ravioli and “foamy milk” infused with rum from Martinique.

Desserts, courtesy of award-winning Chef Patissier, Philippe Rigollot, make for a sumptuous ending and boast whimsical titles like “Raspberry and the Mexican Tarragon Flower” consisting of a raspberry/tarragon sorbet topped with crystallized, candied raspberries.

A meal at restaurant Anne-Sophie Pic at the Beau-Rivage Palace doesn’t come cheap (the chef’s seven course tasting menu will set you back roughly $300 per person), yet guests are not only offered exquisite cuisine, they are treated to a refined service at every stage of the meal that is described on the website as having “the lightest touch”.

While pricey dinners might appear to be a thing of the past, especially during an era of lay-offs and foreclosures, I believe a dining experience at the Beau-Rivage is worth saving one’s pennies for, even if it’s simply to support one of the world’s great, female chefs.

–Kendra

Bargain Europe: Camping Across The Continent

by Kraig Becker on

In these economic times we’re all looking to find ways to save a little cash without giving up our travels. Airfares are more affordable than they have been in a long time, which means that we can at least afford to get to the places we want to visit. But what happens once we get there? Are there any affordable places to stay?

Most travelers making their way across the pond to Europe tend to stay in nice hotels. Some, looking to go on the cheap, will stay in hostels along the way. But the Times Online has another suggestion, one that often goes overlooked. They recommend frugal travelers consider camping their way across the continent.

In their first article on the subject, they recommend the best place to camp in Paris. Yep, that’s right, camping in Paris itself, within sight of the Eiffel Tower, on a small river island on the Seine, at a place called Paris Camping International. The place offers a quiet escape from the sights and sounds of the City of Lights, but is just minutes from the chic cafes and art houses that Paris is famous for.

And if that wasn’t enough, the Times followed up that story with a list of the 20 coolest campsites across the rest of Europe. The list has suggestions for Portugal, Spain, France, Holland, Germany, Italy, and more. The camp sites offer some amazing scenery, with backdrops ranging from the Swiss Alps to the Mediterranean Sea, and they are all rich in charm, but short on expense.

Looking for a bargain trip to Europe this year? Perhaps you should pack a tent when you go and take advantage of these unique places to camp.

Photo of the Day (2.19.09)

by Kent Wien on

This picture taken in Gimmelwald, Switzerland by the appropriately named StrudelMonkey made me laugh. And that’s enough to get my vote for Photo of the Day.

I chuckled at the out of focus cat, which made me think it was going to be a perfect shot until it was rudely interrupted by a cat that was simply seeking a little attention.

It reminded me of this wonderful YouTube documentary about what it’s really like to share a home with a cat.

Way to go, StrudelMonkey!

Are you a Flickr user who’d like to share a travel related picture or two for our consideration? Submit it to Gadling’s Flickr group right now! We just might use it for our Photo of the Day!