2020 has made it almost impossible to travel and so Europe Is Our Playground is on hiatus for now.
To keep up to date with Nick, follow him over at Twitter and at A Small World Explorer where he’s a regular contributor and if you’d like to contact him directly for any travel/ restaurant/ writing-related matters feel free to email him at nick@europeisourplayground.com.
The exterior of Restaurant 22 gives little away from across the road but get a little closer and the fact that it hides a restaurant becomes all the clearer. It’s a small victorian townhouse with a regal black door and ornate stained glass windows depicting various...
When the bread arrives and makes you swoon, you know that something good is happening. But when you rip a chunk off and it tears away with a satisfying fluffy yield, like a salty golden crusted cloud, and you dunk it into a Tapenade that exists solely to please you -...
Florence's enoteche are as various as the wines served inside them. Glitzy modern spots with views of the Arno’s various bridges line the riverside, while old school haunts like Le Volpi e l'Uva pop up on backstreets across the city. The latter types tend to be my...
Nestled along the banks of the quaintest little canal in De Beauvoir Town (West Haggerston), the Barge House is a real gem. I went along for brunch to try their now famous weekend brunch menu and found a quiet little spot that blew away my expectations with a...
I was little late to the Jinjuu hype train as I was living in Florence when it all kicked off, but when I begrudgingly came back to London it seemed like one of those London only kind of places that I'd struggled to find around Europe, but wanted to try. Not because...
Bermondsey Street is beginning to take shape as a proper food centre in South East London. Almost every other door leads into a restaurant, a pub or a bar. There are now two basement bars withint moments of each other and a collection of restaurants that span French,...
Autumn is aesthetic poetry. It comes to life through layers of lush contrasting gradients. It speaks in nature's warmest hues and dances through the cities of the world with grace and beauty. Autumn wraps each November in the most stunning of costumes, every leaf a...
The cobbled streets look up to iron balconies adorned with flowers, while grand promenades flourish onto boutique-laden streets with flashy façades and well-heeled patrons. The mix of Franco-Germanic architecture is thanks to the resort town's location just 20 miles...
An hour's walk away from Strasbourg's tourist-filled La Petite France is a long forgotten industrial estate that is slowly becoming a new hub for cultural activity in Strasbourg. Home to the broken shells of old breweries, empty roads and a working dockyard , the area...
London is one of the world's most aesthetically unique cities. It is a city in constant contrast - with Victorian museums standing regally under glittering skyscrapers and tudor homes staring out to some of Europe's busiest roads. It is gritty from its industrious...
Venice conjures up the most intricately romantic images - from late night rendezvous hand-in-hand atop arched bridges to the enchanting rhythm of the canals as they push through to the Adriatic, helped along by the city's most profoundly recognisable denizens - the...
The stench of gasoline, buttered corn and perfume intoxicate the olfactory senses. Hundreds of different languages, the grind of traffic and the occasional ranting of a preacher assaulting the ears. The turmoil of Oxford Circus. The crowds push into Selfridges from...
Gaming isn’t perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks about travel but for me, gaming has been a part of travel since I first switched on my Gameboy while making one of many trips to the coastal towns of Yorkshire (Whitby, Filey, Bridlington)...
Saint Paul's is by far one of England's most beautiful cathedrals, up there with York Minster and the incredible Lincoln Cathedral. However, Saint Paul's has something the others don't - well in fact it has many things - but in particular - the incredible view from...
Tracing the politically-tinged resurgence of the Danse Macabre art movement, popular in the medieval years, the exhibition Dernière Danse, focuses on Franco-German art from the mid 1800's through to present day with living French artists such as Tanx and 19th century...
This stunning work of art was made for the asp of the Cathedral of Siena but was replaced in 2004 by a copy to help preserve the near 800 year old original. The original (pictured) now stands at eye-level in a darkened room in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. Duccio di...
Hidden in the western corner of the Jardin du Luxembourg amongst lush shrubbery and tall dark trees that block the sun, hides a poet. Rather, a surreal bronze depiction of the poet Paul Eluard, by the Russian-born artist Ossip Zadkine. The work is similar in style to...
Autumn is aesthetic poetry. It comes to life through layers of lush contrasting gradients. It speaks in nature's warmest hues and dances through the cities of the world with grace and beauty. Autumn wraps each November in the most stunning of costumes, every leaf a...
The cobbled streets look up to iron balconies adorned with flowers, while grand promenades flourish onto boutique-laden streets with flashy façades and well-heeled patrons. The mix of Franco-Germanic architecture is thanks to the resort town's location just 20 miles...
An hour's walk away from Strasbourg's tourist-filled La Petite France is a long forgotten industrial estate that is slowly becoming a new hub for cultural activity in Strasbourg. Home to the broken shells of old breweries, empty roads and a working dockyard , the area...
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