The Rosewood São Paulo: Excellence and the Disney Effect
September 23, 2025
First of all, the Rosewood is a gorgeous facility, centrally located in São Paulo and yet somehow an oasis of sorts. Two blocks from the main drag (Av. Paulista), as soon as you enter the driveway you enter a different world, lush and green like the jungle. Having an oasis to retreat to from the chaotic third world aspects of São Paulo is a necessity when you are old and spoiled.
344 is a luxury king category that is almost sufficient for several days. The best aspect is a balcony that overlooks the real street. In case you wonder whether you are actually in a big city, a look out the window banks makes that clear. Fortunately the room is seriously soundproofed.
The bathroom is awesome with nary a plastic shower in sight. In fact, the shower controls are complex enough to require a manual.
The bar and coffee center went unused.
We spent some time at the pool, meeting people sadly from Florida (or as from Florida as you can get when you are a french boat designer with a Russian designer wife
The only issue that needs attention at the Rosewood may, ironically, be that the staff is a bit too well trained. Lots of them are Disney alums, and it shows in the way they execute the script. Less script and more human would fit the vibe of Brazil better.
We experienced our first Brazilian live music at Cabo de Galo, a supposedly “secret” mixology speakeasy directly in the middle of the breakfast restaurant. Part of the Disneyesque script is to insert an unnecessary delay in all productions in order to give the illusion of exclusivity; like waiting for an open table to be open; or waiting to be seated at breakfast when open tables are all over the place. That stitch can be dropped.
Hell? Maybe.
We enjoyed some cashaça. (Throughout Brazil, the argument WRT whose cashaça is best continues apace even 20 years after my first visit.)
And a Brazilian cocktail involving not enough Fernet called macunaíma.
Greater São Paulo outside the Rosewood oasis has plenty to offer. Some things we saw before our arrival at the Rosewood, like the Jardim Botânico and Esperanza Spalding.
Our post-business side quests included some time in Liberdade at the open market (pretty down scale to be honest).
Av. Paulista. is close by and on Sunday the road is closed to traffic. The MASP (day one) (and MASP (day two)) are very close by indeed. Pinacoteca de São Paulo is a quick car ride away in the rain, and it is open on Monday.
We experienced an incredible dinner (among the best in the world) at DOM.
All in all, five showerheads for the Rosewood. An excellent, though slightly too Disney, experience. We will return.
Back at the Forum: Charlottesville Getting Closer
April 18, 2025
As we have said before, it is nice to have a real hotel in Charlottesville these days (even if it is a post-IHG Kimpton). Though the building and grounds are excellent, operational kinks hold the property back.
For example, how can your paid in advance room category be “not quite ready” for checking at 4:45pm? Who is in charge here? Not to mention nothing on the upgrade side you were promised. Terrible ops. Fortunately we’re just here for a night.
We were in (hamster cage) 574. Last visit was better.
But get this…once again the bar closes at 10pm. So would you like a nightcap after a great show? Ha! Not in this podunk hotel.
The restaurant is terrible. Skip it.
But the show? The show was great!
Demoting the Forum to three showerheads until they get some adult supervision in here.
Hotel L de Lutèce: In Memoriam in Paris
February 27, 2025
My mom was a francophile. I’m not sure why, because her French was not that great and she was more of a worldly American trapped in East Tennessee than anything else. She loved Paris especially. Whenever she visited with dad, she always stayed at Lutéce on Ile St Louis.
I stayed here myself a couple of times years ago, and felt drawn to the island to share a bit of my mother’s ghost with Romey. This is the only way they will meet.
The hotel has seen an excellent facelift as a result of COVID, and remains a beautiful little quirky gem. Of course, when you learn anything about Paris (and Lutèce) you find out that ile saint louis is all very new and once was the domain of more cows than people—kind of like where we live now only with much less city. Thanks to Victor Hugo, Notre Dame was rescued from decrepitude and became, once again, the heart of the world.
Speaking of which, here we are standing together on the dot that was once the center of planet earth from which every other place was measured. Our friends Yo and Caroline trained down from Leuven to join us for the weekend—time we will always treasure.
We dropped our bags on a rainy morning (having come down from Hotel de Nell) and headed back up for lunch at Habile. Not to state the obvious, but the French are excellent cooks. Food plays a central role in human existence, and the French have known this for centuries. This is something my mother knew to her core as well.
Habile is superb and fun and neon colored and eclectic. It is also situated in the heart of a set of high-end vintage clothing stores. A coat that immediately caugfht Romey’s eye in the window was a Hermes for a mere 2500 euros. We had fun perusing the stores.
This is the “arc of participation prize.”
Eventually we ran out of steam and stopped for a drink in a random street cafe.
Around sunset we made it down to the seine.
We parted ways for the evening over a glass of champagne in the lobby and headed up to room 61.
61 is a very cool room with an excellent bathroom.
And then it was off to Pur for a delicious old school dinner.
Bright and early the next morning we walked together to the Musée d’Orsay.
View from 61.
After a very brief rest came an excellent private tour of the newly-renovated Notre Dame.
Then it was off for some shopping at Galleries Lafayette. Just go. Nothing was purchased.
We returned to Ile Saint Louis in the very nick of time for a delightful oyster fest at
Poget & De Witte, featuring two bottles of wine and five renditions of the happy birthday song: english, chinese, dutch, german, french and “pissed off drunk guy.”
Romey and Caroline were busy conjuring up words for the various translations.
After dinner we had more mandatory pommes frites at Le Saint-Regis which is about as touristy as they come. Then we packed up and readied ourselves for the trip home.
A warning: we were shanghaied by Dior in the airport somehow on our way out of town the next morning. LOL. A cherished keepsake is now in the inventory.
We had an excellent adventure filled with lots of walking, lots of talking, and lots of love.
Five showerheads and fond memories for Lutèce.
Hotel de Nell: Haven in the Opéra (Paris)
February 27, 2025
It was a last minute change. We hopped our morning TGV after seeing un peu du l’arte nouveau in Nancy, and boom…there we were in Paris just in time to miss lunch.
Hotel de Nell is just a quick minute from Gare de l’Est and ideally situated for walking between Marais and Montmartre in pedestrian friendly (and pedestrian tolerant) zones. We were not able to get a balcony suite at the last minute, but we were assigned an excellent little room with a view and bonus church bells. It may have been 41?
We checked in, freshened up, and headed out for a great meal at La Cantine de Sam. Sam is incredibly friendly and the Lebanese food is out of this world.
Walking from the Opéra both down to the river and up to Montparnesse with no plan is excellent.
We took a left turn into a Banksy pop up completely at random.
And then we fancied up a notch and headed down for some jazz at Sunset-sunside. The show by Karl Jannuska was excellent. Late night pommes frites at Le Magnum Bar at 1am may have happened.
The next morning, we hopped an uber in the rain to drop our bags off at Ile St Louis and meet Yo and caroline for lunch.
A whirlwind five showerheads for Hotel de Nell. We hope to return soon.
Villa Nancy Thermae: Should I Stay or Should I Go
February 26, 2025
I mean, maybe the Clash was not singing about us, but our opinion is that you should go but you should not stay. See, the thermal baths are awesome and one of the great things to do in Nancy (France). But you shouldn’t stay at Villa Thermae. Sadly, we’re not really sure where you should stay when you visit Nancy.
We’re getting ahead of ourselves…
We were invited to Nancy to talk about our ancient thesis of yore (Letter Spirit) which you can read about here. I mean, how wild to be asked to talk about 30 year old work on creativity, AI, and letter perception. What an honor. Here is a posting about the talk.
Scott Kim shows an illustration of gridfonts that I made 30 years ago.
Nancy is really a small provincial town with a long history and important links to design and fine arts. There are plenty of great places to eat, including: Sèves, Excelsior (about more which below), and le capu.
Avocado toast at Sèves is to die for
Excelsior has excellent oysters in a classic setting
An edible doohicky at le capu
The spa at Villa Thermae is worth a visit. But it is run by tiny French bureaucrats who should be replaced. And it is not upscale in the least. It’s very public and very French. Hilariously, I was forced to buy tiny little Euro bathing pants since bathing suits of the US variety were not allowed. We had serious scheduling issues with this place, so be forewarned.
We were assigned hamster cage 215, which was, all told, an awful room. It had a musty smell that could not be dispersed (coming from the dishwasher), the shower was plastic and too small, and the room was generic and uncomfortable. But it was free, and it was very close to the conference site. We failed to take pictures.
École nationale supérieure d’art et de design de Nancy
The famous Place Stanislas is actually quite boring. We went to see it so you don’t have to.
While we were at the aforementioned square on our first day, we were targeted by thieves who spotted our roller suitcases and jet lagged state from a distance. The group of 4 were easy enough to avoid, but certainly colored our visit to Nancy for the worse. Mostly people were friendly and helpful and the bus system was really easy to use. But the tourist zone can be skipped without reservation.
A group dinner at Excelsior was really delightful. Romey and I showed up way early in our quest to stay awake and had some secret oysters before the others arrived. Then we temporarily joined the wrong group…something about secretion?! LOL.
We had an absolutely amazing time at the NORM opening in My Monkey Gallery. See lots of content about that show on apothecaryshed.
The NORM artists by a gridfont-like machine observed by the lego throned gem
A visit to Musée de l’École de Nancy will steep you in l’Art Nouveau and set you back 100 years.
We switched up our TGV tickets and trained to Paris early. Nancy is certainly worth a visit, but Villa Thermae earns a paltry and musty two showerheads.
Brice Hotel Savannah: History Collides with the Future
February 15, 2025
Oh how NPS used to love kimpton. We mean SO SO much. But since the IHG takeover, standards are falling all around. The Brice in Savannah (which is fairly new and independently owned) is no exception. Almost Kimpton. Almost.
Fortunately there is Tim. No not that Tim, another Tim—the operations manager. Tim is great. He made our stay much better.
*
We were originally assigned a park view suite (as we reserved on the net). We had no idea that the suites at the Brice are cobbled together out of stables and that the park is over a busy highway. Lets just say the rooms look great on the net but they are design disasters in real life. Here is 125.
I mean that sitting room is not bad. Unless you try to sit in it. Situated in an illogical place it serves more as an obstacle course on the way to the bedroom through the very skinny tiny dark hall. Do not sit in the sitting room.
Back in the back bedroom, the bed and the TV stand thing take up the room with no room to spare (so to speak). Getting around at night in the dark without damage to yourself is impossible. And the bedroom adjoins the busy street at street level? What? ha ha ha…park view.
As you can see, the design elements are great. In fact, in a normal king room (which we switched to after a bad night in 125) they kind of fit the funky vibe. We switched to 258 which was fine, but we took no pictures.
Want to put your suitcase somewhere not in the dark? Good luck with that. The closet may well have some of our stuff in it.
The bathroom looks great. And it should be. It’s especially great for eavesdropping on others in the hotel through the vents. And great for water fowl who want to be randomly soaked by the broken shower head. Plus it stays wet for days! So close and yet so far.
There were so many issues with 125 that we spent some time talking to aforementioned Tim about them. Tim was gracious, empathetic, and delivered a businesslike solution with panache. Thanks Tim. People like Tim are what made the Kimpton brand tick way back when.
—
Anyway, we were at the Brice for Savannah and friends and art and eating and the superbowl (?!). So lets turn out attention to our many side quests for a minute:
Savannah is gorgeous. The historic part of town is the first properly planned and laid out grid plan city in north america. The parks and the trees are awe inspiring and might just remind you why you are alive. Go for the trees alone.
And the food is world class. Seriously. We had one of the best meals of our lives at Elizabeth on 37th. We had so much fun with the excellent waiter/sommelier and the company we were with. We laughed until we cried as we experienced one of the best meals of our life. The only picture we managed to snap was of the menu. (FWIW, Eliabeth ranks right up there with the Waterside on the Thames and Bare in Bergen.)
Equally excellent but in more of a city hipster style was Common Thread. The food was once again excellent, the service delightful, and not one speck of stuffiness. You could well be in any major city.
Also of note Repeal 33 and Collins Quarter are both superb places for brunch. Best dive bar you ask? Why Bubba Gumbo of course.
There is also lots of funky artiness to be found everywhere in Savannah. This is mainly due to the influence of SCAD, which as far as we can tell is in a fight to the death with RISD. SCAD spends bazillions to toot its horn in an impressive (and manipulative) manner. Go SCAD!
Honestly, though, we are very proud of our friend April Claggett for being a professor at SCAD. April took us everywhere: an art opening,, Saturday market, tybee island dive bars, fancy dinners. What a great time.
There is Tybee Island and its associated dive bars nearby. So nice to walk on the beach.
It is warm enough to swim in February? Your mileage may vary.
The African Art Museum is a gem. Just go.
A horse and carriage ride is exactly what the tour guide ordered. We learned lots during our cloppy ride through town. For example, there is a statue of a cross-dressing horse trainer up a pedestal in one of the many green squares. And the original Savannah charter disallowed lawyers and slaves. And the underground railroad was very active in the city. Makes you wonder about history…
Did we mention art and SCAD? Because we meant to.
We could not pass up a visit to “the cathedral” which is theoretically modeled after Notre Dame. LOLs. We’ll see about that next week when we are in Paris. Same goes for the Paris market.
Superbowl Sunday happened at Maryjane’s house with Tom. The game was a blowout. As was the food and beverage selection. Best Superbowl party evah!
Just blogging about this trip is tiring. What an excellent adventure. We will return for sure.
We bookend our Savannah visit with this gem of a picture…
Four showerheads and even more Tim for the Brice. Maybe Kimpton will rise again.
Middle of Nowhere? Try the Smith House Inn
June 21, 2024
It was an ill-fated plan that failed along two predictable dimensions. But it was worth investigating. The investigation involved a trip to the middle of nowhere in Pennsytucky where we were surrounded by bikers—well people on bicycles with ridiculous lycra clothing anyway. It was about as far from dangerous as you can possibly get.
We stayed at the Smith House Inn in Confluence. I mean if you are staying in Confluence, you might as well stay there. You can pretty much walk everywhere else in 4 minutes or less.
We had dinner, a bad negroni, and a ridiculous lighning lashing on the river at River’s Edge.
We had espresso at the Tissue Shop and a laugh about meatballs.
Three showerheads for the fly speck.
Art in London: Zetter Townhouse
November 6, 2023
The Zetter Townhouse, situated just behind the Zetter Hotel and home to one of the best cocktail bars in London, was the base of operations for some business and a nice pile of art. NPS was put into room 6.
Art included, the Tate, some theater, and a concert.
The shower is not plastic, though climbing in and out of the enormous tub is a thing, Perhaps some short stairs should be installed.
Room 6 could use a better wardrobe, and some updated less shabby furniture. But all in all it is a nice place to spend a few days.
On our way to the Tate, we stopped by Ibérica Farringdon for a bite.
Our visit to the Tate Modern is documented here.
Of course a cocktail at the Zetter Townhouse rounded out the Thursday plan. We keep reminding them what a Liberal is.
Then some business which included two very nice meals, one at Bocca di Lupo and an incredible lunch at Inko Nito.
A French dinner at Le Café du Marché was very good for London but would never fly in Paris.
Saturday afternoon was meant to start with ramen, but Mohonon was closed (fortunately that was remedied Sunday evening. Suffice it to say that Bone Daddy just does not stack up.
Waiting on line might require a beer.
Some shopping at Varvatos cost everyone a pretty penny, but was surprisingly not awful.
We just had time for a brown meal at Hawksmoor before the theater. Then it was off to see Lyonesse which was enhanced by some sugarless French 75s.
The play was quite good, a medical emergency nothwithstanding.
The next day included a run back to Soho to visit Etro. And then some incredible classical music at the barbican.
Followed by real Ramen. Mohonos is just so good…equal to Japan.
A nightcap at Boccas was not terrible. But no Fernet in an Argentinean bar?! What?! A Pisco Sour (Peru?) would have to do.
All in all, four showerheads and a quick furnishings update required for the Zetter Townhouse.
Back to the Christiania Teater Hotel in Oslo
October 22, 2023
The beautiful and funky Christiania Teater has experienced a face lift. Even room 620 (a long time NPS favorite) has been updated.
The Fly2Get train in from the airport is a snap. The upgraded decor a welcome change.
Funky art in the hallway.
The orange juice machine remains the best in the world. In fact the entire breakfast situation is top notch.
Cafe Skansen is well worth a visit. Great place for a business dinner.
Fireside chat? In Oslo it is the real thing.
Engage.
The Munch museum (iteration three) is well worth a visit.
Himkok seems to have jumped the shark. Good luck edging in past the masses! We tried the Swan instead. Which was OK.
On the other hand, Indian food at Mantra was excellent. Great decor and the best indian so far in Oslo. And Dinner is a good place for dinner, though the food is much better than that work-a-day service.
Then it was off to Tyinkrysett.
Five showerheads for the Christiania Teater hotel. We will most likely return sooner than we think.
NYC: Intercontinental NY Barclay
August 27, 2023
In the still active quest to find a NY hotel to use as home base, we present the (nope) Intercontinental Barclays hotel. This was a quick, trip up for business and pleasure.
The Barclays is old school. Well, old. Definitely old. Try as they might to upgrade to “hip” or “relevant,” there is too much inertia for the sluggish IHG chain to overcome.
Our arrival was very corporate and our room was nice but hamster cage. All vestiges of Kimpton privilege have been assimilated. And there is only so much that you can do to drag a mid-century hotel into the new millennium. Frankly, I don’t even remember what our room number was or even what floor it was on.
The shower was fine.
A comfortable generic bed. Design by somebody’s grandmother.
Oh, here it is, room 939 on the not at all memorable 9th floor. This is a concierge floor which means only you can share an OK breakfast with other people who think that concierge service is good.
But it was NYC! BTW, the Fasano is a great place for a ridiculously expensive business dinner. Great food and a relaxed atmosphere conducive to conversation.
Also, as always the tucked away Oyster bar in Grand Central is a fun place for a snack. We tried out the back room (new to me). The front is more NY, FWIW.
Meanwhile, the bar back at the Barclays has a reputation far beyond its ’70s reality. Great cocktails served by cynical old school NY barkeeps with a hotel lobby feel that can’t be overcome. Skip it.
The great news is that the trip’s most memorable experience was a great one. The MOMA’s Karl Lagerfeld exhibit was not to be missed. See more here.
Before whizzing back across town and under the river to Newark, we had a great lunch at Blue Willow somewhat on a whim. Outstanding.
All in all, three showerheads and a continued search for a NY home for the Barclays Intercontinental. Too much corporate genericism for us.
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