Don’t be fooled – a trip with children is never like one without them. Those long walks to discover Shoreditch’s designer stores, the night-time gin tonic in a new, stylish bar in Dalston or endless mornings spent trying out vintage spectacles in Spitalfields will morph into such activities as throwing breadcrumbs to our friends the ducks. Following is a rundown of the things we can do if destiny takes us to London in the company of our household nippers.

Lunch at La Roma Bella

Just opposite the British Museum, an essential visit if our children are minors – and even if they aren’t, what the heck – stands this restaurant, defined as “the most family friendly place in London”. Here, the kids can enjoy a dish of tasty, wholesome pasta, while the staff amuse them and give them paper and crayonsto draw, to later hang up the results on the restaurant’s main wall. Their prices are moderate, a break from the somewhat exorbitant prices in town.

A Visit to the Zoo

Reaching the Zoo can end up being like a desert crossing if you happen to start off outside the city centre. Distances in London are enormous, but the effort is worth your while, as it is the oldest zoo in the world after Vienna’s, dating from 1828. They have an incredible reptile section and species which the whole family will probably be seeing for the first time, as well as lots of spots to relax. We recommend approaching the zoo by crossing beautiful Regent’s Park, one of our favourite London parks for children – apart from the fact that there is always something going on there, it has a big lake with various species of friendly ducks which, for your kids, will really make their day. As if that weren’t enough, there is also a huge playground and a lovely restaurant with a pleasant terrace.

An Incursion into Europe’s Largest Toy Store

In Piccadilly, where the lights, the festive atmosphere and the multi-coloured shop windows make this an attraction in itself for young and old alike, be sure to stop off at Hamley’s, an amazing department store dedicated solely to toys, where the most variegated product presentations seem to be happening all the time. You won’t leave empty-handed and are likely to spend more time in the shop than you bargained for, but the look on your children’s faces will be priceless.

The House of Sherlock Holmes

You don’t need to know anything about Sherlock Holmes to have a great time in the house of this aloof, intelligent investigator with the odd addiction. At 11 Baker Streett here is the perfect mock-up of what is supposed to be the home of the most famous detective in the history of fiction. The children will be aghast at the sheer number of objects on display in there.

An Afternoon in the London Transport Museum

This museum, located in Covent Garden, features a collection of over 80 vehicles which youngsters are allowed to climb into and play around in as much as they want, in addition to numerous interactive devices distributed throughout the depot.

Lunch at Gordon Ramsay’s Union Street Café

This restaurant is not exclusively for children, but a very pleasant spot for the whole family to enjoy the cuisine of one of the United Kingdom’s celebrity chefs (with the permission of Jamie Oliver and Lorraine Pascale). It is sited in the pleasant district of Southwark, once a working-class area, which is gaining momentum as a hipster venue of late. It is near the Tate Gallery (another museum which is ideal for families, as they lay on numerous activities for children), so it is ideal for having lunch before visiting the museum. The menu features carefully prepared Italian cuisine which caters to all tastes.

Cereal Killer

After lunch at Ramsay’s and a visit to the Tate, a good option would be to head for this café in Brick Lane, run by two hipster brothers who serve only breakfast cereals, with various types of milk and toppings. There you will discover more kinds of cereal than you could imagine, including limited editions, which children will delight in. They will feel very much at home in the midst of the sweet paradise that unfolds before their eyes, apart from rubbing shoulders with customers in this modish locale.

Text and photos by Laura Conde of Gastronomistas.com

Por Tensi Sáncez de Actitudes Magazine

As soon as you get off the plane, you realise that life in Berlin is peaceful, unhurried and stress-free and that this city is somewhere where pollution does not form part of the landscape.
For a Berliner, there is no more precious treasure than being able to enjoy a sunny day and take to the streets in search of simple, everyday pleasures like walking, enjoying a bier somewhere in the open, reading a good book in one of the city’s 2,500 wonderful parks or visiting one of the hundreds of art galleries.

The German capital exudes modernity with a clearly unique personality that is reflected in the art that flows throughout the city and is embodied in endless forms. If you add to the mix that life in Berlin is not expensive, you come to the conclusion that this is one of the most dynamic capitals as far as European art and design are concerned.
The entire city is linked perfectly by the metro, a tram or train service. You will find it virtually impossible to discover somewhere that cannot be reached by one or more of these three modes of transport (although you may need a bit of patience at first to decipher things). That said, I want to highlight the Mitte district, which can be visited without the need to use public transport. Mitte means “the middle” or “half”, which is why this district is described as the heart of the city and is the best-known district in Berlin as here you will find the historic city centre.

One of my favourite hotels in the city is the Eurostar Berlin. Here you will want for nothing. There’s a pool, a sauna, a pianist in the lobby who accompanies you during breakfast beside the art exhibits, added to which the staff are really friendly.

From the hotel, a pleasant stroll along the banks of the river Spree will take you to Mitte, where you’ll find many shops, galleries, bars and restaurants. Let’s start with the fabulous Flagshipstore and its collections by more than twenty young German and Scandinavian designers. At Who killed Bambi, you’ll find women’s fashion and accessories with daring designs at good prices. Storia and Fairly offer some very feminine and elegant fashion that you will find impossible to resist.

Greta&Luis is a multi-faceted shop with a great deal of style, especially in clothes for young men. Another of my favourites is Potipoti, a Spanish brand created in 2005 by Silvia Salvador and Nando Cornejo. Its philosophy is to combine graphic design, art and fashion. All its collections are designed in Berlin and manufactured in Spain. You won’t be able to leave without buying something!

In Berlin, it’s impossible not to be seduced by the world of vintage clothing & accessories. One great example is Waahnsinn, where you’ll find an infinity of second-hand gadgets, clothes and accessories.Class of Berlin /run by Franzisca, designer of the Marlenes Tochter brand) is the perfect place to get yourself some vintage clothes from the 1930s through to the 1960s. They also offer a barber’s service. Finally, discover all things vintage with a touch of class at Garments, where you’ll succumb to authentic treasures at very reasonable prices by de Comme des Garcons, Valentino, Channel or Martin Marguiela, along with other outstanding brands.

If you like your objects and furniture to have a more industrial and retro look, Objets trouvés is the home décor place for you. Its peculiar frontage makes it easy to find. Not far away is the marvellous gallery ofOliver Rath, Rath-Gallery. His photography has an impact on everybody and inspires inner reflection. A few streets down is the aquabitArt gallery and its more avant-garde exhibitions.

Stopping for a coffee anywhere in the Mitte district is essential, and even more enjoyable when sitting out on one of the outdoor terraces. However, this is one special place hidden away down a side street at 39 Rosenthaler Straße. Once you find this place, you’ll think you have travelled back to a Berlin of times gone by. The graffiti is hypnotising. Go with the flow and follow it to the end where you’ll discover various art galleries, including Neurotitan Shop & Gallery, where you’ll no doubt lose yourself among the books, records, t-shirts, etc., and Central Kino, a unique cinema-shop with popcorn included.

To recover from the shock and to admire the unique nature of this side street, take a seat on the terrace atCafé Cinema and savour one of the excellent German beers on offer.

In the Mitte district, stretching from Hackesche Höfe to Oranienburger Strasse, there are many bars that flung open their doors to the hoards of West Berliners after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Some of these places are relatively easy to find but it’s more fun to lose yourself among the bars that sprout like mushrooms and disappear from one day to the next.

By Tensi Sáncez from Actitudes Magazine

Picture by Ruben Seco

You now have the essential tips for any first visit to Berlin. What are you waiting for to book your Vueling flight? 

Trainspotting, a movie that became a totem for a whole generation, is the screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh, one of the writers who most accurately portrayed the darker side of Edinburgh. To mark the twentieth anniversary of its release and on the verge of a rendezvous between Mark Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and Frank Begbie,we take you on a tour of some of the most significant spots in Edinburgh where the film was set.

Princes Street

Princes Street provides the setting for the opening scene in the movie, one of the most iconic sequences in 90s cinema. The heroin addicts yet well-educated Mark Renton and Spud, who have just been shoplifting in a bookstore, are chased along Princes Street by security to the pulsating rhythm of Lust for Life by Iggy Pop. Princes Street, which was laid at the end of the 18th century, is the main thoroughfare and shopping precinct in the Scottish capital. It runs for one and a half kilometres and joins Lothian Road in the west to Leith Street in the east.

Cowgate

Mark Renton’s flight from the security guards of the shop where he has just pinched a few books ends when he is hit by a car in the Cowgate. A historic street in Edinburgh’s Old Town, as may be inferred from its name, it was once the route taken by cattle on their way to market. Sited alongside the ever ebullient Grassmarket Square, it is now one of the busiest areas in the city and home to some of the best pubs in Edinburgh, namely The Three Sisters, The Last Drop and the Beehive Inn.

The Volley

The psychopath Frank Begbie spends much of Trainspotting’s footage clouting whoever gets in his way. One of these drubbings is set in a popular pub and billiards saloon in the city called The Volunteer Arms, although known to everyone as “The Volley”. The bar still stands on Leith Walk, an avenue running from the city centre to the harbour area. Now, however, it has been revamped as the Cask & Still, an upmarket whisky bar which serves the finest gin and whisky distilled in Scotland.

The Worst Toilet in Scotland

Mark Renton is in the grips of cold turkey and the only thing he can score in the “market” are some opium suppositories. To compound his woes, there is nowhere to hide and he is forced to take them in what he appropriately describes as “the worst toilet in Scotland”, a foul bog located at the back of a bookies in the Muirhouse shopping mall. Twenty years on, this shopping centre is in a spooky-looking area with most of the businesses boarded up.

The Meadows

With the city in full Edinburgh Festival swing and all the pubs full of festival-goers, Renton, Spud and Sick Boy find nothing better to do than to take some ecstasy and wander through The Meadows. They chat up two girls from a nearby private school but end up messing about with some squirrels. Located south of the city centre, The Meadows is one of the largest parks in Edinburgh, one of those endless green commons so typical of British cities, with recreational areas for children, croquet clubs, tennis courts and football and rugby fields.

Leith Central Station

After a sojourn in London, Renton returns to Leith for Christmas and meets up with his old pals. He visits Leith Central Station with one of them, Begbie and describes the station as “a barren, desolate hangar, which is soon to be demolished and replaced by a supermarket and swimming centre.” Leith Central Station was closed to passengers in the 50s and finally made redundant in 1972, after which the building became a haven for the city’s drug addicts. Years later, the area where the platforms once stood was turned into a Tesco superstore, while the terminal building was refurbished as a waterworld complex known as Leith Waterworld.

Easter Road

Although not physically present, theHibernian FC and its grounds, Easter Road, are referred to constantly in the novel and film. Founded in 1875 by Irish immigrants, the Hibernian is Leith’s harbour district club and the team supported by all the main characters in Trainspotting. Easter Road is the headquarters of the “Hibs”, as they call it, the stadium having being unveiled in 1893. That shoebox with its endearing musty smell characteristic of British football stadiums is known as The Holy Ground or the Leith San Siro by the club’s fans. While the Hibs of Irish extraction is the Catholic team, its opposite number in Edinburgh football is Heart of Midlothian Football Club or “Hearts”, most of whose supporters are Protestant, a situation which mirrors the rivalry between the two greats of Glasgow – Celtic and Rangers.

Glasgow

While Irvine Welsh’s novel is set entirely in Edinburgh, most of the screen adaptation was shot in… Glasgow! White lies of the seventh art. Two of the most significant settings in Trainspotting actually located in Glasgow include Volcano, the disco where Renton meets his very own Lolita, Diane. Located at 15 Benalder Street, near Kelvinhall Station, don’t bother to search for it as it was demolished some years ago. The other location, which you will still come across, is Rouken Glen Park, where Renton and Sick Boy discuss Sean Connery’s film career and shoot a Rottweiler in the behind with pellets.

Those of you interested in touring the settings where Trainspotting was filmed can either choose to do so on your own or else sign up for the laid-on Trainspotting Walking Tour hosted by Leith Walks. From Leith Central Station to the “worst toilet in Scotland”, a tour guide will reveal the main locations in Irvine Welsh’s novel as it was ported to the big screen by Danny Boyle.

If you happen to be in Edinburgh, be sure to wander around the haunts where that iconic movie was set. Check out your Vueling flight here.

Text by Oriol Rodríguez for Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS

Images by Naureen-s, Babatuel, Denna Jones, Joe Price, LHOON, GDU photography

On 8 December 1991, Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kravchuk and Stanislav Shushkevich signed the so-called Belavezha Accords. Established in 1922 after the February Revolution, the treaty was endorsed by the presidents of the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Belarusian SSR, thereby marking the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Twenty-five years after the demise of the Communist utopia, the capital of the now extinguished “Red Empire”, of Bunker 42 in the Garden of Fallen Monuments, still hides corners evocative of its former proletarian grandeur.

Bunker 42

Bunker 42 still lies in the heart of Moscow, alongside the Taganskaya metro station, in building 11 at 5 Kotelnicheski Street, 65 metres underground. Once guarded and maintained by a contingent of over 600 soldiers and officials, Bunker 42 was an ultra-high-security shelter for top-level party members in the event of a nuclear war. It now forms part of the State Central Museum of the Armed Forces. Visitors can tour the endless secret tunnels and see for themselves what was then a sophisticated network of communications, and even venture into Stalin’s study.

The White House of Russia

A privileged witness to the end of the Soviet Union, the White House of Russia was the Communists’ answer to their American counterpart. Designed by Dmitry Chechulin and Pavel Shteller, building work got under way in 1965, but the edifice was not completed until 1981. It then became the seat of the legislative power of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, effectively the Congress of People’s Deputies of the Russian Federation, until 1991. With his back to its entrance, Boris Yeltsin faced down the Soviet tanks that had rebelled against the then president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, an act which marked the beginning of the end of the Communist regime.

All-Russia Exhibition Centre

Presided over by a Vostok R-7 8K72 rocket, what is now a convention centre and amusement park was one of Moscow’s main tourist draws during the Communist era. Built in 1939 as an Agricultural Exhibition, it was gradually transformed into a huge park intended to exalt and glorify the economic, scientific and technological achievements of the various republics making up the Soviet Union.

Stolovaya 57

There are a number of restaurants that relive Soviet cuisine 25 years on. Two classics from that period have survived in the iconic GUM galleries – Festivalnioye Café and Stolovaya 57. Then there are hangouts like Detir Ayka (25 Nikitski Boulevard), featuring a Communist menu with such delicacies as stewed fruit, soups and semolina porridge, washed down with shots of vodka or GlavPivTorg. The locale is housed in the former Transport Ministry building which, apart from providing Communist-style cuisine, features a vast library with the complete works of such illustrious figures as Marx, Engels and Lenin.

The Seven Sisters

These high-rises plot one of the most characteristic flourishes on the Moscow skyline –

Moscow State University, Hotel Ukraina, Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Apartments, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Kudrinskaya Square Building, the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya Hotel, and the Red Gates Administrative Building. The seven buildings in Russian Baroque and Gothic style would have been eight, had the construction of the originally planned Palace of the Soviets come to fruition. The Seven Sisters were built in the 1940s and 1950s to commemorate the 8th centenary of the founding of Moscow.

Lenin’s Mausoleum

The embalmed body of Vladimir Lenin is kept in Red Square, the site of formidable, solemn Red Army parades. Built on the orders of the Soviet State in 1924 following the death of the father of the Revolution, his tomb was designed by the architect Alexey Shchusev, who was inspired by the Pyramid of Zoser and that of Cyrus the Great in Pasargad. Despite Boris Yeltsin’s attempt at having it closed down, Lenin’s Mausoleum is still open to the public free-of-charge on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Moscow Metro

It provides the best way of moving about the Russian capital on account of its exceptionally low price and high frequency of trains – one every 40 seconds at peak hours. Over and above its efficiency, the Moscow underground is an authentic, highly impressive work of art. Inaugurated in 1935, the first line linked the Sokolniki and Kievskaya stations. For its grandeur and its enduring aesthetic sublimation, it is a veritable palace of the proletariat.

FSB Museum

Officially dubbed the FSB Museum (FSB stands for Federal Security Service), it has nevertheless been known locally as the KGB Museum ever since it opened in 1989. Located in the former seat of the Committee for State Security (KGB) in Lubyanka Square, the exhibition features gadgets associated with espionage that seem to have leaped out of the television series,The Americans,including explosive devices, cameras concealed in beer cans, etc. The FSB Museum transports visitors back to the days of the Cold War and the atmosphere of double agents infiltrated in enemy territory.

Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines

Soviet youths also spent their time playing with gaming machines, although they were of course all Soviet-made and extremely expensive, costing from 2,500 to 4,000 rubles. Espoused by three nostalgics for Communist arcade machines, the Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines brings together such gems from that era as mini-skittles, machines for killing aliens (with a capitalist ideology, I would imagine) and the popular shaibu-shaibu ice-hockey game. A whole journey back in time, before which you need to first change thirty rubles into three of the old Soviet kopeks. The collection keeps growing.

Sculpture Park in Krymsky Val

Colossal statues of the Communist leaders were one of the most characteristic sights in squares and parks in Soviet cities. These massive effigies gradually disappeared from the urban environment with the fall of the USSR in 1991. The endless collection of sculptures eventually found safe haven in the statue park of the Krymsky Val Museum. The catalogue runs into over 700 statues sculpted in stone or bronze, prominent being that of Felix Dzerzhinsky, a monument in honour of the revolutionary of the same name who was the first director of the Cheka. Needless to say, there are several imperial effigies of Lenin and Stalin, oblivious to the passage of time.

Come and discover the surviving vestiges of Communist Moscow – book your Vueling here.

Text by Oriol Rodríguez for Los Viajes de ISABELYLUIS

Images by Kirill Vinokurov, Dennis Jarvis, David Orban, Rob, Jason Eppink, Helena Volkova