The Sweet escape

HELLO DEAR FOLLOWERS, 

France would not be France without greatness has once said Charles De Gaulle. 

Despite the fact that most french people are not very welcoming (especially parisians), some cities ought to be deeply explored. 

Let's start with Paris: 

Paris is full of history hence, plenty of museums and galleries in every areas. One will not make you a list of specific museum to visit, as  a lot of articles on this subject are already on the internet #TIMEOUT. Yet, you should not miss Perrotin Gellery in the 3rd arrondissement as one of the most modern one, Le grand palais et Le Petit Palais promoting different artists all the time and organizing special event, or Le Palais de Tokyo that has a lot to offer.  Le Louvre, Victor Hugo museum, Grevin Museum are part of the essential. 

PRIVIET PRIVIET ! 

#THESWEETESCAPE had the chance to receive the famous fashion blogger and sweet Liza Lipetskaya from Russia. Studying in King's College London, she is  giving us some advices if one plans to fly away to Russia. Wether you are from Russia or from abroad, you will necessarily get curious about this amazing country.

For any bookings at Mari vanna Restaurant : www.marivanna.ru/london/

For more details, @ready2depart has written an article below. 

Definitely not cold, but with a warm heart, you can follow her on #instagram  lipetskaya or visit her tumblr right here:  lipetskaya

Next post will be about France ! 

Faithfully yours, 

En-route to Moscow!! Prepare your shapka ushanka to stay warm ;)

Welcome to Moscow! To one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It is one of the biggest cities in Russia and in the world as well. The population of this city is huge! It is approximately (2014 year) 12 108 257 million people. There is over 170 nationalities! How crazy is that! So let's jump inside this crazy megapolis!

  The most important place to visit in Moscow is of course the Red Square and Kremlin. The Red Square (rus. Krasnaya Ploshad) is big and beautiful. When I go there for a walk I always meet lots of tourists and funny people.

As you can see on a picture it's winter time. Boooo! Snowy and quite cold! -25! We have these beautiful carousels and a christmas market where they sell pancakes with caviar, hot drinks and other delicious stuff. yummy! 

In the summer the Red Square is pretty as well. I forgot to mention before that we have a beautiful shopping center called "GUM" :

  You can find all the boutiques there such as: Prada, LV, Dolce&Gabbana, Burberry and other good shops. Many Places to eat and chill and get warm in winter :) And when it's summer, restaurants open for people. Beautiful terraces and good food that's what you need in the summer with your friends. But its can be quite pricey. ;) Moscow is expensive, it's true! :)

Near the Red Square you will find a bunch of amazing 5 star hotels such as Ararat Hyatt, Hotel Russia etc Also, near the square we have a beautiful garden called Alexander Garden. Here is the picture of an entrance:

    Other cool place that you must visit when in Moscow is "Sparrow Hills". It gives an amazing panoramic view of Moscow, is on 85 meters above the river. On this hill you will also find many Russian souvenirs. 

  Other most important thing is Russian food! The things you should definitely try when visiting Russia are: Borsch, Pelmeni, Caviar, Sirniki and salad called Seld-pod-shuboi. One might love, another might hate it because ingredients are quite interesting and weird for a salad, as if you are mixing things that are non-mixable :D but still i love it.  

Another cool thing is Russian Banya!!! Banya means sauna but our banyas are very strong and hot! Yahoo! How much energy it gives you after and you just want to fly! I always catch my second breath after ;) The best banya that i would recommend to you is called 'Sanduny' (http://www.sanduny.ru). It's one of the most well-known. They have two options. If you are coming with a company of friends and don't want to be disturbed you can rent a private one where you will be served with food, bathrobes and spa procedures. Other option is to go to a general one. it is divided into to section: for men and women. You can still eat there, order spa procedures and everything. 

Also you must visit Moscow's Champs-Élysées  main street called New Arbat ( rus. Novae Arbat ) which has loads of restaurants, shops and entertaining stuff. It is especially beautiful at night:

Florida is an ideal state for whoever is planning to travel to USA for holidays. Why ? Simply because it allies jet set beaches, entertainment, sport, and easy going life.

In this article I will recommend you the top 3 towns, one has been a lot there, and give you specific advices on what you should not miss.

According to #THESWEETESCAPE, the best getaways are Miami, Tampa and Orlando. So let's start !

Miami is awesome for jet setters, party people but also for those who simply likes the good life and wants to relax. Indeed, Miami is quite famous to be the place of nice girls, gentleman, and money. Which is true.

There is the other side though, which is more axed on Mexican restaurants, towels on the beach and skateboarding on streets, as 1/3 of the people living there are South American natives. 

If you do fancy good life, you will more stay in South Miami Beach, where are all the hotels, shops and restaurant. 

The best hotels:

•In terms of quality and standard we chose the See thai. Having some wonderful Asian design, and quiet gastronomic restaurants, it conveys Serenity. At the pool restaurant, you'll have the chance to find 3 different water temperature pool, either you prefer cold, temperate or hot water. The reception is quite vast and good for those who wants to work in calm. As the ceiling is not close you can admire the night sky which is always beautiful as the weather there is quite tropical. 

•If you are younger, you will certainly love the W hotel. Closed to See thai, and high standard quality, the beach is amazing there as its always difficult to find private beaches in Miami. There are 4 restaurants there, from any specialities; the best one for a date being MISTER SHOW and the DUTCH if you fancy asian food. A small night club that offers a lounge with plenty of good cocktails and nice client is also inside the W. This hotel is amazing if you stay there for NYE, as the pool party is always huge

For the rest, and if you don't have a lot of money to spend without forgetting you are still in Miami, you should either go to Sagamore, Delano, Shortclub, or SLS hotel, where you are 100% sure to have fun as all the 21-27 year-old people from NY are coming there in the week end to party. 

About restaurants: 

• The China Grill in Ocean Drive; beautiful and relevant for family dinner, you will never digest some Chinese food so quick as the quality is amazing. 

• Cipriani, in Downtown Miami beach, which is the nicest Italian in town. Food are generously served and the restaurant is very peaceful thank to his big windows giving on the sea.  

• NEXT, which is ideal for lunch. Cheap, fast and good. You'll be the happiest if you walk down Lincoln Road ( main pedestrians road with Collins avenue), and crave for a big salad or for some Mexican food. 

• Carpaccio, ideal if you want to have a break on the outside after shopping in Aventural Mall, reservation are advised as the queue is giant. Milanese is amazing there and the pastas as well. 

• Hakassan & Zuma for asian food lovers, although you can find it in others capital such as London or Washington. 

• 18 Cuba Rodriguez for those who love south american food, the staff is very friendly there. 

•Culture

The thing that is quite bad with Miami is that it's a bit of an acculturated city. Specially in South Beach. Otherwise, you could go to Downtown, Wine Hood, or  the design district where you could see some massive street art pieces. Fortunately, North Miami Beach has plenty of art gallery where artist are trying their best to spread the art culture with special events. 

•Shopping 

Either going to Adventura Mall in North Miami beach to shop any kind of brands (from Victoria secret to Abercrombie or forever21) or going to Bal Harbourg if you have luxury tastes, you'll definitely meet happiness. You could also walk around Lincoln road or Collins Avenue, the main pedestrians road in Miami, and shop in Urban Outfitters, Scoop (shop inside Delano hotel), Atrium or Intermix if you are a fashionable person. 

Near Miami. 

You can chose to go the everglades, for those who loves reptiles. A guide will be provided to you within a boat that he will drive. Otherwise, and because you should have rented a car, you could go to Orlando, and discover the amazing Disney entertainment park or Universal Studios.

The best thing to do is to go there in the early morning to avoid traffic and come back the day after, if you have children. You can't make them stay only half of a day within children paradise.

Tampa Bay, which is 2 hours away from Orlando and 4 from Miami, is the paradise for those who fancy easy going healthy life. Why ? Because there, you'll find the best spot for clean smoothies, massages, and manicure. Bradenton city is also super famous there, as the biggest sport campus led by Nick Bollitierri is there.  

So don't miss this amazing experience as Florida is full of surprises ! 

Easy to prepare and healthy, the greek salad is a must ! Made with tomatoe, cucumber, feta cheese and olives, you can find it in any restaurant! 

Either you are organizing a dinner with your friend or, just came back from a wonderful travel from Greece, the greek salad remains amazing. 

Don't forget to add the special appetizers which would give a smile to all your friends: 

  Pitta with Tzatziki or Humous is always a good idea. If you have more guests, you can also add zucchinis or eggplant pie: fatter but still good !

As a desert, we will stick to the basic; the awesome greek yogurt where on you can put any kind of toppings. 

Mykonos is an amazing island. You could compare it to the St Tropez of France, as it is very small although you need to know where you are going to if you don't want to be trapped. 

There are some wonderful hotels, such as the Petatsos Resort Hotel, which you could see above. Food are amazing there and the Taxis are coming fast, as there is only 31 taxis in the island overall. 

Here is the best salad fruit you could find at the pool restaurant 

What is good in Mykonos is that almost every beaches restaurant are amazing ! The best one would be: 

• Kusina: Finest sushi ever, in front of the beach. Music there

• Kalita: Finest experimental food 

• Uno con Carne: Best iron steak ever. Best DJ there.

• Alemagou restaurant bar : wild and fresh food on a lost clean beach. Best DJ

• Jackie O' beach : pure cocktails and aperitivos. 

You will have understand it ! Food are amazing there and priceless. 

For the rest, there are so many clubs and day party on the beach. Depends what you prefer, either both either one at a moment. Tropicana is the best beach party if you are young, Cavo Paradise and Mooni Club for the night.

The ''Artist way'' which is in the central town is amazing for shopping and art gallery, you could even find a open cinema. So get ready to lose yourself in these small white roads where you would be surprised by what you find there. 

However and because TheSweetEscape travelled there quite a lot, the best advices we could give you is to walk in the town and escape from hotel pool to discover the best beach. 

1,2,3 .. THE BEST FOR THE END !!

Because Hotel lifestyle remains amazing, please do not miss the dreamy bar at the Kavo Hotel when the sunset is rising or the spa and the beach restaurant at the Santa Marina Villa Hotel & Spa resort, where you could easily find Lindsay Lohan or Mittal tanning near you. Seriously, you should not miss it. 

our short 'taxi ride' from down to the top!!! enjooooy 

Are you already dying from this view? ;) i am sure you are! So let's jump into the island of sunshine and limoncello!!! yummy...

History of Capri..

Capri is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been a resort since the time of the Roman Republic. 

Some of the main features of the island include the following: the Marina Piccola (the little harbour), the Belvedere of Tragara (a high panoramic promenade lined with villas), the limestone crags called sea stacks that project above the sea (the Faraglioni), the town of Anacapri, the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra), and the ruins of the Imperial Roman villas.

Capri is part of the region of Campania, Province of Naples. The town of Capri is the island's main population centre. The island has two harbours, Marina Piccola and Marina Grande (the main port of the island). The separate comune of Anacapri is located high on the hills to the west.

Personal experience/Recommendations.

I went to Capri this year as well with my family and it was a part of a 'Positano trip'. The thing that i can recommend is that it's better to live in Amalfi coast either Positano or Amalfi etc rather than booking a hotel in Capri because in my opinion, if you stay in Capri the entire holiday you will get bored of it, because it's small and as it's magically beautiful, it can lose its values for you. So, i think, it's better going there by boat from the coast rather than stopping there initially. 

When we first arrived to Capri on AmalfiJet, we were surrounded by people selling excursions to anacapri, villa san Michelle and of course Grotta Azzura - and this is where we went firstly. We rented a private boat for 5 people with a driver and costed us 100 euro. 

So here are the pictures to show you how it looks like! and if you don't want to rent a private boat - you can go like this:

;)

So after grottas and shaky feelings inside our bodies  we had a very nice lunch at the restaurant by the pier. It was a typical Italian restaurants with huge and delicious plates! Children are satisfied with bellies full of pizza and pasta and we can happily move on up to the top!! And villa San Michele and breathtaking views were welcoming us there! 

So this is how it looks from the top!!! Awesome, isn't it?!!

Our day there was tiring but very beautiful! Full of new emotions and feelings! I can truly say that Capri is one of my favorite places on earth!!People!!! I really really recommend to go there!!! with all my heart and soul! you will never regret !!

Positano is a village and comune on the Amalfi coast (Costiera Amalfitana) in Campania, Italy, mainly in an enclave in the hills leading down to the coast.

Positano was a port of the Amalfi Republic in medieval times, and prospered during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the town had fallen on hard times. More than half the population emigrated, mostly to America.

Positano was a relatively poor fishing village during the first half of the twentieth century. It began to attract large numbers of tourists in the 1950s, especially after John Steinbeck published his essay about Positano in Harper's Bazaar in May, 1953: "Positano bites deep", Steinbeck wrote. "It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone.

Personal experience/Recommendations.

I have been to Amalfi coast twice in my life. But when i went there back in 2011 i didn't have a chance to visit Positano. But this summer fortunately i dedicated my time only to this place. I stayed in a hotel called Posa Posa**** (http://www.hotelposaposa.com) which is situated in the middle of the whole Positano mountain. Hotel is very cozy and homy but as all Italian Hotels - tiny. and especially here in Positano where every centimeter matters ;) The view from our room was breathtaking as you can see on the picture above. But the hotel itself is quite old and i think it needs to be freshened up asap. The other 'problem' that we had was the noise from streets. There was also a bus stop down the hotel which is convenient but at night sometimes we couldn't even sleep. Positano is very tiny and the population is small this place is the most alive place i have been to. Life doesn't stop here even at night. So if you go to Positano try to book a hotel which faces the sea and the road where cars go is behind. 

The best restaurant that i can recommend to you is called 'Cafe Positano'(http://www.caffepositano.it/en/). We used to eat there almost everyday. The food is delicious, service is good and very quick. And the best part is:

Tadaaaam! dinner with the best view on earth! so when you go there and to positano in general please prepare your cameras because its unbelievably beautiful and absolutely stunning! 

Beach! 

Beach in Positano is massive! it consists of 3 different ones but they are situated together. The most popular one is this one on a picture with these cute stripy umbrellas. Personally I prefer wild beaches where i can come with my towel and chill how ever i want. And so first three days we used to go to this one on a picture. You rent a sun bed for 8 Euro for the whole day and also FREE WI-FI. But the problem was that all sunbeds are very close to each other and so you can't be very relaxed when you are surrounded by other people. Eventually after 3 days we moved to a wild beach which was way better  even though we were lying down on pebbles. ;) 

Overall Positano is a very nice city, it would be perfect for everyone (apart from families with small babies). Food is great everywhere. There is no such thing is bad food there and in Italy in general. Beach cafes, restaurants, bars - all are full of taste and cozy atmosphere. I could recommend this place to everyone! young or old, romantic or adventurer. It has its own life. 

Although you are in the mountains - you are still with the world because everyday from early till late there are ferries taking passengers to nearby places such as Capri, Amalfi, Napoli, Sorrento, Praiano, Minori, Maiori.  Boat rent is very popular and easy too. You will never get bored of this place full of life and activities and of course passionate italians!!!