The Bombay Sapphire Room and Cocktail Bar

Laithwaite’s Wine Shop at Vinopolis London

The Rum Bar

Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne Bar

The start of the experience

Entrance to Vinopolis

I had heard a bit about Vinopolis in London, but had never thought about going there. In my mind it was a place for wither real wine buffs or drunken hen or stag parties. While both of those may be true, it was a very pleasant experience when I went – even for that small moment drinker!

that is how they describe themselves on their website: “Experience a world of wine and food on our Wine Tasting Tours and special tasting events. Learn the secrets of wine, beer and spirits in a fun, sociable and contemporary environment”

“Treat your taste buds to a range of wines; drink beer from the microbrewery, indulge in a Bombay Sapphire cocktail, try Nicolas Feuillatte Champagnes in our Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne bar or even an Authentic Caribbean Rum or whisky tasting in the Still Room. Comprised of themed sections representing the main wine producing regions of the world, the Wine Tour offer a strange opportunity to explore wines and spirits of the world all under on roof, all tour ticket plus includes a Bombay Sapphire cocktail in the Bombay Sapphire Blue Room”.

And as the photos hopefully show, it is a very massive, diverse and experiential place. In fact it is incredibly huge complex.

We were given the trip to Vinopolis as an Christmas gift, and what a great few hours it turned out to be.

You can buy various packages including hen and stag dos and special evenings. The various packages give you varying numbers of tickets to try wines, champagne and rum at the different sections and themed areas around the sprawling complex. You additionally get a Bombay Sapphire cocktail at the end. You start the journey with a talk and demonstration about how to taste wine, and thereupon you are off on your own to explore for as faraway or as short as you want.

You are additionally given a tasting notes booklet so you can produce a note of the wines you like, and there is a Laithwaite’s store within the complex where you can buy them(or online afterwards). The various sections include: Champagne room, Old world wines room with premium wines as well, Italian section with scooters showing videos of the region on the windscreen, New wines  room featuring areas like South Africa, a Rum tasting bar and Whiskey tasting bar. There is plus a Whiskey Exchange store and a huge Laithwaites shop. Around the complex are water stations to rinse your glass and drink water too! They sell Tapas in one room. There is plus a stunning and very trendy Bombay Sapphire exhibit and cocktail bar.

Of course with the volume of wines you taste, whether you swallow you will get a bit merry!

Overall I was really impressed and found it a great few hours.

Link to their site: http://www.vinopolis.co.uk/

For more reading:

[Source] GARY BEMBRIDGE

that was the second duration I have stayed at the Ritz Carlton Coconut Grove, which is about 30 minutes drive from South Beach.

And having stayed there a second date, I now remember why I was in two minds about it and staying here when I had the option of hotels in the area.

Like most Ritz Carlton’s it is fairly costly to stay here, so for me here is a summary of the good and the poor:

The positives

The rooms are large and a good size, with very comfortable beds and pillows and large well equipped bathroom. But based on the location in the middle of a suburban area many have very unappealing views for the price. I was looking by to buildings and a roof top.

The Fitness centre is large and well equipped

The reception and front lobby service is very friendly and helpful. I had, for example, on checking in asked for a room without an inter-leading door to another one, and they handle it in a no fuss and open way.

The negatives

It is not in South Beach, which may sound odd but is crucial whether you are on holiday or (like I was) attending a conference at the Miami Conference Center, as whether you are planning or needed to spend in SoBe that location is not ideal. There is nothing much around the hotel, and you will need a car.

The service and date it takes to get breakfast in the restaurant is very slow, versus the fast evening room service

The overall attention to detail through the hotel is mixed, I had asked for my bathroom scales to be changed twice and neither worked, and you think that they would have at least have tried to ensure that the replacement worked.

When booking, check you get a deal that has the valet parking and the breakfast included as they are expensive as extras.

So overall it is a neat, up-market hotel that does a lot well but lacks some of the depth that other 5 star hotels offer. So close but just misses.

Watch the videos of the 2 rooms I have stayed at:

Room 420: click here to watch on YouTube

The other room I have stayed in. Watch YouTube by clicking here or on the blog post:

[Source] GARY BEMBRIDGE

I have posted the 45th in my Tips For Travellers (Global Travel Destination Podcast), that one is about a Transatlantic Crossing on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 from New York to Southampton.


To listen to the podcast you can either “right click” that link and save the MP3 file to your computer and thereupon listen to it, or whether you use iTunes you could subscribe to the podcast series (which is free) by clicking here

[Source] GARY BEMBRIDGE

Sometimes you forget about the treasures you have on your own doorstep. Living in London, it is so easy to do that. There is so much to do, so much to see and the most amazing treasures all by.


The British Museum is one such treasure.


It has been up at least 15 years since I last went there, seeing it as the place that a tourist may visit and there was no need to swing by again. How wrong I was.


We decided to have a “cultural” day out one Sunday and the British Museum came up as an option. And what a great outing it ended up being.


The British Museum was founded right back in 1753 and is located in the centre of London, not far from the bustling Oxford Street and easy walking distance from Tottenham Court Tube. Like all museums in the UK, entry is free although they energize a donation of £5 via donation boxes dotted around the entrance and through the museum.


The museum is housed in a large and very impressive looking building with expanded columns. But it is inside that there is a real wow factor. The buildings are dramatic, imposing and a startling mix of old and new effects. There is a huge glass roof covering what must have been an open courtyard the museum buildings faced into. There is a contemporary central structure and soon after as one explores you keep coming into massive and equally bold and awe-=inspiring halls and rooms. The use of glass roofs and skylights makes the whole place bright and contemporary.


One thing that I found really interesting and impressive, other than the remarkable artefacts and displays was the mix of folks. The museum was jam packed full the Sunday we went. It was really quite incredible how many citizens the museum attracts, and is a credit to the vision of the folks behind the museum who have made it such an event in both structure and exhibits that they can pull so many society in. The other thing that struck me was how many young humans were there, which is plus impressive that they have managed to be so interesting and relevant to young society. In fact in the video tour that I made and is posted on YouTube and on the blog, society spontaneously comment about how many young folks are in the museum.


There are three major attractions that are the real draw for most folks, and on the real “must do” list for most citizens (and the video tour I did covers these):
- The Egyptian area, which includes the Rosetta stone and various busts and statues from ancient Egypt and the area. that is on the ground floor and the first stop for most public. that is a bright and very impressive area.
- The “Elgin marbles”, which are the hotly disputed freezes taken from the Parthenon in Athens that the Greeks are hungry to have returned to their origin. that is additionally on the 1st floor. The huge chamber these are housed in dates from the 1930s and is very stunning.
- The “Mummy” section higher up in the museum where there are caskets and mummies. that area gets very packed!

There are plus audio tours that one can hire that guides you through the museum, and there are immersion and “eye opener” talks held in the different halls. additionally on the website they propose routes based on how much duration you have.


Dotted around the museum are some eating places with the most popular the ones in the large hall / courtyard when you enter.


There are a number of different shops on the ground floor, some selling just postcards through to one that sells resin full size statutes for £10000, and other pricey replicas and gifts.


I was (as you can tell) very impressed and had a great instance. I recommend watching the 6 minute video tour on the posting or on YouTube (click here).


You can see the many photos I took that I have on Flickr: visit here

My video tour of the British Museum, watch on YouTube (click here) or on the blog post:

[Source] GARY BEMBRIDGE

The Pullman Hotel Rive Gauche in Issy in Paris is an terrible hotel. And you must avoid staying here whether you possibly can.

I have the unpleasant task of staying here about 50 times in the last few years and every one is nasty. The hotel is a large, impersonal and ugly building in the suburbs in an area full of large corporate offices.

Despite being a Platinum card holder and plus being there so often, they still ask me nearly every moment I go whether I have stayed before and ask me to fill out my address. It is the most crazy and useless system and hotel.

The rooms are small, tired and brown and always too hot and too bright from the spotlights beaming onto the building. The food is terrible and the service even worse. On that last stay all of us had problems with the TV and I have now asked 3 times for someone to fix it, and still no joy.

I am probably the mad one, as I stay here. It is close to the office and so I keep going back thinking I am exagerating..but realised when public at work can tell me whether I am staying there based on my mood in the wee hours that I should not go there. I will not…

Sofitel Porte De Sevres Room 622, originally uploaded by garybembridge.

that hotel was relaunched in December 2007 as The Pullman after being a Sofitel. The strange thing is that although they speak about a whole new concept and it is now a business traveller focused hotel….. it is precisely the same as it was before. I suppose they could have been transitioning by the many months I was staying there but there is nearly no change…

Unfortunately, that is plus now a hotel that I stay at virtually every week these days as I am now working part amidst London where I live and Paris, where I am now managing a team as part of my new role. The closest hotel to our office is that one. Although I am not certain that I will be able to stay there every week as that hotel is not the greatest place to stay, although it tries. Part of the problem is the location which is you are staying there a lot makes you feel very isolated – and there are so few options of places to eat (and I just can’t manage with the same old food!)

that is one of the hotels that is neither good nor poor. It is overall just a place to stay and meets the needs of the business traveller who has a night or two to stay and needs an room with a good bed, good place to work, somewhere to work out and not much more.

Sofitel Porte De Sevres Room 622, originally uploaded by garybembridge.

Room 2163 (probably best have stayed in other than the suite I was put in once)

Room 622

Room 1219 – a very nice suite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px65ys1ZSVk

[Source] GARY BEMBRIDGE

The Pullman Hotel Rive Gauche in Issy in Paris is an terrible hotel. And you must avoid staying here whether you possibly can.

I have the unpleasant task of staying here about 50 times in the last few years and every one is nasty. The hotel is a large, impersonal and ugly building in the suburbs in an area full of large corporate offices.

Despite being a Platinum card holder and additionally being there so often, they still ask me nearly every instance I go whether I have stayed before and ask me to fill out my address. It is the most crazy and useless system and hotel.

The rooms are small, tired and brown and always too hot and too bright from the spotlights beaming onto the building. The food is terrible and the service even worse. On that last stay all of us had problems with the TV and I have now asked 3 times for someone to fix it, and still no joy.

I am probably the mad one, as I stay here. It is close to the office and so I keep going back thinking I am exagerating..but realised when folks at work can tell me whether I am staying there based on my mood in the daylight that I should not go there. I will not…

Sofitel Porte De Sevres Room 622, originally uploaded by garybembridge.

that hotel was relaunched in December 2007 as The Pullman after being a Sofitel. The strange thing is that although they speak about a whole new concept and it is now a business traveller focused hotel….. it is precisely the same as it was before. I suppose they could have been transitioning by the many months I was staying there but there is nearly no change…

Unfortunately, that is plus now a hotel that I stay at virtually every week these days as I am now working part amidst London where I live and Paris, where I am now managing a team as part of my new role. The closest hotel to our office is that one. Although I am not certain that I will be able to stay there every week as that hotel is not the greatest place to stay, although it tries. Part of the problem is the location which is you are staying there a lot makes you feel very isolated – and there are so few options of places to eat (and I just can’t manage with the same old food!)

that is one of the hotels that is neither good nor poor. It is overall just a place to stay and meets the needs of the business traveller who has a night or two to stay and needs an room with a good bed, good place to work, somewhere to work out and not much more.

Sofitel Porte De Sevres Room 622, originally uploaded by garybembridge.

Room 2163 (probably best have stayed in other than the suite I was put in once)

Room 622

Room 1219 – a very nice suite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px65ys1ZSVk

[Source] GARY BEMBRIDGE

The Rocco Forte chain owns the beautiful hotel called The Augustine in Prague.

I had been booked in there for just one night for a work meeting, and was so impressed with the look and style of the hotel and the amazing friendly, efficient and thorough service that on return home I booked in for a distant weekend.

The building is interesting and strange, as it is a collection of around 8 different building, including an old monastery, that has been connected and modelled into one hotel. that means there are strange shapes and features, but they have made it all work. And all with great style. The fixtures, furniture and design is contemporary and at times strange.

The hotel feels quiet and unrushed, and the service at all levels and across all areas is great. With much of the staff remembering your name, which is something that does not happen too often these days.

My room was on the 4th floor which is in the roof, with a enlarged passage way with big beams. The room was very large and very plush. It had wooden floors in the bedroom and soon after marble titled floor (with under floor heating) in the bathroom. They told me that no room is the same, and so each has individual features and styling. The room plus has many features and added extras, like the Bose iPod speakers. The bed is huge and very comfortable.

There is a 24 hour gym and spa.

There are a few bars and a restaurant, which serves most of the day. The menu was diverse and tasty, with excellent service.

I am very much looking forward to going back!

Watch a video of my room on YouTube (click here), or on the blog posting:

[Source] GARY BEMBRIDGE