01 March 08

Web Slinger

Gridskipper

AGerman tour operator (www.ossiurlaub. de) is offering package trips to the Baltic Sea resort island of Usedom, known for its nude beaches. The deals include nudity on the actual plane ride as well. Its 5 July trip costs €499 and flies from Erfurt. Says a tour company exec: “It’s expensive, I know… It’s because the plane’s very small. There’s no real reason why a flight in which one flies naked should be more expensive than any other.” So true! But this isn’t an orgy, you perv. “I don’t want people to get the wrong idea. It’s not that we’re starting a swinger club in mid-air or something like that,” he added. “We’re a perfectly normal holiday company.” Of course you are!

For wonderfully clothed fun, try the British capital. London is living in the past. Supper clubs, cabarets, and tiny basement bars reminiscent of the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s – pick a decade – are some of the most interesting places to drink at the moment. They provide the perfect backdrop to our carefully chosen wardrobes from the same era. The idea of a speakeasy seems unbelievably glamorous, and we just can’t give up our obsession with all things vintage. Try Lost Society (697 Wandsworth Rd, SW8), winner of the Time Out Best Bar Award 2006, and spread over two floors of a converted 16th-century barn in Clapham, the décor is sumptuous and vaguely art deco, with loads of different areas such as the Crystal Ballroom, Oriental Lounge or Conservatory to wander into. Although the atmosphere is fun, they take their cocktails very seriously, even offering lessons.

Though a cab is no use for impulse furniture purchases. Picture this: you’re strolling down the Boulevard Saint-Germain, peering in the windows of all the design shops, wishing you could take that sectional sofa home with you. But you’re horrified at the shipping cost. What do you do? Consider taking just a little bit of Paris home with you, carefully wrapped in your suitcase. Try somewhere like Antoine et Lili (95, Quai de Valmy), a boho paradise if taken in small doses. Too much of this place (a melting pot of exotic Mexican, Indian and Asian colours and products) is enough to make anyone reach for the Pepto-Bismol, so violently do the colours and patterns fight with each other. But if your home is looking a bit boring, this is the place to find those little tchotchkes that will liven things up, and they will wrap your purchases for safe transport if you ask nicely. Just request papier bulles.