TRAVEL

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Week 30: Utah. The Most Romantic Restaurant in the United States!

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When Ben and I were in Utah, he took me on a surprise date. I didn't know where exactly we were driving, but from the moment I saw the gates of La Caille, I knew I would inevitably fall in love with the place. The grounds of La Caille are like a magical fairytale land with stunning scenery a la Narnia in Winter or SnowWhite's little castle in summer.

We drove through the beautiful snow-covered forest towards the French-inspired Chateau, passing a frozen lake with a lonely, graceful swan white as winter, greeting us like a wild guardian. Have you ever seen a single, wild swan on a frozen lake? It is more magnificent that you can ever imagine, and reminded me of the Swan Princess fairytale (yes, yes, I love fables!).

But the surprises didn't end there. After we parked and started walking to the main building, we saw peacocks - brightly coloured, proud and magnificent sitting on the snow dusted branches of trees, or strolling around, almost guiding us to La Caille's entrance. I was already imagining myself as Belle from Beauty and the Beast, secretly wondering if all these wonderful creatures were under some sort of spell. A few seconds later I noticed an abundance of fluffy bunnies and hares jumping around. Squealing with great delight like a 5-year old, I was finally dragged by my already freezing husband inside the little 18th-century Chateau. He knew I could spend hours just chasing bunnies and petting exotic birds, and we would probably never get to the actual dining experience if he let me do that :)

The decor of the castle is no less than a feast for your eyes, especially if you like opulent French style and a Marie Antoinette vibe. The story of this hidden treasure of Utah, is also fascinating,and deserves its own TV series: steamy affairs, multi-million dollar legal battles, and a murder-suicide of the owners, husband and wife, who fulfilled a pact to end their lives together on Christmas night a decade ago.

Such a tragic Shakespearean love story only adds to the mystique of La Caille, the most magical restaurant in the United States, that will put you under its spell the moment you set your foot on its grounds.

Need I mention that food at the restaurant is FANTASTIC?! From the most delicious cocktails to mouthwatering French dishes, and original desserts, La Caille will amaze even the most sophisticated gourmand. La Caille also has beautiful gardens, a huge greenhouse, and an amazing vineyard you should definitely check out.

Ladies, if you are looking for the perfect wedding destination, I seriously recommend you look into La Caille.

You won't regret it! To be honest, I cannot wait to visit La Caille in Summer, and bring more people to this little piece of a fairytale land in our mundane world.

Week 30: Utah. Stein Eriksen Lodge Review

First of all, I cannot believe that I have been leading Pastiche.today for one year already! I have been amazed by the amount of support and love I have received, and still cannot believe with how many of my favourite brands I have been privileged enough to work with. Thank you very much!

To celebrate my blog's one year anniversary, Ben and I decided to fly to Utah for a little, snowy adventure. We were lucky to stay at the, I dare say, legendary Stein Eriksen Lodge. The hotel is a luxurious, 5-Star, 5-Diamond, chic, Norwegian-style property with ski-in, ski-out access to Deer Valley Resort. 

Deer Valley Resort is not only one of the top skiing destinations in America, but in the world. Hence it was chosen as a site for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. By the way, the hotel was founded by Norwegian, Olympic-Gold medalist, skier Stein Eriksen, and there is a huge display of his trophies and awards in a beautiful, hand-painted case in the Main Lodge. 

The hotel has a beautiful chalet-chic decor - cozy, warm and gorgeous. Each room in the lodge has a unique Nordic design, but all of them have dark-wood furnishings, amazingly comfortable beds, stunning views and spacious bathrooms with Molton Brown amenities. 

My husband and I were staying in a luxury suite with a full kitchen, dining area, two enormous fireplaces, huge bath and walk-in shower, and our own private deck with a hot tub overlooking the snowy mountains! I can honestly say that it was an incredible experience to relax in a hot tub with steaming water, after a long day of skiing, breathing that fresh mountain air, taking in the breathtaking, picturesque mountain view, while being super warm and cozy.

Stein Eriksen Lodge is a top hotel, therefore if you don't think you will be able to stay there just yet, at least make a reservation at one of their celebrated restaurants: Glitretind or the Troll Hallen Lounge. The food is original and delicious, and their selection of hot cocktails (I am a sucker for any good variations of mulled wine or Irish coffee) is PHENOMENAL, and I don't use that word lightly :)

There is also a huge, heated outdoor(!!!) pool, which is so cool! The experience of swimming in warm water while white, fluffy snowflakes land on your head is quite surreal, and should be added to your bucket list.

And of course, the hotel has a beautiful spa, with many individual massage rooms that bare the names of Scandinavian Gods.

 

By the way, Stein Eriksen Lodge is a year-round mountain resort, and it is worthy of a visit in summer as much as during the ski season.

Park City is a charming city and has deserved a name of one of the most beautiful and prestigious places in the United States, so I definitely recommend you to explore it! While you are waiting for my upcoming Utah posts, here you can find my Park City summer adventures and a visitor's guide I prepared for you. Enjoy and let me know if you visit Park City!

 

Week 28: Scandinavian Adventure. My First Travel Video!

I am so excited to finally share my first YouTube Travel video! The channel is all set (please subscribe here!), and you can expect more and more videos in the future. All I need from you is to show some love, support, like, subscribe, share, so I can create better and better content for you.

This Scandinavian Adventure video we filmed mostly on GoPro, but we recently got a new amazing camera, so expect videos to only get more professional. Let me know your thoughts on YouTube or on our Facebook page Pastiche.today!

 

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Week 28: Scandinavian Adventure. What to Pack for a Winter Vacation or a Ski Resort?

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Going to Sweden, Denmark, Norway and exploring the Arctic Circle in winter was quite a bold decision, and I am sure I wouldn't be able to enjoy myself if I didn't pack wisely. I still had a couple of days, where even though I was bundled up and had layers of clothes on me, I was shivering and freezing. I learnt a lot of what works and keeps me warm, and what I should never bother taking with me on a vacation with extremely cold weather conditions.

I have created this little What To Take To A Very Cold Destination list for you, and hope it will be helpful. I wish I read something like this before we flew to Scandinavia!

 

 

1. UNIQLO HEATTECH

I think I spent two hours trying to find heattech pants and tees in my size in the UNIQLO store. XS was simply sold out everywhere, and S was way too big on me. At the end I managed to find two XS tees, and had to buy a sample heattech leggings they give you to try in the fitting room! Yes, they were that good!

There are three types of Heattech: Normal, Extra Warm and Ultra Warm. I have tried Extra Warm, but nothing compares to soft, super warm Ultra Warm heattech. I have been wearing my heattech tees almost all my trip in January, and they were warmer and more comfortable to wear than any layered sweaters. 

They are super cheap, so if you find Ultra Warm heattech in your size, grab it before it's gone. I even wore my heattech set in the Ice Hotel (read our review here!) to sleep on bed made of ice in sub-zero, and felt almost (I said almost) cozy and warm :)

My impression is that UNIQLO runs large, so take a size smaller if, you like me, like your clothes a little bit snug.

 

2. Protect your hair

Usually people never forget to protect their hair from the sun, and wear cute straw hats or snapbacks and spray their locks with an SPF hair protecter. But not a lot of people think of that icy weather can damage their hair!

After our first night on the Arctic Circle, my hair, that was getting wet from snow, and then getting frozen right after, was a total mess. It was hard to touch, and afterwards I could feel how easily my hair started to break. 

The moment we flew to Norway, I purchased a bottle of an argan oil for my hair, and always wore my hat when outside.

3. Don't get cold feet

Please don't pack suede boots like I did. It was a stupid decision! I wore them only once for a New Years celebration to a restaurant, but most of the time I was wearing my snow boots and warm booties. I also wore warm Oroblu tights, and wool socks to keep my feet "safe".

4. Moisturise

Your skin will get dry, so buy a little body lotion or a hand cream to carry around all day.

5. Sweater Dresses

On our vacations with my hubby, I love wearing gowns, and sexy dresses, however I had a very limited choice in Scandinavia due to severe weather! I did have a few sweater dress, but I think next time I will try to find more warm dresses for the evenings in "Winter Wonderland"

6. Pockets

When it's so cold outside, but you still want to take a beautiful photograph of some sightseeing, you need to have a coat with big pockets! 

What I did is that I had my phone in one of the pockets, and when I wanted to take a photo, I would take off my gloves, quickly shove them in another pocket, take a shot, and quickly put away my phone again, and wear gloves. Fast and easy! When it is so freezing, that your fingers start hurting and getting icy blue after only 30 seconds of being bare, you will appreciate my pocket tip. :)

7. Few of my favourite things...

And here are some other things you would love to take with you on a Winter Vacation!

Week 28: Scandinavian Adventure. Raden A50 Set review.

Ben and I travel quite often and last year I hopped from one plane to another almost every weekend. It wasn't always for fun and vacations (although we had our fair share of those too!), but often for family matters and work. Regardless of the purpose, it is important for me to have stylish, comfortable and spacious luggage.

As my suitcases (I had this one for years!) got destroyed by our frequent flying schedule, I was excited to get a new Raden A50 luggage set in a sleek, matte black color for our Scandinavian trip. The set includes the A22 Carry-On and the A28 Check suitcase. To be honest I really wanted a pink and white combo (they have so many colors to pick from!), however many colors were sold out before Christmas. Luckily, I checked their website just now and seems like they have everything back in stock!

 

What is so special about this luggage set? Well, the best feature is that every suitcase has a built-in scale. You simply download the Raden app and lift the handle and an internal scale will determine how heavy your bag is, displaying the weight in the app. Moreover, the app can tell you where your luggage is within 100 feet as there is a Bluetooth receiver inside the case.

There are also two charging ports on both suitcases that allows you to charge your device. My iPhone is always low on battery, so this is quite a handy feature.

Both suitcases are light and roll easily without me having to push or drag them.

Now, of course there are also some down sides that I just have to talk about. Even though the Raden set is gorgeous, and looked so sophisticated out of the box, it got scratched very easily on our first flight. I am not sure if it's an issue with the black cases or the material used. Despite the scratched surface, the content of my bag was 100% protected, which is important when you travel with expensive camera equipment, heeled shoes and makeup all packed together :)

Overall, I do recommend the Raden luggage set if you can ignore a few scratches on the surface. You will appreciate the functionality and protection these suitcases provide.

MY LOOK:

Leather shearling jacket - Walter Baker | White bodysuit - Oroblu | Boots - Hush Puppies (in black)

Photographs were taken in Skeppsholmen Hotel, Stockholm.

In the next post, I am going to share some of my Cold Vacation Essentials and help you pack for your vacations in sub-zero weather and ski resorts!