Picasso Museum in Paris - Now Open!

After 5 years of renovation the Picasso Museum opened it's door again in the end of 2014. When Picasso died in 1973 at the age of 92 he left 70.000 pieces of art behind him. 5.000 of these were given to the state of France ( also to pay some taxes) to make this beautiful collection. In the Marais the Hôtel Salé was arranged to show these masterpieces. Now it has been enlarged so they can show more of the collection. Unfortunately very little of the old building is left in the interior and it looks more of a modern museum that of a 350 year old Palace. However, the collection is great! I would suggest you to buy your tickets on line so you don't have to wait in the line for hours. Another great way to see the museum is to sign up for a guided tour in English or French. It cost you only 7 Euros extra and then you get 90 minutes of knowledge and no line to get in!
For more information visit
http://www.museepicassoparis.fr/en/
Hôtel Salé, 5 Rue de Thorigny, 75003 Paris
For more information on Paris just write Paris in the search engine to the left.

La Chambre aux Confitures - Best shop of marmalade, honey and chocolate spreads!

When in France I can not resist to try some of their wonderful sweet things. It might be some pastry or a simple thing as a warm baguette with some of the best marmalade in the world. I wish you could see the shops they have but I did not have the camera with me today. Here you find shelves full of the combinations of flavors of marmalade  you could not imagine. The raspberry with passion fruit was a dream! Here you also find great honeys and chocolate spreads. All of them gives you the feeling when you grandmother was making fresh jam and you put the finger in it as a child and tried it a bit to warm. These ones also makes great gifts!
My favorite store is on 9, Rue Vieille du Temple in the Marais.
http://lachambreauxconfitures.com/e-shop/fr/

Café de Flore - Paris

Paris is full of wonderful cafés and after some time in this city you will find yourself coming back to the same ones over and over again. This is the luxury one with so much history. The place was opened in 1887 and has been popular ever since. It was here that Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre spent there time with the intellectuals from 1939 onwards and created the existentialism. This place was also earlier frequented by Picasso and Giacometti. It was also here that André Breton and Louis Aragon created the new world - Surrealism.
Today this is a pricy place to visit but well worth while. It is the place to see and be seen. It is a nice combination of locals and tourists. Today I sat next to an old man the was drawing the clients on a sketch board. That's not everyday you see that in your local café. Every year they also give the Prix Flore to the best French book of the year.
Open daily at 172 Boulevard St Germain.
Metro. St Germain de Près.

Cash is king in Japan - Travelex

At more and more places you can pay with credit card in Japan but as soon as you go to local markets, many restaurants, nightclubs, small shops etc you will have to pay with cash. As Japan is a very safe country you should not feel uncomfortable having cash with you.
You should bring some Japanese Yen with you from home to be on the safe side. At 7Eleven or at post offices you can make cash advances. It is very easy!
If you bring cash you have to find an Exchange Office were you can change your money to Japanse Yen. Travelex is the biggest company but they are really not everywere. This one is at the the Shinagawa station in Tokyo. Remember that they are only open office hours!

109 in Shibuya, Tokyo

If you like to see the place were fashion is created in Japan 109 is the place to go. It is a kind of department store full of small shops with local designers. The clientele is "Shibuya Girls" and it is just wild. The music is loud, the shopping is hard core, one size fits all, buy it now because next week it might be out of fashion.
Here sometimes you also see Western ladies in the 40th with small suitcases shopping. They are all from different clothing companies buying things that they can copy back in Europe or in the USA.
Go here on any day in the late afternoon and just look at the people and you know that fashion is something that constantly changes.
It is so easy to find this place in Shibuya. Everyone knows it!