E m m a n u e l l e

Sheffield Or the Stylish Steel City.

2010-08-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

Forgotten by all travel guides, and yet, Sheffield is really a city on the move.

Lunch and Diner

We chose to start with that section because let’s face it, schlecht food can ruin the travelling experience. England is not famous for its culinary art. However, thanks to its multicultural dynamism, one can easily find cool places where international food is honored.

ECCLESALL ROAD

Uncle Sam. 298 Ecclesall Road. 0114 266 8588. ≤ £10.
The best burger of your life. Don’t miss it and ask for the Cheeseburger (the cheese is unique, but might not be to everyone’s taste). All burgers are served with several different sauces and chips. “Buy one Get one free” deal in the afternoon. Pictures of New York, Marylin, James Dean, Elvis and of course, Uncle Sam on the walls. And don’t forget to look at the ceiling. You’ll see a little train which goes around the restaurant. Ask a waitress to switch it on if it’s not already the case.

LONDON ROAD is a small Chinatown but you can also find lots of kebab places and ethnic restaurants.

Zeugma Iki. 146 London Road. 0114 2582223. ≤ £12.
Traditional Turkish restaurant where the meals are prepared in front of you on the hot coals. Meat lovers will think it’s worth the visit. The room is small and packed during week ends. If you haven’t booked a table, you can also go further down the road to Zeugma I. Same owners, same food. You can bring your own wine.

Noodle Inn. 156 London Road. 0114 255 4488. ≤ £10.
How to recognise a good Chinese restaurant? Simple. Just have a look inside, and if it's packed with Chinese people, then you're in the right place. Noodle Inn respects this basic travel writer rule, although it is more their soups than anything else that are amazing. And some waitress are horribly grumpy.

TOWN CENTRE

Wigs and Pens. Paradise Square. 0114 276 3988. ≤ £20.
Right behind the Cathedral, in the super small law district, it is a nice bar/restaurant, unknown from the undergraduate students (yeaa!) where one can enjoy nice tapas, traditional English food revisited and good wines. For desert, the crème brûlée is also really good.

Rise. 182 West Street. 0114 270 6264
Rise is for pizzas what Uncle Sam is for burgers. Incredible wide choice of pizzas baked in front of your eyes. “Buy one Get one Free” deal from Monday to Thursday.

Aagrah. 1 Leopold Square. 0114 279 5577. ≤ £15.
Nice indian restaurant and food. “All you can eat” deal during week ends. The quality of the service depends on the waiter!

Mama and Leonies. 111-115 Norfolk Street. 0114 272 0490
There are so many bad Italian restaurants in Sheffield but this one is an exception. Homelike food and good menu deals. Cutest frontage.

Brunch and Tea Time

Mad Cow Milkshakes. 50 Chapel Walk.
You can chose between thousands of crazy combinations. We mixed Toblerone and Nutella, but go crazier! Jelly Babies, Honey and Cadburry Cream Egg!

Lynn’s Pantry. 39 Surrey Street.
White and cute. That’s what it is. Right in the town centre next to the Wheel. Hot and Cold sandwiches, jacket potatoes, English Breakfast and home made cakes.

Fusion Organic Café. 72 Arundel Street. Butcher Works.
Excellent paninis and home made cakes. You would pass straight across it if you didn’t know it was there. Take a look at the jewellers’ workshops in the courtyard. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a private demonstration.

PUBS. There are many pubs in Sheffield, but here is a non-exhaustive list of the best ones.

TOWN CENTRE.

The Brown Bear. 109 Norfolk Street.One of the oldest pub in Sheffield. Ridiculously small but recognizable with its red-brick frontage. Have a pint of Alpine Lager.

Sheffield Tap. Outside the train station or platform 1.
This pub, accessible from the Platform 1 of the train station, is an old waiting room. Impressive numbers of hand pumps and beer taps and local ales.
ECCLESALL ROAD

The Pomona. 255 Ecclesall Road.
A pub, like many others, with its pool tables, beer smell and ugly carpet. But go there on a Sunday night (Sunday night only) for a classic karaoke night. The organizer is a broad bearded man with long dark hair and tell jokes which no one laughs to. If you’re lucky, he’ll sing “Suddenly Seymouuur”…

BARS

WEST STREET. At night, West Street is the place to be!

Bungalows and Bears. 50, Division Street.
Our favourite bar ever. A good pint, a glass of Bailey’s or of Sailor Jerry’s and let yourself fall into the comfy leather sofas to contemplate the crazy interior decoration. You can also climb the steps and admire the bar from above (it’s an old fire station!) Rock concerts on week ends.

The Bowery. Devonshire Street.
Nice cocktail place. Books and games on the top floor. The bartenders are a real show.

The Forum. 129-127 Devonshire Street.
Bar/club with real good live DJ music or gigs in the evening. Free entrance.

Bia Hoi. 1 Mappin Street.
Sheffield unique Buddha Bar.

ECCLESALL ROAD.

Menzels. 301 Ecclesall Road.
Ideal for a cocktail night! Special deal “buy one get one free” pour les demoiselles. Sorry messieurs.

Sightseeing Okay, Sheffield is no cultural city. But it is the fork capital, the city of steel, and paradoxically enough, one of the greenest city of UK.

PARKS AND GARDENS

Peace Garden (Town Centre)
Award winning public space for its fountains and the parking called the Cheese Grator. Have a look at the Winter Garden and the Millenium Galleries.

Botanical Gardens (Ecclesall Road)
Peaceful and beautiful. Ideal for a picnic in summer. The greenhouse can be visited.

Endcliff Park
Nice green open space at the far end of Ecclesall Road. Ideal for bbq’s and ball games. Also, nice outdoor gym!

Weston Park
Our favourite with the Botanical Gardens. Right next to the Hallamshire Hospital, the University of Sheffield and one of the Millenium Gallery (the exhibition are for kids though!)

The Peak District
Sheffield is located right next to the Peak District National Park. You could spend days there but if you have time and the weather is nice, go to Castleton, Hope or Hathersage. Easy access by train, bus or car. (http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/index/visiting/publictransport.htm).

MUSEUMS

Kelham Island Museum. Tram: Shalesmoor. Alma Street. £4. Concessions £3. FREE admission for all applies during Sheffield School Holidays 2010!
Interactive and interesting museum to understand the history of Sheffield and the role it played in England’s industry. Have a pint at the Fat Cat afterwards, an emblematic pub of Sheffield. (23 Alma Street).

The Traditional Heritage Museum. 605 Ecclesall Road. Opened every last Saturday of each month. £1.50. Concessions: £1.

Entirely run by volunteers, it's a real time travel. Small and convivial, you can drink tea while consulting the town archives and find second hand books for 10p.

OTHERS

The Folk Train
On the fourth Tuesday of each month. (next date, 24th of August) Take the 19:14 train to Manchester which stops at all stations along the Hope Valley (Peak Disctrict). A band will play folk music in the train and the session will continue in the Rambler, a cute little pub next to Edale train station. We all go back with the band with the 21:28 train back to Sheffield.

The Ghost Tour. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. 7.30 pm on the Sheffield Town Hall steps.
The Wednesday tour is supposed to be the scariest one. Go on Monday if you just want to have a laugh (discreetly, it is forbidden to laugh openly!)

The Wheel.£ 5 for students. £4.50 if you book online.
Almost 197 feet high, you’ll have an amazing view on the City of Steel and will get the impression that you can touch the top of the Town Hall.

The Walk of Fame:
in front of the Town Hall, next to the Peace Gardens. Believe it or not, Sheffield has its Walk of Fame.

NIGHT CLUBS

The Leadmill. Leadmill Road.
Dodgy club with all the new hits. Entrance tickets must cost something like £3. If it’s Monday, don’t miss the Sheffield Shag night.

Embrace. 1 Burgess Street
Apparently one of the biggest clubs in Europe. Super loud music.

The Hubs. 6 Pater Noster Row. (isn’t it a funny address for a club?)
Sheffield Hallam Union club. 3 pods with different music. Don’t miss POUNDED on Mondays during school year: the name is clear. Tickets for £1 (£2 on the door), and all drinks for £1. How to get students wasted, basically.
You can also buy a cool Sheffield Hallam University hoody in the union shop downstairs to show everyone where you belong to.

Reflex. 18 Holly Street.
Not to be taken seriously, but great if you want to observe 40-year-old Yorkshire folks having some fun. 70’s or 80’s music depending on the night you go.

The Plug. 14 Mathilda Street.
Good music and several rooms but you get lost in the corridors. Why so many corridor in a club, we are asking you? We don't want to imagine how it is like during there “roller blading” disco nights.

Berliner Portraits - Ibrahim

2010-07-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

It's been now two weeks that I'm exploring Berlin and all this time, I was wondering: what could I write about Germany? I had not realized that the solution lied before my own eyes. Travelling is all about meeting new people. So here's a glimpse of some Berliners I've met.

I met Ibrahim while Luke and I were playing some Ultimate Freesbie in Treptower Park at moonlight. The Freesbie was luminous, the park was deserted, and I guess the light caught Ibrahim's attention. He came to us and spoke in French straight away. He was wearing a coat and a winter hat, although it was 20 C° and was pushing a trolley on which hung several plastic bags.

Looking at the toy he said "it makes me remember of that movie. We're three prisoners".

"This old man talks nonsense" we thought. But he did not seem like wanting a long conversation and soon enough, his attention returned to the original purpose of his coming here: the empty bear bottles that would allow him to get 2 or 3 euros at the supermarket deposit. Soon after this, we started walking towards the S-Bahn. There, next to a wooden bench facing the Spree, we met him again. Today was not his day. Only about twenty bottles which would give him roughly 1.70 €. His pension is small, he said. So at night, he comes here and looks for bottles. Tonight, he came too late though, he noted, fatalistic.

While we were walking towards the exit, Luke said: we gotta go back. We forgot to ask him his name. Ibrahim was still there and even before we reached him, he started talking to us, as if he had always known we would come back to him.

So that's the new trend, he asked. Coming to Berlin and learn German.

Ibrahim is a retired carpenter. He comes from Senegal but has the French nationality. He likes sitting on this bench in Treptower Park. As a child, his wife used to play there. After the construction of the Wall, as a resident of West Berlin, she was prevented from entering. She is not here anymore. She had a pancreatic cancer.

And the two of you, you're engaged? Married?

Quick glance at each other.

No.

Then hurry up. You've got Europe to build.

To rebuild, maybe.

Nicolas and Carla, rehabilitating the detail

2010-07-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

Watching French television this week was highly amusing for one thing: watch the presidential couple struggling to gain the points lost in the recent (catastrophic) popularity ratings of Nicolas Sarkozy. After various ministerial public wrongdoings (forced ministerial resignation over expenses scandals, the Woerth-Bettencourt affair) , the French president and his wife have decided to adopt a low profile. On the 12th, interviewed by David Pujadas on France 2 (the first national channel) to answer on the Woerth Bettencourt scandal and the retirement reform, Sarkozy surprised everyone by welcoming the journalist on the patio of the Elysee Palace… with one wooden table. And two uncomfortable chairs! True, French have problems with money. In French people’s mind, it is necessarily associated with evil. Sarkozy blowed the whistle on this attitude he thinks to be hypocritical: “I hear people claiming their detestation for money. God!” However, in this time of political and economic crisis, the President has understood that he need to rub his compatriots up the right way! Same for his wife Carla Bruni Sarkozy. Former model, used to luxury and style, the First Lady went on a walkabout to meet her admirers after the Bastille Day parade (14th of july) with no jewels. Not even a small pair of earings!
This is a strategy. But will the French electorate be sensible to that kind of detail?

Auprès De Moi Toujours- Kazuo Ishiguro

2008-03-26T01:54:00.000-07:00

Son enfance, Kathy H l'a passé à Hailsham, un pensionnat perdu au fin fond de l'Angleterre. Au fur et à mesure que les pages défilent, le lecteur s'interroge, intrigué par les règles dirigeant cet établissement pour le moins étrange. Des "gardiens" jouent le rôle de professeurs, et enseignent exclusivement aux élèves la poésie, la peinture, et leur délivrent quelques notions du monde extérieur dont ils sont totalement ignorants. Ishiguro s'ingénie à semer son lecteur, dans les dédales de la mémoire de Kathy, trente et un ans, à présent "accompagnante". Si nos questions se bousculent, les petits détails égrainés un par un, finissent par faire éclater la vérité au grand jour, et nous découvrons alors accablés, le triste sort réservé aux héros de cette contre utopie. Une véritable réflexion sur l'importance de l'enfance, sur notre liberté, notre humanité et sur le don de soi.

Goodbye Harry

2007-07-30T03:19:00.000-07:00

On nous avait assuré que L'Ordre du Phénix était le tome le plus noir de la série. C'était sans compter Deathly Hallows. Des morts dès les premiers chapitres instaurent une atmosphère pesante qui ne nous quittera plus jusqu'à la fin du roman. Mais où sont passés Poudlard et ses tableaux enchantés, ses festins et ses matchs de Quidditch endiablés? Car les moments de rire sont rares: Dumby a laissé à Harry une mission. Et en 600 pages, on se demande vraiment si le héros aura le temps de l'accomplir et si J.K Rowling réussira a élucider toutes les nombreuses questions que nous nous posons. Mais c'est pari tenu pour l'auteure britannique qui nous invite par ailleurs à revisiter toute la galerie de lieux et de personnages qu'elle a crée depuis le premier tome. Moi qui te connais depuis mes onze ans Harry, qui ai grandi avec toi, il est temps de te dire au revoir.
I've been more than glad to follow you until the very end.

We were once told that the Order of the Phoenix would be the darker volume of the Harry Potter series. This was before the release of Deathly Hallows. Important characters dying straight away in the first chapters impose an oppressive atmosphere from which the reader will not escape until the end of the story. Where has Hogwarts disappeared? Its enchanted paintings, wild Quidditch matches and festive meals? Indeed, laughters are almost nonexistent: Dumby has died leaving Harry with a mission and in 600 pages, we really wonder whether the hero is gonna have time to fulfill it and if J.K Rowling will manage to solve all her readers’ interrogations. The British author has, however, successfully taken the challenge while at the same time allowed us to revisit the gallery of characters and places she’s been creating for seventeen years.
I’ve known you since I’m eleven Harry, you’ve grown up at my (bed)side but it’s time to say goodbye.
I’ve been more than glad to follow you until the very end.

Bravo Madame Rowling.