1. First stop, one of the outstanding Oklahoman blogs, incurable insomniac. This is a gorgeous site, all slick and sophisticated, designed by one Michael Martine, yet totally navigable and accessible. Plus, one of those mood widgets stares you in the face, right off. The author is a music enthusiast - witness the many links to Mozart and other composers and musicians. Although mainly about cooking, traveling, literature and the aforementioned music, there are also many generally interesting comments on tons of subjects. Apparently her Mozartfluegl was the impetus for her being at a recent film festival in Spokane, Wash. and maybe we'll even get to see it one of these days. Check out Wednesday's discussion of the festival - what fun! - and the utterly sumptuous pictures of the Davenport Hotel - holy cow! wait til you see the place.

2. On to Man About Mayfair, selected because I love Mayfair in London. Turns out the blog is not unrelated in that it's about literary and fashion style as best represented by Mayfair with a bit of Bloomsbury mixed in (my words, not those of "S"). I mean, how can I resist a blog that displays a trio of Scotsmen honoring Burns night - followed immediately by a photo of that most debonair of all men, David Niven. Quoting as he does from Ian Fleming, Evelyn Waugh and AA Gill, Man now joins the ranks of blogs I must check often.

3. Hard to pick where to go from here because most of Man's links looks interesting (Barbour, The Ritz, Aquascutum . . . ), but I decided on 10 Curzon Street because I stayed near there for six weeks a few years ago. It's a lovely site about book selling and searching, and about finding all manner of things right in the heart of Mayfair. How I wish I'd known about this spot when I was there. Describing itself as selling "new, old and antiquarian books as well as producing catalogues on numerous themes", they emphasize "literature, history, architecture, biography and travel as well as keeping a well-stocked children's department". And the delightful descriptions under "our recommendations" is worth the trip to the site all by itself, Brompton bike or no. (Please someone send me a plane ticket. Please!)

4. From there to Chatsworth, no more a blog than 10 Curzon Street, but every bit as interesting. Turns out that Chatsworth has been closed for renovations but is reopening in March. It's "one of Britain’s best loved historic houses and estates, offering something for everyone to enjoy, from famous works of art and the spectacular fountains in the garden to the finest shopping, food and drink and many miles of free walks." Judging by the photos, I'll say that's pretty darn accurate. Visitors can stay on the estate or at nearby hotels and inns - some of which are pictured, all of which look marvelous. It's 3 hours north of London, 90 minutes from Leeds, right near Bakewell. There's still time to get there for the Bread and pastry class on February 24th or Cake decorating on March 20th, or any of the patchwork quilt classes.

5. Unfortunately there are no outside link paths on Chatsworth, and as I'm a slave to my rule of 5, it's back to Insomniac and . . . on to Zoom Vienna. The photos are absolutely gorgeous, beginning at a fish market. One clicks front-and-center and another image appears. Very excellent design concept for a serious photo site/blog and a heckuva neat tour of Vienna. (Site design is by Moxie Design Studios; both the archives, which displays the photos in a bloggy sort of way, and the "all thumbnails" view download almost instantly. Some mighty good hosting and server-ing here.) An incredible balloon-filled hall appears at one point, a beautifully fuzzy backgrounded snowflake decoration at another. The mountain bike trail looks like New England - as Austria often does, actually - and the bronze statues, close-up, are magnificent. I especially love his description of himself and his camera equipment. Whatever you do, don't miss this.

This was more of a literal and physical travelogue than I meant it to be, but it was great fun!

Labels: blogs (others'), places, reflections