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Judging from the interior i felt like i was looking at the same Hotel & Bar that Fleming must have seen in the 50's, its all very traditional in a british style.
Now i am off to the British Consul.
I have to say it doesn't look like much (the Italian consulate right next to it looked waaay cooler) Thank god it was closed due to a public holiday otherwise i might have been so stupid to ask if i can take pictures of the interior.
Also i'll include one image of the Odeons Platz in the center as Bond visits that one in OHMSS as well, and spots (presumably) Irma Bunt there.
Special shoutout to @TheWizardOfIce for helping me give this trip the Fleming touch it needed.
Not so sure about Mrs Bond's taste to be honest. Favourite hotel in the world? Just a fairly ordinary looking 5* city centre hotel isn't it? Doesn't seem anything exceptional.
Anyway In a week or so I'm heading off to the world cup and if anyone can help with any Bondian links to the following route I'm happy to do a field report, although most of them I'm really struggling with:
Brussels and Antwerp: I literally can't think of a single Bondian reference to Belgium.
Cologne: Again nothing springs to mind. Perhaps it gets a name check in Drax or Major Dexter Smythe's backstory?
Vilnius: Was Goldfinger born here?
Riga: Tracking down some pre-war Wolfschmidt vodka seems to be on the cards.
Kalliningrad: I've got nothing at all here.
Gdansk: Nothing.
Warsaw: Nothing.
Moscow: Only stopping at the airport. Did the Stretenka Ulitsa years ago.
Kazan: Nothing.
St Pete: Used to walk past a lot of the tank chase locations every day to work. Me and a mate once spent a day with a map (pre google days) trekking round every ploschad with a statue in it to find the one that the tank smashes through only to discover years later that it was a completely fake statue made for the film.
Oh thats a lot of places, and except for Russia i have been to all of them i think, some even multiple times. I will try and see if i can think of any Bond references later. From the top of my mind i only know that Blofeld studied at the University in Warsaw.
Oh and Goldfinger is from Riga.
By the way the Hotel has tremendous history, aparently it was requested by the Ruler of Bavaria who also commisioned the famous Neuschwanstein, 160 years ago, something like that. Its right on the former Main street. Appaerntly in the time of Fleming it was regarded one of the best spots in all of Europe due to the famous kitchen as well. They had guests like Churchill, Queen Elizabeth and Putin.
Lets start with New York where i have been to in October. Perfect blend of Fleming and Movie Bond:
First up, the Voodoo Club and back entrance to Mr. Big's NY HQ.
Suprisingly it is not even close to Harlem. Rather nice neighbourhood really.
St. Regis Hotel, where Bond is staying at in the LALD novel.
And the famous King Cole Bar inside the St. Regis, where Bond and Felix have drinks at before going to Harlem to look for Kananga.
This is the FDR spot where Bond crashes the car in the Movie version. The stairs have gone, but you will immediately recognize the pillars in the back.
Next Up the Grand Central station where Fleming was a frequent visitor.
In particular the Grand Central Oyster Bar, where it's said that the Oyster Stew is "the best meal in New York" based on Flemings 007 in New York.
I had the Oyster Stew myself, but with a Heineken as Miller beer was not on the menu (and is regarded as very cheap nowadays) and i was shocked to find that 50 years later i had to come to the same conclusion as Bond. Since then, i have been working hard on recreating this dish myself... i am getting closer
21 Club, where Bond was eating at in DAF with Tiffany Case. It is probably one of the fanciest addresses in NY.
And Sardi's, a very nice littel restaurant. Felix and Bond have Cocktails in the Bar on the second floor in DAF. The Restaurant is chock full of portraits of all the famous people who ate there. I looked for all the Bonds but only found Daniel who was right in the window.
That concludes my little NY trip, hope you liked it, and maybe i can inspire some of you to take the trip themselves. Will be happy to give recommendations.
Excellent stuff.
I was in NYC in October too but had the missus in tow and it was her first time there so didn't really get to track down many Bond locations.
The only place I managed to get to was the Grand Central Oyster Bar and I have to say I agree with Bond and yourself. Certainly seen better days.
Exactly :))
That must have been awesome. Sacred ground.
Great photo's my friend, would love to return to Pinewood again soon.
Just uploaded it ;)
The Blofeld photo was in Heatherden Hall, the bar/lounge by the gardens.
Greetings from Neuschwanstein castle, upper Bavaria (the "nearby" town with the childcatcher and the toymaker, by the way, is Rothenburg ob der Tauber, 250-plus kilometers to the north).
Nice. You're also very welcome to visit Schloss Drache any time you wish. It's situated in the Rhineland. You can't miss it! ;)
Lets get the sad stuff out of the way first:
Simply had to pay my respects and visit the cemetary first, Rog and Lewis are very close to each other:
The Monaco Harbour in all it's glory, as seen in Goldeneye (and NSNA too maybe? not sure):
Visited the Monaco castle and something caught my eye immediately. The private weapons collection of the Prince contains a golden whalter PPK, how cool is that :D
Fort Antoine, as can be seen in Goldeneye as well. This is where Pierce runs up the stairs to observe Xenia and the Admiral:
And of course the Casino de Monaco. Visited by Pierce, Roger, Sean and Ian Fleming Himself:
Villefranche-sur-mer, where a majority of NSNA was filmed. You can see the harbour on the left side:
And here upclose. Both Kim Basinger and Connery shot scenes here:
And here you can see the warehous in which Connery is reminising about that girl from Philadelphia shortly before blowing Barbara Carrera to bits:
Last but not least we had a pleasant drive in the country (but we didn't bring any psychology into it) right around the area of the Goldeneye car chase. There is no definitive info where exactly that chase was shot, except for "north of Nice" in the pre-alpine mountain area there, but just from the look of the streets you can tell it was very similar. You can bet i was listening to "lady's first" on my way.
Was one of the best trips of my life.
I briefly passed through Monaco on a bike trip a few years ago, but wasn't thinking about Bond locations because I'm an idiot. I did go round that roundabout in front of the casino though!
Passport to Pimlico?