READER OFFER – THE EXCELSIOR CITY ESCAPE

“THE EXCELSIOR CITY ESCAPE”

Take some time to relax and combine your visit in Cologne with a visit to the Claudius Therme!

The Claudius Therme is located in the Cologne Rhine Park and is considered to be one of the most beautiful thermal baths in Europe.

With its appealing architecture based on the Roman bathing culture, the thermal bath harmonically fits into the charming parkland.

Enjoy the exclusive stay at the Excelsior Hotel Ernst together with revitalizing “Sunny Day” treatments in the Claudius Therme.

Program:

2 nights- stay in a superior room

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3 course menu in one of our restaurants including complementing beverages

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Welcome cocktail in our Piano Bar

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“Sunny Day” wellness program in the Claudius Therme including a day ticket for the thermal spa and sauna area, a mixed salad and an orange juice in the restaurant of the Claudius Therme, bathrobe and sauna towel for rent, a relaxing massage with aromatic oils (30 min.), a visit on the solarium (10 min.)

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Limousine transfer between the hotel and the Claudius Therme

Excelsior Hotel Ernst breakfast buffet

Double occupancy: EUR 375 € per person

Single occupancy: EUR 480 € per person

Book one of our deluxe rooms for an additional charge of only EUR 80 per person.

All prices include the minibar, use of the sauna and fitness area, as well as service and VAT.

The package is valid upon request and availability excluding trade fair dates.

We look forward to your reservation:

Tel.: + 49 221 / 270 3220

Fax: + 49 221 / 270 3333

NATIONAL SPA WEEK (19 – 27 SEPTEMBER 2009)

Looking out of the window at the dreary grey skies, it seems that summer has definitely drawn a close on 2009. Dreams of an Indian summer or a last-minute heatwave have long gone; the heating is now on as the evening’s get darker and the days shorter. I am almost about to google ‘SAD Light Lamps’ to help me escape the misery of cold, drizzly Autumns when I discover that today, this week is National Spa Week and there is plenty of pampering I can do to cheer myself up.

Wellness website, Wahanda has joined up with the Spa Business Association as the official online partner for National Spa Week. During this week (from 19^th to 27^th September), there are hundreds of spa offers to be found wherever you live; from free pilates sessions to 2-4-1 short break deals or cut-price salon treatments.

All these deals can be accessed at www.wahanda.com where you can choose from a huge list of free or inexpensive therapies to truly spoil you. As the sun hides behind England’s droopy clouds, relax in a mediation room, have an invigorating massage or enquire about the latest skin treatments, if not to indulge in, then to prove that the summer sun needn’t mean the end to your golden visage and fit and healthy body.

There are plenty of different options to have your pick at: from free botox consultations or powerplate sessions in London to free skin health analysis therapies in Manchester. Available in cities all over the UK, National Spa Week gives you discounts on the most exclusive and indulgent of salons and spa breaks including the famous Champneys, Dove Spa and The Sanctuary.

Wahanda, the ultimate in spa websites, also offers need-to-know information about treatments, salons, classes and the latest wellbeing trends. Find out what there is available nearby, where you can find your nearest hair salon or how to spend a birthday weekend and indulge in the fun and relaxing wellness treatments and activities.

As the shops hastily stack their shelves with wrapping paper, tinsel and inflatable santas, what better excuse is there to join in this premature festive period then by enjoying some pre-party season beauty and pampering treatments. For those wanting to look your best at those Christmas parties then snap up these exclusive deals this week only, and begin your journey to sparkling festive beauty. Visit: www.wahanda.com/seasonal/national-spa-week

Words Natasha Al-Atassi

LADYHAWKE GOES UNDERGROUND WITH BECK’S

Ladyhawke played an intimate performance this week at Village Underground at the Beck’s ‘Music Inspired Art’ campaign event. Only 400 lucky guests got to enjoy Beck’s, see Ladyhawke up close and personal, DJs Dom Chung and Mr Hijinx on the decks and live art being created. Attendees included Rick Edwards, Leah Weller, Tim Burgess

AGENT2 were lucky enough to attend and see Ladyhawke tear it up with some of her hottest tracks.

The strictly limited edition label art will be on all Beck’s bottles, with the new artwork also being extended to Beck’s & Beck’s Vier secondary packaging from September for a limited period only.

BECKS.COM

MADEIRA – BEHIND THE SCENES

At AGENT2, we occasionally have to leave the office to bring you interesting features from near and far.

This month AGENT2’s Deputy Editor and Art Director, Vincent Bernier travelled to Madeira to report on the sites that you just have to see.  

Tune in next month for his full story and find out why in Madeira you can have your cake and eat it!  In the mean time, here are a few images from the trip to get you in the mood for summer.

 

WORK FOR US

EDITOR’S RANT: THE NEW BREED OF UGG-LY CHAV

How things have changed in Manchester in the two years since I was last here! Gone are the mandatory Chav girl outfits I recall seeing in their droves sashaying along Market Street every Saturday.  No more are the fake Burberry bags and micro skirts in evidence. The gaudy gold hoops from the discount jewelers and the hair in buns so tight the wearer could barely blink and guaranteed there was no imminent need of a facelift!  In their place a new uniform has evolved and one item in particular seems to be firmly established as the key to this new look.

“Uggs”, or look a likes, seem to have taken over the city and I am still not even sure what they are.  Is it a slipper?  Is it a boot?  Is it the favoured footwear of the wife of Bigfoot?   I’d really like to know who first thought these boots would be suitably worn away from the outback or the Rocky Mountains?

The new, Manchester chav girl is a genetically modified creation using a combination of cells from the four more attractive members of Girls Aloud. Coleen McLoughlin and Sienna Miller (circa 2005) seem to have taken this trend into their hearts and made it their own.  With cheap variations on the original sand coloured offerings now available from supermarkets and high street accessory emporiums in every conceivable colour, but seemingly favored in pink and brown, the boot is now firmly entrenched in chav culture.

‘But I own a pair and I’m not a chav’, I hear you cry.  If your hair extensions are finely preened and glue free, you’ve broken out the discount gold and your juicy velour or your stonewashed jeans are tucked into your well trodden, shapeless wannabe Uggs, then you, my dear are the new breed of chav. 

Along with their appalling fancy dress appearance, I am reliably informed that the offending Uggs are too hot to wear socks inside and therefore emit foul odors from feet made sweaty through long hours of trooping the pavements even on the balmiest of days.  Usually the prized possessions are worn to the point of disintegration by said chavettes, ensuring that very soon they offer little support to the foot weary wearers, so are not even good for the feet as some proclaim. 

So, isn’t it time that this unstylish and inelegant trend just died and went way and the offending items were buried as with other small furry creatures that depart this earth once they have seen out their days?  If anybody is in any doubt about this then I leave you with a quote from Vanessa Williams in the TV series, ‘Ugly Betty’.

“She’s as out as Ugg Boots!”   RIP UGGs!!

Words: Graham Gartside-Bernier

AGENT2 Magazine Joins the Panel

Graham Gartside-Bernier joined various member of the North West media this month to give his advice and two pennorth worth about the current state of the UK’s independent, regional media.

Hosted by the Manchester Fashion Network, the event was designed to give a platform for members of various, local media outlets to give their thoughts and opinions on their industry and to answer questions from the attending audience.

Pictured from left to right: Nick Cook (Editor, Menswear Buyer), Flick Everett (Editor, Moving Manchester), The Magazine (Editor), Graham Gartside-Bernier (AGENT2 Magazine) and Kerry Spencer (Editor, YQ Magazine).

AGENT2 GETS DRESSED UP TO MEET THE DAME

AGENT2 Magazine had the pleasure of  attending the launch of the ‘Grande Dame of Punk’, Vivienne Westwood’s  exhibition at the Sheffield Galleries this week.

There were a number of famous faces on hand to fill the ‘celebrity’ quota for the evening including Toya Wilcox, Ferne Cotton and ex-Manchester United player, Lee Sharpe; but they all paled in comparison to the reigning queen of subversive, British fashion herself.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image: Vincent Bernier