Europe My Way - Malcolm Mclaren

In 1963, I went on an art school trip from London to Paris. We visited the usual museums and stayed in one of those old rickety walk-up hotels on the Left Bank. We were there to visit the museums but I was in search of something else: the Existentialists or Troglodytes as they were also called. I will never forget walking along the then, dirty and squalid streets of Saint Germain, drinking coffee made of chickory and pressing my nose against every café window to see if I could spot one of those black and torn-clothed bored youths.

What was your last?

My last holiday in Europe was spent in the Engadin, a sliver of land trapped in the Alpine woods of Switzerland close to the Austrian and Italian borders. It had been inaccessible in winter for centuries due to the mountain pass being blocked by snowdrifts, but in recent years, the Swiss bored a hole through the mountains and you can drive your car onto a train through the tunnel for fifteen minutes and then find yourself in a winter wonderland known as the Engadin. Medieval in character, tiny villages, frozen lakes and snow-capped Bruegel like dwellings, sleeping above the livestock to keep warm in winter. These tiny houses with ancient hand-painted frescoes on their façades are the best but most ridiculously Christmas-picture postcard feelings you will ever imagine. Tarasp was the village I stayed in. Its princely castle atop a hill guarded the ancient pass. Tarasp had a tiny but cute Relais Chateau smack bang in the middle of the village with super food and a small spa. The small ski slopes were abundant and old -fashioned and the sledding from village to village was superb.

What do you love about Europe?

Europe is such a collection of so many diverse cultures, so many old ruins, faces in the crowd, different cuisines, and fine wines that don't travel well. And as a creature of habit, I just don't get that bored easily any more.

Favourite hotel?

My favorite hotel in winter is the Relais Chateau in Tarasp in the Engadin in Switzerland because I like watching the skaters on the lake and sledding to the next village. And in summer, the Colombe D'Or in France swimming in the pool amongst the Fernand Léger ceramics and the Alexander Calder mobile.

Worst Hotel?

I can't remember the name of, fortunately! It's a hotel in Palermo, Sicily run by an old witch. I can still see her ugly, horrific face screaming at me. Frightening! I can never forget the Rough Guide recommending it for atmosphere-- more like a concentration camp. So bad, that I didn't even get undressed but lay on top of the bed until morning. It was one of those nights where when it rained cats and dogs and there simply wasn't anywhere else to go.

Favourite city?

Zürich--- boring but great shopping. They have terrific bookshops, good art galleries, and my favorite friends.

Favourite Beach?

Croatia, but I have never been there! Just seen pictures of my friend, the artist, Braco Dimitrijevic, who has a beautiful palace in Dubrovnik-- his own private tiny beach. He is a phenomenal diver and I am extremely jealous!

Favourite Restaurant?

My favorite restaurant is my local Parisian but it is Italian. I Golosi: meaning the "greedy one". A super 1960s style Italian café, perfectly preserved in its interior, hidden in the 9th arrondissement, polished mauve pink plaster walls, terrazzo bar and floor, custom made stained plywood chairs...it's humble, inexpensive and a great vibe. The menu changes every week and they sometimes play 1960s Italian pop music and serve great wines from the Marche region of Italy-- where you have the Rivero de Conero, where I have spent memorable weekends. I Golosi is surrounded by old, crumbling antique shops that ply their trade from grabbing whatever those poor bastards lost in the guillotine. The Hotel Drouot, as it is better named, is the funkiest auction house in the world close by.

Who / what do you never leave home without?

I never leave home without my wallet-- the best in the world made by Henry Beguelin. It is black leather outside, white leather inside and has pockets for enough of everything. It is sewn together in such a brut but beautiful way and tucks well inside my Thom Browne raincoat.

Ferry, ship, plane, train, or car?

I'm rarely on a ferry, rarely on a boat... I don't like to fly but if I must, I do it with my eyes closed. I love trains, particularly in Europe. Definitely not in England. I don't like the English countryside and I am not excited by its towns. Cars are fast becoming obsolete. It's a poor form of transport and a shockingly dull experience today to drive or even be driven.

What is your worst European travel memory?

Being mugged and before I knew what hit me, an attempted rape in Nice in 1964. My hair was long, red and bushy back in those days, and I was wearing a matelot shirt. I had jumped a train near Saint Tropez that was heading for NIce. I had little money and threw myself off the train before it arrived at Nice. Running over the traintracks and clambering over a tall wall, I found myself on the edge of town at nightfall and then it happened. It took a while for Nice to feel nice again. It's probably a good place to catch a boat to Corsica. That is what I was thinking at the time but instead, I ended up at the British consulate and a train back home to London.

Where’s next on your list?

Maybe I am heading for the forests of Barbizon, France. To hide out perhaps for Christmas. It is close enough to Paris where I have my atelier and live part of the year. I don't want to travel other than somewhere close to home right now. I fancy getting lost in a forest gathering chestnuts and freaking out.

Is there somewhere that you have always wanted to visit but never got round to?

I've always wanted to explore the Southern boot of Italy. I've been invited by many Italian friends but for some reason, never managed to do it ever. It has escaped me.

What is your “golden rule” of travel?

To get everyone else to do it for you.

What’s keeping you busy at the moment?

I am presently heading to Miami Basel Art Fair where I am hoping to run wild and show new work and then, catching a flight to London to install certain work at the Royal Academy of Art. I will be unveiling for the first time in the UK a multimedia work, the title of which is SHALLOW 1-21. Not my title, but a dear friend's, the artist Stefan Bruggemann. And that, frankly makes it even better, I think. They are 21 slow-moving portraits of people about to have sex, accompanied by a series of musical cut-ups that are a personal, subjective history of all pop culture. It opens on December 16.

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