The Café Grosz on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin: Here coffeehouse tradition is maintained

When I ask her where we shall meet, she spontaneously replies: Let’s meet at Grosz on Ku’damm, her favorite café in Berlin where she feels comfortable and unknown. That this is not always the case is self-explanatory after all Vicky Leandros is Europe’s most famous singer with over 55 million sold albums. And everybody knows the singer with Greek roots, who is touring through Germany at the moment, celebrates her 50th stage anniversary and since her Grand-Prix-Win 1972 with „Après Toi“ has become a world star. Vicky and me connect a long-standing friendship that has started in the north of Germany, in Schleswig-Holstein, where we lived with our families in neighboring municipalities. We both love life – and tea.

Vicky and me connect a long-standing friendship

MyStylery: Vicky, you’re drinking Café Latte?! I thought we were meeting up for a cup of tea.
Vicky Leandros (laughs): I’ve already had a few meetings today; I need a little pick-me-up, a little caffeine boost. Afterwards I’ll gladly have a cup of tea with you to relax.
MS: It is quite funny, I always meet up with my interview partners for a cup of tea and everybody always orders a coffee at first.
VL: The Café Latte today is an exception. I love tea; my favorites are Assam or Earl Grey. I have this ritual in the morning, to drink a cup of strong tea with milk and sugar. I wouldn’t miss it.

Timeless beauty and multilingual: Vicky records every album in German, Greek, French, English and partly even in Japanese

MS: There are only few musicians, who can look back at half a century of music history, Mick Jagger and you. A new album, the just started tour, concerts, and TV performances: You could also just sit back and relax …
VL: I don’t feel old enough to retire. Quite the opposite: I have worked my whole life, I love to compose songs. Singing is also my passion. I am grateful for my old fans and the new audience, for example the Gay Community. This also makes a concert so exiting.

Vicky Leandros has received many prizes and awards in her live, most recently the federal cross of Merit

MS: You have recorded albums in multiple languages. Your repertoire includes ballades, chansons and soul. Aren’t you annoyed, that people often only recognize you as a ‚Pop star’?
VL: No I’m neither annoyed nor angry. I am very relaxed. I know that I have taken some risks, just remember the production with Xavier Naidoo in 2009. Who doesn’t dare to try something new from time to time will stagnate and get old faster.
MS: You need a balance with your restless schedule. Where do you find it?
VL: Since a few years I am living in the countryside again, quite close to Hamburg, because I wanted to be closer to my family. Being together with my children and grandchildren calms me down. But I miss Berlin a lot, that’s why I’m there quite often. You can say I still have a suitcase in Berlin …

Besides her latte Vicky ordered a steak and we shared the delicious scampis. Highly recommended by the way are the sweet potato fries

MS: It’s no secret that you like to cook. Your moussaka, for example, is fantastic. What else do you like to serve as a dish?
VL: I like fish from the oven, artichokes in white wine sauce and I also love bouillabaisse or vegetable dishes. The only thing I really don’t like are Brussels sprouts. It has a bitter taste. But apart from that I’m super uncomplicated. Cooking relaxes me; it already begins with the preparations.
MS: And do you turn up the music while cooking?
VL (laughs): That can happen indeed! Especially when I have guests. I like to listen to Elton John, Beyoncé or Michael Bublé, a special favorite of mine. But usually I am quite happy when I don’t have to listen to anything for a while. I like the silence.

Vicky … always busy …

MS: How did you decorate your home?
VL: I like my home comfortable but without plush. Minimalistic design might be nice to look at, but it isn’t for me. I have a sense for nice things but to arrange them is a job for the pros. I lack the talent. (laughs)
MS: Which pieces from your flat could you not live without?
VL: I’m devoted to my aubergine colored Chinese carpet and an antique bureau that I have acquired years ago at an antiques store in Hamburg. I like to combine them with modern furniture.  That’s the perfect combination that I feel comfortable with. Such old pieces give everything a warmer atmosphere. I’m also interested in modern art and am a big fan of Jonathan Meese and Rainer Fetting.

Both of us are fashion lovers. For her stage performances Vicky likes to choose evening dresses by Guido Maria Kretschmer, Brian Rennie, Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana

MS: What about your wardrobe? Do you often sort it out?
VL: I have kept many of my old things that my daughter Sandra now profits from. There is also my favorite item that I would never give away. A dress from Tom Ford from the time he still worked for Yves Saint Laurent. Many things often stay unnoticed in my closet and then I rediscover them and am happy to still have them.
MS: What is really important in life?
VL: My family, my kids and my friends. Especially friends play an increasingly important part the older I get. I’ve known most of them for over 20, 30 years. Friendship doesn’t just mean having fun together. It’s more important to rely on each other. BvH

The tea is served in finest porcelain from Meissen

The Café Grosz – named after the painter Georg Grosz – is located at the Cumberland-House …

… directly on Berlin’s boulevard number one, the Kurfürstendamm

Some more tea, Vicky Leandros?

Until World War I the Grand Hotel resided in the magnificent rooms, then the Imperial post office

Since 2012, the with many details equipped rooms shine in new splendor

The Café Grosz is also known for its homemade Patisserie

What an amazing place – Vicky Leandros loves it. And me too!

Tip:

The current tour data from Vicky Leandros’ tour ‘Life and I’ can be found here:
www.vickyleandros.eu

Contact:

www.grosz-berlin.de

The post How about a cup of tea, Vicky Leandros? appeared first on My Stylery.

Baron Enno von Ruffin says about himself that he’s a ‘car-driving rambler’

“The baron is coming in a second”, says the friendly woman and pleases me to wait. And then he’s standing in front of me – in red cords, a for him typical cardigan, of course with a breast pocket handkerchief: Baron Enno von Ruffin falls down on his sofa in his salon. “There was a problem with the cables for the Christmas illumination”, he explains his delay whilst being a little bit out of breath. But everything is sorted now. Like always. Even after 2 a.m., when a hotel guest stands in front of his door – without a key. Then it’s Ennos mobile phone that rings.

Since 400 years, Gut Basthorst is the home for the Ruffin family

Since 35 years Enno von Ruffin is leading Gut Basthorst in Schleswig-Holstein, a 650 hectares big estate, which includes next to its agriculture a company for gardening and landscaping, as well as a hotel and gastronomy with its own Basthorst Bier. And since 400 years, Gut Basthorst is the home for the Ruffin family that originally comes from Bavaria and Meran in Tirol. This is where Enno was born. Where he was raised. He knows every corner, every tree, and every shrub. He went to the village school, pending between mornings and afternoons, because there was only one classroom. Afterwards Enno has been sent to boarding school. At this stage he was only ten years old. He couldn’t really cope with the rough world of boarding. Suddenly there were different rules. Rules, which didn’t include cigarettes, beer or girls – Enno was, as a lover of liberty, truly not a fan of these rules. “In fact I was an easy child”, says Enno and grins. “Others probably saw that differently”. So he changed the boarding schools in periodically intervals, “I have no idea how many.” His protest against the establishment, “but never against the family.”

The manor: in the former private rooms of the old Baroness – the mother of Enno von Ruffin – today the hotel resides

After school he went to Bavaria, was lieutenant for the mountain infantry, completed an agricultural apprenticeship earlier. And spent one year near Dallas, where he dealed with the American agriculture. It seemed to be fascinating and deterred at the same time. This anonymity. “There was no caregiver, nothing familiar.” Instead there were miles of fields. “This literally broadened my horizon.” Enno von Ruffin returned to Germany to his home in Schleswig-Holstein. Because it was clear; he as the male heir takes over the farm and the responsibility for the business and the therefore involved people. At just 27 years of age. He structured, modernized, rented the empty buildings to craftsmen. The former horse stable nowadays contains an inn; events take place in the barns, from dog competitions to the ‘Players Night’ – a night where the polo cup, which regularly takes place at Basthorst, is celebrated.

In the former horse stable – built in 1913 by the ancestors of the Ruffin family, the Brusselles – visitors will find a comfortable restaurant, in which German cuisine is served

Basthorst is popular for its seasonal markets. Next weekend starts this years Christmas market. Ten thousands of visitors will come to attune themselves to the Advent season with Negus and deer-sausages. And to sing Christmas songs with Vicky Leandros. In the mid 80s Enno von Ruffin gets to know the famous singer in the once legendary Hamburg nightclub ‘Insel’ (island). First he didn’t know who she is; he did one of his flippant slogans, which she skillfully parried. He introduced her to his – luckily relatively liberal – parents so that Vicky’s Greek origin or the “standardized marriage” were no obstacles. Today they are amicably seperated.

The pond of the village lies romantically in the middle of the hundreds of years old building-ensemble

35 employees and a diversity of temporary workers take care of the farm estate. “I am farmer”, says Enno von Ruffin, “I don’t want to look after chair covers.” The animal husbandry – pigs, cows, sheep, chicken with which Enno grew up – have been abolished in the 60s. Now there are horses again, because Ennos companion, the Swedish Estelle Rytterborg, is a passionate show jumper. A passion that unifies both and nearly leads to a disaster: in fast gallop Enno fell from his horse, suffers from a life-threatening breach in his lungs. “Such incisions make you humble”, he says in thoughts. Since then he doesn’t smoke anymore. “Sometimes I drink enough”, he laughs. Enno enjoys skiing in Kitzbühel during his holidays and says about himself that he’s a ‘car-driving rambler’. “I got calmer, don’t have to attend every party.” The wild times are over now.

Enno von Ruffin with companion Estelle Rytterborg

What is from true importance? The family. Of course. The children Leo, Milana and Sandra. His companion Estelle and her daughter Pauline. Friendships. Basthorst. Milana, who’s meanwhile mother of two children, is going to take over Gut Basthorst one day. Gradually, how Enno von Ruffin emphasizes. Sometimes. Because he cannot completely release: “I always have an ear on the yard.” If it’s raining inside or if the wind whips off the tiles of the roof: it will be his phone, which rings. BvH

Christmas market in Basthorst

Tip:

The Christmas market at Gut Basthorst is one of the most beautiful in North Germany. It starts on the 20th of November (except the 22nd of November) and will be open all Advent weekends: from Friday until Sunday 300 exhibitors offer handcrafts and regional specialties in harmonic atmosphere.
Friday the 27th of November Vicky Leandros is doing a Christmas benefit concert in favor of ‘Ein Herz für Kinder’ (‘a heart for children’). You can auction a VIP-Christmas Tree that will be signed by celebrities like Udo Lindenberg, H.P. Baxter, Johannes B. Kerner, and others.

About the antique secretary the coat of arms of the ancestors

“I’m a human of yard and family, this is what makes my day”, says Enno von Ruffin, who is accompanied by the two Jack Russell terriers Lion and Trouper at every step

Shopping at Gut Basthorst: in the outbuildings of the yard are several shops that invite to further shopping experiences

Over all reigns the neo-Gothic, evangelist Granit church St. Marien – with Baron Enno von Ruffin as patron

Diverse trades have been established at Gut Basthorst: a shoemaker and bassoon-maker, a glider and a felt maker …

… There’s an antiques shop and boutiques for fashion, presents as well as a distillery, a bakery and a whisky-storage

Always with Enno von Ruffin: Lion and Trouper. Sweet!

Pure nature: Gast Basthorst in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

Accession at Gut Basthorst is an original ‘Holzhäuserl’ (house out of wood) from Tirol …

… marvelous lodge-feeling – for this no one has to drive to Austria

Impressions of the countryside …

… and one photo opportunity more beautiful than the other

Enno von Ruffin and me

Contact:

Gut Basthorst
Auf dem Gut 3
21493 Basthorst, Germany

www.gut-basthorst.de

The post At home with Enno von Ruffin appeared first on My Stylery.