Europe Travel Guide with Eco-Bags
A one-of-a-kind Europe travel guide built from the eco-bags that traveling couple Kim Youngjin and Maeng Juhui collected during 105 days across the continent, from museums and galleries to food and drink spots.
Europe Travel Guide with Eco-bag
‘European Eco-bag Archive’ is a book by traveling couple Kim Youngjin and Maeng Juhui that documents the tote bags they collected over 105 days in Europe. We have picked a few of the 67 eco-bags featured in the book to offer an unconventional guide to traveling Europe.
Compiled by Pyo Youngso
Courtesy of Supersonic Studio
Museum & Gallery
Miffy Museum (Nijntje Museum)
A museum themed around Miffy, the picture-book character born in the Netherlands in 1955. It opened in 2016 in the former Dick Bruna Huis. A miniature world inspired by Dick Bruna’s work unfolds across 10 rooms, each with a different theme. Utrecht, the Netherlands, admission ages 2–6 €11 / adults €7.5, Oudegracht 167, Utrecht, nijntjemuseum.nl, @nijntjemuseum
The couple’s comment: “Utrecht, where Miffy’s creator Dick Bruna spent his life, is famous as Miffy’s city, so there are even Miffy traffic lights downtown. (They’re so cute!)”
Moco Museum Amsterdam
The Amsterdam branch of Moco Museum, an independent museum that focuses on modern and contemporary art and street art. Its collection includes works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Banksy, KAWS, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, teamLab, and Studio Irma. Amsterdam, the Netherlands, adult admission $18.95, Honthorststraat 20, Amsterdam, mocomuseum.com, @mocomuseum
The couple’s comment: “We liked it even more because it displays so many works by Banksy.”
Palais de Tokyo
This historic Parisian building, constructed for the 1937 International Exposition, was extensively renovated in 2012 and reborn as Europe’s largest center for contemporary art creation. It presents a wide range of exhibitions where you can witness living, contemporary art. Paris, France, admission €12, 13, avenue du Président Wilson, Paris, palaisdetokyo.com, @palaisdetokyo
The couple’s comment: “This contemporary art museum emphasizes creativity, mainly showing emerging artists and following a principle of exhibiting but never collecting. The galleries were closed while it prepared for the next exhibition, but luckily the gift shop was open.”
Designmuseum Danmark
A museum founded in 1890 by the Danish Industries Federation to document the history of Danish design and share ideas about industrial design. Visitors can see works by Danish designers such as Arne Jacobsen and Kaare Klint. It is housed in the former Royal Frederik’s Hospital, a Rococo-style building. Copenhagen, Denmark, admission 130 Danish kroner, Bredgade 68, 1260 Copenhagen, designmuseum.dk, @designmuseumdanmark
The couple’s comment: “It was a fascinating visit, tracing the evolution of Danish design, which is fresh and creative yet practical.”
Eat & Drink
Monsieur Saucisson
A sausage specialty shop inside Markthal Rotterdam, selling a wide variety of French dry sausages. Markthal is an indoor market set in a huge horseshoe-shaped residential and commercial building, filled with stalls selling everything from fruit and cheese to coffee and desserts. Sausages from €5, Unit 45, Dominee Jan Scharpstraat 298, kraam 45 Rotterdam, monsieursaucisson.com, @monsieursaucisson
The couple’s comment: “In the Netherlands, if you ask, ‘Could you put it in a canvas bag?’ when you buy something, you can sometimes score a cute eco-bag like this for about €1, or even for free.”
Eat Berlin
A specialty food shop selling quality foods produced in Berlin. It carries only handpicked, handmade products from small local producers, including drinks, sauces, and snacks made with local ingredients. There is also a wide range of merchandise, such as T-shirts, mugs, cutting boards, and postcards. Berliner curry sauce €4.9, Rosenthaler Straße 40 Hackesche Höfe, Hof IV, Berlin, eatberlin.de, @eat_berlin
The couple’s comment: “This eco-bag is printed with an illustration of a bear, the animal that symbolizes Berlin, munching on the TV Tower, another symbol of the city.”
Mikkeller & Friends Bottle Shop
A bottle shop run by Mikkeller, a microbrewery that started in Copenhagen in 2006. Along with every kind of beer Mikkeller brews itself, you can buy products from up-and-coming local breweries and selections from Belgium, the United States, and elsewhere. Beer from about 30 Danish kroner, Frederiksborggade 21, stade E4, Copenhagen, mikkeller.com, @mikkellerfriendsbottleshop
The couple’s comment: “While we were in Denmark, drinking the fun beers we bought here (Beer Greek Cocoa Shake, Gose Nose Mango, and more) was a real pleasure.”
BAO Soho
A place to try large Taiwanese buns, selected for the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand for seven years in a row. Besides the Soho branch in London, there are three more, in Borough, King’s Cross, and Shoreditch, each styled around a different theme, such as a traditional Taiwanese snack house, tea house, grill house, or noodle shop. The lamb bao is a special menu item
available only at the Soho branch. Bao £6.25, 53 Lexington St, Soho, London, baolondon.com, @bao_london
The couple’s comment: “We fell in love with this cute, aggrieved-looking character, which appears on the wet wipes, the menus, and just about everything else in the shop.”
Bookstore & Library
Do You Read Me?
A bookstore opened in 2008 in Berlin’s Mitte district by a Berlin-based graphic designer. It carries a personally curated selection of books and magazines, from art and architecture to philosophy and literature, and is especially known for its vast magazine collection. Small galleries cluster nearby, making it easy to explore them together. Auguststraße 28, Berlin, doyoureadme.de, @doyoureadme_berlin
The couple’s comment: “The Japanese ramen shop near the bookstore, Cocolo Ramen, is fantastic!”
Hatchards Piccadilly
Opened in 1797, this is London’s oldest bookstore, and it is also known for holding a royal warrant as a supplier of books to the Royal Family. The interior spans five floors and stocks a wide range of rare books and first editions. In 2014, Hatchards also opened a shop at St. Pancras railway station. 47-48 Piccadilly, St. James’s, London, hatchards.co.uk, @hatchardspiccadilly
The couple’s comment: “With the tiny sticky-note reviews the staff had written out and the sofas set out so you can browse at leisure, it felt as friendly as a neighborhood bookshop.”
Les Bouquinistes
The open-air bookstalls lining the Seine in Paris are a cherished piece of the city’s cultural heritage and one of its signature sights. About 200 book stalls stretch along the river, from Pont Marie to Quai du Louvre on the Right Bank, and from Quai de la Tournelle to Quai Voltaire on the Left Bank. They are generally open from sunrise to sunset. Bords de Seine, Paris, bouquinistesdeparis.com
The couple’s comment: “Because the bouquinistes are exempt from taxes and rent, they apparently have to follow strict rules, such as set stall sizes and colors, and being open at least four days a week except in bad weather.”
Helsinki Central Library Oodi
Located in the heart of Helsinki, this is one of the branches of the Helsinki City Library and opened in 2018. Besides reading rooms, it offers meeting rooms, workspaces, a game room, music studios, and other facilities. Together with the neighboring Helsinki Music Centre and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, it forms a vast cultural complex. Free admission, Töölönlahdenkatu 4, Helsinki, oodihelsinki.fi, @oodihelsinki
The couple’s comment: “Anyone can record music in the recording studio, and you can even use 3D printers, sewing machines, and an oversized printer. It was a library like nothing we’d ever seen!”
Shop
Ampelmann Shop
A souvenir shop where you can find everything related to Ampelmann, the pedestrian-signal character used in East Germany since the 1950s. The first of Berlin’s six Ampelmann shops, the flagship, is in the Hackesche Höfe. Facing the charming, beautiful courtyards of Hackescher Markt and surrounded by cafés, galleries, and local-brand shops, it is an even more appealing spot. Rosenthaler Straße 40-41, Hackesche Höfe, Hof 5, Berlin, ampelmann.de, @ampelmann_berlin
The couple’s comment: Ampelmann means “traffic light man.”
Papier Tigre
A sustainable stationery brand that handles everything from product design to production and sales, adhering to principles such as local manufacturing and recycled paper. Its shop and studio are in the Marais district. At the shop, which opened in 2012, you can buy all of Papier Tigre’s products, from notebooks to writing instruments and assorted small goods. 5 Rue des Filles du Calvaire, Paris, papiertigre.fr, @papiertigram
The couple’s comment: It’s known for using 100 percent recycled paper, and most of its products are reportedly made in France.
Chillout Travel Store
An Oslo travel-gear specialist where you can buy outdoor goods such as suitcases, backpacks, and water bottles, plus clothing, shoes, travel maps, and guidebooks, all in one place. It also runs a bookstore and a travel agency, and there is a café in one corner of the shop. Markveien 55, Oslo, chillout.no, @chillout_travel_outdoor
The couple’s comment: “They sell an eco bag that’s cheap by Norwegian standards (about 6,500 won), so we bought it right away.”
Episode
A secondhand clothing retailer with eight stores in the Netherlands, including Utrecht. Because it carefully selects its clothes, then mends, remakes, or upcycles them before sale, you can buy decent-quality items at reasonable prices. Oudegracht 206, Utrecht, episode.eu, @episodesecondhand
The couple’s comment: “Episode, which has stores all over the Netherlands, is even more fun because it sells not only vintage clothes but also many pieces upcycled with new designs.”
