A stone’s throw from the Danube sits a Belle Époque monument, hailing from the Austro-Hungarian golden age and designed by two of its most celebrated architects. It’s called the Klotild Palace, and it used to belong to a royal of that name: Her Imperial and Royal Highness Archduchess Maria Klotild, born a princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Modesty was not her style. Its 157-foot tower is topped with a stone crown. As of this spring, it’s also the site of Budapest’s most sumptuous new hotel, the St. Regis, with 63 rooms and 39 suites, a butler for every guest, a bar, a sushi restaurant, and a pastry shop tucked into the building’s old pharmacy, with afternoon tea in the atrium. It may be chilly on the Danube, but something tells us it’ll be a lot cozier here. (marriott.com) —Elena Clavarino

Intimate, melancholy, and contemplative, The Meetings of Anna is a cinematic study of one woman’s encounters during her travels abroad. Pensive filmmaker Anna Silver (Aurore Clément) is in Germany promoting her latest film, during which she encounters family and several friends and new acquaintances, all of whom share their personal revelations and advice. Although their speeches fall on indifferent ears, Anna, seemingly always misunderstood, listens. The only time she is listened to is during a monologue shot in the shadows of a hotel bed as she bares her vulnerability through a story of a lesbian romance. In each scene, director Chantal Akerman employs her mastery of the stationary shot to create a sense of familiarity and languor, lingering within every vignette to provide an intimate portrait of each character. This 1970s semi-autobiographical film is not only a feat of cinematic form, but an indelible portrait of loneliness and emotional detachment. (apple.com) —Eve Eismann

M. F. K. Fisher was not much of a student, and attended Occidental College for one year before dropping out in 1929 to move to France with her new husband. There, she learned to love French cooking, but her true gift was writing about what she cooked and ate, and thus was born the finest food writer of the 20th century. What made her so singular was that she wrote about the art of living as much as she did about poulet à la mode de Beune. Literary imprint Picador has done what amounts to a public service by re-releasing five of her books, starting with her 1943 classic, How to Cook a Wolf, published when it was difficult to obtain exotic ingredients (which surely explains her reliance on canned tomato juice). Along with this volume are An Alphabet for Gourmets, The Gastronomical Me, Serve It Forth, and Consider the Oyster. Each volume has new introductions by the likes of Alison Roman, Bryan Washington, and Anne Fadiman, all decked out in new book jackets by Alex Merto and illustrations by Allie Webb. Fisher died in 1992 at age 83 in a two-room cottage she had designed for herself in Glen Ellen, California. The ranch sign outside said, Trespassers will be violated. ($22.99, macmillan.com) —Jim Kelly

At the tender age of 18, Nik Cohn ravaged the Beatles as a music critic for Queen magazine. In 1969, at 23, he published Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom, still seen as the first definitive book on pop music. In 1975, he wrote a portrait of the Bay Ridge disco scene for New York magazine, “Tribal Rites of the New York Saturday Night,” which served as the inspiration for Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta (though he later confessed to having fabricated the whole thing). A scholar of street culture, an impresario of men’s fashion, the seminal pop-music critic Cohn tells all in Corner Boy. Edited by Ben Ratliff, it collects the best of his masterful nonfiction writing—and paints a picture of a life lived riotously and to its fullest. ($35, kinokuniya.com) —Paulina Prosnitz

A rugged and rebellious carryall of the aughts, Balenciaga’s City Bag holds strong cultural capital while firmly remaining an emblem of its time. Conceived in 2001 by Nicolas Ghesquière, the studded leather moto bag was initially rejected by Balenciaga execs—“Too soft! Too lightweight! Too unstructured!” That is, until Kate Moss expressed interest in it. Twenty-five years later, the bag has endured four creative directors (and counting!), its slouchy silhouette continuously evolving. Who better to embellish its image for its quarter-century anniversary than art interrogator and provocateur Damien Hirst? Behold DAMIENCIAGA, which superimposes the artist’s most recognized motifs, from dotted butterflies to vibrant mandalas, handpainted on every size from micro to mega—wallets included. A most fitting birthday celebration, I say. (balenciaga.com) —Maggie Turner

Thuma made its name on bed frames that assemble in minutes, require no tools, and look considerably more expensive than they are. Now it’s teamed up with Pendleton, the Pacific Northwest wool mill that’s been weaving since 1863, for a limited-edition collection. The Thuma x Pendleton Signature Bed and Classic Bed with headboard cushion trade Thuma’s usual restraint for Pendleton’s heritage-inspired wool patterns, bringing a little cabin fever to its otherwise minimalist aesthetic. The Japanese joinery and tool-free assembly remain; it’s the upholstery that gets to have fun. The collaboration also extends to pillows, sofa, and the club chairs, giving Pendleton’s storied patterns a few more places to land. After all these years spent making the bed, Pendleton has finally decided to make the bed. (thuma.co) —Jennifer Noyes