Category Archives: 2) Frequent Destinations

May 18, 2010 · 3:20 pm

London (Florentines) – takemewithyou

FLORENTINES!

Yes, I have other work to do but instead I’ve been trying, for almost a day now, to remember the name of a pastry that I first had at Louis Patisserie in Hampstead in, um, 1980.  Finally, after too much thinking and googling, it just came to me:  Florentine –  a round, thin chewy chocolate-coated biscuit covered on one side with nuts and dried fruit.  Yum.  So if you’re at Louis, the famous old Hungarian tea house, try one.  Other London pastry shops will no doubt have them. Or you can  settle, happily I hope,  for a Cadbury chocolate bar with fruit and nuts (one of my favorites.)

If you haven’t noticed by now, I tend to eat “bad” food in London – something my kids immediately picked up on during our first trip there together when they were in grade school. (Is this heaven? No it’s London.) They couldn’t believe I was letting them drink orange soda and eat chips (i.e. fries), crisps (i.e. potato chips, preferably salt and vinegar) and chocolate (Cadbury bars and Maltsers, far better than our malted milk balls, although I prefer U.S M&Ms to the British Smarties) – rather than their usual forced diet of fruit and vegetables.  As I pointed out to them, it all had to do with the price of the food. And, of course, we were “on vacation.”

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May 17, 2010 · 11:11 pm

London eats – takemewithyou

First, a caveat – I don’t eat out all that much when I’m in London because 1) I stay with friends 2) eating out is one of the more expensive things to do in London. (When I lived in London in 1981, I lived primarily on scones that were kindly supplied, free of charge, at the office where I worked.) That said, here are a few haunts – almost all are relatively inexpensive, casual spots:

– Gordon’s Wine bar – This is a sentimental favorite, a short walk from the House of Commons – where I worked when I used to first visited Gordon’s. I returned last year and it was much the same. It’s a short walk north of the Embankment tube station – and you go down into a dark dank cellar (a la Edgar Allen Poe_ for a Ploughman’s (cheese – Stilton or Cotswold; chutney pickle and a big slab of bread) and a kir or kir royale. (There’s other pub grub and drinks but these are my tried and true picks.) A&N – this isn’t too far from your Soho hotel. Just south of Charing Cross tube. 47 Villiers St.

– Neal’s Yard Dairy– The restaurant I loved in Neals Yard, a hidden little courtyard in Covent Garden, is long gone but this  famous cheeseshop just outside the yard – at 17 Shorts Garden – is  where you can pick up Stilton and Cotswold (for less than Gordon’s) and try to find a picnic spot in central london (maybe Trafalgar square?)  I see it’s also at Borough Market now. Near the Covent Garden location is Food 4 Thought, a vegetarian restaurant popular with students because it is relatively cheap and big portions – or used to be.  (A&N – you might tell Mike about it.)

– The Standard – This is a longtime Indian restaurant just north of Hyde Park frequented by Londoners and tourists alike. I’ve been going there for 30 years. Nearby is Khan’s (if it’s still there) which is fancier atmosphere but I always preferred the Standard. 21-22 Westbourne Grove (Bayswater Tube, near Hyde Park – which is well worth a wander. See (Princess) Diana’s garden.)

– Rock and Sole Plaice – London is the only place where I eat fish n’ chips – and this Covent Garden-area chip shop is cute. I usually eat the fish called plaice (hence the name) and I put vinegar on my chips. 47 Endell Street (near Drury Lane.)

– Fortnum and Maison or Harrod’s – if you want an over-the-top and expensive afternoon tea. Either way, these are fun shops to wander in – very British. Harrod’s is very very touristy but the Food Halls are quite a sight.

– Covent Garden also has a good outdoor farmer’s market – and fun scene. On the web it doesn’t seem to be open in the evening but I remember going early evening.

– There’s also a fun old pub just south of Covent Garden – I’ll try to remember the name.

– And Louis Patisserie, 32 Heath Street,  is my sentimental favorite tea parlor in Hampstead, should you be in that area. (It’s in North London, as is Islington.)

p.s. I seem to have spent most of my time in London eating pastry, fish and chips, ploughman’s and indian food – there may be a reason for that. Was least expensive.

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May 16, 2010 · 4:16 pm

London guidebook: takemewithyou

A good friend in London weighed in on London guidebooks and she recommends one written by a friend:  The London Mapguide by Michael Middleditch – which she reports is “slim but full of facts and beautifully illustrated.” I found it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/London-Mapguide-5th-Michael-Middleditch/dp/0140279482

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May 15, 2010 · 1:32 pm

London (in and around soho for pastry!): takemewithyou

Inspired by my friends A and N, who are staying at a hotel in Soho in June,  I have spent many hours wracking my brain, trying  to remember the places I’ve discovered during my wanders around there, some dating back 30 years.  Trying to transform a very fuzzy memory into concrete details has been an interesting process, kind of like watching a Polaroid photo develop from abstract blurs and blobs into a defined image.  But the Internet (and Google) make it so much easier to do now.

So, for example, I’ve been trying to remember the name of a french pastry shop I  look for – and usually find –  in Soho. At first “Patisserie Valerie” popped into my head – but when I looked at photos of it online (and it’s now a chain) I thought “it’s either changed completely”  or “it’s completely the wrong place.”

Turns out it was the latter.   Because when I googled these words “french pastry” “London” “Soho” “July 14” I found exactly what I was looking for – and “July 14” was the key phrase!  What I remembered most about the shop is once stumbling upon it when – oddly – a play was being staged all around it.  Turned out I was there  on – or near – July 14 (i.e. Bastille Day)  and the pastry shop was staging its annual reenactment of the French Revolution. No joke. It was quite a show.  Turns out the pastry shop is called  Masion Bertaux and it’s  run by an  actress who puts on a show every Quatorze Juillet.  Bottom line: go there for a pastry and coffee. It’s one of those one-of-a-kind places. And A and N – it’s a two minute walk from your hotel!

Two more tips. During this little mental adventure, I stumbled upon what looks like my kind of guidebook – City Secrets London. There were only a few excerpts of the guidebook offered on this web page (http://www.littlebookroom.com/citysecretslondon.htm) but they include several of my London haunts  (including Gordon’s Wine Bar. more about that in a later blog.)

Here’s the blurb from City Secrets London about Maison Berteaux (I shouted “YES!” when I read it – so relieved that my fuzzy remembrance was confirmed as fact.): “…the oldest French patisserie in London, Maison Berteaux (founded by communards in 1871), for a coffee and the best chocolate religeuse you will taste outside Paris. Maison Berteaux is run by the eccentric Michele Wade, an actress, who every 14 July performs a tableau vivante of the French Revolution in the street outside, complete with a guillotine, tricolores and a glimpse of carefully arranged nipple.—Fidelis Morgan, writer ” (Don’t know what chocolate religeuse  is- a religious experience with chocolate? Sounds do-able…)

Another good resource, judging from its description of Maison Berteaux (below) is londontown.com (alas Alexander McQueen is no longer w/us.)

“A Soho landmark since 1871 – when Soho really was the only place in Britain where you could eat decent continental food – Maison Bertraux is a charming little French deli and patisserie, with half-a-dozen mismatched tables and an eccentric accordion-playing owner. Delicious cakes, croissants, croques and pastries are part of the appeal, but it’s the atmosphere that makes all the difference. Not surprising, then, that every Central Saint Martin’s art student sips their tea here including fashion designer Alexander McQueen – he’s been coming here since his impoverished days as a tailor on Savile Row. Recently, the upstairs space has become an art gallery run by Tania Wade, typically showing the work of the arty types who populate the cafe downstairs. They, at least, won’t have far to go to see their fellow students’ work. For the rest of us it’s a perfect slice of Soho life.” http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Shops/Maison_Bertaux/5a62/

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May 14, 2010 · 3:52 pm

London: takemewithyou

For the first-time visitor to London (soon to be my friends A and N), what would I recommend doing and seeing?  Here’s idea #1:

– South London walk along Thames through South Bank and Bankside areas, between Westminster Bridge and Tower Bridge – about four miles: For MAP see: http://www.southbanklondon.com/page/map/  and http://www.visitlondon.com/areas/search?category=attractions&scale=0.237&px=532869&py=179965

There’s a wonderful pedestrian path that hugs the Thames that you can walk for miles, passing some of the city’s most famous and interesting attractions. On a sunny Saturday, this area is absolutely packed but you’ll see a broad cross-section of Londoners at play – not to mention people from all over the world.  Here’s what you’ll see along the way:

1) Start on the north side of the Thames at   Westminster – by the Houses of Parliament obviously an interesting place these day with the first coalition government in 70 years. Cross over the Westminster Bridge to the south bank and head east.

2)  You’ll walk past the London Eye (giant Ferris wheel/tourist attraction)

3) and the  Southbank  arts complex (Royal Festival hall and National Theatre et. al)

4) cool art deco Oxo building (good cafe/restaurant inside with great views)

5)  Tate Modern, which you should stop and visit. An art historian friend of mine in DM who visited the Tate Modern (not to be confused with the original Tate in another neighborhood) dubbed it her all-time favorite museum after her first visit there in April. There’s always something going on there – inside and out. Arty crowd, interesting exhibitions and great views of the riverfront and people-watching from the museum’s cafe.

6) In front of the Tate is what may always be known as “the wobbly bridge” – aka the Millennium Bridge, a suspension pedestrian bridge that had some early structural issues (wobbliness.) Now fixed.

7) Walking further beyond it you’ll come to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (a replica but looks like the real McCoy),

8) to you’ll come to the Borough Market – tucked under a railroad viaduct. It’s not right on the water so follow signs (I’d guess there are some) or ask around.  Foodie paradise. Open thursday, friday and sat. (Saturday is zoo-iest.) Southwark Cathedral is nearby and worth a visit.

9) next up: super strange glass pickle-shaped building that houses new City hall, best known as “the Gherkin”

10) Last stop is Tower Bridge which leads to the Tower of London – packed with tourists but well worth a visit, especially if you’re a history buff.

At this point you may want to rest your legs and take a boat on the Thames back to Westminster or beyond or the other direction to Greenwich. Or take the Tube back to wherever.

Must stop for now – getting seriously homesick for London.

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May 12, 2010 · 9:38 pm

oh to be a tourist in London as the election shakes out…

The drama, bordering on chaos, of the past five days in post-election Britain reminds me a bit of the fraught days after the Gore-Bush race in 2000. As a British politics junkie (I interned for a Labour MP in 1981 who was in the Cabinet until, um, five days ago. And I  have a dear friend who worked for another Cabinet member until, um, five days ago) I’ve been tuning into the BBC a lot online. One of the more amusing recent reports includes interviews with tourists hanging around Westminster – and documents the surrounding “media scrum” see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8678258.stm?ls

While there, you might check out the even more amusing video where Cameron admits referring to Clegg – in days past – as “a joke.” This is going to be interesting…

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May 11, 2010 · 10:46 pm

FLWright in Mason City again

The FLWright house that  reopened recently in Mason City is not to be confused with the FLWright hotel – the last of the six hotels he designed that remains – that I gather is opening in about a year.  The restoration of the hotel – to be called the Historic Park Inn Hotel – has been in the works for 13 years, with three different owners, the most recent being a citizens group that bought the poor old place on ebay for $1. The hotel first opened in 1910. Wright reportedly visited the hotel construction site (and next to it a bank he designed) until a notorious escapade ended his visits – Wright took off for Europe with the wife of one of his clients. (See the novel “Loving Frank” for more details on that.)

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May 9, 2010 · 5:29 pm

Pyrenees-Orientales: Dreaming of

I’m reading a novel set in the Pyrenees-Orientals  in  the southwest corner of France just above Spain – and had trouble placing this spot on my mental map until a story in today’s NYTimes Travel section of the area just north of it around Carcassonne, the remarkable walled city I visited in 1978 with my sister (who had been living during her junior year of high school in Villeneuve Sur Lot)   Turns out I probably went through the Pyrenees-Orientals  – during a train trip from Italy to Spain in 1989.   The NYTimes mentions some pricey hotels in Carcassonne – I remember in 1978 staying at a nicer-than-usual youth hostel there and spending a late night at a bar/club listening to live music for hours. I’m pleased to report the hostel appears to still be there.

(Just fyi to my brother: Villeneuve sur lot is 2.5 hours northwest of Carcassonne and Sarlat is 1. 5 hours northeast of Villeneuve. Confused? Best to look at a map)

The novel, by the by, is “Rat” by Fernanda Eberstadt, about a teen-ager growing up on the  wild and windy Mediterranean Coast, a landscape  so vividly portrayed that it seems like a major character.  Reminds me a bit of the atmospherics of  another novel about a teen-ager growing up on the southern French coast – “The Last Life” by Claire Messud.

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May 8, 2010 · 6:10 pm

London Hotels – takemewithyou

Full disclosure: I have been to London oh, maybe a dozen times. But I have never stayed in a hotel – I always stay with friends. (Or else I wouldn’t be able to afford a visit to London.) So when friends ask me for advice on London hotels – especially affordable London hotels – I am at a loss. But for my friends A and N, I’ve done a little sleuthing (my usual – just google NYTimes travel section) and this one sounds good – excellent central location, although could be a tad noisy, and remarkably reasonable price – if the rooms really do start at $136.  Dean Street Townhouse, 69-71 Dean Street, W1D; (44-207) 434-1775; deanstreettownhouse.com.

for more details see: http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/travel/18checkin.html (This same issue, which was on economical europe, may have some suggestions for paris – although I love the place we recommended to you there.)

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May 6, 2010 · 9:51 pm

dordogne pt. 3 – takemewithyou

As promised, I have returned to the Dordogne – blogging, not visiting alas. Here are some more towns/villages we visited (most – but not all – well worth the visit):

– Le Bugue (I wrote it as “La Bogue” in my journal. oops). This is sort of the start of   the Dordogne   (we were driving from the west and Bordeaux.) It’s more of a workaday town not touristy at all . Has a very good market where I had a memorable experience that D and I still recall when we need a laugh. I was trying out my very rusty french with a woman selling fish at one stall and soon after I spoke, she burst into laughter.  I surmised that rather than telling her – as intended – that “I really like fish” I’d said something more akin to “I am a fish.”

– Beynac – in the Dordogne proper right next to La Roque, where we stayed – has an astonishing castle where it was  refreshing to see that the curators had thrown the usual u.s.-style caution to the wind and lit the castle with real live flaming torches sprinkled here and there around the place.  Definitely made the place seem very real. Later when we returned to DM we  watched – or tried to watch – a movie that had recently been filmed there – The Messenger about Joan of Arc starring Milla Jovovich, Dustin Hoffman, John Malkovich –  – but it was so bloody we turned it off. The town of Beynac is lovely – very perfect; not too touristy.

– Monpazier – this was a lovely more workaday fortified Medieval village and a little off the beaten path, with a cool château nearby called Biron (looks like nice hotel there: http://www.leprieurebiron.com)  We felt like the only tourists in Monpazier, remarkably enough. There’s a beautiful and unusual town square that as I recall has a semi-enclosed arcade around most sides. We had our classic five-course Perigord meal at La Bastide Restaurant. Had read about it in a 2003 Travel and Leisure article.  Ridiculous amount of food and delicious – 1) fois grais 2) a salad prepared with the locally produced nut oil and goats cheese, 3) huge omelette with truffles that tasted remarkably creamy 4)crispy duck cooked in its own fat (confit?),  and 5) creme caramel.   I was amazed my stomach did not rebel afterwards. We ordered one of these meals – and then a more moderate meal. way too much food.  We also found a really pretty home and kitchen store nearby where I bought one – and I wish i’d bought more – very pretty soft-boiled egg ceramic cup (Provencal I think) and a french wrought iron hanging rack that is in our kitchen (w/tea cups hanging from it).

Domme was another dramatic walled village, worth a visit.

Skip Colognes-la-rogue – it’s a beautiful village made of redstone buildings – very different than the yellow stone of the other Dordogne villages but it was very touristy and full of tourists. Like La Roque it is one of France’s “Beaux Ville Villages” which is kind of like the kiss of death because they’re so lovely they’re overrun with tourists. A few other things:

1) prepare to get lost. This is where d. and I coined an oft-used phrase “Not on my map.” (I was the navigator, D was the driver). We got lost a lot but eventually found what we were looking for.

2) there are cool painted caves here. we didn’t go to them.

3) I wish we’d had time to canoe or hike – this is what the Brits do in the Dordogne and it results in a  quite different experience than ours (which we of course liked just fine – drive, wander, eat, wander, eat, drive, etc.)

4) fun fact:  Josephine Baker lived in Chateau des Milandes which is now a museum. We never visited but after seeing this video, wish we had. She was a remarkable person. (adopted 12 kids, Resistance member in france who also saved jews, civil rights leader etc.) /www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGi0CR3VvCM

5) Chateau de Castelnaud,  which i mentioned in an earlier post, is one of the most visited castle in sw france, according to one website I stumbed upon.

6) while all these places start to sound alike, they’re all quite distinct in their own way (i just can’t remember which is which that well any more.)

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