What a charming French city Rouen is and a perfect gateway to Normandy with its narrow cobbled lanes lined with half-timbered buildings in its old town. We are staying in one of those buildings, in the Hotel le vieux carre which is a bit ramshackle right now because it is being renovated (which we were not told was happening, which is not good.) Scaffolding covers the timbered courtyard and drop cloths line the steps up to our little room. But the place is still charming in a bohemian way, with a ground floor low-ceilinged tea parlor and sitting area with lots of cozy chairs and knickknacks. Delicious breakfast: a basket of croissants and baguettes, 2 jams, and Normandy butter, yoghurt and cheeses.
Rouen half-timbers, cathedral
For dinner we went to the wine bar of my dreams, Au p’it Verdot, another small atmospheric place in the old city that serves charcuterie, local cheeses and cider, beer and wine and delicious desserts.
Cheese, glorious cheese
We tried the famous local soft creamy cheeses, most recognizably the Camembert but my favorite was Neufchâtel.
Our hotelYes, a chocolate bialette (Italian coffee pot) and more
In the morning we did Rick Steve’s short walk tour around old town which was perfect, strolling to the semi-covered market, a cool modern church shaped like a fish, down narrow lanes lined with half-timbered buildings painted in many colors, the “flamboyantly gothic” cathedral (famously painted by Monet, with an intricately decorative facade), stopping at the famous Auzou chocolate shop to buy chocolate covered and dusted almonds known as as Joan of Arc’s tears. (This is where Joan became a martyr.)
Old town
To get here, we took an uneventful trip on the Eurostar, only 2.5 hours to Paris and then another 1.5 hour train from another station here. Trying to block out news of the horrible Trump cabinet picks but not succeeding.
I’ve always gladly accepted Francine’s invitations in London because I inevitably see something most visitors don’t. True to form we went to the lovely Garden Museum in an old decommissioned church next to Lambeth Palace.
Mortlake Tapestry
The museum just purchased a Mortlake Tapestry from the 1630s, believed to be the earliest depiction of a female gardener. Mortlake, where we are staying with our friends, was home to a famous tapestry works. Very cool to see the tapestry, which Francine helped raise money for to pay for conservation of the tapestry.
We walked along the south bank along with a mass of texting, photo- taking international tourists, past my former office (the House of Commons) all the way to the Tate Modern, with a quick look at a cool ghostly installation in the turbine hall and a gift shop visit.
New friends from Sri Lanka and Canada
Then we walked across the wobbly bridge to St. Paul’s where we learned that the #11 bus and any other vehicles were not running due to the Lord Mayors parade. We skipped the parade and walked down Fleet Street past my second former London office (the nytimes London bureau’s former shoe lane office.) Tired and hungry, we stumbled into an ancient Dickensian pub, Ye olde Cheshire Cheese (rebuilt 1667, similar era as the mortlake tapestry), where we found a table way at the bottom of the rabbit warren of a pub, in a cellar-like room with a low barreled ceiling. We shared a table with a couple from Sri Lanka and a couple from Halifax, formerly from Toronto. We ended up chatting and sharing food (a ploughmans at last!) for over an hour. So interesting, fun and unexpected! Also near Samuel Johnson’s house.
Inside ye olde
Next stop Richmond where we walked across the green in the late afternoon to another cool old pub called the White Swan, a perfect place to catch up with my old friend/colleague (from a Connecticut paper during the mid-1980s) Bennett and his wife Kim. Then the four of us met Francine and Russ for excellent “new wave” Indian food at Cinnamon Bazaar, near Richmond Station, specializing in inventive Indian railway food (chaats) prepared and served quickly, plus fusion dishes like Rogan josh shepherds pie. Great day!
On Sunday, we got a little slice of America in general and Iowa in particular with our friend Una at Pickle & Rye, a cafe specializing In breakfast and burgers in Mortlake. We were lucky to catch the co-owner Val there, who is an Iowan. This new location doesn’t have as many Iowa nicknacks as the previous one but there is a photo of the Louis Sullivan “jewel box” bank in Grinnell where Val grew up and a Taylor’s Maid-rite mug from Marshalltown Iowa. The entire cafe went silent for two minutes at 11:11 to mark remembrance sunDay, silently watching the wreath laying ceremony in central London at the cenotaph.
With Val at Pickle & RyeWith Mima and Harriet, Clapham Junction
The family sitting at the table with the mug seemed intrigued that I was taking a photo of it so I explained that this was a famous Iowa delicacy, not one I’m particularly fond of but still…a loose meat sandwich. Dinner tonight was at my friend Jemima’s daughter and son-in-law’s flat in claphamjunction, a 10 minute train ride from Mortlake. Lovely to see Jemima’s kids, now in their 30s.
Last seen when they were maybe 4 and 5. They were keen to discuss the election results and of course dismayed by the result…and surprisingly well-versed on US politics.
On Telly: Remembrance Sunday day ceremony with Princess Kate
This trip is really about visiting people, not places as much so a better headline would be Marion at Stratton’ Tower in Potter’s bar and MB in a Mortlake. But along the way we visited a few places new and old, starting with Marion’s amazing home in a 18th century brick tower (built 1789) we once called “the folly.” It’s in the rolling green Hertfordshire countryside a short train ride from Kings cross to Potter’s Bar. Marion zipped us around in her little car expertly navigating a winding assortment of very narrow lanes lined with hedges, first to a restaurant in the local garden center, which was very busy, with nary a free table in sight (and the credit card machine was down. who has cash these days.?) So we ended up at a pub-looking restaurant the cock o’ the north, where we lingered for hours talking.
In kings cross, we returned to the “Coal Drop” area, stopping for coffee and hot chocolate at Gail’s Bakery (which we discovered has an outpost close,to us in Mortlake) and visiting the artisans at the Canopy Market. This area continues to grow and is full of life.
Dinner was with MB, my sister’s sister-in-law,who happens to live in the same neighborhood as our friends we are staying with. We met at hare and Hounds pub, which we have been to before. It has a long menu. Ingot bangers (sausages) and mash, an upscale version, which was the closest I could find to traditional pub grub. I am forever searching for a ploughman’s. Which is so 1980’s. Lovely to be here and away from the political drama and fear in the states, although the British are also very upset and worried by the election results.
No, I haven’t made a quick trip to Germany but I was dismayed to discover no blogpost for my visit there a year ago so when I have time, I will try to reconstruct what I did there. I remember it was a very pretty university town in the Black Forest with a medieval square dominated by an enormous gloomy church.there was a great market in the square where I had bratwurst every day for lunch. The narrow streets were lined with tiny water channels and kids pulled little wood boats with a string through the water.
I stayed at a strange old hotel near the square, had obligatory Black Forest cake and a traditional Germany meal that, as usual, was way too heavy. The waitress sneezed and I said Gesundheit…and we both smiled. One of my few German words. I also walked in the drizzle up a steep hill in the park at the edge of town and looked out over the city.
Time to write something complimentary about Aer Lingus for a change. When we left rainy Chicago an hour late from Ohare, we were not likely to make our one hour connection in Dublin for Rome.
So we changed to a later flight that had us contemplating a quick trip to Dublin to help kill 7 hours wait time. But thanks to tail winds, we made it to Dublin close to the scheduled time, rushed to our original flight gate where a lovely gate agent got us back on this flight. Thank you Tara. I do intend to revisit Ireland sometime just not under today’s circumstances. Onward!
What a difference a modern aircraft and entertainment system can make on a trans Atlantic flight. My outbound flight had a near-nonfunctional entertainment system. Today’s aircraft has touch screens! Oh joy.
In flight entertainment recommendation
I stumbled upon some surprisingly good viewing options. First up, a two part documentary picturing the Obamas (about the two dazzling Obama portraits) that had me teary at times. I remember going to see them at the National Portrait Gallery and spending most of my time watching people looking at them, taking photos of themselves beside them, crying. It was profoundly moving.
This doc followed the portraits as they went on tour in five cities (including my new home in Chicago). It was fascinating to see how the five different museums created educational , cultural and marketing efforts around the portraits visit, coming up with so many interesting ways to entice people who often don’t feel welcome in high art institutions to visit and better yet, to feel comfortable and connect with the place and its art. I particularly loved watching the kids look at the portraits.
There were also illuminating interviews with Amy sherod and Kehinde Wiley, the two portrait painters whose work I have sought out ever since seeing those portraits. And of course there were fond images and footage from the hope and change Obama years.
All I saw of Ireland this trip 😕
I also found a good Austin city lights type show, I guess the Irish version called Other Voices and watched one episode filmedin a tiny church in isolated dingle peninsula with St. Vincent doing acoustic and in Austin with Margo Price. Both excellent. Another episode had a very young amy winehouse in 2006 singing to maybe 30 people. Cannot imagine!Even the food was a step up from the previous flight. Not stellar but edible.
I was confused by the layover in the Dublin airport because it seemed like a completely different place from the airport I passed though on my outbound trip and in January when I connected thru Dublin en route to Paris and Madrid. This time I had 4 hours to kill. And we had to go though security twice (pulling out our toiletries and electronics again) when we arrived and when we left, which seemed odd. We’d already sent our stuff through the conveyor belt in Frankfurt. Why did we need to do it before entering the Dublin airport and before leaving it? I don’t remember that from our previous trip and considering how tight those connecting flights were we might have been in trouble making our next flight. I talked with the security guys at the second check point snd they said something about this being new and a trial run for two months. I don’t get the thinking.
I did understand this time, unlike the past trip, that we were going though u.s. immigration/customs in Dublin, which is fabulous because it means when we land in Chicago, no long lines. (And there was NO line in Dublin.) It’s like leaving the airport after a domestic flight. Apparently Ireland is one of the few airports with this (ore- clearance, I think it’s called) and I’m I curious how it came about.
Stocking up for next flight
During the layover, I also was in one of those shopping mall/food hall type spaces to wait which was completely different from the previous trips where we were in a relatively bare bones gate area with few amenities (shops, restaurants). So it was confusing. Not the airport I remembered from just 4 days ago, let alone two months ago.
I came a long way for this visit and fortunately it proved completely worth the schlep. (schlep sounds like a German word. Yiddish. So close.) I did inadvertently make use of a German word I forgot I knew when a server at a restaurant sneezed. “Gesundheit” I said. She smiled. (I just learned how to spell Gesundheit…I was way off.)
Plaque on the old town hall
Anyway, I came to this small Black Forest town for a gathering of European diary archives hosted by the German diary archive which is located in a stately 1728 building known as the Rathaus/old town hall. There’s a small two -room museum with displays of interesting diaries, accompanied by an audio tour in various languages. There were people from diary archives in Germany, France, The Netherlands and Austria and very interesting presentations on how diaries are used by researchers (presenters were historians, a literary nonfiction writer and a musicologist) and on how A.I. coupled with HRT (handwriting recognition transcription) will revolutionize and democratize research. Combined they can be used to do super fast transcription of handwritten manuscripts…including diaries. Right now this is often done manually, so to speak, by very patient and skilled volunteers.
Old town hall, home of deutsches tagebucharchiv (German archive for diaries)
We had an excellent dinner at what I gather is the best place in town, Vielharmonie, where I had very good local fish (char?) and I stayed an odd hotel I wouldn’t recommend because it’s very understaffed. (TaomeFeng Shui) although I was greeted by a pleasant former Texan, from Austin.
I love riding trains in Europe. You never know who you’ll meet. Today, I’m sitting across from an intense young man, about my son’s age (he’s 33) who pulled out a notebook to write. Turns out he’s a young Swiss /Albanian comedian from Basel (our train’s final destination) who said he bombed during his first standup performance in Frankfurt so he was writing down his notes/thoughts in a little notebook with German writing on the cover.
I’d seen the same one in the book shop at the train station (I always get to train stations way too early) and wondered what it said. He told me it was the old Oscar Wilde saying: Everything is going to be fine in the end. If it’s not fine, it’s not the end. He bought three so he gave me one as a gift. Wise words.
He said he doesn’t write post show if it goes well. Apparently the crowd was full of women and if you lose the women right away, you’re sunk, the men won’t go for you either. He had 8 minutes to grab them. his favorite comics: Dave Chappell (the greatest, he says) and Trevor Noah plus two English guys and a Finnish guy. he’s only been at this for about 5 weeks (and has other game full employment.) He was also a big fan of Eminem. And had some interesting geopolitical views. He was very current on the mass killings in the U.S. (17 to date this year, he mentioned) and saw this as one of several signs our top dog status is drawing to a close. He showed me a sign with his name lit up that he puts beside him when he does his standup so I took a photo since he promises he will be a famous comedian some day.
Frankfurt looked gloomy when our plane landed. Grey and rainy. Didn’t help that we had to deplane down metal steps in the cold drizzle to catch a waiting shuttle bus. No matter. Lovely day in this interesting city. I hitched a ride on the subway into town with two American women who had bought a group tix that apparently covered 5 people. They were doing what a lot of people do in Frankfurt…a quick trip to check out downtown between international flights.
Romer area
The Motel One Romer turned out to be a gem. And a bargain at 99 euro a night. It’s a very modern, stylish place, with lovely lounges, bar and dining area. Best of all the very nice guys at the reception desk gave me a room almost 2 hours before official checkin which was very unexpected and appreciated after a long trip from Chicago.
I dragged myself through the city, with jet lag mounting. First stop the quality market/kleinmarkthall a huge enclosed market with all kinds of fresh fruit stalls, cheese and sausages counters, sushi, ethnic food stalls. Not as stellar perhaps as the food hall in Lyon that we visited in January but lots of good options and local character. I joined a line leading to a small window where two women worked very hard serving sausages (wurst) on buns with mustard.
A nice young traveler from Hong Kong was in line too and we struck up a conversation with a kind local (frankfurter) who offered to order for us and told us which of the four sausages was her favorite. (The one with the yellow casing, which didn’t look too appealing.)
Reconstructed Romer
She said she’s been going to this window for wurst since she was a kid. I later learned the woman behind the counter who was diligently boiling sausages of various colors and cutting and peeling off the casing before putting them in a to-go bun was Ilsa. A local luminary. The young woman from Hong Kong and I found a table at an outdoor cafe to eat our wurst, sitting under an umbrella in the rain.
Bombed out romer
Romer is a classic old German area downtown with elegant timbered and stone buildings. Except it’s been reconstructed after being obliterated by allied bombs during ww2. I had some apple Weiss (alcoholic apple cider) standing in the wide brick paved Romer plaza and later landed at lovely Kaffeehaus goldene waage) https://www.goldenewaage.com/coffeehouse golden way)some delicious pastries (merengues, florentines) and hot chocolate served in a glass.
I walked a little through the busy shopping plazas and along the pretty riverfront then finally succumbed to jet lag.
TakeBetsywithyou 