October 24, 2010 · 6:26 pm

Mason City and Frank Lloyd Wright

We went up to Mason City yesterday to check out the work being done to restore the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel there and while there’s a lot of work still to be done, it’s a great looking building and should be a gem if restored well. The hotel and adjoining bank – are scheduled to reopen on June 30, 2011 although I’m told guests probably won’t be able to stay there until later in the summer. The bank side looks far from done – and the ground floor has been completely gutted. We couldn’t see the hotel side as well (construction of the building and the streets its on restricted our access and view) but looks like it’s more intact.  It will be the only remaining of six FLW-designed hotels in operation!

We also visited the FLW-designed Stockman House – took an informative tour for $5 a piece. Well worth a visit- it’s the first FLW Prairie Style house in Iowa and was saved from the brink of destruction back in 1993. We also toured the Rock Glen/Rock Crest neighborhood – with its Prairie Style homes by a FLW contemporary. And of course we had to stop at Birdsall’s, the old ice cream store on Federal Street that looks pretty much like it did decades ago (and has very good malts and sundaes.) Nearby Borealis looked like a good place too – a little cafe.

 

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October 22, 2010 · 4:06 pm

About that drive through France: a change of plans

Word has it my brother may have changed his plans to drive across France this week – even the fuel shortage and overall chaos – and stayed in Spain.  May be a wise idea – and certainly not a bad alternative. I’m wondering how many other vacationers are vacating France – or avoiding it altogether right now.

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October 21, 2010 · 5:52 pm

Detroit’s new cool…

It’s not often that I read a story that makes me want to rush back to my old hometown of Detroit but one in the NYTimes food section yesterday did. It was about a young Detroiter, a former male model no less, who has a bunch of entrepreneurial projects going on downtown including a barbecue place called Slows Bar B Q, in the Corktown neighborhood.

(Slows was also named by Budget Travel as one of the ten best bbq spots in the nation this year – and had good company, including two other places I’ve been to –  Abe’s in Clarksdale, Ms. and Arthur Bryant’s in, of course, Kansas City.)

Other groovy new places in Detroit mentioned by the Times include Supino Pizzeria, serving artisanal pie near Eastern Market, and Roast, a restaurant in a luxury hotel downtown. Soon to open – SLOWS TO GO,  at the corner of Alexandrine and Cass Avenue in Detroit’s  Midtown district and Sugar House, a classic cocktail bar opening next to Slows.

see: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/dining/20Detroit.html?pagewanted=1

 



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October 20, 2010 · 2:22 pm

Vacationing by car in France during the strikes….a handy ipod app

I’m a little concerned about my brother who is driving across southern france this week as part of his honeymoon.  Strikes across the country can’t be making that easy. Fortunately he’s not flying in or out of French airports (he’s flying into Barcelona and out of Geneva) and I don’t think he’s using mass transit. But it doesn’t sound like driving – especially getting fuel – is that easy right now. I did read about a new iphone app people are using to find out where gas is available but not sure there’s an english version or if my brother’s smart phone works in Europe. http://www.mobicarbu.com/

This from the Guardian

One third of petrol stations across France still have no fuel. Over night, police broke up barricades and lift blockades at three strategic fuel depots in Donge, Le Mans and La Rochelle – the west of France has been worst hit by the petrol blockades.

All of France’s 12 refineries remained blockaded this morning and picket lines barred access to around 20 key fuel depots.

The prime minister François Fillon says it will take the country four – five days to get back to normal fuel levels. But France’s autumn half-term holiday begins this weekend and panic-buying continued as families wondered whether they would have to cancel plans amid travel chaos.

Pickets and stoppages were expected at airports today with Toulouse airport blockaded this morning and cancellations at Orly and Charles de Gaulle in Paris.

Train, bus and tram staff were still striking across France today but walk-outs on some public transport had eased since yesterday, in Paris for example. In Marseille, buses and trams were not running and strikers blocked key road tunnels causing miles of tailbacks. Hauliers and freight delivery drivers across France were continuing their protests with more motorway go-slows planned.

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October 19, 2010 · 9:38 pm

Chicago’s Andersonville

Andersonville has been on my to-visit list for some time and now comes another nudge from the NYTimes Travel section which featured this Chicago neighborhood in its recent Surfacing column – so now I must get there. Highlights include Scout (a high-end flea market of sorts, 5221 North Clark); in fine spirits (wine shop/small plates wine bar, 5418 North Clark); Anteprima (a rustic Italian restaurant, 5316 North Clark); Transistor ( an art gallery/music store/book shop/performance space, 5045 – you guessed it – North Clark).

Clearly it’s all happening on North Clark.

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October 18, 2010 · 10:19 pm

Bon voyage to my brother – off to Spain and France

Have a great trip M and H! Here’s a few parting words of advice – most fairly obvious but just in case….

In Barcelona, see any and all things Gaudi – the half-done church/temple (Sagrada Familia);  the really cool park (Park Guell, it’s out of the way but worth the trip). We also visited another house in the city that I can’t remember the name of – both Casa Batllo and Casa Mila look incredibly cool. (We got the Gaudi bug in Barcelona and everywhere else we visited in Spain, we searched out nearby Gaudi buildings.)

In the Dordogne, remember to check out the “art way” (“chemin des arts” billed as “a funny way” to experience Sarlat. I think they meant “a fun way”)  and one of our favorites, Sophie Noellet’s studio at 4-6 rue Alberic Cahuet.. And of course the outdoor market (I bought foie gras there for dad…) And here’s a long-shot request: We bought Lily her favorite all time necklace in Sarlat – which she  lost last summer in the Dominican Republic.  We found it  at a little unimpressive-looking  postcard-gift shop  just off the artist’s studio walk. It was a horseshoe nail  bent into the shape of a heart on a string of rawhide. Nothing fancy or expensive – but if by some remote chance you find something like it, please buy and I’ll reimburse you.

In Talloires, I’d love to know if the Hotel Beau Site is still there. And the Annecy market of course. And the Gorge du Fier.

Have a wonderful time! x0x,b

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October 17, 2010 · 2:56 pm

The Frank Lloyd Wright house in northeast Iowa

Not long ago, D and I toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Robie House near the University of Chicago on the south side.  The tour cost $15 and we were in a group of maybe 10 people. The house was mid-renovation and had little furniture. I couldn’t help compare this to my visit a few years earlier with my friend Francine, who was visiting from London,  to Wright’s not-as-famous-or-grand house, Cedar Rock, near the town of Quasqueton.

At Cedar Rock, Francine and I paid a very modest suggested donation – a couple of bucks as I recall – then hopped on a little cart that took us down to the house on the river. We – and only we – took a guided tour of the building, which was fully furnished. We were astonished to have the whole place to ourselves.

Now comes word that the trust fund that enabled these tours has run dry and the DNR has assumed most of the financial responsibilty. Staff has been cut, visitor hours and tour times have been reduced. Perhaps they should charge more for admission (currently, a “$5 donation is suggested) – which seems only fair. The home is open Memorial Day through Oct. 21, Thursday – Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with hourly tours.

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October 15, 2010 · 10:08 pm

Best Burger in Iowa City?

A writer for Edible Iowa magazine says the best burger in Iowa City can be found at Short’s Burgers and Shine on Clinton Street, made with local beef and home-baked bun and apparently there’s a $6 Burger special on Monday nights. Don’t forget the hand-cut fries and the Iowa-brewed beer including the venerable Amana Colonies’ Millstream, as well as Court Avenue Black hawk Stout, Old Man River Helles and Dunkel, and Peace Tree Hop Wrangler (I recently tried a Peace Tree sweet corn brew.) Sutliff Cider also gets a nod.

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October 14, 2010 · 10:52 pm

changes in Maquoketa Iowa

Speaking of Maquoketa – and I was at least blogging recently about one of Iowa’s hardest towns to spell –  there is news that this eastern Iowa city’s Banowetz Antiques, one of the best antique dealers in the state, is downsizing so the owners can have more free time. Certainly understandable.  Apparently they’ll still operate their lovely B&B in town, the Squiers Manor, in an 1882 brick Queen Anne-style manse, which is full of their antiques. (And it is Squiers not Squires – although it’s fit for a squire.  It’s named after a man name J.E. Squiers.) I’ll never forget how tolerant they were when we brought a baby with us during one stay.

 

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October 13, 2010 · 11:13 pm

Grant Wood Scenic Byway …in northeast Iowa

Now that we have a fuller picture of Iowa painter Grant Wood thanks to a new biography (for details see my earlier post on the topic), perhaps its time to visit the Grant Wood Scenic Byway in northeast Iowa. Stone City inspired Woods landscape of the same name. Anamosa is Wood’s birthplace and home to the Grant Wood Art Gallery (as well as the National Motorcycle Museum, of all things, and one of the prettiest prisons – no joke – around: The Anamosa State Penitentiary, which has an interesting history museum where you can learn about the serial killer John Wayne Gacy who resided there.)

The DM Register recommends traveling on Highway 64 east from Anamosa to Maquoketa (visit Banowitz Antiques and stay the Squires Inn, owned by the Banowitzes) and then Highway 62 to Bellevue…where you can stay at Potter’s Mill B&B (I was there years ago when it was a restaurant); the Old city Hall Gallery; and Bluff Lake Catfish Farm (a restaurant which began as a place where people could catch fish they caught nearby in two lakes.)

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