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
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/
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.
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…
Filed under London
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.)
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.
Filed under France, Uncategorized
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.)
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.)
Filed under France
Dordogne again: takemewithyou
The small oil paintings we bought in Sarlat four years ago now hang on the wall in our kitchen and lo and behold, the name of the artist and the address of her studio are on the back of the paintings. So for my brother and his wife, when in Sarlat I hope you can find her: Her name is S. (Sophie) Noellet and her studio is at 6 rue Fenelon, which as I recall is one of the streets where a lot of artists’ studios are.
Actually, I found Sophie’s website – of course – and looks like she’s moved her studio to 4-6, rue Albéric Cahuet (in the center of town if my french translation is right.)
Here’s one of her paintings that’s akin to the veggie paintings we have http://www.sophienoellet.com/peintures.php
More on the Dordogne tomorrow.
Filed under France
Paris – takemewithyou
Everyone seems to be going to France. Now my friends Art and Nell are heading to Paris – so here’s some restaurant and hotel and neighborhood suggestions…. Be sure to book the restaurants well in advance. It certainly was necessary when we were last in Paris four years ago.
We stayed at the Hotel du Palais Bourbon, 49 rue de Bourgogne – small comfortable affordable hotel, good location on the Left Bank near the Rodin Museum.
As for restaurants, here are two that my dear friend Johnny Apple suggested for us – L’Epi Dupin, a small gourmet place (www.zagat.com/Verticals/PropertyDetails.aspx?VID=8&R=69318); and La Coupole, a famous old bustling art deco brassiere (great steak tartar, oysters and other seafood on ice. It’s a huge place and we had a great table right in the middle of the crowded dining room where the waiters prepare the steak tartar with great flourish). Looks like you can book online at http://www.lacoupoleparis.com.
As far as what to see/do it’s good to hit some of the tourist hotspots during your first trip to Paris. Visit the Musee d’Orsay – home of my favorite painting by Manet i — “Olympia” ; Notre Dame; the Tuileries et. al.
My favorite thing is to to pick a neighborhood and walk – the Left Bank (where the hotel is); the Isle St. Louis (a small village on an island in the middle of Paris, with great ice cream at Berthillon), Montmartre and the Marais, a neighborhood we hadn’t explored much before our last trip. The Marais has a fantastic free museum of Paris history (Carnavalet Museum)and a Jewish neighborhood complete with delis and synagogues. Sort of like a French version of NYC’s lower east side. Also well worth a visit are: Victor Hugo’s house and the lovely Place des Vosges .
In the Bastille area, we went to a great farmers market – the Bastille Market, an indoor and outdoor place loaded with cheese, tapenade, bread, pastries. Next time, I’ll use some of those bikes now available on Parisien streets. see: http://www.parisdigest.com/museums/museecarnavalet.htm
On the posh right bank, do not miss La duree Royale, at 16 rue Royale, a 19th century tea salon, one of the prettiest places to each some of the world’s best macaroons. It always reminds me of my mom, who first took me there in,um, 1978 or so.
Filed under France, Uncategorized
TakeBetsywithyou 