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On to France: Day One

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GETTING TO FRANCE—EARLY DAYS

Despite the worry and confusion we and others shared this past week over Ian’s path, when our home was still secure, we were able to proceed with a long-awaited trip to France. 

FIRST DAY HIGHLIGHT

After the flight from Detroit to Paris and the usual kinds of delays associated with lines for passport control and picking up a rental car, we were headed not to the city of Paris, but to Giverny.  We landed at about 8:00 am and were on our way in the car at 10:30.  It was about an hour’s drive to Giverny where we found a place to have lunch before checking in early at our B&B.  We’ve ended up in a beautiful spot!

THE ROAD TO GIVERNY

During this trip, we will be staying at a series of B&Bs, mostly in the countryside, until we end our trip with several days at a Paris hotel.  First stop is  to visit Monet’s House and Gardens.  Being jet lagged and it being foggy, then just completely overcast, we didn’t make any stops along the way.  The muted grayness of the sky highlighted the various shades of greenery along the way:  yellow greens, spring greens, warm greens, these occasionally interrupted by splashes of burnt sienna.  Even now and then a  vibrant yellow.  If I hadn’t been playing navigator with Waze, I would have liked to get a photo or two.

Giverny is a tourist destination, but even so, there didn’t initially seem to be a lot of options for lunch.  It no longer being summer, crowds are smaller.  But we happened upon Brasserie des Artistes, part of the Monet complex, and it was a very good choice.  

While it was too cold to eat on their terrace, the inside was most attractive.  The Chief Penguin had baked Camembert accompanied by toast, slices of salami and chorizo, tiny potatoes, and a few greens.  I ordered the chicken casserole in cider with seasonal vegetables.  The chicken was lovely, and the cider appropriate for Normandy, but the veggies were a bit of an overcooked mix.  Nonetheless, I ate most of it along with some superb French bread. For dessert, we shared a delectable tartine.

THE B&B

Front of La Reserve B&B

La Reserve is located just outside Giverny and is a lovely property, perfect Normandy.  The ochre stone house looks inviting and the extensive grounds are dotted with bounteous apple trees.  Metal sculptures  and found objects add interest and punctuate the space. And the afternoon light was spectacular.  I was really taken with the piles of apples under the trees and took many, too many, photos. 

Normandy apples waiting to be collected

We have a spacious room nicely appointed with windows overlooking the back yard. Our hosts have been most welcoming and have recommended a restaurant for this evening’s meal.  Since we are fading fast, we will go early.  Early in France being 7:00 pm. In the meantime, we’ll sit in the comfortable living room enjoying the view and a glass of tangy local cider and a slice of cake.

Tangy homemade cider

Note: Header photo of typical architecture in Giverny with fall color. All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Mexico City: Architecture & Food

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BARRAGAN’S CASA GILARDI

Today we were on our own with no tours. We did, however, have a late morning reservation to visit Casa Gilardi. Born in Guadalajara in 1902, Luis Barragan was a noted Mexican architect. He worked in a minimalist style and favored very bright colors. His studio is a small museum also in the city, and the last house he built in the late 1970’s, Casa Gilardi, is open for visitors by appointment. Real people live here and one of the sons of that family gave us a brief history of Barragan and the house.

Interior of Casa Gilardi
Red and blue walls next to pool of water


There are almost no furnishings or personal items on display; instead you focus on bright blue and red walls bordering a pool, a hallway that glows in yellow, and on the exterior walls painted an intense magenta and a deep purple. On the open air upper deck, the house envelops a jacaranda tree whose light purple blooms stood out against the magenta wall which is also a backdrop for three tall cacti. Inside is some warm wood flooring, a large leather sectional sofa in a living room and a small wood dining table for four, but that’s pretty much it for furniture. It was fascinating to watch the play of light and shadows on all the colored surfaces, but not a place I’d choose to live.

Outside veranda, Casa Gilardi

DINING OUT

We had lunch at a very popular seafood restaurant in the Roma section of the city. Following our usual pattern, we checked what time Contramar opened and when we noted noon, figured we could arrive about 12:30 for our 1:30 reservation. This way we could assuage our hunger (breakfast for us is always early) and be there ahead of the crowd. And by shortly after 1:00, the dining room was almost full!
The menu had seafood and fish in many forms from whole grilled fish to spicy shrimp soup to tacos of all sorts to seafood salads. We sampled the octopus salad (quite lovely), shrimp soup, the fried kingfish tacos, and their margaritas. All tasty. The Chief Penguin then ordered the traditional flan which he enjoyed. I’m not a fan of flans; to me, it’s of a piece with floating island, rice pudding, and tapioca, all of which I find too bland.

Octopus salad

We attempted to walk back to our hotel and went a few blocks only to discover that not only are all the museums closed on Mondays, but also the big Chapultepec park which is the most direct route to our hotel. Thus stymied, we called an Uber. Fortunately, there are a lot of Ubers in this city and we have now Ubered around four or five times. And, compared to cities like New York, the fares are cheap!

Later we took a walk in Lincoln Park, a small oasis of green with a well equipped children’s play area, and then, for a change of pace, had an early evening nibble at Lardo. This casual Italian restaurant serves lots of small plates plus a few entrees. Not being too hungry, we grazed on mixed olives and almonds, tasty stuffed zucchini blossoms (a rare delicacy), and a mini tomato pizza topped with a few capers and anchovies. Just enough to get us through the night.

Note: All photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Manhattan Viewing

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This blog post is all about seeing, and in Manhattan, there is so much to see–scenes of nature and water, famous art works, fabulous live theater, and even the occasional television program.   We had it all this week!

LIVE THEATER

Three Tall Women by Edward Albee (on Broadway)

Having the opportunity to see Glenda Jackson live on stage would have been reason enough to see this play.  I loved her performances in Sunday, Bloody Sunday, and as Elizabeth I in that early Masterpiece Theatre offering.  She then left the theater world for more than 20 years to serve in Parliament, only recently returning first to play King Lear (she always was an audacious actor) and then this role.

Jackson here is a crotchety, difficult, physically frail 91-year-old woman with a fulltime caregiver and a young lawyer.  These three women spar and verbally joust as A, the old woman, relives memories of her past.  Later we see that the three are the same woman at 26, 52, and 90+ years of age and, we hear how their experiences and their take on life shape what they become at each stage.  

It’s a powerful play about the ideals of youth, the disappointments along the way, marriage and infidelity, anger and bitterness, and the ravages of time and old age.  And it’s a superb production with a fabulous cast—Laurie Metcalf, of recent fame for her role as the mother in the film Lady Bird, and Alison Pill, a talented newcomer (to me)—join the inimitable and indomitable Glenda Jackson.  On a side note, I loved their purple and mauve dresses in the final scenes!

RETURN MUSEUM VISIT

It’s been some years since we last visited the Frick Collection and I’d forgotten how lovely an experience it is!  We began this visit by watching two videos, one on the museum’s collection of enamels (mildly interesting unless this is “your thing”), and the other, an introductory video about Henry Clay Frick, the man, and how he came to build this grand and glorious mansion.  It’s excellent and sets the stage nicely for viewing the art.

One room was built as a gallery and at 96 feet long and thirty-some feet wide, it’s an impressive space filled with oversize paintings and highly decorated furnishings.  In his collecting, Frick favored portraits and landscapes and there are several Turners and a number of Gainsboroughs, as well as works by Holbein, Van Dyke and Rembrandt.  He liked to pair paintings, individual portraits of a husband and wife either side by side or flanking another work or a fireplace. One example is the pairing by a fireplace of arch enemies Sir Thomas More and Oliver Cromwell, both painted by Holbein.

The soft green dining room  where Frick regularly hosted dinners for 26 (all men) is also pleasing, as is the room created solely for the purpose of displaying the 18thcentury Fragonard murals.

Except for in the Garden Court, no photography is allowed.  This enclosed space is serene and beautiful with marble benches and a fountain.  Perfect for when you need a break from all the marvelous art.

SMALL SCREEN

Unforgotten (Masterpiece Mystery).

This British detective series is thoughtful and not flashy.  Detective Chief Inspector Cassie Stuart and her team are tasked with determining the circumstances of death surrounding individuals whose bodies have been found unidentified and often forgotten.  Frequently, the death has occurred decades ago.  Cassie and Sunny (Sanjeev Bhaskar), her detective partner, must unearth family history, trace the individual’s travels and follow up in person with anyone and everyone with whom he might have been associated. If the death is suspicious, and indeed, they always are, then charges may be brought. 

Nicola Walker, the star, will be familiar to viewers of Last Tango in Halifax  while co-star Bhaskar was in Indian Summers.  Here Walker is the guv and the one with the responsibility for bringing a case to closure.  This is a series full of patient and methodical tracking and questioning as it delves into the psyches of both the deceased and his family.  I found it fascinating with the last episode extremely sensitive in its portrayal of the life-changing and lasting damage from sexual abuse.

Note:  Header photo view from Central Park and Garden Court photo ©JWFarrington.  Women photo from playbill.com and Unforgotten image from pbs.org.

At Sea: Cruising Pt.2

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IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC

Life on the ship continues to be most pleasant. While on board, there are lots of options for entertainment and enlightenment and more food and drink than one can imagine. If so inclined, you can play Mahjongg or bridge, learn to knit, participate in fitness activities, refine your computer skills, watch a movie, borrow a book or CD from the library, attend a lecture, or walk the promenade deck around the perimeter of the ship (this latter something I’m determined to do at least once!).

We have enjoyed the musical offerings throughout the various venues on the ship: from the all-female string quartet playing classical music, to the sextet of instrumentalists and vocalists who provide music for dancing, to the ship’s symphony who are part of the big “shows” in the theater. Last night we had fun at the rousing “Across the Water” show which presented dancers and singers performing pop and rock songs from Britain to the USA ending with a long string of my favorite Beatles tunes.

Lounges and quiet corners abound and it’s easy to find a comfortable chair with a view of the water where you can read or nap or just plain veg.

SYDNEY (Cape Breton Island)
The highlight of our stop in Sydney was “Spirit of the Fiddle,” a performance of Cape Breton music by three accomplished musicians. Two men and one woman on violin, guitar, and keyboard, who switched around as to who played what.

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It was a great introduction to a range of Celtic gigs, reels and other tunes with a bit of Scottish step dancing tossed in. This step dancing is closer to the floor without the high kicks of Riverdance, but still requires fleet and intricate footwork. Seating was cabaret style and we sampled Scottish oat cakes, each plate on the tables anchored by a square of a different tartan. Cape Breton Island is known for its music and there is a 55 foot high all metal fiddle sculpture in front of the cruise pavilion.
Later in the day, we walked around this small town, population 30,000. It reminded me of upstate NY as we wandered the quiet streets, checked out the shopping (would you believe I bought a pair of my favorite brand of shoes?), and got briefed on some local history from the guide at the historic Anglican church, built as a garrison chapel. Our last stop was the Jost House where our gray-haired colorful guide amused us with quips and stories midst the history. Sydney had a long history of coal mining followed by the steel industry. Both are now long gone and the town counts on these visits from cruise ships.

CHARLOTTETOWN (Prince Edward Island)
Our stops in port are brief. Most of our cruising is done at night and hence, we arrive in port around 8:00 am and then depart generally around 5:00 pm. We arrived in the port at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, just before 8:00 and the first excursions left right after that. Since I had signed us up for one of these, that meant we had to get up and get moving a bit earlier and at a less leisurely pace than we prefer.

The CP ended up not going, but I did the island drive and stop at Anne of Green Gables Heritage Center. Very well worth it! Charlottetown itself is pretty and charming with a strictly enforced prohibition on changing the facades of any building and the frame houses are all neatly kept and painted in a variety of handsome colors. There are no billboards and no landfills (everything is either recycled or burned). I was pleased to see autumn colors, finally!

Leaving the town, we drove by the malls and big box stores (yes, there’s even a Walmart), noted the many, many oyster beds in the shallows, stopped to see a few moored lobster boats, and then were able to tromp down to the sandy beach. Soil here is either red sandstone or red shale which tinges the ocean water a reddish brown near the shore. It was cold and very blustery so we quickly trod down the sandy path, looked at the waves and then rapidly retreated. After snapping the requisite photos of red dunes and rolling water!

We then headed to the town of Cavendish, site of the Green Gables center, a state or national park. The short film was a good introduction and included quotes from Lucy Maud Montgomery. Montgomery lived in Cavendish and it and this house were used in her series of novels about a young orphan girl named Anne Shirley, the first of which was published in 1908. Like many young girls, I loved and revered these books. They have since been translated into more than 15 languages.

We had time to tour the house, furnished as it was described in the books, and to get glimpses of the several walking and hiking trails also in the park before purchasing some Anne books or memorabilia in the gift shop.