You Can't Go Back Again - Or Can You?

Thomas Wolfe once wrote a story about an author who returned home only to find that everyone was angry with him for writing about them. Sometimes, I have a similar issue with my family who can also resent my using them as props for my stories. For example, my daughter once told the head of the English department of a prospective secondary school that I shamelessly exploited her on my website. Needless to say, even though we clarified what was meant by “exploited”, she’s not going to that school.

Like Thomas Wolfe, Jeff and I recently had the opportunity to return to our old stomping grounds of Frankfurt, Germany, where we lived in both the late 70’s and early 90’s. Thinking about both Thomas Wolfe and my daughter, I have asked myself whether it is a good idea to write about Frankfurt. I still have many friends there and I like going back.

The problem is fundamentally this; Frankfurt is not a town for tourists or exciting travel writing. Having lived there twice, I feel entitled to say this. Plenty of people do go to Frankfurt, mind you, for trade shows and exhibitions, for finance and commerce and to use the excellent airport. But from the perspective of travel destinations, Frankfurt is nowhere. No one goes to Frankfurt, as they do to London, Paris or Venice, because they have always dreamed of seeing it. People go to Frankfurt to do something else. But, hey, that’s not necessarily bad.

When a city is not a travel destination, then it is not overrun with people who don’t know where they are going, clog up the sidewalks staring at maps, don’t have the right change for the bus, aren’t in a hurry and generally get in the way of the people who live there. When a city is a commercial destination but not a travel destination, then the amenities such as museums, parks, historic houses and shops tend to be less crowded, at least during the working week. And when a city is not a travel destination, the people who live there are happy to see you when you visit. They know you are not going for the sights and hope to sleep for free. In short, they know your interest in visiting them is genuine.

When we lived in Frankfurt, I thought it was the most boring city in the world but after wandering around Frankfurt for a day during our recent visit, I have developed new respect for places that are not popular travel destinations. I was struck by what a pleasant and unproblematic time we had. To begin with, driving was easy and parking was plentiful. Shops on the short but chic Goethestrasse were elegant and inviting and I was happy to restock my Gmundner Austrian tableware at Lorey on the Schillerstrasse which has been selling wonderful dining room and kitchen accessories and equipment since 1796. The museums along the Main River, particularly the Stadel, are impressive and both the Jewish Museum and Goethe House and Museum offer authentic glimpses into Frankfurt’s rich historic past.

As for eating and sleeping, the options are also more interesting than you might expect. Popping into the Kleine Markt Halle (Frankfurt’s indoor market for foodies) or snacking on the Fressgass ( roughly translated as “Munching Street” but formally known as the Grosse Bockenheimer Strasse) with its luxurious delicatessens and fashionable cafes is good fun. If you are looking for a blow-out meal, I would head for Erno’s Bistro on the Liebigstrasse which was the first restaurant in Frankfurt to be awarded a Michelin star. It is a cramped but lively place with really outstanding food at really outstanding prices. For a taste of traditional Frankfurt that won’t break the bank, try Wagners or Zum Gmalten Haus in Sachsenhausen, boths typical “apple wine taverns” with communal tables and huge portions. If I were you, I’d skip the apple wine. If you want to stay at a fine old European hotel, try the Frankfurter Hof built by the hotel tycoon Cesar Ritz, or the Hessischer Hof with its fabulous collection of Sevres porcelain which was a wedding present from Napoleon to Princess Alix when she married the Russian Tsar.

After spending a day in Frankfurt, I am all for the concept of visiting non touristy destinations. Of course, the Frankfurt Tourist Board will disagree with my assessment and try to sell you on the fact that “Mainhattan”, as they rather ridiculously call it, is an unmissable metropolis. That may be true if you are a banker, a chemist or a bookseller but if you are a tourist, rest assured that you can miss Frankfurt. Still, if you would like to see a pleasant and efficient German city which punches above its weight culturally, with good hotels, restaurants and shopping and with one of the best airports in Europe, Frankfurt has a lot to offer. If you have a long layover at the airport, head into town for a few hours and you won’t regret it. Thomas Wolfe be damned, in the case of Frankfurt, you can (and should) go back.

Useful Addresses

Museums

Stadel Museum
Durer Str. 2
Tel: 069 605098 200
Closed Mondays

Jewish Museum
Untermainkai 14/15
Tel: 069 21235000
Closed Mondays

Goethe House and Museum
Grosser Hirschgraben 23-25
Tel: 069 138 800
Open daily

Restaurants

Erno’s Bistro
Liebigstrasse 15
Tel: 069 72 1997
Closed Saturday & Sunday

Wagner
Schwiezerstrasse 71
Tel: 069 61 25 65

Zum Gmalten Haus
Schweizerstrasse 67
Tel: 069 614559
Closed Monday

Hotels

Franfurter Hof
Am Kaiserplatz
Tel: 069 21502
Fax: 069 215900

Hessicher Hof
Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage 4-
Tel: 069 75 400
Fax: 069 75 402924

Time for Coffee and a Cathedral

Having been done in by delicacies and now bankrupt, we decided not to have breakfast at L’Assiette Champenoise, but rather, to make our way to downtown Reims, figuring that we had time for coffee and the cathedral before it was time to head for Germany.

Following our preference for family run establishments, we took our coffee on the Place Myron-Herrick, across from the law courts and near the cathedral, at the fab and famous Café du Palais, which has been run by various members of the same family since 1930. With a spectacular art deco stained glass ceiling and crammed full of objects d’art both fanciful and serious, this bar/café/ brasserie is big fun. Frequented by locals and tourists alike, and with a young staff eager to please, this is one of the best cafes I’ve been to in a long, long time, chock full of experiences. When we asked for a croissant and none was available, someone was sent to the bakery next door to fetch one. When we struck up a conversation with an English couple en route to the Netherlands, they invited us to visit them in the South of France. When Jeff translated the election headlines from the communist newspaper, two older ladies sitting near us “tut-tutted” and shook their heads in displeasure. Quelle surprise - this was an authentic café of the old school. We were charmed. Rumour has it the food’s good too.

Afterwards we wandered over to the Notre-Dame de Reims Cathedral begun in 1211 and site of 25 coronations of Kings of France. If Café du Palais is a quintessential café, the cathedral is a stunning example of high gothic with awe inspiring scale, spectacular statuary, superb windows (including lovely ones by Chagall) and a heroic statue of Joan of Arc who had been present in the cathedral for the coronation of a reluctant Charles VII. We spent about 45 minutes wandering around, but you could easily spend longer and even though this is a World Heritage site (there are four monuments in Reims listed by UNESCO), we had the place virtually to ourselves.

As we got back into our car (by the way, driving and parking in Reims is dead easy), I thought that when one adds up all the attractions within walking distance of central Reims: the champagne houses such as Piper Heidsick, and Taittinger, the churches and museums and the Café du Palais, we really needed to consider coming back for a longer visit.

With the commencement of train service on the TGV Est in June, visitors in Paris can reach Reims in 45 minutes, down from 1 1/2 hours and I have seen promotional fares through August for as low as €11 each way which would make Reims a great day trip from the City of Light. In any event, to go for only a coffee and a cathedral is way too short. We’ll be back.

Café du Palais
14, Place Myron-Herrick
51100 Reims
Tel: 03 26 47 5254
Fax: 03 26 47 93 77
www.cafedupalais.fr

L'Assiette Champenoise = Motorway Magic

I am often asked if and when I would return to the United States to live and I invariably respond with Truman Capote’s fine remark that “all Southerners go home if only in a box”. But now that I think about it, two things in the US have to change before I would return: 1) the administration and 2) the food and hotels located off American highways.

As for the administration, regime change may be in the air but what in God’s name is to be done about sleeping and eating off America’s highways. By contrast, I’ve written a lot about the ability to fall off the highways of Europe and into unique hotels and great meals. This week, on our drive from London to Frankfurt, Germany for a very jolly birthday party, we stopped in France for the night at L’Assiette Champenoise, which is a fabulous restaurant (it has 2 Michelin stars) with beds.

Located a few minutes off of both the A4 (east/west) and A26 (north/south) highways and a few minutes outside of Reims in the Champagne region, this is a supremely convenient stopping point for travellers. Like La Villa Duflot in Perpignan, L’Assiette Champenoise sits in a beautiful four acre park hard up against an unattractive commercial zone which you do not notice because of the dense foliage and with a handsome turn-of-the-century chateau at the heart of the property; it sets the right tone for a grand night out. The hotel attached to the restaurant is rated four stars but that is certainly a stretch. The rooms, while charmingly decorated, have seen better days and at €162 for a room with a balcony, are hardly bargains. But still, this is a family run establishment and is certainly more interesting and authentic than any high end chain. But the real reason to sleep at L’Assiette Champenoise is that after dinner, you will have eaten and drunk way too much to go anywhere.

From the moment you sip your aperitif either out on the terrace or in the swanky bar, you know you are in for a very French, very serious gastronomic experience. This sense of the grand occasion grows as one enters the dining room where generous proportions and elegant table placement make every table seem important and dinner is treated as a theatrical event.

Following careful study, Jeff and I settled on one of the two menus on offer as we wanted to experience a meal as the chef, in this case the young, handsome and charismatic Arnaud Lallement, had conceived it. It being spring, our dinner began with three equisite treatments of petit pois which made me think again about the possibilities of this vegetable followed by a fabulous piece of St Pierre fish from Brittany with a chorizo sauce and mashed potatoes followed by pigeon “en croute” with spinach and foie gras, a cheese course and a blow-out dessert of either chocolate based or fruit based concoctions. An absolutely charming addition is Lallement’s nostalgic inclusion of all kinds of treats from one’s childhood with the dessert course including miniature cotton candy sticks, cannelles and lolli-pops. To go with all of this, we began with Sancerre “Marnier Lapostolle 2004” followed by a red wine of the region, a Gosset Ambonnay. This being a Michelin 2 star, one would expect excellent service and that’s what we found. Like a well trained orchestra, everything was delivered and presented perfectly. After the invasion in London of well meaning but sadly ignorant Eastern European waiting staff, it was a pleasure to watch these consummate professional at work.

All in all, it was one heck of a dinner considering our proximity to one of France’s major motorways. Yes, we spent a fortune. Dinner for two ran us a wopping €374 and one could criticise the food for being both a touch too elaborate and too much. But if I were to rate the overall experience of L’Assiette Champenoise, it was, in a word, wonderful. Lallement is a supremely talented chef (he describes himself as progressive and passionate), the dining room is gorgeous and we were blissfully happy to collapse afterwards into a very comfortable bed, as Jeff put it “completely done in by delicacies”.


L’Assiette Champenoise
Chateau de la Muire
40, Avenue Paul-Vaillant Couturier
51430 Tinqueux (Reims)
Tel: 03 26 84 64 64
Fax: 03 26 04 15 69
http://www.assiettechampenoise.com/

Fight Airline Abuse

Have you ever heard of EC Regulation 261/2004? Did you know that as an European air passenger you have rights, regardless of your nationality or the cost of your ticket? In place since February 17, 2005, I had never heard of EC Regulation 261/2004 until my sister showed up in London with €1,200 cash in her pocket after being bumped off an Alitalia flight from Rome with her children. Come to think of it, there is nothing in my recent experience with air travel which has given me any indication that passengers had any rights. This looked interesting.

Bearing in mind that I am pretty useless in both following regulations and explaining them, here is what I have found out about EC Reg. 261/2004

The regulation applies to any passenger (regardless of nationality) on any scheduled and non-scheduled (charter) flight within the EU and any flight into the EU on an EU carrier (For example, British Airways from New York to London).


If you meet the above criteria and have met your responsibilities as a passenger (holding a valid ticket, arriving on time etc.) and your flight is cancelled, seriously delayed or you are denied boarding, there is a standard set of rules for how the airline must treat you, no matter how little you paid for your ticket.


Depending on the circumstances, the airlines are obligated to provide passengers with assistance such as meals, accommodations and communication facilities, offer re-routing and refunds, pay compensation of up to €600 per passenger and proactively inform passengers of their rights under the Regulation.

Of course, there is wording in the Regulation about “circumstances beyond their control” which the airlines can use to try to get out from underneath the obligation to pay you the money but from what I was reading, current enforcement of this regulation often favours the passenger.

So here is my point. The next time you experience a cancellation, delay or are denied boarding, start telling the airline that under EU Reg. 261/2004 you are due assistance and compensation. Ask to see the information where they proactively inform you of your rights under the Regulation. If they can't or won't produce it, they are already non-compliant. If they don’t “get it”, start talking about reporting the incident to a National Enforcement Authority such as the Air Transportation Council in the UK. Ask to talk to a manager and start talking about sanctions for non-compliance. This is no panacea for the chaos that is air travel these days, but if more of us knew our rights and were prepared to fight for them, it would be a start.



Useful information on EC Reg 261-2004 and many other issues related to air travel can be found at the Air Transportation Council website http://www.caa.co.uk/.



Click here for a copy of EC Reg. 261-2004

Dinner at Stephensons

We're off to North Carolina to eat some Bar B Q. In case you can join us, our flight lands at 4:10, we're taking hand luggage so I reckon we will make Stephensons by 6:00. Until then.

Stephensons
Highway 50 North
McGee's Crossroads
NC
910 894 4530

Syon Park

My eldest son set me a challenge for his recent trip to London. He was travelling with his “partner” (don’t like the moniker but can’t think of anything better) and wanted to show her one of the great country houses of England. The challenge consisted of the fact that we only had an afternoon to devote to the visit.

It’s not that we don’t have great houses close to London, such as Osterley, Kenwood, Chiswick or Ham. They may be lovingly maintained by worthy organisations such as the National Trust and English Heritage, but if you are only going to visit one great house, it’s all the better if the family is still wealthy, powerful and in residence. The furniture and furnishings are the “real deal”. The photographs of the weddings, the christenings, the Christmas celebrations and the inevitable one of the family with the Queen, make the experience richer and more unique, not to mention more voyeuristic. If the house can claim to have been eye witness to important moments in British history, better still. After mulling over our options, I emailed Lee to say we should definitely go to Syon Park

Located 10 miles from Central London, Syon Park has been in the possession of the Percy family, the Earls and Dukes of Northumberland, for more than 400 years. Before that, part of the house had been an Abbey which, following the Dissolution, became a Crown property. The house is full of royal connections. In Tudor times, Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII spent a miserable Christmas there shortly before her execution and Lady Jane Grey was married and resided at Syon until she left for the Tower of London to begin her nine day reign. The corpse of Henry VIII lay in state in the Chapel on its way from Westminster to Windsor, but the decomposing body exploded in its coffin, and dogs were found licking the dripping remains, which was taken as a sign of retribution for Henry’s dissolution of the Abbey.

But the story of Syon Park is first and foremost the story of the Percy family. Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland, acquired Syon through marriage in 1594. From a high point when he entertained King James I at Syon, to a turn of fortune which saw him spend 15 years in the Tower of London for alleged complicity in the Gun Powder Plot, Percy led a colourful and fascinating life. He had his ear pierced while campaigning in the Low Countries and built a bowling alley while holed up in the Tower with prodigious amounts of wine and tobacco and 20 servants.

Over the centuries, the titles, lands and vast fortune of the family have thrust its members to the forefront of the nobility and national affairs, and an afternoon at Syon Park gives visitors the opportunity to experience 400 years of British history through the prism of one of its most important families. For visitors more interested in the decorative arts and architecture, Syon Park also excels. There are stunning Robert Adam’s interiors, arguably his greatest, original Spitalfields silk furnishings, State bedrooms used by Princess Victoria and her mother the Duchess of Kent and a remarkable collection of paintings, porcelain and furniture. An excellent audio guide which is included in the price of admission really helps to make the house and its inhabitants come to life.

Film fans will recognise the settings from such movies as “The Madness of King George”, “Gosford Park” and “The Golden Bowl”. The Gardens and surrounding parklands provide wonderful opportunities for long walks which feel surprisingly rural given one’s proximity to London. For avid horticulturists, there are spectacular greenhouses, Capability Brown landscaping and garden elements from several historic periods. There are lots of attractions for children on the property, including a huge Indoor Action Playground, a Butterfly House and an Aquatic Experience although each attraction carries an extra charge and the costs do add up.

Still, we ended up having a wonderful time at Syon Park. The short commute, lovely rural setting, rich history, original decorations and furnishings, and well thought out audio guide all contributed to a first class experience at one of England’s premier grand houses. If you only have a few hours and an itch to see a stately home, you will be well served by heading to Syon Park.

Syon Park
Brentford, Middlesex TW8 8JF
Tel: 020 8560 0882
Fax: 020 8568 0936
Email:info@syonpark.co.uk
www.syonpark.com

Syon House:

Open from 21 March to 31st October 2007 inclusive - Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays & Bank Holiday Mondays (also Good Friday and Easter Saturday) - 11.00 to 17.00 hours (last entry 16.15 hours)

Gardens:
March to October 2007 open daily - 10.30 to 17.00 hours (or dusk if earlier)
November 2007 to February 2008 weekends & New Year's Day only - 10.30 to 16.00 hours

By Public Transportation: Take the District Line to Gunnersbury and Bus 237 or 267 to Brentlea Gate. The pedestrian entrance is 50 yards away.


Photo courtesy of the Syon House website

More Medical Museums

Museums are boring. Boring. BORING.

How many times have I heard that? How often have I countered with, “But this museum is great … different … you’ll like it … trust me.”

Well, here I go again.

London’s twenty-one Health and Medicine museums are great, different, you’ll like them, trust me. I never would have thought it. Math and Science are not my thing, but the doubleganger and I had such a blast the last time we visited medical museums, we thought we would have another go. And so, we visited two more this week. We saw an exhibit on enemas, an original copy of Handel’s Messiah, tons of tumours, a Holbein, some syphilitic brains, some Hogarths, the skeleton of an Irish giant and films of modern keyhole surgery. Along the way, we encountered exhibits covering philanthropy, anatomy, biology, musicology, pathology, architecture, surgery, and art history. We saw a heart wrenching collection of mothers’ tokens left with abandoned babies (think of Oliver Twist) and a collection of medical specimens that is a virtual Noah’s Ark of our insides. We had a fine, entertaining day. In fact, we hadn’t had this much fun since the last time we did a tour of London’s medical museums.

The Foundling Museum

Our first port of call was the Foundling Museum on Brunswick Square in Bloomsbury on the former site of the Foundling Hospital, Britain’s first home for abandoned children. Back in the 1720’s, when babies littered the streets of London, Thomas Coram, a childless ship’s captain decided to do something about it and began a tireless campaign to establish a home for abandoned children. The techniques pioneered by Coram and the Foundling Hospital have become the playbook of modern philanthropy. George Frideric Handel performed fund raising concerts in the Chapel regularly (think of Live Aid) and William Hogarth persuaded the great artists of the day to donate work to the cause which could be viewed by the fashionable and wealthy who had come to inspect the children. In fact, it became so fashionable to attend fund raising events at the Hospital that at one Ladies Breakfast, the windows had to be nailed shut to prevent the ladies from sneaking in.

There are three reasons to visit this museum. First, it has a small but very good art collection with wonderful Hogarths, Gainsboroughs and Reynolds combined with several spectacular interiors from the original Hospital. Second, there is a strong collection of Handel memorabilia including an original copy of Handel’s Messiah which he left to the Hospital in his will. Most importantly, the exhibition “Coram’s Children” which focuses on the lives of the orphans who passed through the Hospital will touch your heart: the little bits of ribbon, jewellery and coins left by the mothers but never given to the children, the Infirmary Book entry “in a dying condition”, the orphans who sent back photos of themselves to the Hospital because it was the only family they ever knew. “Coram’s Children” is powerful social history, simultaneously depressing and uplifting and a very good thing for today’s children to see. The novel, The Coram Boy, by Jamila Gavin also brings the story to life for young readers (Eloise loved it) as well as the stage adaptation which has had two sell out runs at the National Theatre.

The Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons

From the Foundling Museum we walked over to Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London’s largest square and home to one of four surviving Inns of Court as well as the Sir John Soanes Museum and the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.

The Hunterian Museum began as the private collection of the surgeon John Hunter (1728-1793) and was originally displayed in a private museum in Hunter’s house on Leicester Square. Today you enter the museum through the imposing portico of the Royal College of Surgeons where you are given a badge and directed to head up the stairs. We did not, choosing instead to wander around the ground floor where we came across Holbein’s painting of Henry VIII giving the Charter to the Barber-Surgeons. We also came across a weirdly entertaining exhibit on enemas and a bronze and marble Victorian monument holding the remains of Dr and Mrs Percy Macloghlin (well, no one knows for sure whose ashes are in there as Mrs Macloghlin is rumoured to have had an affair with the sculptor which may have affected her original intent).

After the Holbein, the enemas and the Macloghlins, we headed upstairs to the Hunterian. Wow, what an entrance, which consists of a dazzling atrium filled with floor to ceiling glass display cases holding over 3,000 specimens of animal and human anatomy and pathology. Needless to say, the pathological peculiarities were the most interesting, showing the anatomical impact of such diseases as tuberculosis, rabies, typhus and syphilis. Tumours, hernias, amputated stumps, two tailed lizards and Egyptian mummies all vied for our attention. Along with the specimens, and some stomach turning films of modern surgery, there is a small but worthwhile collection of paintings which include two terrific Stubbs depictions of a white rhino and a yak as well as engaging portraits of a perfectly formed aristocratic Polish dwarf and Chang and Eng, the co-joined twins from Siam.

Afterwards, being short on time, we retired to a convenient but uninteresting place for something to eat and a quick review of the day. We both agreed that once again, medical museums had exceeded our expectations offering so much more than you would think given that the topic is related to “boring” old science (my words, not Kate’s) but this is healthcare in its widest sense, encompassing a fascinating range of subjects. So fascinating, in fact, that we even agreed to go on with our romp through London’s medical museums. Four down, seventeen to go. Watch this space.

Useful Addresses

Foundling Museum
40 Brunswick Square
London WC1N 1AZ
Tel: 0207 841 3600
enquiries@foundlingmuseum.org.uk

Open Tuesday to Saturday 10:00-6:00, Sunday 12:00-6:00
Tube: Russell Square

Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons
35-43 Lincoln’s Inn Fields
London WC2A 3PE
Tel: 0207 869 6560
museums@rcseng.ac.uk
Open Tuesday to Saturday 10:00-5:00
Closed public holidays and College closure days
Tube: Holborn

Photo of painting of Captain Coram by William Hogarth