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the Habsburgs make the Khardasians look like amateurs ;)

If you have travelled in Europe, you have no doubt encountered remnants of the House of Habsburg.  It was one of the most important royal houses in Europe and the throne of the Holy Roman Empire was occupied by the House of Habsburg from 1438 until 1740.  Like all the royals, they made marriage for alliance and power, not love, so they controlled most of Europe until the late 18th century.  They are especially in evidence in middle Europe.

That is why it should not have been such a surprise to find a lot of German influence in Peles Castle.  The building of the castle began in 1873 under Viennese architect Wilhem Doferer and continued in 1876 under his assistant.  Work was abandoned during the war and the castle wasn’t completed until 1883.  It was built for King Carol I, who became the first king of an independent Romania.  The general style is German Renaissance but, like most buildings in Romania, it is a magpie construction that includes Italian Renaissance, Gothic, German Baroque and French Rococo.

http://pelescastle.blogspot.ca/

It is situated in the gorgeous Carpathian Mountains near Sinaia.  It is not as over-the-top as Versailles but it is a very impressive building in a spectacular setting and well worth the visit.

I would also highly recommend the hotel I stayed at in Bucharest.  It’s the K+K Hotel Elisabeta.  It’s in a great location close to the Old Town, the city centre and the metro.  The staff and service is outstanding.  It has an exceptional breakfast.  One of the other great perks was that they organized tours for me so I just had to show up.  Of course, that also meant I was already scheduled to go on a gigantic tour of the Romanian countryside even though I had only had a couple of hours of sleep.  There are a lot of mountains and trees – I did sleep through some of the scenery 🙂

http://www.kkhotels.com/en/hotel-elisabeta

I had a very friendly driver named Marco who was a James Blunt fan.  American media has taken over the entire world but the Brits still hold their own when it comes to music.  It was a big day but very worthwhile.  First, we had to get out of Bucharest.  Our first official stop was the Sinaia Monastery.  There was an Orthodox Church with a separate bell tower.  Like Poland, church is important in Romania, but the vast majority are not Roman Catholic but, rather, Eastern Orthodox.

http://www.welcometoromania.ro/Sinaia/Sinaia_Manastirea_e.htm

byzantine magic

byzantine magic

The monastery and church were first built in 1695 to commemorate a religious pilgrimage to Mount Sinai made by Mikhail Cantacuzino. The church is old Orthodox so there is no organ and no seats.

We then headed to the main attraction for the day, Peles Castle.  We actually also saw Bran Castle that day, so, that statement might seem surprising but Peles Castle is absolutely the star.

Romania is still fairly new at the tourism game – and capitalism’s penchant that the customer is always right – so the organization part was a total gong show.  Marco got my ticket organized and put me in the right place but then I was on my own.  There was a long wait as the room filled with a large crowd of Romanian speakers.  I had understood I was joining an English tour but they forced me in with the Romanians.  I think they likely enjoyed the tour.  Our guide was a mumbling robot with a Romanian accent, so technically things were repeated in English but I only managed to understand random

worth the hassle ;)

worth the hassle 😉

sentences.

Nevertheless, the place was fascinating.  Full of wood, crystal and weapons!  The wood carving was especially over the top, gorgeous and ornate.  No surface was left without ornamentation.  There was beautiful stained glass and many chandeliers.  It was tough to photograph with all the dark, heavy wood and shining, glittering objects.

There are also lovely gardens and it was a perfect blue sky day so it was a spectacular sight.

would fit right in at disneyland :)

would fit right in at disneyland 🙂

From the castle, we headed on to Brasov.  It started medieval but added on some gothic, baroque and renaissance architecture, making it another super cute town that looks as though Disney came to town with some pixie dust.  I only had a fleeting visit but you can take the train from Bucharest and spend more time.  I did get to check out the Black Church, the largest gothic church in Romania, so named due to the damage sustained from the Great Fire of 1689.

http://romaniatourism.com/brasov.html

The city was at the intersection of the trade routes linking the Ottoman Empire to western Europe and allowed pre-Communist Saxon merchants to make fortunes and meddle in politics.  Once you have some money, you need a gated community to keep out the riff-raff so some serious city walls were erected along with several towers maintained by the different craft guilds, as was the real estate development custom in medieval times.

After lunch, we strolled through the town square (full of completely adorable buildings just dying to be photographed) and then took a walk around the remains of the city walls.  Marco convinced me I should climb to the top of one of the towers to get a view over the town.  It was a serious workout and the view was a bit hazy but it was good exercise 🙂  Of course, I have climbed to the top of a lot of towers in Europe and seen a lot of terracotta roofs but – if you haven’t – you may be more impressed…

The terracotta roofs of Brasov may have been underwhelming but the other sights were anything but and – not only should you check out Romania while it is still under the radar – you should get out of Bucharest and see the bucolic countryside.  You can always pretend to be a Habsburg checking out your territory 😉  They apparently died out due to in-breeding… there is a mini-series here…

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travel stories

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my date with dracula ;)

Be gentle with the Romanians when you start talking about Dracula.  Evidence suggests Vlad was really just a man of his times.  Gruesome torture was kind of the standard in the 15th century. He spent his adolescence as a hostage in the Ottoman Empire court of Sultan Murad II to keep his father, Vlad II Dracul, in line and allow him to rule Walachia in favour of the Ottomans and neglect the Hungarian court.  Not exactly the ideal way to spend your teenage years.  Although he was like a prince, so he was educated rather than beaten.  The 1% has always been with us.  They used to be princes rather than billionaires.

And we’ve always been tribal.  Luckily, some parts of the world are making tribes get along better and not feel so compelled to fight each other over turf but that lesson took at least five hundred more years in the part of the world into which Vlad III was born.  Vlad III’s father was vested into the Order of the Dragon, a fellowship of knights sworn to defend Christianity against the competing choices, especially the conquering Ottoman Empire.  As part of this ritual, he was given the epithet Dracul or dragon by the Holy Roman Emperor.

Dracula’s dad was the Voivode of Transylvania, which meant he wasn’t the king.  The king was in Hungary – but he was the most powerful person in Transylvania.  Transylvania is sexy 🙂 but, at the time, there were two other regions in Romania – Walachia and Moldova.  Despite Transylvania being associated with Romania, at the time it belonged to the kingdom of Hungary.  Walachia was the rebel state.  Dracula’s grandfather (Mircea I) was the ruler of Walachia but Dracula’s dad was the illegitimate son he sent to the Hungarian court, which was how he got put in charge of Transylvania.

While Dracula (son of Dracul) gets all the attention thanks to Bram Stoker, his family tree would make an excellent telenovela 😉  His grandfather Mircea the Elder was a good guy apparently.  Mircea’s dad was the Voivode of Walachia but he defected and won against the Hungarian crown, creating the first real Romanian state.  You should look him up on Wikipedia.  The Republican presidential candidates might want to do the same 🙂  Mircea was a true leader who brought peace, prosperity and progress to his people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mircea_I_of_Wallachia

not too scary in bright sunshine :)

not too scary in bright sunshine 🙂

That’s why you need to put down your copy of Dracula for a minute and learn a bit about Romanian history.  To the Romanians, Mircea the Elder is like Thomas Jefferson or Winston Churchill… and, if you check, Mircea might have the better morals… The dude you think of as Dracula thanks to an Irishman who never set foot in Romania is the grandson of a founding father.  This was the 15th century.  The printing press was just being developed.  Factual information was hard to come by so a lot of the Dracula stuff may be legend rather than reality.

That’s the point of fiction.  Why let the truth get in the way of a great narrative 😉  What’s not clear is whether Vlad III was more blood-thirsty than his compatriots in a century that included the Spanish Inquisition.  What is clear is that he had a tough upbringing and he worked tirelessly trying to keep Walachia free from the Ottoman Empire, so, be sensitive.  He is a kind of folk hero too.  It’s possible he used some of the drastic tactics because he had a small army and his grandfather had used guerilla warfare against the Ottoman Empire to keep the region stable and prosperous in a time when that was hardly the norm.  Remember, Thomas Jefferson owned slaves.  Power and heroism are tough to reconcile.

While you should be sensitive in your chat about Dracula or Vlad while you are in Romania, by all means, go and see Bran Castle!  The Romanians will forgive you.  Bram’s fantasy was good for their economy 😉

the gorgeous romanian countryside

the gorgeous romanian countryside

Bran Castle itself is a little underwhelming but the countryside of the Carpathian Mountains is gorgeous and well worth the journey.  Be prepared to

you will not be facing dracula alone!

you will not be facing dracula alone!

queue and it will be tough to get a photo without heads in it.  As is no doubt obvious, I enjoyed the history more than the castle itself.  There is more history to learn too.  Bran Castle was used by the royal family of Romania, expropriated by the Communists and then returned to one of the Habsburg clan (even more ubiquitous than the Khardasians).

Home

There are other Dracula sites in Romania as well if you are a fan of Bram Stoker.  It would appear that he wrote it more based on the mythology and superstitions that arose from living in a densely forested and hostile environment back in the days before we started to conquer nature and see how fast we could make species extinct like it was some kind of demented video game.  So, be open-minded about Vlad the Impaler, but you need to admire Bram Stoker.  The book was published in 1897 and has never been out of print.  He was born in the wrong decade… he coulda been a billionaire…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker

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let’s get this party started ;)

Right now I am reading a book I bought when I ran out of reading material in Prague.  It’s called Revolution 1989 The Fall of the Soviet Empire by Victor Sebestyen.  I highly recommend it.  I am fascinated by history in general but having been in Berlin in November 1989 makes the events described in this book especially poignant.  And it felt like something I should start reading in Prague…

I am always reading several books at the same time so I am only about half-way through this one.  Merely by accident, I just finished a chapter describing Romania under Ceauşescu.  I knew the dude was evil but it’s hard to imagine someone treating other people the way that he did.  Of course, psychopath dictators likely didn’t score points for sharing in kindergarten.  That period of Romanian history is shocking.  Hollywood loves to keep blaming the Nazis long after Germany has cleaned up its act.  There are plenty of other evil guys – and their Lady MacBeths.  They really need to branch out.

You, on the other hand, should just book a plane ticket to Bucharest!  I feel very guilty that it has taken me this long to write about Romania but I did make notes so will try to do it justice over the next weeks.  There is lots of talk of Cuba and of Myanmar.  I have already booked to see the first and am hoping to get to the second before 2016 is complete.  But there is little talk of Romania – or Bucharest.  I think it’s a place to go now before it becomes totally sanitized and you aren’t sure exactly what city you are in.  The internet is a wonderful thing but it – and the Americans’ incredible skills at marketing – are destroying the differences between cultures and making the world more homogeneous.

bucharest pre ceausescu

bucharest pre ceausescu

At least for now, Bucharest feels unique.  It’s an eastern European former communist city with a Latin soul.  It’s a bit like Las Vegas.  Nothing seems to shut and you lose track of time.  The first night was safe because I didn’t know my way around the city yet so didn’t want to be wandering the streets at 3am.  The second day I did a gigantic tour on a very jet-lagged sketchy night of sleep so partying hard was out of the question.  But then I caught up on my sleep, knew how to get back to the hotel in the dark and was ready to fully experience Bucharest 🙂

There is the quintessential charming European Old Town and it’s a tourist mecca.  There are the bars catering to the drunken lads and ladettes celebrating stags, hen parties or just the fact that beer is really cheap in Bucharest.  You will see them roaming in packs.  If that’s your thing, there are definitely lots of options catering to that type of tourist.  I am always hoping to meet locals and get a sense of the culture of the place.

http://www.inyourpocket.com/

Once again, I found the in your pocket guide very helpful.  I also just roamed around looking for something interesting, which is how I discovered XIX.  Alex was singing in the window and he was fantastic.  You could just watch from the street but I spotted a free seat and thought I should support the bar.  At the time, it was pretty new on the scene so the servers were very enthusiastic.  Had a lovely conversation with two of the staff, one Romanian and one Russian.  They were sure I had to try a Black Mojito.  It was too sweet for me but the Black Ursus beer is excellent and costs about $3

serendipity in bucharest

serendipity in bucharest

Canadian.

https://www.facebook.com/The-XIX-Bar-Concept-970246529694621/

Alex was a revelation.  It was covers but his range was amazing.  Music is definitely globalized.  It is always disconcerting to hear people singing English lyrics in foreign countries but he is an amazing singer.  From AC/DC Highway to Hell through the BeeGees, Leonard Cohen, Coldplay to Roy Orbison “In Dreams” and Radiohead “Creep”.

The “scene” is still under development – and especially as a foreign tourist – it was hard to figure out what to do once Alex had ended his set.  I tried a few places recommended by in your pocket but they were either empty or full of sweaty people singing karaoke without air-conditioning so I ended up at the Control Club.  It was also a bit quiet but there was music so I bought a beer and figured I would finish it and then head to the hotel.

http://www.control-club.ro/

But, unlike Paris and London, Bucharest is not yet overrun by tourists so the locals are very friendly.  I was invited to join a bachelor party and ended up having one of the most memorable nights of my life.  I am always hoping to meet locals and get a real sense for the place, not just tick off the tourist sites.

Life in modern day Bucharest is interesting.  It is no longer a violent police state and you can sense the optimism but it is also still an emerging market country and – as someone born in the first world, you appreciate how privileged your everyday life really is.  What I have found most interesting in emerging market countries is that generally people seem smarter and better informed.  They have to try harder than the privileged children of the west with their over-sized sense of entitlement.

It all started as just a friendly sharing of information.  The group was composed of civil engineers and architects so my kind of people 🙂  I forgot to check the time.  People started going home.  The bachelor left.  It was just George, Marius and me.  George was interested in Canada so we got another beer and somehow it was 4:30am when I got back to the hotel!  The young guy on the desk was super friendly so just added to the glow of a wonderful evening where I transcended being a tourist.

Everyone was so friendly and welcoming I went back to XIX the next night and met David Dango who was the musician in the window.  The friendly Russian server was on again and I met the owner before I left to head for the Control Club.  Once again, expected the night to end at normal time but a friendly Romanian guy had just broken up with his girlfriend and I don’t think the Control Club ever shuts… evening ended at 5:30am this time.  I needed to go back to Amsterdam to get some sleep!  On second thought, we’ll go with the whole sleep when you’re dead concept…

My time in Bucharest was far too short.  I only really scratched the surface.  I would love to see the country prosper.  At least, it is really heartwarming to see people having a chance to speak their mind and party like it’s Vegas.  And they can even joke about the evil Mr. C.  Check it out while it is still has the sense of opening a time capsule.  Even if history is not your thing, just go for the Romanians 🙂

 

 

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eating & drinking - well, travel stories

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where’s cinderella? ;)

It’s definitely no small feat to out-Disney Walt but Krakow does… it’s Disney – but not fake – so more wondrous – and cheaper – than the real thing 😉

cinderella's carriage?

cinderella’s carriage?

There is no Cinderella though.  She would not really look out of place, but if you want a princess lunch, you need the real Disney.  You will be more wowed by the sites in Krakow though…

Like Rome and Paris, you can just wander and see spectacular architecture on an ordinary street.  Certain sites though are required stops.  You can do them in any order but they are all worth your time.

The largest is the Cloth Hall.  It is located on the Old Town Square and was one of the first shopping

szopka

szopka

malls.  Apparently they got their start in the Renaissance 😉  In those days it was stone instead of glass and narrow staircases instead of escalators but the general concept hasn’t changed.  These days it’s full of tourist souvenirs.  Dragons are very big in eastern Europe and Krakow has one, which you can take home in a variety of fabrics and sizes.  One of the most colourful creations is the szopka – a Krakow version of the nativity scene that features colourful representations of actual Krakow buildings in addition to the manger.  The most classy, discrete souvenir is amber.  The Cloth Hall is a great location to check out different designs at competitive prices.  I ended up with earrings in three different shades.

It’s not clear the true impact of religion on global progress (or decline) but there is no question it has resulted in a lot of spectacular architecture.  The Catholic Church would be totally at home running a Super PAC but at least it funneled most of the funds into an ostentatious display of wealth that could be enjoyed by the masses instead of cringe-worthy campaign ads.

just part of the altar!

just part of the altar!

You can visit any of the churches no matter how you feel about the Pope.  You may just need to pay a few zloty.  The most magnificent is St Mary’s Basilica.  It is just off the square near the Cloth Hall.  It just looks like a church from the outside.  Not unimpressive but it is not until you get inside that you appreciate it is not just any church.  You have to pay an extra five zloty to take photos but it’s totally worth it – except, of course, that it is full of ornate stained glass, over-the-top ornamentation, intricate wood carvings… it is impossible to do it justice in a cheezy tourist photo.  It is better to put your camera away for a few minutes and just take in the workmanship and the grandeur.  The altar is one of the grandest I have seen – and I have seen a lot of churches 🙂

Krakow is full of churches and you should seek out some of the less famous ones.  One of the most

a tiny piece of the amazing art deco stained glass

a tiny piece of the amazing art deco stained glass

impressive is St Francis’ Basilica.  It is off the tourist path so you can enjoy it without crowds.  What is impressive are the spectacular art deco stained glass windows.

the shoes! :)

the shoes! 🙂

Krakow is full of delights like that.  You can score a pair of shoes that will make your friends envious.  There is an opera house modelled on Paris.  There are horse-drawn carriages where the horses are perhaps better attired than the patrons.  You might encounter a spontaneous polka being played.  There are various venues where you can enjoy classical music in a historic setting.  Cinderella would feel right at home 🙂

I never even managed to get through all the experiences I was hoping for.  Kazimierz was the Jewish quarter until World War II and houses Shindler’s famous factory.  Apparently it has re-emerged as a cool, bohemian quarter, the kind of neighborhood I gravitate to in cities.  I also wanted to check out Nowa Huta, a model Soviet city from the Cold War era.  Of course, the other thing to do in Poland is try vodka.  I’m not really a fan but it’s always fun to try and experience the local culture.  I did do some vodka tasting on Florianska Street but it was a tourist scam.  Find a bar – or if you have a long layover in Warsaw airport like I did – try some high end vodka there.

I was driven back to the airport by the same driver who brought me to the hotel.  He had also given me recommendations.  I confessed that I had not realized how much there was to do in Krakow and my visit had been far too short – but that did provide the perfect excuse for a second trip.  Perhaps this time I could even leave the airport in Warsaw.  I hear good things 😉

 

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Heigh Ho – to the mine we go ;)

One of the highlights of a trip to Krakow is actually not in the city itself.  The Wieliczka Salt Mine is a UNESCO world heritage site.  Like Wawel Castle, it is one of the original twelve.  UNESCO has gone the way of Beatles tribute bands but Poland boasts two of the original band members – and they are spectacular.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list

You can get to the salt mine via public transport but you will have to join a guided tour to see the mine so there didn’t seem to be a huge advantage to not just signing up for a tour from Krakow.

If you are on a tight budget, you can save a little organizing your own transportation.  The full tour is not expensive and you can relax and fully enjoy your day.  It also looked like the tour group we joined at the mine was smaller than the ones assigned to the public tours.

The salt mine is fascinating.  The deposit of rock salt in Wieliczka has been mined since the 13th century.  It is one of the oldest of its type in Europe.  The mine illustrates some key historic stages in the development of mining techniques in Europe from the 13th to the 20th centuries.  It’s hard to believe in the 21st century world of cheap, often iodized, salt that in medieval times it was currency in some economies and many important milestones in human history came about because of the production or transportation of salt.

http://www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/

under the earth…

What is really astonishing is how long the mine has been a tourist attraction.  Each year it is visited by more than a million visitors!  Tourism began in the 18th century and there is large roster of famous guests.  Some – like Pope John Paul II and Goethe – have special salt statues to immortalize their visits.  It is also interesting as the temperature is more or less constant and the salt in the air is supposed to be good for your health.  There is a cathedral with excellent acoustics and fascinating subterranean ponds.  You can even spend New Year’s Eve in the mine!

Who knew mining could be so glamourous 🙂

It is definitely not an attraction for anyone with the slightest sense of claustrophobia.  The mine is a giant maze.  You start your journey on a train that takes you into the mine to start your explorations.  It starts like Disneyland but you also need to be comfortable walking as it’s a journey.  You walk about three kilometres and do some serious stairs.  At the end, you are herded like mineworkers into an extremely crowded elevator that is the real deal used to take workers into and out of the mine.  It is freaky but very fast!

The mine itself is interesting but what has enticed the millions of visitors are the sculptures created by the workers.  The sculptures are all composed of rock salt from the mine.  They are incredible.  Famous people are immortalized in salt.  The most whimsical are the sculptures of the Seven Dwarfs – mining of course 😉 and lit by coloured lamps.

resisting disney is futile ;)

resisting disney is futile 😉

not your ordinary piece of salt!

not your ordinary piece of salt!

One of the rewards of the long journey is that you eventually emerge into a cathedral built entirely of salt.  Mining is not without danger so, in this deeply Catholic country, the workers built the cathedral to pray for their safety.  It is impossible to describe.  You are several levels under the ground but you are in this majestic space full of glittering salt (even a claustrophobic would be fine it is so large).  It is one of the most unique sights you can witness anywhere in the world.

This is a tourist attraction, not a mine, and one has to be impressed at how creatively they are trying to push you to buy salt in the gift shop.  Who knew you could do that many things with rock salt…

In addition to the wonders of the mine, you learn about the place of salt in human history and how the value and role of commodities in society is always open to disruption from new technology or changing tastes.

If you do a group tour, you may also be exposed to the new tourists of the 21st century.  We had a professor from Oman and a family from Mexico as part of our group.  The roads are being increasingly diversified.  It can only be an advantage to the planet for more people to go and see it and get to know each other.

One of the wonders of travel is discovery.  Most of the discoveries are small and personal.  But sometimes you stumble by accident upon something unexpected that is truly worthy of international fame.  Go check it out!

 

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une lettre d’amour á Paris

The city of enlightenment… thank you, CTV. (Way better than Global News who just showed weird photos that were badly edited and had no message). I was on the internet working most of the day yesterday so I saw the breaking news when there was no information and then followed the tragedy through the day to its bitter and senseless end.  One feels so helpless and there is nothing an ordinary citizen living in a foreign country can do except hold firm to positive values and lead a life that strives for virtue.

It is arguably my favourite city in the world.  It’s like having more than one child.  I love Paris, New York, Amsterdam and Berlin equally for different reasons.  And Krakow has potential to enlarge my family 🙂  Unlike when the Twin Towers were hit, I don’t have any close friends who live in Paris.  I’ve spent so much time in Paris it feels like another home town and the attack feels more personal.  And these ridiculous acts are so inhumane, barbaric and stupid it is especially disheartening and really feels like we are moving backwards in our evolution as a species.  Friday the 13th should just be a terrible Hollywood movie, not the date of a major tragedy.

vive la france!!!

vive la france!!!

There is nothing concrete I can do right now for Paris and I can’t even tell you to get on a plane to support them since Hollande has closed the borders.  But I have spent time in Paris this year.  I wrote about it a little bit but there was a post still in waiting so I think the best I can do to honour Paris is to talk about the real Paris, not the tragic Paris.

I will be back – and you should visit.  I’m a little surprised Colbert – who pronounces his name as though he was French – and boasts a bandleader whose name sounds très français (although he is Jon rather than Jean so I think the name is not really French anymore) – didn’t talk about what went down in Paris but maybe no one told him before the show started…  I just checked the internet!  I think I need to wait for it… It’s something I have come to expect from him and Jon Stewart.  Especially with Mark Ruffalo and his honorary political agenda as a guest.

So…  Paris is all about art, fashion, design… I already wrote about the great exhibitions I saw in a more timely way in case you wanted to check them out…

What I didn’t talk about was my ongoing discovery of the right bank into the emerging arrondissements.

One of the great delights of Paris is still gorging myself on macarons from Pierre Hermé.  Luckily, Paris is very walkable and, even if you take the métro, you will still log lots of steps and stairs.  So, eat, and then exercise it off.  It’s very Parisian 🙂

french beauty

french beauty

I discovered a couple of great new boutique hotels – Hotel Paradis and Hotel Fabric.  A great way to explore the gentrifying east without giving up any creature comforts 😉

http://hotelparadisparis.com/

http://www.hotelfabric.com/en/

It put me in a slightly newer neighborhood and I mostly just wandered, somewhat aimlessly, as I know the city well enough I only need to pull out the map if I get seriously lost.

One of the great delights of the visit was meeting friends from Vancouver for dinner in Paris!  They are more “in the know” than me so managed to actually find a restaurant in such an obscure location even my map wasn’t really helpful… but I worked out the logic and asked people for directions and eventually got to the right place!  It’s marked like one of those places from the 90s where you are supposed to be cool enough to have the intel to know where it is without a sign – a way to keep out the riff-raff – much easier before the public got apps to access the internet 🙂

Anyway, the restaurant is called Au Passage and is highly recommended.  Just get clear directions 😉

http://www.restaurant-aupassage.fr/en/

I didn’t spend nearly enough time in Paris in 2015 but my main discovery was a re-discovery and update.  Long ago when one acquired cutting edge information from glossy magazines, I read about the 11th arrondissement and rue Oberkampf.  One of my best friends was living in Paris so I suggested we should check it out… she was game and it was kind of interesting but mostly it was just Café Charbon back then.  It was obviously emerging… but it was early days!

https://www.facebook.com/cafe.charbon.oberkampf/

I re-visited rue Oberkampf a few years ago listening to some cool young French bands but then was semi-stalked by some Arab guy who wasn’t into subtle “I’m really just hear to listen to the music” so I gave up and went to my hotel.  But I knew it was a part of Paris I wanted to explore more.  The Hotel Fabric is perfectly situated for such an adventure so I could continue my exploration.  As in all of Paris, there is a seriously good patisserie a block or two from the hotel (Maison Landemaine).  What was more exciting, though, was the discovery that there are clubs on side streets off the rue Oberkampf that have live bands even on weeknights!

http://www.maisonlandemaine.com/en/shops

I would love to come back for an entire week but had a great time on nights where you don’t expect much.  Gibus Café at 127 rue Saint-Maur definitely recommended.  I obviously didn’t keep good enough notes of the place I went the second night but had a lovely evening chatting and watching the band with Surya, an Indian transplant.  At the time, I had just been in India so the connection was more vibrant.

http://www.gibus.fr/

you gotta eat - and drink - here :)

you gotta eat – and drink – here 🙂

I also checked out a wine bar/restaurant across from the hotel, which was stupendous.  The French love food and wine and these indie places in the gentrifying arrondissements are great value.  It’s called La Cave de L’Insolite on 30 rue de la Folie Méricourt.

http://www.lacavedelinsolite.fr/

Stephen did come through with genuine emotion for Paris and cute James opened with some heart-felt comments.  If only we could convince people black humour is better than suicide bombs.  It’s a weapon of mass happiness rather than mass destruction.

My on-going love to Paris and all the people of France who have embraced me over the years – literally and figuratively 🙂  Bisous big time!!!

 

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life philosophy, social commentary, travel stories

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beyond perogies and kielbasa…

I know one should try the local cuisine.  I once ate a deep-fried locust.  So it’s a bit pathetic that I tend to shy away from trying the local cuisine in eastern Europe.  It’s mostly because I grew up in central Canada where perogies, kielbasa and borscht are normal foods you bring to a community dinner in a church basement.  They are very popular on the Prairies and exotic in other parts of the world but I would much rather indulge in cannelloni or tod mun pla.

One of the wonderful discoveries I made while I was living in Germany was the abundance of great Italian food outside of Italy.  It would be good for the Italians if they could figure out how to form a responsible government and act a little more German but it means there are lots of Italians escaping to places with better economic prospects and they bring their food with them.  So, in eastern Europe, the first thing I look for is a good Italian restaurant 🙂 There was one in the hotel so I didn’t have to go far and the meal was delicious.

I did come to Krakow to do more than just hang out at the hotel, though.  Even if it was a great place to hang out… The first night I had done a tiny bit of wandering before succumbing to jet lag and just eating at the hotel and going to bed.  On my journey I had spotted a restaurant just across the street from the hotel that looked intriguing.  Modern Polish with a little Italian thrown in.  It’s called Magnes and apparently it’s quite new on the Krakow scene.  The chef defected from one of the other grand dining restaurants in town to open his own place.  It’s astonishingly good.  I could have eaten there every meal and been perfectly happy (but then what would I write about 😉  I need to take more notes on WHAT I eat.  I enjoy being in the moment though and letting my food be nourishment rather than art.

Click to access menu.pdf

The food at Magnes was so amazing that I actually took some notes!  So I can recommend the beef carpaccio with parmesan.  It was such a bright red I wondered if it was beef or if it was game.  It is possibly the best carpaccio I have ever had.  It melted in your mouth.  There was the typical shaved parmesan on top but also some rucola, romaine and cherry tomatoes topped off with a sublime vinaigrette dressing.  The server brought me an equally delicious Primitivo to accompany it.  That was followed by squid ink tagliolini with shrimp and white asparagus. For a pleasant change, the white asparagus was cooked perfectly instead of to mush.

Magnes would have been enough to have me recommending Krakow but apparently Krakow is full of serious foodies.  What is wonderful is that there is lots of choice so, if you are on a tight budget, you can head to a milk bar.  If you are used to splurging on chef’s tasting menus, you can do that too – but the bill will make your wallet dance.

I try to mix it up a bit so the next night I went to Aubergine, which had been recommended by In Your Pocket.  Unfortunately, it seems to have closed (most of the information is in Polish so it’s a guess).

the route to dinner...

the route to dinner…

For my final night, I went big.  The Pod Roza Hotel is part of the Likus Hotels and Restaurants empire.  It’s high end Poland.  I saved money on the hotel so I would have more cash for food 🙂  The restaurant in the Hotel Copernicus doesn’t have a Michelin star yet but it tastes like it should.  You can actually eat Polish food and it’s delicious.  No perogies and kielbasa here… I was subjected to borscht – and herring – however.  The chef tried hard but I am still not a fan of either…

But then there was foie gras with chocolate, raspberry and ice cream that got the taste of the herring out of my mouth.  It was inventive and sublime.  It’s a tiny place and you have to eat what the chef has prepared.  There are three options – five, seven and twelve courses.  Five is plenty!  The chef changes the menu every month and apparently it is inspired by Polish royal cuisine.  But re-interpreted for modern royals.  It’s one of those meals that is an experience, not just something to eat.  The mango/coco mousse in a broken eggshell came with eating instructions!  Since champagne goes with everything, I drank some delicious champagne from a house I did not know but the service was stellar and my server did not steer me wrong.

http://copernicus.hotel.com.pl/coper_en/RESTAURANT

After writing this and reliving all the wonderful flavours, the leftover pizza that will be dinner tonight seems a bit sad.  If you want to live like a young royal on a middle class salary, book that flight to Krakow.  It’s not your grandfather’s Poland anymore 😉

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eating & drinking - well, travel stories

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