Julie’s World

SoCo Staycation

January 21st, 2009

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West of SXSW

January 14th, 2009

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Four college pals, who met their first day at Bradford University many years ago, got together in London for the weekend. Two live in/around London; one in NW England; and I’m in Texas. Outbound, I loved the daytime ORD-LHR flight: I worked a full day, then slept in a comfy bed at my mother-in-law’s when I arrived. Together we hopped a train from Kent the next day for the 30 minute journey to Blackfriars, so she could have afternoon tea with us at the hotel. The spiffy Marriott at Chancery Court in Holborn boasts an awesome marble staircase, which has played a starring role in movies and TV dramas. (The building was originally home to the Pearl Assurance company, and built 1912-14. My room overlooked the Sir John Soane’s museum, rated one of the best museums in London by travel guides. Holborn is fascinating. Its home to Lincoln’s Inn, the Royal Courts of Justice and some of the few surviving pre-Great Fire of London (1666) buildings, including Charles Dickens’ Old Curiosity Shop. Early Saturday I trotted around the empty streets behind the hotel—returning 15 minutes later with a camera full of wonderful snaps; including the black and white timbered Wig Box (if you’ve watched British courtroom dramas, you’ll recall the barristers still wear those long white wigs) and Seven Stars pub (established in1602). Next door is the intriguingly named Silver Mousetrap jewelry shop, established in 1690. With the sun up, we headed to the Tkts booth in

Leicester Square

. After getting our half-price tickets to Enjoy (highly recommend it!), we hoofed over to Burlington House, home to the Royal Academy on Piccadilly for a tour of the Fine Rooms; with a bonus viewing of Michelangelo’s marble sculpture, the Taddei Tondo. The sculpture’s tucked away, and we would never have found it without the help of our great guide from the Fine Rooms tour. Fortnum and Mason’s is across the street from the Royal Academy, and we couldn’t resist dropping in. But resisted buying anything. Pricey! Cutting through one of the passage ways we found Jermyn Street almost deserted, so were able to amble at our ease past the picturesque and intriguing stores, several of them proudly displaying their “By Appointment To” (members of the British royalty) plaques.

Paxton and Whitfield, the centuries old cheesemongers, was my favorite, with their distinctive yellow shopping bags and tastings of an amazing variety of English cheeses. We also admired the window at Floris (royal perfume maker) before turning the corner and ducking into The Red Lion to admire the amazing engraved glass interior. No food served Saturdays, sadly, so a quick sandwich in one of the ubiquitous Prêt-a-Mangers before racing to the Gielgud Theater for Enjoy!

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Strasbourg: Who Knew?

October 21st, 2008

With no bandwidth to research Strasbourg before arriving here with Road Warrior Husband (he’s attending a conference), I had this border city tagged as a place to simply mark time en route to our cute rental cottage in Yorkshire.
How wrong could I be? Our combating-jetlag stroll Sunday afternoon revealed a picturesque city that tugs at fond memories of both Bamberg (but bigger and bolder) and Amsterdam (but smaller and more sedate). The locals are still proud of their Alsace heritage and German is as common as French. Our hotel, the Ibis Ponts Couverts, has tiny rooms devoid of the kind of closet space this packrat needs, yet gives us a beautiful view of the cathedral’s slender spire. We’re literally next door to the Musée d’Art Moderne, and steps from the bridges, locks and ancient half-timbered waterside buildings of Petite France. The tram, its stop is two minutes away, effortlessly whisked us up to the European Parliament and Convention Center Monday morning.
However, I’m running ahead of myself. Sunday afternoon we sat outdoors for coffee at Le Saxo, in a cobbled courtyard behind the cathedral. Then it was time for an early dinner at Au Pont St. Martin, which overlooks one of the many locks the frequent tour boats carefully navigate – although all was quiet Sunday evening as most of the idling tourists had finished their leisurely strolls.

Ever the unadventurous diner, I was rewarded with equally unadventurous grilled salmon, while my braver spouse made short work of his potato pancakes and smoked salmon (which the menu assured us was an Alsace specialty – hmmm…) We finally drooled – but alas, too late — when our neighbor’s order of tarte flambée and chocolate charlotte arrived.

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Summer in NYC: How To Beat the Heat

July 10th, 2008

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Another Cultural Icon: Real Madrid Football Club

February 28th, 2008

It was Austin architect Juan Miró that alerted me to the sheer scale of Real Madrid’s operation. One of the, if not the, biggest soccer clubs in the world, Real Madrid was voted club of the century in 2000 by no less a body than FIFA, the International Federation of Football Associations. That’s just one of the handy-dandy facts I picked up on our self-guided 90-minute tour of Estadio Bernabéu, Real Madrid’s 80,000+-seat soccer
stadium, which turned out to be just 15 minutes stroll from our suburban hotel.

If you’re not headed to Madrid yourself any time soon, take a virtual tour – it’s uncannily similar to what we experienced (minus the sweet smell of freshly mown grass, though!) Sports fan or not, if you do find yourself
connecting via Madrid’s Barajas airport, and with several hours to spare, hop in a cab and take in the home of one of the biggest brands in the world. I jest not: Real Madrid truly is one of the cultural icons of Madrid.

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Tips on Tackling all that Culture (Part II)

February 26th, 2008

The next day, on our last full one downtown, I went solo at the Reina Sofia, Madrid’s national museum devoted to modern art (and the only one of Madrid’s three major art museums that opens Mondays). I knew this sympathetically transformed old palace deserved a lifetime to explore it fully. I also knew from multiple visits to the Met, that more than a couple of hours of art-viewing leaves me numb. My solution to getting a meaningful visit from a minimal schedule? Focus, focus, focus.

Given the distinct possibility that my next Spanish jaunt will be to Barcelona, I chose to focus on Joan Miró. The Reina Sofia graciously provides no-charge floor plans and exhibit notes indicating exactly which artist and period you are going to see in which room. Ninety minutes later I was high on my Miró fix, and ready to keep on going. So I rode the all-glass elevator that snakes up the outside of the solid outer walls to the fourth floor. Here I randomly chose room 24, and felt like a prisoner at liberty as I focused solely on the four or five late 20th century pieces. Then I brazenly strode through the other rooms, into the special Picasso exhibit, on lone from the Musée National Picasso in Paris, simply to see the magnificence which is Picasso’s 1937 Guernica. One last five-minute stop in the courtyard garden, where I came face-to-face with both a towering 1974 Alexander Calder mobile and Miró’s 1963 bronze Pájaro lunar. And that was it — I was headed home.

Did I miss much? Heck, yes. Did I have a wonderfully enriching visit which left me wanting to explore in more detail the history and context of the works that I made a real connection with during my visit? You bet!

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Tips on Tackling all that Culture (Part I)

February 26th, 2008

In the Lone Star state we’re fond of saying, “Everything’s bigger in Texas.” Yet, come to an historic capital city like Madrid and you’ll soon realize there are some pretty big things here too.
Yet, don’t get overwhelmed. Whether you’ve got a limited threshold when it comes to sight-seeing, or you’re simply on a tight schedule, here are my handy tips for coming out the other end refreshed, revived and running on time.
On a rainy Sunday afternoon we were pushed for time at the Palacio Real. Normally I would recommend joining a tour, renting an audio guide, and browsing the ubiquitous pamphlets and flyers at the information desk. Yet, buying our tickets shortly before the box office closed at 2:00pm, we had until just 3:00pm to visit the sprawling royal palace. And we did it.
Here’s how you too can become a speed tourist:
-          Disregard the detailed guides in the ubiquitous souvenir shop. Focus on soaking in the atmosphere, not every last name, date and other minutia. Read up after you get back to the hotel. That’ll bring what can be dry facts to life. (Confession: In the Palacio Real I did refer to my mini DK guide once or twice. The two-sentence paragraphs were perfect to read on the run.)
-          Keep moving if nothing catches your eye. I know, you’ve traveled hundreds of miles, and spent thousands of dollars for this moment. I admit, speed tourism isn’t for everyone.
-          Be alert. Coming from the Royal Armory, we managed to head off a security guard at the entrance to the Royal Pharmacy. One stride later and he’d have locked the door in our faces. As it was, we got a hurried but fascinating look at the warren of rooms where herbs, roots and other best-not-mentioned ingredients were bubbled and brewed into potions and salves for their royal Excellencies.

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MAD Hotel Choices

February 26th, 2008

Here in Madrid, we settled on the Hotel Preciados – and couldn’t be happier. It’s stylish, comfortable, five minutes from the Palacio Real (15 to the Prado) and has free wireless in all the bedrooms. In the past we’ve paid up to 30 Euros/day for Internet access in other European hotels so free is a great deal. Room rates here go from 120 Euros. For a tad more we booked a superior room – very cute use of roof space, with sloping vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, double sink in the bathroom and our own (albeit tiny) patio. A great example of providing 21^st century amenities while retaining the charm of a 19^th century building.

Clearly there’s a veritable raft of hotels to choose from in this capital city, where every second pedestrian has their nose in a tourist map. An earlier post,Madrid Taster, listed a couple, now let me add to that. First off, two of the very mod Room Mate hotels: Laura, just a block behind the Preciados; and Alicia, right on Plaza de Santa Ana (recommended by Austinite and part-time Madrid resident, Rosa Rivera). Btw, the square’s home to the buzzing Teatro Espanol (A-list spotters take note: Rosa’s run into Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz there). Across the square is the ME, part of the Sol Melia group, and formerly the Gran Hotel Reina Victoria. It looks just gorgeous (although be warned, we did not venture inside). Also of note, GTH (GlobeTrotting Husband) says he’s stayed in a Melia on his Sao Paulo trips.

One last quick word about wireless Internet access: Is it Madrid or the whole of Spain that provides free wireless? I noticed that both the Room Mate hotels offer it. And today, with GTH’s business meeting starting, we’ve transferred out to the boonies and the Hotel Don Pio, where they also provide it. Interesting…

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Adjust Your (Stomach) Clocks

February 25th, 2008

That’s right, all you Americans and other early evening diners. Adjust your stomachs, not just your clocks when you arrive in Madrid (or any other Spanish city from what I’m told).
Madrileños (residents of Madrid) eat dinner late – as in 9:30pm and beyond. How do they do it? Well, lunch is often an extended affair. You’ll notice smaller stores close at 2:00pm, reopening at 5 or 5:30pm.
One solution: go native. The smaller tapas bars start to fill-up around 8-ish. There’s a good listing on the somewhat funky City of Madrid website. (Which is actually very informative once you get past all the fancy graphics.)

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Julie’s World

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SoCo Staycation

West of SXSW

London Whirlwind

Strasbourg: Who Knew?

Summer in NYC: How To Beat the Heat

Another Cultural Icon: Real Madrid Football Club

Tips on Tackling all that Culture (Part II)

Tips on Tackling all that Culture (Part I)

MAD Hotel Choices

Adjust Your (Stomach) Clocks