Category Archives: much depends on dinner

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Vienna and Prague

The first day of a European trip means jet lag, and this was no exception. We landed around 8:30 and couldn’t check into our apartment until 3:00, so we dropped our bags at Bounce (now that we understand to look for a little hole in the wall) and set out.

Our first stop was the Albertina, an art museum that also houses a branch of Demel, “Home of the finest cakes, chocolates and sweets in the heart of Vienna.” Here we are enjoying a little pastry and coffee in the best Viennese tradition.

Thus fortified, we wandered through the art gallery, currently displaying “From Monet to Picasso.” Among the Impressionists, Expressionists and Cubists was this colorful Picasso,

an idyllic image that on closer inspection reveals a congested composition that reflects the tensions between Picasso and his beloved. Me, I liked the strong lines and constricted patterns. Quilt inspiration?

Since we had the time, we walked to St. Stephen’s Cathedral with its famous tiled roof that I remembered from my visit with Kit thirty-some years ago.

Inside we admired the intricate carvings on the pulpit

and enjoyed the self-portrait by one of the carvers.

Our jet lag was catching up with us, so we slowly made our way to the Operngasse, where our apartment awaited us. But stop! Eva, the apartment owner, said we could not get in until 3:30, so we sat outside on some very uncomfortable wooden benches until she should appear. Well, at least an hour and a half went by, so around 5:00 Alison texted her again. Soon enough a young man popped up (he is one of the apartment owners, I think) and said that Eva had sent a text a while ago saying that the apartment was ready! We had missed it entirely, and I blame it all on jet lag.

He showed us how everything worked – coffee maker, keys, wifi, etc. – and left us to our own devices. We were really beat but needed some food so we stopped by Billa, the local grocery chain, to pick up a few necessities (coffee pods, wine, yogurt, etc.). We then wandered along one of the streets in search of food and found a wonderful pub-like restaurant, where a delicious bowl of goulash and crusty bread (and wine) restored us.

(Thanks to other diners for these images, I was too hungry to take pictures!)

And so our first day ended happily.

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Posted on October 2, 2025 in a little drama, art, churches, much depends on dinner, soup

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Jane’s world

Today was the total Jane Austen experience. We walked uphill to the Royal Crescent, a sweeping expanse of lawns framed by the semi-circular, well, crescent of houses, each pillared and symmetrical. We got to experience one of them at the Number 1 house, furnished as it might have been in Jane’s day.

Highlights were the mastodon tusks and enormous shells displayed in a very Enlightenment-era way; the painting of Mary Delaney,

who created intricate paper flowers and whom I’d heard of through a quilt blog, I believe; and the turnspit in the kitchen, straight out of the at least two children’s books about the little dogs who ran in place to turn the meat on the spits.

Meanwhile, the views over the crescent were quite lovely. The stripes on the Green lawn are just like everything in a Thirkell novel, except that they no longer use a donkey to pull the mower…

From here we visited the most wonderful bookstore, Bath Old Books, a small shop filled with treasures. In search of interesting books that were small enough to tuck into our suitcases, I found a recounting of an Irish childhood and Alison found an Orkney book. Delightful!

Lunch was at the Green Bird Cafe, delicious toasted sandwiches. Thus strengthened, we walked down to the Assembly Rooms, sadly with limited access because of renovations, and then to Persephone books, where I picked up some Christmas presents. A few steps farther on was the Jane Austen Centre.

Here we were entertained by a Jane re-enactor who recounted the details of Jane’s life in a most dramatic way. Then we wandered through several rooms devoted to Jane and her family, ending of course in the gift shop. We had a delicious cream tea and discussed the Centre.

It is really designed for the Austen fanatic, and though we enjoyed it, we found it less than gripping. Still, we enjoyed seeing Mr. Darcy,

and we’ve now crossed it off our list!

Dinner tonight was at The Scallop Shell, and it was a highlight.

A quick five-miute walk away, most delicious seafood, and to crown the evening, sticky toffee pudding! We rolled home and to bed.

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Posted on June 19, 2024 in dinner, England, much depends on dinner

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Delacroix and Ste. Chapelle

Our plan for today was to take the train to Chartres Cathedral, with its Gothic architecture and gorgeous stained glass. We had all been there but since it had been about fifty years ago, we were looking forward to seeing it anew. However, the travel gods were against us: Paris is on strike due to the proposed change in retirement age from 62 to 64. Everyone advised us not to even attempt a train, so we had a free day to do whatever we wanted.

We started out at the Delacroix Museum, which was modest and only mildly interesting, but pleasant enough.

It’s housed in the elegant apartment and studio he lived and worked in and features many of his drawings, paintings and sculptures. His most famous paintings are at the Louvre, of course, but the artwork featured here showed another side to him. The paintings inspired by his visits to north Africa were particularly interesting.

Then off to an early lunch because we were told we’d need to get in line at 1:30 for our 2:00 timed tickets for Ste. Chapelle (more on this anon).

We found a cafe just across the street and sat down for a leisurely light lunch: Quiche and salad for Alison and me, French onion soup for Silla.

We took our time and enjoyed watching everyone walking along outside, guessing whether they were French or otherwise. (Of course the only way to confirm the outcome would be to stop and ask them, which was impossible!)

At around 1:00 we got in the long line for the chapel, hoping that they would not mind that we were at least an hour early. As it turned out, both venues made it sound very difficult to arrange a ticket (the Delacroix being the kind of website that takes forever to use and then foils you at the last minute) and advised us to make absolutely certain that we arrived there right on time – but it’s all a canard! The Delacroix let us buy our tickets on the spot, and there were only half a dozen or so other people even there. The chapel, after making everyone confused about which long line to get in, didn’t care a whit that we were an hour early and let us sail through!

Today was cloudy, then brightly sunny, then cloudy again and then, while we were standing in line, raining hard for about five minutes. And of course you want to see the stained glass in good light. Well, we had enough sun to point out the contrast between light and shade, so that was fine, not to say occasionally brilliant. The intense blue, gold and red are so stunning that I couldn’t stop taking pictures.

The audio guide was designed for giants who could stand in front of the highest windows and pick out the figures from the Bible, so we didn’t have much luck with that. But in the end, the glories of the light, and the fascinating videos showing how they’ve restored the glass and cleaned the stone, were absorbing and illuminating. All in all, a stunning space.

Dinner tonight was at Le Compas, the same place we went to last night, because we all liked it, especially Silla. Very French in the sense that all the waiters were professional and quick, and the food was traditional and delicious. Silla and I each had what the other one had had the night before, and we were both happy: mine was fish au citron and hers was the salmon with green beans. AO was very happy with her red meat.

Then, because it was Silla’s last night with us, we splurged on creme brulee for us two, while AO had tarte tatin, and we were all delighted.

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Posted on June 27, 2023 in art, blue, churches, much depends on dinner, Paris

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A Windy day in Amsterdam

It was so windy when we tried to land that the pilot was forced to go in a circle and try again from a different angle. But we’re here! We have a week in Amsterdam and then a week in Paris. On the agenda: art, art, art, and lots of walking and good food.

The apartment is really perfect. We were afraid that it would be too small – one bedroom and a tiny kitchen and bathroom – but in real life it’s fine. The bed is huge, but there’s an option to use the sofabed in the living room if we need to. Clean, simple, efficient, attractive and altogether delightful. A fancy coffee machine, similar to this model,

made coffee-making a breeze. Plus our host, Sebastian, is well-organized and friendly and encouraged us to call him if we need help; he has an apartment just upstairs.

Today was napping interspersed with a few errands. We went out for lunch at a friendly spot in Haarlemmerplein, aka Haarlem Square, enjoying an omelet on crusty bread (me) and fried eggs on crusty bread (AO).

The owner was quite friendly and marveled, as we did, at the ferocious winds. Thank goodness the sun was out and the temps were in the mid-40s, otherwise it would have felt like the Arctic!

We found the stop for our tram to the Rijksmuseum tmorrow, stocked up on cereal, fruit, cheese, crackers, and wine, plus interesting salads from a place right on the square, De Deli Haarlemmerbuurt, that also offers quiche and sandwiches.

That’s tonight’s dinner sorted. The rest of the time we ignored the beautiful surroundings and unpacked, napped some more, figured out the wifi, and did all the things you can just about manage to do after jet lag. Onward!

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Posted on March 30, 2023 in Amsterdam, much depends on dinner

A leisurely day

Posted on January 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

One of the joys of revisiting the Cotswolds (and England in general) is that we are not driven to see, see, see, so today was a relaxed day. We wandered through Stow after breakfast, visiting the market cross in the square (thanks, Alamy), about which more later,

stopped by St. Edward’s church with its amazing door, said to have inspired Tolkien’s Doors of Durin,visited the pharmacy for AO’s ear (stopped up due to the plane?), a lovely little shop where we bought socks for various people, and the bookstore, where I bought a walks guide for Northleach and area.

Then I left AO to her own devices while I took a little walk suggested in the Stow Walks booklet. The first part, through town and then along a rough track through the village of Maugersbury, was very pleasant, with beautiful views of the landscape and Icomb Hill, said to have been the site of a neolithic hill fort.The next bit was along the the ancient Fosse Way, but in this section the Fosse Way goes along the A429, a very busy two-lane road. Luckily there was a sidewalk for pedestrians but still, some of those trucks came barreling down the hill at a great rate. Then away from the highway and through a cemetery, along the allotments with these beautiful dahlias, and then to a confusing bit. A friendly fellow pedestrian offered help, so I followed her through a little ture or snicket or alley and found myself back in the town.

Fortified with the delicious baguettes we had bought earlier, we set out for a mild little trip to Northleach, where our friends Peggy and Eddie spend a few weeks every spring. The church is a classic perpendicular, and inside were several brasses featuring worthies standing on wool sacks, from which local fortunes were made. You can see that they are protected by these rugs most of the time.Shades of Angela Thirkell! The chatty woman at the info desk has children in the US and spoke admiringly of our country – except for the frequent random murders, of course… We also stopped briefly near Sherborne, where P&E rent their National Trust house. Doesn’t it look ghostly with the autumn grasses? You get there down a long, long one-lane road, luckily with a few turnouts for oncoming traffic. Beautiful, but I wouldn’t want to be driving down there in the dark!

Next on to Burford in search of the garden centre that Peggy touted. The main street was so congested, and we were not sure of the location, that I finally turned on my phone ($10!!) to get directions. The centre was a mix of high-end home furnishings and the best garden shop in the world.I picked up some seed packets, and Alison found a darling little bird for her windowsill.

Our final stop was Minster Lovell, a small village along the banks of the Windrush, which we would call a creek or stream rather than a river. Charming, but nowhere to stop and admire it so we went down the road to the church. Small and nice and obviously hard to maintain, with a shrinking number of congregants and an ancient building in need of maintenance. But the interior seemed well used and busy. No stained glass, thanks a lot, Henry VIII!

Back towards home, planning to stop at a gas station to top up the air in one of the tires, which causes the car to display exclamation marks. Unfortunately, even though we got the tire up to 32 psi, the car is still unhappy. Maybe tomorrow. We came back to Stow and the promised roadworks meant we couldn’t take our usual route in, so we ended up in Lower Swell (because once you’re on a road, there’s almost no place to pull over or turn around). Reversing and retracing our route, we finally found our familiar Sheep Street and home. Driving is always harder at the end of the day. Dinner tonight at The Bell was the best dinner of the trip so far: Lamb for AO, sausages and a rocket salad with pickled shallots for me, both imaginatively cooked.