2014 - York Remembered

Syvart taking a break from his Cambridge studies.

In 2014 Taylor and I went to Europe.  We had amazing adventures as have been previously reported in Twice Knit.  However,  the reason for this wonderful trip was to see our son Syvart.  Here he is, waiting for lunch in a tearoom in York.  What a wonderful memory for all of us. The Cambridge days are over. Syvart now works and lives in Arlington VA with his wife Iris.  Taylor and I are still travelling, trying to see what the rest of the world is like.  Next stop, India in November 2016, followed by Taiwan in December 2016.

Final Snap Shots of Europe 2015

We are leaving for Taipei, Taiwan in one week.  I finally admitted to myself that I'm not going to write my final posts about Europe.  As a compromise, I'm posting snapshots.  If you are intrigued about any of these pictures, ask, and I might be able to tell you the story behind them.

Normandy Beaches

After reading so much about D-Day, Taylor is experiencing a peaceful Omaha Beach.  It's hard to believe this is the scene of the horrors of war.

The American Military Cemetery

Utah Beach. Can you see the barbed wire that is part of the landscaping?

Mont Saint-Michel Abbey
This is a huge tourist attraction.  The good part of this is it is easy to get to.  The bad part is that it is over run with people who are not on a religious pilgrimage.

Mont St-Michel rises out of the ocean.  We crossed a causeway to get to it. The village is at the bottom, and the abbey is at the top.

To get to the actual abbey, we had to work ourselves through our fellow pilgrims. It was a steep up  hill march through lots of gift shops, bakeries, restaurants, hotels, bars.....

On our way down from the abbey, we took a side street where it was very peaceful, and saw charming views.

Surprisingly enough, touring the abbey was  peaceful. I guess we left the other pilgrims behind to eat, drink and shop.

Cambridge
Being with Syvart was the most important part of our visit to Cambridge.

Cambridge Botanic Garden

We stayed in the guest room at Darwin College. It was fun seeing what college life is like at The University of Cambridge.

We ate breakfast here each morning.  Can you imagine all the young scholars, in their gowns, having formal dinners here?

One afternoon, Syvart took Taylor and me on a long, leisurely walk to the village of Grantchester, right next door to Cambridge.  The walk, along a river, through wooded areas and pastures, and over a few stiles was delightful. The real prize, however, was ending at  The Orchard Tea Garden www.orchard-grantchester.com.

This was typical scenery on our walk to Grantchester.

This is what we saw when we climbed over the final stile.

Here we are having cream tea in the orchard, just like Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, Maynard Keynes, Rupert Brooke and their friends.  Our conversation, of course, was intellectual and witty. I discussed literature, and Taylor and Syvart discussed economics (tongue in cheek).

London
Our trip to Hampton Court Palace deserves it's own post, but the story is long and complicated.  We eventually arrived and enjoyed snooping around one of Henry VIII's palaces.

Syvart, Iris and Taylor catching their breath in front of one of the many garden walls at Hampton Court Palace.

Now, we're on to our next adventure.  Stay tuned for Taiwan!

Little Venice, London

We rented an Airbnb apartment in the Little Venice of London.  Once again, we were overwhelmed by the charm and good fortune of our circumstances.

Douglas House, Maida Avenue.

When we walked out the front door of our building, we were greeted by this canal with barges lined up on each side.

We're having coffee right on the canal.  The cafe is in a barge.

If we walked to the right of our front door, we encountered Edgware Street.  On Edgware, if we turned left, we came to a parade of shops that pretty much looks like the streets of Westmoreland, the neighborhood where we live in Portland, Oregon.  However, if we turned to the right the parade of shops became a a chaotic foreign environment.

I guess some of the products came from Morocco.

As you can see, everything is for sale at the market - even the kitchen sink.

If we turned left from our apartment, we had our choice of two different tube stations: Warwick Road or Paddington Station.  In the jumble of streets in that area, we also discovered Clifton Nurseries.

This nursery is tucked into a block with apartment buildings surrounding the perimeter.  The buildings on the block look pretty much like the one we stayed in.  The difference being that the block must have been quite a bit larger to afford the huge area that is an urban nursery.  This nursery had every thing.

In addition to a florist and a landscape designer, there were lots of plants that I wanted to buy right then and there.

I wanted to buy this bay tree.

But the best part was a green house that was a cafe.  Taylor and I met Syvart and Iris there one afternoon for coffee.  I think it is pure genius to include a cafe in a garden center.  Gardeners always get hungry imagining the work they will have to do if they make purchases.

We were here in the late afternoon, so the lunch crowd had dispersed.

Would I stay in Little Venice again?  Absolutely. I felt like a Londoner in this neighborhood, away from the tourist crowds.

Dear Soup

Dear  



I was relaxing at Paddington Station, in London, the other day, when I met two bewildered Americans.  I introduced myself to them and learned that they are your grandparents.

Here's your grandma.

Here's your grandpa.

 When they told me they are going to Taipei to meet you in September, I thought, "I've never been to Taiwan."  Then I asked them if I could come with them.  Guess what?  Your grandpa put me in his backpack, and I'm coming to Taipei.

See you in September.

Love, Paddington Bear

Quimper, the Town, Part II

We came to Quimper for the faience. We came away with so much more.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that Quimper is a charming and historic town that affords a good glimpse into the culture of Brittany.

Quimper was founded  in the 5th century, and to visit is to step back in time.  The Odet River runs through town and pedestrian bridges, decked with flowering baskets, connect the main streets on either side of it.  The city of 60,000 is dominated by a cathedral, with it's square, and has a warren of cobblestone streets radiating from it.  The streets are lined with four story buildings that seem to be typical of ancient European cities.

The center of town - The Cathedral of Saint Corentin of Quimper.

A typical Quimper street scene.

Many building have faience statues tucked into pedestals or niches.

Buildings line parts of the Odet River.

I have never seen so many specialty shops in one place:

Flower shop.

Seafood at the market.

More seafood.

Have you heard of a sardine shop?

My favorite, marcarones.

When we checked in to our hotel, the manager asked if we wanted a room in the front of the building, or a quieter room in back.  We chose the room in back, without realizing that there was a good reason for our decision:  it is festival season. It was serendipity that we arrived in Quimper during the annual Festival de Cornouaille - a huge cultural fair that happens right in the middle of town.

The streets running along the river were lined with tents that one typically sees at town festivals.  In addition, people had come from all over Brittany to join in the fun. Many of the participants were dressed in their traditional garb, which looks a lot like the clothing of the people on my Quimper faience. The most noticeable part of the festival were the bagpipe bands, and men in kilts.  Who knew bagpipes existed anywhere but Scotland?  Throughout the day, we saw and heard bands practicing, or performing.  By evening a regular battle of the bands had started.  While eating our crepe and cider dinner at an outdoor café we saw band after band march by, with their bagpipes blaring.  With our unaccustomed ear, the bands all seemed to be playing the same tune.  Perhaps, an ethnomusicologist could distinguish the tunes.  In any case, we were glad of our room at the back of the hotel.

We happened by a threshing demonstration.

This isn't a decorative display.  It's the tools the threshers are going to use - with a classic hat.

The threshing team is getting ready.

Here they go. The men move in a clockwise attitude, chanting, and beating the crap out of the stalks of grain.

Now, they form a trench in the center of the stalks and they scoop up the grain.....

and take it to the mill for the ladies to work their magic.

Voila!  Buckwheat.

We watched dancers.

A few more delights:

The HenRiot train kept chugging through the festivities.

A couple of ponies obligingly gave rides to the kids.

We saw lots of cooks preparing buckwheat crepes, and we had crepes for dinner almost every night we were in France.  Since cider is a traditional drink, we usually ordered cider (the alcoholic kind) with our crepes.  What surprised us about the cider was, it was always served in a teacup - usually a faience teacup.

This is a picture on a tray from the HenRiot museum.  One woman is making crepes, and the others are drinking cider from their tea cups.  This is still going on today.

Quimper was such an unexpected treat.  It will live in our memories as a magical city where the people are still enjoying centuries old traditions.