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All posts for the month September, 2018

Nicosia

Posted by Jim St. George on September 11, 2018
Posted in: Asia, Cyprus. Leave a Comment

There wasn’t a lot about Nicosia that was particularly memorable but this little cutie will stick with us. Look at those eyes!

We’re off to Cyprus for a couple of weeks. By far the largest Mediterranean island we had not yet been to, Cyprus is chock-full of history that we’re excited to learn more about. Given its strategic location in the Mediterranean and near the Middle East, it has been occupied by just about everyone at one time or another; settled originally by Mycenaean Greeks it has been occupied at various times by Egyptians, Persians, Alexander the Great, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, French, Venetians, Ottomans, and finally the British from the late 19th century. Cyprus gained independence from the British in 1960 but has been riven by ongoing animosity between the minority Turkish population and the majority Greeks. Of course, there’s nothing unusual about Turks and Greeks fighting; they’ve been at it pretty much nonstop since the first Byzantine and Ottoman clashes in the 14th century.

Here, the Turks and Greeks started at it again big time in the 1950s, with the Turks (making up about a fifth the population) wanting the northern part of the island to become part of Turkey. The rest of Cyprus resisted, but things got worse in 1974 when Greek Cypriot nationalists staged a coup with aid from the Greek military junta of the time. Their goal was enosis, or incorporating all of Cyprus into Greece. That was too much for the Turks so in July 1974 Turkey invaded and captured the northern third of the island. Some 200,000 people were displaced with most Greek Cypriots moving south and most Turkish Cypriots moving north. While the international community considers the island a single country and the Turkish military presence illegal, in practice today Northern Cyprus functions independently; Turkey is the only country in the world that recognizes North Cyprus.

Food is a huge highlight here, primarily Greek but definitely with a strong Middle Eastern accent

We are starting our two-week trip here in Nicosia, the capital and economic hub of Cyprus. (Similarly, North Nicosia, separated by a fence, border crossing, and UN demilitarized zone, is the capital of North Cyprus.) It is an ancient city, having been continually inhabited for over 4,500 years and the capital of Cyprus for over a thousand years. Today the old walled city is a labyrinth of winding passages feeling very Middle Eastern to me, but it had at least one nice bar where the head bartender made excellent cocktails and a couple of good restaurants. One thing I loved about the bar was that it was named The Gym. So you could leave in the afternoon and tell your partner “Hey, I’m going to the gym” and then just go get wasted. How good is that! And let’s just say the prices at The Gym and the various restaurants we went to were a fabulous surprise after nearly three weeks in Paris and Vienna.

To be honest we didn’t see a heck of a lot of Nicosia. We stayed at a Hilton that was further away from the center of the city than we normally would. The good part there was that it had a great pool that, in a city where the daytime temperatures were in the low 90s, was welcome relief. So we explored the old town a bit, and one day crossed the border into the Turkish side of the city, but we didn’t see as much of it as perhaps I would have liked.

When you cross the border into North Nicosia you trade steeples of minarets but otherwise it didn’t feel hugely different to me at least

And sadly, I will remember Nicosia as the place my iPad Mini died. I shouldn’t be too surprised; it was the same iPad I left Boston with in 2013 and I’ve used it intensively. The bad news, though, is that it will be months before we’re in a city with an Apple store. What am I going to do??

Speaking of Middle Eastern, dinner our last night was at a Lebanese place with live entertainment

And speaking of entertainment, this guy was a genuine mixologist and made great Martinis and Manhattans

Yup, that’s me at The Gym. Not as much work as it used to be….

A rare and welcome site: a failed Hard Rock Cafe. Makes you hopeful about Nicosia’s future!

OK, another cat picture

Vienna

Posted by Mark Sullivan on September 7, 2018
Posted in: Austria, Europe. 1 comment

The spires of the Rathaus, Vienna’s magnificent city hall

To me, Vienna does two things extremely well: imperial splendor and art.

We made a little four-day stop here only to break up our travel. We wanted to get from Paris to Cyprus but were surprised to find no direct flights. We hate long days of connecting flights, so I researched all of the places you could connect, and we decided Vienna would make a nice stop along the way. We were here two years ago, and it’s a place that could keep you busy for a long time, what with all the art and imperial splendor.

The weather was not super cooperative here, but in Vienna even rainy days are elegant

Two years ago we made a hotel choice that played well to the imperial splendor side: The Hotel Imperial. And we repeated that choice this time, even though it’s not our typical style of hotel. The Imperial is Vienna’s grande dame, loaded up with sweeping marble staircases, ornate ceilings, and crystal chandeliers. And like last time, we cashed in some Starwood certificates to upgrade to a lavish suite. It’s a splurge that makes old-world Vienna really come alive.

On the art side, this city is also just packed with treasures. And they are not just dusty old works from a long time ago (though there are a ton of those). Twenty years ago, the city introduced the Museumsquartier, a collection of renovated baroque buildings plus a couple modern buildings, that house a whole bunch of new museums, covering all aspects of contemporary art. This huge complex of museums complements the city’s massive collections of more traditional art in places like the Kuntshistorisches Museum and the Albertina. All of this kept us incredibly busy.

I have to put in a special plug for the Leopold Museum, one that I had not previously visited. It was built to house the once-private art collection of Rudolf Leopold, an ophthalmologist who began collecting works by Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, arguably Austria’s most famous painters, in the late 19th century. He bought Schiele’s paintings on the cheap, and the museum now houses the world’s largest collection of them. We spent hours in this place until we were wiped out.

The staircase leading to our room at the Hotel Imperial. Did I mention that the hotel captured old world Viennese splendor?

Imperial splendor all over this town

Jim managed to squeeze in some reading in a lovely park when the rain let up

One of Gustav Klimt’s beautiful portraits, before his work became much more abstract

Klimt also painted many spectacular landscapes

Some of the many eerie self-portraits by Klimt’s protégé, Egon Schiele, who lived pretty scandalously and died at just 28

My favorite haunting self-portrait of Egon Schiele, in front of a Chinese lantern plant

Another amazing special exhibit in the Leopold museum included Lenin by Andy Warhol

We also greatly enjoyed MUMOK, the museum of modern art, which featured an extensive exhibit of musical video productions that is hard to explain but fascinating. Here a viewer enjoys a video of Yoko Ono sort of screeching for two minutes. That may sound odd, but it was somehow hard to stop watching.

Jim actually made it to the Kuntshistorisches museum, where he enjoyed part of the extensive ancient Egyptian collection, including this amazing hippopotamus from about 2000 BC. (Given all the competing museums I did not even make it to the Kuntshistorisches this time, though in fairness to me, I have been there three times before over the past 34 years.)

This Caravaggio in the Kuntshistorisches caused scandal because of a feature that a painter had never before included in a religious scene. (See the next photo.)

Yes, the peasants have dirty feet

The Imperial Hotel also features a rarity in Europe: a bar that makes great cocktails. And in this setting!

Cheers!

On a slightly more downscale note, these Viennese make some pretty great wieners!

Paris 7.0, Week 2

Posted by Jim St. George on September 3, 2018
Posted in: Europe, France. Leave a Comment

Keith & Nic enjoying Paris

A year ago or so we got an invitation to a wedding. An old great friend of ours from graduate school, Keith, was finally marrying Nic, the guy he’d been dating for the last seven years. We really wanted to go – they’re great friends and great people – but we really didn’t want to fly back from the Middle East, where we would be in November when the wedding would take place. What to do?

Suddenly the answer occurred to us. For the same money we would pay to fly back for the wedding we could fly them to Europe and make it their wedding present. And as a bonus, of course, we would get far more Keith-and-Nic time than if we were just two of the hundred-plus people at their wedding. Perfect! Needless to say, when we suggested that we would bring them to Paris (or somewhere else if they preferred) for their wedding present they liked the plan too.

Four of us enjoying the gardens of Versailles

So fast forward to late summer 2018 and here we are in Paris for a week with Keith & Nic. Still staying at the Agora St. Germain – which gets a little small after two weeks! – and still enjoying Paris. Parks, museums, cafés, long walks; beautiful late summer days in a beautiful city.

And while much of it was the same stuff we always do, Keith & Nic inspired us to enjoy a couple touristy adventures too. One day we took the train out to Versailles to visit the great palace and wander through the spectacular gardens. And on our last evening in Paris they had booked an hour-long river cruise on the Seine. Just the sort of über-touristy thing we would never do on our own … but we loved it. There were nice assigned seats facing the windows, a half bottle of red wine for each couple, and even a light meal served. Such a pleasant way to watch the city flow by (OK, we were flowing by, but whatever) and chat and just enjoy the good life.

On the boat with a little wine, a little food, and great friends

So that was our second week in Paris. From here Keith and Nic are continuing to Barcelona (our second-favorite city after Paris) on their own and we’re passing through Vienna on our way to Cyprus.

One of our favorite walks in Paris is along an elevated park, an old abandoned railroad bed. We’ve walked it many times over the years and always love the many little spots to sit and while away the time.

Traveling with Keith & Nic was great. Part of what we all liked was that there was plenty of together time but we also had lots of time on our own. My time on my own pretty much consists of going to Luxembourg Gardens and reading with this view.

Or the Gardens of the Champs-Élysées

Off on our own one morning Mark & I took a walk we’ve never done before. Down river, below the Eiffel Tower, there’s a long and narrow man-made island called the Isle of Swans and at the end of it is a small replica of the Statue of Liberty, which was of course a gift from France in honor of America’s centenary. How cute is that?

While there was plenty of time on our own, in the evenings we always regrouped for drinks and dinner. Here Nic & Keith are savoring our new discovery, the Martini Royale. Equal parts Martini Bianco & Proseco, with lots of ice and a dash of fresh lime juice, it’s wonderfully refreshing and low-carb. We’ll never be quite the same after this discovery.

Lots of reasons to love Paris

Mark loves these bicycle shots

One morning Mark & I were off to the Palais de Tokyo, a contemporary art museum. There were lots of huge installations, many of them genuinely interesting. This display of 40 clown sculptures was notably eerie.

Place des Vosges, dating from the early 17th century, was the first planned town square in Paris

A view of Paris from the elevated parkway we love so much

At first I thought this was just a random picture from Park Monceau that Mark had taken until I recognized that little figure in the left corner. It’s me!

A couple days after walking the elevated park alone Mark & I took Nic & Keith there so they could enjoy it too

I’ve seen this fountain at the bottom of Luxembourg Gardens a bunch but I don’t think I’d ever noticed the dedication before. It’s dedicated to the great explorers Marco Polo and Robert Cavelier de la Salle. And while everyone has heard of Marco Polo, de la Salle isn’t quite so famous. Unless, of course, you’re from La Salle, MI, as Mark is!

The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles

Nic, Mark, and Keith out in the gardens of Versailles

And finally, Keith and that big metal tower as we cruised by on our tourist boat