Nancy ... and a Cup of Coffee
After a show in the West End when I was bout twenty and living in London, a friend suggested coffee ... in Paris.
Christopher said we could just dash home (Knightsbridge), chuck a few things in a bag and be on the over-night Dover-Calais train-boat-train. He'd never worked as his father had made his fortune in the 1920s in wind-up children's toys - so such ideas came to him!
One thing lead to another and Paris was followed by Nancy in Lorraine in the north-eastern-ish part of the country ...
The city had been the consolation prize for the King of Poland, Stanisław Leszczyński (1677 - 1766), when he lost his throne - for the second time - in 1736.
Stanisław Leszczyński (1677 - 1766)To console himself, Stanisław decided to turn Nancy into a kind of imperial if miniature capital of Lorraine.
And so Place Stanislas ...
... with its extraordinary Baroque gates ...
... and Triumphal Arch ...
... with other little follies dotted about the city ...
Christopher decided we'd stay at the Grand Hôtel de la Reine Place in Place Stanislas - cos it had been the palace ...
Can't remember if we had that coffee but as much as anything this surreal adventure taught me to be bold and think big - within the constraints of my wallet of course!
PS None of these images are mine - sadly I was going through a 'don't record just experience' phase at the time.
Nancy!! Been ages since I thought of that place. In May 1969 I landed in Luxembourg (Icelandic airlines, you know; cheapest way to get to Europe in those days) and, since I only had $27, I had to hitchhike to Montepellier where I knew someone. I ended up in Nancy late one afternoon, and found the youth hostel, a huge, virtually empty chateau on the edge of town. Boys dorm was on the ground floor, in what must have been an old ballroom, enormous French doors opening onto an abandoned, overgrown garden. Only other person there was an early 20s, Italian guy (whose English was as limited as my Italian) with a plastic portable phonograph on which we listened to lps of Bach orchestral suites and Brandenburg concerti while swilling (probably vile) red wine and munching on bread and cheese...the music echoing around the huge almost empty ballroom as rain fell outside.
ReplyDeleteNext day I went on my way, totally oblivious to the fact Nancy had anything else to offer the traveler. Now I see I'll have to go back and look at the gorgeous Baroque gates and palaces. And maybe sample some food other than cheap red wine, bread and cheese.
Thanks for adding to my next trip's stops.
hey paul
ReplyDeleteyou've reminded me i used know the names of all the cheapest airlines - did you know of freddie lackers' no frills deal round the 70's/80s - you took your own food
an old chateau as a youth hostel - a great way to be in Nancy - and your italian co-resident needing to take his bach traveling with him - very civilized!
i recall so many people doing various of the brandenburg concerti in my time in london - glen gould among them
my 2003 trip like yours seemed characterized by similar park lunches - cheese and bread and prosciutto, washing down by battery-acid vin ordinaire
i want to go again with all this talk!
My fave trip of all time was to Barcelona and it's environs, the sole purpose of which was to see the stuff Antonio Gaudi designed and built. That was 45 years ago. My head is still reeling. I have also every book I could find on the subject of his works. Do do a piece on his buildings and Guell park. Surreal.
ReplyDeletehey anon
ReplyDeletelovely! barcelona has been one of my fav destinations for much the same reasons - the gaudi architecture is astonishing - and to think La Segrada Familia is still under construction!
i was also keen to see the mies van der rohr's 1929 pavillion - i'd seen so many images of it
plus i've had an ex who lived there
seems to be shaping up into a post - thanks to you! just checked my photos and i can't imagine why i haven't done one before
best
nick