October and Germany

My Jane Austen class kicked off in early October; I slogged through Emma (preferred her other novels) but had a great discussion and a lovely day out at Box Hill, site of an important passage in the novel.

About Box Hill: it is a well known beauty spot in the North Downs of Surrey, England, close to the southern outskirts of London, overlooking Dorking to the south-west.

The hill is named after box trees which can be found on its steep southern and western flanks, notably around the "Whites", chalk cliffs cut by the River Mole.

It truly is a gorgeous place, especially on a sunny autumn day, like Oct. 8. We took a bus there, hiked around with a guide who shared a bit of information about the area's history, had a glass of champagne at the top of the hill overlooking the valley (why not toast Jane and her novel characters), then hiked down and had lunch at a lovely little restaurant in town (The Dining Room in Reigate). Then back to London with Clueless (updated LA version of Emma story) for entertainment.

Ava, too, had a field trip – hers to the Horniman Museum to check out masks, among other things. She also got to see CinderMouse at a puppet theatre in Hamstead. Outside of school, Ava’s enchanted with her ballet class, and she’s had some playdates with classmates.

For Claire’s class I am the art parent liaison. I’ve yet to determine what that means, but it sounds good to me (provided I don’t need to produce some fabulous work of art).

School is keeping her busy, and happy – she’s made some cool projects, including a rudimentary flashlight, in her Creative Construction class. She’s also enjoying her First Holy Communion prep class on Saturdays. I actually got sucked into church school Oct. 3; my big plan was to drop her off and hole up in a nearby coffee shop to read but alas was pulled into a Mom’s religion class at the same time as Claire’s. It was interesting, led by a woman w/ a doctorate in theology. The material paralleled what Claire is learning and referenced art throughout the ages, which I quite liked.

Later the same day we caught up with our neighbors, Tim and Richard, in their top floor flat. Over coffee they shared some insights on the neighborhood, as they’ve lived on our street for several years.

Early October also kicked off the International Cultural Committee’s cuisine club, with a British tea. Great event with 50+ people attending. We watched a demonstration of scone-making and sampled same, plus little sandwiches and tea cakes, all served, naturally, alongside tea.

A witty British woman gave us a historical account of the adaptation of tea drinking, and tea as a meal, in Britain.

Did you know that…
- it was not until the mid 17th century that tea first appeared in England.
- Portuguese and Dutch traders first imported tea to Europe, w/ regular shipments by 1610 (so England was a latecomer to the tea trade!)
- London coffee houses were responsible for introducing tea to England.
- One of the first coffee house merchants to offer tea was Thomas Garway, who owned an establishment in Exchange Alley. He sold both liquid and dry tea to the public as early as 1657. Three years later he issued a broadsheet advertising tea at £6 and £10 per pound (ouch!), touting its virtues at "making the body active and lusty", and "preserving perfect health until extreme old age".
- By 1700 over 500 coffee houses sold tea, which distressed tavern owners as their sales of ale and gin were cut, and it was bad news for the government, which depended upon a steady stream of revenue from taxes on liquor sales.
- By 1750 tea had become the favored drink of Britain's lower classes.
- Afternoon tea is a light meal typically eaten between 3 pm and 5 pm. The custom of drinking tea originated in England when Catherine of Braganza married Charles II in 1661 and brought the practice of drinking tea in the afternoon with her from Portugal. Nowadays, due to changes in social customs and working hours, most Britons only take afternoon tea on special or formal occasions, instead having a slice of cake, biscuits or some chocolate at teatime.
- Traditionally, loose tea is brewed in a teapot and served in teacups with milk and sugar. It is accompanied by various sandwiches (customarily cucumber, egg and cress, fish paste, ham and smoked salmon), scones (with butter, clotted cream and jam) and usually cakes and pastries (such as Battenberg, fruit cake or Victoria sponge).
- Anna Maria Russell, Duchess of Bedford (3 September 1783 – 3 July 1857) is credited as the first person to have transformed afternoon tea in England into a late afternoon meal rather than a simple refreshment. A lifelong friend of Queen Victoria, the Duchess found a light meal of tea and cakes or sandwiches helped fill the midday gap between breakfast and dinner. Isabella Beeton describes afternoon teas of various kinds: the old-fashioned tea, the at-home tea, the family tea and the high tea .
- The term “high tea” refers to an early evening meal (aka meat tea) that has been largely replaced by today’s dinner. It was served in a dining area as opposed to “low tea,” which is served at a coffee table mid-afternoon and was preferred by higher classes.

There. You're now up to speed on tea drinking. Fancy a cup?

On October 5 I hoisted my umbrella and joined a group of women at the University Women’s Club for a talk by a fabulous British speaker, who gave us insight on the club culture, its advent and importance in Britain. We then took a tour of the Club, which is in a lovely building in the Mayfair area of London.
- The University Women's Club was founded in 1883 when Miss Gertrude E M Jackson of Girton College, Cambridge, called a meeting at her Portman Square home, attended by 60 people, to discuss the idea of a club for University Women.
At that first historic meeting, it was agreed that the entrance fee be one guinea (£1.05) and the annual subscription be the same.

A number of meetings were subsequently held and in January 1887 the University Club for Ladies, as it was then called, opened premises at 31 New Bond Street with a drawing room, dining room, library and dressing room. The club moved and expanded over time, eventually ending up at 2 Audley Square, the premises we toured, in 1921
.

At the same time it adopted the name The University Women's Club.

Today, The University Women's Club is the only women's club in the UK to be wholly owned and managed by its Members. It remains true to the aspirations of its founders by providing a welcoming environment and pleasant accommodation in Central London for Graduate, Professional and Business women.

With 1,000 members, the Club offers “first class cuisine, social events and a place to relax away from the hubbub of the busy city.”

Great place to drink that tea noted in my prior diatribe.

Incidentally, Gentlemen’s clubs were the precursor of women’s clubs like the University Women's Club. They offered rooms for men to stay, some used for extended periods of time. A number of them still exist in London and have lengthy waiting lists, many with elite members on their rosters.

After our tour we had lunch in the dining room – very good food – before again braving the rain.

In the same week I met up with friends to attend the preview reception for one of London’s art fairs. After champagne, cheese and salami, we perused the art, an interesting collection of largely modern works, none of which I felt inclined to take home.

Amidst all these outings, my calls to the fridge people continued...because the fridge again ceased cooling. Eventually an engineer again showed up at the house to tell me it needed a part that of course must be ordered, but should be in within a week. Hmmm…

While waiting from 9 to 1 (which then became 9 to 2:30) for the engineer to come, I managed to sneak out and attend Ava’s book fair with her. She conned me into purchasing 3 books, 2 for her, one for Claire. We also perused her classroom bulletin board, as she was Star of the Week. (As such we'd pulled together a number of photos, created captions and delivered them to school for posting.
Ava also got to select a special book to read with her class, and she sported a star pin all week.)

Late that same week, I caught up w/ a friend for lunch on Marylebone High Street (great café/food area), then got ready for a short flight to Germany and a 4 day visit!

Germany

This time we tubed it to Heathrow (frankly faster than a cab in rush hour traffic and cheaper too, but more physical w/ steps, suitcases, tired four-year-old and crowded trains). It worked out fine and of course it’s hurry up and wait…the nature of airplane travel. Our flight was delayed getting out so we got into Stuttgart late, grabbed our little Mercedes rental and headed north to Landau-Godramstein, where Martin and Gabbi live. (Travel made easier with the calm voice of an English-speaking woman on our navigation system.)

En route we phoned to say we’d be late, but not a problem for Martin…he was planning to be up til 1:00 a.m. pressing grapes.

He and Gabbi settled us into Frau Metzger’s apartment, a few blocks from the Schweikart residence, and we crashed after a snack of nutella and toast. The kitchen was nicely stocked with breakfast goodies, plus Gabbi brought over grape juice, wine and water.

Saturday

We woke up to rain but braved the weather for some exercise – it was nice to be back here after 15 years. This area is gorgeous and hilly with vineyards surrounding picturesque little towns, windy roads here and there throughout. The fall colors were lovely.

Joe picked up rolls at the backerie I’d stopped at a few times after jogging years ago – they taste just as good as I remember, particularly the pretzel ones. We had them for breakfast, mine with swiss cheese, nutella of course for the kids.
Then we headed over to Martin and Gabbi’s for a chat and tour of the wine-making operation. We parted company with them to seek out lunch in a neighboring village, winding up at a pizzeria that served pasta. It had a lovely view of the green valley and vineyards below.

Back at Martin’s at 2:00 we hopped into his car, a new (used) black Porsche that he recently attained and is clearly pampering. I scrunched into the back as it’s clearly a two-person ride at best. Ava and Claire stayed with Charlotte, Martin and Gabbi’s elder daughter (Karina was in the US for a two week trip.)

Off we went to Baden Baden for some gambling at the casino there. It’s well known and has been a favorite of wealthy Russians for years, according to Martin.
Joe and I tried our hands at roulette – he did better than me so we left with pretty much what we brought to the table.

The casino is a lovely, huge place that was filling up as the afternoon went along. We also took a spin around town – very quaint with nice shops, lovely trees, parks, etc.

On the way back Martin had us going 240 km/hour. A very bold rainbow and lovely sunset over the Palatine made for great scenery as we hoped he didn’t swerve in the rain.

Our evening meal was pumpkin soup followed by onion torte and new wine, traditional combination and very tasty.

Sunday

After rousing Claire and Ava we headed to Martin’s for breakfast – a friend of theirs was in from the middle Rheine wine-growing region so we breakfasted with him, Martin and Gabbi. Delicious cheese, meats, breads, eggs, nutella, coffee. Then we drove around a bit, found a flea market to wander through – flea markets seem the same everywhere – old books, lots of tea cups, dated lamps, old dolls, linens…nothing worth taking home (though Ava definitely wanted to buy SOMETHING!).

At 1:00 we headed to Gabbi’s and piled into her car along with Charlotte and her friend Esther. Off we went to Neustadt for a new wine festival parade. Naturally the most challenging aspect of this event was finding parking. After ditching the car in a somewhat precarious spot we hauled a bench to a corner and set up camp with a tall glass and some new wine to pass around. (Not to worry -- water and juice for the kids.)

The parade had some 136 entries so we were there for three hours! Bands, dancers, floats, wine princesses (and 2 queens – 1 for Palatine, 1 for Germany), decorated tractors, teams of horses, an airplane with princess atop, some entries even sporting Halloween décor. The kids scored on candy and our glass was filled with new wine as pitchers were rolled out here and there from passing floats.

The rain never materialized so it was a great outing; we got back to Gabbi’s at 6:00 and threw together a meal of bread, cheese, meat and tomato salad, cake to finish.
At 7:00 Joe, Claire and I flew out the door with Martin, hopped on the back of his grape trailer and went to meet the harvestor in the vineyard as he had seven rows scheduled for harvesting at 7:30. Ava stayed at the house.

Joe and Claire rode on top first, Claire in the cab with Hans the driver. She looked precious perched way up there. Joe and I traded mid-way through (sat next to the cab atop).

Monday

Today we slept in, Joe and I taking turns walking through he vineyards and enjoying the views. As we left it started to sprinkle so we headed off to Speyer. We hit the Cathedral first. Speyer Cathedral -- officially the Imperial Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and St Stephen (and apparently generally referred to as the Imperial Cathedral of Speyer) – is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Speyer and is within the Archdiocese of Bamberg.

Since 1925 it has been a minor basilica.

Construction began on this largest of Romanesque churches in 1030, with it serving as the burial site for Salian, Staufer and Habsburg emperors and kings, thus making it a symbol of imperial power.

Per wikipedia, the cathedral is considered to be “a turning point in European architecture," one of the most important architectural monuments of its time and one of the finest Romanesque monuments.

Into the 1100’s the cathedral was modified and expanded, becoming one of the largest buildings of its time in 1106. (Meanwhile the village of Speyer had only 500 inhabitants…apparently the enlargement of the building had become a political issue: provocation for the papacy.)

The last ruler was buried in Speyer Cathedral in 1308; all told eight emperors and kinds and several of their wives are laid to rest there.

In the 1600’s wartime ravages destroyed some parts of the cathedral, with some reconstruction occurring in the 1700’s. During the Napoleonic Wars (1803 to 1815) the cathedral was used as a stable and storage facility for fodder and other material.

In 1806 the French considered tearing the building down and using it as a quarry, which was prevented by the bishop of Mainz, Joseph Ludwig Colmar.

The cathedral is immense, lovely sandstone and simply adorned inside, with crypt and graves of emperors and their family members downstairs. The outside seemed a bit more disjointed to me, with some features clearly looking as though they weren't part of the original plan.

From the cathedral we wandered into the city centre’s pedestrian area, were wooed by a window full of scrumptious cakes to lunch at a buzzing little restaurant. After a hearty German lunch we tracked down dessert at a little café up the street (great tiramisu with liqueur drizzled over just before serving) then headed off to Speyer’s history museum, which had a great exhibit for kids centered around witches and witchcraft. Much of it was interactive, and the kids spent most of their time in a play area with a little house, slide, treehouse and small trampolines.

We then headed back to Godramstein, with a stop at a grocery store beforehand because it’s always critical to check out the grocery store, in my mind. Plus we needed a chocolate fix. (I know, the tiramisu should have been enough.)

We went out to dinner w/ Gabbi and Martin at a restaurant they hit occasionally – one of the few open on a Monday. We started the meal with vinegar tasting. Apparently a local guy, trained as a vintner (but not good at that, according to Martin) has made his fortune as a world famous vinegar maker.

Martin ordered us four samples, which were served in very cool glasses that we rotated around the table for tasting. They definitely made a taste bud statement.
For dinner I had the local Palatinate specialty, a meat and potato concoction served with sauerkraut. And to end the meal we had schnapps, again passing 4 glasses around for sips. Strong stuff; I didn’t get much past a small taste of each.

Tuesday

After walking through town and stopping at the Backerie for chocolate pastries – our finale vacation treat – we said our good-byes at Martin’s and headed off to check out Burg Landek. It’s a 13th century castle overlooking the Palatinate valley. With great views, it’s a lovely landmark for wandering around, with walls and stairways intact. We climbed up the highest point and enjoyed the view.

From there we made our way to the airport, driving along the Weinstrasse part of the way. En route to Stuttgart we stopped for lunch at a backerie/café for pretzel sandwiches, cakes and German style doughnuts. The kids were thrilled; they got to feed a customer’s dog their excess lunch meat inside the backerei. Pets in cafes…hmmm.

After ditching our rental we headed back home, retracing our steps from bus to airplane, airplane to tube, tube to St. Johns Wood…