Author: Lee Hausman

A Great Evening with Marti and Phil

Lee Hausman
 

Yesterday was a fun day! After taking care of business and whatnot in the morning, I took the Metro over to the Bastille area and attempted to take a tour of the Bastille Opera House. Sadly, tours were not being offered. So I spent my afternoon strolling through the nearby Marais district, which includes some very old but nice palaces and gardens and the Jewish quarter. I saw a lot of very interesting architecture and had trouble resisting the wide variety of foods on offer.

About 1600h (4 pm) I went out to the Museum of Music and joined my friend Phil Demetrion for the "We Want Miles" exhibition, which covered the career of Miles Davis. French exhibition curators are, as Phil pointed out, very, very thorough. The career of Miles Davis is long and amazing and the exhibit didn’t skip a minute of it. Phil is a retired music journalist and we first met when he was my guest backstage at a Frank Zappa concert back in the 70s, hence the connection.

After a cocktail, Phil and I took the Metro down to the 5th Arrondissement and met up with his lovely wife Marti who, like me, is a UVA Theatre School alumni from the early 70s. We were good friends back in the day when she was a costumer and I a techie. She made the wise switch to business after graduating and now has 27 years in with British Telecom, which landed her and Phil here in Paris 18 years ago.

They introduced me to Louis Vins, a terrific traditional French restaurant not far from my hotel. My meal started off with Profiterole d’ Escargo (mushrooms and snails in a little bread cradle) then progressed to Blanquette de Veau Ancien, a very traditional French stew of veges and veal. All accompanied by a lovely bottle of Burgundy Savigny-les-Beaune. The finisher was some kind of chocolate ecstacy with vanilla sauce. Absolute gastronic Heaven and only 44 Euros each! I can still taste the garlic from the snails this morning – wonderful – and the veal was outstanding. Easily the best meal I’ve ever had in Paris. After a leisurely 3 hours at the table, I was sorry to say goodnight to my friends. Many thanks to them for expanding my horizons.

All in all, a really nice day and the fabulous Fall weather (sunny and mid-60s) continues.

Paris in the Fall

Lee Hausman
Paris in late October is delightful: the hordes of tourists are gone and the colors of Fall make the city lovely. Daytime temperatures are in the comfortable low 60’s and dip 10 degrees at night and the air is clean and crisp. There’s something instantly recognizable about being in Paris: the cafes, the style of the pedestrians (always very put-together, a profusion of scarves, and very exuberant), and the architecture. My beloved Luxembourg Gardens is strewn with bright leaves and dappled with shifting sunlight, the Parisians still in their green chairs studying, kissing, or just getting some sun.

I’ve made my first visit to Soufflot Cafe near the Pantheon and enjoyed their wine, as usual. The owner and bartender put up with my French and even gave me a free refill. Soufflot is where a now-retired waiter named Guy was so very kind to my daughters when we visited Paris nine years ago, earning the cafe a place in my heart.

I’m meeting a friend this afternoon to see the Miles Davis exhibition at the Museum of Music, then we’ll meet his wife (a college classmate of mine) for dinner. In the meantime, I’m off to nose around the Marais neighborhood and check out the Bastille Opera House.

Like a Speeding Bullet

Lee Hausman
For the Romans, it was a horrible sea crossing. The Spanish navy never ruled it. Hitler was thwarted in his desired to cross it. Having just ridden in comfort underneath the English Channel on the Eurostar train in about 25 minutes, I am reminded of the history of the fields of Northern France. We do truly live in an amazing age. The Eurostar experience, by the way, is quite nice: security screening and boarding is more civilized than the usual airport routine, the seating is nicer, and the food and wine slightly better. You handle your own luggage getting on and off your coach, and the walk through the stations is far shorter than getting to that far distant gate at the airport. At the London end, St. Pancras International station, in the heart of the city, is clean, easily-accessible, and new. In Paris, you arrive at the Gare du Nord train station and have easy access to the Metro and RER trains. Door-to-door, for me, was about 3 hours; an excellent journey.

Even the Brits Think Snyder Needs to Go

Lee Hausman

 

I’m spending this Sunday just kicking around London and immensely enjoying people-watching. Between the Brits, the large immigrant population, and the tourists, there’s a lot of variety to see. 

I did a dry-run this morning on the tube over to St. Pancras station to check out the Eurostar facility. This is where I’ll be checking-in tomorrow morning to take the train under the English Channel to Paris. I was looking out for the number of stairs that I’ll have to lug my bags up, as many English tube stops lack escalators. In addition, I was gauging the travel time, which could increase greatly for morning rush hour. And, I wanted to have an unhurried look at St. Pancras, which has been recently rebuilt, without concentrating on making my train. All in all, I think I may take a taxi.

After that, I jumped on the Picaddilly tube line and rode down to the National Portrait Gallery to see a great exhibit of publicity and album art photos shot in the late 60’s of bands like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Who, Kinks, etc. Amazing to see them all so young, and it was quite nostalgic.

I then knocked around Trafalgar Square a while and walked up Wardour Street, through the gay neighborhood, to the Horse & Coach, a favorite pub near Oxford Circus. I spent an hour there over a very tasty pint of St. Edmond’s ale and took in the scenery. On the tube ride back to my hotel at Paddington a fellow got on the same car wearing a Redskins ball cap. I asked him if he was a "real" Redskins fan and he said "the way this season’s gone, I’d have to be to wear this hat in public"! We chatted a bit and he said the entire problem was Dan Snyder, that Snyder had to go!! So even the Brits know Snyder stinks as an owner!

By the way, the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are playing an regular season game here at Wembley Stadium in about an hour and there were a lot of jersey-wearing fans to be seen on the tube. A sell-out crowd of 85,000 is expected and, as this is the 3rd year in a row they’ve done this, there’s a lot of speculation about the future of the NFL’s British experiment.

I’m looking forward to getting back to Paris tomorrow!

All’s Well After Adventurous Start

Lee Hausman
My trip this time began with an unusual event, which was the cancellation due to "equipment trouble" of my Virgin Atlantic flight from Dulles to London-Heathrow. I guess it’s a good thing not to fly on a plane with equipment problems. Twenty-four hours later I took off on a United flight to Paris, then connected with an Air France flight to Heathrow. The United flight was quite good and Air France fine and, miraculously, my luggage arrived when I did. Having a day shaved off my itinerary was not too bad but compressed things a bit: I landed at Heathrow at 11 am Friday and by 2 pm was at the British Museum for the Moctezuma (we call him "Montezuma") exhibition, which was very good. By 7 pm I was at the Apollo Victoria Theatre to see "Wicked", which is a spectacular show. Even this old jaded theatre dude was impressed with the production! See it if you get a chance. 

Today, Saturday, after sleeping for almost 10 hours, I took the train to Reading and visited my old 2008 home. Not much has changed, it was very pleasant to be back. After walking about and seeing a few Reading acquaintances, I met up with two fellows from our UK office for lunch at O’Neill’s pub (ahh, the Guinness Red) and then we went out to the stadium to see our London-Irish rugby team beat the Leciester Tigers in a well-played match. After a cloudy, wet start, the day turned out quite nice, with temps in the mid 60’s. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself today. On the itinerary tomorrow… nothing! 

The End of the Lane

Lee Hausman
 
It has been an interesting 10.5 months here in the UK but, in 12 more days, my stay will be over. The computers will have to be packed up soon, so this is my last post from Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. My thanks to you, gentle reader, if you’ve been among my silent audience all this time.
 
It has been a rewarding experience. It may sound like I’m stating the obvious, but British culture is quite a bit different from the US culture and, to my benefit, I’ve been here long enough to appreciate the subtleties that one just doesn’t see during a 1-2 week tourist visit. I’ve grown accustomed to them, too, so I’m braced for my return to the US and will post some of my post-repatriation impressions here.
 
Being an ex-pat is an interesting experience. Of all those friends who vowed to take advantage of the opportunity and come visit me, not a one did. I discovered who among them is a good email correspondent and who’s not. My appreciation of Federal Express and the US and Royal mail services grew. I came to appreciate the 1-pound coin and now think the US should do away with its $1 bill. I learned to walk carefully in a land where pedestrians do not have the right-of-way and learned to drive on the "other" side of the road. I became engrossed in watching rugby and learned to love traditional ale. I learned what it is to be utterly on my own for nearly a year, with no friends and no social life. I spent many weekends speaking to no one who wasn’t taking my order.
 
The people here are generally friendly, pleasant, and relaxed. Life is less hectic and less stressful. Their opinion of the US, despite George Bush, is quite good. Manners are valued and almost everyone on the other side of a sales counter from me, in stores tiny and large, addressed me as “Sir”. They take their free medical care as a given and cannot understand why we have such a kooky system.
 
On the other hand, the drinking culture here is out of control and dangerous. Public drinking is not illegal, and youth binge drinking is a serious and pervasive problem. Discarded drink cans and the smell of urine is common on Saturday and Sunday mornings in town. The laws allow police to take action only after a serious crime has been committed; excessive drinking is very often involved. CCTV cameras, 4.2 million of them, watch everything and everyone in England but seem most useful in solving, not preventing or deterring, crime.
 
I took in a lot of great places and sights – museum exhibits, theatre performances, historic sites, awesome art, and more. I took advantage of the greatest, free entertainment institution in the world, the Public Library, and read 62 books while here. I read the London Times and the Independent – both fine newspapers. I played the EuroMillions lottery every week and won nothing, but enjoyed comparing notes with the father and son who run my local news agent shop.
 
So, I’m now boxing up my stuff and preparing all those customs forms and will soon fly home. I’ll have one last night in London to take measure and reflect on my Life in the UK; the next day I’ll start the next chapter.
 
 
 

Rugby More Civilized Than Football?

Lee Hausman
 
January-like weather has arrived in Reading and it’s bitterly cold. Last Sunday I attended a rugby match and watched very fine performances from both our local London Irish team and the terrific Saracens team from nearby Watford. Our team won after a hard-fought contest. The day started with serious rain coming down, cleared up to be nice and sunny though cool for kickoff and, as we left the stadium, finished up with a serious storm and more rain. 
 
The day before, Saturday, I happened to go up to Pub Row for a late lunch. There was a football (soccer) match scheduled for mid-afternoon and the preparations at the pubs were rather interesting. As I have reported before, Friar Street in central Reading has several blocks that are just cheek-to-jowl pubs. When I arrived at O’Neills, there were two bouncers on duty (at 1:30pm) and they were checking IDs. You either had to have something with a Reading address on it or season tickets for the Reading Footbal Club, in order to be allowed into the pub! They were kind enough to let me in on the basis of my library card.
 
This is the means used to prevent violence in the pubs when supporters (fans) from different football clubs mix. I also noted about 40 police officers on foot and half a dozen more on horseback patrolling the area. Apparently our local team was playing a team from Southampton; a kind of “blood feud” adversary. It appears that fans of the visiting team have a habit of coming to town, flooding the pubs, and causing trouble. One interesting sight: the police horses wear mini plexiglass windshields over their eyes. They were huge, beautiful animals, with the saddle seat at about the top of my head – just over 6’.
 
Why is it that the “finesse” sport – soccer – has fans that are so much more violent and vicious than the relatively civilized fans of the “violent” sport – rugby? At our rugby match, I sat with several Saracens supporters nearby, we all applauded good play by either team, and we rode back to town on the shuttle bus together without so much as a good-natured insult being exchanged. The whole business is wonderfully incongruous.
 

Weekend in Dublin

Lee Hausman
 
I’m just back from a lovely weekend in Dublin. I flew over on Aer Lingus on Saturday morning and came back Sunday afternoon. I was lucky: the weather was almost as welcoming as the wonderful Irish people.
 
Unbeknownst to me, I chose a weekend with a major international rugby match (Ireland vs. New Zealand) going on and also Fall Graduation at Trinity College. So, the plane was packed and the downtown area in Dublin was lively. 
 
My first stop was a tour of the Guinness Storehouse, a “museum” built into an old Guinness warehouse. The dramatization of the history of Guinness and how its four ingredients become pints of “Black Gold” is a bit of stretch but worth the visit. Naturally, there’s a gift shop with more Guinness-labeled goods than you can believe, and your stroll through retired barrels and vats and vintage brewery machinery takes up most of your time. But the highlight of the tour is taking in a wonderful 360-degree view of Dublin from the top of the building… while you sip your complimentary pint of Guinness. And, I have to admit, it really does taste better in Dublin. Sadly, the variety I have become fond of, Guinness Red, is only available in the UK, but I made do with the original.
 
Then a stroll through the pedestrian shopping area along Grafton Street, a visit to Trinity College, and a peaceful tour through St. Stephens Green (a Victorian park) used up the rest of the afternoon. Dublin is a city of 1.5 million and 60% of them are under 30, so the place has a hip, young feel to it and lots of energy.
 
At 5:00pm I went to O’Donohughes Pub to see the rugby match on TV and take in some traditional Irish music. The tiny place was packed, Guinness flowed like water, and the Irish took a licking from the astonishing New Zealand team, losing 3-22. The Irish music was uneven and a bit of a disappointment but the general experience was lots of fun, nonetheless. The night wore on and more and more people jammed into the place; I finally called it a night when I just couldn’t face drinking another drop of Guinness and it seemed too crowded for me.
 
This morning the elevator door opened for me to get on and there were four of the New Zealand players! The five of us made a tight squeeze on the elevator and I only took up about 5% of the space. The world champion team was staying at my hotel and I got a good look at them over breakfast. Impressive!
 
I was back at Heathrow by 3:00pm Sunday and, sure, the door-to-door time invested in getting to Dublin was probably not worth it, but I was able to use frequent-flyer and –sleeper miles so the cost was low and I’m quite glad I made the effort. I’m sure I felt the spirit of my Irish ancestors on my mom’s side approving.
 
 

Remembrance Day

Lee Hausman
 
Ceremonies were held throughout Europe today to mark the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
 
In the US, we call it Veterans Day and honor participants of all wars. Here in the UK, it’s known as Remembrance Day and is specifically about WWI. Almost everyone here wore cloth poppy flowers on their lapels as a symbol of remembrance. I don’t know if it’s the proximity of the battlefields, the relatively large ratios of the dead to their total populations, or a greater sense of history, but Brits and Europeans take these events and anniversaries much more seriously than Americans do.
 
Most Americans probably have no idea that the Armistice Treaty, ending WWI, was signed in the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Britain held a two-minute silence at 11 am this morning to remember those who were killed. Bells tolled around the country and businesses closed their doors (even banks) for those two minutes.
 
Of the five million men and women who served, only four British veterans are still alive today. The oldest, Henry Allingham, is 112 years old. This will almost certainly be the last significant anniversary that any of those who fought in the First World War will mark. There’s just one American veteran left, aged 107 and living in West Virginia.
 
Why do we call it Veterans Day in America? It’s a truly American story: in 1953, an Emporia, Kansas, shoe store owner named Al King had the idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who served in World War I. He got his Congressman to pitch in and the next thing you know, we had ourselves another national holiday, and the WWI veterans had their day of remembrance diluted.
 
Today, the average American "celebrates" Veterans Day as just another generic holiday, with little fanfare. I think the Brits do it so much better.