#ilovetravel – FKDecanted.com

Who is not ready to get out and start traveling? I know I am itching to go somewhere. This is the longest I’ve not been on a plane in I don’t even know how many years. I think about travel, dream about travel almost every day. I miss the craziness of being in an airport, being on a plane, hearing the loudspeaker say, be prepared for take off. I find myself surfing through my favorite country travel sites on Instagram and Facebook or watching travel related cooking shows. I also find myself reminiscing a lot about where I’ve traveled to and with whom. I can’t believe I’m writing that it’s been 3 years since my mom’s passing. Time does travel, sometimes all too fast. I wanted to share a story about a trip she and I took to France many years ago. It was a gift of my dad’s to us, so that we could spend some quality time together in France; a place he and I had spent time in when I was a teenager — that’s for a whole other story! Dad was himself very sick at this time and mom and I were hesitant about going but he insisted and we knew that our going would make him happy. That’s how he was, he never wanted anything big for himself, he got the most pleasure in giving. He knew we needed a break, and for those of you who’ve been through it, being a caretaker is very hard. So mom and I went on our first long mother – daughter trip to Paris, the City of Light, Art, Beauty and Wine & Food!

I set the itinerary and we would hit all the great sites in Paris, go to Versailles and make a special visit to Champagne Pol Roger, since I worked with them for many years while at my previous company. I’m pretty organized with trip itineraries, ask anyone who’s been on one with me and this was no different! I do a lot of research so that a trip comes together seamlessly to make it easy for all. Not having stayed in Paris for eons, I asked a friend for a recommendation for a hotel. I have to admit, I’m pretty picky about my hotels and don’t usually take recommendations for small boutique hotels, but I did this time. Lovely place in the 7th, seriously quaint, but as we all know, quaint doesn’t just mean cute, it also can mean small. And this place sadly was small. A double room as I learned meant just a room for 2, not a room with double beds. This one had one queen size bed in a room where we could pretty much touch the walls. So I freaked out a bit, talked my way out of the reservation and moved us to the Radisson Blu just outside the main part of the city. Now before you scoff at the American hotel chains, remember they are so much more grand when you get out of the US, almost like you’re not in a chain hotel. We were now comfortable, a little remote but it fit the budget and made us happy. Now we were set to conquer the city. I had been to Paris many times so I was super happy to be showing this to mom who had never been. I loved seeing how she loved the city. She was in good form and was able to do a lot of walking thank goodness, since Paris is truly, like New York or London, a walking city, best seen on foot.

Of course we went to the Louvre, Montmatre, Montparnasse etc… and to Versailles. We ate and ate and ate more. Dad allowed me to splurge on some amazing meals and I took her to 2 of my favorite places, one’s I had been to with dad when he was here — Taillavent and La Tour d’Argent. Walking into Taillavent with her was an experience. You stand a litle straighter, immediately feel elegant, and special. The food was extraordinary, the service was beyond reproach, your every wish is anticipated, you never feel surrounded by service, you just enjoy the moment. I also took her to the famous Tour d’Argent for their famed Canard a Presse, their pressed duck. Overlooking the Seine, it’s like you’ve stepped into a museum of food and wine. Their wine collection is fabled, but it’s the duck we were there for! Here’s an image of the famed Presse a Canard, the duck press, I will spare you the details, but you get the idea. If you want to look up how it’s used go ahead, it looks like a medieval torture device, but at the end of the day the duck was incredible.

We sipped coffee at Les Deux Magots, went to Fauchon where I think mom could have moved in, but one of our most memorable meals was at a Moroccan Restaurant called Al Mounia. We wanted to do something that wasn’t heavy french food, we wanted something that Paris was known for and Moroccan food was it. We went in and it felt like you were stepping into Morocco. I can still smell the spices today and remember vividly the Pastilla that we shared. A chicken pie that’s not just a chicken pie but a blend of warm spices enveloping chicken surrounded by a flaky pastry and topped with cinnamon and powdered sugar. Sweet, savory, warm and just oh so amazing. But it was the mint tea at the end, that I can still taste and smell just by remembering. I had never tasted anything like it, mint steeped in sweet water, it was truly delicious.

Other than Versailles, our only other excursion out of the city was to Epernay, for a visit with Christian and Danielle Pol Roger of Champagne Pol Roger. I hadn’t been back to that area of Champagne in many years. When I was in High School I spent a summer in Reims when I worked as a tour guide at Mumm, so I was eager to go back and bring mom. Christian Pol Roger was a gentleman in the truest sense. Elegant yet approachable, just like his Champagne, sums him up perfectly. Christian and his wife Danielle, could not have been more welcoming. Danielle took pride in showing mom her rose garden, where she had recently had a rose named for her. After our tour of the caves, we went back to their house and had a lovely lunch. I can still remember the fish pie she served us, it was the first time I had had one and it was delicious. I think it was accompanied by a Chablis from Moreau. At the end of the visit, Christian presented Mom with a bottle that he autographed and said that she and dad should share it for their upcoming anniversary. I recently heard that Christian passed away, and I can say that this is a loss for the world of wine, and Champagne in particular. At my old company, we had this wonderful winemaker tour called the Grand Tour, Christian was a cornerstone of this group of legends in wine. One day he and Olivier Leflaive turned around and started calling me “La Farine Francine”, which I took as a term of endearment. For those of you who don’t know, it’s also a brand of flour in France.

Anyway back to mom. Here’s a picture of her with Danielle and Christian in Danielle’s garden.

Time travel, time to travel, or time travels. Three years have gone by, so much has changed but the memories remain. We are lucky to be able to travel in time through our memories. Sometimes it’s a picture, a song, a place even a glass of wine, or a food that jogs our memory and allows us to travel back in time. For now I celebrate mom by traveling back in time to remember. I think I’ll open up a bottle of Pol Roger Champagne, toast her and travel a bit more in time.

I’m not sure when my obsession with Holiday Markets began but I confess I LOVE them!

There is just something so festive and cheery about the little chalets filled with holiday treats to eat and crafts to buy. I’m pretty sure it must have started when I was a kid and my parents and I would stroll down 5th Avenue and Madison Avenue, to see all the fancy department store windows. This was an annual tradition that I loved! Sadly so many of these iconic department store windows no longer adorn the avenue since so many of them have closed over the past few years.

We’d start at B. Altman — many of you may know this today from the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Altman’s as we called it, was housed in a gorgeous building close to the Empire State Building and had the most fantastic windows. We’d then take a short stroll over to Lord & Taylor which sadly closed its iconic flagship store. Lord & Taylor was always my favorite, as it windows were always stories of old New York. Then we’d peak into the store and see it all dressed up and glittering so festive! Many of the airlines would also have offices on 5th and they too would be all dressed up in their holiday finest showing off the holidays from their home country. We’d then go past the tree at Rockefeller Center and look into the windows at Saks. Then we’d wind our way over to Park Avenue and go past the Lever House Building and see the carousel which was a real carousel in the window! We’d wander over to Bloomingdales with their larger than life windows and then back over to 5th to see the Star across 57th and the greatest windows of all Bergdorf Goodman! I still try to do this tradition of walking the avenues and seeing the holiday displays but it’s not the same — Lord & Taylor, Altman’s, now Barneys all gone and so too are their windows.

What we now have in the city are amazing little Holiday Markets all through out the city. European styled chalets twinkling with lights and colored in red and white are so festive and great places to purchase or just peruse handicrafts and food. So this leads me to my newest obsession and that’s going to Europe to see the holiday markets there. A year ago I went with one of my good friends to Vienna so that I could sit in a cafe, eat strudel, drink coffee and stroll through the bounty of holiday markets in the city. It was everything I wanted it to be and had imagined it to be! Vienna during Christmas is magic. And to truly appreciate the beauty you have to walk around at night. The city is light up with holiday lights everywhere and a holiday market at every turn! Each has a different theme and size so you never get bored of seeing “another”. The one common thread in all was the most amazing hot, mulled wine called Gluhwein. The smell evokes holiday first off, cinnamon, cloves, orange and of course red wine — each vendor had its own recipe and came in a fantastic mug that you could purchase and take with you. In fact the other night it was so cold and snowy here that I made my own version. Here’s the recipe: 1 bottle red wine, 2 cinnamon sticks, peel from 1 orange plus 4-5 thin slices, 3 star anise, 3 cloves, and sugar to taste — depends on how sweet you want it. Heat this for about 20 minutes, simmering then strain out the solids and pour into mugs.

In the 3 days we were there we did as much as possible! Saw the famous Viennese Riding Academy and the Lipazzaner Stallions which as a kid I had always seen in NY at the National Horse Show, but to see a full show with these acrobatic animals dancing and gliding in the most fantastic historic arena was a dream for me! There’s something magical about hearing music in what many consider the home of music, so we went to the famed Orangery in Schoenbrunn Palace to hear Strauss and Mozart. And yes there was a holiday market in front so we got to see that too!

I think I actually ate my way through Vienna — thank goodness for all the walking. The holiday markets were filled with fantastic foods and so were the cafes. Take a look at this array of amazing foods on display at the markets, all kinds of wursts, pastries and goulashes, all so beautifully displayed you didn’t know what to eat first!

For dinners we ate traditional Austrian food with nice glasses of Gruner Veltliner or beer. This kind of food, hearty and rich really does call for a wine that has perfect acid and structure. New World styled wines with their over-abundance of fruit and tannin do not go with this type of food. Austria makes some fantastic wines and they are meant to be consumed with food! Not really a fan of boiled meat, but it is a specialty of Vienna — in fact many countries have the same like Bolito Misto in Italy. We went to the iconic Plachutta for Tafelzpitz and my mind was changed. First you start off with a soup made from the boiled meat. It is rich, and savory with egg noodles — again reminding me of grandma’s cooking and served piping hot served with hearty rye bread. Then came the meat with all the sides — sauces galore which helped cut through and enhance the richness of the meat. And oooh, the presentation was amazing — all served in copper pots table side. And dessert was actually Chestnut Pasta! Another night we went to a traditional restaurant recommended by our hotel called Poschl, and it was truly worth the hour wait! Complimentary beer made the wait a little better but once we got to the food, it was heaven! OMG, the roast pork with gravy and cabbage was amazing, just like dad and I would have at the Ideal in the Yorkville area of NYC, but better!

I made it a mission to go to a cafe a day so we had coffee and strudel every day! Cafe Sacher was a must for the famed Sacher Torte and Strudel — ok am a bit strudel obsessed my grandmother made strudel and that will be for another story! Then on to The Imperial Cafe for more strudel and a piece of Imperial Cake which I had to bring back to my “adopted” parents who had told me all about this and how their friend the former President of Slovenia would always bring them a piece. And finally to Hawelka which is where many of the famed writers hung out for guess what, more strudel!

It was all I wanted in a trip to see my first European Holiday Markets! Now off to the UK to London and Edinburgh to see more! I can’t wait to see them and write about them so you can all experience them with me. Turn on the Mozart, brew yourself a mug of Gluhwein, grill up some wurst, have a slice of strudel and transport yourself to Vienna even if you can’t be there in person.