Archive for February, 2011

L’Abbaye de Royaumont: Why Second Vists Aren’t Always the Best

Where we dined - le réfectoire

When I went to the Abbaye de Royaumont two years ago, I found it to be one of the most delightful dining experiences that NYU in France offered its students. Fast forward to the present when I was filled with excitement upon hearing that we would be heading over there again as part of the usual “congratulations, let’s feed you before the semester starts because you’ll probably be only eating baguettes for the rest of your time here.” Have you ever heard the saying that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” Well, I perhaps should’ve applied that saying to my memory and not gone on that trip to dine in the réfectoire once more.

Truth be told, I never went on a tour of the Abbaye; we had be taken there simply to eat after a long tour of Musée de la Renaissance at Château d’Ecouen in my freshman year – so there was at least one small merit in visiting the place again. But you cannot fathom the amount of disappointment that arose when it came to mealtime.

It was kind of similar to riding a roller-coaster; you are slowly reaching the top of a hill but not quite sure when you are going to dip because you are somewhere at the end of the train. And then, you are just pulled downward. That’s how I felt about the subsequent dishes. Perhaps the only tasty dish of the whole meal was the appetizer, which was some kind of melted cheese with chicken and vegetables atop a toasted bread (i.e. fancy pizza).

The main was similar to opening a can of crushed salmon and molding it together into its former fish self. Needless to say, it was not the least bit delectable. Add to that some overly creamed and puffed up rice grains to provide you your daily grain needs. But hey, at least the tomatoes were nicely oven roasted.

Sad to say that you know that the meal is clearly routed for disaster when even the cheese/salad dish isn’t warranting for a “please clean me off your plate.” With an overly heavy oak taste, the brie just stayed on most of the plates at my table. And the salad? Well, if you didn’t finish any of your main, you might as well have finished the greens, since that would probably be all.

If you are like me and made it through all that, you’d surely be hoping that the dessert would be some kind of holy savior to redeem all. Unfortunately, the dessert was just a complete buzz kill. I was expecting some kind of wonderfully concocted straight-from-the-kitchen delight; what I saw, though, was a toasted brioche with something that looked like it was once an apple, and a plop of perfectly scooped espresso flavored ice cream. That’s right. The only perfectly done thing to this meal was the use of the ice cream scooper.

I surely wished by the end of it all that I hadn’t visited the Abbaye again and dared to challenge my previous my experience, because all that I’m left with now is just a pair of memories of the same place at the same time of the year but with completely contrasted feelings.

The gardens that are quite bare now

Jordan and Winston after the meal

And to prove that I wasn’t imagining the beautiful meal two years ago, I dug up the pictures from my hard drive and have uploaded them for you, dear reader. I’ve also included a description of what each dish was (courtesy of the photo of the menu that I also have kept on my computer); sorry if you can’t read French – I’m just not up for translating today. Come to think of it, this time around, we didn’t get a menu of what we would be served.

Crémeaux de chèvre frais et artichauts, croustille à la tapenade, salade croquante de légumes

Médaillon de veau rôti, jus court au porto, écrasé de pommes de terres au croustilles de chorizos séchés

Brie de Meaux

Moelleux au chocolat et caramel à la fleur de sel

February 13, 2011

Budapest: Hills, Museums, and Wine

Szechenyi baths

Going to Budapest never really crossed my mind until a couple months of go when I was planning my winter trip with Krissy. We had originally set our sights on Turkey, but when the date to book flights came closer, we inexplicably opted for a trip through several key cities in central Europe. In short, that’s how we ended up in Budapest two weeks ago after a two hour train ride from Vienna. For the curious, the train ticket from Prague to Vienna cost approximately 40€, and the one from Vienna to Budapest was 26€.

With no couchsurfing host for this leg of the trip, we hopped off the train and headed straight to the hostel to unload our bags. Now, the hostel that we would be staying at (Lavender Circus Hostel) has quite a peculiar atmosphere with its wacky decor (think aquariums in bathrooms), and friendly staff offering wine and pálinka to start off our visit to Budapest. On a side note, you can have as much of the alcohol, which is made by one of the staff’s grandfather, as you would like; in addition, the staff enjoy cooking up a weekly dinner for their guests. Anyway, after settling the bill (which totaled to only 20€ per night for a shared bathroom/private room for two persons) we grabbed our bathing suits and headed for the Szechenyi baths. It is definitely something to experience at least one; being outside in the frigid weather, yet, warmed by the thermal baths maintaining a temperature of 34˚C.

If you’re looking just at the map rather quickly, as Krissy did, you might not realize that Gellert hill and the hill on which Buda Castle stands are different. So when we set out for our adventure of the day, I certainly didn’t realize the amount of walking that we would end up doing. With that said, though, I was amazed when walking up the many snow-covered steps and quickly glancing over from time to time at the rest of city below. Getting down both hills, however, wasn’t exactly the most thrilling; because, you see, the only pair of shoes that I brought on this two-week journey of mine happened to have no grip whatsoever on its soles. So as a result, I shuffled my feet along the pathways and side stepped down the slopes.

The following morning, before I had to head to the airport, I opted to slot in a visit to the Hungarian National Museum. It’s quite interesting to note that only the contextual information is translated into English, along with the more important artifacts. Everything else only has Hungarian descriptions. But somehow, that doesn’t quite matter; it is just as fascinating to see the artifacts and belongings without having the necessary descriptions of what you are looking at. On the topic of museums, here are two other suggestions of mine, as well as a recommendation of a place to eat at:

Semmelweis Museum: For what probably only amounts to 2€ (add another 2€ if you would like to see the temporary exhibition about Artúr Görgei), you can gain access to a comprehensive history of the development of western medicine from the prehistoric age to the early 20th century with a focus on the Hungarian medical system, and the work of Semmelweis. The museum itself was once the residence of Semmelweis, who is best known for his contributions to hygiene, and presents a wide array of items with descriptions in English for each one.

Semmelweis Museum, Library and Archives of the History of Medicine
1013 – Budapest
Apród utca 1-3.
Telephone: +36 (1) 201-1577
http://www.museum.hu/museum/index_en.php?ID=66

House of Hungarian Wines (Magyar Borok Háza): This is perhaps the highlight of my stay in Budapest. For a mere 7€, you can have a wine tasting of four Hungarian wines, but if you fancy dessert wines or spirits, there are packages for those too. Our wine expert Steven guided us through our tasting, explaining each wine, its region, and any other tidbits of information worth sharing. In addition to the wines, we also tasted Hungarian cheeses, which ranged in flavors and textures; some being harder than others, and some having more of a nutty taste. Of the four that I had tasted, I was most impressed by the Patricius Pincészet Furmint 2006 (Tokaji), which had notes of apples and peaches, and purchased a bottle for my return to Paris.

Magyar Borok Háza – Budai Vár
1014 Budapest, Szentháromság tér 6.
Telephone: +36 1 201 4062
http://www.magyarborokhaza.com/

Pink Cadillac: When people travel, there are times when they want to try the “really authentic” food, but of course, there are always other options. If you have a hankering for pizza, I suggest that you check out this restaurant, which is near the Hungarian National Museum, and open late. The pizza made on the spot and is in fact quite filling; a small one can fill your stomach for only 4€ or 5€.

Pink Cadillac
1092 Budapest, Ráday utca 22
http://www.pinkcadillac.hu

View of Budapest

House of Hungarian Wines

Hero Square, which we crossed on our way to the baths

Central Hall Market, Budapest's largest indoor market

Patricius Pincészet: Furmint 2006 (on the left); image courtesy of kuruc.info

Image of wines courtesy of kuruc.info; all other photos were taken by me

February 9, 2011

“What is this ‘Wien?’ Oh. It’s Vienna!”

'Wiener Eistraum' by the Rathaus

Quite unfortunate that I couldn’t put the facts together to realize that Vienna is known as “Wien” in other countries until Krissy pointed it out to me on the train ride. At least I was aware that Austria spoke German and made use of the Euro! While the rest of the ride was an uneventful one, I had managed to get through more of my Kindle reading, which was comprised of The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It and Water for Elephants: A Novel; both of which I recommend. It was mid-afternoon when we pulled into Vienna, but we had several hours to kill before we could meet up with our next couchsurfing host, René, who would be at work until 18h00. So we opted to set our bags down and pay a visit to the Haus der Musik (9€ for students and 1€ for coat check), which houses exhibits on the Vienna Philharmonic, the science behind sound through interactive exhibits, and the lives of iconic composers (a free audio-guide is provided for this exhibit), including Beethoven and Mozart.

When we later found ourselves waiting for René to pick us up at Karlsplatz, we discovered Anker, a Vienna-based bakery chain similar to Paul in France but cheaper, better and with a wider selection, and stayed there until its closing at 19h00. Now, I did mention that our dear host was to have finished work at 18h00, and one would figure to have picked us up by then, but he wound up being pulled in for a last minute meeting. After exchanging hellos and apologies, we hopped onto the tram to our home for the next two evenings for a quick meal of pizza and wine (very Austrian, I know). Instead of calling it for a night, Krissy and I decided to go out for drinks with friends of hers that were coincidentally also on vacation in Vienna (we had ran into them earlier at Karlsplatz); René suggested Kunsthalle, whose atmosphere is reminiscent of any yuppie hang-out, which one can find in the Museumsquartier. As you can perhaps figure out, Vienna seems to present far more opportunities for the museum-inclined and coffee/pastry monger than Prague.

In spite of the fact that the metro system works quite well in the Vienna, I usually choose to walk as much as I can to see the city and to blend into the crowds consisting of locals and tourists. In comparison to Prague, the wider streets of Vienna lend to a a more relaxed atmosphere, along with fewer tourists and more locals at this time of the year. To add, the fewer cobble-stoned paths Vienna’s city-centre provide a feeling of modernization; however the older buildings maintain the fact that the city has aged well throughout the centuries. Along with touring the city’s avenues, I ducked into museums and cafés frequently, and would like to share two highlights:

Hofburg Palace: The website can be quite confusing, but for (the student price of) 8,90€ , one can gain access into the Sisi Museum, Imperial Apartments, and Silver Collection, as well as pick up an audio-guide. If you only have time for one museum in Vienna, this is perhaps the one not to miss. While the silver collection doesn’t cater specifically to the lives of Franz Joseph and Elisabeth, it does illustrate the grand eating habits of not only them, but also of their relatives. The most captivating part of this three-part exhibit, though, would have to be the museum dedicated to Elisabeth of Bavaria, which displays carefully kept belongings and articles of clothing. The apartments, themselves, provide a better visualization of the times in which they lived, but may tire one out since it is the last leg of the exhibit.

Hofburg Palace
Hofburg – Michaelerkuppel
A-1010 Wien
http://www.hofburg-wien.at/en/home.html

Café Sperl: More so for the atmosphere than anything, this café, which Krissy’s former flatmate took us to, is a jewel with its decently priced menu, delicious treats, array of beverages, and pool tables in tow. The sachertorte and apfelstrudel, along with cups of hot chocolate made for an excellent afternoon snack while exchanging conversations on our lives in Europe. With that said, it may be hard to find a table during meal or tea times when immediately entering the venue; but wait a little bit, and you’ll be able to snag a spot quick enough.