Walking in Paris

I wasn't the one they invited, but my colleague knew the it was too close to his wife's due date to risk it, so he graciously asked if I’d be interested to be a panelist to a meeting in Paris. Oui! I was thrilled at the opportunity, and soon found myself diving deeper into my colleague's projects to do them justice. AtlantOS is a 4-year EU-funded project for greater coordination of ocean observation data (everything from buoys to satellites) among all the countries around the Atlantic Basin. The AtlantOS Symposium was a chance for those involved to report back, and for them to learn how different sectors (including non-profits like mine) use this data in our work. And so I found myself on a flight to Paris, arriving the afternoon before to adjust, prep, and of course sightsee a little before the event. I discovered the Rick Steves podcasts, which included a walking tour of central Paris and the insight that Louis XIV wanted Paris to be “a place dedicated to pleasure.” I also tried to practice smiling less for the Symposium, as an expat in one of the podcasts explained that Parisians think Americans smile too much, which they subconsciously associate with not being as smart. A little hard when you’re on vacation and eating crepes! 

I am so grateful the walking tour podcast started at Notre Dame, as I had no idea that just two weeks later there would be a terrible fire. I had visited Notre Dame before, but the commentary helped me see a few new details.

entrance to Notre Dame

This "point zero" marker in front of Notre Dame shows it is literally and symbolically the center of Paris. Thanks, Rick Steves podcast!

Detail of the stone carving and intricate ironwork on the doors at the entrance to Notre Dame. That's Saint Denis holding his head.

Inside Notre Dame

Back of Notre Dame for a better look at the flying buttresses. You can also see the scaffolding for the renovation and the spire. 

Crepe break! How could I resist Nutella and bananas?

The walking tour brought me to Pont Neuf just as the sun was setting, and I walked to “the lover’s bridge” to see the locks. They had clearly removed most of them, as I guess it wasn’t designed to hold the weight, but were fighting an uphill battle against tourists wanting to leave their mark.

Looking back at Pont Neuf

Lovers Bridge

For dinner, I asked my hotel for a recommendation and they suggested a place next door that had a fun Art Nouveau theme and the classic clichés in waiter uniforms, paper tops to the tables, etc. and a menu I could barely understand. I asked the waiter for his help and recommendations on what to order, and he suggested a traditional cabbage dish from the Alsace region. Had I known my French geography a little better, I wouldn’t have been as surprised when I saw this as my traditional French dinner:

Traditional Alsace cabbage dish--turns out that region is on the border with Germany. 

Enjoying the ambiance.

I think my German grandmothers would approve! It was delicious, if not what I had envisioned.

Cambridge Workshop, Bonfire Night, and Biking around London

I thought my first trip to England would be my one and only visit and have been grateful that each subsequent trip has proven that wrong. I eagerly accepted the chance to participate in a workshop in Cambridge, in part because of the topic but also because the location allowed a few extra days to play tourist. My first day in London was inspired by two opposites: the royal wedding, and the centenary of the Armistice ending WWI. Just before my trip I learned about a company called Stasher (like Airbnb for luggage) that allowed me to go straight from Heathrow to Hyde Park without worrying about what to do with my bags for the day. Depositing them at a nearby restaurant, I had time to stroll a bit while waiting for Kensington Palace to open. The sunken gardens adjacent to the palace were gorgeous, and it was hard to believe they’d coaxed some of those flowers to bloom in November.

Kensington Palace--the statue of Queen Victoria was designed by her daughter

Sunken gardens adjacent to Kensington Palace

Once inside the palace, I started with an exhibit of Princess Diana’s fashion and had a funny moment in the room just before it. While admiring some pictures on the wall I’d noticed a closet labelled “Prince of Denmark Closet”. I’m a novice at British history but not geography so this confused/intrigued me. Asking the guy on duty in the room, he explained that this room was in the wing favored by an old Prince who was from Denmark whose name was George, and the label was to help the staff locate it. Apparently, it used to be called “Prince George’s Closet” but after Will and Kate named their son that, people kept trying to pry it open in the hopes of seeing what the little prince kept in his closet. He went on to explain that some visitors like to try all the knobs, with the scary result that some of them were unlocked doors leading to the current royal living quarters (he went on to explain that security has improved). The dresses were beautiful and such a reflection of the time, with one of my favorites created for a visit to Saudi Arabia.

These certainly captured the time

This is THE dress she wore when she danced with John Travolta at the White House

This dress was made for a state visit to Saudi Arabia (also, check out the shoulder pads and sequins on the dress behind it).

Other wings of the palace helped tell the story of what court life was like in different eras of the monarchy, with court etiquette in the 1700s making me grateful we don’t live by those same rules. The Victoria and Albert wing was probably my favorite because I was more familiar with their story, but it was all interesting and worth the time.

This painting over the mantle is connected to a weather vane on the roof so the dial moves with the wind. Note that the size of Great Britain was...exaggerated relative to France.

The King's Gallery

Mantua court dress--the flat front was to show off the opulent fabric

One of Queen Victoria's dresses--I didn't realize she was so short!

Prince Albert designed some of these pieces for Victoria; the tiara on the right could also be worn as a necklace!

Wandering through Hyde Park afterward, I could tell my feet were going to be exhausted when I started to notice the rental bikes like I’d used in New York and Paris. Sure enough, for 2 pounds a day I could bike around central London. Sold! The first leg was the most stressful, as I inadvertently played chicken with fellow cyclists because I couldn’t tell which country they were from, but I still managed to enjoy pedaling past Buckingham Palace on my way to St. Paul’s. I missed the chance to climb its bell tower by a mere 15 minutes and consoled myself with a Remembrance Day poppy. Ditching the bike, I strolled across the Millennium Bridge for its great views and picked up a bike on the other side to ride to the Imperial War Museum.

Looking back over the Millennium Bridge at St. Paul's

The outside had part of an art installation created for the centennial called “The Weeping Window.” Each of the ceramic poppies represented a British or Commonwealth solider killed during WW1; the original installation had been at the Tower of London and some of the poppies were sold for charity, others were part of an additional display at the other IWM. Even so, the number I saw was beautiful and sobering. 

"Weeping Window" at the Imperial War Museum

Their WW1 exhibit was great but also made it clear just how complicated the war was, and it seemed the two factors that really contributed to its end were the Russian Revolution and the famine in Germany. Seeing the German advertisements for food-like substitutes, for the first time I realized that my grandfather would’ve been a child during that time and would have experienced the famine. It made me grateful for the relative peace and prosperity I enjoy today.

During the Great War, the British selected a tree stump in the battelfield, built this exact replica of it that opened to a hollow inside, and in the middle of the night replaced it so they could hide spies inside it.

By this time my jetlag, hunger, information overload, etc. all kicked in and I was ready to call it a day. I made my way to my bags and headed to Euston Station to catch a train to the suburb of Leighton Buzzard. I’ve navigated train stations before and this one was even in my native language, but for some reason the constantly updating sign baffled me, and it was by sheer luck that I discovered the train I needed was leaving any second from a specific platform. I bolted with my bags and made it onto the last car, squeezing in with everyone else for far too long before a stop allowed us to spread out. It was in this condition that I was greeted by old friends in Leighton Buzzard who were gracious enough to host me. It was so good to see them and catch up, but a late night after such a long day was draining and while I made it through church, Sunday afternoon was spent hibernating before a delicious roast dinner and board games. To top it off, my friends graciously drove me to Cambridge. The hotel was lovely and I was soon out for the count.

The workshop was a short walk away from the hotel at the David Attenborough Center, a new complex in central Cambridge shared by several conservation NGOs. It’s a beautiful space inside, but my favorite feature by far was their green wall, featuring plants from around the world and rainfed from a system on their roof. I was also impressed/baffled to discover in the lunchroom that everyone actually cleaned up after themselves and did their dishes. It’s a small thing, but our office has yet to master that skill. The workshop itself was great. I had a chance to put faces with emails, catch up with old colleagues, hear the stories behind the data I’d mapped, and chime in from my own experience.

Group shot of the workshop participants with my favorite green wall in the background.

Coincidentally, the first day of the workshop was Bonfire Night, and Cambridge hosts one of the largest free public gatherings in the UK. We joined the crowds just in time for the fireworks, which silhouetted against the old chimneys looked like a scene straight out of Mary Poppins. After the fireworks I made my way towards the bonfire, a tower of palettes that was fenced off with a decent perimeter for safety. The crowd felt dangerously packed as people tried to simultaneously move towards and away from the bonfire, when like magic everyone started queueing in alternating lines and the crowd flowed like magic to where they wanted to go. Only the British could do that, I think. The festival also included food trucks and carnival rides that at first glance looked like something you’d find at a county fair back home, but some of the vendors had novel dishes. I couldn’t resist a “chips” truck, where I ended up with Thai chili sauce and Nutella (not together) that fueled me for an evening walk around the quaint streets of the city center.

Bonfire Night fireworks display in Cambridge

The bonfire (from a safe distance)--note the man in the lower right for scale

The second night of the conference we had a break before dinner, and three of my colleagues joined me for Evensong at Kings College. One of them had been a student at Cambridge himself and it was interesting to hear what student life was like there. The setting and music were both beautiful, but alas, no photography was allowed. Afterward we made a brief stop at the Eagle Pub, a centuries-old pub where Crick and Watson announced their discovery of DNA, and WW2 RAF pilots graffitied their names into the ceiling. In a town this old, it seems every building has a remarkable history. Dinner was no exception, as we ate at a Jamie Oliver restaurant that was in a gorgeous old building and a great finale for my time in Cambridge.

Enjoying the atmosphere of the Eagle Pub with my colleagues

The next day I trained down to London and visited Kings Cross station, where they’d magically moved Platform 9 ¾ to a more convenient location with a Harry Potter-themed gift shop. While waiting in line to have my picture taken I debated which house I belonged to, at which point I realized: if I’m over-analyzing it, I’m probably Ravenclaw.

Ready for Hogwarts

Saint Pancras station

A short walk away was the British Library, where they conveniently put their treasures into a single room. Shakespeare folios next to a napkin Paul McCartney wrote lyrics on and everything in between, it was easily digestible and impressive. From there I had lunch in a unique location: the crypt at St. Martin in the Fields. The location was great, the prices were reasonable, and no one else seemed to be bothered eating on top of dead people. Fueled up, I headed next door to the National Gallery for its impressive collection and saw familiar paintings from my college classes. They had a mini tour in front of “Noli me Tangere” by Titian, and I learned that during WW2 when all the paintings were hidden away for safekeeping, they decided to boost public morale by displaying one painting at a time. This painting, for its hopeful message, was chosen as the first one to be displayed.

"Noli me Tangere" by Titian

Switching gears, I left the museum and walked to a historic landmark that was easily overlooked by most but is considered the birthplace of both epidemiology and GIS. John Snow’s mapping of a cholera epidemic connected it to the Broad Street water pump; removing the handle and the subsequent drop in cholera also proved it was a water-borne disease.

The Broad Street Pump

From there it was over to Harrod’s to sample some of their cheeses and ride the Egyptian-themed elevators up to “shoe heaven” for some impressive footwear, and their art gallery where they sold pieces by Chihuly (one of my favorite artists). In both cases, if you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can’t afford it.

One of my favorite pairs of shoes in "shoe heaven" at Harrod's..

Before taking the train back to Leighton Buzzard I stopped at a pub for bangers and mash, where I discovered the hard way how much horseradish they like to put in their mustard. And once again, I was lucky enough to run through Euston station to barely catch the train.  

Those rental bikes were key to making the most of my last morning in London, but even the best-laid plans can go awry. The first station I found had all the bikes taken and it took some wandering to find one. At my destination, I had the opposite problem and couldn’t find an open dock to return it. Once that was sorted out I had an early lunch at the V&A’s café, a beautiful space and the world’s oldest museum café.

Cafe at the V&A

The Victoria and Albert Museum is like a huge and elegant attic with all sorts of collections, and in my limited time I selected a handful of objects across the museum to check out. What all my careful planning omitted was the museum’s layout. Apparently, the floors only connect to the public galleries at certain points, so my elevator “shortcut” was a time-wasting glimpse at staff areas and I wandered through a few galleries more times than I’d care to admit. Eventually their staff pointed me in the right directions and I saw what I came for with a few extra treasures in galleries along the way. I got back to the area around Paddington Station with just enough time to buy chocolate at the grocery store before catching the train to the airport. I was grateful for all I was able to see and discovering those bike rentals and the luggage storage; I hope to put it to work again on a future trip.

I cut through Hyde Park on my way to the train station and stopped for a moment to enjoy the fall "colour."

Mr. Rogers Trail

2018 marked the 50th anniversary of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and after watching a documentary about him, I discovered that the show was filmed in Pittsburgh. I stumbled across the “Fred Rogers Trail” that the PA Tourism Council had put together, and a road trip with my friend Kara was born. On the way there, we were able to stop by the Flight 93 Memorial. The approach is completely different than New York or DC’s Memorial and is still being created. In addition to telling the stories of the passengers, what I loved about it was the intention to turn that scarred land (a former open pit mine) into a place of healing. The meadow was blooming, memorial trees were being planted, and it had a feeling of peace and renewal.

The "Tower of Voices" being installed at the Flight 93 Memorial

Mr. Rogers was apparently very health-conscious, but we couldn’t resist stopping for lunch at a place called The Fat Squirrel that offered a waffle made of mac and cheese and was delicious.

Our first official stops on the “trail” were in the town of Latrobe, his birthplace. Although he was an ordained Presbyterian minister, Saint Vincent College (which is Roman Catholic) is home to the Fred Rogers Center and has a free exhibit about the show including some of the props and his cardigans. It again impressed me to see how intentional he was in what he was teaching and the celebrities that appeared on his show. I also thought it was sweet that his mom knit some of those cardigans.

Fred Rogers Center at St. Johns College in Latrobe, PA

The Neighborhood Trolley

From there we drove by the cemetery to see his family crypt where he’s buried before visiting the downtown sites including his childhood home, the church he attended, and Latrobe’s other claim to fame: the birthplace of the banana split. The drugstore where this happened is no longer standing, but a nearby ice cream parlor served us an authentic version of the dish (who knew pineapple topping was a part of it?) topped with a little American flag; I felt very patriotic while enjoying it.

Site of the banana split's birthplace

The original banana split

Before leaving Latrobe, we visited the life-size statue of Mr. Rogers and I donned my sneakers and cardigan for the occasion. By the time we got to our hotel, we were too tired and stuffed to worry much about dinner.

Won't you be my neighbor?

The next day, we drove to Pittsburgh under a clear sky and had perfect weather after they’d had days of rain. We started our visit with a trip up Duquesne Incline with great views overlooking the downtown and the closest we’d get to riding a trolley.

Duquesne Incline

From there we visited the Senator John Heinz History Center, a converted ice storage building that was an impressive museum about all things Pittsburgh, including more Mr. Rogers artifacts.

King Friday's castle

The set of "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood" at the Heinz Museum

I had no idea so many inventors also came from Pittsburgh, and the Heinz exhibit was very engaging (if not appetite-inducing). For all the creativity, one thing that really impressed me was their use of the stairwell. They turned it into an exhibit on health, which certain numbered steps highlighting years of sports milestones or jersey numbers of famous athletes. For each flight of stairs there was a stamp to collect, and at the end you could show all the stamps for a free prize: a little ketchup bottle pin that was a replica of a Heinz marketing scheme at the World’s Fair.

All those stairs made me hungry, and a short walk away was a famous institution: Primanti Bros. They’ve been serving huge sandwiches since 1933 that were influenced by coalminers who didn’t want to get their food dirty, so the sandwiches come wrapped in paper and include what would normally be sides in the sandwich, including French fries and coleslaw. 

A bit of the line to get in

Enjoying our sandwiches

After lunch we started a leisurely stroll along the riverside to Fort Pitt and were grateful recent floodwaters had receded as we saw debris indicating how high it had recently been. Fort Pitt was an unexpected stop, but it helped me appreciate the historical significance of Pittsburgh and gave us a chance to work off all the delicious food we’d been enjoying. From there it was a quick jaunt across a bridge to visit the "Tribute to Children" statue next to the Steelers stadium and enjoy more views along the river.

The destination of our riverside hike: the "Tribute to Children" statue

On the walk back to the car we took a detour to the Milk Shake Factory, recommended by a local at the Fort Pitt museum and worth the hype.

Good to the last slurp

Back in the car, we drove to a crowded, quirky, and interesting place called “Bicycle Heaven”. I don’t think I’d ever considered how many types of bikes there are, but it was fun to see my bike’s model included in the collection, along with one of the bikes from “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.”

Bicycle Heaven (every room was this crowded)

For dinner we went with the hotel’s suggestion and visited “The Church Brew Works”, which is pretty much how it sounds. It was surprising to see the beer tanks where the altar used to be and to sit on old pews, but the pierogies were delicious and the ambiance was fun.

View from my seat The Church Brew Works

On the drive home we stopped at Buttermilk Falls Natural Area, which had been on land owned by Mr. Rogers’ grandfather and where he’d spent time swimming and exploring as a boy. It was a short walk to a small but lovely waterfall that we practically had to ourselves, and a nice calm before dealing with traffic on the drive back.

Buttermilk Falls Natural Area

I didn’t know what to expect, but Pittsburgh was cleaner, friendlier, and more affordable than some of the other big cities in the region, and I hope to return someday.