Author Archives: wes

Wednesday, May 13, 2008, Brugge. Today, in the largest of the town squares, (in front of the 250-foot tall bell tower built in the mid-1200’s), is the open market where vendors have come in large trucks (that convert into stalls) to sell  vegetables, butchered meats, rotisserie cooked meats, waffles, fresh flowers, etc. The produce isContinue reading “Bruges – May 13”

Tuesday, May 12, 2009, still (happily) in Brugge. Leisurely morning. Slept until 8:15 a.m. We all convened downstairs in the hotel dining room at 9:00 a.m. for breakfast. The food was serviceable, but the setting was posh and formal. Brocade upholstered ceilings, brocade draperies, old world elegance for our frosted flakes, dannon yogurt and ojContinue reading “Bruges – May 12”

Monday, May 11, 2009. Before any details of our day are laid out, I want to mention that on another May 11th, twenty-five years ago, in 1984, in New York City, in a suite, in the Algonquin Hotel, there was a cocktail party where two young strangers, Wes and Marlow,  met for the first time.Continue reading “Arrival In Bruges”

A Great 24 hrs! Saturday, May 9, 2009. Dinner was eaten at 8 p.m. in a peaceful, untrafficked neighborhood in a nicely lit small room with windows overlooking the water of quiet canal. The Franco-Danish restaurant is called Kanallen. On the walls are realistic paintings of lower NYC food sites: Yonah Shimmel’s Knish, Katz’s Deli.Continue reading “Copenhagen and Train to Brugges”

May 9, 2009. Okay, Copenhagen, here is the impression: wild contrasts. From one street to another it can go from Cartier-Gucci-affluence-charm to nachos-urbanblight-seedy-pick-pockety-burgerking-shawarma-dangerous. Our hotel, The Palace, has a very cool facade in a wavy, curvy, carved-stone and red-brick, Gaudi, art-noveau style. The interior has had a recent gut-renovation. It is no longer art-noveau. ItContinue reading “Copenhagen”

Friday, May 8, 2009. Okay, it is our last morning, our last breakfast in the Grand Hotel. We have enjoyed the high-life breakfasting and cocktail-houring in The Grand with it’s great view of the exceptionally beautiful city of Stockholm. Now we are on a smooth fast train for a five-hour first-class cabin ride to Copenhagen.Continue reading “Friday – Train to Copenhagen”

Thursday, May 8, 2009, Stockholm. Glama Stan is a small island across from the hotel where the royal palace is located and is also the older part of the city. Sam and Wes spent the morning in a Gamla Stan shop specializing in maritime objects salvaged from old dismantled ships. The shop is like aContinue reading “Thursday in Stockholm”

Wednesday, May 6, 2009, 10:00 a.m., Stockholm. We are currently on the upper enclosed deck of a small steam boat that departed from Stockholm's City Hall and is taking us to Drottningholm, one of the estates of the Swedish royal family and the site of a theater, built in 1766, made famous by Ingmar Bergman'sContinue reading “Stockholm – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday”