Ruth Paget

Friday, November 14, 2014

Visiting the Hanseatic Trading Town of Bremen, Germany with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

“The Only Good System is a Sound System,” reads the graffiti on a bridge overpass leading into Bremen, Germany.

Right beneath it is another line that reads, “The Best Nation is the Imagination.” Both sentences are written in English, which attest to Bremen’s trade links with England that reach back to the Middle Ages when it was part of the Hanseatic League. This League was a confederation of northern German towns that held a monopoly on trade with England, the Netherlands, and the Baltic Sea countries, particularly Russia.

Trouble came to the Hanseatic League from Denmark and Norway, who wanted the League’s riches and trade. In Forces of the Hanseatic League: 13^th to 15^th Centuries (Men-at-Arms), author David Neville writes that Denmark and Norway practiced piracy and invaded to obtain the League’s wealth.

The Hanseatic League’s fortunes began to wane as different maritime routes and trade patterns emerged. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica’s “Hanseatic League” online entry, “new maritime connections between the Baltic and the Mediterranean Seas and between the Old World and the Americas caused a gradual diversion of trade westward to the Great Atlantic Ports.”

The Hanseatic towns are still important commercial centers in Germany. Drivers from Hanseatic towns have license plates that begin with an “H” to distinguish them from the rest of those in Germany. “HB” stands for “Hansa Bremen.” “HH” stands for “Hansa Hamburg.” “HL” stands for “Hansa Lübeck.”

Modern-day Bremen continues to benefit from its historical importance. The town’s rathaus (city hall) and Roland Statue are both listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Bremen reminds me of Brussels with its triangular, stepped façade on many of its buildings. The main difference between the two cities is that Brussels has a Catholic majority and Bremen has a Protestant majority. The St. Petri Don (St. Peter’s Cathedral) is Protestant now not Catholic.

According to Bremen’s tourism website, the Roland Statue that was erected in 1404 is the city’s “Statue of Liberty.” Roland is the epitome of a medieval knight protecting the freedom and independence of Bremen. The span between the statue’s knees also represents an “elle,” or historical unit of measure used in the city.

My favorite statue on the Marktplatz (Market Square) is the Stadtmusikkanten (Bremen Town Musicians). This statue of a donkey, dog, cat, and rooster refers to the fairy tale of the Bremen Town Musicians as told to the Brothers Grimm. When I was a youth services librarian, I often read this story to children and parents along with Leo Lionni’s Swimmy.

This fairy tale relates how the donkey, dog, cat, and rooster had outlived their usefulness on farms. The rooster was even destined for the cooking pot. They all set out for Bremen to be musicians. (Busking still happens in Bremen.) Outside town, they find a robbers’ house with robbers in it ready to eat a big meal. The animals make a lot of noise braying, barking, screeching, and crowing; they scare the robbers away and eat their meal. I always had the children and parents provide sound effects for this part of the book that I was reading.

I will not tell the rest of the fairy tale after this part. However, rest assured that the animals used the talents and wits to live well happily ever after. I will always consider Bremen a charming and clever town for this fairy town.

Photos of Bremen’s Rathaus, St. Petri Dom, and the Stadtmusikkanten Statue follow:

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Laurent Paget Photography

Ruth Paget Selfie

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Visiting the Papyrus Museum in Syracuse, Sicily (Italy) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Papyrus Museum in Syracuse, Italy with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

I wanted to be an archaeologist as a child, so I zeroed in on the Papyrus Museum in Syracuse when I saw it in our touring guide for Sicily. I thought the museum would be full of Egyptian manuscripts.

Much to my surprise, papyrus grows along the Ciane River just outside Syracuse. We watched an English-language film, which showed how papyrus is made along with its many other uses. The other uses of papyrus are what truly fascinated me in the museum.

Papyrus can be used to make baskets, sandals, ropes, mats, and boats. The film said you could even eat papyrus if you wanted, but did not detail how to cook it. I thought papyrus baskets could be used for cooking in the same way that Native Americans have used baskets for cooking. You can place porridge or water in a basket along with rocks that have been heat in a fire to cook food or boil water.

The Museum houses papyrus boats that look like kayaks from Lakes Tana and Zwai (Ethiopia) and Lake Chad (Chad). The Museum displayed the boats with paddles, but they looked sturdy enough for an outboard motor I thought.

In Syracuse, papyrus paper began to be produced in the 18^th century. The film showed how strips of wet papyrus were laid down vertically on a cotton cloth in overlapping layers. Once the first layer was placed over the cotton another layer of strips was laid on it horizontally. The papyrus paper was then pressed down with a weight to flatten it as it dried.

The Papyrus Museum displays the equipment for making paper in addition to Egyptian papyrus paper fragments. There are also reproductions of Egyptian paintings depicting the manufacture of papyrus paper that are beautifully illuminated by the tall windows on the Bay of Syracuse outside.

Parking for the Museum is limited. Tourists should park in one of the city’s huge garages and take a taxi or bus to the museum. Along with the Papyrus Museum, there is also a Pupi Museum about Sicilian puppets located nearby.

Photos of a papyrus paper press and plant with wet papyrus strips are below.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Laurent Paget Photography

Ruth Paget Selfie

Using Sicilian Etiquette and Culinary Knowledge in Sicily by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

One of the most enjoyable parts of my visit to Sicily was going to the i Ruderi Restaurant for Seafood in Acireale.

I used Alba Alotta’s La Cucina Siciliana di Mare seafood cookbook to learn about regional specialties. (There are 400 recipes in this cookbook!) I felt confident about ordering in restaurants, because I had also read Mary Tyler Simeti’s Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food and Giuliano Bugialli’s Foods of Sicily and Sardinia and the Smaller Islands prior to my Sicilian trip.

Researching Italian food before visiting is a good idea, because Italian restaurants tend to offer what is fresh that day even if they have a printed menu. The day’s offerings are either presented orally or the restaurant guest says what they would like and the waiter tells you what they have.

My reading of Italian cookbooks, particularly those of Marcella Hazan and Claudia Roden, has taught me that the order of an Italian meal follows this pattern typically:

-Aperitivo – hors d’oeuvre

-Primi – first course that is typically a pasta dish

-Secondi – meat, fish, or chicken

-Contorni – a vegetable dish that is served alongside the secondi

The waiters spoke English, but they let me order in Italian. The menu for our first meal included:

-Aperitivi – Fried shrimp, arancini (deep fried cheese balls with a ground rice crust), and caponata made from chopped vegetables like eggplant and tomatoes served on toast with olive oil drizzled on it.

-Primi – Spaghetti with clams in white wine sauce, another Sicilian specialty. This dish was served on a large, deep serving platter with enough food for my husband and I to have two helpings. I liked the Baroque serving utensil, which was a pair of tongs with a flat, bottom size and a top side that looked like a lyre.

Being able to swirl spaghetti on a flat plate with your fork to eat it without the aid of a spoon is a skill like eating with chopsticks. I am glad I have both skills.

-Secondi – Next came a grilled fishplate made up of swordfish fillet, shrimp, fish sausage, and a whole grilled fish that was the catch of the day. (Swordfish is caught off the shores of eastern Sicily, particularly at Syracuse. Tuna is the specialty of western Sicily.) The waiter presented the seafood and fish to us before filleting the whole fish for us. I squirted the fish with soft-skinned lemons and thought I was queen for the day.

We drank a white wine called Inzolia with our meal. It was dry and fruity. It made me think of a wine that might grow in volcanic soil made from centuries of lava and ash.

We ate lemon sorbet for dessert and ate homemade rolls to go with the dressing on the arugula salad that came with the grilled fish. The bill for this meal was 60 Euros and included a bottle of water. The meal was memorable and encouraged us to come back.

I went through La Cucina Siciliana di Mare looking for a different pasta dish to try at i Ruderi. I thought spaghetti al sugo di gamberi looked good. This is shrimp with a sauce enriched by cooking it with shrimp shells to give it punch.

When I asked for it, the waiter said they did not have it. He suggested spaghetti with frutti di mare (seafood pasta), and I readily accepted. This dish turned out to be a ritzy seafood dish of scampi, crab, clams and small shrimp with an enriched sauce as well. The only other place where I have eaten such succulent seafood is coastal South Carolina where I spent my summers as a child.

We had the same grilled fish platter with Inzolia wine. The fish was excellent again. I Ruderi serves beautiful food in a beautiful décor. The restaurant is large and has room for small parties and groups. It is a spot that is worth the visit, as my touring guide of Sicily would say.

i Ruderi

Via Madonna della Grazie 104

95024, Acireale, Sicily, Italy

A photo of the grilled seafood and fish dish is below.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Laurent Paget Photography

Ruth Paget Selfie

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Sicilian Car Stories (Italy) by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Sicilian Car Stories (Italy) by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

We were lucky to have a car in Sicily. The rental agency in Catania had a problem with our reservation and would not give us a car.

This left us stranded at the airport and forty miles away from our hotel. The lesson here is that you should always have cab fare no matter what your age. It took us about two days to straighten out the car situation, but we finally obtained a rental car.

Once we had the car, we immediately set out along the coast towards Messina. The road was bumpy, because it was paved with volcanic rock from Mount Etna, which towered over us with permanent clouds over its central crater.

We learned Sicilian car etiquette and navigating nuances along the way:

-1 honk = get moving faster…right now

-2 honks = a car will appear turning right or left out of nowhere…right now

-Headlights being turned on in oncoming traffic = I’m turning across you lane right now

-Tiny cars = two cars in a lane built for one car, especially leading into traffic circles

-GPS includes directions for dead ends and former donkey paths in medina mazes in towns located on top of rock outcroppings

-GPS does not include road closures due to fallen boulders

-Parking is reserved for residents in downtown areas – tourist parking is downhill and far away unless you are a tourist bus

Even after we had learned these principles of Sicilian car etiquette, we still had mishaps. We drove to Taormina to see the Teatro Greco and the GPS sent us through the narrow streets of the pedestrian-only downtown and up to the gate of the Teatro Greco. We got a tour of Taormina that taxis and tour buses cannot replicate. We found “the big road” as soon as the police began following us.

The second mishap occurred in Syracuse at the Papyrus Museum on Ortygia Island. (Papyrus grows outside of Syracuse in addition to locations in Africa.) We found a parking spot and did not see the very small, obscurely located sign that said the parking spots were reserved for residents. The sign was written in Italian.

We discovered all of this after visiting the Papyrus Museum when we returned to the empty spot where our car had been. I also discovered that I could read and speak Italian in emergency situations. We managed to get a call into the police to find out where the car was, get a taxi, and pay a fine to liberate our car.

Our third car mishap introduced us to the maze-like urban planning of the Arabs, who had once ruled Sicily. Maze-like medinas were built for house-to-house defense and fighting. This third car adventure led us to the interior town of Enna, which is located on top of a rock outcropping. GPS directions here send you up and down steep streets and hairpin turns.

Once we had made it up to the town, we found a parking spot by Enna’s Castello Lombardia and were happy to exit town via a wide road that was built for tour buses. Halfway down the road, we discovered that the road was closed due to fallen boulders and work on the retaining walls. The GPS did not reroute us when we turned around, but gave us directions for the same road.

We returned back up the road we had taken and were finally rerouted. We could not return the way we came into town, because the streets were narrow, one-way lanes.

The GPS led us into a funnel-shaped, former donkey path that was a dead end. I knew the people who had garages there drove Smart cars and Vespas. We had trouble turning around and the side mirrors struck house walls when we tried to squeeze back out.

While I was directing angle plays to get the car turned around, two Sicilian men arrived and heads began to pop out of doorways and windows. The men took over the geometric directions and pushed the side mirrors to sides of the car. My husband proceeded to drive out of the passage with one centimeter of space on either side of the car.

We profusely thanked our rescuers and set out for the town square with the directions the men gave us in Italian. (I was learning quickly.) We watched where all the traffic was going and made our way down the hairpin turns of the rock outcropping. I was ready for a reposo (nap).

Vertiginous views from Taormina follow.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books

Laurent Paget Photography

Ruth Paget Selfie

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Visiting Prague, Czech Republic with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

“We won’t be in the Euro Zone in Prague,” I remarked to my husband as we set out from our Bavarian inn toward the Czech Republic. I had forgotten how easy it is to exchange money in countries seeking tourism.

On all the back roads we took into Prague, I marveled at GPS technology and the orderly countryside that would make a Midwestern American farmer happy. Some buildings remain to be repaired, but I felt that the towns and villages adorned with flowers were making things nice for their inhabitants as well as potential tourists. Czech restaurants with Czech-only signs appeared along the way with families out for a weekend lunch. Gas stations with gas advertised at 325 Czech Korunas per liter dotted the road

We found parking one block down from the Charles Bridge. The large avenues with trees reminded me of Boulevard Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris. The streets were clean, but I felt the buildings would be even more stunning with cleaning. The towering Baroque architecture in town was built to keep you in line with the Catholic faith and not to be tempted by deviations from it.

What is true of the architecture is also true of the statues on the Charles Bridge over the Vltava River. The Bridge is named after King Charles (1316 – 1378) with work beginning on it in 1357. Various guidebooks say that passing the religious statues on the Charles Bridge is akin to making a pilgrimage. The statues are darkened with wear by the elements and pollution. If they were cleaned, Pont Alexandre III in Paris would have some competition as the most dramatic bridge in the world.

The base of the statue of Saint John of Nepomuk (1345 – 1393) has a shiny spot on the brass where people touch it. Legend according to tour guides is that you will one day return to Prague if you do this like throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Another online legend says you might have a wish granted for rubbing that statue. A Czech woman we spoke with said you would not get sick for a year if you rubbed that spot.

After a walk amidst artists, buskers, and tourists, we found a nice restaurant outside the towers on Mostecka Street called Pod Vezi. The restaurant serves lunch specials and dinner throughout the day. I had bresaola and pork loin while my husband had potato soup and spaghetti. We both had apple cheesecake for dessert. The food was excellent and so was the service; we had three waiters taking care of us.

We dodged tour buses, trams, and motorcycles and climbed winding roads on the mountains outside of downtown with a shift-gear car as we left town. The countryside is amazingly close to the sophistication of downtown Prague. The music on the radio was good even if we could not understand it. The music accompanied us back to Bavaria, where we would enjoy a Pils beer from the Czech Republic and watch World Cup Soccer on a Fourth of July Weekend.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books