Midnight in Barcelona

Absinthe at the Bar Marsella -- Where It Began (photo credit Drew Smith)

If you read this blog, my bet is you have seen the Woody Allen Movie "Midnight in Paris" about the nostalgic young American writer who goes back in time to "The Dingo" in 1920s Paris every night at the stroke of 12, spending time with the "Lost Generation" of Hemingway, the Fitzgeralds, Picasso, Stein, Dali and more.

In Barcelona, on a little forgotten street a few blocks from "the tourist section" is a little bar named "The Bar Marella" where you can experience your own nostalgic time travel. This bar is 200 years old and has not been dusted or changed whatsoever since the 1920s. It is the place given credit for introducing Absinthe -- the drink of choice for many of the Lost Generation as well as others. It was outlawed once upon a time but came back after the wormwood used in the original form was removed from the process.

Notice the Dust (photo Drew Smith)

Drew, Dad and I went looking for the Bar Marsella -- where the likes of Hemingway, Picasso, Dali, and the famous architect Antoni Gaudi, the genius behind all of the wonders of Barcelona, spent time here drinking the famous drink. While Madrid was Hemingway's favorite Spanish city, when he visited Barcelona this was his favorite bar. It was also the actual location used in another Woody Allen movie, "Vicky Christina Barcelona" (2008).

After Drew left to meet a college friend from Spain, Dad and I met a wonderful couple and we asked them to join us. Laura and Eric were there for the same reasons... literary nerdism. We had run into each other earlier that evening. Once we found the bar, an adventure in and of itself, it looked like it might be closed down. Not to worry, the prostitutes of the area, as well as the policeman, informed us it would not open until 11pm. It turns out this is considered something of a "Red Light District" for Barcelona... and apparently prostitution is legal here since the policeman was working the same block. However, as we all agreed, since the prostitutes were there in the 1920s as well, back when this was known as the place to be, it actually led to the ambiance in strange way. There were no hordes of tourists, something we had been fighting (and contributing to) all day.

With Eric of Portugal and Laura of Atlanta, with Dad at the Bar Marsella

Nope. As the clock struck midnight, and Laura and Eric and Dad and I sat there trading rounds of absinthe (Dad only had one), it dawned on me that this new day was the anniversary of Ernest Hemingway's death. I took the occasion to offer a toast to the man, in his bar, with his drink, among new friends who shared a love of his work just as I do. Whether or not Hemingway's ghost was present, his spirit no doubt was there that night.

You can cut the nostalgia with a knife, almost literally. The paint is peeling. The bottles and pictures on the walls are from the 1920s. The bar keepers did not dress in period costume, but that would have just made it a tourist thing anyway.

Yep, this was a surreal experience -- my very own "Midnight in Paris" and my own Dingo Bar. It is all the more fitting since the greatest surrealist himself -- Salvadore Dali -- used to drink here as well

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We shared more rounds of absinthe than I care to (or frankly am able to) remember. Just as I had read in a New York Times article, the real crowd did not show up until after mid-night as well. Eventually, the place was full of people from every walk of life. There was one college-age French Art Student in the corner who was lighting her sugar cube with a bic before the ritualistic pouring of water over the sugar cube to give it a caramelized taste -- a welcome thing if you do not like the taste of licorice. She also knew the reputation of the bar, and sat in the corner drawing the scene that night. The locals hung out at the bar and laughing with friends.

In short, it was perhaps the most memorable way I could kick off "the Hemingway portion" of my trip. Sadly, the Bar Marsella is under siege. The owners of the building in which it is located want to sell. There is a fear that the property will be redeveloped. The city sees it as a way to clean up an area that is very close to the main "tourist" area, if unseen and unknown by most of them right now.

There is a petition online to ask the city to buy it for the $1 million asking price and save it just like it is... no changes, no neon signs, just nostalgia, history, and the authentic and very real experience of traveling back in time. Please Google "Save the Bar Marsella" and sign the petition. Better yet, buy it and move there. You will not regret it.

Save the Bar Marsella!

Drew Says Goodbye to Tartu

Drew and Dad in the Tartu Square

I know that so far on this trip not munch has been mentioned about Hemingway... however there will be much of that to come. The first stop was Tartu, Estonia, to pick up my son Drew Smith who has been attending the University of Tartu -- one of the oldest universities in Europe -- for the last year. 

Downtown Tartu -- Old Europe at its Best -- Outdoor Cafes and Incredible Climate (for now)

Tartu is located about two hours from Tallinn, the Capital of Estonia. It is the main college for Estonia, so one might expect this 500 year old town to be full of the same thing college towns are known for throughout the world. There is a youth and vitality to this otherwise ancient city.

We were lucky to have arrived in the middle of their very short summer. The climate was in the low 70s and a constant breeze permeated the entire town 24/7.

It Is Festival Season, and These Girls Are Dressed in Traditional Estonian Clothes before Doing Estonian Folk Dances

Politically, today Estonia has a democratically elected parliament, with freedom of speech, religion and what appears to be a very stable regime. It is one of the most prosperous of the EU Member countries. It is a great mix of old and new -- with a boom in start-up IT companies.

Drew took us on a tour of Tartu, its four bridges over the local river, and the many landmarks and old buildings. You can see very clearly the influence of the many countries that have controlled this nation over the years... the Germans, Soviet Russian, Scandinavians, and others. In addition, the walking tour served to keep my walking exercise going in preparation for Kili.

Drew and Dad on the Walking Tour of Tartu

St John's  Catholic Church

For Drew of course, this was a bitter-sweet tour. On the one hand he was able to share this place he has come to love so much with his own family. On the other hand, he was saying goodbye. We visited all of his favorite places one more time. We heard the stories of his year abroad and all the friends he made while there. If you have a child in college, encourage them to take advantage of the amazing study abroad opportunities. There is no education like it anywhere.

At Drew's Favorite Table at His Favorite Place One More Time

On the night of his departure, we finally got my lost bag from the airport -- the one with all the gear for Africa in it, as well as some items from home for Drew. It came just in time, because we left at around mid-night to catch the bus to the airport in Riga, Latvia, for our flight to Barcelona, where the Spanish adventure would begin. As we helped Drew clean and clear out of his down room, there was a sweet kind of sadness as the rain began to fall as we pulled our bags across all the old familiar places one last time for the bus station. I felt sorry for Drew. However, I am glad that his experience was so rich and meaningful as to leave such a impact.  The bus finally arrived, and we all got on and stayed on for some 4-6 hours, until we got to the Riga Airport. At Riga, we had to wait for another 6 or more hours to board our flight to Sweden and then Spain. Finally, we arrived at the end of a very long and bittersweet day.

Fountain of Lovers

E(rnest)=mc12: My Review of "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

Hemingway and the Relativity of Time

One of the best things about long plane trips with lots of connections and waiting is that you can catch-up on all your reading. I cannot imagine how people fly who do not like to read a good book -- it is the only way to pass the time in these situations.

In my case, the page turner was “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, published in 1940 and a book many consider to be Ernest Hemingway’s finest novel and even the pinnacle of his writing career. Written about an American fighting for “The Republicans” in the Spanish Civil War -- something which EH reported on directly from the front in the late 1930s -- it very well could be his finest novel indeed.

The novel begins with the famous passage by John Donne that gives the book its title, advising us that “no man is an island” and that we are all part of humanity “And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

We follow the journey of Robert Jordan, a young American professor and journalist form Montana who loves Spain and its people and has traveled to fight on behalf of the people and “the Republicans” against the fascists who are trying to take over country during the Spanish Civil War, a real event that occurred in the late 1930s and that did not end well for the Republicans.  

At the time, Hitler and Mussolini supported Franco in his bid to turn Spain into a fascist ally, and the Russian communists supported the Republicans as a way to counter Hitler and with hopes of creating a socialist ally themselves.  We know that Franco would win, and that it would remain a totalitarian regime until his death in the 1970s. Most people my age actually know him better from the SNL skit after his death when Chevy Chase would repeat the mantra that he is “still dead” every time he did the “news.”

Of course, we know that Ernest is Robert in many ways. Ernest loved Spain and saw it as the best country in Europe if not the world. He especially loved Madrid and the highland areas of the interior region around Madrid and to the North of Spain.  In “This Spanish Earth” -- a documentary he and Don Passos did after being a war correspondent there (you can catch this whole documentary on You Tube), we know that EH is drawing on many of his own experiences and of people he encountered.

Robert is an expert demolitionist and dynamiter, and at the beginning of the story he is given the orders of blowing a strategically important bridge as part of a great Republican offensive being planned in that area just northwest of Madrid, in the mountainous woodlands. He is introduced to a band of gypsies and guerrillas who live in caves and operate behind enemy lines, frustrating the fascists.  He is to blow the bridge just at the start of the offensive, presumably to keep the fascists from retreating across the bridge and pinning them down with no where to go but to surrender to the Republican forces.

One of the amazing things about Hemingway is that he can take what happens over the next three and half days and turn it into a full length novel of interesting story telling and narrative and dialogue between Pillar, Robert, Maria and the whole ban of guerrillas. Interestly, “Pillar” is also the name of his boat, which was short for his wife Pauline, even though this book is dedicated to his third wife, Martha Gellhorn. It could be a derogatory term in some ways, for Pillar was a matronly older women who is domineering over her husband. At the same time, she is very much a pivotal figure in the book who is very close to Robert.

Robert develops a close love interest with Maria, a young refugee of the war whom Pillar saved from near death and shock after her parents and entire family were brutally murdered and raped by the fascists. She was also a rape victim who had her hair cut-off. She was recovering under the wing of Pillar when Robert meets her.

Robert is in this to do war, and yet the young man and Maria, whom he calls “his rabbitt” fall deeply in love and even “get married” over the three and a half day period leading up to the demolition of the bridge and the Republican offensive.

In the process of this story, EH tells what must be autobiographical details about the suicide of Robert’s Dad, and how he used the Civil War era hand gun that his grandfather had passed down. He writes in great detail about suicide and his views on it, but is certainly not for it at this point in his life. He chastises the Dad for being a coward and selfish for taking his own life. Instead, Robert seems to look up to his grandfather, the great and brave soldier who fought well under Sheridan and out west in the “Indian Wars.”

We also get to read, once again, Hemingway’s many thoughts on war and mankind, and death on the battlefield -- a theme he returns to all of the time in his work. It is clear to me that Ernest Hemingway never quite got over his WW I experience as an ambulance driver and wounded survivor of that war.

However, the most interesting impact to me of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is how EH treats time. He and Maria talk movingly of their “marriage” and how time is relative whether it is over a lifetime of 50 years or compressed into three days. Pillar is a palm reader and she has seen something ominous in the palm of Robert. We wonder what this will mean for the fate of our characters.

So Hemingway once again deals with death, war, tragedy, love and -- in this case -- the relativity of time. He seems to say that all time is limited and that -- to borrow another phrase -- “it is the life in your years not the years in your life” that matters. It is how you live your life...That death comes to us all, but life only comes to those who live it in all its fullness and richness whether over a natural lifetime of 80-90 years or just over three days.

It is clear that Robert understands that they could all be on a suicide mission, and while that meant one thing before Maria, it meant quite something else after he meets her in what may be the sweetest love story of the EH works.

Robert and Maria talk of what life will be like “in Madrid” after the battle, and the war. They speak of how they will always “be one together” and where one is the other is always, and that they can never truly be individuals anymore. That this is the true meaning of marriage. This week, as the Supreme Court basically redefined marriage for the modern era to be broader that the “traditional “view of it, I think it fits interestingly into the broader view provided us by these two characters in “Bell Tolls”.

At the end of the book, Robert learns that the fascists may have been tipped off about “the Republican offensive” and that they are preparing to surprise them at the pass and the bridge. He sends his most trusted advisor to headquarters back across dangerous terrain to tell the General in charge of the offensive. Meanwhile, Robert and his band prepare to blow the bridge when the offensive begins. We are on a race to find out if the offensive will be stopped in time or not.

It is indeed one of his greatest works. His dialogue covers much ground and yet uses only a handful fo characters of a few days in a cave north of Madrid. He manages to get all fo the best of Spain as well as the horror of war into the book. Once again, in ways only EH can accomplish, we are there with Robert, side by side, until the last page.

I write this from Drew’s dorm room early on Saturday morning in Tartu, Estonia. Today we prepare to move out of the dorm, ship his stuff home, and fly to Spain ourselves. I am excited to finally visit this country that Papa has taught me so much about in the last few months. Come join with me as we discover “Hemingway’s Spain” together.

Tallinn, Tartu and Drew!

Overlooking "Old Town" & the Baltic in Tallinn, Estonia (Home of Skype)

As we boarded our plane to Estonia, our stewardess on the flight to Tallinn stared right out into space, eyes not blinking, standing perfectly still at the end of the aisle. It was startling when she finally moved, almost like a manikin waking up -- very creepy.

Estonia is the home of Skype, is ranked as “the most connected” country in terms of free wi-fi and high speed internet, and is perhaps the fastest growing economy in the European Union. Estonia suffers none of the problems that plague many of the EU’s other members.

If you follow these things like I do, you know that Estonia was the subject of a much publicized debate between a New York Times prize winning economist and the President of Estonia on whether the lack of “austerity” in Estonia is the reason it has not suffered the same fate.

After landing on the tarmac at Estonia International, a small but very modern and new airport itself, another young person met us with a wheelchair. He helped us through everything but we discovered my bag was still in Chicago.

Looking Up to the Wall Around Old Town Tallinn

We exchanged our money (shocking every time -- the Euro makes you feel like you have had your pocket picked before you even leave the airport -- always save most of your money for a local bank where the exchange rate is low or -- in London -- free), made a  claim for the bag, and left for the bus station, also new and clean.

At the bus station I secured our bags in a rental locker, and the cab driver -- barely speaking English -- dropped us off at the “Old Town” Section of Tallinn.

Tallinn is the capital of Estonia and a port city on the Baltic dating back to the 12th Century. “Old Town” with its walled fortress still visible is a cobblestoned-enchanted place.  After being let off at the top of the “fortress” we looked out over the city and all the church steeples.

In Front of the Parliament Building in Old Town

We say the “tv station” tower in the distance and, later, the Parliament Building. It was here  that perhaps one of the greatest peaceful revolutions took place as the USSR crumbled under Gorbachev. “The Singing Revolution” as it is called, really ranks in history with one of the most significant non-violent and successful revolutions in history.

In 1989, the people of Estonia used their bi-annual “singing festival” too sing for liberty from the Soviet Union after limited freedoms were allowed under Gorbachev, eventually leading later to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.

Now Estonia is a free republic and independent from its many conquering powers for the first time since before WWII.  It is a story that ranks up there with Nelson Mandela and Marin Luther King in the non-violent way the Estonian people won independence.

Cobblestone Streets Forever in "Old Town"

After touring Tallinn and all its quant cobble stoned winding “Old Europe” charm, we headed back to the bus station where we booked the big “purple bus” a new modern bus -- equipped with Wi Fi even (another first for me) -- and embarked on a 2 hour drive to Tartu to finally meet up with Drew. We passed many Estonian farms, wheat fields, and beautiful forests of spruce and pine before finally coming into Tartu.

As the bus entered the college town, I began to notice landmarks that I had seen in Drew’s many videos that he was hired to do for the University after he placed in a competitive video and blogging competition.

As we rounded the corner and pulled up to the station, I was excited to see Drew there waiting for us. We got off the bus and hugged each other after a long eleven months of being apart. It had been the longest I had been away from Drew in all of his 23 years.

Olaf Cathedral -- Once the Tallest Building in Europe

After getting caught-up and getting our bags, we walked across town to his campus, across the bridge I had seen in so many pictures, and finally to his dorm at 22 Raatuse where I managed a much welcomed shower.

Drew then took us on a tour of Tartu -- another beautiful and charming city with a good mix of “old European” cobblestone streets and modern conveniences and infrastructure. One is struck by how clean and fresh the air is here in Estonia -- the cleanest air of any country according to Drew.

We saw the famous town square and the fountain with the two lovers under the umbrella. Every student must swim in the fountain Drew says. This is the best time of the year to be in Estonia, and the outdoor cafes are in full bloom everywhere you look.

Drew and Dad at the Fountain in front at Tartu

The  Original 15th Century Wall

After a great tour that included the pub with the “highest ceiling of any pub in the world” Drew found us a cafe and we set outside and had fish soup, salad and an espresso for me. Between the fresh clean air, the wonderful cool breeze that seemed to be ever-present, and the meal, my jet lag was kicking in big-time. I had a hard time not falling to sleep right there on the table.

After we finished our beer, and some ice cream that Tartu is known for, we headed back to the dorm for a good nights rest. I don’t even remember my head hitting the pillow.

It was good to be in Tartu. It was good to see Drew again. I can see why he is so sad to be leaving such a wonderful city. Tomorrow more Tartu.

Old Town Wall

Pub in Old Town

Downtown Tallinn

"It Was the Worst of Flights, It was the Best of Flights"

Dad Waiting on Weather Delays in Memphis

OK I know this is a blog about Hemingway and not Charles Dickens, but the title of today's blog about our two flights could not be more appropriate.

Let me begin by suggesting that traveling with your octogenarian father may sound challenging to you. Let me set you straight right now: if you have any octogenarian relatives, friends, people you meet at the airport for the first time, PICK THEM AS YOUR TRAVEL PARTNER NOW!

It did not start out that way though.The trip got off ok. Sissy dropped us off pretty much on time at Memphis International. The most harrowing time of course being the days before such a trip catching up, getting ahead, trying to get your crazy busy life to stop the merry go round so you can jump off before you get knocked back down when it comes round again.

But despite blue skies in Memphis, there was trouble already. Chicago. The Windy City was acting up as usual and causing delays. We arrived just in time to rush through the terminal, to the tram, and then to the International terminal and all the way to the very last desk for LOT Polish Airlines, who promptly informed us to turn on our heels and return to American Airlines from whence we came to get them to reroute us, since we had just missed our flight to Warsaw and the connecting one to Tallinn.

We found the AA International Desk, stayed in a long line (everyone else had missed their connections as well) until called. The lady was nice but she reminded me of that SNL character who stares at you then down at the keyboard typing like a mad lady until oh about 1 hour later she found us something. However, we would be losing a whole day. We would be sent to NYC LaGuardia where we would stay the night and then transfer to JFK for a 5:45pm flight on Finnish Airways to Helsinki and then -- finally-- Tallinn.

Dad in Front of the Great Neck Train Station Not Far from The Andrew Hotel

One major problem. There were no hotels, but the NYC plane was leaving so we got on with no idea where we would stay that night. Fortunately, the gate lady in New York, after acting somewhat perturbed, reacted to Dad’s Southern Charm and ended up getting us a free night and free ground transportation (value $350) at The Andrew Hotel in Great Neck on Long Island, which had a train station for the Long Island Railroad right across from it so we could spend a few hours the next day in “the City”. Turned out the “typical New Yorker” was actually very nice.

With the Manager of the Irish Pub on Times Square

So after a good night’s sleep and a free breakfast that morning, we headed to Time’s Square, ate at an Irish Restaurant, people watched, and promptly headed back in time to make our flight at JFK. We love The Andrew hotel, Grace and all the staff. In fact all the people in New York were nice to us, just like they had been when I took the girls back in October. Now here comes the “find an octogenarian” part of this story.

When we got to the Finnish Airways terminal, I asked for a wheelchair for my Dad. He had had back surgery a few years ago and is 82 years old. It was a long walk to our gate. I remembered my mother-in-law using one due to a ankle issue and I thought it was worth a shot.

People Watching in Times Square

All I can say is, all of a sudden you would think I had just announced that the King of Finland was on this flight. We had a man with a wheelchair push him all the way to the gate, at which point one of the Finish Stewards asked me his age, and immediately upgraded us to First Class. She even hugged and kissed me and said “you take care of your father.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but this was a big deal to me. I had never been in First Class before, and neither had Dad. On an International Flight, where you are often scrunched-up with a crick in your neck for the next 9 hours, it means everything!

French Champagne and a NY Times to Get Started

I now know how “Jack” felt in the movie “Titanic” when he was invited to dine with the rich and beautiful at the Captain’s table. I was all “why are you giving me champagne? Are you going to ask for my credit card... because you know back there these days they even make you pay for peanuts!”

We went on to get a full five course meal (I had the filet, French cheeses, au gratin, fruit salad, cheese cake, baguette,etc...) with the best French wines, including a desert wine that I know priced for around $400 at a wine store in Memphis. “Wine Spectator” Magazine has ranked Finnish Airlines as the “best wine served on business class on an airlines” several years running.

I read my Kendall, charged my phone, looked over the complimentary copy of the Times, watched the latest news on the BBC, listened to classical music on my “real” headphones -- the really good kind they give you -- and eventually the “relaxation meditation” channel recorded especially for Finnish Airlines, as I moved my seat all the way into recline and then into bed mode and drifted off to sleep, feeling like I had just had Thanksgiving Dinner I was so stuffed. This is the life. I looked back at Dad, who was sitting with someone else across the way, and he seemed to be in heaven.

Sleeping Pods in the Finish Airlines Club in Helsinki

We were awoken the next “morning” as the sun “rose” over the the snow caped mountains of Northern Norway outside my two windows. They came around and handed us warm wet towels for our face. The stewardesses were also fluent English speakers, with a perfect “American accent.”

We were then served a full course breakfast of omelets, bacon, orange juice, fruit bowel, yogurt and croissant. Oh, and of course a cappuccino. I could not eat it all as I was stlll a bit stuffed from the dinner the night before. I felt so pampered and spoiled that I almost decided to vote Republican in the next election -- economy class? Who cares! Poor saps. LOL

Alas, when we landed in Helsinki, they had yet another young lady meet us and stroll Dad to the special members only airport club, where we could wait and eat and drink some more while we waited for our next flight. We were too stuffed to even look at the food.

The young lady , named “Nea” , is a college student in Finland, and I asked her about her education. She explained that education all the way through college is not only free but that they even pay you to go to college there. However, it is very competitive. Finland has one of the best public education systems in the world. She was accepted into tourism studies and this was her summer job. We tipped her for her trouble and she looked surprised at the tip, unlike the gentleman in NYC who --while nice -- certainly expected to be tipped (and he deserved it). Now that we were Republicans though, we were getting kind of stingy with our tipping... so her response was welcome. We tipped her anyway, the Democrat in us still hanging on for dear life at this point.

Helsinki Airport Club Lounge

The Helsinki Airport -- indeed all scandinavian airports -- are ultra-modern affairs and free Wy Fi everywhere. They have “public phones” but they are smart phones tethered to a desk... they even have “sleeping” pods not unlike in the movie “The Intern” at the Google campus there. They have free charging stations for your phones that you just sit them on -- no wires.

Cannot Get Enough of this Lounge

All I can say is if it is true that the state of a nation’s infrastructure is an indication of the rise or decline of a civilization, the Finns make us look pretty bad in the US. Everything is ultra modern, new, clean, and with Green technology integrated everywhere you look.

We finally boarded our plane -- a prop plane -- for a short hop across the Baltic Sea to Estonia and -- finally -- Drew!

Getting On the Puddle Jumper to Estonia

We were turning back into pumpkins, but wow what a trip. Indeed, it was the worst of flights, it was the best of flights.