Ladies Of A Certain Age

Two Weeks to go and Counting......

This afternoon, these two ladies practised taking tea in style, at the Swan at Streatley, on the river Thames. In three weeks time, we will be doing the same in a beautiful hotel  on the Grand Canal in Venice! Today, it was wet and miserable, so a very English cream tea with Earl Grey was just the ticket.

Our tea marked both the end of summer, (for we sat inside instead of riverside, watching the swans) but also served as a little memorial occasion for our mothers - this week being the anniversaries of both their passings.

It was one of Liz's Mother's favourite places to take tea - and although my own mother never visited, still with the comforting tea, scones, jam and cream, I was reminded of her own abundant warmth and hospitality. We both raised a cup to them, remembered them with our deepest love, and then tucked them both back under our hearts.

Invited to Tea!

SO exciting..... I told the manager of the hotel in which The Ladies stayed of our upcoming visit and the story behind it - and he has invited us to tea!

To see lots of images of where we will have this treat, visit here and click on the "English" button. As Liz commented."Hmmm - I think this calls for a special little outfit". it does indeed :-)

I am hoping that the hotel still holds all their old records, and so might be able to trace The Ladies' visit, and maybe even the rooms in which they stayed?

A Lady of a Certain Age Moves to Brittany

"I'm in my garden in Finistere, filling out change of address cards. It's an afternoon at the beginning of September 2000, a soft haze over the countryside. The Atlantic is breathing tides and seaweed, the reassuring sound of the warning buoy like an owl.

I live in Finistere because I've moved here.....it wasn't by chance: for a woman of experience, there's no such thing as chance....

A couple of months - that's all it took. I left the country I'd lived in for 55 years. The time had come. Drunk on freedom, I drove away. I wasn't looking - but I found Finistere. Not far from Brest I felt I was getting close, and then it wasn't long before I was standing in front of the parcel of paradise that is mine".

I picked up this book in a charity shop in Winchester this afternoon (Winchester, the City of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Winchester,
bathed today in glorious autumnal sunshine)...Chosen firstly because I was
attracted to the "watercolour painting on watercolour paper" cover, then by the title. But having read the first three chapters, I realise that I recognise the narrative - it was a book  serialised on the radio - and I remember being captivated by the fragment of the story that I got to
hear - I didn't catch all the episodes.

So now a book that sang to me from the shelves is enchanting me on the page. The author, too, is a Lady of a Certain age - and I can't wait to see how she experiences her new found freedom!

And Then, of Course, There's the Other One...

I had forgotten about it really – focussing more on the Diary of Two Ladies, I suppose because I identified more with them.

But this is what should really be thought of, I think, as the "first" of two companion diaries. They were, after all, bought together...and i believe them to be linked.

This honeymoon diary is clearly written by the gentleman of the nuptial pair, Captain Henry Alworth Fellowes Merewether, ("late 66^th Regiment"), as an account of his travels with his new wife, May Elisabeth Abdy Caldwell, in the early spring of 1883. It is clearly written by a man – for it is full of financial accounts – the price of everything, including the charges for each stay in each hotel on their grand tour.

By 1906, the year that the Two Ladies of the Venice diary were travelling, I can find no trace of Henry – but I do have a record of his death in 1911, aged 68, in "a large institution for the Senile and Demented".

I suspect that the 1906 diary is indeed written by May, visiting the haunts of her happier days after her wedding – for indeed, I suspect that the hotel in which she and Mabel Lyons (the travelling companion), stayed was only feet away from the one in which she spent her honeymoon. I have no firm confirmation, but a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest that the same person features in both, and is the authoress of the later record.

What sad story is encapsulated in these two diaries? Was Henry already ailing in 1906 – did May travel to revisit the places of her earlier days with a beloved husband? Will I ever discover more? Is there anyone out there who knows anything of these names – and how much more I have to transcribe, I now realise, before we travel to Venice ourselves, in October!

Monet In the Same Hotel.........

I made an interesting discovery made today - In the autumn of 1908 Claude Monet stayed and painted his Venetian series of paintings, in the same Hotel Brittania (now the Europa & Regina) in which our two Ladies stayed in 1906.

Enjoy this very interesting website (from which the above illustration was taken) about what he created while he was there......

Deciding What to Take

The time has come to make decisions about what to take to Venice. I am
not actually packing just yet - but doing all the thinking about "which shoes??"
(at the moment, I will possibly spend the week walking the streets of Venice in trainers, due to two Morton's neuromas - neural swellings - between three of the toes of my right foot), and more importantly, "which sketchbook?" - "how any watercolour pencils" and "don't forget the battery charger for thedigital camera!"

I have a travel checklist (Download Travelist.doc ) which I have compiled ver the years, which is invaluable to me when preparing what to take. o any of the items there find a place in your own planning when ravelling?

Over the next few weeks, I would also like to share some fashion images from the period. Our Ladies were "well heeled", wealthy women staying in one of the best hotels in Venice at the time. So the dresses in these plates - the Fashions a la Mode of the early years of the 1900's (this one is from 1904), will give you some idea of what they may have worn during their own stay.

Now close your eyes and imagine them - taking tea on the balcony of the Hotel Brittannia, opposite the Salute, as the orchestra plays those Viennese waltzes....

Do Venice like a Venetian

Has someone told them that we are going? This was the headline on the Sunday newspaper - the travel section of "The Observer" had a two page spread on how to enjoy Venice, out of season, and as the locals do. Lots of recommendations for restaurants (two of which are within walking distance of the apartment in which we will be staying), and accommodation (apparently, those "in the know" are now staying in apartments or B&B's rather than extortionate hotels!

But the section which caught my eye was that giving details of the flea markets - one, out on the Lido every week, and a monthly one, described as "the Venetian equivalent of a car boot sale" held once monthly. There was a phone number to find out the dates of the monthly market - so lead me to that dialling tone, pronto!

Here's the article, in full, online......

More of The Story

   

To read a little more of the story of the original 1906 journal, take a look at the website which accompanies this blog, and click on "Venice"

Countdown to Venice!

Five weeks from tomorrow, Liz and I will leave for Waterloo station in London, on the first stage of our visit to Venice - following in the footsteps of two ladies who travelled there 100 years ago - and kept a journal about their visit.

Our excitement is starting to simmer - and I am starting to pack. Well, not PACK, exactly, but select - items of clothing that will really earn their keep. We are travelling by train, and there will be a good deal of suitcase lugging to be done, so I am travelling light - with just one
case - and one vanity bag that will hook over the telescopic suitcase handle.

Yesterday, I bought a versatile pair of black, straight legged trousers, a mustard cardigan and a black angora/lambswool top, with attached white collar and cuffs.

I had previously  bought a cream peplum jacket and white long shirt. (Our first night is a night at the opera - where Something Smart is the order of the day!). So my wardrobe colours seem to be black, white, cream, and mustard yellow - a nice autumn colour. I will probably also take something red or terracotta - and that will be all. I have a very versatile, long black coat and I plan to ring the changes by taking lots of accessories - particularly earrings, bracelets and necklaces - and several scarves and pashminas.

We will travel from London, Waterloo, by Eurostar to Paris - and then
on, overnight on the sleeper train, to Venice. We have a private
carriage for two - just like the ladies of 1906.

Their journal will travel with us, together with our own journals and
sketchbooks. It will be facinating to compare what changes have occurred
in 100 years - and what things have stayed the same.

We hope you will look in here over the next few weeks to see what ensues as we prepare for our very special journey.