Hillary Davis Travels's Blog

Farmers' Market NYC

Even on a rainy day in New York you can still find outdoor farmers' markets throughout the city. This one is called the 67th Street Farmers' Market.

    I visited this weekend and it was almost empty of people but filled with fresh produce dewy and glistening from the rain.

    Super fresh (and super seriously huge) carrots. The Easter bunny better be a big one this year!

    I like going to this market because it is just a few block's from my friend's apartment and they always have lots of samples of everything. The added attraction is that inside the building next door is a flea market that often has amazing finds.

    
    Do you know how, when you go to the sea when it rains, everything is grey or white? Here in the city when it rains, everything is in technicolor.

    I spotted the perfect gift for my friend, but then I realized she really didn't have enough sun for this wonderful little salad bowl planter. What a great idea. A city garden salad mix.

    Frank Sinatra came from Hoboken. So does Hoboken Farms! I loved their sign with a cow rising up amongst the high rises...........

    I love this pickle guy. I stop for his horseradish pickles, but they are all superb. Artisan pickles, pickled with love.

    .....and the Polish stall always has a good variety of fresh pirogi I can take back and heat up for dinner.....this one is a winner.

    .....okay, so this stall tells me that this honey is local. It is from beekeepers who keep their bees on the rooftops of the city....I couldn't figure out where they would find enough flowers to produce all this honey, but it was worth a try!

....and what do I love on my toast with my honey? Fresh butter!




    So even though it was pouring, even though it was a bit cold this weekend in NYC, I went home with arms full of wonderful food. Love NYC. Love farmers' markets.

French Doors

I have a passion for French doors. My love is a visual one, and it is stoked by the fact that there are so many of them and they are all unique in their own way. 

Just look at these, which I found on a walk along the Seine in Paris. Even the color is exciting.

I grew up in New England and was used to very plain doors. Which is perhaps why, when I am in France, I end up photographing so many of them. These were taken in Paris. 

Hand carved, surprising, and the kind of door that makes one stop and think! What are you meant to find on the other side?!

I think behind this one was a convent.....so lovely, so inspiring. I love the little putti angels floating above the scene.

And I can never resist taking pictures of French Door knockers. So many are hand-crafted, stunning, heavy and impressive.

Some of the doors are wide enough to let a car through from the inner courtyard to the street. The Jour et Nuit sign on a door or near one tells you to expect a car to enter or leave, at any time of the day or night.

This is the door to a building I used to live in when I was a newlywed in Paris. I remember how heavy it was to push it open, and I rememer the sound of the click behind me when it shut.

It's like an outdoor museum. Each and every door a new discovery, a new piece of art.

And even if you find one that is transparent, French Doors are always a mystery.

 

Travelers in the New England area: the Boston Travel Show is on this weekend! Mid-winter blues can be massaged away at a travel show like this! I'll be posting pix and info next week from my visit to the show.

Also, if you are in NYC, the NYC Travel Show is March 2-4th.

Gourmet demos, giant trip giveaways, freebies, and lots of info to please even an armchair traveler. See you there?!

TRAVEL: Snow

Would you follow this road? Or would you stand and just enjoy the now? Just enjoy being there? It was so silent. And yet filled with life. Snowflakes still fell cold then melted on my cheeks and eyelashes. I could hear the wind in the trees. It was murkey light, yet beams of sun pierced through to create a cathedral in the pines.

Other days and other times of the year, my road looks like this. Warm and dappled. Yet the snow, when it comes, christens the road with a purity and beauty so pristine as to be almost virgin---as if no person (or dog) had ever walked there before.

I became lost in the splendor of seeing a red breasted robin sitting on this branch just seconds before. It was our personal haven. He or she looked squarely at me, and I at the bird that tilted its head to the left and then right as it gazed at me. For that brief encounter, we were eye to eye and shared the snow.

They call them snow birds. People who flee the colder climates for warmer climates in the winter. But my red breasted bird took the opposite route, flying north to sit on a branch covered in beautiful white snow. I turned and walked back down my road. Would the red breasted one follow in flight beside me?

A Day At The Louvre

Hello Everyone!

Sit back. Relax. Today I am taking you to Paris for a visit to the Louvre!

This is a view from one of the windows of the Louvre. Loved the gray sky so heavy and low above the delicate green gardens.

Today I am taking you to Napoleon III's apartment in the Louvre. I saw this bed and it looked so comfortable I wanted to climb in!

The apartment wall coverings were a deep luscious red accented by glowing gold everywhere.

The chandeliers throughout the apartment were amazing. Absolutely exquisite.

Look at this one! With candles to illuminate the painting above! Can't imagine how they lit them. But the illumination must have been dreamy.

The furniture was well restored......

Embellished wood paneling................

I really loved these sofas. They could only look this good in this kind of space though.

Intriguing spiral staircase seen from below......

Ohhhhhhh, the painted ceilings!

This threesome chair made me think it was not very sociable! Or was it??

Isn't this fabulous? A crystal dressing table!

 

A formal really long dining table with huge ornaments down the middle.

As I left to walk in the rain in Paris, I was reminded of the beauty of simple lines.  I was standing under the pyramid looking up. Rain coming down but not touching me. I love Paris. I love the Louvre. I love the diversity of style and design and tone and color found there. All in one day in the Louvre, in Paris.

New Hampshire Christmas

There are so many wonderful house tours on now to raise money for worthy charities so I thought I'd go on at least one and share it with you. Hope it puts you in the mood!!

It was amazing to see how many "villages" and "doll houses" were set up. This one covered the whole kitchen counter.

This was the greatest little doll house. I am tempted to begin one myself, just one room, a kitchen!!!

I was really taken by this bedroom treatment so when I got home I sawed off limbs of pine tree boughs and attempted the same thing. It smells divine!

This house had live music of Christmas carols and opera arias that made it a delightful interlude in the house tour.

Upstairs, the master bed was wrapped like a present waiting to be unwrapped.............

......and the sweet smell of honey wax candles filled the air.

.............still more beautiful live music at the next house on the tour..........

............this house did not have a Christmas tree, but it was filled with sunlight and art......exquisite.


...............and this house did have a tree and smelled of cinnamon and apples. It had apple cider with whole cinnamon sticks simmering on the stove.

............and the owner had a huge collection of bird houses decorated for the holidays.......

..............the bird theme continued with a "bird tree" decorated with bird food..........

Wishing you all a peaceful holiday season. One filled with special light. With calm. And with beauty. 

 

Art Nature Walk

 

The Andres Insititute of Art Sculpture Park, Brookline, NH

Two things I love to do in my spare time. Hike, get out in nature, and enjoy art. So when my friend asked me to go hiking with her on an art nature walk, I enthusiastically agreed. I packed my camera and some trail mix and met her at the head of the trail.

She told me that this mountain we were on was owned by an engineer named Paul Andres. He had started to purchase sculptures and place them in the woods around his house when he met master sculptor John M. Weidman, who lived nearby. Their plan was hatched. They co-founded a non-profit organization and proceeded to pepper the beautiful property with outdoor sculptures from artists around the world. Every year they hold a sculpture symposium where the artists arrive and create the sculptures according to a theme. 

So we, the art and nature loving public, can benefit from the lovely walks throughout the property. So come join us. I hope these pictures bring you the peace, serenity and inspiration that we both felt.

 

 

 

 

 

And we took a peak into John Weidman's art studio on the property......

.....and took a lot of pictures along the way..........

............and sometimes suddenly thought we saw something moving in the woods!

.........or thought we heard a horn blow!

.............came across messages posted to trees............

..........and as we left we wondered at the thought of how wonderful it would be to be able to do the same thing. To place pieces of art out in nature around a house. Until that is possible, we agreed we would be happy to come back again and keep hiking to see all the other sculptures we missed on this day on other trails. 

Beautiful Galeries Lafayette all decorated for the holidays!

The Limelight NYC

Imagine this.

A nightclub located in a former Episcopalian church. A disco ball disco haven for night owls and druggies. It became famous for a murder which was later depicted in a movie called Party Monster. Are you still with me? And why am I telling you this?

Because today the same Episcopalian church is home to an upscale group of shops, cafes and bars. The former spiritual sanctuary is now a shopping sanctuary, providing an intimate space for quietly grazing through small boutiques in downtown New York City.

At first it is a bit jarring. You look up and see the bones of the church ceiling and the sign of the cross here and there.

You seemingly are walking down the main aisle of the church as you enter. It is pretty and well designed, so eventually you forget where you are and settle into a shopping mode.

The shops are luxe. Petrossian caviar. 

Specialty bakeries and gourmet kitchen items.......and interesting granitas on offer.

 

You can stop in the lovely cafe for homemade sandiches and soups.

Now here is a question I am not sure you can answer. I am not particularly religious, but feel very spiritual. So why is it jarring for me as I climb the stairs past the stained glass window?

I suppose I would have really felt disoriented if I had been here in the time when it was a throbbing disco. So, onwards and upwards............

When you get to the top floor there is an exquisite view of the rose window. 

And what turned out to be my favorite spot, the Cana Wine Bar. It was small, tucked high and away, sort of romantic, and it had lovely food and an outgoing bartender. 

The reason I am introducing the idea of your visiting The Limelight is that I think it is a special and unusual destination in New York City that is especially appealing around the holidays when it is beautifully decorated and offers a quieter venue for gift shopping. 

It is off the beaten track. Not a tourist destination. It is a pleasure to navigate. And it is small enough that you can make it your own in an afternoon. 

Perhaps the sanctuary you need today simply comes in different forms. Travel sometimes makes me look at things in a totally different light. Limelight.

The Limelight Marketplace, 656 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10011

(212) 359-5600

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Hampshire Fall 2011

 

 

I wanted to share with you what I've been seeing out on my drives around New Hampshire during foliage season. A lot of orange. And loads and loads of pumpkins. Even the sheep down the road have been feasting on the broken up pumpkins the farmer laid out for them. Today they seemed to be looking for more!

The farmers' market had a stand of pumpkins. And gourds. Which propelled me to load the car with them since they keep well for months in a cold spot. 

Then another farmers' market, and another exquisite tableau. 

I found a bench outside of the village library to sit on and take a few stolen moments for reading some poetry. 

.....before heading down the lane to scuff through wet fallen leaves.....the rain had just begun to fall. The light was faltering. The air chilling. I dug my hands into the pockets of my coat and smiled. No matter where I am, a walk is one of my favorite things to do in the fall.