The Jane Hotel

If you ever find yourself in New York City and want to try something a little different from high rise chain hotels in mid-town, a boutique hotel on the Upper West side or any of the tony Central Park bastions of luxury and wallet draining venues, make a reservation at The Jane Hotel in the West Village below the 14th St and 8th Ave subway and adjacent to the West Side Highway. It's quirky, fun, exotic and special all for $99 a night plus tax.

Here are the negatives:

The $99 rooms do not have bathrooms; you have to walk down the hall to share a uni-sex open sink but closed shower and closed WC facility.

But

I only encountered two other people in the shared bathroom during my stay. And the showers were large with rain-shower style sprays and high quality soaps, shampoos, and conditioners. Everything was sparkling clean from the white porcelain sinks to the old style black and white tiled floor.

The air conditioner is noisy and the window is tiny.

But

You can control the air conditioner via remote control while in bed. And who needs a window when all you are going to do is get a good night's sleep, not camp out there when you can be having NYC fun.

The rooms are tiny. If I stretched out my arms side to side, I could touch both walls.

But

There is everything you could want in this small space: a very comfortable bed and I must say I'm picky about my mattress; a cubby for your suitcase and drawers for your drawers; a flat screen television with remote; a huge white fluffy towel and wash cloth; a white waffle-weave robe with matching scuff slippers and a bolstered wall for sitting up in bed to read.

You see The Jane has a long, colorful history. According to the booklet in the room, it once served as a hotel for the survivors of The Titanic, a hospital for Ellis Island and the military, a YWCA. Now it's a cheap sleep with 24-hour room service and free internet. Off to the left of the lobby is a chic cafe that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner anytime you want it. The selections are fresh, hip, and tasty. To the right is a dark paneled bar reminiscent of the speak easy of The Godfather films. Beyond the bar is the "ballroom," a lushly appointed lounge filled with velvet overstuffed couches, tapestry area rugs, fringe, chaises, and exotic lamps.

When I entered the room, the first thing I imagined was renting it as a party venue where everyone could dress as gangsters and molls.  I would hire actors to play parts in a mystery theater game.

The Jane is the perfect place to spark one's imagination.

The desk personnel, elevator operator (yes!), and concierge are all dressed in maroon bell boy outfits trimmed in navy and gold braid. They all sport round pillbox hats to complete the look. The magnetized metal key on a giant keyring and a long bar you must insert into an outlet to start your electricity are impossible to lose in your purse. It weighs about about as much as a 12 oz. bottle of soda.

The Jane isn't plain but plain fun. And if your room causes you to become claustrophobic, hop on one of the bicycles parked out front, take to the adjacent bike trail and ride Sally ride while you suck in car exhaust from the vehicles on the West Side highway just beyond.

Sorry I don't have any photos. I thought I had one more night there but had slipped up on my booking. Alas I was again tossed from my room only to land in Brooklyn where I am couch surfing at Ruth and Kyle's apartment.

Anyway here are informative web sites.

http://nymag.com/listings/bar/jane-ballroom/

http://www.thejanenyc.com

I Got Friends in Low Places

Post hike, I met Bryan in Amsterdam where we visited art museums, took a canal ride, sought out little restaurants and spent a lovely evening in a "coffee shop" (those in the know will understand the last reference) hanging out with some rather interesting locals who referred to us when we left as "those other people."

Without plans but itchy to move on, we boarded a Thalys train for Brugge, Belgium, and a step back in time. One cannot adequately describe Brugge except to say it's a well-preserved jewel of a town from the fourteenth century (founded by the Vikings in the ninth century) with city walls and gates, cobblestone streets, elaborate architecture and a beautiful square. It has Epcot Center perfection--except it is authentic!

On our walk to Hotel Windsor (hands down my favorite of any we have stayed in this month), we learned of that night's open air performance of Carmen and couldn't resist. The photos are poor but the music, weather, and setting were magical.

Brugge (not New Orleans despite its mayor's famous claim) is the real "chocolate city." Although I am not particularly fond of the confection, I sacrificed in the name of science and sampled from three shoppes--declaring the winner to be Dumon Chocolatier.

We then hopped aboard the Thalys train to Paris where we stayed at the quirky and delightful Hotel Langlois for two nights. We had to move to Holiday Inn Express on the Left Bank for the third night. What we lost in atmosphere was made up by a high tech bathroom and decidedly less lumpy mattress.
We had dinner with a Newburgh couple who lives in Paris part of the year, spent an entire day at the Louvre and visited the Rodin Museum. We wanted to stay another night but Paris was literally sold out! We tried for two hours to find accommodations without success.

So it was off to Brussels and the Sofitel near the headquarters of the EU. Although the sites in Brussels were not of much interest to us, we enjoyed the best food of the trip.

After another two nights in Amsterdam, I left for New York and Bryan stayed on to work. Thanks, Bryan, for keeping those paychecks coming in.

How many more marshmallows can a girl take in one lifetime?

Amsterdam Canal on the way to the train station. Okay, so it was a bad hair day.  So sue me.

Carmen was a delight, especially when the 27-year-old next to us looked so miserable sitting through an entire opera. His friend was enthralled, but he eventually slumped over holding his head up and I think went to sleep. Hilarious!

Houseboat docking spots are grandfathered in and inherited. It's a status symbol to have one in Amsterdam.  It's amazing how much these houses resemble the little Delft alcohol bottles you get when you fly KLM business class.

Bryan was such a man. He spent the entire day in the Louvre and didn't complain once.  I think he has a thing for the Mona Lisa (or The DaVinci Code).

 

Brugge men in tights played trumpets for some chic party that was about to begin. Their tunics are just long enough when trumpets are lifted. Whew!

Contemplating the Code of Hammurabi or trying to figure out what this reminds me of? Insert your own joke here.

Comtemplating whether or not to order another Delirium Tremeris beer in Brussels? What do you think he should do?

Next adventure: The Jane Hotel in New York City.

End of the Line

Whenever I hear the words "mission accomplished," I will forever think of our ceremonial throwing of the rocks that we carried in our daypacks from St. Bee's on the Irish Sea into the North Sea at Robin Hood's Bay. We also dipped our boots into the waves and celebrated the end of our Coast to Coast Walk.
We walked about 6 miles along the coast from Whitby to Robin Hood's Bay with the sea breeze blowing in our faces, the sea gulls soaring overhead, and the sun again warming our path.

After lunch, we took the bus back to Whitby and toured the ruins of the abbey there. That night we had our farewell dinner where we said our good-byes and exchanged email addresses.

What will I take away from this experience? That the best way to get to know a country and a people is on foot. That I can indeed walk 17 miles on vertical rocky surfaces while being battered by a cold wind. That heather has an exquisite scent. That some people are really into identifying critter feces. That internet access is ubiquitous. That 70+ year olds can kick 50+ year-old butt when it comes to hiking. That the sport of grouse hunting is the strangest thing I've ever witnessed.

That you never stay at a B & B owned by a skinny proprietor. That one of the smartest and funniest innkeepers on the planet lives in a wide spot in the road of the Yorkshire Dales. That the moors are not as romantic and desolate as Bronte makes them out to be when the weather is warm and sunny with not a fog or mist in sight. That the British are intensely proud of their history. That lead mining bores me.  That neither Richard III or Henry VIII were 100 percent all bad. That there are enough varieties of sheep that you can buy a book on the subject. That if you hold out a handful of British coins the people at cash registers will take pity on you and use up the greatest number of coins to total the amount owed them. That every hotel, inn, and B & B in England seem to have at least six artisanal beers on tap.

That I am already planning my next hike with the Sierra Club. Cheers!

Whitby Bay on the North Sea

Today was our easiest walk. After a short climb, the trail leveled out and we walked our 7 miles on a defunct railroad bed flat and paved with cinders.

The day was not without its adventures. A portion of our walk was a "silent walk" where we were encouraged to think about where we were, where we were going, and, I guess, life in general. Steve said he thought a lot about "taciturnity." Thus, goes the humor in our group.

After a brief stop for a snack, we encountered a grouse hunt. Our trip leader who has done the walk six times said it was the first time he'd witnessed this. But given the beautiful weather, the Saturday, etc. it was perfect for the hunters. Not so for some grouse who frightened us as they burst from the heather alongside our path.

The perfect photo: hiker, heather, and mist. 

Dorothy and Nancy consult the best way to treat a blister (the nemesis of every hiker).

Enjoy the photos.

Hiking Through Heather

Just after lunch we posed for pictures in front of the heather.  The camera is tilted, not the landscape. 

The heather on the moors smells wonderful. Stone paths were placed by locals about 10 years ago to prevent walkers from destroying the fragile landscape. Heather is not a natural growth but is nurtured by agriculture and snow-clearing sheep. It's usefulness is that it provides a habitat for nesting grouse that in turn provide lucrative income from foreign huntsmen. Some pay as much as $2000 a day to hunt grouse in the area. Has anyone seen Dick Cheney lately?

Margo plays the role of the farmer's wife in a bawdy audience participation song. 

Before I begin reviewing the day, let me tell you about last night--a highlight of our trip. In an early post, I talked about John Deighton. Last night he and three of his fellow musicians entertained us in the upstairs dining room of the Black Lion Inn. They have been entertaining local Richmond residents for 35 years at festivals and holidays and are so good they no longer have to practice. Besides giving us a concert of old English and Gaelic songs, they led us in a sing-along and regaled us with fantastical stories and humorous poetry.

We learned this morning that John is also a master horticulturalist but did not have time to visit his garden. He is a truly gifted and delightful man and enhanced our Richmond visit immeasurably.

This morning we were transported to the trail head to begin our hike over the moors. I spent the bulk of the walk alone so I could take in the vistas and smell the heather. We were supposed to have been accompanied by a local farmer who knows the area well, but he is working overtime this week bringing in the silage from two farms. We just happen to be walking a two week period of very unusual dry, sunny weather. So the positive is we are enjoying the weather, but the negative is we lost out on the local color. I really wanted mist and fog as we trekked the moors. Ah, perhaps another time.

John (with the white beard) and friends entertained us with traditional singing and  storytelling.

Ye Olde Lead Mining

Katherine, former mayor of Richmond and key citizen and former school teacher, gave us a wonderful lecture on the important time periods of this historic town. She was informative, interesting, and funny. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to spend more time with her. What a lady!

Yes, these stiles were very narrow. It was nearly impossible to squeeze through some of them.

Today John and Moira Deighton joined us on our 6.5 mile walk. John is a retired mechanical engineer who worked for Cummins and is very familiar with Columbus, Indiana, and Brown Country where he and Moira have trekked over the hills and vales of the most lovely part of our state. Bill also happens to be an expert on the now defunct lead mining industry in North Yorkshire.

Lead was first mined by the Romans. In the nineteenth century the industry was a booming business and the area provided lead shot so Americans could kill one another during the Civil War.

I don't remember much about the walk yesterday since I was bored most of the time except that Nancy from Southern California and I have developed a prototype for a new invention: Winter in a Box. She is a computer science geek and programming expert and I'm a creative nut so we've decided we'd make a good team in developing an app where you could choose the perfect winter setting to provide the proper book reading atmosphere. Anyway, I don't know much about lead mining, but I do know that Nancy and I need investors. Anyone interested?

After our trek over we were picked up by Pack Horse (a bus transport) and taken to Richmond. Richmond has over 50 namesakes in England and in American, but this one is the original. The castle was built by a relative of William the Conqueror five years after the Norman invasion.  This is also the castle of Henry VII who defeated Richard III, thus ending the line of Plantagenets and starting the Tudor Dynasty. Katherine, a former mayor and long time city council member, led us on a tour of the town, pointing out the important historical and architectural sites. We then were treated to a view of Council Chambers and the Mayor's Reception Area where we saw a framed letter from President Theodore Roosevelt. Although the town has only 8000 residents, it is a cultural and educational magnet. I could stay here for a year and be perfectly happy. Katherine's son works for the BBC in America and lives in Brooklyn. She is an amazing lady in her early 80s.

John is explaining the process of lead mining and lime burning. He also taught us about Crack Pot Hall, the ruins of a hunting lodge favored by Henry VIII. I think if he wore a robe and pointed hat, he could be Gandolf.

We spent the afternoon walking around various sites. Tomorrow we will be transported over the "boring parts" of the C to C, so we can spend most of the day hiking the Moors. "Moor" later.

We spent a couple of hours in Muker. There was a county fair going on, but these folks were hanging out at the local pub. Can you see the men in white shirts and ties? Wonder if they got any work done that afternoon.