Mentzendorf wine shippers Klein Constantia at the London Wine Fair

At the London Wine Fair. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

This wine may be new to you or some of the people you know, but it has been around for a long time. The wine was drunk by Napoleon and previous royalty. Also by Jane Austen.  

You can visit the vineyard which is said to be one of the prettiest in the world. Between two oceans, which adds to the appeal of the location and its beneficial effect on the wines. The place is only 20 mins from Cape Town.  

60% sauvignon blanc white.

My favourite wine from there is the sweet wine. Very more-ish.

They are on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram.

Useful Websites

https://www.kleinconstantia.com/

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Lithuania, the great Vilna Gaon and Extraordinary Synagogues With Paintings or Birds and Animals

 Lithuania has an extraordinary past, present and future.

Napoleon admired it.

The old cobbled streets have a heritage status from Unesco. 

There is also a new town with stunning skyscrapers. 

But the old synagogues are extraordinary. Here is a synagogue with paintings showing animals such as a lion and a humped camel or dromedary. Birds fly across the ceiling.

Synagogue in Lithuania with blue walls and ceiling and paintings

Synagogue in Lithuania. A stork perches on the top of a tree. The predominant colour is blue.

Lithuania. Statue.

Postage stamp of lithuano showing Vilnius synagogue. 

Synagogue in Lithuania.

Synagogue in Lithuania.

Useful Websites

About the Author of this blog, Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books, including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

I  also have a blog on comic poems.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Where to See Napoleon and Josephine

 

Young Napoleon.

1 CORSICA - Ajaccio

Napoleon was born in Corsica and a museum about him is in the capital, Ajaccio. Napoleon was not a poor unknown boy. His father had worked at the court of the king. The Bonapartes owned vineyards.

2 FRANCE

Vendome Column, Paris. A bit like Nelson's column. Based on one from ancient times.

Napoleon's tomb is in Les Invalides, Paris.

3 ELBA

Napoleon was exiled to Elba. the little island is off the west coast of Italy, on the way to Corsica, one might say. Not so little, actually. Napoleon was allowed a bodyguard of 600 men. 

They ordered in wine, made on the island. Napoleon is still the local hero. He renovated the mansion he lived in. He built roads and dealt with stray dogs.

His sister Paulina and the place she lived in were centres of attraction. She had objects and events such as a masked ball. Who would have thought exile could be such fun.

4 BELGIUM, Waterloo

Waterloo is near Brussels, the capital of Belgium, about ten miles or 15 kilometres away. I have been there. Just a field with a mound and a lookout point. 

5 ST HELENA

Napoleon died here. He was buried on the island. 

Two decades later his body was returned to mainland France to be buried in an accessible place and with honour.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Jos%C3%A9phine

s://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo

https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attractions-g202314-Activities-Elba_Island_Province_of_Livorno_Tuscany.html

https://www.visitelba.com/discover-elba/napoleon-on-elba/

https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Tourism-g1767153-St_Helena_Island-Vacations.html

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Wish List For Trips to Corsica and London, England: museums and stories about Napoleon

Yes, I have been to Corsica. I have mixed memories, mainly of being stuck in hospital in Ajaccio and wishing I could get to the museum featuring Napoleon. He was born in Corsica.

In his day he was the great enemy of England. Trafalgar Square's main feature is the statue of Nelson, on top of a huge column. Nearby, is Waterloo station, commemorating the battle of Waterloo. The Bakerloo line is so named because it connects Waterloo in the south with Baker Street on the North side of central London. (See statue of Sherlock Holmes outside the Baker Street station and Sherlock Holmes museum and Sherlock shop around the corner.)

On the south side of Hyde Park on the corner turning towards Kensington and Harrods is a historic house, number one, London. If you can, visit number one London - it is Wellington house which is conveniently central to visit on a trip to London. In the hall way, semi-circled by the staircase, is a huge statue of Napoleon. Wellington built it so that when he saw Napoleon, who was small, he (Wellington) would be totally unafraid since Napoleon would look tiny companied to the way he appeared in the statue.

However, I see Napoleon as a hero of history, certainly a great character. After a century passes, those of us who take an interest in history, can take the liberty of an independent view, a citizen of the world's view. I am sure there were admirers and haters of Napoleon in every country and on both sides of each conflict.

In fact, Napoleon like so many leaders, good and bad, was a great speaker. He gave a speech to the other side before one of his great battles, (probably Austerlitz) and the soldiers changed sides and joined him. Now, that's a great speech!

Napoleon's laws are still governing France. The one which most affects tourists is the requirement that if anybody ask you for a glass of (tap) water you must supply it (at no charge). This means you can go into a pub or restaurant in France and ask for a glass of water. (In the UK I often feel I need to buy something before asking for a glass of water or using a toilet.) Napoleon passed this law so that his soldiers could get a glass of water anywhere, just by asking, and without having to prove they were soldiers. (It would also help refugees fleeing from an enemy army. And it was a humanitarian gesture. Napoleon was good at offering help and protection to the ordinary folk.)

After visiting Corsica, I had an au pair girl from Corsica. Her main tourist visit in London, England, was to the memorial to a Corsican hero, Paoli Pasquale (which I would translate as Paul Pascal). He established Italian as the language of Corsica.

Here is my wish list for a visit to Corsica.

1 Ajaccio, the capital

2 Museum to Napoleon in Ajaccio: Maison Napoleon. You will also see streets named after Napoleon or Bonaparte, and a hotel named after him.

3 Musee Fesch, Ajaccio. Cardinal Fesch was Napoleon's uncle and the museum has paintings of Napoleon and family and religious paintings as well as one for two old masters and old and new paintings and local painters.

4 Ajaccio Cathedral, containing napoleon's ancestors burial place, where Napoleon was baptised, and a plaque records he said that he wished to be buried here.

4 Clifftop houses

5 Narrow hillside passageway featured in novel about two leading families which inspired an opera (by Merimee?)

http://www.visit-corsica.com/en/Be-inspired/Heritage-and-traditions/Culture/Museums-and-exhibitions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsica
http://www.easyjet.com/en/cheap-flights/france/corsica-ajaccio

TripAdvisor: Things to do. Includes Maison Napoleon - Napoleon's House. You can see and photograph the plaque outside. TripAdvisor has visitor photos of the interior showing a bed, grand long room with period tables and chairs, a map, an eagle.
Ajaccio tourist board

website of author and opera websites
London location of Corsican memorial: Westminster Abbey.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasquale_Paoli#/media/File:Pascal_Paoli01.jpg

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

My Stay Paralysed In A Hospital in Corsica

I am lying in a hospital bed in Corsica. It is a two bed room. The woman in the next bed cannot speak to me or for me because her jaw is wired up before and after an operation. How symbolic of my situation. I feel much the same.

Teeth and Washing
In Corsica your family are supposed to bring you a toothbrush, clean your teeth, and help you wash. I was not with my family. I was on a press trip, writing about honeymoons in Corsica for Brides magazine.

My family did not fly out to Corsica because they were expecting me to be flown back to England. They did not realise I could not walk, stand, nor hold my head up, unaided. Neither did I.

Back to the story of my stay in hospital in Corsica. After realising that I was left with pills and did not understand how often to take them, I asked for a phone.

First I have to wait for a phone to be brought in. Then I have to negotiate how to pay. Where am I phoning? What is the number and code. I need my bag, diary with phone numbers, phone code for UK.

When the phone is lifted and placed by my mouth, the nurse is called away. The operator speaks Italian.

A nurse returns. I am not through to the UK, nor even an Italian call centre. I am through to the hospital switchboard. How am I proposing to pay for a phone call to the UK?

With cash? I have some money. We don't yet know the length and cost of the call.

Eventually I get an English speaking operator at the call centre in Corsica. I put through a call to the office where my husband works. A reverse charge call.

The switchboard in the UK say they cannot accept reverse charge calls.

I tell the Italian operator to tell them that I am in hospital, knocked down by a car, paralysed, and dying, and my husband will certainly pay for the call if they tell him I am on the line.

Fortunately the UK operator can actually hear me speaking to the Italian operator so she puts the call through.

I managed to call London and told my husband I had pills which could kill me if I overdosed accidentally, and was in so much pain that I was liable to take them deliberately, and that if he wanted to see me again, alive, he had better send an interpreter from the embassy or the British Council - or get me back to England or come out to interpret.

Pills
Shortly after that I received a message that my husband was trying to arrange a flight out to Corsica. The flight would arrive the next day. Oh good. Only four lots of two pills to be taken every four hours, or was it one pill every two hours? I shut my eyes and fell asleep. I woke up. Operator says three minutes is up. Do we want to pay for more time? "No - no-no-no. Non. No. Thank you, merci, I mean grazie, and goodbye, adios, I mean arrivaderci."

I am deliriously happy. I don't know it, but the reason is that I am on morphine. I am happy until the injection or pills wear off. Then I am screaming in pain. Tearing off the bandages holding my arm to my sticky body. Until four nurses hold me down and inject me. Then I am out and asleep.

When I am given more pain relief I am happy. I am smiling at the male nurse. He is smiling back at me. I am in love with the darling male nurse.  Maybe he will teach me Italian and when I recover I will live with him.

Perhaps not. I cannot move a finger. I cannot speak a coherent sentence in Italian. Besides, my husband is on his way to help me.

Flights
Even when my husband came out, he could not get a flight back from Corsica to London in high season for two or three days because flights were full. We now needed two seats, for him and me. I needed a stretcher, which meant three seat spaces. The insurance company had to agree to paying for five spaces and transport to the airport and from Heathrow to a hospital in the UK, which had to be arranged. He does not speak Italian either.

That was back in 1984. However, I have no reason to think anything has changed. In Corsica.

Tourist Attractions in Corsica
The museum in the capital Ajaccio, featuring Napoleon, is probably still there. Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica was Napoleon's birthplace.

The old houses on the clifftop are probably still there. The beaches and holiday hotels are probably still there.

Safety Precautions Crossing Road
In Corsica they are still driving on the other side of the road to England. When you are a pedestrian getting out of or into the coach to the airport, you still need to look both ways before you step off the pavement. (If you are reading this in the USA or going to the USA the word I mean is sidewalk. Pavement in UK is the paved pedestrian area by the side of the road. In the USA it means the whole of the traffic area, what in England would be called the tarmac or road or roadway or centre of the road.)

AND look again, both ways, when you get to the middle of the road and a car passes. Don't only look left and downhill after the car which has gone. Nor only at your friends still crossing the road ahead. Make sure you look both ways AGAIN! Look back uphill to see if there's another car approaching!

I am now (writing in 2016) learning Italian on Duolingo. But it will be a while before I get beyond the basics. Italian spoken fast, or in a dialect, and technical terms, are the next challenge.

Which Wines Should I Serve At My Home Dinner Party?

file://localhost/Users/angelasharot/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/Modified/2012/8%20Nov%202012/IMG_4150.jpg

Champagne Quotations -
'In victory you deserve it, in defeat you need it.' Napoleon. (I used to worry about quoting quotations accurately. Then I found that famous people who found a witty line went down well would repeat it many times, differently each time. Misquotations are usually more succinct and sound better than the original.
Many famous quotations are translated from the original French in different English words.
I am a happy drinker and a happy wine writer.
Best quotations on drinks and Champagne? I dream of champagne. And making witty remarks about champagne. After a glass of champagne I have sweet dreams and think I have made witty remarks. I have to write down witty remarks, otherwise next day I just have a forgotten dream and big smile. See my book at the end. Now onto a beginner's guide to which wine to serve at your dinner party.

Wine Expert's Advice On Which Wine To Serve
Travelling Trevor is fast becoming a wine expert as a result of the wine tasting lunches, dinners, and evenings, at Berry Brothers near Piccadilly, where he is often sat (I mean that correctly in the passive sense - seated by others) beside the vineyard owner. The vineyard owner often challenges you to guess the grape ('hm - not too sweet, a little dry, only been in the vat xx years, slightly acidic' - so the year? ('wine going brown - may be older').  Trevor often identifies the grape and country and gets the year right or almost right within a year.

Trevor also visits to the Wine Society tastings, consults the wine guidebooks, reads the history of the vineyards, google maps show which bank of the river has the slope getting sun or rain. After years of tours around wine areas of Champagne, Germany, USA, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, now this year he visited Burgundy vineyards and stayed overnight taking photos for them and was rewarded by tastings of unusual wines. (He's an award-winning photographer - in the shortlist for a National Geographic stills competition and and outright winner for a video Boris in London competitions). We have also bought the 'bargain' (reduced price but still a luxury - but including wines you could never normally afford) at Petrus restaurant in London - Petrus being the name of a wine.

When we manage to gather friends from all corners of the globe in Singapore, or the family all meet up in London, we try to have two wines of the same type, but usually a cheap wine and an expensive wine, to compare. We all do a blind tasting and make notes on which wine we prefer, and guess which is the expensive one and which is the cheap one. Then Trevor reveals the labels and prices.

Alas, I'm only just learning to like the tanniny reds and acidic whites. I'm still willing to drink Portuguese Mateus Rose, though German Liebraumilch and Italian Asti Spumante (town of Asti, spumante meaning sparkling) are starting to taste like lemonade and make me wonder whether I am heading for diabetes with too much wine and sugar. So I try to limit myself to one glass with a meal, maximum two.

However, on special occasions I still look for a glass of French Champagne or Italian Prosecco or Californian sparkling rose, a zinfandel, plus a teeny tumbler of an after dinner Muscat. My eyes light up at really sweet wines, German Auslese, Spatlese (spat - late, like me, late but sweet) or a New World Icewine from the USA or even New Zealand.

But when Trevor is emailed by another younger member of the family for advice on which wine to serve at home-cooked dinner party, Trevor says with more authority:

Dinner Party Pairings

Re your dinner, any red wine goes fine with any red meat.  The matches we’ve been trying (mustard with Burgundy, pepper steak with Syrah etc) seem to me no more than interesting experiments.  My preference would be to match lighter meat (lamb) with lighter, fruitier wine (Beaujolais, Burgundy, Rioja or Chateau Musar).  Hold the Bordeaux, Syrah and Italian for steak.

No need for wine with desert (it would have to be a sweet wine though – sweet white if fruit-based, sweet red with chocolate).

Cheese is fussier.  Soft white cheeses, including goat, go very well with well-chilled Sauvignon Blanc.  For waxy yellow cheese like Dutch or Emmental I have yet to find a wine that works.  Hard, crumbly, yellow cheeses like cheddar, manchego and pecorino need a red wine and mature examples can soften any amount of tannin.  Blue cheese like Stilton is famously paired with port (salt vs sweet) but I think it’s too much richness altogether, would just enjoy the cheese.

Love These Links:

Berry Brothers and Rudd Shop, 3 St James's Street, London

Berrys Bros & Rudd
3 St James's Street
London SW1A 1EG
Tel:+44 (0)800 280 2440

Email: bbr@bbr.com

Frequent seated lunches and dinners can be very pricey but you still need to book early because they sell out fast.

Bin end shop Basingstoke (frequent tasting mornings with tutoring sessions for a small price about £5-10)

Berry Bros. & Rudd Hamilton Close Houndmills Basingstoke Hampshire RG21 6YB

www.bbr.com

thewinesociety.com (Wine tastings for members - you can join - it's a public co-op, and they sell wines, bargain bin ends, and glasses, books on wine and wine theme tea towels.) 

Angela's Wine Glass Etiquette and After Dinner Quotations:
Watch Angela Lansbury on restaurant etiquette on you tube

Buy books by Angela Lansbury on speeches and Quick Quotations For Successful Speeches, for after dinner speeches on lulu.com

'When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.' (Henry Youngman, 1906-1998.)
'If this is tea, bring me coffee, if this is coffee, bring me tea.' Abraham Lincoln.

Send offers of free dinners and news of wine tastings (press, public or personal).

Invitations to free dinners and wine tastings are accepted with blushes or gratifying (to you) and embarrassing (to me) eagerness! 
My email is annalondon8@gmail.com (I am not Anna but Angela. tried to get 'Angela London and a number but several others already had the same idea. However, I managed to snap up the Chinese 'lucky number' 8.)