Geneva: December 24 2023: Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas (to those who celebrate) –

Warning, for those of you accustomed to our more usual travel to distant places and searching the unknown—this set of travelogues will be very tame. We are in Geneva (via NY) and then on to Vienna. It’s a short trip focused mostly on family. So, no big exotic stories to tell, and unlikely to have too much drama. That said, we are headed to Vienna for about a week after Geneva.

We arrived in Geneva yesterday morning to spend Christmas with Mike’s family — his sister-in-law, two nieces and their spouses, and the combined four children (all under the age of six), and two dogs. It’s a short trip and not quite the usual Tiger/Pyatok travels to developing nations and exotic locations. We left Oakland on December 20th and stopped in NY for about 40 hours to celebrate Mike’s birthday in the old stomping grounds… and then headed directly for Geneva. We’ll be here for 5 nights and then head to Vienna for New Years, and then we are back home.

New York was fun, sort of relaxing, and filled with lots of eating—starting at Le Gratin, a new restaurant by Daniel Boulud located on the first floor of The Beekman Hotel (where we stayed). Le Gratin is fashioned as a Lyonnais restaurant; it was perfect for us—the food was good, the atmosphere was casual, and we could just roll out of the room and head for dinner after checking in. And The Beekman is always a delight—a Queen Anne–style building from 1888, built a short walk from the Brooklyn Bridge which was opened I believe in 1883. The Beekman has a magical atrium that soars nine stories high that you really sense when having drinks in the bar (Temple Court). The following day (Dec 21) we set out separately— I headed to the Whitney (not my favorite place, but I wanted to see the Harry Taylor show). Taylor’s work was interesting and also complicated to see the political nature of the work ensconced within an institution frequented primarily by an elite class. Nonetheless, the work is worth seeing although more potent as historical statements (and perhaps a statement overall that history should not be forgotten and that we haven’t moved as far as we think we have).

I then met up with Mike at the Union Square Christmas Market which was fun to stroll… and Mike availed himself of a hot chocolate topped with babka and marshmallow! Totally sinful, but it was his birthday.

For dinner, Mike had requested a “stately place with history,” so off we went to Gage & Tollner—don’t think you can get much more stately and historic than that. We took the subway two stops to Brooklyn and voila!… there amid the homeless and stores that sell cheap liquor is the more than 130-year-old restaurant—famous over all those years. As a child growing up in Brooklyn, I knew of the restaurant and had passed it many times when strolling downtown Brooklyn, but I had never been inside (nor had Mike).

It’s located on Fulton Street and named for the original owners Charles Gage and Eugene Tollner, and it’s in a converted 1870 four-story brownstone that may still have residences above (not sure). The building is a designated landmark. The restaurant was popular with judges and lawyers and businessmen (yes probably only men in those days) since it is fairly close to the courts and Brooklyn City Hall. It was owned and operated by the same family for seven decades and then sold and closed in 2004. For a period the space was occupied by some retail shops (can’t imagine how they set that up in that space. Then three young-ish foodie entrepreneurs started a crowdfunding campaign in 2018 and re-opened the restaurant in the historic venue (restored) which now boasts a far younger and hip crowd than its history, but it kept many of the famous chop-house items on the somewhat small menu. The space is long and narrow—maybe 100’ by 25 ‘ and has lots of amazing woodwork and arched mirrors and chandeliers. In the old days, I’m told that the waitstaff had the number of years of their employment embroidered on their uniforms because they worked there for many many years. As a kid I was told that many famous (and rich) people frequented Gage & Tollner including Truman Capote, Diamond Jim Brady, Fanny Brice, Mae West, and Jimmy Durante. Anyway, we had great starters including crispy hen-of-the-woods mushrooms in some kind of homemade siracha sauce and Peconic snails… and then classic steak, cooked to perfection.

We taxied back to the hotel, and in the morning met up with two of our god-children for brunch at the Beekman. Good to see them and to hear about their protest activities re: the Israel/Palestine situation, and what they are up to.

Then we headed to Newark Airport to fly to Geneva. In many ways the flight from the East Coast to Europe is less comfortable than flying from the West Coast. The NY-Geneva 7.5 hour flight turns out to be more difficult to sleep than the 12 hour flights. Once you’re settled on the plane, the meal arrives and then you’ve only got about 3-3.5 hours to go — not long enough to sleep, but you’re tired. So –at least in my case—I felt more tired arriving in Geneva than usual. And of course you arrive very early (7:30 am) so it’s too early to check into the hotel. We strolled a bit and then settled in the lobby until our room was ready. Then we quickly showered and unpacked and headed to Elizabeth’s to watch the kids trim the tree. Julia and Julien and their three kids (Louis-6, Ella-4, and Siena-1) live in Geneva; Emma, Hem and Finn (almost 5) live in London.

After the little reunion (and meeting the new dog, Tilda), we headed back to the hotel for a quiet dinner at Balila (a wonderful Lebanese restaurant that I’d like to clone for the Bay Area).

Yesterday, Mike and I strolled to the Geneva Christmas Market (nothing too interesting but a nice walk) and back to the hotel. We are staying at the Longemalle, which we like – smallish, on a pedestrian street in the heart of downtown Geneva. Last night we went to Julia and Julien’s (JuJu’s for short) for Christmas Eve dinner. Julien’s mom and aunt and cousin (from Angouleme—about an hour north of Bordeaux) were there as well. We had met them before at JuJu’s wedding and at previous Christmas events over the years. They are interesting with a long history involving the Mitterrand circle of politicos. So, the conversation was lively. We all moaned the shift to the right throughout our countries and beyond.

JuJu served wonderful foie gras (uh oh—don’t tell anyone in California), and a huge spread of raw fish—with champagne and also great wines. We topped it all off with Buche noel (we brought one we had ordered from a great bakery we had found over the years called Christie’s located just across the street from a hotel we’ve stayed at on previous trips). Turns out at least two other guests had the same idea so they had about 4 buche noels—one will be transported the Xmas Day dinner.

All the best – and merry Christmas.

Fern