HandleBar Adelaide - pub on wheels

The HandleBar Adelaide uses vehicles devised by brothers Henk and Zwier Van Laar in Amsterdam in the 1990s. The four-wheel, open frame vehicles, the size of a family car, have allowed fans to take in dozens of US, European and Asian cityscapes, beer in hand, since the vehicles were first tested. Americ-an Stephen Lindsay and Australian Jason Seris operated 9 of the Amsterdam-manufactured vehicles in the U.S since they took up the venture in 2012. The vehicles were brought to Adelaide in 2016 by Lindsay & Seris because the 2 men found the project has most positive impact in smaller cities. The two men chose Adelaide because they liked the size. From experience in the USA, they found that a somewhat smaller city was generally more receptive

Driving down Franklin St

Experience Adelaide

The men met extensively with Adelaide City Council and State Government agencies to ensure compliance in safety, food and alcohol service, waste disposal, suitable city routes and stopping points. The final stages of securing a liquor licence for the vehicles was critical.

Australia’s first pub on wheels in Adelaide is an open framed, pedal-powered mobile music, fun and drinking experience, offering two-hour tours of the city centre. The bike allows 16 customers to book a tour, pedalling around the CBD at 10 ks per hour, and the company provides the driver. They are tot-ally powered by the pedalling passengers with the driver-bar handler guiding its braking and direction. Each side also has a seat over the wheels, which means they don’t have pedals. Each bike also has a bench in the back that seats 3 people who want a rest and is perfect for those who don’t fit the height (5’3” min) and weight limitations (136 k max).

The HandleBar is great for pre-wedding parties, birthdays, corporate team building and Christmas parties. Australia’s only pedal pub ride includes beer, Adelaide wine, pre-mixed spirits and cider that can be pre-ordered and prepaid online while pedalling around Adelaide’s city centre. Wear sunscreen and hat in summer, comfortable clothes and avoid high heels! The pedal-power exercise is VERY energetic!

 

The driver controls the steering wheel and brakes

Adelaide Mums' Group

Though the vehicle’s speed is provided collectively by the pedalling drinking passengers, steering-braking is the sole responsibility of the driver/bar handler. And while they’re cruising around the city, the bike itself the license making it legal to drink on. So the designated driver  maintains control of the vehicle at all times and the riders don’t have control of steering or braking. And the Adelaide City Council controls vehicle compliance and safety, food and alcohol service, waste disposal, suitable city routes and hotel stopping points en route have been satisfied. Lindsey, who drives one of the vehicles, says he and Seris were in discussion with local bars about stopping off during the tours, choosing handpicked, small pub-crawl stopping points for their customers. For comfort onboard, drinks are pre-organised and paid for online before leaving the starting point, so there no need for cash. If a customer thinks that pedalling tends to make him peckish, he can bring snacks on board. If the whole group pre-books food, everyone can enjoy progressive dinner sampling at some of Adelaide's favourite eateries.

The HandleBar Homebase

Tripadvisor

While the tour drives around,  the customers pedal the streets of Adelaide, enjoying a drink to remain hydrated. Making 2-3 stops along the way, and waving to pedestrians, it is heaps of fun! Sip and sing through Adelaide's vibrant WestEnd aboard a giant party bike. HandleBar trips are Adelaide's most talked-about experiences.

A vehicle can operate with as few as 6 people, people who can decorate the bike, and play their own tunes for a personal touch. There is only one thing I, Helen, cannot find i.e confirmation that the bikes feature electric assistance so groups can pedal less and party more if they choose. I hope it is true. I broke the bottom of one leg 2 legs ago and could not pedal even some of the time.

An organised tour filling two vehicles

Adelaide Mums' Group

Bookings for groups cost $400 Sun-Thu, $500 Fri-Sat. The minimum number per bike is 6, the maximum per bike is 16. Larger parties can rent multiple bikes, the price per party bike remaining fixed regardless of party size. Get details and start planning the adventure at The HandleBar.

Canadian history, Hudson’s Bay Co and furs

The C17th fur trade became a major commercial growth in Nth Am­erica, due to Eur­ope’s dem­and for beaver hats. Two French trad­ers pl­an­ned a trad­ing com­pany to reach the inland via Hudson Bay and to gain access to the int­er­ior fur resources. Af­ter not win­n­ing French sup­­port, they went to Prince Rupert in Britain in 1665 where Rup­ert sw­ay­ed cousin King Charles II, mer­ch­­ants and noble men to back the ve­n­ture. Two ships were sent mid 1668 and the royal charter for Rup­ert’s Land. Hudson’s Bay Co./HBC was pr­o­claimed May 1670. The Gov­ernor and Co. of Advent­ur­ers of England received ex­clusive trading rights in Hud­son Bay Terr­it­ory.

Original charter of the HBC, declared in 1670

HBC shareholders at Annual General Court Meeting elected a Governor and comm­ittee to organ­ise fur auctions, order trade goods, hire workers and arr­ange shipping. The London-based Governor set all the basic polic­ies implem­ented in Rup­ert’s Land, using annual reports, journals & accounts supplied by the Bay of­f­icials. 

Prince of Wales and Eddystone, Hudson's Bay Co. Ships

Canadian Encyclopaedia

After trapping beaver pelts when they reached their best quality (win­t­er), Indigenous Peoples trav­elled to the trading posts in sum­m­er. These traders were middlemen, bringing furs from inland communities and trad­ing furs for manufactured goods eg tools, guns, text­il­es, food.

In 1713 France agreed to England’s claim to Hudson Bay with Treaty of Utr­echt. For 60 years, the HBC erected posts largely at major rivers flowing into the bay. This hesit­ance to establish posts in Rupert’s Land all­owed comp­et­itors to out­do the HBC by travel­l­ing into the in­ter­ior to trade with Indigenous peoples. In return, ind­igenous trad­ers extracted greater ret­urns for their furs. 

 

Timber wolf fur sales, Fur Harvesters Auction in North Bay, Ont.

CBC

Until 1763 HBC struggled with the French for control of fur trades in south­ern Rupert’s Land, and naval battles erupted on Hud­son & James Bays. In the Treaty of Paris 1763, the Montreal overland trade network was taken by the British. By 1774 HBC trade had been undercut enough that the Governor designed an aggres­s­ive policy of inland expansion, be­ginning with building facilities on the Saskatch­ewan River.

Intensive competition with the North West Co. spil­l­ed beyond Rup­ert’s Land into the Pac­if­ic slope, combining economic conflict with occasional physical viol­ence. In 1821 the parties merged, and the British Parlia­ment extended the Co.’s monopolies to include the N.W Territories.

Bringing together the different business traditions of the North West Co. and HBC required changes in the new Co’s administrative structure. British North America was divided into trading depart­ments and dist­r­icts. District managers met annual­ly in depart­mental council meetings presided over by the Governor in North Am­erica, Sir George Simpson. Th­ese coun­cils passed reg­ul­ations governing local trade, det­er­mined work­ers’ deployment and established the log­is­tical requirements. The offic­ers also had a vested interest since they shared in the profits, accord­ing to the 1821-71 deed polls. But Sim­pson had considerable power, and the London Governor overruled local decisions. Post-merger, the HBC closed many unprof­itable trading posts, adv­ersely damaging Indigenous groups whose survival relied on fur.

After 1821, independent free Métis traders at the Red River Colony opp­osed the Co’s monopoly rights, which had been renewed in 1838. The issue ended in the famous 1849 Sayer Trial, where Métis man Pierre-Guillaume Sayer was tried and convict­ed of trading with Indigen­ous groups, violating the Co’s legal privileges. The court’s decision to free him effectively opened the trade of Rup­ert’s Land.

To standardise trade between posts, HBC introduced the Made Beav­er as the currency (1857). All furs were valued according to the equivalent of one prime male beaver skin. Hud­s­on's Bay Co. fur trade im­pacted on Indig­en­ous peoples, many of whom ab­andoned th­eir life-styles and economy, and relied on Europ­ean manuf­ac­t­ured goods for survival.

Although the Co.’s primary concern remained the fur trade, it increas­ingly provided government for settlers in Red River Valley and Vanc­ouver Island. Only in 1849 did Britain grant­ the Van­couver Island col­ony to the HBC, to be used as an agricultural sett­lement.

During the Fraser Gold Rush in 1858, the mainland colony of British Co­l­umbia was created out of New Caledonia. Governor James Douglas was requ­ir­ed by the British govern­ment to resign his HBC commission before bec­om­ing Governor of BC. Thus the Co. began to relinquish its colonial res­ponsibilities. It was then Canada’s growing expansionist movement saw the ann­exation and settlement of the NW as essential to Canada’s future.

Expansionists portrayed the HBC as delaying Canada’s growth; they cl­aim­ed that to protect its fur trade interests, the HBC had proclaimed that the NW was a barren waste­land, unsuited to agricultural set­tlement. But this belief was challenged by reports of the Palliser and Hind expedit­ions in 1857-60 which encouraged westward British settlement.

In 1863, International Financial Society bought control in HBC, signal­l­ing a shift in the Co: most new shareholders were less interested in the fur trade than in real estate and economic development in the West. Negotiations held with the Colonial Office and with the Can­adian government DID result in selling Rupert’s Land to Can­ada in 1870. In the agreement the Co retained title to the old trading lands.

Fur trader in Northwest Territories, in the 1890s

Wiki

See the post-1870 growth. By retain­ing large land­holdings on the prair­ies adjacent to its posts, many of which were loc­at­ed in growing ur­ban centres, the HBC became a most im­portant dev­el­opers in western Canada.

As Prairie economic development accelerated post-1870, the Co. expanded retail business with settlers. Initially most of this act­ivity occurred at its trading posts. Since it differed from the trade with Indigenous groups, separate sales shop accounts were kept. Then the HBC’s retail and whole­sale divisions emerged, with outlets separate from fur trade. In 1910 the Co was divided into 1]land, 2]fur & 3]retail. In 1913 HBC helped build new retail shops, recog­nising that this had a greater fut­ure potential than land and fur sales. The first of the 6 stores op­en­ed in Calg­ary and the last in Winnipeg in 1926. From 1965 the shop em­braced the short form of its name, The Bay, and its logo featured the B. And its historic coat of arms nodded to its rich role in Canadian history.

Hudson's Bay Montreal, department store chain acquired by HBC in 1960.

 In 1970, 300th year in HBC history, the Queen formally transferred it from U.K to Canada, with new headquarters in Winnipeg. The Co. owned 239 dep­art­ment stores in Canada and U.S then. But  after failing to secure new financing or buyers, the historic 355-year-old retailer permanently closed its last doors in 2025 and completed liquidation.

Thank you to Canadian Encyclopedia

 

Gertrude Bell's great Middle Eastern legacy

The female scholar behind Iraq's independence

The Librarians

Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) was the grand­daughter of British nobility and the daughter of an monied industrialist. Instead of seeking a life of cocktail part­ies, her brain actually required a high-class education. In 1884 Bell went to Queen’s College and Oxford Univ­ers­ity, gaining 1st Class Honours in Modern History. She spent the next 15 years in cons­tant travel including Persia, Egypt and Algiers.

A “cause” arrived in 1899 when she met arch­aeol­ogist David Hogar­th and his world of Middle East ant­iquity. Already fluent in Persian, Fr­en­ch and German, Bell also studied Arabic and Hebrew, and in 1900 she completed the first of her desert travels through Pal­est­ine, Leb­an­on and Syria. She then began learning desert rul­es and the soc­ial prac­t­­ices of nomadic Bed­ouin, building val­uable friendships among sheiks, warr­iors and Mesopot­amian merchants. From 1900-12 her focus was on developing her skills as an arch­aeol­ogist, map-maker and ethnographer in a tough part of the world. Her 1907 trips with Sir William Ramsay in Anatolia became the basis for her book, The Thousand and One Churches (1909). She was becoming a specialist in Byzantine religious architecture, writ­ing mono­gr­aphs as she went.

1911 was when met the young archaeologist T.E Lawrence (1888–1935) aka Lawrence of Arabia. They shared a passion for Arab­ic cul­ture and antiquit­ies, becoming powerful forces in the next dec­ade prom­oting Arabic independence from the Otto­mans and from Eur­ope.

After a long trip along the Euph­rates River, Bell discovered and surveyed an C8th Abbas­id fortress at Ukhaidir. She wrote the account in her 1909/10 journal, and an arch­itectural mono­gr­aph, The Palace and Mosque at Ukhaidir (1913).

In 1913 Bell travelled by camel through modern Saudi Arabia and Iraq, hoping to reach the famed White City of Hay­yil. She negotiat­ed her way thr­ough cont­ested territories, critical water short­ages, hostile tribes and the shift­ing sands. Then she went home with maps and knowledge of Arabia that were invaluable as Europe faced WW1.

With Turkey and Germany allied in WW1, the Middle East suddenly be­came an area of military importance remote from British intell­igen­ce. Who were the relevant powers there? Who did they support? So in 1915 Ger­trude Bell trav­el­led to Cairo, to work with Brit­ish Intell­ig­­­en­ce, com­pile inform­ation and form a strategy for org­anising Arab­ic res­is­tance to Turk­ish rule. However she did not participate in the Sykes-Picot Agree­ment in 1916 that eventually divided Turkish-held Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.

                                     

Bell, Cox and Ibn Saud in Mesopotamia in 1916.

Feisal's two staunchest supporters re holding the new Mandate of Iraq together
Imperial War Museum

After the war, the Ottoman Empire was being dismantled and Bell sought to help the Arabs. She was asked to make her recommendations for Mesopotamia, as her 1920 report “Self-Determination in Mesopot­amia” made very clear. Bell was in the middle of the region’s politics, acting as mediator between the local Sunni, Shiite and Kurd leaders, the British government, and Winston Churchill.

Self-Determination in Mesopotamia was the paper that earned her a seat at the Paris Peace Conf­er­ences (1919-20), to honour the Al­l­ied promise of Arabic independence. She opp­osed French del­egates who were cr­eating their mandate in Syria. And she opposed the Brit­ish delegates who were creating a British mandate in Iraq and Palestine.
                                 

participants of the 1921 Cairo Conference. 
L to R: Winston Churchill, Gertrude Bell and TE Lawrence.

Under the Sphinx of Giza.

Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for the Colonies, called the 1921 Cairo Conference. While other British offic­ials argued for Iraq’s continued sub­servience to Brit­ain, Bell arg­ued hard for their indep­end­­­ence, and for the pro­m­ot­ion of a larg­er Arabic state from France. For a newly un­ified Iraqi state, Bell and Lawrence highly recommended Faisal bin Hussein, former command­er of the Arab forces that helped the Brit­ish in the war. And through his charis­matic leadership, a nation was forged! Bell became one of King Faisal’s most trusted advisors, beloved in Baghdad.

Yet Bell and her boss British high commissioner, Sir Percy Cox, laid down state policies in Iraq that were taken up by Sadd­am’s Arab Ba’ath socialist party. Iraq retained the Kurdish mount­ains as a buffer against Turkey and Russia, and promoted Sunni Mus­lims over the Shia majority. They expelled the Shia clergy to Iran, and depl­oyed air power as a form of political control. Why did the U.K care? Iraq enjoyed valuable oil resources AND acted as a buffer zone in the region to protect against Turkey, Iran and Syria.

Bell believed passionately in Arab independence and persuaded Lon­d­on that Iraq had enough able men at least to provide an administ­r­at­ive façade; and she contr­ib­uted importantly to the construction of the Iraqi state in 1921. But she had two difficulties. Firstly she always ov­er­estimated the popularity of Cox and herself. And secondly she underest­im­ated the force of religion in Iraqi affairs.

Bell and Sir Herbert Samuel, British High Commissioner in Palestine,
meets Jordanian pilot 1921. Highbrow.

Bell was never loved in London. And when Cox left Bag­h­dad in 1923, she lost her bureaucratic protector. Yet Bell still wanted help in preserving Baghdad’s heritage in a new Archaeological Museum and she was named as the Director of Antiquities by King Faisal. Later she helped draw up the borders of the new nation of Iraq.

She died in 1926 in Baghdad at 57, from ?lung can­cer. The citizens and British officials lined the streets to pay respect to this weal­thy British scholar who’d dedicated her life to Arab culture; the King of Iraq stood in a place of honour.

Bell’s greatest legacy was indeed the recovery and preservat­ion of an­cient artefacts and archaeological sites all over the Mid­dle East, as at the Gert­rude Bell Archive at Newcastle Uni. But in 1921, Churchill agreed that Mesopotamia should be a self-ruling state, and Bell was a central figure at the Cairo Conference. Her influence was essential to the establishment of modern-day Iraq.

Dutchies in orange, hot New Year Bondi

                                                 

  

   

Scheveningen beach Netherlands, Facebook

The Dutch connection to Bondi is deeply rooted, generally featuring Dutch-speakers, Dutch music and traditional foods eg pea soup, rookworst. This draws both locals & tourists to a special Sth Hemisphere New Year celebration. The first official Dutch New Year's Dive at Bondi Beach was on 1st Jan 2015. Dutch tourists were already influencing the Bondi Beach summer scene, largely due to a massive influx of working holiday backpackers and expats. They started linking specifically to Bondi by bringing a popular winter tradition to the Australian summer heat, a bonding event for the Dutch community being each New Year's Day Dive. While the traditional Dutch event involves jumping into freezing Netherlandish waters, while in Sydney's summer thousands of Dutch tourists and expats gather along our warm ocean waves.

4 PM New Year's Day

Visit Bondi Beach

New Year's Dive

Visit Bondi Beach

Beyond this event, Bondi is a hub for Dutch travellers. Back packers stay at local hostels eg Noah's Bondi Beach that hires Dutch-speakers. The beach's lively cafe culture & surf schools eg Let's Go Surfing, are popular with European travellers in Dec.

There is also an easily accessible cliff-top walk from Bondi to Bronte Beach, taking c35 minutes each way. During the whale-watching season from May-Nov, this cliff-top walk offers a super view of the humpback whales as they head north to Hervey Bay.

The Dutch tourist Bondi summer timeline revolves around the New Year's Day Dive. While the Dutch winter tradition began in 1960, Australian-based tour groups adapted it for Sydney's sum-mer. Dutchies flock to Bondi Beach for its surf culture & back packer life style. The major highlight is the annual New Year's Dive when hundreds of Dutch expats dressed in orange gather on clean sands to swap freezing Dutch waters for Australian warmth. They run into the ocean to celebrate the New Year.

The influx of Dutch travellers and working holidayers is a major part of Bondi's summer identity. If people are looking to connect with the Dutch community: Nederlanders in Sydney Facebook Group are great hubs for Dutch back packers to find shared beach flats, buy used cars and plan gatherings. In Jan, the New Year's Dive allows participants to align their plunge with the morning dive in the Netherlands.

Aside from the New Year's swim, nearby Eastern Suburbs are often frequented by European back packers, with Dutch travellers comprising an important portion of the summer surf and hostel culture. After absorbing the Bondi sun, take the famous Bondi-Coogee Coastal Walk, a 6km beautiful route that passes secluded beaches and coastal cliffs. Dutch tourists love this walk because of the swimming-snorkelling, although note Coogee does not have surf like Bondi has. Dutchmen also socialise in Coogee Bay Hotel

Then after a Covid-initiated break of 2 years on 1st Jan 2023 Bondi Beach Australia turned orange again, also this year organised by Dutch Travel. 500+ dancing hats were ready for the big splash in Sydney in 2023. A large orange group of travellers, expats, backpackers and emigrated Dutch people formed an orange family on Bondi Beach. With feet in the warm sand, arms around each other, Unox hats on & flags in hand, the orange army was ready. In Bondi Beach’s centre, a huge path was cleared where an honorary hedge of Bondi Rescue workers and surprised beachgoers formed. The dancing, singing and jumping orange army moved through it bouncing into the water. The main sponsor is UNOX, the Dutch brand used for meat products. 

Midnight fireworks over Sydney Harbour Bridge

Dutch tourists love the event

Blueprint Traveller

Dutch tourists have a long history at Sydney's Bondi Beach, largely driven by the influx of young European travellers seeking working holidays and sunny getaways in Australia's summer. Today the beach is multicultural with a strong international presence where Dutch can frequently be heard.  the Netherlands, New Year’s Dive is the yearly traditional running into the freezing winter waters to celebrate New Year. The plunge began in Zandvoort and Scheveningen in 1960 eg in Scheveningen c10,000 people joined in yearly under severe conditions. After, participants enjoyed Dutch winter food. This freezing winter tradition was adapted into a summer festival by Dutchiestravel & the local community. Meanwhile the event started spreading by Duchies globally.

Australia is known for pristine beaches, many of them found in and around Sydney. The Bureau of Stats puts Sydney’s population at 5 mill, so 60+% of the NSW population lives in and around the state capital city. Much of the moneyed Sydney population hugs the lovely coast-line.

Bondi Beach is one of the finest beaches in the world, located c10ks from the Sydney CBD and easily accessed by public transport. Bondi Beach is surrounded by parklands, barbeques, picnic areas, children’s playgrounds, showers, toilets, multiple restaurants and cafes, and a paid parking area. Since then hordes have gathered on the sand in orange gear to plunge in the warmish waters. Dutch backpackers, expats and tour operators eg Dutchies Travel flip the freezing winter tradition upside down, launching the New Year's Dive at Bondi Beach. The event attracts endless participants who dress in orange and don Santa hats with Dutch flags. The traditional plunge time was 4 PM when participants gathered on the sand and make a festive run into the Pacific Ocean.

After WW2 160,000+ Dutch nationals migrated to Australia from the late 1940s on. Driven by war devastation and post-war economic crises at home, Dutch citizens were lured by Australian assisted passage and promises of housing & jobs. See Dutch interests in Dutch Australia Cultural Centre. 

If you cannot get Comments to work, send your comments to me on helenw@bigpond.net.au and I will print them and answer them in the post. Apologies, all.

VERY grand hotels!

During our first three years of marriage, while working and travelling around Europe, spouse and I lived in Youth Hostels or slept in the boot of our car. Later, when the children arrived and had started primary school, we stayed in cheap hostels that at least had a private toilet and a shower in each room. Decades later I read Grand Hotels, a heavily illustrated architectural history by Elaine Denby covering the international deluxe life of the 1830s-1930s. Denby is an architect and a member of the Art Workers Guild.

Fairmont Empress

WESTJETVacations

Her chapters appear thus:
1. Origins
2. Size and Grandeur in the United States
3.Euope Burgeoning
4.The Swiss Genius
5. Fin de Siècle
6. Founded in Empires
7. Journeys to the East
8. Into the Twentieth Century and Times of Change
9. Reality and Illusion

The Federal Coffee Palace, Collins St Melbourne, in 1888

largest and grandest Coffee Palace ever, demolished in 1973

Wiki

The styles of architecture and decor have varied enormously for grand hotels: a French Renaissance château manner for the Canadian Pacific Railroad in the 1880s; a fantastic Moorish-style confection for the Tampa Bay on Florida's Gulf Coast (1891); Art Deco for Oliver Hill's seaside Midland Grand at Morecombe in England (1933). And the services available were equally stunning: Turkish baths, rifle-ranges, even a fleet of vintage Rolls-Royces at Hong-Kong's Peninsula. To keep this illusory world glittering, the reality had to run like clockwork, with managers like César Ritz, king of hoteliers, monitoring every detail from ballrooms to basement boilers. Grand Hotels explores every aspect of this all-but-vanished world of opulence, from the entrepreneurs, architects and designers who made it possible to the ambitious individuals and dynasties that kept it going.

The Grand Hotels of Joseph Cornell is a book by Robert Coover that explores a world of Grand Hotels. The book describes rooms that are accessed by a ferris wheel and open onto crystal cages, sand fountains and night voyages, evoking a sense of childhood, games and princesses. "Although childhood is the model of all architecture, the Grand Hotel Nymphlight is the only one known to be specifically devoted to the child within. The grand hotels that Coover, best known as a trailblazing fiction writer and proselyte of hypertext, describes in this small book of prose poems belong to the hotel series by the American dioramist Joseph Cornell, making this book a set of brochures to the marvellous. The Grand Hotel Nymphlight temporarily transforms its residents into innocent, joyful childhood versions of themselves. The Grand Hotel Night Air Balloon boasts a lobby filled with caged tropical birds, a musical fountain and rooms without walls, all enveloped in a blue haze recalling helium. and The Grand Hotel Sand Fountain, a hotel of brief encounters, provides the ultimate therapy for the alienated wallflower, never permitting anyone do anything alone opening a door, riding an elevator except leave. 

Coover, with magnificent simplicity, orchestrates countering strands of pathos and wonder, decadence and innocent glee, in these 10 short chapters that are sure to make anyone permanently dissatisfied with the run-down bed-and-breakfast place. Forecast: Coover is classed with John Barth and Donald Barthelme as a fiction writer, and is particularly well read on campus. A creative display might feature this small press book, Utopia Parkway (a biography of Cornell).

This one-volume international survey of grand hotels focuses on the century ending around 1930, when "profound social changes following the Great War of 1914-18 had reduced the demand and left many of the grand hotel buildings falling into decay." While the book focuses on grand hotellerie in Europe and the US, fine hotels in Canada, Australia, South Africa, the Middle East and Asia are also cov-ered. The author has done a wonderful job of weaving together the histories of some 475 hotels (some no longer exist) to help clarify a period of unprecedented social and technological transformation. The text flows nicely and is accompanied by over 400 photographs of interior and exterior views, architectural drawings and plans, and portraits of noted owners, architects and builders.

Arising from many years of travels and visits throughout Europe, North America, the Near East and the Orient, this examination of the luxury hotel is an architectural and social history that covers the world from the 1830s to the 1930s, but also takes note of recent refurbishments.  Elaine Denby is an architect and a member of the RIBA and the Art Workers Guild.

Fairmont Banff Springs, built 1888

My only experience with these grand hotels was the Canadian Pacific Railway Hotel which was completed in 1885; general manager William Cornelius Van Horne wanted to boost ridership and realise the tourism potential of the Canadian West. The luxurious Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta was among the first hotels built by the railway to realize Van Horne’s vision. Designed by New York architect Bruce Price to resemble the castles of Scotland, the hotel opened in 1888. The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel standing today, the one in which spouse and I experienced the Good Life, was rebuilt in the late 1920s after fire destroyed the first hotel building. It’s within Banff National Park, perfect for us arriving by train on our Rocky Mountaineer tour across the western provinces.

Grand Hotel Vienna

Jet2Holidays

Grand Hotel Vienna

public area - reception, restaurants, bars and pianos

St Louis' epic Union Station Missouri 1894->

Built in 1892-4, this Romanesque Revival project was designed by arch­itect Theodore Link for the Terminal Railroad Associat­ion of St Louis Mo. It was to serve as a Union Station for the multiple railroads that off­ered passenger services back then. The first train pul­led into Union St­ation in Sept 1894, ushering in a new and exciting time for the city, known as The Gateway To The West. Sud­denly it bec­ame a gateway to all of U.S. Over the next few years, Union Station bec­ame one of the largest, busiest passenger rail terminals in the world

                                    

Grand Hall, 1909, 

Wiki

The station saw its highest traffic during the World’s Fairs of 1902-04 and into WW2. At its peak in WW2, the station was a central hub for the country; 2+ million soldiers travelled through the st­ation mon­th­ly. Each day saw 100,000+ people at the station; people like Pres Harry Truman, Joe Di-Maggio, Joan Crawford and St Louis baseballers all came there.         

              

The building con­sists of three sections, those being:
1. The head house is granite-clad with a rough-hewn rusticat­ed base with hipped, gab­l­­ed and conical red terra cotta tile roofs, cylindrical tur­r­ets and a clock tower with an octagonal turret and pyramid-hipped roof. The ar­ch­ed window bays on the 2nd floor and the 3rd floor, Chat­eau­ wall dormers, stone terr­aces with stone railings and metal lampposts along the main entr­ance at the Grand Hall/large waiting room, a large suspend­ed metal canopy at the main ent­rance, and buff brick and brown brick cladding on the rear and side fac­ades. The in­terior originally housed a hotel, lunchroom, tick­et­ing fac­il­ities and offices. 

Grand Hall now, 

Groupon

 

Grand Hall feat­ured a 65’ barrel vaulted ceil­ing with de­cor­ative stencils and plaster work, arches with decorative sc­ulptural reliefs, walls with arched bays, green tile wainscoting, stain­ed gl­ass windows, terazzo floors, marble columns with decorat­ive cap­it­als, and fancy fire­places.The lovely Grand Hall feat­ured an elegant two-ton wrought-iron chand­elier. Inspired by the walled city of Carcassone in Sth France, Link designed an el­egant and modern version of a feudal passageway. The plat­form, surrounded by a much admired steel and glass wall decorated with ornate wrought iron gates, held an ex­citing view of moving trains. The sweeping archway reaches 65’, with fresco and gold leaf detailing, mos­aics and art-glass windows. The Grand Hall recently renovated and rest­ored, the iconic site re-opened with lounge seating and a great bar. And the Grand Hall provides beers, wines, and railroad-themed cocktails.

Just off the Grand Hall was a 75-room hotel serving railroad staff, bus­inessmen and travellers passing through town. Rooms were furn­ished only with a bed, nightstand, water jug and wash-bowl. Guests shared a comm­un­al bathroom on the 1st floor, a quiet relief from the station’s bustle.

2. The large Train Shed, a metal-frame structure with a barrel-vaulted roof, sky lights and roof monitors, orig­inally housed many train plat­forms. Today the train shed houses restaurants and a carou­sel, and central to the entire Union Station project is the str­ik­ing St Louis Aquarium. The 120,000-sq ft attraction exhibits thou­sands of aquatic species from global riv­ers and oceans. It will be cert­ified in the Ass­ociation of Zoos & Aquariums.  

St Louis Aquarium,

opened in Dec 2019

St Louis Post-Dispatch

3. The Midway, between the 2 larger structures, has a metal tr­uss roof with skylights, brick walls, marble floors, foun­tains & bal­conies. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a Nat­ional His­t­oric Landmark in 1970.

After a long de­c­line, the last pass­enger train service left in 1978. The building remained empty until 1985, when it was ren­ovated for reuse as a shop­p­ing mall, food court and ho­t­el. To stop the impressive ar­chit­ecture of Union Station being wasted, the building was given a new life.

In Aug 1985, Union Station was reopened, with retail sh­ops, event spaces and rest­aurants where tourists could en­joy St Louis. The stylish, sophisticated Grand Hall features elegant hist­oric touches like the original terrazzo floor, green glazed terrac­otta bricks, st­ain­ed glass windows and wooden carpentry. Among carefully re­stored de­tails, see the hand-crafted design of stained glass window. 3 women are depict­ed in Tiffany glass, representing the expanse of 1890s train travel from New York to St Louis to San Francisco, all linked.

The Train Shed, renovated

Now the hotel has fully re­n­ovated 539 spacious historical and modern suit­es. Many of the rooms acknow­ledge Union Stat­ion’s history with art and décor, depicting rail­road themes. And some suites offer views of the building’s historic side out over Market St. Another major upd­at­e is the restoration of the massive steel train shed. And enjoy a sky view from the neighb­our­ing 200’ St Louis Wheel, the wheel having 42 encl­os­ed gondola­s, each seating 8 adults.

The renewed Union St­ation is surrounded by St Louis’ loveliest att­ractions eg Peabody Opera House, Campbell House Museum, City Museum, Kiener Plaza and Gateway Arch. But the station is a treasure in its own right.

Union Station was the entrance for visitors to St. Louis, from 1894. 

Wiki

Captain Eric Ravilious, WW2 art

London-born Eric Ravilious (1903-42) spent his early years in Eastbourne E. Sussex and won a scholarship to attend the Eastbourne School of Art in 1919. Later he enrolled at Royal College of Art London where he studied under Paul Nash, a War Artist in WW1. Later Ravilious worked as a painter, book illustrator and Wedgwood pottery designer.

With war starting in 1939, he joined the Royal Observer Corps based in Castle Hedingham Essex. Ravilious was one of the first official War Artists to be appointed by War Artists Advisory Committee-WAAC in Dec 1939, and in 1940 as a Captain. Established by the Ministry of Information, WAAC was a government body commissioning artists to record WW2 events. From 1940-2, Ravilious produced dramatic water colours & drawings of ships, aircraft and coastal defences, 50 of them now in the Imperial War Museums/IWM. 

A warship in dock, 1940

In Feb 1940, Ravilious was posted to Chatham Dockyard Kent to document the naval barracks’ factories & buildings. In A Warship in Dock 1940, Ravilious showed the bow of a destroyer in a flooded dry dock, tied down with many ropes. A man on deck holds one of the ropes while three other men board the ship via a gang-way on the port side. Shown from ground level, the warship looks menacing with angular marine camouflage and intimidating colossal scale. In the background there were many structures eg a ship crane and a factory with a smoking chimney. Despite the scene’s calming water in the flooded dock and vivid blue of the sky overhead, they were preparing for a country at war.

After Germany invaded Norway in Ap 1940, seizing Oslo and the main ports, the Allied forces tried to counter-attack on land but were under-equipped and out-numbered. In May troop evacuation from the Narvik port, Operation Alphabet, was authorised. Aircraft carriers HMS Glorious and HMS Ark Royal left Scapa Flow in Scotland in late May to assist with the withdrawal, escorted by 5 destroyers.

Ravilious was aboard HMS Highlander where the carrier’s dazzling camouflage was mimicked in the sea under the Arctic light. RAF Hurricanes from 2 squadrons flew around, riskily preparing to land on the deck of HMS Glorious, evacuated from the Norwegian Air Station. Next day HMS Glorious returned to Scapa Flow but was attacked by German battleships and sunk. 1,500+ souls tragically died.

Coastal Defences, 1940

The artist travelled to E.Newhaven Sussex in late 1940, to paint coastal defences. The port was targeted in Operation Sea Lion, a planned invasion of Britain by German forces, and needed heavy fortific-ation. In this scene, he depicted the semi-circular curve of the Coastline Defences 1940 in dark greens and blues, colours repeated in the sea and sky. In contrast, the searchlight was stark white, cutting through the night sky looking for enemy aircraft. See a row of boats speeding out to sea at the centre of the scene, leaving a stream of white as they moved in the water. The constant threat to Newhaven from above and below was clear.

He showed the moment a 9.2” naval gun fired from Dover's front port, a portrayal of spectacle and awe. A group of 5 artillerymen were shown as ghost-like figures, compared to the luscious greens of the front landscape. Ravilious spent mid 1941 in Dover before moving to Dundee Scotland.

Ravilious arrived at the Royal Naval Air Station/RNAS in Dundee in autumn 1941 and was quickly interested in the Supermarine Walrus seaplane. In this scene, 3 Walrus aircraft were floating on the river outside the station’s sick bay. The artist showed the interior which was not overly comfortable; just for convalescence. But the blue and white bedding with anchor motif conveyed a sense of homeliness in this stark environment. During his time at the RNAS, the pilots allowed Ravilious to fly in the air craft. After he successfully transferred from the Admiralty to the RAF.

De-Icing Aircraft, 1942

In March 1942 Ravilious was based at RAF Clifton airfield in York. He enjoyed flying over the city, observing York Minster from above and spotting abbeys and ruins. In De-Icing Aircraft 1942, Ravilious showed the airfield under endless snow. Men were scraping the ice layers from the wing of a de Havilland Dragon Rapide, a twin-engine biplane used for training purposes. Each engine had a fitted cover, protecting against harsh temperatures. And see another plane’s tail also covered in ice & snow, waiting to be fixed by the crew.

5 Spitfires at Sawbridgeworth, 1942.

In Mar 1942, Eric Ravilious’ wife and fellow artist Tirzah Garwood developed serious health problems, returning towards home. He went to RAF Sawbridgeworth Airfield Herts which was relatively close to their family home. Despite his terrible living conditions, Ravilious enjoyed painting everyday life on the airfield in early 1942, including aircraft in flight, never using oil paints in the war. Ravilious depicted Five Spitfires at Sawbridgeworth, 1942 at the base, but Spitfires were not at the site then.

Operation Room, 1942

Operations Room 1942 was a key war painting, acquired by IWM decades later. The watercolour depicted the interior of the airfield’s mobile operations room. It is decorated with light yellows and blue-greens, synonymous with functional WW2 buildings. Relaxing colour palettes were selected to be easy for workers inside for long periods. Large windows enabled a panoramic view of the airfield and a sector clock hung on the wall helped track air craft movements. There was no human in The Operations Room but human activity was detected; pinned notices under the clock, writing pen and ink on one table, and a blue reference folder on the other. Interestingly while at Sawbridgeworth, Ravilious wrote to his wife Tirzah in May 1942 stating “the weather gets finer all the time but I’m bored of pictures of planes on the ground and want to go flying.”

Ravilious soon flew to Reykjavik, driving to the RAF Kaldadarnes Airfield in Sept. From there he & 4 airmen flew on a rescue mission in a Lockheed Hudson and were lost off the Icelandic coast. Because his body wasn’t recovered, he had no grave; instead he was honoured at Chatham Navel Memorial Kent (above). Ravilious was one of three War Artists who died when his plane crashed, at 39. 

Thank you to the Imperial War Museum for the artworks and to the BBC for history.

Capt Scott & his Antarctic team

20th explorers on their way to Antarctica, incl­uding Ernest Shackle­ton, often vis­it­ed NZ. They used local ports and quar­antine islands, and grate­ful­ly accepted other offers of assistance. They also took on New Zeal­ander crew with them, to take part in the Antarctic trips.

 Capt Robert Falcon Scott 

1905, Wiki

Capt Robert Falcon Scott (1868–1912) was born in Devon to a sea far­ing family. He joined his first ship when he was 13, then becom­ing an off­ic­er in the Royal Navy. Later he became one of the first Brit­ish explorers to extensive­ly explore Antarctica in the ear­ly 1900s.

Scott’s plan was to explore the part of Antarctica around the Ross Sea, originally discovered back in 1841 by Sir James Clark Ross. Scott led 2 expeditions to the Antarctic. His first expedition on the Discovery took place between 1901–04, partially Govern­ment funded. Discovery was specially built for the voyage, as a re­search ship to go through icy seas.

Clarence Hare, 1902

ABC News

New Zealander Clarence Hare (1880-1967) began his career as a clerk in N.Z and Fiji. While working in a Lyttelton grocery in Nov 1901 he met the Discovery's stores off­ic­er as they were preparing for their initial voyage south. The exp­edition's steward had been dis­missed at Lyttel­ton and 20-year-old Hare was taken on as the replacement steward. He was the youngest crew member on board.

As steward, Hare was in day-to-day contact with Capt Scott and the other officers on board. He carefully kept a diary which has been widely quoted in accounts of the expedition and biog­raphies of Sc­ott. Hare's name is still recalled in most accounts of the exped­it­ion, for the observations he wrote about and for his mir­ac­ulous story of life and death.

Note this was the first time Antarctic land had been expl­ored extensively, zoologically and geologically. Dr Edward Wilson, for ex­ample, was a keen zoologist on both of Scott's exp­ed­it­ions. Hare's grand-daughter Vir­g­inia Basset agreed. She said grandpa’s personal diary reveal­ed the lengths the crew went to for research, which claimed multiple lives onboard. They went out and collected penguins, seals, shells, whatever samples they could find to take back to England for scien­t­ific experiments. And they had to take part in collecting big ice blocks for the water supply.

Oates. Bowers, Scott, Wilson, and Evans at the South Pole.

UNSW

In March 1902, they wanted to leave directions to the expedition's winter quarters for the relief ship Morning. But after painfully slow progress, Hare's party led by 2nd Lieut Michael Barne was sent back to the ship with most of the men from the other party. During their return jour­ney they struck a blizzard a few kms from the ship. They tried to camp but soon decided to continued on foot. c10 minut­es later Hare was reported missing. Most of the party eventual­ly made it back to the Discovery, or were subsequently discovered by search parties. But Hare and George Vince, who had fal­len into the sea from a cliff edge, were given up as lost. 48 hours later Hare reappeared back at the ship unharmed! Vince's body was never found.

In 1910, Scott sailed on another scientific voyage in the whaler Terra Nova. With Royal Navy Officer E Evans (1876–1912) 2nd in charge, Scott determined to be the 1st explorer to reach the South Pole, but he faced stiff completion from Norwegian Roald Amundsen. Scott achieved his dream and reached the South Pole in Jan 1912, then he discovered that Amundsen had got there first. The 800-mile journey back to their base camp was hideous, and all 5 of Scott’s party died from cold and hunger. A search party was sent out from McMurdo Sound in late 1912 and found the bodies. 

In Feb 1913, the world woke to the headline “Death of Captain Scott. Lost with four comrades. The Pole reached”. The keenly anticipated, privately funded scientific venture off the map had turned to tragedy. When news of the tragedy reached Britain, a huge mem­orial ser­vice with King George V was held in St Paul's Cathedral.

Where was the detailed diary in which he documented the 2 years he spent with the navy crew, scientists and civil­ians in the Antarctic? Hare had donated his diary to the Alexander Turnbull Lib­rary in Wel­l­ington in the 1960s, avail­able for reading only on spec­ial request. And see the whistle he kept blowing while lost in a blizzard for 46 hours.

The diary from Scott's Antarctic voyage was published in 2022. 

and edited by Maureen Lee

In 1961-2 the N.Z Geological Survey Antarctic Expedit­ion named an Antar­ctic peak at the end of a ridge on the Leigh Hunt Glacier after Hare. This was approved by the N.Z Geog­r­aphic Board in 1962. Clarence Hare retired to fruit farm on the Sunshine Coast, dying in 1967. But now the diary has been published for the first time as A Young Man's Antarctic Discovery, Maureen Lee ed., 55 years after his death!! 

Capt Scott's memorial statue, Christchurch

erected 1916

Was Scott of the Antarctic sabotaged by his angry deputy, Officer E Evans? No the final cause of death in each man's case was hypothermia, but dying was a long, slow process with a number of factors: Insufficient food, frost bite and failed protection. Nonetheless read UNSW Newsroom for a conspiracy theory that I had not heard of before.

Flying Scotsman’s history & dreamy suites

I have travelled the vast widths of Australia and Canada by very comfortable trains, and long parts of France and India by comfortable trains. But never on The Flying Scotsman, which was the world's most famous train service.

In 1860, 3 companies established the East Coast Joint Stock for services using common trains, and it is from this agreement that the Flying Scotsman arrived. After WW1 the British government grouped the surviving rail companies into 4 regions. London North Eastern Railway-LNER arrived with the creation of the Big Four new railway companies. They were divided geographically,  due to over-lapping land and routes - LNER largely served the eastern side of the UK from London up to Scotland, but it competed with the London Midland & Scottish Railway which served the west coast route. They in turn were competing with the other regions to encourage passengers to use their services; each promoted their distinct style and region. The Flying Scotsman holds the record for hauling the first nonstop London-Edinburgh service in 1928. It was the first locomotive to reach 100mph in 1934 and the first steam engine to travel globally, to a U.S World Exhibition and Australia on the container ship NZ Pacific.                                                                            

Grand bagpipe welcome to the train

The Flying Scotsman is one of the Pacific type express tender locomotives built in Doncaster from designs by Sir Nigel Gresley, LNER’s head mechanical engineer. They were the most powerful steam locomotives used by the LNER railway on the fastest and heaviest express passenger trains between London and Edinburgh.

In 1924 it was selected for the British Empire Exhibition in London. It was one of 12 Pacific type locomotives in service on the east coast main line that year, with another 40 awaiting delivery.

The new locomotive was built in 1930 and called the Royal Scot in time for it to tour the USA in 1933. It was built for the London Midland and Scottish Railway to compete against the LNER Flying Scotsman. The difference was that the Royal Scot ran along the West Coast Main Line, while Flying Scotsman ran along the East Coast Main Line.

By WW1 railway posters crammed as much information about a railway service and its destination as possible. Posters were full of text, and the results were seen as quite unintelligible at a distance. Then LNER appointed its first Advertising Manager in 1923, and a month after the Co. was formed, they introduced a poster advertising campaign. Soon all the railway Cos were employing the best contemporary artists to create striking new works each year.

Travel through the Scottish Highlands

 

Both the Royal Scot and Flying Scotsman embodied the height of steam railway engineering then. They were the flagship locomotives for their railway companies. Thus they were the stars of their advertising campaigns, which took the form of large posters. Timing was every! Art Deco railway art was a serious field of commercial art & design that launched in the 1920s and peaked in the 1930s. The railways saw art and design embrace industry for the first time in a very modern style. Art Deco was obsessed with travel, speed and new forms of transport that saw land, air and water speed records being broken regularly. Aptly, artists sought to convey luxury, movement and speed in the new style.

Typically railway poster art focused on pleasant images of destinations. Sunny resorts, beaches, golf courses, quaint towns & rural scenes, were their favourites. But the railway companies were always keeping an eye on their competitors, trying to create impact with their designs, which the new Art Deco style achieved. In 1929 the Public Relations & Advertising Officer for Southern Railways prepared the Take me by the Flying Scotsman poster, a classic then.

The Royal Scot Euston to Glasgow & Edinburgh poster was created by artist P Irwin Brown for rival company LMS in 1931. It depicted the locomotive head-on, racing towards the viewer. The palette was limited to white, grey and black, with vivid red & yellow highlights. The block art deco lettering of the title combined with the colours make for bold, eye-catching graphic design. It is an image of power and modernity through industry and engineering.

The National Museums Scotland has fine examples of art depicting 2 of the most famous locomotives from Steam’s Golden Age. #1 is the original art work for London North Eastern Railway/LNER’s advertising campaign from mid 1932, Take me by the Flying Scotsman, by artist A R Thomson. #2 is an enormous billboard poster for the Royal Scot. Thomson created new works focusing on the scale of the black shiny Flying Scotsman locomotive.

They wanted to show speed conveyed in the Art Deco style, very different from traditionally showed pleasant images of the holiday destination. Now the goal was to show the experience of train travel itself! Despite its artistic merits, when the poster was displayed on station platforms it was not as popular with the public as Southern Railway’s design.

Facilities Being greeted by an official bagpipe player was a signature tradition for the Royal Scotsman. Guests were typically piped onto the train by a kilted Pipe Major, especially while departing from Edinburgh, and offered champagne once they were in one of the lounges.

 double bed and separate living room in Grand Suite

Ensuite bathroom and cupboards in Grand Suite

The 4 Grand Suites were expanded & renovated in 2024, elegant and very expensive. They feature a large fixed double bed, complete ensuite bathroom, 2 wardrobes, living space with a table, sofa and two chairs, opening windows and a service call-button. Most people sleep very well, as the train remains in quiet sidings at night. And guests receive luxurious perks eg private dining if requested, and private arrival and departure transfers to the train station. With the addition of the Bamford Haybarn spa car, the train stands out even more. The 9 twin-bedded cabins and 5 double-bedded cabins are on the same luxury level as the grand suites. 

Formal dinner tables

Royal Scotsman

 

With the small venue and few passengers, Belmond Royal Scotsman is great for those wanting for a more intimate, luxury setting with gourmet dining. Welcome-aboard champagnes are offered and sparkling mimosas. Two-course lunches, 6-course dinners and selected wines are served in elegant mahogany clad dining cars. Lounges feature comfortable, plush interiors, and coffees and afternoon teas are served during the journey. Features can include customised off-train excursions eg private visits to estates.

Observation car

Vogue

In 2004, the train was purchased by the National Railway Museum, and restored to working order in 10 years, costing £4.2 million.