Old Europe is New Again
“The best of America,” wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald, “drifts to Paris.” This was a man desperately in need of super-sized freedom fries! European cities have long inspired American writers, including your Kayak correspondent, and discounted Fall flights have driven us to verse:
- Hey Diddle Diddle
With James Joyce in the Middle
And Ernest running away from the bulls.
It’s time for inspiration
Without the perspiration
Where artists and writers rule.
Don’t want no crying
About the cost of flying
To Europe is what I said!
Flights are cheap in the fall
But that’s not all
It’s even cheaper for a nice big bed.
So check out all the deals
In places that keep it real
Like Paris, Venice and Prague.
And like Peggy Guggenheim
Have a fabulous time.
Break away from your workday slog.
Craft a few bars of your own in these cities favored by expatriate scribes:
Paris was the center for American expatriates in the 1920s, as Fitzgerald noted. Writers and artists like Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Henry Miller, and Anaïs Nin lived, worked, loved, and fought in the City of Light. Visit the English-language Shakespeare and Company bookstore on the Left Bank to pick up their works, or just stroll through Paris’s Jardin du Luxembourg, where Stein walked her poodle. Or pick up a copy of Hemingway’s memoirs and head to the Montparnasse café La Closerie des Lilas, where a plaque still marks his favorite seat.
Hemingway also journeyed south to Spain for inspiration. The mad rush of the bulls in Pamplona was a Hemingway favorite; pay homage at the Txoco bar or Hotel La Perla in the Plaza del Castillo. Stroll along Madrid’s Gran Via for a taste of The Sun Also Rises, stopping for coffee at Chicote’s Bar (the setting for several short stories) or the Gran Via Hotel, whose second-floor bar is adorned with photos from throughout Hemingway’s life. The bartender still keeps a collection of Hemingway’s works behind the bar.
The gondola-lined canals and mysterious winding alleyways of Venice are another source of inspiration. Robert Browning, Henry James, John Singer Sargent, and Nijinsky wrote, painted, and danced here, and Peggy Guggenheim collected artists (as well as their works) in her palazzo on the Grand Canal. During his stay, Lord Byron passed the time studying Armenian; for our dollar Harry’s Bar, birthplace of the Bellini, provides a less strenuous diversion.
“The Paris of the 90s,” Prague enjoyed a long-running reputation as the place for Americans college grads to delay real life for a few more years. The backpackers have mostly drifted away, but Prague remains one of Europe’s prettiest and most artistic cities. Check out the Globe Bookstore and Cafe for recommendations from the die-hard expat group that still calls it home, or get your bearings on the medieval Charles Bridge, where the two halves of the city come together.
Want to become an expat? Get the Fare Buzz to these destinations from your home airport.
Planning our own excursion to Europe,
Steve and Paul, Kayak.com co-founders