The inn is the brainchild of Gunnar Bengtsson, aka The Collector, who over many years gathered an amazing amalgamation of artifacts, mostly focused on the torrid love story of Admiral Lord Nelson and his scandalous squeeze, Lady Hamilton.
An authentic letter to Lady Hamilton from Admiral Nelson
Our host and Gunnar’s son, Mats, explained how, while he was growing up, the collection began to overtake the family home.
Ship’s mastheads, antiques, and other assorted marine memorabilia was stuffed under the beds, in the closets, and almost every other nook and cranny.
The cocktail lounge
His father’s solution for storing the collectibles was to open a hotel and decorate it with his treasures.
And so, the Lord Nelson Hotel was born. But one hotel couldn’t contain Mr. Bengtsson’s collection, and soon the Lady Hamilton and the Victory Hotels, the latter named after the Admiral’s ship, were added to the family.
Every room at the Victory is much more than just a place to stay for the night; they are lodging with a story to tell.
Spoiled much? This was in our room when we arrived!
Each room is named for a captain, and feature paintings of his ship, family heirlooms, and photographs.
Our suite, honoring Captain A. G. Johansson, was filled with fantastic 18th century furnishings, wedding pictures, and original paintings dated 1642.
This doesn’t mean modern amenities are missing, flat screen TV, wifi, stereo system, and best of all, an absolutely phenomenal jacuzzi tub do their best to blend in.
The restaurant at the Victory Hotel is equally unique, Djuret, which means the “whole beast,” describes the concept of serving one animal at the time.
Often wild game, bought directly from hunters is the choice, with two menus, a three course and a six course, prepared each day until an entire animal is used.
Our server called our beer “explosive” – and it was – so fizzy it wanted to leap out of its glass!
But our server explained that the animal was actually more like what we Americans would call an elk.
Veronica believes in the existence of elk because she has personally seen one, so all was well.
Whatever we want to label the critter, it was prepared perfectly as a first course tartar with pickled squash.
The main dish consisted of a moose variation of rare sirloin, leg braised with beer and mousseline sausage with duck liver served with Jerusalem artichoke, onion, and Chanterelle mushrooms.
Dessert stepped away from the moose (we were kind of hoping they’d lay mousse on us), instead we went where every human truly wants dessert to go, chocolate and ice cream.
To be exact, Tarte au chocolat de Valrhona and chestnut honey ice cream.
These were garnished with salt roasted almonds and a tangy berry coulis, made with sea buckthorn berries, which we still, even after much sly at-the-table Googling, have no clue as to what they are.
Just because a place is off the beaten path doesn’t mean that a path should not be beaten to it.
We’ve discovered this to be true on several occasions — sometimes by accident — other times by design, as with our visit to Valladolid.
We had heard that this impressively preserved colonial settlement hidden away in the heart… CONTINUE READING >>
Just because a place is off the beaten path doesn’t mean that a path should not be beaten to it.
We’ve discovered this to be true on several occasions — sometimes by accident — other times by design, as with our visit to Valladolid.
We had heard that this impressively preserved colonial settlement hidden away in the heart of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula was a gem, so we made tracks to find out for ourselves.
It only took walking the couple of blocks from the bus station to our hotel on the main square for us to fall in love with the place, and we knew the reports were right.
It certainly looked as though very little had changed since the Spaniards built the town nearly five hundred years ago, but the city’s history actually predates their arrival.
The Mayan town of Zaci held claim first, until the Spanish pushed the villagers out and used the stones from their city to build a new settlement named after the old capital of Spain.
A historic Mayan homeThe layout of the town consists of huge blocks of buildings with lavish courtyards inside.
The Mayans were not that easily deterred.
They attempted to take back the city two years later, but were defeated. Over the next three centuries there was coexistence, but tensions bubbled under the surface.
We peeked into as many courtyards as we could!
Once Mexico obtained independence from Spain, the Yucatan pushed to be its own nation and Mexican forces invaded. After helping in the fight against Mexico, the Mayans took the opportunity to revolt and retake their homeland in 1847, in what is known as the Caste War.
David’s pants are courtesy of Bluff Works. He really gave these puppies a work out on this trip. He wore them on the plane over, spoke in them at the TBEX convention, rambled the ruins in the heat of Chichen Izta, crammed them in his suitcase, rode in them on the bus to Valladolid, and STILL looks stylin’ – wrinkle free!
Happily, Valladolid was spared great damage during those hostilities, which continued for almost one hundred years, so today the city a bit like a time capsule.
The square in front of the Cathedral of San Servacio o Gervasio is virtually unchanged and the church — while not the original structure from 1545 — still incorporated stones from the ancient Mayan structures when rebuilt in 1705.
The cathedral houses Jesus in a casket, something we’d never seen before.
Mounting our trusty steeds!
The old city extends about ten blocks in each direction from the square, so we decided to rent bikes for easier exploration.
Heading east, toward the cenote that supplied the original settlement with water, we made a quick stop at the San Roque Museum.
While small, the collection contributed an abundance of information to our understanding of the town’s history.
The building housing the museum is perhaps more interesting than the displays it contains.
Dating back to 1575, it was originally one of the five colonial churches in Valladolid.
A few decades later it was converted to a hospital, serving that purpose for nearly four hundred years before being converted into the city’s first electrical generation plant in 1947, then finally opening as the San Roque Museum in May of 1998.
A necessary plunge
The next leg of our ride, from the museum to Cenote Zaci, only took a few minutes but by the time we reached the ancient water source we were more than ready for a refreshing dip.
The tropical sun saw to that. Most of the cenote is hidden from the harsh solar rays beneath a cave covered with stalactites – making an inviting oasis in the midst of the city.
The fresh, cool water felt fantastic and, while not as colorful and bountiful as a reef, we were happy to have our snorkel gear with us for exploration purposes.
We didn’t make it anywhere near the two hundred and sixty foot bottom of the pool, but we did get underwater views of the cenote walls and the odd little eyeless black fish called lub.
Uh, yum!
Tamale cart in Valladolid
Properly chilled and relaxed, our appetites kicked into high gear.
In Valladolid, as with everywhere we went in the Yucatan, street food was our midday sustenance of choice.
These — along with tacos, chicken, elote, frozen treats, and just about anything else our Mexican street food-lovin’ hearts desired — could be found at carts scattered all across the city.
But without a doubt the slow-cooked conchinita pibil was our favorite.
We found the tender delicacy everywhere — from street carts to fancy restaurants — so we ended up consuming our conchinita quota every day.
We resumed our ride on the other side of the square, taking the Calzada de los Frailes, or Avenue of the Friars, out to see the church and former monastery San Bernandino de Siena.
Franciscan monks built the complex in 1552, and it remains very much the same to this day.
The avenue the priests used to go back and forth to town has been beautifully restored to its original colonial state and is considered one of the best preserved areas in all of Mexico.
Because of this it has become home to several attractions, two of which caught our eye.
Death by chocolate. What a way to go!
First we stepped inside the little storefront of the Cacao Chocolate Factory and discovered the story of chocolate as it related to the Mayan people.
Each of several small rooms demonstrated a different phase of the process as cacao is turned into chocolate.
Once they are removed from the fruit, the seeds are peeled and dried in the sun, ground up, mixed with honey and other flavorings, and hand formed into little balls.
By the end of the demonstration our mouths were watering. Fear not, the sampling room awaited and we tried all of the rich varieties, including chili, vanilla, orange peel, cinnamon, anise, tequila and xtabentun.
We should probably explain that last one.
Xtabentun is a traditional liquor of the Yucatan that when originally made by the Mayans consisted of fermented honey from the nectar of xtabentún flowers, a type of morning glory.
The name comes from the legend of Xtabay, who caused men to fall in love with her by using the same intoxicating effect as the drink, and when she died these beautiful flowers sprung up on her grave.
Now mere mortals are able to carry on the tradition.
When the Spanish arrived, they didn’t care much for Xtabentun, so they added anise for flavor and rum to kick things up a notch.
While we thought they had stumbled upon a pretty tasty combination – it sits on the tongue exactly like liquid Good ‘N Plenty – the Spaniards were still not overly fond of it.
Instead they began to focus their distilling prowess on the agave plant.
Ba-dadada-da. Tequila!
That turn of events brought us to our final stop; we snuck into the Tequila Tour Los Tres Toños just before they closed for the day.
While this is not where the actual tequila is made — Mexican law requires that the drink must come from the region surrounding the small town of Tequila in the state of Jalisco — the tour gave a brief, yet thorough, explanation of the process.
All tequila starts as blanco, or white; clear and typically un-aged, this is its purest form.
Some will then be put in barrels, where the aging process takes place. If rested less than a year the tequila becomes reposado, over a year añejo, or if the spirits are allowed to age for three years, extra añejo.
As we moved to the end of the tour, we were given the chance to taste these differences in the Tres Toños tasting room.
We are in no way experts on tequila, but after trying all of the above, we bought a bottle of ridiculously smooth añejo for David’s dad, who is an aficionado.
David’s one tough, slightly tipsy hombre in his well-worn, wrinkle-free Bluff Works pants.
After that sale our host was more than happy to keep pouring samples, so we moved on to the flavored varieties.
While none of them knocked our socks off, we kept trying them anyway – just to be polite, we have manners after all – or perhaps for medicinal purposes.
Before long it felt like our socks were going to be knocked off in a different way.
Hypocenter: the point directly beneath an atomic explosion, the spot that is exposed to the center of the bomb’s destructive force, often called Ground zero.
In Nagasaki that precise point is marked by a cenotaph in the center of concentric circles.
The cenotaph was erected in March 1956.
The monument’s empty tomb stands in honor of those who were never found. Physically being in this place brought us to an emotional state that is impossible to describe.
Nearby, a scorched vestige of a wall from the Urakami Cathedral stands as a stark remembrance of the devastating blast.
Just below the wall remnants, along the river, a window is cut into the bank.
Peering in we saw the moment of impact preserved, the ground as it appeared immediately after the detonation… strewn with crushed brick, scorched rock, and melted glass.
As an inspiration for prayer and reflection, a stone lantern from the Shotokuhi Temple that had been located a mile away from the hypocenter was brought to the park.
It was the only part of the temple to survive the devastation.
A photo is displayed showing the destruction at the temple.
Despite the horrific history of this spot, our feelings were directed toward peace and remembrance.
The site is incredibly solemn, yet very beautiful.
On our way out of what is now called the Zone of Prayers, we came upon an elderly lady creating wonderful rose blossoms out of what we thought was ice cream.
It turned out to be a subtly flavored ice, fittingly made with rosewater.
WATCH: A work of art in seconds!
We sat and enjoyed our cones for a few minutes before heading up to what we knew would be an emotionally draining visit to The Atomic Bomb Museum.
The Clocks Forever Stopped at 11:02
Enormous heat: Glass bottles melted and merged.
The museum details Nagasaki before, during, and after the blast, as well as the history of the development and deployment of the bomb.
Entering into the first room,we found a depiction of life in the city just before the attack.
It was a normal morning, and there was no warning whatsoever, no air raid sirens sounded, and no one made it into any of the numerous shelters.
We continued into a huge, darkened room showing the aftermath of the explosion. As our eyes adjusted we began to see the items clearly, a twisted water tower, a replica of the collapsed cathedral, and photographs of the destruction.
The impact of the display captured our attention; it was almost like walking back in time through the ruins. We found it hard to breathe normally.
The main hall of the museum contained artifacts left from the devastation, stopped clocks, melted glass, charred human bone. Striking first-hand accounts from survivors.
An eerie photo entitled Silhouette of a Lookout and his Ladder Remain on a Wall was taken about three miles from the hypocenter after tar exposed directly to the flash of the bomb burned.
The tar disappeared, but the shadows remained on the Nagasaki Fortress Headquarters.
Coins found fused together
A good deal of attention is given to the development of atomic weapons.
Displays cover the entire process, including a full-size model of “Fat Man” as the Nagasaki bomb was known.
Numerous statements from scientists warn of the consequences of nuclear weapons, but the museum offers no opinions on the politics or reasons for the war, only facts about the bombing.
After considering it all, the museum and the Zone of Prayers struck us as powerful tributes that convey the message of hope that these weapons are never used again.
Do you prefer to “read” as you are relaxing in the tub, on your morning commute, working out, hanging dry wall, psyching yourself up before winning an Olympic gold medal, walking your dog, or avoiding awkward questions at family gatherings?
Do you prefer to “read” as you are relaxing in the tub, on your morning commute, working out, hanging dry wall, psyching yourself up before winning an Olympic gold medal, walking your dog, or avoiding awkward questions at family gatherings?
There was so much we didn’t know about the tower until we visited!
Did you know it’s been painted a bunch of different colors?
Did you know that you could have lunch there?
Find out what was creator Gustave Eiffel’s real name was – and how different the tower’s name would be if he had kept it, why there is a mannequin on the outside of the elevator, and what it looks like to step out on the glass… CONTINUE READING >>
Looking straight up from the bottom of the Eiffel Tower.
Gustave Eiffel designed and built his tower in 1889 as an entrance to the 1889 World’s Fair.
He probably had no idea that it would become the enduring symbol of the city of Paris, La Ville-Lumière, the City of Light.
Often considered the best view of the Eiffel Tower in town, looking across the Seine River from the Trocadéro Gardens.
Once the tallest man-made structure on earth, the Eiffel Tower stands over a thousand feet high.
The tower literally drew us in like a magnet.
We knew there was no use in denying the pull, so we made a beeline to her as soon as humanly possible.
Attempting to stand on the glass platform!
The lines were long — even in the off-season on a foggy, mist-spitting day.
But rather than wait behind the hundreds of eager tower visitors (see how we pulled that off here), we walked right on to the elevator and rode up to the first observation level to take advantage of our lunch reservations.
The North ElevatorDrivers no longer sit on the outside of the elevators, mannequins now demonstrate the old days.
The restaurant, le 58 Tour Eiffel, provides attentive table service fifty-eight meters high on the most recognizable landmark in Paris.
More memorably, it’s a seriously cool way to hang out high above the city.
And, again, very grateful we got to skip the lines!
After our meal we hit the stairway and climbed to the second observation level, just over a third of the way up.
From this vantage point the panoramic view of Paris was spectacular, and since the top was hidden in the clouds we didn’t see any reason to go any higher.
Fun Eiffel Tower facts:
– Gustave Eiffel’s birth name was Gustave Bönickhausen – Bönickhausen Tower sounds a lot less catchy to us.
– For nine years, the tower had a huge, Times Square-esque advertisement attached to it
– Mr. Eiffel also designed the inner structure of the Statue of Liberty.
– The tower has been painted in many different colors. Originally red, it has had turns in brown, yellow, and now sports a special “Eiffel Tower Brown” – which is actually three progressive shades of bronze so the color looks uniform from top to bottom.
After the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe may be the most recognizable monument in Paris and we were most excited to climb to the top of the arch for the ultimate view of the city.
A few hundred steps later and a full 360 degree panorama of Paris spread out before us just as darkness was falling.
The vantage point is unbeatable for photographing Gustave Eiffel’s handiwork.
For a final treat before we descended the Arc, the moon peeked out of the clouds just as the twinkling lights came to life on the incredible tower.
Magnifique!
<–10 Second video: Click the pic – and be dazzled!
Thanks to Paris je t’aime for this adventure that made us exclaim Ooh la la! As always, all opinions are our own.
Next to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe must be the most recognizable monument in Paris.
Built in 1806 by Emperor Napoleon to commemorate the victory at Austerlitz, the massive arch has gained significance as a memorial for all of the wars since that time and houses the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
We headed back to the Underground, hoping to make it to the Arc in time for a sunset climb to the top.
The Charles de Gaulle metro stop put us outside of the insane traffic clogging the roundabout that encircles the arch, making it look as though it might be impossible to get to.
<–10 Second video: Click the pic – and the crazy traffic comes
to life!
Luckily, there is a tunnel underneath the street that made passage possible without risking our lives, and we exited the tunnel just in time to see the changing of the guard at the tomb.
Impressive as the perspective was from the ground, we were more excited to enter the Arc and climb to the top for an ultimate view of the city.
A few hundred steps later and a full 360 degree panorama of Paris spread out before us just as darkness was falling.
The vantage point was unbeatable, not only for photographing Gustave Eiffel’s handiwork, but observing the continuous chaos on the roads below.
A dozen roads converge at the circle, making the flow of vehicles look as if it was a living organism coursing through the arteries of the city.
For a final treat before we descended, the moon peeked out of the clouds just as the twinkling lights came to life on the Tour Eiffel.
The inn is the brainchild of Gunnar Bengtsson, aka The Collector, who over many years gathered an amazing amalgamation of artifacts, mostly focused on the torrid love story of Admiral Lord Nelson and his scandalous squeeze, Lady Hamilton.
Whatever we want to label the critter, it was prepared perfectly as a first course tartar with pickled squash.
