Tributes

"Nothing unexpected or wonderful is likely to happen if you have an itinerary in Paris filled with the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.”

A. Bourdain. 

Anthony Bourdain died 5 years ago today, in a hotel room in Alsace. I can buy into quite a lot of his philosophy on food and travel. 

Being reminded of all this by social media this morning, my mind took me through some of the adventures I have enjoyed. By a roundabout route, I ended up thinking of my trip to Serbia and Macedonia in May 2011. It was so, so different and the more so by having local friends in both places to guide us. 

The friends I was with are in Tromsø this week, and plastering Facebook with photos. 

When we were in Belgrade I saw lots of posters for an Amy Winehouse concert the following month, and cursed my luck for getting my timing wrong. That turned out to be the concert where she was booed off stage for (allegedly) being too drunk to perform, and she died soon after. 

All this brought me to a very welcome ear worm  . You'll find a link in the text below the clip which leads to another clip explaining the background to it being filmed. 

Leaving aside all this self indulgent waffle, my Blip is the church cafe where I ended up at lunchtime as my reward for walking to the town centre. The cafe still appeals to me with the warmth of the space, the friendliness of the folk working there (some staff - some volunteers) and good, simple home cooking.