Knoxville's Underground at the Crown and Goose



Crown and Goose Underground, Old City, Knoxville

Have you ever been in London's Underground? Have you ever ridden the Tube? I hadn't until this past summer and we came to depend on it and, finally, to understand it. It's actually a very simple and reliable subway and we've got a bit of it right here in our little city.


Glocester Underground Stop, Kensington, London (our main stop)

Jeffrey Nash brought a bit of London to Knoxville with his Crown and Goose restaurant which opened in February 2008. The business has grown and is now bustling most evenings. I remember parking across the street in the small parking lot at the corner of Summit Hill and Central and having my car be one of a dozen or so. Urban Woman and I met friends Kevin and Melinda there on the most recent First Friday and found that parking lot and the next several behind it packed to capacity. A policeman directed the seemingly impossible traffic. We were thankful to live downtown and to be on foot.


Massive Saxophone at the Crown and Goose Underground



View toward the bar, Crown and Goose Underground, Knoxville

With a little help from our friends and their friends we were seated in the Underground or Speakeasy (I think I've heard both) soon enough. We entered through the cute faux telephone booth. Apparently Jeffrey and Pat are pretty careful how many people get seated inside which made the experience much more pleasant than if it had been crowded and commensurately louder.


Excellent Jazz Band, Crown and Goose Underground, Knoxville

 Inside, the design is set to mimic the interior hallways to the Tube, with the tiles and arches and perfectly inset diagrams of the various lines of the tube. We sate next to the Picadilly Line which runs past Hyde Park and Picadilly Circus. An excellent jazz trio played at the street end and the bar was nestled snuggly on the opposite end. Viewed from one end it really does mimic the London Tube.


View from the bar, Underground, Knoville

The menu is limited to a raw bar and cheese plates. Urban woman, to whom no meat is overcooked, chose the cheese while I went with a sampler platter of fish. I had a drink and she had water, which brings up the cautionary note: It's expensive. After the food, single drink, taxes and tip, we dropped $70. The band was great. The company was superb and the atomosphere was stellar. I loved the food and our host was gracious. Still, that's a lot of money to drop for a meal and we couldn't do it often.

I'd suggest you try it. Maybe split a cheese plate or a fish plate. Certainly go when the jazz is playing if at all possible. It's a different experience than anywhere else in the city.

Flowers in Knoxville, Paris and London

Flower Stand in London

Roses in London

One of the most delightful elements of my time in both London and Paris this summer was the bright, beautiful flowers. I'm not one to attempt to grow a flower and I can't tell you the names of very many of them, but I have to say that those bright bursts of color in a city send my heart singing. Whether the flowers are hanging from a balcony or window-ledge or in beds or pots along the street, they give color to the sometimes gray tones of the street.

Flowers in a Castle in Central France

Urban Flower with the flowers in the Roden Gardens, Paris

In London the pubs compete to see who can situate the most flowers on one small building. It's a tradition that goes back a long way and was intended to catch the eye of potential customers. It's still going strong and it was a wonder to me to consider the enormous chore of watering all the thirsty little critters in the blistering heat we found on our arrival in that city.

Flowers aboard a house boat boat in the Seine, Central Paris

In both Paris and London flower stands or shops were ubiquitous and they always held numerous customers or generated long lines. The sight of people carrying flowers through the streets waited around every corner. Paris featured many more flowers hanging from balconies and window-ledges. Both cities feature large parks with beautifully cultivated flowers.

Flowers at the Market Square Farmer's Market, Knoxville

Flowers at the Market Square Farmer's Market, Knoxville

Sunflowers at the Farmer's Market, Knoxville

Meanwhile in our city, flowers have generated quite a bit of excitement at the Farmer's Market. While there have been flower vendors before, it seems their number has proliferated. One vendor in particular has very brightly colored cut flowers with which he will personalize a ten or fifteen dollar bouquet. He also sells large numbers of sun flowers. I waited in line for about thirty minutes last week for a dozen sun flowers and others waited longer. Something about passing someone carrying flowers necessarily elicits a smile and a kind comment. It brings us into a more personal contact. I'm pushing the guy to open a stand downtown everyday. I think Knoxville is ready for that.

Flowers in James Agee Park, Knoxville

Flowers in James Agee Park, Knoxville

Flowers in James Agee Park, Knoxville

I also recently walked past James Agee Park and found it to be much more pretty than the last time I noticed. The flowers in it are also pretty, if in an English garden sort of way.

What we apparently aren't ready for is flowers on roof-tops. Bernadette West was informed recently that she is not to have flowers visible on the Preservation Pub roof-top. Apparently it violates some letter of the permit to allow her to open the rooftop in the first place. You may remember that was the subject of some brief skirmishes last spring. Why would we not want flowers visible on a roof-top? I'm not sure.

City worker waters one of the large planters located around the city.

Finally, I think it is worth a mention that we have city workers watering very pretty flowers in the pots on the street all around town. Anyone who cares has to agree that those flowers add greatly to the beauty and pleasure of our little city. It's an example of something our tax dollars support which is completely unnecessary. Some might call it frivolous. I call it an improvement to our quality of life and I'll happily keep paying those pennies on my taxes so we can all enjoy the result.

Sunflowers at an Undisclosed Downtown Location

Transportation: A Leaf, Europe and Smarttrips All in One Post!

All-electric Nissan Leaf, Knoxville

Nissan Leaf parked on Walnut Street

Downtown Knoxville has its first Nissan Leaf. I'm pretty sure Mr. John Craig, local developer and Knox Heritage board member is parking the first of these all-electric cars on our city streets. Guilty before of a little Prius envy (resolved), I'm feeling a little stir for a Leaf. Given my current level of funding, I'll just have to enjoy seeing John's on the  street.

Motorcycles in London

Also, I'm posting a few pictures of various kinds of transportation in Paris and London. Motorcycles and bicycles were, of course, much more prominent in each of these cities than in our own. In Paris the motorcycles had to be watched carefully because they felt very comfortable weaving in and out of traffic and then jumping onto the sidewalk to pop into a cycle parking place. I saw quite a few bicyclists riding in heavy London traffic and talking on a cell phone, which seems like not such a good idea. We loved riding the Tube in London and the Metro in Paris and found them both very easy to use, though sometimes very crowded.

Gloucester Subway station in London (our stop)

Walking was much easier for these Americans in Paris than in London. In London with the difference in sides of the road for travel we had to be very careful whenever crossing the road because traffic sometimes turned from places we didn't expect. In Paris crossing the road was much easier for three reasons: Most of the streets were one-way (one direction to worry about), the ones which were two way used the same side of the road we use in America and the cross walks were off-set from the corners enough that turning traffic was not a concern.

Double Decker Bus in Trafalgar Square, London

Meanwhile back at home we don't have subways and our bus system never seems to be as heavily used as some of us might wish. I do continue to wonder if a rail system east-west given our existing tracks might not work if we really tried to make it happen. We really need to do something if we want our air to be breathable and to avoid air-quality alert days all summer (No thanks, Joe Hultquist.)

It turns out there is a great group of people trying to make a difference in just this area. Smarttrips will help you find a car pool and give you rewards for biking, walking or car-pooling to work. I'd encourage you to join if you aren't already a member. Many downtown businesses participate. A while back they held a very fun event on Market Square (I had to work :-() in which they used large balloons they had been carrying around town all week to demonstrate the carbon pollution saved by their efforts. I'll leave you with the video.

Music in London and Paris

After that small diversion for food, how about we continue our August with a musical lift to our spirits?  Hopefully this is the month the sidewalks stop melting, air-quality alerts cease to depress us and Henley Street becomes a beautiful boulevard. OK, maybe two out of three. College football starts later this month, in any case, and some of us are happy about that.

Busker in Bath, England, June 2011

There is no way I could travel to London and Paris without having a few musical moments. That said, Urban Woman and I were exhausted at the end of every day from walking miles and generally navigating through situations and cultures of which we were basically ignorant, so clubbing didn't quite have the appeal it might have had otherwise. I'm sure there are great, small musical venues in both cities, which remained completely off our radar.

Street Musicians on Montmatre, Paris

I'd hoped I might catch Bob Dylan in London, but my trip was a week too late for that. I didn't have any realistic thought beyond that of seeing anyone of a big-star caliber. And I didn't see a big star - but I heard one. On our first day in London, walking through Hyde Park I heard the strains of "Hey, Soul Sister." At first I thought it was a really loud sound-system with a CD playing, but then, it had the quality of a live performance. I never saw them, but I confirmed later it was indeed Train giving a concert in the park. So, at least I can say I heard them.

Michele Anderson sings outside Harrod's in London

Funky Brass Band plays on Montmartre, Paris

Both cities were teaming with buskers as is the case in most larger urban areas. Whereas the quality of the performances by Knoxville buskers and street performers ranges from weak to solid enough and occasionally very good, the range in London and Paris moved from very good to incredible. The most arresting of all the buskers we heard was just outside of Harrod's department store. She was singing songs from Phantom of the Opera and other musicals and had a voice that would stop anyone on the street. Another great busking moment came when we found an entire brass band on Montmartre.

Two songs and table to table in Paris

The low point for busking is that it often takes the form of more of a scam at some street-side cafes. A busker will play for about five minutes, go to each table asking for money and then go to another restaurant. I always tip buskers in Knoxville if I listen to them while eating a meal and feel that they added to my dining experience. In Paris no one but tourists tip these guys. I did it once and learned from everyone else. It just felt like more of a shakedown.

Carnaby Street looking much more tame than its reputation, London

Royal Albert Hall, Lond, July 2011

There were certain musical landmarks I had in mind when planning the trip and some of them worked out while others didn't and, of course, there were those I hadn't thought of but stumbled upon. I'd planned to have my photo made crossing Abbey Road barefoot, but I never made it to that part of London. We did stumble onto Carnaby Street, previous home to punk rockers, though now it looks rather tame. Royal Albert Hall is included in any London tour and it is the center of legendary rock and roll performances by the biggest artists in music history.

Frederic Chopin's grave in Pere Lachaise, Paris

Gioachino Rossini's Grave at Pere Lachaise, Paris

In Paris, with one musical destination in mind, a great opportunity presented itself on a perfect Parisian Sunday afternoon. I visited Pere Lachaise, which is the most famous of all Parisian cemeteries and  probably the most famous in the world. While there I saw the graves of Chopin and Rossini (Knoxville tie-in with our festival :-)). Those were pretty cool, but the one musical grave I came to view was a sixties icon. Unless you believe the conspiracy theories, Jim Morrison died in Paris July 3, 1971. I stood beside his grave on July 3, 2011. It was one of the two very moving experiences I would have in that graveyard. 

Jim Morrison's Grave?, Pere Lachaise, Paris

Who knew a highlight of a city so filled with life could be found in a cemetery? I'll write about my experiences, as well as a very interesting downtown cemetery in upcoming posts. Just consider yourself prepared a bit early for Halloween.

Triple Bill: Knoxville vs. Paris vs. London Smackdown

London's Most Famous Clock

What do you get when you take 7,000,000 people out of the population of London? A city that is still larger than all of Knoxville. If the word "city" is used to describe London and Paris, should the same word be used when referring to downtown Knoxville?

Knoxville's Most Famous Clock

These are the kinds of questions passing through my mind as I return from visits to these cities. I'm joking, of course, when I imply that we are going to compare the cities in some sort of competition. It's the kind of thing one would never say except tongue-in-cheek, like "We are going to make Knoxville's school system a world-class system," - but wait that was actually said out loud. Bad example, but you get the point.
I've never traveled much outside of our country, though I've seen most of the states of our union. When I was eight-years-old my parents loaded the Chevy with parents, me and my brother, grandmother and uncle and drove from Mobile, Alabama to Montreal, Canada. When I was nine they took us to Mexico City and Acapulco, Mexico. In 1990 I spent a week in Tokyo and in 1997 I took my family to Monterey and Chijuajua, Mexico.

Paris' Most Famous Structure

Until a couple of weeks ago, that was it. I longed to travel to Europe for years. After years of planning, hoping and saving our money and finally made it. My wife and I spent a week in London and a week in Paris. Of course, the entire time I was there, I thought only of you, my readers. OK, that may be a bit of an exageration, but I do write a blog about a little city and those are big cities and my mind did turn often around the connections and disconnections between them.

Knoxville's Most Famous Structure

So, over the next days or weeks, depending on what strikes me as I consider my experiences, I'll share a few observations about those cities in relation to this one. I'll mix it in with my regular posts until it plays out in my mind. For those of you who don't care about Paris or London or who know far more about each than I'll ever know, please indulge me. I'll get it out of my system soon enough.