spring fling 2012--in london for a day

i arranged for a spring fling to london which would include a two day visit to jordan...we left on sunday morning, march 18 with a layover in lax...the movie on board was the artist, a movie i always wanted to see but never had the opportunity to see it...my only comment is that it wasn't really oscar worthy but just emblematic of the narcissicism of hollywood.

we had a four hour layover and finally connected up with our connector flight to lhr...i enjoyed three films, two of which i wanted to see, my week with marilyn which i thoroughly enjoyed and the adventures of tintin which just proved that i'd rather see live than animated...the third was real steel which was fairly good with hugh jackman great in his role, sort of a non-singing curley.

we arrived in london and took the heathrow express to paddington which was under major renovation so our usual exit on eastbourne terrace was closed.  after depositing our luggage at the hotel elysee, we headed for piccadilly and the royal academy of arts's hockney's landscape exhibit...we stopped at fortnum/mason for a purchase of majestic marmalade with gold flecks...we then crossed the street and entered the exhibit...although i enjoy hockney's portraits, his scenic designs, i grew tired of his landscapes although i enjoyed a few for the boldness of colors...

we walked over to piccadilly in search of dinner and had our expected meal of pub grub at st. james pub...i had the fish and chips with a pint of london pride..our eating neighbors were two american women from little rock, enjoying a meal away from their tour.

i finished our first day by going to the noel coward theatre to see hay fever...the first act was slow, made slower by my jet lag...the second act was much better, in fact, excruciatingly hilarious (quoting a review) centered on a game and couples re-pairing...the third act tied the play up in a nice bow...

a long day came to an end...i discovered something important; i kinda figured out the ins and outs of the west end...i'll probably get lost in the future, but not as easily as the past...

finishing the fall trip 2011

i got up late to catch the 12:28 pm eurostar to paris...i walked over to paddington to find a taxi and arrived at st. pancras international where i caught the train...had a long walk to my coach which meant a short walk when i arrive at gare du nord and a quick walk to queue for a taxi...my seat mate was an l.s.e. student working in paris during the week and studying in london during the weekends.

when i arrived in paris at 1:30 pm, i asked the taxi driver to take me to my hotel, wait, and then take me to cent quatre, the old city mortuary, now an artist space...i had visited the space three years ago and wanted to see how much it had developed...the exhibit that dominated the space was leandro erlich's in perceptions which you can check out at this site:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBhe6gs1S78...

after walking around the space (it seemed that half the space was loaned out to comedie francaise),i walked over to rotonde de la villette, a toll house connected to the canal systems of paris...the rotonde was crowded with weekenders enjoying the final days of summer before the cooling weather of fall and then the dread of winter...as usual, the french use whatever open space they have to do some art display, this one fashions of a by-gone era of travel...

i caught the metro at stalingrad and headed back to reuilly-diderot and the hotel...i checked in and went up to my room...as it was still a bit early for dinner, i watched some french television...two poirot shows in french...how fitting for our little belgian detective...

i walked around the corner to bistrologue for dinner...i had a house red with my entrecote..it was well cooked, not the usual bloody french steak...of course, i had frites with the meal..when in london, it's fish and chips...in paris it's steak and fries...

day two in paris was market day...i have always had poilane as a must do on my list of paris adventures...today i was headed for this iconic (love that word) bread shop in the bonmarche area...i purchased a walnut bread, a brioche, and a sour dough...i was planning to lug all this back home...while there i asked if i could snap of picture of the famous bread chandelier which actually hangs in the workers's area...they said sure, so i took a picture, "ushing" all the workers out of my shot...thankfully i only had to chase one worker away...

from poilane, i walked over to la grand epicerie paris, the market attached to bonmarche...to call it a market is a bit of an understatement...there are rows and rows of canned goods, jams, cereals, a wine section with 80% french wines, take-out foods both hot and cold, a produce section, cheeses, and a bakery with breads and delicacies to die for...check out this site for a fun presentation of what la grade has: http://www.lagrandeepicerie.fr/#en-GB/coulisses/film

here is a rather glittery picture of the market...check out all the macaroons...in all sorts of flavors...

i was a bit hungry so i crossed the street to have my petit dejeuner at Le Weekend, probably the best croissant i had in recent memory...crispy on the outside, buttery on the inside...excellent...i crossed back to visit the miraculous medal chapel which is located amidst all this luxury...the body of st. catherine laboure is in a glass coffin on the right side of the altar...

feeling a bit holier, i headed for rue louise weiss which is the new gallery area of paris...but, alas, as all galleries in the city, the street and its galleries were closed...it is a place to revisit...

with the noon time feeding coming up, i headed for tube stop sentier and montorgeuil and les petit carreaux...i had lunch at comptoir du commerce, duck confit washed down with a cote de rhone troyes garcons...nice way to have lunch watching the pedestrians along the carreaux...

after a futile attempt to purchase a loaf of praluline bread, bread infused with pralines, (it seems the shop is related to art galleries, closed on mondays), i returned to the hotel and rewatched some old amazing race shows...what a great series and so worthy of its emmy awards...

i had dinner at wasabi, a korean-japanese restaurants, run by mrs. chung...i had the korean stew aka chige...the meal began with pan chan and then i burned my tummy with the wonderful kim chee stew...i didn't want the really hot stew because i was traveling back to london the next day...

i had a 1:04 pm departure back to london via eurostar but decided to get there a bit early, avoiding any last minute rushing...and i was glad i did as the front desk guy could not find me a cab in all of paris...so i took to the streets and finally got a guy at the end of his shift but willing to take me to gare du nord...i guess he saw the desperation in my eyes...i will be ever grateful to will for that bit of human kindness...

the trip back to london was uneventful except i had a four seater with a french gal (rather young) heading for work in london with minimum english skills, a l.s.e. graduate returning to london for work, and a black gal i dubbed black mary because she reminded me of my mother...no sooner had the train pulled away from the station then she started saying the rosary...she was warding off the evil spirits...i felt good...

once back in london, i headed for the elysee and an overnight stay...tonight would be my last night of indian food (a curry washed down with cobra beer) before i headed over to criterion theatre and hitchcock's 39 steps...i was a bit early so i walked from piccadilly toward leicester square and found m&m world...and they had the m&m candy acting very british, from crossing abbey road to catching a double decker...

the play was a marvelous spoof of the hitchcock movie with four characters playing the entire cast of the movie, actually two doing most of the double duty...i shared the space with drama students from esher college...they had all the questions the teachers kept reminding them to review as the play was being presented...good experience for these kids...the play was fun though a bit fast paced...comedy had to balance with the mystery...

i headed back to my basement room at the elysee, first time in the renovated area...the rooms are bigger and more modern...definitely a nice upgrade...thank you, dilep...

my return home via sfo was nice and pleasant...little turbulence...the barbecued chicken was a bit spicy so i scraped off the sauce, shredded the meat, and made a sandwich...and that was yummy...the movies were fine fare...mary poppins and one of the x-men...what was more entertaining were these four irish guys heading for vegas...omg...hangover part 3 irish style...but, because of the seating configuration, there was a young gal (well, maybe not that young) sitting with them...and they kept giving her oprah-like advice, dump him, get the ring...

the transfer in sfo went smoothly and the turkey-cranberry sandwich at boudin's was awesome...ran into my buddy james in the red carpet lounge...we locals are always on the go...

back home and ready for the next trip...don't know when but we are planning for a summer trip to southern africa....

cultural fall tour sept- oct 2011

i had tickets to south pacific in the barbican and found a family of sisters to watch my mother so i was off to london...i left on a morning flight on september 27 and got upgraded for the hnl-sfo leg...the breakfast was ono for an airline meal even though the scrambled eggs don't look it...the two advantages of a morning flight are the less waiting time in sfo and the arrival time in london, getting to the hotel in the mid-afternoon for check-in...

my first job in london was to upgrade my mobile so i can call home...then a quick dinner at garfunkel's...and then off to wyndham's for driving miss daisy...it was announced that ms. redgrave was indisposed for the evening's performance...i wasn't too upset as i had seen ms. redgrave give a very wooden performance in the tempest...her replacement, jenny lee, was wonderful..and the play itself brought out the strength of james earl jones and his bravura basso...another fun element of the production was my seatmate, a family from nebraska that run carnivals during the summer...in london for some recuperating time...maybe even looking up some carnival acts for 2012...ended up having an ale and the barista was a polish gal who had set up the fan (did i mention there was a heat wave in london) so it made her hair flow...very photo shoot...

i was staying at the ashley which is in dire need of some refurbishing and i think they've started...after breakfast i went in search of the american embassy and ronald reagan's statue...i FINALLY found grosvenor square with the help of a bus driver...i enjoyed grosvernor square with statues to eisenhower, fdr, and the american pilots who flew for the raf...found reagan's statude which was still being set up so i got a partial of the statue...i then found my friend in paddington and headed for soho and eventually for fortnum and mason's for lunch...i had a good duck confit for lunch...

i then headed for the old vic for the production of synge's playboy of the western world...it was a fun production and i can imagine how the irish got their dander up over this play...synge presents the irish as a nation of drunks with women who fancy a roll in the hay with the bad boy...so long as it had a folkloric element to it...the kid playing the playboy was a bit young...the innkeeper's daughter good...

i then headed to harrod's for some shopping of jams (i love the ginger jam) and some refreshments...then on to vaudeville theatre for a production of arthur miller's broken glass...very albee-esque...about a marriage that suffered from a lack of communication between a husband and wife...leading to her paralysis and his heart attack...his death frees her from the paralysis...sir anthony sher was great although his accent took time to get used to...and tara fitzgerald looked so fragile as the wife...on the way back to the hotel ran across a police scene, arresting some homeless attacking a chinese kid...

today is friday and i'm headed for kua aina, a franchisee of our own sandwich shop...i had the classic burger and thoroughly enjoyed it although the cole slaw left lots to be desired...i think this kind of store would do well in europe...it offers a great sandwich..a juicy burger, such an ono sandwich from the yanks...from here we headed for bill curly's and an indulgence of chocolate...this trip i enjoyed a caramel with sea salt, sesame, yuzu, and chuao truffles...such a great treat...

i then headed for trafalgar square...and what a series of photo ops...the square has a countdown clock to the 2012 olympics, a ship-in-the-bottle (nelson's hms victory) on the fourth plinth, and some dude adding to his portfolio by posing shirtless in front of the grass wall exhibit...did some shopping at waterstone's purchasing jon richardson's it's not me, it's you and some recyclable bags...got to use that classic put-down line when a customer asked where she could find the prophet...i asked the clerk if she were looking for the profits...the clerk caught on after a double take and said, brilliant...had to add the disclaimer that i stole it from some wag...

i finally got to trafalgar studios, one of my favorite venues in london...always can count of it for some edgy productions...so top girls turned out to be such a disappointment...it was very dated...and the plot line very predicatable...well, i guess not all the time...

my last day in london included a double bill of a play and an opera...i got a late start to the day as i was headed for barbican and the lincoln center's production of south pacific...

i began with lunch at searcy's...i enjoyed the beetroot salad with its radish confit...it was sweet and sour...and then the main dish of cod with a bed of mashed potatoes...the cod was excellent but the mashed a bit too mashed...this last comment is from a rice lover...i ended the meal with some time to kill with a cup of espresso and a glass of cointreau over ice...it is quite a lovely way to end a meal, sweet, light, and cold...

 i walked to the edge, the art gallery in the centre...the gallery was the exhibit space of junya ishigami's architecture as air...the structure comprises a single curved line of delicate a 4-meter row of columns that are only 0.9mm thick, seemingly floating unsupported in space...closer inspection reveals a fine network of near-invisible wires...i had to look very closely to see the filament...but, more importantly, to see the structure that ishigami created...

finally it was time to see south pacific and local gal loretta ables sayre as bloody mary...and she was so good she made me forget juanita hall who was the film bloody mary...loretta added a dark dimension to this war survivor who was willing to "sell" her daughter to an american sailor...and paulo szot, the basso playing the plantation owner, emile de becque, was superb...great voice and good acting...the production, now brit supported, was up to the task of keeping rogers and hammerstein very current...

i then headed for charing cross and eno's elixir of love...i walked past st. martin's-in-the-field parking area and it was cordoned off by crime tape...again, london seemed to be under police surveillance...in reaction to the earlier riots and in preparation for the 2012 olympics..i guess so...donizetti was at his best in writing this very frivolous opera buffo...but to place it in a midwestern diner (probably in the 1950's) added to the fancy...the tenor aria, una furtiva lagrima, sung in english by nemorino as played by ben johnson was a show stopper...such an italian sound with english phrasing...BRAVO...

i was headed back to the ashley...tomorrow i head to paris for two days and then back to london for a night and one more play...

finishing in london late june 2011

monday

we left hotel dina to arrive at fiumicino for our 0930 departure to london via alitalia...while checking in we ran into an encounter at the check-in counter...an italian woman kept arguing about "nothing"...and her reason, i have the right because this is a democracy....and all the alitalia rep wanted to do was help her...we met the serbian national basketball team in the concourse...i walked up to one of them and ask if they were volleyball players...they were that tall and that insulted...shared our table with a lady and her son...she was a teacher from jordan heading for malaga..she was very level headed and shared her insights about the arab spring and how it wouldn't hit jordan...

i sat next to an IT rep who was headed for a business meeting in london...he wasn't sitting in first class because he only works on software for terminals and not for planes...

we arrived in london and took a taxi to hotel elysee because it was cheaper...we left our luggage to head for harrod's...the lobby was crowded with people checking in and checking out...and no air conditioning so it felt tropical...we had lunch at harrod's and, after shopping for some foodstuffs, we returned to elysee and checked in...

we caught the central line to holborn and headed in search of war horse at new london theatre...we had dinner at the prince of wales pub, good old fish and chips and a pint of bitters...what can i say about a play that elevates a child's story to a magic evening of theatre, puppetry matched  with fine acting...how can spielberg make this into a movie with actual real horses...

tuesday

after breakfast in the hotel, we headed for saatchi gallery and its sculpture exhibit of contemporary european sculptors (shape of things to come)...one of my favorites was milky way by bjorn dahlem; also enjoyed reisen (giants) by martin honert...we had lunch in the mess, the gallery's restaurant...kept it light (gazpacho with poilane bread) as we were eventually headed for bill curley's chocolate shop...did a little shopping at peter jones which was beginning its summer sales in prep for fall wear...

we walked over to bill's place and overindulged in the chocolate treats...i ordered three pieces of chocolate, tomato-black olives, ginger-caramel, and japanese black vinegar...the ginger-caramel had the flavor most truthful to the descriptors...i tried two more chocolates, orange balsamic and juniperberry-cassis...the orange balsamic was orangey while the juniperberry-cassis was more chocolate... tried a wickedly decadent chocolate dessert called maché green tea chocolate entremet with its fillings of creme brulee, seville orange marmalade, chocolate sponge cake encased by chocolate mousse.

we returned to the hotel and got ready for the night performance of kevin spacey's richard iii at old vic via waterloo station...after picking up our tickets and having dinner at waterloo bar and grille...the play was a tour de force for kevin spacey...the only weakness was the performance of the american actors...the play was sponsored by the bridge project which brings american actors to england to learn the way of the bard...

wednesday

we began the day with a visit to john soanes's home (the original hoarder) who has stuff from all his works, even a sarcophagus (seti i's) the british museum passed on...there is a great collection of paintings and prints like canaletto and hogarth's a rake's progress...if you're ever in london, it's a treasure to visit...from soanes's home we headed to ottolenghi motcomb, passing the iranian embassy...when we entered motcomb street, i was overcome with the savory smells of the street (amazing)...the street has ottolenghi, waitrose grocers, and valerie, all creating smells that intoxicate the nose...we entered ottolenghi and were told there was some seating in the courtyard...i ordered the three salad and main dish of beet-plum salad, broccoli salad, a rice salad, and fritters.

we had dinner at flavors of india, a decent indian restaurant near paddington...from there we headed to regent's park for the open air performance of john gay's beggar's opera, the basis for three penny opera and bobby darin's hit, mack the knife...the play was bawdy...the leads were perfect, good looking and fine actors...and the performing space was perfect...especially on a great london evening...it was a perfect ending to a trip that took us across northern italy and onto london...

sunday in rome

after breakfast in the termini, we headed for borghese galleria...i had visited the galleria before but was excited to see it again as the gallery is one of the best i have visited...we got there early so explored some of the grounds...we entered the gallery with the first group, later joined by several american youth groups led by clerics who gave lengthy presentation at each sculpture and painting group...the kids got bored...since this was my second visit to the gallery, i looked at the layout differently...i was impressed with the layout of the picture gallery, each room having its own theme, by periods, by subject matters... matching pictures with space...pictures were tucked neatly into corners, into every nook and cranny.

the sculpture gallery was well designed with each room concentrating on one of the great works in the collection, canova’s lady pauline in one room, bernini’s david (still my favorite), apollo and daphne (the bark and leaves very realistic), pluto and proserpina (still impressive with the hands leaving imprints on her thigh, in marble, no less), and aeneas, anchises and ascanius fleeing troy (theme was very emotional) in others.

there is one room dedicated to the ancient roman mosaics...and, lastly, caravaggio has his own room...the interesting observation with caravaggio’s paintings is the models...knowing caravaggio’s biography, i found the faces of his models interesting...most looked bored, most looked like street urchins; in fact, most were probably street kids surviving by stealing, selling their bodies.

there was a contemporary exhibit in the uccelliera of galleria borghese, georg baselitz’s fatto in italia...the only good thing about the exhibit was that it forced we to walk through the orangerie... 

since we couldn't take any pictures which at times is a good thing because i am forced to concentrate on the art pieces, not on taking pictures...and, of course, this policy has to be accompanied by a great gift shop which the borghese has...here is the website for the gallery:

http://www.galleriaborghese.it/borghese/en/edefault.htm

after the gallery, we took a taxi with edward who told us there was going to be a papal blessing at noon as this was corpus domine...we arrived at 1150 and waited in the sun for the pope to appear in the balcony of his apartment. It was like all the newsreels I have seen, almost mechanical like an exhibit at disney world... after a short recitative, the pope said, "pater, filius, spiritus sanctus"...he continued with words of comfort to the pilgrims from poland and spain...he turned out to be a real chatty kathy...

we left the assemblage and headed for the basilica...in the basilica we paid homage to the altar containing john paul ii's body and the shrine of st. jerome with pope john xxiii's body...i walked over to the penance entrance and went in search of an english speaking priest to receive the sacrament...no such luck so i asked a priest who was listening to confession in german and slovak..he said yes he could hear my confession...how cool to be confessing in st. pete's...i met up with the group at 1:00 and we went in search of lunch...

our taxi driver danilo suggested we have lunch at gigetto in the jewish quarter...i’ve always wanted to eat in the jewish quarter so i jumped at the opportunity...gigetto is located by the antico portico d'ottavia...i had fried rice balls with tomato sauce, fettucine al carciofi (a little bland), and a yummy veal roll (so jewish to have comfort food on sunday)...we had affigato for dessert.

we returned to the hotel to rest after a beautiful, albeit hot, day in roma...we had dinner around the corner to il secchio...we were given a plate of olives with a strong anise flavor; then ordered minestrone, osso bucco...i had limone and vodka for dessert...the limone came in a lemon, and i placed the limone into the glass with vodka...we were given limoncello and cookies, compliments of our stay at hotel dina.

our stay in italy was over and we would be heading to london for three nights of plays, museums, and good eating...

on to rome

we left bologna on a friday...the start of the weekend...and the train was crowded...no seats, standing room only...and in the entry area...

met a gal heading for forli where she is working for a master's in diplomatic sciences...she sees a future with the european community...wished her luck as she got off in forli...

reached rimini and walked over to hotel napoleon...welcomed by jo-jo, the resident greeter...she was most photographic...and she loved to pose, knowing cameras were clicking all around her...

after depositing our luggage, we headed for the san marino bus stop and purchased tickets from the "agent"...we had a 45 minute wait and then rushed the bus as there seemed to be less seats than passengers, not realizing another bus was behind us...

it was a nice ride along the countryside even though we passed a few outlet stores...upon reaching san marino, we looked for photo ops...the landscape of rolling hills was spectacular, on a nice sunny day with a bit of cloudiness...we walked up to the church but it was closed so we went in search of lunch...we ate at smaller...i had a tortellini ragu washed down with menabrea, a beer...after lunch we returned to the main road, in search of the town center...we found one area of souvenirs identified by the horse roundabout...we turned around and found the entry to the main part of san marino with a very formal crossing guard...

we entered the walled city and headed for the visa office...on the way i passed a store selling creches...i bought a creche made out of a bullet shell...one of the cottage industries of san marino is selling weapons of all kinds...guns, bows and arrows, spears, swords...so why not a creche out of a bullet...

we found the visa office and for a small fee we got the clerk to apply the visa stamp...we returned to the bus stop and returned to rimini, all the time being entertained by a russian on holiday...he was a student majoring in economics...he kept talking about going to new york or tokyo...both are his idea of cosmopolitan cities...he was already a bit drunk...and he popped open a heineken...well, it is europe after all...

we rested back at the hotel before exploring rimini..we found tempio malatestiano and entered the church, named after the house of malatesta, an italian family that ruled over rimini from 1295 until 1500...the church was impressive...i got a nice shot of the altar area...

we stopped to have an apperitivo of wine and sandwiches...we then continued on to the central piazza, formerly piazza giulio cesare where the roman general/emperor made his famous speech crossing the rubicon, now the piazza tres matiri, commemorating the martyrdom of three partisans, luigi nicolò, adelio pagliarani, mario capelli...they sabotaged a threshing machine which the nazis had deemed essential for the war effort...the three were tortured and hanged in piazza giulio cesare....

we returned to the hotel and prepared for our trip to roma through anacona...we checked out with eddie, an ex-pat from massachusetts who came to italy to play pro ball just like gresham's playing for pizza...after breakfast in the hotel, sharing the space with some cross-country bicyclists, the area looked hilly enough to provide challenges to this hardy band, we headed to the termini and the train to anacona...unlike the friday crowd, the termini was fairly empty...after the transfer at anacona where we helped a cretan with his transfer, we arrived at roma termini for our two nights in the eternal city...

we walked over to hotel dina and checked in, dropped our luggage, and headed back to the termini to catch the subway to the spanish steps...once into the subway station, we walked forever to get to the train stop...for a two line system, the walk seemed interminable...i can understand walking tower hill or chatelet in london and paris...but this is a two-line system...anyhow...we got to spanish steps and the throng walking around the area...we walked down via condotti in search of the sovereign military order of malta...it is recognized by many countries as a sovereign entity aka country...i wanted to add this "country" to my list of countries visited, having just added san marino...

of course, via condotti is the high end street of italian shopping...like rodeo drive...like the miracle mile...we left via condotti and headed down via corso in search of the pantheon...having found the pantheon with its circus-like atmosphere with horse-drawn carriages and posing roman centurions, we found out that the pantheon was closed for vigil mass...we walked over to a trattoria for a drink and some snacks...

trying to find a taxi back to the hotel, we passed a "wedding," judging from the services in a chapel and a reception being prepared across the way...the chapel was built in the 10th century, fell into disrepair, and then was given in 1577 by gregory xiii to the "company of piety towards prisoners" who had it rebuilt and reconsecrated in 1624...it was refurbished recently in 2007...

we caught a taxi back to the hotel, exhausted from the train ride and the heat of rushing around rome...i wanted to have dinner but no one else seemed so inclined...my traveling buddy decided he'd keep me company so we walked around the termini to build up his appetite...we passed a modern statue and walked over to find, conversazioni by oliviero rliviero rliviero rainadi...this statue is a 5.5 meter tall bronze statue of the late pope john paul ii seen in front of rome's termini and dedicated on may 19, 2011...the enormous statue, unveiled just weeks after the ex-pontiff was put on the path to sainthood, has sparked controversy -- with locals calling for it to go...the statue, which depicts john paul ii with his arms outstretched, has been called an eyesore by critics who claim it does nothing to capture john paul's spirit...we ended up at regina giovanna where i had pasta pomodoro e basilico and scallopine al funghi porcini washed down with house red...next door to arirang, a korean restaurant in roma...

tomorrow...the borghese galleria and the vatican and lunch in the jewish quarters...

a reminder weekend--slovenia, machu picchu, and buenos aires

i volunteered to help my buddy with a golf tournament fundraiser...while personning the door prize booth, i met another volunteer from slovenia...we talked for a bit about ljubljana...i remember that city for several reasons: the old town looked reconstructed, like a city in epcot or disney world...it was clean like brand new...not just scrubbed clean...and there was that unusual bridge that connected the sections of old town...we also enjoyed an open market; and the cherries were delicious...we met a waiter who knew all about waikiki...it seemed he was a porter on a royal caribbean cruise ship...fun city...

there was a registrant wearing a machu picchu cap...so we talked a bit about the experience of visiting this world heritage site...about the thin oxygen at that level...i had to remind him about the unusual train exit out of cusco...the pretty people serving as train attendants, doubling up as models, showing and selling alpaca goods...i enjoyed cusco a lot more than machu picchu...it felt so much more spiritual than machu picchu...maybe the guide taking us through the city sites in the evening with camera flashes creating weird reflections off people's sneakers made the city seem more spiritual...the indians amalgamating their ancient ways with christianity...their christian god and saints taking on the characteristics of their ancient gods...of the last supper with a guinea pig...

and the gal at the mulligan table had just come back from buenos aires where she spent a month, unable to get out to other parts due to weather...we didn't experience any such misfortune so i got to tell her about our visit to mendoza and malbec wine (she was jealous, having fallen in love with malbec)...i told her about the wine tasting experience in san telmo where we met a vineyard owner...she told me how the exchange rate was now 4-1; and, although she got great meal deals, everything else was very expensive, heavy clothing going for $500 to $2,000...i remembered the exchange rate was 3-1 and my travel buddies were gobbling up leather goods like crazy because the prices were so good, a leather computer case going for $150...i told her about our love affair with the taxi drivers, so friendly, so courteous; and, because of the exchange rate, we only rode cabs...our best food experience was in boca where we had a great steak dinner from soup to nuts for $25; a comparable meal in the states would cost nearly $200...

the last experience this weekend that brought back former trips is daniel silva's portrait of a spy...he has gabriel meeting shamron in an apartment in rue lepic in the montmartre area...i remember the street when i stayed at a comfort in on rue des abbesses...it was a street with many chinese takeaways with roasted pork hanging in the window, a street that wound through montmartre where vincent van gogh stayed in an apartment at 54 rue lepic (i found it on a rainy afternoon)...and now gabriel is in gare du nord heading for the eurostar and london...i can see gabriel using his "fake" passport, going through immigration and then heading for the lounge area for the train to be called...i wonder if he bought his snack at paul's???

ah, the fun of traveling...