completing the tour of the Gulf States

Today, 26 March (Yaumus Sabt - Saturday), was our day for an adventure to Muscat. We decided to go after reading that the main demonstrations in Oman were over labor issues like wages, work hours. We obtained our tickets the previous day at Galler.
It was an early flight, leaving Dubai (DXB) at 0715. We arrived at the airport to Terminal 2, only to be told by a FlyDubai agent that our flight was cancelled. We walked over to the Information Center to be told that the flight was not cancelled but delayed due to bad weather in the area even though it was hot and sunny in Dubai. I couldn’t believe this so I went in search of a computer and a weather check. I found an Iran Aseman Airlines representative with a computer and she checked CNN to find clear weather with modest winds in Muscat. I guess that 3mph ENE winds were blowing up dust storms that grounded all aircraft (although later I found out that Muscat has foggy weather).
We continued to wait, watching the number of people heading for flights all over the region. One incident stuck out. I have always believed that, no matter how far down the totem pole one is, that person finds someone lower until there is no place to go. Like in slavery, there was a pecking order, the house slaves picking on the field hands; like in India’s caste system with the ultimate picked on being the Untouchables. This woman with her strict Muslim requirements especially the very visible dress code entered the lobby and snapped her fingers. An Indian working for Al Jaber, the maintenance group, finished up his task and ran to her side to push her luggage cart. Unbelievable!!!
Our flight was finally called so we checked in and headed for gate 5 which was populated by the nations of India/Pakistan. This could have been one of the reasons for the delay, transferring the Indians to Terminal 2. When they called the flight, the Indians got up as one and crowded the gate. They don’t believe in personal space so I had to fight for my little piece of the earth.
We boarded FZ 043 and took up our seat in 15A, and we finally left at 1000.
We landed just before 1100 and passed through immigration. We checked the departure board and saw that FlyDubai canceled its 1630 flight which left us the flight at 2030 as our only option.
After a snack at Costa Coffee (the first cup of Costa coffee was poured in 1971 at 9 Newport Street, London, by Sergio and Bruno Costa. Today, just a few meters away from where they first set up, the Costa Roastery produces the same unique Mocha Italia blend that the Costa brothers worked so hard to create), we purchased a ticket from Oman Air as insurance.
We were told that the nearest hotel where we could gather our thoughts and plan for the day was the Golden Tulip SEEB. We headed for the hotel and made arrangements for a taxi tour of Muscat. Our first stop was Jumeirah Mosque which unfortunately closes down at 1100. In 1992 Sultan Qaboo directed that his country of Oman should have a Grand Mosque. A competition for its design took place in 1993 and after a site was chosen at Bausher construction commenced in 1995. Building work, which was undertaken by Carillion Alawi LLC took six years and four months. The Mosque is built from 300,000 tons of Indian sandstone. The main musalla (prayer hall) is square (external dimensions 74.4 x 74.4 meters) with a central dome rising to a height of fifty meters above the floor. The dome and the main minaret (90 meters) and four flanking minarets
(45.5 meters) are the mosque’s chief visual features. The main musalla can hold over 6,500 worshipers, while the women’s musalla can accommodate 750 worshipers. The outer paved ground can hold 8,000 worshipers, and there is additional space available in the interior courtyard and the passageways, making a total capacity of up to 20,000 worshipers. The mosque included some stunning landscape.
We then headed for the Muttrah Souk along the corniche. We spotted the royal yacht, the Al Said, aka Qaboos’s caboose, my terminology. The souk was traditional with spice markets, clothing stalls, silver stores, and toys. I practiced my look ahead with no eye contact, thus avoiding any solicitations from the merchants.

After the souk, we headed for the Palace surrounded by the Jalali and Mirani Forts built by Portuguese traders and entered through Kebir Gate. The Palace is named "Al Alam" meaning "The Flag" in Arabic. The palace was built in 1972. It has a facade of gold and blue. Unfortunately the Sheik was not home to host us or maybe it’s that visitors are not allowed inside the palace. It is not the only residence of His Majesty who normally lives elsewhere in Oman. It is reported to have a bowling alley in the basement.
We continued into the mountains, passing boat harbors, fishing villages, and the Scuba Club. We returned to Golden Tulip and had lunch in its dining room, Le Jardin. I had the beef sandwich with the mango smoothie. I finished it up with a mango cake. We returned to the airport and waited for the 2105 flight on FlyDubai. We found out while waiting outside the souk that we had tickets on FlyDubai’s FZ 048 flight so we would catch whichever flight left first. The Oman Air had been delayed an hour until 2130 so we caught the FlyDubai FZ 048 which left at 2105. I had 4E for the outbound flight.
We arrived back in Dubai and returned through immigration’s and the official who knew about Hawaii. He said he would love to go but it was so far away. I told him how jet travel made it easy to be with the hula girls, to be on the sandy beaches. He said maybe. We now had to rush to get back to the hotel to refresh, collect luggage, check out, and return to the airport.
We then returned to the airport and checked in with Lufthansa and got caught behind two problematic traveling group. Once checked in, we headed for Marhaba Lounge, meaning hello. The lounge was crowded but served up some good food like spaghetti, curry, and chicken.
I left the lounge to spend the last of my dirhams, buying Duty Free stuffs like bags, stuffed animals. We checked in for our 0220 departure and I got my seat 48H, but all the seats were comfortable.
They served up an English breakfast with cheese omelette, meat “bacon,” hash brown, and tomato. I continued reading James Patterson’s Private. We finished the flight with a turkey and cheese sandwich.
We landed at Frankfurt at 0705 and worked our way through immigration, got into the outside area, so we had to enter Frankfurt through immigration again, just because some flunky forced us into the immigration line. What a joke! We found the Star Alliance Business Lounge which was super crowded, but the food was plentiful and good. I headed for the pancake maker and had a pancake with nutella. I enjoyed a beer, some sandwiches, and some sleep time. I also continued to read Private.
We headed for gate A59 to catch our continuing flight on UA 0901 in seat 25H. We had to go through a Q&A with a gate agent and received an OK on our ticket. I sat in seat 25H. We had two meals, a chicken with risotto (creamed rice instead) and a coffee cake dessert and later a turkey-cheese sandwich, all washed down with ginger ale. I finished Private and left it behind.
We headed for Red Carpet after we landed at 1614 and went through immigration and customs. The lounge was fairly empty since most families were home after spring break. The usual fare of crudites, trail mixes, an assortment of drinks was most welcomed as this would be the last food before I got home.
I had completed my novel and was fairly rested when we boarded flight 79 at gate 86. I wanted to rest but knew I wouldn’t be able to.
Since I didn’t have anything to do, I watched The King’s Speech. It’s a film that gets better with each viewing. We got in a few minutes before our 2140 landing time. We headed for H2 to get our luggage which was fairly late in coming out on the carousel.

(continuing the Gulf States tour) We left Doha, gate 2, at 1530 after buying an A&W root beer. Our flight was on FlyDubai. I asked for coffee and was told there was no free coffee on a FlyDubai flight, but she gave it to me anyway. We arrived at Dubai at 1730 at Terminal 2, having advanced our watches an hour. We found out that Terminal 2 is not served by the metro so we went in search of a taxi and shared it with Brit heading for The Palms.
We ended up at our hotel Rotana Rose Rayhaan, one of the tallest in the world. We checked in for room 5003. We had a direct view of Burj Kalifa. Our bell person said, if we wanted to have dinner, there was a good Lebanese food (aka Mideastern) restaurant called Al Safadi down the block. We had dinner there, and I ordered a chicken kebab with tabbouli. But the most amazing part of the meal was the plate of vegetables served us. It included a large bell pepper, cucumber, watercress, lemon, and tomato. Everything was served whole. We ended the evening by walking back to the hotel.  I was finishing up The Lion. One of the lines in the book was “Yob vas” which means F$#@ you! in Russian.

24 March (Yaumul Khamees - Thursday) would be our "hop on - hop off" day. We retrieved some information from concierge desk on the nearest spot to hop on. It would be the Emirates Tower. But first, we started with breakfast at The Second Cup. Founded in 1975, Second Cup is Canada's largest specialty coffee franchisor, operating more than 340 cafes across the country.
I had the English breakfast which was fixed at the grill next door. I had scrambled eggs, tomato, turkey bacon, and hash browns with coffee. I’ve decoded that there is an international coffeehouse subculture after seeing what happened to Paris where Starbucks has multiplied like rabid rabbits. The customer that makes up this subculture is the young professional (or professional-in-training) who is international in outlook, in jobs, and in attitudes. They’re the ones who will keep places like Dubai secular.
After breakfast, we headed for Emirates Towers and found out we were about 45 minutes early so we headed for the Towers and found a Starbucks where I had a second cup of coffee.

We got on the blue line, the beach tour, Big Bus and headed for Wafi Mall where we continued on the blue line. While heading for Wafi, we found out that there is a cocktail lounge on the 51^st floor of the Emirates Towers which has one tower for business and the other for hospitality. We passed the Stock Exchange and the World Trade Centre, built in 1979 with architect Hazel Wong. Queen Elizabeth II on the Britannia was in Dubai and dedicated the building. The Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) is a business complex in Dubai, built by H.H. Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. It is located along Sheikh Zayed Road at the Trade Centre Roundabout. The complex comprises the original tower (built in 1978), eight exhibition halls, the Dubai International Convention Centre and residential apartments. The 39-story office tower stands 489 feet tall and a majority of the floors are let commercially. At the time it was built, it was the tallest building in Dubai (and UAE) and the first high rise along Sheikh Zayed Road (the script loved talking about biggest, tallest whatever; very American). The tenants of the building include Federal Express, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, MasterCard International, Schlumberger, Sony, U.S. law firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, and the consulates of Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States of America. The building is featured on the 100 dirham banknote which we were told countless times during the hop-on trip.

We passed Za`abeel Park with its palaces and children’s play areas. We passed Lamacy Mall, one of the first shopping malls in Dubai. It is modeled after the Tower of London. We finally reached Wafi, Egyptian themed mall, which was the starting point for blue and red lines. We were joined by Holland America cruise passengers on the Grand World Tour 2011. We left the mall and passed through some major road construction with highways and a metro line being built in the Oud Metha area. We were told that the metro was inaugurated on September 9, 2009 at 0909.09 and that the city had a red and a green line. Many ex-pats have their clubs and unions here like the Iranian Club, Indian Association, Pakistani Club. The area also has many schools especially English schools, and hospitals. We stopped at Burjiman, another mall in the city of malls aka modern day souks. We also passed through Bur Dubai, one of the original areas of the city. We were told that UAE had created tax free development zones called media, internet, and knowledge villages. These free zones were attracting major companies to develop research centers and regional headquarters.

 

We passed an unusual monument/sculpture. On one side of the roundabout is a fishing vessel, a dhow. On the other side of the roundabout is a water fountain, reflecting the dhow on the opposite side of the roundabout.

During dull spots, we were told that Dubai started back in 1833 as a fishing and pearling community. Moreso, the earliest recorded mention of Dubai is in 1095, in the "Book of Geography" by the Andalusian-Arab geographer Abu Abdullah al-Bakri. The Venetian pearl merchant Gaspero Balbi visited the area in 1580 and mentioned Dubai (Dibei) for its pearling industry. Since 1799, there has been a settlement known as Dubai town. In the early 19th century, the Al Abu Falasa clan (House of Al-Falasi) of Bani Yas clan established Dubai, which remained a dependent of Abu Dhabi until 1833. On 8 January 1820, the sheikh of Dubai and other sheikhs in the region signed the "General Maritime Peace Treaty" with the British government. In 1833, following tribal feuding, the Al Maktoum dynasty (also descendants of the House of Al-Falasi) of the Bani Yas tribe left their ancestral home of the Liwa Oasis, South-west of the settlement of Abu Dhabi and quickly took over Dubai from the Abu Fasala clan without resistance. Dubai came under the protection of the United Kingdom by the "Exclusive Agreement" of 1892, in which the UK agreed to protect Dubai against the Ottoman Empire. Two catastrophes struck the town during the 1800s. First, in 1841, a smallpox epidemic broke out in the Bur Dubai locality, forcing residents to relocate east to Deira. Then, in 1894, fire swept through Deira, burning down most homes. However, the town's geographical location continued to attract traders and merchants from around the region. The emir of Dubai was keen to attract foreign traders and lowered trade tax brackets, which lured traders away from Sharjah and Bandar Lengeh which were the region's main trade hubs at the time. Dubai's geographical proximity to Iran made it an important trade location. We passed a very nationalistic display, one of the world’s tallest flagpole.We passed the Dubai Zoo which started as a private zoo. H. H. Sheikh Rashid bin Maktoum, the late Ruler of Dubai, permitted Otto J. Bulart to build the Zoo on a two hectacre plot in Jumeirah.
Jumeirah is the site of the best public beaches in Dubai and houses many businesses like Mercato Mall (Italian renaissance themed), the royal palaces are located by the shore near the marina area as are many foreign consulates. Many of the areas are green, nicely manicured lawns. UAE depends on desalinated water (97% of all water). We then passed Al Qasr Hotel, noted for being one of the more reasonably priced hotels in the region and being in the design of a sultan’s palace. We drove by the Burj al Arab designed by Tom Wright who was the architect and designer. The Burj Al Arab (Tower of the Arabs) was conceived in October 1993 and completed on site in 1999. The brief to the architect was to create an icon for Dubai, a building that would become synonymous with the place, as Sydney has its opera house and Paris the Eiffel Tower so Dubai was to have the Burj al Arab. Tom Wright lived in Dubai during the design and construction of the project working as the project Design Director for Atkins one of the world's leading multi discipline design consultancies.

Having passed the Burj al Arab, we drove onto The Palm and onto the grounds of The Atlantis The Palm which is a resort at Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is a joint venture between Kerzner International Limited and Istithmar PSJC and was opened on 24 September 2008. The resort is modeled after the Atlantis, Paradise Island resort in Nassau, Bahamas. The resort consists of two towers linked by a bridge, with a total of 1539 rooms. There are two monorail stations connecting the resort to the main section of the Palm Jumeirah islands. The five star resort also includes a water Aquaventure theme park (160,000 square meters), a conference center, and 20,000 square feet (1,900 m²) of retail space.

Before returning to Wafi to transfer to red line, we were told that the date palm which provides shelter, food, and clothing for Arabs is the national tree. We got off the blue line at the Mall of the Emirates for lunch. Since I thought we were on a tight schedule, I just stopped at Dairy Queen for a chili dog. Ah, to gobble down American fast food! Ooh, the heart burn!!

We transferred to the red line after a quick stop at Paul’s to buy walnut bread. We got off at the Dhow Cruise of the Creek.
The cruise took us down the Creek toward the harbor where I could see some of the cruise ships like HAL. Dubai Creek or Khor Dubai, Khawr Dubayy, is a saltwater creek located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). It ends at Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary. Some sources say that the creek extended as far inland as Al Ain, and that the Ancient Greeks called it River Zara. Historically, the creek divided the city into two main sections – Deira and Bur Dubai. The importance of the creek as a site of commercial activity was a justification to introduce improvements to allow larger vessels to transit, as well as to facilitate loading and unloading activities. Although the importance of the creek as a port has diminished with the development of the Jebel Ali Port, smaller facilities, such as Port Saeed, continue to exist along the creek, providing porting to traders from the region and the subcontinent. Some of the more remarkable buildings along the Deira side of the Creek are the Deira Twin Towers, Dubai Creek Tower, Sheraton Dubai Creek, National Bank and Chamber of Commerce. The creek's initial inlet into mainland Dubai is along the Deira Corniche and Al Ras areas of eastern Dubai and along the Al Shindagha area of western Dubai. The traditional form of transport between the eastern and western sections of Dubai via the creek was through abras, which continue to operate in Dubai. In addition, the eastern and western sections are linked via four bridges (Al Maktoum Bridge, Al Garhoud Bridge, Business Bay Crossing and Floating Bridge) and one tunnel (Al Shindagha Tunnel).
We returned to the pier and, since we were running out of time, we decided to catch a taxi to Dubai Mall to enter Burj Kalifa. We had some time to kill so we walked through the mall to Bloomingdale's, which I visited when I was in NYC back in 1976, having a coffee break with white chocolate bar at Bloomie’s Café.
We finally headed for the entry to Burj Kalifa. We planned our trip to the top to coincide with sunset. The honor of designing the world's tallest tower was awarded the global leader in creating ultra-tall structures, the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) with Adrian Smith FAIA, RIBA, consulting design Partner. The basics of the building include the design. The architecture features a triple-lobed footprint, an abstraction of the Hymenocallis flower. The tower is composed of three elements arranged around a central core. The modular, Y-shaped structure, with setbacks along each of its three wings provides an inherently stable configuration for the structure and provides good floor plates for residential. Twenty-six helical levels decrease the cross section of the tower incrementally as it spirals skyward. The central core emerges at the top and culminates in a sculpted spire. A Y-shaped floor plan maximizes views of the Arabian Gulf. Viewed from the base or the air, Burj Khalifa is evocative of the onion domes prevalent in Islamic architecture. The interior design of Burj Khalifa public areas was also done by the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP and was led by award-winning designer Nada Andric. It features glass, stainless steel and polished dark stones, together with silver travertine flooring, Venetian stucco walls, handmade rugs and stone flooring. The interior were inspired by local cultural while staying mindful of the building's status as a global icon and residence.

The views were incredible; there was also an outdoor area where we could feel the wind, the temperature. We barely saw The Palm and The World or the collection of islands intended as the ultimate luxury possession, even for Dubai. The islands, shaped as the continents of the world, were intended to be developed with tailor-made hotel complexes and luxury villas, and sold to millionaires. They are off the coast of Dubai, reclaimed land, and accessible by yacht or motor boat. (Now their sands are eroding and the navigational channels between them are silting up, the British lawyer for a company bringing a case against the state-run developer, Nakheel, has told judges. "The islands are gradually falling back into the sea," Richard Wilmot-Smith QC, for Penguin Marine, said. The evidence showed "erosion and deterioration of The World islands", he added. With all but one of the islands still uninhabited – Greenland – and that one a showpiece owned by the ruler of Dubai, most of the development plans have been brought to a crashing halt by the financial crisis. Nakheel, the developer, was part of Dubai World, the state-owned
conglomerate that had to be bailed out of debts put at around $25 billion at the end of 2009. The Dubai World Tribunal was set up to hear cases arising out of the restructuring and separation of the companies involved.)

And, of course, seeing the city change from light to dark was impressive, especially watching the beginning of the water show. The Park's 11 hectares include seven, one-of-a-kind water features, designed by California-based WET, the creators of The Dubai Fountain and the Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas. The Dubai Fountain, the world's tallest performing fountains, sits at the base of Burj Khalifa.
When we got to the ground level, we stopped to listen to pianist George playing some symphonic arrangements of traditional Arabic music. We stopped for coffee at Fauchon Café. We returned to the hotel and decided to have dinner at Petals, the hotel’s dining room. Our choices off the buffet included chicken salad (sweet and spicy), beef, hummus with bread, creole rice, broccoli, and tempura of shrimp, hamour, scallops (it was seafood night after all). Overall it was a great meal and a great way to end the day.
On 25 March (Yaumul Jumuah - Friday), knowing it is Islam’s holyday, we knew that nothing will open until 2:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon, after all that we read and were told. After nixing visiting the museums in Sharjah because of questionable transportation to and fro, we decided to have a slow start to the morning. I enjoyed a hotel-room-brewed cup of coffee with the leftover white chocolate bar and chocolate chip cookie from Oasis Hotel. We then headed for the Mall of the Emirates. We walked through Via Rodeo and had a cup of cappucino at Armani Cafe. We then met one of the great characters of any trip I have ever taken. His name was Heddy, shortened from a very long Dutch name. He has a Ph.D. in something, but he started out with his uncle Baldessarini and helped develop a eau de toilette for Hugo Boss. He then, after a misspent youth, turned to more intellectual pursuits. Some of his misspent youth was spent on Maui where he did tons of wind surfing. While in Hawaii he met many local people, one of which was Joey from Campbell HS. He went into a whole pronunciation lesson, using rounded sounds to pronounce. Imagine telling someone from Hawaii about the rounded vowel sound. I asked him to pronounce Vincent Van Gogh’s name, and he did so only as a Dutchman can.

We walked over to Harvey Nichols where items were on sale 2 for the price of 1. So I bought grapefruit marmalade, pickled tomatoes, and a container of Cornish sea salt. We then walked over to I ♡ Dubai where I was able to purchase a modest-sized Burj Khalifa (compared to the huge monstrosities at the top of Burj) and other souvenirs. We continued over to the entry area, purchased tickets and then some caps. SkiDubai was quite mind blowing. Its temperature of 0◦ was COLD, and it provided a great opportunity to walk around and enjoy the snow and watch the people riding toboggans, rubber tires, and skiing down the gentle slope. There were many photo ops by pine trees, by ski lifts and many opportunities to slip and slide. We got so cold we had to stop for a cup of hot chocolate. Perfect!!!

After the visit to SkiDubai and change back to non-snow wear, we had lunch at Galler. Jean Galler was born into a luxury dessert environment. He liked working in the family confectioner’s shop founded by his grandfather in 1930 and he has kept this passion since then. At 16 years old, inspired by chocolate, he experimented this living material that fascinated him. To develop his knowledge and discover new flavors, he studied in Basel (Switzerland), then with Gaston Lenôtre in Paris. At 21 years old, he launched his own enterprise. 30 years later, the foundations of the company remain the same: passion for chocolate; pride in perfection; constant creativity.

Before heading for the metro, we passed Carrefours (the profane) and DeBeers (the profound), showing the range of stores in most of these malls.
We entered the metro that had a very symbolic beginning with the start-up time of 09/09/2009 at 0909.09. The pricing is deceptive and not as cheap as foretold. It has a screwy price structure like the cheapest fare being for a short ride of two stops. I thought I had moved to New Delhi, the ridership being decidedly Indian. We couldn’t exit the metro stop at Financial Centre because we had the wrong ticket so we had to purchase a second ticket.
I still hadn’t given up on the idea of hunting down Hard Rock so we headed to Festival Centre, City. Now this was my kind of mall with shops like Hush Puppy, Diesel, Guess, and Hang Ten. The food court was badly laid out with limited walking space and crowded seating. But there was no Hard Rock. I kept searching and found an area called Marina Restaurants and that reminded me of something I saw on the website.
The Marina is a marvelous eating area placed along a mockup of a canal, similar to San Antonio. Restaurants include Scoozi, Tony Roma’s, but still no Hard Rock. I walked over to the Taste Pavilion and found Chocologie, but still no Hard Rock. In my continued search, I found out from a clerk in Marks and Spencer that Hard Rock in Dubai is no more. So we returned to Chocologie for dinner of glazed scallops served on a bed of rocket and fennel tips (albeit a bit manini). The dish was OK with the scallops well cooked (bed of salad could have been more), but the dessert ranked up there with others. It was a deconstructed molten chocolate cake. The cake was excellent, the ganache was superb though not as hot as it could have been.

The creme brulee sauce was served on the side as was the vanilla ice cream with raspberry sauce. Absolutely ONO. Our waiters were Capetown’s Roy and fellow countryperson Phinda from northwestern South Africa. Phinda was funny; at least she was laughing at my jokes. Roy shared some info about Capetown for any future travels. He also told us that Knipschildt chocolate is the most expensive in the world, using the highest priced chocolate in the world. Fritz Knipschildt was born in Denmark, moved to USA in 1996 after training in France and Spain. In 2005, Fritz opened his first Chocologie in downtown South Norwalk CT, and the one in Festival Centre reminded me of a bordello with the plush furniture and the red decor even to the chandelier. I purchased three “cupcakes,” passion fruit, peach, and coconut.

my trip to the gulf states

19 March (Saturday) to 21 March (Monday)
After planning my early March trip to London-Paris, my independent travel buddy called and said he wanted to travel during the spring break to earn some miles.  We talked about some of the areas we could visit, and he suggested The Persian Gulf States (GCC).  I agreed, having wanted to visit that area for a long time.  So we booked a trip in late March.
We started at HNL where we arrived via Charley's taxi and checked in at UAL and spent the next hour in the Red Carpet Lounge where I enjoyed some of the cheese and veggies while continuing to read Alex Berenson’s The Midnight House.

We caught flight UA 76, and I found my seat at 20B for our departure at 2106 for SFO. We landed at Gate 82 on time after a smooth flight. 
We headed for the Red Carpet Lounge to refresh ourselves after the flight, arriving very early at 0508. The lounge had a nautical theme and served up cereals, cheeses, and crudites plus various liquids serve.  We left the lounge for gate 86 for flight UA 914 (coshared with Brussels Airlines 8818, Cont 6046, SAS 3933, Aer Lingus 6185, US Air 6572, Luft 9369, NZ 9560, Austrian 7884, South African 7405) at 0751 bound for Washington Dulles.
I noticed that the movies would be the same throughout our flights, True Grit, The King’s Speech, and The Chronicles of Narnia. We landed at Dulles (IAD) at 1555 and headed for the Red Carpet. The lounge was oddly situated, entering and then walking down to the lounge area. It was crowded with people and kids heading out for spring break. The usual cold fare was available, cheeses, crackers, and crudites.
We then headed for C4 to catch UA 982 to Kuwait (KWI) at 1805. Most of the travelers were male, most looking like military or DOD contractors. I was in seat 18B. It would be a long flight, basically over the North Atlantic through Europe over Turkey, Iraq, and Kuwait City. We were served a meat stew with salad and then a turkey-cheese sandwich (no ham for this flight). I finished The Midnight House, the ending becoming somewhat obvious.
We landed at gate 4 on Monday afternoon at 1310 and headed for immigration, no barricades provided so that we mingled with departure passengers, as advised by the Captain, only to be asked where were our visas. So it was turn around, up the stairs, and wait in the visa line, having picked a number bakery style.

Once through immigration, we caught a ride to Oasis Hotel. We entered through the rear so the hotel looked less than spectacular. We checked in and went to our room, 505. Our bell person was from Goa who arranged a driver for a quick afternoon tour of Kuwait City. We passed The Grand Mosque which is the largest and the official mosque in the country of Kuwait. Its area spans 45,000 square meters (480,000 sq ft), out of which the building itself covers 20,000 square meters (220,000 sq ft). The main prayer hall is 72 meters (236 ft) wide on all sides, has 21 teakwood doors, and has lighting provided by 144 windows. We then headed for Kuwait Tower.

The Kuwait Towers are three towers of reinforced concrete in Kuwait City. The main tower is 187 meters high and serves as a restaurant and water tower. It also has a Viewing Sphere which rises to 123 meters above sea level and completes a full turn every 30 minutes. The second tower is 145.8 meters high and serves as a water tower. The third tower houses equipment to control the flow of electricity and illuminates the two larger towers. The towers hold 4,500 cubic meters of water. The towers were designed by Sune Lindström and Malene Björn and were built by Energoprojekt, a company from Belgrade, Yugoslavia. During the Hussein Iraqi attack, there was substantial shell and bullet damage to the towers' exteriors. The interior damage was mainly to electrical gear, mostly lift equipment. Some of the large triangular glazed panels were also damaged by shell fire. The most interesting feature of the Tower, in
addition to seeing most of Kuwait City, was the pictures of the destruction during the Kuwaiti-Iraq war. I guess the Kuwaitis are not into forgiving or forgetting.

From the Towers, we headed for Hard Rock Café along the marina to purchase pins, cordial glass, and other souvenirs.souvenirs.
We then headed for Souk Sharq which I thought would be a traditional souk since it was listed on top ten things to do in Kuwait. The Souk turned out to be a Kahala Mall-type shopping center. It had a cool water clock with levels of water indicating the hour, the minute. It even had an anchor store, Debenham’s.
We returned to the hotel to rest up for dinner. In our floor’s lobby were two Bulgarians working their laptops and using the outlets in the floor lobby. They looked like common workers although they could have been enforcers for the Russian mafia.  Just joking.
We had dinner in the hotel’s dining room named after Tipu Sultan, a hero of Mysore India. Tipu was born in November 1750 in Devanahalli and died on 4 May 1799, Srirangapattana. His nickname was the Tiger of Mysore, and he was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-nissa. His full name was Sultan Fateh Ali Khan Shahab, Tipu Saheb or Bahadur Khan Tipu Sultan. In alliance with the French in their struggle with the British, and in Mysore's struggles with other surrounding powers, both Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali used their French trained army against the Marathas, Sira, Malabar, Coorg, Bednur, Carnatic, and Travancore. He won important victories against the British in the Second Anglo-Mysore War, and negotiated the 1784 Treaty of Mangalore with them after his father died the previous year. In the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1799) the combined forces of the British East India Company, the Nizam of Hyderabad defeated Tipu and he was killed on 4 May 1799, defending the fort of Srirangapattana.
Our waiter was from Nepal with a degree from a school in India in hotel management. He served up murg makkan wala, chicken butter masala, and kadai vegetable. We started with daal (lentil) soup and samosas.

After dinner, we did a walkabout the area, next door to National Bank of Kuwait corporate headquarters and took pictures of the light display of 50/20, fifty years of independence and twenty years of the war with Iraq. There is an underground, the British definition. This underground gets you from one side of the intersection to the next without having to fight the ever-present traffic.
On 22 March (Yaumuth Thulatha - Tuesday)
we began with breakfast in Tipu Sultan after a 0430 wake-up call from the mosque across the street. The set-up was buffet with vegetable curry, foul moudammas (dried fava beans in oil), eggs (done to your style). We checked out and headed for the airport which is one of the strangest in the world. We entered the departure area only to find it was closely linked to the arrival area. After entering the departure area, we could have taken a left turn to the visa section which we had entered the day before. We left via gate 5 which was next door to gate 4, our arrival gate with no barriers except to the gate itself. We shared the gate area with this a#$@hole who acted like he was CIA (probably all show and no go) and couldn’t resist “yelling” about the time he had to submit his weapon to security. These two Arabs entered the gate, one looking like his dishdasha was personally made for him, the other off the racks, fashion statements for GQ.
We left at 1020 on Flight GF (Gulf Air) 0214, an Airbus Industrie A319, in seat 8E and landed in Bahrain at 1125, our original flight’s departure of 0715 being canceled due to the turmoil in the region. We decided to stay in the airport as we didn’t have enough time to head into the city (and, shucks, Hard Rock Café) so we walked the terminal to have a snack at Starbucks, part of a large coffeehouse sub-culture not only prevalent in the Gulf States but in USA, Europe, and Asia. We also did some souvenir shopping, buying Bahraini pearls made up as necklaces for $5.00. Sssh, don’t tell my cousins.
I noticed some men in “sack clothing,” looking more like torn sheets. I guessed these guys came back from Mecca having completed hajj. Several used the washroom (the term for restrooms in the Gulf States) to sponge bathe or paper towel bathe. When undertaking the pilgrimage, Muslims shed all signs of their wealth and societal distinctions by donning simple white garments, commonly called ihram. The required pilgrimage dress for men is two white cloths, one of which covers the body from the waist down, and one that is gathered around the shoulder.

After a five hour layover, we headed for Gulf Air flight 0526 and seat 18D for our departure to Doha Qatar. It was a 45 minute flight on an Airbus Industrie A320. Once cleared through immigration, we were met by a hotel representative who drove us toThe Gloria Hotel where we checked in. The Gloria is a business hotel, and it seemed that a lot of pretty people were in the hotel Tuesday, probably a fashion shoot for some Italian fashion houses. We were told to walk over to Souk Wafiq for dinner. Before we left the room, we had to place our Bahrain pearls into the room vault. Thank God for the safe. Otherwise, we would have to hire Pinkerton or the Qatari equivalent.
We left the room, feeling much more secure. We then headed for the corniche and the famous Pearl Monument, this area starting out as fishing and pearling communities. Because of the Islamic rule against the depiction of human figure, the Qataris, and the rest of GCC, put up monuments like the oyster, pitchers, and jugs.
We walked through the old souk with its spice shops, its clothing shops, its food shops. We continued our walk to the newer side of the souk, feeling like we just entered Epcot Center, the recreated Dubrovnik. In this side of the souk, we had dinner at Restaurant Altawash. I had chicken with rice.
We ended the evening by walking a little more through the souk, passing all those people smoking the sheesha. I am now working on Nelson DeMille’s The Lion.
On 23 March Thursday, we got up early for a long day visiting Doha and heading for Dubai UAE.  Our hotel is across the alley from a mosque so I hear the call to prayer at 0430, the fajr. We are up early to have breakfast in the mezzanine dining room. It has several buffet lines, reminiscent of a German fruhstucke. I order an all-inclusive omelette, including the peppers. The omelette is brought to our table by a waiter from Kerala. I wonder if there is anyone left in Kerala. I also had beans, foul beans, sausages, and a donut.
Today our taxi driver was from Kerala. These taxi drivers work for six to eight months in GCC and then return home, during the hot months.

Our first stop was downtown Doha to take in the new buildings and all the construction which will inundate the city with high rises. The three most impressive buildings were the RasGas Headquarters with the ball clutched within the two towers, Burj Qatar with its filigree outer skin, and the split Faberge egg.
We left downtown, the business center, for Aspira Dome and Villagio. The Dome was closed with not a very receptive information desk (or was it a security desk?). We drove around the Dome and spotted some silly sculptures like a soccer ball which provided a great photo op. We then headed for Villagio, a ultra modern shopping mall with a kiddie land called Gondoleria. Also part of the Italian theme was the man-made canals with their own gondolas. I enjoyed a Krispy Kreme purchased from the Laguna duo, so many of these service workers are from the Philippines. We walked among all the ultra chic stores to find Dean and Deluca where I purchased a watermelon “jam” and a chicken-emmental panini.

We headed back to the corniche and the Museum of Islamic Arts, designed by I.M. Pei, with interior layout by Jean Michel Wilmotte. We shared the space with the school children of Doha, the boys of middle school age so no amount of shushing would quiet them until they were banned by the security cops. The girls were younger and much more behaved.

The museum is laid out in the following manner: the ground level is for the gift shop and any traveling exhibit; the second level divided by art forms like calligraphy, coins, statues, ceramics; the third level divided by regions like Iraq, Iran; and the fourth level administrative. The Museum showcases artifacts that the Al Thanis - Qatar's Royal Family - have been collecting for many years. The collection of artifacts for the Museum has stepped up in recent years, with vast sums being spent on Islamic Art, although more recently the buying has been hit by scandal over the vast sums spent. As well as the Qatar National Collection of Islamic Art - a collection of metal work, ceramics, jewelry, woodwork and glass collected from three continents - the Museum also includes 600 year old artifacts of ivory and silk inscribed with Islamic and Arabic inscriptions. Further examples of exhibits include panels lined with gold thread that decorated the imperial tents of Iran and Central Asia in the thirteenth century, as well as a curtain decorated with calligraphy that lined the walls of Al Hambra in fifteenth century Muslim Spain. The collection includes several pages of ancient Qurans, one of which is thought to have been compiled just a few years after Mohammed's death. None were compiled in his lifetime, so this must have been one of the earliest Qurans.  We finished our stay in Doha, heading for Dubai but then that's the rest of the story.

finishing my early march 2011 trip

I took a taxi driven to Gare du Nord for an early return to St. Pancras and London.  I arrived early for the train ride back, but better early than rushing to arrive on time. Once on board, on train 2, I had the row to myself as the train was not full. While on board, I ordered a grand café creme to have with the snail I bought at Paul.
Upon arriving at St. Pancras, I cleared immigration and caught a ride to Hotel Elysee. I had the day to search for Michael Curley and the William Hoppen Gallery; and thank God I was by myself. I got so turned around so many times. I have to learn to use the map at the tube stop to get my orientation. I was looking for King’s Road and the William Hoppen Gallery. After going down three different streets, I found King’s Road and the Gallery (and this was getting directions from locals), only to find it didn’t open until noon. So I had a coffee at Caffe Nero and took the bus back to Sloan Square and went in search of William Curley.

I found it with little difficulty, with a humourous (excuse the Brit spelling) clapboard reading the Lenten message, “Don’t Tell Me You Gave Up Chocolate,” since it was Ash Wednesday. That message was not meant for me so I walked in and had a great sampling. I tried the miso cookie, the sake candy, and the three muffins (plum, cranberry, pistachio/cherry). I bought a sample box of 9 chocolates with such fillings as orange/balsamic).
I returned to Sloan Square to catch the bus to Michael Hoppen Gallery to see the work of Sohei Nishino and his Diorama Map. The Diorama Map project to date comprises nine cities: Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Shanghai, New York, Paris, Hong Kong and London.  The amount of cutting, clipping, and pasting can only be appreciated in 3-D; the postcards flatten out the collage.  The London diorama map had the Hoppen gallery as a highlight because the gallery commissioned the diorama.  The Paris diorama had a nice shot of the Eiffel Tower.  His first 're-experience' of a city was his home town of Osaka. In 2005, he wandered the city for a month, shot over 150 rolls of film, then spent a further 3 months piecing the images of streets and buildings together with scissors and glue to re-shape the city as he remembered it. The result was an aerial view, lacking the precision of Google maps, yet presenting the key elements of the city in a form closer to his own memory and understanding.
I met my friend at Edgware tube stop, exiting by the Window Cleaner statue, looking up at the glass tower "he" was going to be washing soon, walking to Zonza for lunch "he" was going to be washing soon, walking to Zonza for lunchr "he" was going to be washing soon, walking to Zonza for lunch"he" was going to be washing soon, walking to Zonza for lunch "he" was going to be washing soon, walking to Zonza for lunch. I had a Margarita pizza, but the basil was missing.
I met up with the gang at the hotel, and we went across the street to Mitre for pub grub. I had fish and chips and a pint of London Pride. It was ono, and totally appropriate for Ash Wednesday. We took a taxi to Royal Albert, but the going through Hyde Park was slow going with bad traffic lights.
We got to the Hall just in time and rushed to our seats through Door 3, stall G, row 1, and seat 1. We could smell the greasepaint; we were that close. The production was down in the round with the house surrounded by a lake which is dried up for the second act.  My first problem with the production was the use of amplification.  I know the Hall is big, but aren't those voices supposed to be large.  The lead soprano had a good voice with fine modulation.  Lt. Pinkerton was a little too likeable to be the villain of the piece.  The ensemble was excellent.
It wasn't Puccini at his best (I prefer La Boheme and Tosca), but Butterfly has some fine arias.  I remember Pat Lei Anderson winning the talent show for Ms. America by singing Un Bel Di. FYI There is an unsual statue of Puccini in his hometown of Lucca.  Puccini is memorialized sitting with a cigarette dangling from his fingers.
Since it is hard to get to the tube stop and we couldn’t get a taxi (although I thought a police car was a taxi; no wonder the copper gave me a funny look), I suggested we catch a bus to the nearest tube stop like Notting Hill. We got back to the hotel and I left a wake-up call, and, since the phone system was down, the clerk told me he'd come up to wake me if I needed it.
On March 10 (Thursday), I caught a shuttle to Terminal 4 where I checked in, walked through Duty Free, stopping at Harrod’s for a few Will-Kate mementos, and then the Skyteam Lounge shared by several airlines including Continental Airlines.
We left from gate 21 for Newark. I had no seating companion so I could stretch out and rest. For my meal, I had beef brisket and salad. We fought some fierce headwinds and arrived late at Newark creating a forced march through immigration and customs. I had to clear agriculture because I stated I was bringing in bread, adding to the forced march. I submitted my baggage for continuing flights (oh, no, you can’t; you’re late; go to special desk to catch the flight tomorrow). I told the baggage clerk I had over a half an hour to catch my flight. He agreed and let me through. A baggage clerk was going to decide whether I could continue on. C’mon, Continental Air.
I took the tram to Terminal C for my continuing flight to HNL. There was no food service; and, when a flight attendant said something about a burger, I broke down and bought a burger which wasn’t all that bad.
We arrived on time in HNL; I picked up my luggage at G-3, and took a taxi home.  An end to a fun ten days in London and Paris.

continuing in march

(continuing from february)...I shared my space in the train with this gal from Bordeaux, now living and working in London. She slept for most of the ride but woke up to tell me she was heading for Fontainebleau to visit friends and bring home some French goodies including some very smelly cheese. We arrived at Gare du Nord, and I caught a taxi to Jeanne d’Arc. My room would not be ready until the late afternoon so I began my morning travel. I got to rue de Rivoli and turned left to accidentally find Hotel du Sully with its beautiful interior gardens that led to Place des Vosges. I continued walking until I reached the Bastille metro stop and caught the metro to Odeon via Chatelet. I headed for FNAC on Blv Saint Germaine to pick up my tickets for the two museum stops. I then checked out the various stores along Blv Saint Michel before reaching Place de la Sorbonne where I planned to meet a friend. He didn’t hear right and waited for me in the Jardin du Luxembourg. We got it straightened out and met at the bar in the Place for a cup of espresso.
We returned to Place St. Michel and its resplendent fountain and lunch at Pizza Marzano. I had the pizza Manhattan which had all kinds of meats like bacon, ham, and a hamburger in the middle of the pizza. I ate the whole thing, washing it down with a bottle of Lambrusco. We shared a tiramisu. After an hour of sitting and people watching in the cafe Ruche, I wanted to get back to check in. The Lambrusco was beginning to hit me. I was in luck as bus #96 took me back to the hotel. I checked in for room 55. A nice ending to a long day.
Sunday, March 6 started with breakfast in the hotel of croissant, pain du chocolat, and baguette with beurre and figue confitur with jus de orange and café avec creme.  After, I headed for the Left Bank and my visit to the Musee du Luxembourg. When I got to the bus stop, I discovered this was half-marathon Sunday and my bus was shut down for the day. Since I didn’t want to catch the metro, I took a taxi; and, with the time saved, I headed for Notre Dame and a mass for a recently departed friend. It was the last Sunday of Ordinary times before Lent. The presider was an African; maybe African priests are like our Filipino priests, young men with some vocation getting out of the poverty of their lives by becoming priests. After the mass, I decided to walk to Musee du Luxembourg.
I crossed the pont and went in search of Shakespeare & Company. I found a wi-fi free zone park off St. Julien le Pauvre in Square Rene Viviani with a fountain but no Shakespeare & Company. I decided to walk the warrens of the Left Bank and turned on my Ipod, finding Waimea Lullaby by the Brothers Cazimero. I didn’t realize but in the middle of the song, the brothers sing the song in French. Ooh, a bit of chicken skin. I walked up to the Luxembourg Gardens and found the Musee via rue Vaugirard.
The exhibit was Cranach et son temps, a contemporary look at a painter who was a major part of the Protestant Reformation. From the website, "To mark the European opening of the Musée du Luxembourg’s program dedicated to the Renaissance, the museum is reopening with an exhibition on Lucas Cranach (circa1472-1553), one of the major artists of the German Renaissance. This prolific, versatile painter whose career spanned the first half of the 16th century, is still somewhat unknown to the French public, who have not had an opportunity for some time to discover the breadth of his work. The Musée du Luxembourg’s exhibition, Cranach and his time, provides a better understanding of this artist’s place in the history of art and his involvement in the society of his time, a period marked by major political and religious upheavals. The exhibition starts by showing the European dimension of Lucas Cranach’s art, which was not only influenced by the works of Dürer, whose engravings were widely disseminated, but also by Flemish and Italian artists. To highlight these influences, the exhibition compares paintings, drawings and engravings by Cranach with the works of other artists. It devotes a significant section to his travels, which were facilitated by his appointment in 1505 as official court painter to Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, in Wittenberg. In addition to the artistic commissions of his patron, Cranach was entrusted with diplomatic missions that played a crucial role in his rise to prominence.
At the behest of Frederick the Wise, Cranach went to Malines in Flanders in 1508, to the court of Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands, where he met many artists and humanists from different countries. It was here in this dazzling society that he perfected his artistic style. He introduced a more refined elegance into his works, and turned his attention to new themes, like his half-length images of strong, virtuous women, which were immediately successful in this aristocratic milieu.
A further section of the exhibition is devoted to his representation of the nude -- a subject that occupied a central place in Cranach’s work. His highly sensual, female figures, sometimes borrowed from classical antiquity (Venus, Diana, etc), sometimes from Christian culture (Eve), are endowed with a beauty that is at times quite disturbing. And he developed a canon of beauty that is clearly at odds with the classical ideal of the Renaissance. These equivocal images, mixing eroticism with a moral message, often with a complex meaning, were highly acclaimed in their time, prompting the artist to reproduce them in a number of variants. His consummate business sense even pushed him to organise his studio more efficiently, in order to respond as quickly as possible to demand.
Above all, the exhibition emphasizes the richness and originality of Cranach’s artistic career – a career punctuated by significant encounters with leading political and religious figures of the time - a period that was shaken by the turmoil of the Protestant Reformation. In Wittenberg he was in close contact most notably with Martin Luther who was protected by Frederick the Wise. Thanks to Cranach’s talents as a portrait painter, we have accurate representations of the leading figures of his time. A committed supporter of the Reformation within a very short time, he became very involved in helping to spread the new doctrine, using his artistic skills for visual propaganda, which was then widely circulated through engravings. Through this, he contributed to the development of a new Protestant iconography without, however, giving up his commissions from the Catholic church. His fame as a painter, his position close to those in power, his proximity to intellectual circles, make Lucas Cranach one of the most unusual and astonishing figures in 16^th century Europe. This exhibition is organized by the RMN-Grand-Palais, in collaboration with Bozar who designed and made his first stage at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels in autumn 2010."

I was struck at the portraits that Cranach did of some of his patrons, of the heroes of the Reformation which were like the Catholic’s holy cards, his paintings of some of the biblical figures especially Eve and St. Barbara. The were several portrayals of the martyrs Catherine, Dorothy, and Barbara, usually with the Virgin and child. Cranach also enjoyed painting the Garden scene with Adam and Eve. There was a comparative side-by-side of St. Lucrece.
After the walk through the musee, I left for Place Rostand, passing the photograph exhibit on the fence of the Gardens. The theme this year was the enjoyment of the female life, exhibiting photos of marriage, family. I had a coffee at the terrasse at Le Rostand while I read the synopsis of Siegfried.
I caught a taxi and got off to walk down the rue de Rivoli and enjoy the half-marathon, hearing the people yelling bravo and cheering with cries of allez. I ended up at the restaurant Les Fous d’en Face which is a term used to talk about the crazy people opposite by people who don’t know that they are a bit bonkers themselves. I enjoyed a cassoulet maison with a glass of Sancerre, rather light and dry. The meal was hearty and served as my main deal of the day.
I walked over to Opera Bastille for the matinee performance of Siegfried. I was sitting in Porte Allee 05B, rang 21, and place 31. No sooner had I settled in, then I heard the announcement. Since it was in French, I didn’t understand what was being said, but judging from the reaction someone was not singing. And it sounded like two singers, and the audience reacted. And when the opera started, I found out that Siegfried was to be sung by Christian Voigt and pantomimed by the great heldentenor Torsten Kerl and Wotan sung by Egils Silins and pantomimed (joue sur scene par) by Alejandro Stadler. Juha Uusitalo was originally supposed to sing the role of The Wanderer (Wotan).
The first act’s set was busy and the scenes between Mime, Siegfried, and The Wanderer seemed ponderous although important in connecting the earlier operas to what will happen in acts 2 and 3. Siegfried despises Mime who brought him up after Sieglinde died in childbirth. The fighting between the two is obvious, and the Wanderer enters trying to find his gold and riches.
The second act begins with a long musical interlude. There was a chorus marching across the stage, and it seemed the members were exposing their members. Boy, more male nudity. They marched across the stage three times in various stages of arousal. They then sat down and were observers/slaves in the Nibelungen where Alberich meets the Wanderer, where Siegfried finds out about the Ring and the helmet, defeats the Giant amidst treacherous deceit. The Wanderer begins the decline that will be completed in Gotterdamerung.
The curtain rises on the third act with a fifty-step riser with Brunhilde lying in the middle and the guardian warriors in the upper right-hand quadrant. The whole opera comes to life with Brunhilde played by Katarina Dalayman singing her lungs out. The duet singing is strong, and I only wonder how it would have been if Torsten were in full voice. Katarina Dalayman, born January 25, 1963 in Stockholm, is a Swedish soprano who has found critical acclaim singing major operatic roles by composers such as Wagner, Berg, Shostakovich and Bartók, among others.
After the opera, I walked back to the hotel, stopping at a grocery store to buy Orangina Grenadine.
My Parisian interlude continued on March 7 (Lundi) when I woke up this morning to the music of Julien Dore.  After breakfast, I left the hotel and caught #96 to Place St. Michel. Taking a closer look at my map, I found Shakespeare & Company and entered to the ending of Hawaiian Cowboy being played on the CD. After a walk around the place to the second floor with its reading area, I bought Craig Russell’s The Carnival Master. I then had to hurry to Opera so I took the bus to Opera in search of Pinacotheque de Paris and its special exhibits. One was the Romanov Collection. The Pinacothèque de Paris shows The Treasures of the Romanov, an exceptional collection of a hundred pieces from the Saint-Petersbourg’s Ermitage Museum. The second part of the exhibit was the Esterhazy collection. A great noble Hungarian family, whose roots go back to the Middle Ages, the Esterházys, faithful to the Habsburg’s imperial crown, served Austria as well in the army as in the civil service. As early as the 17th century, the Esterházy princes –the great Palatine Paul (1635-1713) and Nicolas First “the Magnificent » (1714-1790)– created their art collection as a testimony to their splendor. The collection reached its apex with Nicolas II (1765-1833), an enlightened patron and amateur; at his death, the collection contained 1156 paintings.
After visiting the Pinacotheque, I caught the metro to meet up with a friend at his yoga studio. No, not to do yoga but to catch up on what he’s been doing since I last saw him. His studio is near the Folies Bergere, maybe to help the dancers stretch. He finally finished his degree in international economics and, along with his yoga work, he works for a researcher for Parliament. He jokingly calls his research work as think tank work.
After our meeting, I meet up with another friend at Place du Republique, and we walked over in search of l’homme bleu which will not be open until Tuesday. We then caught bus #96 to return to rue de Turenne and lunch at Café Marche des Enfants Rouge (French term for orphans). I ordered an entrecote avec frites. I enjoyed the meal with a 25 cl of Montepulciano and dessert of apple tartine.
The French are always looking for ways to exhibit art, even if it is nothing more than a paper mural on the wall of an alleyway. The mural was titled De Gauche A Droite with pictures of famous French people like Simone Signoret.
I had café creme at the Bar On The Corner and enjoyed the afternoon sun. I walked back to the hotel and  stopped at Zakoya to buy ties on sale for 5 euros.
We met up in the Place de St. Catherine for dinner at Bistrot de la Place de St. Catherine. I started with onion soup which was very ordinary. I followed up with pot au feu (pot on fire), a wintry comfort food that resembles a tomato-less beef stew. It was yummy way to end the day.
Tuesday began with hotel breakfast. After breakfast, I took bus #96 to Montparnasse to visit the Musee de Bourdelle. I was a little early so I had an espresso at Bistrot Ovalie.
I entered the museum and plunked my 20 euros, but was told by the cashier that it was gratuite, first Tuesday being free at city museums. So that was nice. However, the museum had a visiting class of first graders. Oh, it was going to be noisy; but, no, this was the best behaved class I have ever witnessed.
The first impression upon entering the grand space was the scope of Bourdelle’s projects, three being the most prominent. One was the mural for Theatre Champs Elysee; another was General Alvear, a memorial for an Argentine hero; and the third “The Monument to Adam Mickiewicz,” a Polish poet hero, this monumental statue standing near Place de la Alma. Two other pieces with vision were the Dying Centaur and Hercules the Archer killing the birds of Stymphalos. His work was so overwhelming that Rodin decided to work with Bourdelle as his mentor.
After the visit, I returned to La Ruche to meet up with my friend. I ordered café creme; and, noticing an item on the menu, I ordered a hot dog. Of course, it was a French hot dog, 18 inches in an 18 inch baguette covered with melted cheese. Somehow I finished it.
We walked down rue Lecourbe and bought some chocolate from Jeff de Bruges and continued our walk down the rue to FNAC. We caught the metro to Sentier for lunch at Comptoir du Commerce where I had Tandoori poulet with rice. I had Leffe beer with the meal.
After lunch, we walked down the petits Carreaux, stopping at Paul for two snails and Stroher for a Napoleon and ended up with coffee from the terrasse by St. Eustache. We then walked toward Les Halles, visiting Open de Ville, a design store. We walked over to rue de Rambuteau to buy praluline(a must if you are ever in Paris. By the way, we kept running into girls dressed up for Mardi Gras (French for fat).
We returned to Les Halles to kill some time land watch a film. The timing was such that we watched The Jewish Connection aka Holy Rollers.
After the film, we went to L’homme Bleu for dinner. I had chicken tagine with couscous. I enjoyed this hearty comfort meal with a bottle of Moroccan red. We ended the meal with various baklavas.
I caught #96 back right after the meal because I had an early morning return to London.
On March 9 (Wednesday), I took a taxi to Gare du Nord.

I arrived early for the train ride back, but better early than rushing to arrive on time. Once on board, on train 2, I had the row to myself as the train was not full. While on board, I ordered a grand café creme to have with the snail I bought at Paul.  My final day in London and my flight home will have to wait for a third entry.

it started on feb 28

I left the house about 1630 and arrived at concourse 7 to check in with Continental and found out my gate was 25. The only problem was Continental was using United’s Red Carpet so I walked over to gate 9 and the United area. After a couple of hours in the Red Carpet Lounge and some snacks, I headed for the renovated section of HNL to gate 25. I was impressed with the changes, the art works, and the food court.
I was impressed with the paddler sculpture honoring A. E. “Toots” Minvielle (1903-1992), founder of the Molokai-Oahu canoe race, and with the Wave Flight by Donald Harvey (1982). There was also a display honoring Wally Yonamine.

We (UA 3431/CO 2, a 767) left on time.  My seating mate was a former Los Angelenos. He was on his way from Honolulu where he was on business to some place in Texas. I figured he was one of those security dudes (“if I tell you, I’ll have to kill you” types). He was driving, probably picking up his Glock in Houston.  i tend to fantasize.
We landed a little early at gate E-25, and I headed over to the Continental’s President’s Club. I checked in with a very business-like agent although she melted when I thanked her, using her name. Making people feel important is part of good traveling. The lounge was nicely modern, but the fare was modest, nothing substantial. Lots of crackers, cheese, fruits, breakfast items were set up for the whole day, like the lounge was on morning mode. I was glad I bought the Red Carpet Lounge pass with miles. I had a 7-½ hour layover.
I left the lounge for lunch and headed for Pappas and a pulled pork sandwich. The sandwich was bit sloppy, and the cole slaw was not like mother's; however, I enjoyed the flavoring.
My impressions of Bush Intercontinental Airport: the size, the food court, the retail stores, and the large carts transporting people all over the terminal. These were fairly large movers that zipped along nicely in the concourse. I wondered what the accident rate was; and, if, in fact, there had been an fatal accidents in the concourse area. Yes, the people movers were moving fast.
I headed for gate E-4 for flight UA 3348/CO, a 777, to LHR. Prior to the gate, I saw a mock-up of a 787, the dreamliner.
I had a meal of chicken parmesan penne with salad and a honey vinaigrette and ginger ale. It was OK. I enjoyed playing a Free Cell game on the screen, but I played only one game because maneuvering the system, the up and down arrows, was too much work.

We arrived early at LHR, having the advantage of tailwinds; however, we were early so we did a lovely half clover leaf over London. We landed at Terminal 4 where we headed for Immigration and a 20-minute processing line. I picked up my luggage at claim 1 and caught the Heathrow Express, having to change at Terminal 5.
I arrived at Hotel Elysee to meet up with D. He told me the hotel was full up the night before and there were no rooms so I left my suitcase and carry-on and started my adventure. I met up with a friend; he had moved to Edgware Road, away from Sussex Gardens. We headed on the Bakerloo line to Baker Street stop. Of course, I had to have my picture taken with the Sherlock Holmes statue. I thought the stop on Bakerloo line could be advertised as “For those of you seeking consultation with a world-class private detective, off at Baker Street and a visit to 222-B Baker Street.” It was so blase to announce only Madame Tussaud’s.
From this stop where I bought some Wills-Kate keychains, we walked to 2 Moxon Street and La Fromagerie, a place I learned from Barefoot In London. I ordered the bacon sandwich, and it was superb. The bread was right, soft bread hard-crusted; and the bacon was simple, nothing fancy, just well cooked, crisp but the fatty part soft. No slathered-on mayonnaise, no lettuce or tomato, just butter. Absolutely delicious. My friend had a salmon salad.

After the meal, I walked over to Marble Arch and Hyde Park to find the 7/7 memorial, 52 stelae or columns to honor the 52 victims of the attack on the transportation system on July 7, 2005. Located on the Park Lane Hotel side of Hyde Park, the memorial stands starkly among the trees and flowers of Hyde Park.
I returned to the hotel by bus, passing the last installment of art in the Arch, what looks like bubble babies in primary colors. I disembarked at Lancaster Gate, walked over to Hotel Elysee and checked in to room 30B.
A teaching buddy now retired and I met up with her friend, and headed for Priscilla Queen of the Desert at The Palace on Shaftesbury and seat Stalls E10. The play with no original songs and lots of costumes is one of those plays that is full of fluff which doesn’t get better with time. It had some moments like the divas on the trapezes, the bus Priscilla, and some of the drag costumes. In many ways it was Mama Mia meets La Cage Aux Folles.
Day two in London started with breakfast in Hotel Elysee's breakfast room where my entry was reminscent of Dolly's entry to Harmonia Gardens. One of the workers saw me and welcomed me back to Hotel Elysee. I missed last years traveling due to an operation so it was good to be back.  After hugs, she showed me to M&D’s (my travel buddies) table.
I had the scrambled eggs, beans, toast, and coffee, a hearty English breakfast for a long day. After breakfast, we decided to meet at 10:00 to search for Borough Market. It was a crisp late winter morning as we headed for Paddington and the Bakerloo toward Elephant and Castle, transferring to Northern and back to Borough Market.
Our first stop was Bedale’s to warm up. I had an espresso while M&D had hot chocolate which wasn’t that hot. We then left Bedale and headed for the market itself where I sampled fig almond tart, chives garlic butter, amaretto cookies, and fish soups (Thai curry, green curry, and a stew). We walked into Brindesa’s stall for some jambon, Chegworth Farms for a slice of artisan cheese by Mr. Leeds, and bought a chorizo sandwich hot off the grill. The hot sandwich had a bit of rocket added. Just delicious.
While heading for the more permanent side of the Market, we came upon a tv crew filming a scene. I asked a rent-a-cop what was going on. He said they were shooting for a BBC series titled New Tricks, very much like our Cold Case.
We entered a konditor (German pastry) shop and purchased some brownies and a slice of Victoria sponge cake off. We ate it outside. We walked down to the part just outside the market called Vinopolis for a visit to Laithwaites Wines. I had the opportunity for a mini-wine tasting session. The reds were light and dry. I had a Spier pinotage, Opi Malbec (produced for the British palate so unusually dry, not fruity at all), a Greek mouras.
We ended our stay at Feng Sushi for lunch. I had fish (hake) tempura with vegetables, the restaurant’s take on fish and chips. There were two pieces of fish tempura surrounded by mushroom, broccolini (3 pieces), zucchini, squash (2 pieces), okra, and sweet potato. It was hard to find the fish pieces, and all were a bit oily.
We returned to Craven Terrace as I had to get ready to attend Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein at the National Theatre. I left the hotel about 4:30 pm and caught the tube to Waterloo Station and hoofed it to the South Bank complex, passing Festival Hall, a Mandela bust, and the Film Institute.
I got to the Theatre a little early so enjoyed a Speckled Hen Light Ale. The play itself was outstanding, and Jonny Lee Miller was incredible as the monster. “Because of the indisposition of Benedict Cumberbatch, the role of Victor Frankenstein is played at this performance by Daniel Ings.” The play opens with the naked monster forcing his way out of a membranous wall reminiscent of a baby being born, entering the world through its mother’s vagina. Only this monster had to mother. For the next five minutes a writhing monster learns the body it has, the limbs, how to walk. He is a blank slate albeit a hideous slate. He scares the village folks, two hunters, the reactions of these people teaching him how cruel people can be. Then he meets a blind man who treats him like a person, teaching him how to read, how to think, how to like. But then the blind man’s son and daughter-in-law return from the fields. The blind man tells the monster not to fear, that his son will accept him, but that is not what happens. The monster, chased away, returns to seek revenge, burning the hut down with the three people inside. The monster finds his creator and demands a mate. Dr. Frankenstein creates a mate for the monster, but then kills the mate, saying no monster should be allowed to procreate.
Dr. Frankenstein, trying to trap the monster, arranges his wedding; and, on his wedding night, the vigilant Doctor and his security force have the house surrounded. The monster eludes the security and finds his way to the wedding bed where he rapes Mrs. Frankenstein and then twists her neck, killing her. The audience collectively gasped at this scene. Incredible theater! The play ends rather cryptically with Dr. Frankenstein chasing the monster literally to the ends of the earth, to the Arctic region; the two forever fused, creator and created. It was awesome.
I returned to Paddington and walked back to the hotel, passing a souvenir shop, walking into a wine shop in search of Strega. It is no longer on sale in Hawaii, no distributor willing to distribute it.
On March 4,Friday, after breakfast in the hotel, we headed for Saatchi Gallery via Sloane Square tube stop. We passed the Duke of York Square (the present day Duke is Prince Andrew who was all over the news with his relationship with some rather snaky characters).
We entered the gallery free of charge maybe because the gallery is also a working gallery, with the relationship of the Saatchi Brothers and Phillips de Pury and Company. The gallery is divided into two sections: the permanent collection and the temporary exhibits, the latter mainly supportive of Pury and Company. Of course, the ideas presented by contemporary arts range from the ridiculous, a diorama of insects presented as a series of mobiles, to the provocative, a wall mural of a columbarium and an almost photo-like painting of the Space Program 2008 by Jonathan Wateridge. As he explained, “Astronauts have an almost symbolic status. They operate on the frontier of an effort to understand the unknown. They appeal to a child-like sense of awe and adventure yet are the ultimate display of a culture's economic power and political ideology."
The most enduring of the Saatchi Gallery is Richard Wilson’s used sump oil which I saw when the gallery was in North London. The exhibit presently showing was Newspeak: British Art Today. Some of the artists included Dan Perfect who said, “The ideas in my work are tightly bound to the physical performance of making them. My paintings are like imagined interior or psychological landscapes. You might think of them like stage sets or dramatic scenes from video games: their space doesn’t go on forever, and they have rules and parameters.” And Ansel Krut who displayed his humor with his Arse Flowers In Bloom. As he said, “For Arse Flowers In Bloom I wanted to paint something that was challenging and direct. The image happens in two places simultaneously: they are flowers, but they are mooning at you. The white lines in the background make the space quite shallow, and suggest a venetian blind or lines in a text book."
Phillips de Pury had a Brian Clarke exhibit which included works such as The Actor and Untitled.
After an exhausting morning of checking the four floors of paintings and sculptures, we headed to the Mess for lunch. The Mess’s entry is dominated by a sculpture of a shoe. It was only missing a can of foot deodorant. I had a delicious duck confit salad with bits of duck served up with mescalin and a mild vinaigrette. I washed it down with a diet Coke.
After the visit, I left the group and walked up to Harrod’s. I didn’t realize it would be a forty minute walk. It didn’t look that long on the map. At Harrod’s, I bought a Swarovski crystal 80^th b-day card for a family member, bought four cake-pops, two ginger jams (they're baaaaaaaack). I headed back to the hotel as we had a show to attend. On my way back, I purchased my Strega.
We met in the lobby at 4:30 for our tube ride to Trafalgar. We checked it at Trafalgar Studios for a restaurant recommendation. The ticket guy suggested Walkers of Whitehall, a bit more posh than the other pubs in the area. I enjoyed a fish and chips with London Pride bitters. I wouldn’t agree that it was that posh; the dude was so wrong.
We had some time to kill so I went over to check out what was happening at the Fourth Plinth. The fourth plinth had Ship in Bottle, the work of Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare. Drawing on the history of the iconic London square and the historic statue on its famous column, the ship in bottle on Fourth Plinth is a scale replica of Admiral Nelson's flagship HMS Victory, which played an important role in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Nelson died aboard the Victory after being shot by a French marksman following the British defeat of the French battle fleet.
The Square itself was closed for World Book Night. The event was hosted by Graham Norton and included such luminaries as Margaret Atwood and Alan Bennett. I got to hear Mayor Boris Johnson read a selection from Lucky Jim.
We had good seats (stalls K10) for the play, End of the Rainbow, starring Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland. It was a tour de force for Ms. Bennett; however, I found the play part weak. The development of Ms. Garland’s character didn’t work the drugs angle out though I found the development of the role of her husband in drugging her up so that she could perform to pay the bills strong. Ms. Bennett sang the songs powerfully, but at times her dialogue sounded more appropriate for Kate Hepburn. Stephen Hagan as Mickey Deans was uneven in his performance, not quite successful in making Mickey the villain. Hilton McRae, as the long suffering Anthony, was excellent, willing to do anything for Judy, even being the foil for Mickey. The play handled the very last days of Ms. Garland as a prologue, the play ending with a rock out by Ms. Bennett as Ms. Garland.
I had an early departure Saturday morning for Paris aboard the Eurostar so, instead of walking up to Paddington, I caught a taxi. (to be continued)