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.