Oh, yeah... one more thing

A fellow expat pal has reminded me that I am well chuffed to be done with grad school. Handed in my "thesis" (aka long essay) on Tuesday. Now all I gotta do is find a job!

No hat, no reflection, no pee.

So last night Steven & I decided to actually go to our local Indian takeaway. Because it was supposed to be air conditioned. It wasn't. But it was full, which is highly unusual. There was a large table of large ladies, one of whom — Sally — was celebrating her birthday. They seemed like they all came from one of the nearby housing estates (glamorous name they use here for the projects) to enjoy a special night out. At another table was a black (well, they're not African American here, are they?) family, and I think it might have been the little girl's birthday too. Very jealous of her ice cream dessert in a little paper cylinder with a plastic toucan head. When they left their table was taken by a couple of "blokes" who sat diagonally from each other. At first I thought they were expecting the wives or girlfriends. Nope. Steven says if I read "Watching the English" I'll understand. In any case it's feeling very diverse. We get seated next to a table of three white dudes. As soon as we settle in, I notice that the guy closest to me is talking about the film industry. He's got an irish accent. He's Gabriel Byrne.

Oliver Hardy?

Alice's English cousin? Or...
Moustache cat

Vive la France!

If for nothing more than their crazy outfits...

Dam! Dam! Dam!

So Steven & I went to Amsterdam for the weekend. You know how you think living in Europe would make that kind of thing no big deal? Run of the mill? Par for the course? Well, it took us 9 hours to get there. It's 200 miles away. Part of our trip was down the M-something-or-other on a bus from Gatwick to Heathrow. In rush hour traffic. I HATE British Airways! Why are they the world's favoUrite airline? My guess: most of the world doesn't have a choice. Anyhow, we finally arrived and it was fun.

There's more, but I just thought I'd share these for now, since I'm supposed to be writing a 5,000 word "thesis" that's due in 10 days.

Across the street from 2 lesbian bars...


A couple of Alice's Dutch cousins???

Art out of life

Livingroom view

Paris Surprise

Well, Steven went to work on the morning of Friday May 12th. My job was to assemble items for a Eurostar on-board pic-nick, collect Patty & Bill, and get them to Waterloo Station. I managed to hail a taxi right on Golborne Road, the folks were waiting on the stoop of their B&B, there was little traffic, we reached the station by 12:15, and I retrieved the tickets without a hitch. Then I realized I had forgotten my passport at home. Raced to Notting Hill Gate on the tube and hailed a taxi which waited downstairs while I ran inside, then headed back. Got through security just as the boarding announcement was made.

The ride was good. Every time the train went through a tunnel Patty asked if it was the Chunnel. We reviewed some Paris materials I had collected, looked at maps, etc. After checking in to our hotel we walked to Boulevard St. Germain and had an aperitif at Les Deux Magots before taking a taxi over to Au Bon Accueil for dinner with Kath & “cousin” Katherine. The Eiffel Tower loomed over the end of the block and did its glittery thing as we left the restaurant. We were so close we decided to stroll over (and under) before dropping P&B at the hotel and heading to the Marais to meet our friend Kerem (Turkish guy we met in Istanbul).

Bill’s appetizer
Glittering





The next morning there was some drama: Patty’s passport was missing. No Eurostar lost & found on weekends. Ditto the previous night’s restaurant: fermé. The American embassy is also closed on weekends but of course has a 24/7 help line. We found out that they open at 9am on Monday and that it would take 4 hours to get a replacement. The only problem was that our flight to London departed at 10:50am and Patty & Bill’s flight to Glasgow departed an hour later. So we rescheduled their flight to the next day and they were faced with the prospect of a day and night in Paris on their own.

We headed over to Ile de la Cîté and gorgeous Sainte-Chapelle, which elicited appropriate gasps. After lunch at a place across the street (where Bill had a mind-expanding European cultural experience you’ll have to ask him about), we strolled through the flower market, past Notre-Dame, and across to Ile St-Louis (“Ice Cream Island”) for some Berthillon goodies.

Back on the Left Bank we left P&B to rest and took a speedy stroll around the ’hood.

French graffiti

Returning to the hotel to collect the folks for dinner, we learned of the discovery of the passport. In the passport holder. I won’t tell who put it there or who found it. Glasgow flight switched back to Monday. Water under the bridge. We headed to Les Deux Magots for our aperitif.

On the way
“Mosquito”
French EANABs

Our dining mission was to conquer a plateau des fruits de mer at La Coupole.

Deco floor
More floor
The plateau

Exhausted after a nearly silent dinner spent concentrating on the intense labor of using specialized tools to extract various sea creatures from their respective enclosures, we returned to our hotel and collapsed.

The next morning we breakfasted at Ladurée. Insane. Follow the link. You’ll see. Then we walked down to the Luxembourg Gardens and spent a while just sitting before inspecting the toy sailboat operation. After checking out the Statue of Liberty’s Mini-Me, we miraculously found a taxi and headed over to Place des Vosges. After lunch we took a peek at the Pompidou Center, which I thought Bill would get a kick out of (he did).

Li’l Lady
Knife rack
Green broom!
Pompidou





We then had an opportunity to check out an area we hadn’t visited before: sort of north Marais/Montorgueil...

Decorative grill
Patina
Baroque

Dinner was back on Ile St-Louis at Mon Vieil Ami. It was fab.

Veal belly
Rognions
Quack
Coffee
Berries

Au revoir, Paris!

Hotel stairs

More London Miscellany

Here's an overdue miscellaneous London update. Steven's folks are visiting and I'll post stuff from their visit after they leave next Tuesday. We surprised them with a weekend in Paris, and that'll be my next post, coming ASAP!

Westminster Cathedral
Hodge the cat
The Trellick Tower
Wheeled hooligans
Another face building
Out our front window
Strange foreign sign
What's missing?

Boo-Hoo

So the Brokeback shopping list has already changed. Over here, the big sell-out news was L'Oreal buying Body Shop. The same week, back in the US of A, Colgate bought Tom's of Maine. It's getting harder and harder to stay one step ahead of The Man! I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this any more! At least, I'm not buying your stinking shave cream (since, like, you stopped making it anyway)...

Thessaloniki

We were supposed to take an overnight train from Istanbul to Thessaloniki, but there had been torrential rains in Bulgaria, which opened flood gates and consequently washed out the tracks in Turkey. So we took the bus.

This is all I have to show for the 10 hour trip:
Istanbul bus station
Coke Light can

Upon arrival in Thessaloniki, we checked in to a lovely hotel and then got a walking tour courtesy of Savvas. I was only semi-conscious until around lunch time the next day:
Art nouveau doorway
HelExpo
Very Ottoman-looking
Cathedral
Art gallery...
...in former mosque
City wall
Self portrait
Ate delicious dinner here

The next day we went to see King Phillip's tomb, an hour or so out of town. Then we returned to the city for a seaside repast featuring more grilled octopus and two kinds of whole little fried fish, followed by a stroll along the waterfront promenade.
UFO Club
Face stickers
Umbrella art 1

That night, the kids went off to Athens, and I was left to wander on my own...
Umbrella art 2
Former hamam
Entrance
Pavement design
Groovy building & sign
Knotweed
Saw thistle
Old sign
Old house
Scary!
Crumbling...
...old...
...architecture
Dog
Haussman-esque
Shell gas mascot
Real estate ads
Wall walk garden
Wall walk gate
Wall walk blue house
Wall walk yellow house
Wall taverna

The next day it was time to say goodbye. I decided not to buy any souvenirs, but I did get a delicious Greek easter bread at the bakery, which was pretty much the only thing open on Sunday.
Souvenirs
Bakery
Marketing!