The 1999 Big Trip: Africa

Part 9: Back to Europe

  

Another blessing of flying Pearl Class: First off the place, first through customs and my baggage was first off the system. I was ready for my ride 15 minutes after landing. Unfortunately, my ride wasn't there. I looked around, and found no evidence of my ride, so I called the company, Voyage a Paris.

It turns out they had thought my flight arrived at 5:30 AM, not 5:30 PM, and that they would send somebody immediately. My ride was supposed to be there in 15 minutes. 30 minutes later, I called again, and he was on his way. I gave them a third call at 45 minutes, with a 10 minute deadline. Ten minutes later, I hailed a cab to take me to the Atlantide Republique Hotel on Avenue Richard Lenoir. I stayed there in 1998, and it was a good place. The taxi cost me nearly 300 franc.

On the flight, I had noticed I lost the keys to my luggage, so we had to cut one lock. Oh well. I had spare keys locked away behind that one lock, so all was not lost.

After checking in, I went for dinner. I was hungry for some good French food. I found a restaurant near Cite, on a triangle shaped park, where I had escargot bourginon, canard au pommes saute, and creme broulee for dessert. Yum. Excellent. Exquisite. OK, I was so stuffed I could barely move, but it was worth it. I barely made it back to the hotel before falling blissfully asleep.

I woke up early for the flight to London. I was leaving Paris at 7:30AM, so my taxi had to arrive even earlier. I had a pleasant conversation with the night staff while waiting, about differences in the senses of humor between cultures.

Naturally, since the flight was on British Midlands, it was late. And the baggage claim at Heathrow was sluggish. Not as bad as at a New York City area airport, but very poor by European standards. I bought my father some presents at Paris duty free (some foie gras de oi and flavored mustards), so my luggage was up to 49 kilos. Good thing I was flying on to the US shortly thereafter, or I'd have had to pay more excess luggage.

Landing at London, I took a taxi to the Palace Hotel where I'd spend the next three nights. Obviously, at 9AM, the room was not ready, so I left my luggage in their care, and set off for Greenwich. I wanted to use the GPS unit Bob Cousins loaned me on the Prime Meridian. I kept looking while on the Greenwich Green, but no luck. After an hour, I gave up, and called my friend Richard Lumsden. I had hoped we'd get together during my stay, but when I rang, he answered from New York. (The wonders of cell phones. I placed a local call from London to New York. I suspect Richard, or more likely his employers, paid a lot more.) Argh! So much for those plans.

I went for lunch, a doner kebab. I bought some magazines (BBC Wildlife, Empire, and Birding -- I was starved for English language reading material), and some football tops (Manchester City, Scotland home, and Brazil). I made it back to the hotel at 3PM.

Sandy MacKinnon had called from Southampton, he could not make it up for a visit. Damn! But James Ross did make it down to London from Rugby for the day, so we made arrangements to meet at Shimla Pinks near Liverpool Street. I also checked in with my parents, in Arizona, for my cousin Jennifer's wedding. I watched Australia upset South Africa, 27-21 in extra time, in the World Cup rugby semifinal.

Because of the extra time, rain, and a derailment on the underground, I was quite late getting to Liverpool Street to meet James. He was also quite late, even later than I was! We walked over to Shimla Pinks from Liverpool Street, and it was closed. So, we ventured over to Leicester Square, and wandered around until we found a place to eat. I had a veggie pakora, and a king prawn madras. James had a chicken pal. During the meal, we were asked to change tables. After the meal, we went to Euston where James had his train to Rugby. It was good to see him again after 15 years!

I managed to fall asleep before 10 PM.

Sunday in London is usually a slow day. With Richard in New York, my plans were fairly ripped asunder. I went to exchange some of my excess African money, and only found a taker for some Kenyan shillings. I also found that my credit union ATM card did not work in London. It worked in Kenya, Egypt, and Seychelles, but the London ATM's were too primitive. The African banks allowed me to specify that the withdrawl was from a savings account. That's not allowed in London, only checking account withdrawls, and I have no checking at my credit union. I was amazed that the banking in Nyeri, Kenya, was more advanced than London.

With no plans, I headed over to the Museum of Natural History to take a look at the BG Photography exhibit mentioned in BBC Wildlife. The quality of the winning photographs reminds me that I do have a way to go before I am among the world's elite photographers. On the other hand, I think I have a few photographs which would have been competitive with the runners up.

London was quite warm, so I was just wearing short sleeves. I ventured over to the Shepherd's Bush area to visit Wilson's restaurant, which Richard had recommended as a good Scottish restaurant. Not open. A quick lunch (sausage and chips) and I went to do more gift shopping. I spent well under my budget in Africa, so I had the opportunity to get some nice gifts for my family. My first stop was to buy some teas: Assam, Darjeeling, Kenya GOMB, Nepal, Russian Caravan, and gunpowder. I then bought books on Rangers and Manchester City at Sportsbook. I bought my father the Booker Prize winner. I found a book of Steve Bell's political cartoons. More football tops: Rangers and Scotland away, and an All Blacks rugby top. Cashmere sweaters for my mother and sister. That's probably over $500 worth of goodies in an afternoon.

I watched the French beat the All Blacks in the second rugby semifinal 43-31. Both semifinals were considered upsets. Go Wallabies! (They did win the cup final the weekend after I got home.)

I then heard about the crash of the Egypt Air flight from Kennedy. Having just flown Egypt Air five weeks previous (in Egypt, of course) it caused my skin to crawl. I recalled what I wrote back in Egypt: "This airline really inspired confidence" (sarcastically written after comments of how metal detectors were ignored). Obviously, my heart goes out to the victims and their families.

For dinner, I went for another curry! This time, I had a lamb vindaloo with onion bhaji and some kulfi for dessert. This was excellent. I went to see the Blair Witch Project after dinner. I had totally forgotten the date: October 31, 1999. Was there a more appropriate movie? I enjoyed it very much. I can see why it was popular, as the cinematography really got my adrenaline flowing.

After the movie, I went back to the hotel and to bed.

Monday morning, the last full day of my vacation. Plan A, doing something with Richard, was out. Plan B was to visit Windsor Castle, but with a forecast of rain, that was out. Plan C was to see the British Film Museum. Well, it was closed for renovation. Plan D was to see the new football Hall of Fame in City Hall. At a ten pound admission ticket, that was out. Plan E was to hang about and go to the movies. That still worked.

First, I stopped by Virgin to check on some CD's and videos, and to check the status of my upgrade the next day. I found a wide screen version of Braveheart, which I think may have been the best movie of the 90's. Alas, the news on the upgrade was not good. I had not cleared the waiting list and was still booked in coach.

I went for lunch to Chuen Cheng Ku for dimsum. This was the restaurant where I was first introduced to dim sum, way back in 1982. It was excellent, but it was expensive. I dropped my shopping back at my hotel, and went to the 2:40 showing of Eyes Wide Shut, Kubrick's last film, uncensored. It was a strange movie, and left me a little flat. Had it not been Kubrick, I'll admit I probably would not have gone to see it. I did not think it among his best movies. 2001, Doctor Strangelove, Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Full Metal Jacket, and Clockwork Orange were all much better.

Now that Kubrick is dead, who is the best living director?

I went to Grand Indian for dinner. Onion bhaji and lamb pal. (I worked my way hotter through the three dinners!) After dinner, I went to see Run, Lola, Run. A very interesting movie. It felt frenetic to me.

So, after 42 days, my vacation ends. UK, Netherlands, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Seychelles, and France. I know I'll be asked which one was my favorite, and I know there can be no single favorite. Each place had its strengths and its weaknesses. I'd go back to each at some point, given the opportunity, but there is so much more of the world for me to see. I still want to travel the Silk Road in central Asia, see the Scandinavian fjords, or visit the southern African wildlife parks. I want to see Antarctica. I want to see the birds of Patagonia.

Tuesday morning I woke up to catch the taxi to Heathrow and my flight to San Francisco. I had to find an ATM to get the cash for the taxi. He's early, so I get to Heathrow at 7:45 for a 10:30 AM flight. Yes! I am upgraded to first class after all, and am in seat 6K. So, I go to customs to process my VAT refunds, and then hit duty free. I buy a bottle of 31 year old Armagnac for my father, and a box of mint flavored chocolates for me. I could keep traveling, of course. However, I am looking forward to seeing my cats again, and getting some Thai food. Flying home, Greenland was beautiful. Lunch was rack of lamb and salmon. Deep Blue Sea was a dreadful movie. The skies cleared over Manitoba. We landed on time at San Francisco, I paid a good sum for duty, and I was home.