Europe 2005

I left on September 28 for Brussels, via London. I was booked on Virgin Atlantic upper class, with the lay-flat bed. The bed was OK, better than sleeping in a chair, but not the most comfortable. The highlight of the trip was at about midnight over Hudson's Bay. One of the flight attendants woke me to let me know there was an aurora visible outside the aircraft. That was an understatement, the sky was filled from horizon to horizon with ribbons of light, dancing and changing colors. At times there were as many as five ribbons dancing. It was amazing.

We landed in London on time, and I made my way to my hotel near Queensway. It was inexpensive, perhaps because the lifts weren't working, and perhaps because Queensway underground was closed. I made my way to Canary Wharf, where I left a bag of casual clothes and my large lens in the care of my friend Richard Lumsden. I grabbed a quick lunch, and finished checking in.

Dinner was at Tamarind in Mayfair, a high end Indian restaurant. I had a spicy prawn dish, with a mushroom appetizer. Excellent food, but a wee bit pricey. Still, worth it for a fancy occasion.

Saturday I took the Eurostar to Brussels. I had never experienced the chunnel, and decided it was time. 15 dark minutes. Still, the train went from center city to center city, so it was better than flying. I met up with Jayna Halliday on the train, my first GEMBA contact. We shared the taxi to the Windsor.

I was one of the later arrivals, most of my team had already arrived, and we planned to meet for dinner at 7PM. We walked up to a local square, saw Pierre Marcoline chocolate, and went to a hole-in-the-wall for dinner. We discussed the likely costs of Brussels, particularly if we ate so well each night! After dinner, we returned to the hotel and met our fellow classmates as they arrived.

Sunday, our first scheduled activity was a city tour. It was optional, but I decided to go. I had visited Brussels in the early 1980's and was not impressed. I received a different view this time. The only downside is that the bus was racing from site to site, so it was difficult to photograph anything. When we stopped, I got a few.

We had a welcome dinner at the Belgica Queen restaurant, which was excellent.

Monday started classes. I won't talk too much about the classes here, if you are curious, contact me off-line. There were three classes in the second term: Statistics, Microeconomics, and Managerial Effectiveness. The first two should be fairly easy for me, if I can stay on top of them. The third will be trickier. All three professors are good.

Our days were basically consumed with the program. Classes started at 9AM (two days in Budapest they started at 8AM) and usually went until 4:30PM or later. Breakfast and lunch were in the hotel, and we received a per diem of 320 Euros for all other meals during the two weeks.

Some nights we ate out well, others were more catch as catch can. There was an alleyway behind the hotel with a bunch of Greek restaurants, where we could dine for under 10 Euros. We also ate at a couple nice places. I did get to try mussels, and found they're not that much better in Brussels. (I am not a fan of mussels.) A lot of meals came with pomme frites. To call them "French fries" doesn't do them justice, as some people think of McDonalds.

The highlight meal in Brussels was a real five star meal; it was one of the five best meals I've ever had. I had a lobster appetizer, and a filet mignon with black truffles. The filet had a very light glaze, which was wonderful. Dessert was fresh chocolate mousse. This meal cost 70 Euros, and was worth every cent. If I recall, it was at The Hotel Metropole.

Saturday, we flew from Brussels to Budapest. There were several flight options, I chose SN Brussels (formerly Sabena) for my flight. I ended up paying an excess luggage charge, not as much as some people did, but still unpleasant. There were about 20 Gembans on the flight, but despite those numbers, we did not organize taxis well.

Budapest was a fascinating city! We ended up near the Danube River. Wow. We stayed at the Kempinski, which was a step up from the Windsor. The Windsor was a old-European hotel, good service, but a little cramped. The Kempenski was large.

The first dinner was at a cafe by the river, where I had Joebi bean soup and paprikosh. Excellent. They didn't do chocolate like the Belgians, but the paprika added a little zing to the meal.

Sunday was our tour, which was more relaxed than then Brussels tour. Dining out included an Indian restaurant, a pizza place, and some real Hungarian food. I also made it to the open market to buy some fresh paprika and some saffron.

During the residency, we also have some guest speakers and some factory tours. In Brussels we met with a European Commissioner on health and Safety, and the President of GE Europe. In Budapest, we visited Zwack, a family business that makes the national drink of Hungary, Unicum. We also visited GE Hungary for a plant tour, and had a lecture from Eli Lilly's head of sales.

I figure I learned a fair bit. As I know stats fairly well, and I know calculus, the two math-based courses went a bit slowly for me, but I understand not everyone has the same skills as I do.

Saturday was the end. I was flying to London on an early morning flight, and on arriving London I was met by Richard Lumsden. We had a wonderful lunch at his place, that his wife Sophie cooked, and I got to meet their 16-month old son, Gregor. It is rare to see such a well-behaved child! He was absolutely charming, though he does look a wee it Aryan.

Richard and Sophie are building a new house in Dulwich, so they dropped me at my hotel, and went off to do their thing. I unpacked a little at the Saint Gregory Hotel in Shoreditch. It was a good hotel. I went to purchase some facing heaven chilies, some fresh Sichuan peppercorns, and some tea. They all survived the trip. For dinner, I went to Brick Lane for a lamb pathia. Pretty good.

Sunday was an attempt to see the red kites near High Wycombe. I went to Heathrow where I hired a car, and I drove out. I saw the red kites, they were magnificent, large birds, but every time I stopped, they disappeared. So I have no photographs.

In the afternoon, I went to the London Eye, where I took my London pictures. This is a large "observation wheel" near the county hall. Neat.

I met up with Richard and Sophie for dinner at Muhib, where I had a king prawn vindaloo.

Monday was a touring day, I went to the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square, which was interesting. I met Richard for lunch at a duck house, where we had half a Beijing duck, and half of a Sichuan duck. I, er, spilled some sauce on my shirt, so we went to buy new rugby shirts, one for the All-Blacks and one for the Wallabies. In the afternoon, I went to the London Aquarium and then met Clark and Fiona Fenton for dinner in Knightsbridge. This time, it was a lamb dansak.

Tuesday was shopping day. I had to buy books, DVD's, whiskys, and chocolates. Did I mention that London is expensive? I felt like I was attaching a vacuum cleaner to my wallet. At the end of the day, I met Jordy Kaufman for a curry, and I finished my day in London with a king prawn jalfrezi.

Wednesday, I flew to New Jersey. Somehow, we fit everything into Richard's Porsche, and he took me to Gatwick. At Gatwick, I was told to repack one bag into two, so I checked four bags. I picked up the last gift for my parents a block of foie gras de oie.

The flight was uneventful. It was a long walk from the gate to immigration, where the US INS had a grand total of one person checking domestic passports. I was sent to a queue for non-citizens, where the immigration officer queried the queue manager as to why I was there...

Typical Newark: They charge for luggage carts, even at international arrivals. What in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the West Coast is considered a courtesy, at Newark it is a profit center. Nothing like giving a good first impression, eh?

Oh, you have to drop off your luggage carts at the limits of the International arrivals, then lug your luggage to the next trolley sales point and pay another $3. What a rip-off.

I managed to get to my rental car, get a pastrami sandwich, and drive down to Cape May to visit my parents.

My parents treated me well. Lots of good food, some interesting trips, and I fixed their home network. Alas, I caught some bug on one of the flights (symptoms started the day after I arrived in Newark. Not sure if I got it on that flight, or the flight from Budapest to London.) and it was wearing. Add to that, it rained a good bit when I was in town. I can't complain, as I had good weather in Brussels, Budapest, and London, but it did limit activities.

Last night's flight back was miserable. Whatever hit went full bloom yesterday afternoon, I couldn't eat and was in pain. Fortunately, the flight was early, so I got home early, unpacked some, took some strong medicine, and slept. Gremalkin really missed me, and made that clear for the night.

This morning, I feel very drained. And I have to go to work in a couple hours.