Danny DeVito and the Dachshund

My last two trips over the pond were great.  Thanks to the suggestion by my friend and co-worker Miss Flatlander (you can read her wonderful travel blog here) I learned that Danny DeVito was headlining in the Neil Simon play, "The Sunshine Boys" and that it was closing a few days later.  I decided to take a chance and see if I could score a last minute ticket.

My first stop was to St. Paul's for Evensong.  Probably couldn't hurt to score a few points of favor with the Big Guy in trying to get a ticket for the show (I'm just kidding of course... I already get extra points because I am a Presbyterian.... duh!).  They had a visiting choir from Redding, and it was a male and female choir so it was a nice change to hear female voices included in the choral evensong.

I then made my way over to the Savoy Theatre, located next to the posh and swanky Savoy Hotel.

The nice chap at the box office had seats available in all price ranges so I chose the cheapest section in the back for £20.  But he was nice enough to upgrade me to the 10th row on the Orchestra level so I would have a great view of the stage.

The play was really good and very funny.  I knew that Danny DeVito was short, but I had no idea he was THAT short!  I also sat a few rows back from the British actor Bill Nighy (he played the washed out rock star in Love Actually).

The following trip to London, I had made plans to meet up with my friends Amanda and Aaron for dinner.  I kind of accidentally got on the slow train to Redhill and started to get a little nervous when after the usual 30 minutes on the train, I still wasn't there!  I wasn't recognizing any of the stops, but was relieved when we finally made it to Redhill.

They had gone the day before to see the Men's Road Race Cycling competition for the Olympics at Box Hill near the town of Dorking.  They suggested a pub that was right at the bottom of Box Hill so I could see the venue.  

We passed the Dorking Chicken statue, which in the theme of the games, is now sporting the  gold, perhaps it came in first in Poultry?

The Olympic Rings at the top of Box Hill show the path the cyclists had to take to reach the top.  They had to ride up and down the hill 9 times.  All in all, the total route was like 150 miles.

While Amanda and Aaron are great people (along with their little daughter Samantha), I simply love getting to see Wolfie, their dachshund.  He's always standoffish at first, but then he warms up to me.  He's a good boy!  He's going thru a barking phase right now, so he'll soon be sporting a bark collar with that emits a citronella puff of air every time he barks.  We'll have to see how that works.

From East to West

Just finished up a full week of flying spanning three continents and two hemispheres.  From Sunday to Tuesday I was in Japan.  I ended up not feeling all that great, so I mainly rested, but I got to meet up with my friends Kathy and Kay, who were on our early trip.  We had dinner and drinks together in the crew cafeteria at our hotel.

Kathy also tried out some traditional Japanese sandals but they were a little big.

With one day off, I found myself heading in the opposite direction to Madrid.  I got a treat that afternoon and had lunch with my childhood friend Jonathan (the one who encouraged me to start blogging 5 years ago).  He was using my passes to try to get from Charlotte to Tampa via Chicago, but a flight cancellation messed things up and he ended up coming thru Dallas instead.  Kind of out of the way, but miracle of miracles, he got on an oversold flight to Tampa after we had a nice lunch and caught up.

After getting Jonathan sent on his way to Tampa, I met up with my great crew and made my way to Spain, where is was just as hot as it was in Texas.  For the last few trips to Madrid, I have been trying to visit the "Mirador" or Observation deck at the Palacio de Cibeles.  It was either closed or there was a national holiday for some random saint, but this time we were able to go to the top of the building.  We had a lovely view of the city from a unique vantage point.

Cibeles Palace, formerly called the Ministry of Communications was built in 1909 and served as the main post office until 2007, when it was closed for renovations.  It re-opened just before Christmas last year.  In December I visited the building and they had a huge nativity scene that occupied the main floor.  We could not get up to the tower though.  This time, we lucked out.

You only get to spend about 15 minutes at the top before they make you come back down, but you get great view of the city.  The Cibeles fountain is in front of the building.

Here you have a perfect view all the way up to Puerta de Sol, the main shopping district.

My friend Patrick looks all cool and calm in the picture, but he later confessed that he was terrified the whole time we were up there.  He's got a good poker face.

It was real windy at the top.... but with it being 100 degrees, it really didn't help.

After our fifteen minutes at the top, we went down to the terrace bar that was located on the sixth floor, and we enjoyed some brew.

We tried a new place for dinner called José Luis, near our hotel.  The restaurant was a bit pricey, but the food was good.  We enjoyed the customary glass of sangria and some manchego cheese and calamari before our main course.  My friend Peggy had sea bass that was amazing.  I had a salmon dish.

It was a good night.  The heatwave in Spain was a bit much, so we had to take it easy, but it was still a fun evening with a great crew.  Some old friends and some new ones!

Have a Gander

I was very excited to trade on to the four day trip we have with the two day layover in London.  It's great to have that third day free to do a little trip someplace you wouldn't normally have time to visit.  I was flying with my friend Rick, who was purser on our trip and we decided we were going to try to visit Stonehenge.

Unfortunately, our nonstop flight to London was not meant to be.  Instead, we had to stop half way for a break in Gander, New Foundland, in Eastern Canada.  There was an issue with our lavatories not having been serviced properly before we left the states and one by one they stopped working.  You can't go across the Atlantic with no working lavatories, so the decision was made to land in Gander, where our lavatories could be serviced.  We were only there about 45 minutes.  It's a frequent diversion point because of it's location, so they are good at getting planes in and out in a jiffy.

Once we took off again, it was only about 4 and a half hours to London and we arrived no worse for wear.  I had found an interesting London Walk called "Ghosts, Gaslights, and Guinness" that I wanted to join that evening.  Everyone on the crew was pretty gung-ho about joining me, but one by one, they backed out so I went by myself.

We toured some areas of London that were purported to be haunted, and our rather interesting tour guide, Richard III, as he called himself, had a very macabre persona, which contributed to the spookiness of the tour!

Some of the haunted pubs we visited included the Ships Tavern, which during the time of the persecution of Catholics, was a secret meeting place for Mass.  Apparently, the ghost of a dead monk still haunts the pub and you can hear people screaming (in addition to the normal bar patrons.

Another pub, the Nell, named after one of the king's favorite mistresses, has haunted actors, but none have been seen in a while, perhaps reflecting on the current lack of talent in the English theatre, according to our guide.

Even the BBC has ghosts.  The Bush House, home to the BBC Radio World Service, is haunted.  Several producers passed away during a short span in 2000-2001 and apparently their spirits still roam the halls!

All in all, a fun evening and an interesting tour guide!

The next day was beautiful.  The perfect day to visit Stonehenge.  I snapped this photo from my hotel right before we left.  Notice the London Eye and the Shard in the background.

However, as we made our way to Stonehenge, the weather changed and it poured down rain the entire time we were there.  Still, it was interesting to see these druid ruins.  That morning, Michael Johnson, a US Olympian, had run thru the site with the Olympic torch as it made its way around great Britain.  Even thought it was cold and wet, Rick and I made the best of it, or tried to!

I swear I am not on my cell phone... that's the audio guide.

No one really knows why the stones were placed here or what their purpose was.  Many theories claim it was a key element to Druid mysticism and even today is a very popular place to celebrate the summer solstice.

 That night, I met up with some of my "domestic" friends who just came over to International and we went out for Indian food.  We are all fans of the Honey Badger on Youtube, so we enjoyed the fact that we could have Cobra beer!

2012 Olympics

In just a few short weeks, the Olympic Games will be underway in London.  On a recent trip, my friend Melissa and I took advantage of guided tour with London Walks (http://londonwalks.com) thru the neighborhoods near the Olympic village.

Prior to the successful bid for the 2012 games, the area around the Olympic Village was kind of dodgy and forgotten.  Now with the games about to begin, the area has undergone a major transition and will hopefully revive what was a depressed area well after the conclusion of the games.

We started our tour at the West Ham tube station (and started the day off with a little grape juice that had fermented).  I had never traveled that far out of London before.  It is in Zone 3.  Our tour guide was a "Blue Badge" (which means she really knew her stuff) named Kim, who wore bright green nail polish and bright green Doc Martin shoes.  She was very informative and honest, covering both the good and the bad surrounding the upcoming games.

She talked about not only the wonderful and positive events surrounding the Olympic Games, but she also hit on the criticisms and the realities of hosting a major world sporting event in London at a time when the British economy was very fragile.

The area around West Ham was made up mainly of run down council housing and derelict warehouses.  Some of the buildings are still there.

This is the old sewage pumping system that has long since been abandoned from the Victorian era.  It now serves as an exterior location for movies, most notable the Gotham City Asylum for the Criminally Insane in the Batman franchise, The Dark Knight.

As we continued along our industrial path towards the village, we came upon a unique Sun Dial and given that there was actually a little sun in London that day, it worked just fine.  You placed your feet over the spot where the current month was written on the ground and the shadow from your body would tell you the time.  Here it was about 2pm, as indicated by this little Costa Rican boy.

We learned that as the buildings in this area were demolished to make way for the new Olympic Venue's, something like 95% of the material was recycled and used in the current construction.  In fact, in the Sun Dial picture above, the little white flecks on the ground are actually pieces of porcelain tiles from demolished bathrooms that were used in making the new walking trails.

As we approached Bromley-by-Bow, we took the new DLR (Dock Land Rail) service over to Stratford and the Olympic Village.  Prior to the winning of the bid, there was only one transport station in this part of London, and now it is the most connected area of town.

All of the Olympic housing for the athletes will be renovated after the games and will become permanent housing.  Fifty percent will sell on the local market and the other fifty percent will be council housing (public housing).  Moving the people into council housing here will permit the older run down council housing to be leveled and replaced with new buildings for homes and offices.

This was about as close as we could get to the Olympic Stadium.  The big red eye sore behind the stadium is the Observation tower.  It was privately funded by a single individual and cost £9 million.

The security fences are already up in preparation for the games.  This will all be taken down afterwards, but for the time being this was as close as we could get.  Security will be very tight.  It will be akin to airport security, and no liquids will be permitted inside.  Spectators can bring empty bottles and free drinking water will be provided by Coca-Cola.

The tour concluded at the John Lewis center, adjacent to the Olympic Village and we made our way to the third floor of the department store where they have an observation room to see a better view of the stadium.  I stopped and posed with a stuffed version of Mandeville, one of the Olympic mascots.  My honorary nephew Matthew D. is big fan.

The John Lewis center is a massive retail complex and the main floor is nothing but a big food hall with all sorts of interesting eateries.  I was instantly drawn to the cupcakes.

Melissa and I settled down for a post tour drink at a little pub called the Tap East.  I tried a fruity beer called Liefmans, while she opted for a Scottish brew called Schiehallion.

We ended up sitting next to some very talkative and friendly Indian Sikhs, who were also drug dealers, as they offered to sell me some pot.  They were interesting to talk to, because they grew up in the area and have witnessed the transformation from a dodgy and forgotten part of town to a modern (and expensive) neighborhood.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of them.  They didn't wear the turbans, but they were covered in tattoos.

After our drinks, Melissa and I made our way back to town and the area around the Tower of London, to meet up with my friend Sharon, who was over in London with some friends on a tour.  It had rained a little on our way and afterwards there was a lovely rainbow extending into the tower.

You can't really see them, but at the very top of the Tower bridge, there are the Olympic Rings.  The rings extend down from time to time.

After dinner, Sharon and her friends Susie and Camille walked with us back to the Tower Hill tube station.  We got them set up with Oyster cards and they were going to ride with us part of the way.  They got off at Westminster to try and see if they could get on the London Eye (the big Ferris Wheel).  For Susie and Camille it was their first tube ride in London!

Melissa and I also decided it was time for a lanyard update.  We purchased the new blue lanyards for our ID's because the old neon orange ones we had from last fall were "last season".  We try to stay trendy.  Below you have the old lanyards as seen from this October 2011 photo.

And here we have the new lanyards.  Quite an improvement I would say.