Category: Travel
Paris – Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral
I attended 8 am Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral on this somewhat chilly and overcast morning. It was a very nice service, celebrated by two Black priests and with 34 congregants in attendance. There is something extraordinary about the fact that the Mass is the same in every corner of the world, although it is very special in French. I was able to follow the order of the Mass and the readings by using the “Breviary” app on my IPhone.
Notre Dame is very similar to the Washington Cathedral. Of course, it’s probably the other way around.
Mass was held in the front section with the congregation seated on either side of the altar.
It was a pleasant way to begin our first full day in Paris.
Back to Berlin….Without my luggage
Arrived today for my second visit to Berlin. This time, I’m accompanied by my daughter, Bridget. It will be a combination of business and pleasure. I have business meetings in Berlin, but will go to Paris for the weekend, for my first visit to the City of Lights.
The first change I noticed from my last visit was how expeditious the arrival process was. We had a layover in Munich where we showed our passport. But there were no customs declarations forms to fill out. Just show the passport and move right on through. Berlin was even more expeditious, actually too expeditious. We just followed the crowd off the plane, expecting to be herded to some large immigration line, followed by a customs line. In so doing, we walked right past baggage claim and the next thing we knew we were outside security without our luggage. Uh oh. I knew that couldn’t be good. Going back through the exist would probably have caused them to shut down the whole airport.
Sure enough, we had to go to a special office at the other end of the airport. After about an hour wait, we were told that our luggage didn’t arrive anyway. Over to another office at another end of the airport. To my relief, they told me that the luggage was in Munich. Didn’t make the connection, but would be delivered to the hotel in the evening. And that’s the situation, as it exists. Hope they are right.
Thanks to an unbelievably organized wife, I had a change of close in my carry on, so no stress…..yet.
Not So Grim
I’m at Heathrow Airport getting ready for the trip back to Washington. Things got a little better after my last post. Once I accepted the fact that this would be the most expensive vacation EVER, I found some peace.
We stayed an extra day in London. Attended a beautiful high Mass at Westminster Cathedral. It had a large choir (men and boys), a partial Latin liturgy, incense, the works. It was very nice.
Then, since a day without shopping is like a day without sunshine, we went shopping at Harrods. Massive store, packed with people, a woman singing opera to people on escalators and a huckster selling the Vegimax, who was the spitting image of Eric Idle.
Finally, we went to the British Museum. saw the Rosetta Stone, again, and an exhibit on the Books of the Dead from Egypt.
Maybe I’ll post on everything that happened since Kilmainham Gaol, but I can’t promise.
Kilmainham Gaol
It is interesting that Ireland’s modern political history is best told in a horrific prison. Kilmainham Gaol is a powerful symbol of the struggles of the Irish people. Architecturally, it resembles the prison in The Shawshank Redemption. Unforgiving stones and steel. Our tour guide was a burly, passionate Irishman with a full beard who talked non-stop for almost an hour and a half in a presentation that was rich with fact, anecdote and drama. For instance, here’s a picture of the altar where Joseph Plunkett, one of the leaders of the 1916 uprising, married his beloved, 3 hours before he was executed by firing squad. His bride lived to her 70’s and never remarried.
But the history of the prison vastly pre-dated this event, having been build in the late 1600’s. All the Irish rebels through the years passed through Kilmainham. The most dramatic story was that of Anne Devlin, who effectively sacrificed her entire family, not to mention herself, for the cause of Ireland. I’m not disciplined enough recount her story, but click here for more. It was our tour guide’s most passionate story and he concluded with the protest that one of the most grievous omissions in Irish history was the minor place to which this heroic woman is relegated.
The prison is now a multi-use facility where there are often concerts or theatrical performances. It has also been used as a movie set, recently in the movie Michael Collins with Liam Neeson, which, outside of the dramatic love story, is a pretty accurate account of the founding of the Irish Republic. Collins, of course, served time in Kilmainham.
Dinner with the Saunders and Murphys
We had a delightful dinner with our friends, the Saunders and Murphys. The Saunders are effectively our benefactors in the two times we’ve visited Ireland as a family, generously donating their car to us for our travels and, on our first trip, lodging. The Murphys are friends of the Saunders’ whose son, Liam, did a short exchange program in Washington.
It was a lively dinner, full of laughter and goodwill. The restaurant was The Winding Stair, which is right off the Ha’ Penny Bridge. It was an unpretentious place with excellent food. I would definitely go back.
Dublin – Reconnecting with Danny
Traveling to Dublin was uneventful. A nice benefit of the European Union, we breezed through Customs. What we arrived to was unusual, though, a driving hail storm. Standing in the taxi line, the hailstones were clattering on the overhang. Within a short time, it turned to rain, more typical Irish weather.
We stayed at the Ashling Hotel, a recommendation of a friend in Dublin. While it was a Best Western, apparently Best Western is a more upscale brand in Ireland that it is in the U.S. It was a very nice, seemingly business hotel. Clean with attentive staff.
Meet the Parents
The first night we had dinner with the family that was hosting our son for the last three months. David and Gilian are the parents, Adam and Ian the two teenage sons. There are a delightful young family. He’s an interior designer with his own business, she’s a nurse. He is also an adventurous gourmet cook, which explained their choice of restaurant, the El Bahia Moroccan, which bills itself as the only authentic Moroccan restaurant in all of Ireland. I have no reason to doubt the claim as it was extremely authentic. Upon walking into its dark, lush interior, Bridget remarked, “I feel like I’ve left Ireland.”
Danny was extremely fortunate in his host family. They were all bright, intelligent, friendly, open and creative. The sons are both musicians, Gillian sings in a choral group and, as noted above, David is a chef. They appeared to have true affection for Danny and David even delivered his pre-approved lines with conviction when I asked how Danny was doing? He said, “He’s unfailingly diligent and focused!”
My Favorite Picture So Far
Here’s Bridget on the Millennium Bridge over the Liffey River in Dublin taken on our way to dinner.
London – A Short Visit
Boy, that was quick.
Preparing to leave a whirlwind visit to London. So quick, there was no time to blog.
Here are the highlights:
Day One – Arrival
What an ordeal arriving. Here’s advice for future travels, take a taxi from Heathrow. We thought we’d save money by taking the Express into London and then the Underground to Covent Gardens where we stayed. Big mistake. We had six pieces of luggage and what a sight we were, lugging this collection from transit mode to transit mode. Since the UK doesn’t not have an Americans with Disabilities Act, we had more than a few stairs over which to drag our belongings. Some kindly Londoners graciously helped Rita and Bridget navigate their respective loads.
Then, relaying upon my IPad for directions, we schlepped from Covent Garden station to Liecester Square, to the Radisson hotel….the wrong Radisson hotel. Enough of the lugging, we took a cab back to the right hotel, in Covent Gardens, a block from the Underground station that we had just left.
Shopping
Since I’ve been to London before, I utterly deferred to Rita and Bridget on how we would spending our time….mostly. Their top priority was to shop. So, I tagged along. Impressions noted in previous post.
Mamma Mia
Since Lion King tickets were unavailable, who chose to see Mamma Mia at a price so expensive I’m embarrassed to reveal the amount. The beginning of the show had me very troubled. It’s seemed utterly derivative to the movie, right down to the overalls worn by the “mother” character to match Meryl Streep’s. It also seemed very much the stage version of a chick flick. I kept stealing glances at Rita and Bridget in hopes they were enjoying it more than I was.
Fortunately, after intermission, the show took off. Much more impressive staging. The opening dream sequence was very clever and creative. While I didn’t buy the darker emotions from which the show would emerge at the end, I was glad that the who began to diverge from the movie. And, of course, the show concluded with a series of false endings with steadily increasing exuberance, from the final performance of Mamma Mia (not one of my favorites) to Dancing Queen (which is my favorite) to Waterloo (whatever).
As a show, I can’t say for sure it was worth the price of the tickets, but as a London experience, it was.
St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Sunday morning we attended Eucharistic service at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. I’ve been to the church before. Here’s a post, with video, of that visit. I still suffer from the cognitive dissonance of the images I’ve had from years of listening to classical musical performances by Sir Neville Mariner of the Orchestra of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. In my minds eye, I see a bucolic scene of rolling green hills with a small chapel in rural England. In fact, the Church is off Trafalgar Square on a busy intersection in the middle of London City.
Nonetheless, it’s a beautiful church and the service was very nice, with a choir. It was interesting experiencing both the similarities and differences from the Catholic Mass. More the same than different. Of course, the biggest difference was the woman celebrant.
More Shopping
And more tagging along. Bought a nice hat, though.
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| Consulting my IPad for Directions |
The London Eye
Biggest Ferris Wheel in the world, takes you up more than a thousand feet for a spectacular view of Big Ben and Parliament.
Harry Potter
Saw the new Harry Potter movie in the Odeon Theater in Leicester Square. Quite the venue. Part of the movie was shot within blocks of the theater including a prominent shot of this place:
Now, I’m in Heathrow on the way to Dublin, where we will be reunited with son, Danny.
Mexico City
I’m finishing up a business trip to Mexico City, my first visit to a Latin American country. Most of the visit was spent in my hotel, my company’s local office and a meeting at the Mexican “White House,” called Los Pinos, with the Mexican Foreign Minister. One of my Mexican colleagues pointed out that Los Pinos is very near the site that inspired the line the Marine Corps hymn that says, “From the halls of Montezuma…”
Mexico City is not at all what I expected. My image was of a hot, dirty city, teaming with people. In fact, the weather was delightful, 75 degrees, dry and crystal clear skies. The city is very clean. It is, however, teaming with people. Traffic seems heavy 24/7. I knew that was going to be a problem as we flew in. We arrived at 10 pm and, looking out the window of the plane, every highway seemed gridlocked.
Speaking of the flight, it was among the more interesting I’ve had. We flew over thunderstorms, which normally would have made me pretty nervous. However, the flight was perfectly smooth during this period and the flashing lights from the lightening in the clouds below was spectacular. Oddly, as we approached Mexico City, it got very bumpy under clear skies. Go figure.
Getting back to impressions of Mexico City, I was struck by how little English is displayed around the country. When I’m in China or Europe, I’m always surprised with the amount of English signage. In Mexico, there’s none. Similarly, the English TV options in the hotel room are very few, far fewer than in countries much further away. I guess I admire the Mexicans’ refusal to concede their culture to the Gringos from the North.
Of course, the most fascinating part of the trip was the meeting with the foreign minister. It was an important meeting dealing with some very significant issues. Unfortunately for me, most of the meeting was in Spanish. Of the approximately 20 people in the room, I was the only “mono-lingual” one there. A sad example of the failure of the American education system. Still the meeting was very successful and my team is hopeful of a continuing business relationship.
Hope I get to come back. If I do, I will spend more time investigating the rich history of Mexico, of which I only observed snatches traveling from one meeting to another.
A Memorable Dinner
I had a fascinating dinner with some colleagues two nights ago. I blogged about it on my other professional blog, World of Public Affairs, but thought readers of this blog might also be interested.
If so, click here.
