Moi Moi –
It’s midnight in Helsinki and it’s not pitch black out there yet.. See photo above taken at the Railway Station (Rautatieasema) as we got off the train from Espoo at exactly midnight. Also see photo of train station statue of the “lantern bearers” — lyhdynkantajat, in Finnish– bedecked with regalia from Finland’s win in the world cup ice hockey championship – with an amateur team that had never played together. Naturally, the small country is elated!
It was a long and busy day. Left hotel after a quick morning snack at the St George Bakery, for the train station where we quickly picked up flowers (Finnish tradition to always bring fresh flowers when visiting – summer or winter, as Finns love colorful flowers) and then we took the train (overground, not the Metro) to Espoo which is about 35 miles from downtown Helsinki and is its own jurisdiction. It took about 18 minutes, with the reader board on the train showing the exact minute when the train would be at each stop and it was exact. We were met at the station by Antti and Heidi in their 19-year-old and very functional Volvo, and off we went to Fiskars Village. We had been there about 10 years before, but now there was a biennale and it’s hard to explore all of the village in any one visit. So it was nice to go again.
Fiskars was begun as an ironworks company in the 1700s; they also produced copper. It developed quickly as an industrial community with workers living in the small village located about an hour west of Helsinki on a beautiful piece of land with a river running through it. The factories and workshops produced items like scissors (those great ones with the orange handles that many of you probably own) as well as knives and other tools, especially gardening and agriculture tools, and later power transmission devices. For about 100 years there was a railroad that went from Fiskars to the harbor. Today there aren’t any active factories on the site… it’s been transformed.
In the 1990s, the owner realized he needed to reinvigorate the small 300-year old village where the company was founded. The town had thrived as an industrial and commercial center for three centuries, but by the 1980s, it became clear that the ironworks were too small to support a global business. Fiskars shifted its operations to larger facilities and then many of the factories and homes sat empty and were deteriorating. But Lindberg was determined to do something. He recognized that these spaces and houses and this idyllic setting could be attractive to artists. He offered to rent spaces at very affordable prices, and artists came to work and live in Fiskars. Now 30 years later, there are about 600 creative people living in the village spread out over hundreds of acres. There are furniture makers, glassblowers, jewelry designers, and other creative artists and craftspeople. There’s a restaurant, a hotel, and a café and other amenities spread out on the grounds as well.
The Biennale was focused on diversity and sustainable development. There were some interesting projects, including the concept of “social seating” – which invited a diverse set of artists to design “benches” since benches are meant to be enjoyed with others (as compared to chairs that seat just one person). The benches were scattered all around the site. One artist created an economic nutrition guide for various products to show the percentage of time and cost for labor versus materials, etc.
We had a simple lunch at the café (a wonderful risotto with fresh peas, local mushrooms, local herbs… ) and we continued to reconnect. After several hours exploring, we drove back to Espoo where Antti and Heidi have a wonderful 80-year-old farmhouse on a few acres at the edge of a large lake. While their permanent residence is downtown Helsinki, they live at this house several nights a week and always on the weekends. About 10 years ago they built a second house on the property for their daughter Hannah (an active Green Party member) who now has two daughters (ages 9 and 7) who were eager to give us a tour. We had been to this Espoo house several times over the past years, but had never seen Hannah’s house. The kids are also into this strange Finnish craze about hobby horses (the ones with the head of the horse and the stick that you sort of ride around on). They did an “equestrian” show for us jumping over hurdles. They “sold” tickets for this “show” and we watched as they galloped and trotted. By the way the horse’s name is Milton.
The farm house is delightful and a stark contrast to Hannah’s very modern Finnish house. Antti and Heidi cooked a great dinner, with wonderful wines and we chatted until we had to catch the last train to Helsinki.
It’s late now and I’m going to crash. Hope things in the states are ok.. We are keeping up with politics and world news by watching Al Jezeera. But frankly, it’s been good to be this distance and to be in such a sane and thoughtful place. Our friends sound hopeful regarding their recent parliament elections with an expansion in the number of seats for Green Party and for Left parties.
Oh, one last thing I forgot to mention yesterday. While at the library, I used the WC, and then went to wash up at the sink. As I extended my hands hot air seemed to burst from the faucet. I was a bit embarrassed and tried to see if I needed to push anything to get water for my hands. Eventually I must have used the appropriate hand motion and water came out of the faucet and then I gently moved my hands to the right and left and the hot air to dry my hands started to spray. They have an all-in-one water and air drying system for their sinks. How cool is that? No need to walk with dripping hands to the dryer. I’m telling you, we are way behind.
Only two more days and we are back. Maybe we should stay? We considered staying in Finland when we lived here, but realized that you can never really be a Finn unless you are born here.
All the best.
Fern
Hei Hei (which was the “casual” greeting for friends when I lived here) and now they seem to say “Moi” or “Moi Moi”… Nothing stays the same, everything changes. Here we are at June 1, 2019 (just 20 days before the midnight sun when Finland will pretty much have 24 hours of daylight)… Today the sun rose at about 4 a.m. (full sunrise), so light around 3 am; set at 10:30 pm.
We started our day with a simple takeaway breakfast snack (from the little take-away cafe at the hotel., so as not to lose too much time with a fussy breakfast – just simple croissant /scone. And we were off.
Started out by walking to our old apartment building: Eerikinkatu 25 B (Eerikinkatu kaksikymmentäviisi B; pronounced Cokxy-kumenta-vees-ee Bay); some things you just never forget. As we walked to the old haunt, we passed the little pocket park that each of us would pass daily on our way to work, shopping, or whatever (whenever we weren’t driving). This time we noticed a statue and were initially embarrassed that we never saw this on any of the days we had lived just down the street. So we checked it out and it is a statue of Arvo Kustaa Parkkila – he was a former alcoholic who started a support group for homeless alcoholics to help provide food, shelter, and emergency care. The statue wasn’t there when we lived there because he was still alive. Apparently when the statue was unveiled (in 2001) speech-makers included the prime minister, the mayor of Helsinki, and others. As I said, we lived in the neighborhood where lots of men (I only saw men in these conditions) were walking down the street totally inebriated.
On this totally perfect sunny day (eat your heart out London!), we set out to see the new institutions in Helsinki. Walked to new museum (the Amos Rex) which is underground, and sort of across the street from Kiasma (another fairly new art muiseum we saw over the last 10 years). Apparently the story is that the museum (Amos Anderson) wanted a new museum and they set their sites on the old Amos Rex movie theater. But the building was too small and they wanted to expand. They couldn’t get permission from the city for the expansion. The architects came up with the idea of expanding underground and this created a moonscape and fun climbing ”domes” at street level. The museum was closed to install a new exhibit so we only saw the exterior.
From there we walked to the new central library – the Finns still read—real books—in spite of just how high tech the entire country is. (Frankly walking around here, I feel as if the US is a developing nation)
One of the largest bookstores in the world is here in Helsinki – Stockmann Akateemien Kirja Kauppa (sp?) and nearly every book that is published in English or other languages get translated into Finnish. Anyway, five years ago we saw the new university library which was quite wonderful, but the new central public library which they call the Oodi is a joy and so much more than a library – totally expands the notion of what a library is and might be.
It’s like an urban gathering place with people of all ages and all backgrounds spending good amounts of time there.. The first floor is the makers’ level – with sewing machines, 3D printers, woodworking, giant printers (40×60 and larger), and more. The second floor has books and great reading niches, and the top third floor is considered the peoples’ living room which is about an acre and a half of unobstructed space (no walls) with wonderful wood floors, white bookshelves that are only about 3 feet high so you are always conscious of the space and the outdoors since the exterior walls are floor-to-ceiling windows, and an amazing outdoor terrace that goes the length of the building.. Inside on the third floor there is an area for knitting and even “designer” rocking chairs. People were relaxing, reading the newspapers from around the world, and chatting. There are three coffee shops – one per floor, and a bona fide restaurant on the first floor. There’s a cinema, a sauna, and lots of meeting rooms. There are even special areas inside to park you baby carriage.
The library faces the Parliament and is said to be a statement about the people meeting the government (perhaps prepared, well-read, and armed with real facts!) There is also a spectacular spiral stair in the center of the building on whose walls are written 350 words (I think) in Finnish – words that the community suggested in an online request. So, it’s architecturally interesting and inspiring and also conceptually taking public places beyond the norm. That said, the library is primarily a digital library that connects with all other libraries in Finland and the full-scale lending library (with all the books) is located at the older central library.
From there we strolled through the Heslsingin Sanomat (the major newspaper) building which has a big atrium, a Fazer café, all sorts of sitting and reading nooks (to read the paper?); grabbed a simple Finnish open-face sandwich and then continued on our way to the new Helsinki Music Centre which is also just a five-minute walk from the library. Along the way, we kept running into those white-caps (students who graduated from high school and who passed the matriculation exams for the university. Happy families, lots of flowers, and lots of strolling through the city.
The music center is elegant and understated; the performance area (new home for the symphony, philharmonic, etc.) which is essentially underground, enabling the building to be elegant and low, is surrounded by a ring of double glass walls – so technically you can see the performance (I assume) when the lights are on and it’s dark at the entry level. One funny thing is that the coat check area is huge – imagine all those heavy coats and hats and other gear for cold weather needing to be hung up before performances. The performance hall was closed, but a nice guard let us in to see it. I asked what they are now doing with Finlandia Hall (the old symphony hall) and he responded that it was now being used for “congresses” which I took to mean conferences. That building had been designed by Aalto and was under construction when we lived here.
We walked past the major train station (rautatieasema) … note that the statues (the lantern bearers—lyhdynkantajat) are wearing caps supporting Finland’s soccer team! Having amassed a lot of culture for the day, we hopped on the Metro to Hertonniemi – location of the Marimekko Outlet Store, a must when visiting Helsinki. Mike found a nice couch with Marimekko pillows scattered about and proceeded to take a nap (embarrassing) and I did my quota of shopping for the trip. Then we headed back to downtown by Metro and walking and Mike headed to the hotel, while I strolled around to find some Nikes or similar shoe; seems as if we will be going on our friend’s wooden boat (weather permitting) on Tuesday and I really didn’t bring shoes for that. I’m up for a new pair anyway.
Got back to the room for a short bit and off we went to meet the son of friends of ours from our days in Helsinki. He was about 7 years old when we lived here; he currently lives in London, but has lived in the states (LA and NY) for the past 30 years. He emigrated to the US soon after graduate school in Finland (MBA), but always had a passion for contemporary music (rock band in high school), and he had started a music company in Finland in his 20s. He did a second MBA at UCLA where he focused on the music industry. From there he went to BMG Music and somewhere along the way decided to get a law degree. He’s successfully merged all of these interests and studies, and was the Director of International Publishing at Google for about 8 years. He recently moved to London to join PRS where he heads the international division. Complicated, but I think they deal with protecting the copyright agreements for musicians and writers. Anyway, we had dinner and got caught up. His mother (died in 2013) was an amazing Finnish art historian and specialist in contemporary Soviet art. She was also the editor of the Finnish Art magazine, Taide (meaning “art”), which is how I met her. When I was here I had a grant from the Finnish American Society, to exhibit my work. In the course of preparing for that show, I went to meet with “Taide.” Anne and her family had just returned from living in the US for a year (Berkeley and Johns Hopkins). Tapani, her husband (and Sami’s father) is a sociologist who held the highest academic position possible at the University of Helsinki, winning the Finnish equivalent of the MacArthur genius award (twice). They became our good friends and we connected with them many times when they were traveling in the states and of course on all visits to Finland. Anne invited me many years ago to speak at an international conference and exhibit – my talk was about the state of art in the states. I probably have it buried somewhere. And later Mike and I co-authored an article for “Taide” on the magazine’s 25th? 50th? Anniversary. Also must have that somewhere.
We met at Shelter – a new restaurant situated in an old warehouse in the Katajanokka Harbor. Food was surprisingly good. We shared whitefish ceviche with prawns, coriander, and avocado-wasabi cream; beef tartare with lovage, crispy potato, and red onion; grilled octopus with some kind of almond romesco, and yuzu flavored yoghurt; for the main course we all had braised perch with baby potatoes, a dill pesto, asparagus and roe butter. Finland now produces some special gin, so Mike and Sami had gin and tonics; I opted for their special Shelter Mojito. It was great to see Sami (we last saw him in NY about 4 years ago). He has two grown children who interestingly enough have settled in Seattle! Miko, the son, is fast becoming a music business entrepreneur and is setting up some kind of city music festival in August. Sammi’s daughter Kia is working for the Pacific Science Center. We will definitely connect with them when we are next in Seattle in June. On Monday, we are scheduled to visit Sami’s dad, Tapani who is in an assisted living center, suffering from dementia. That will be tough. I last saw Tapani about 7 years ago (when I came to see Anne after she had a serious stroke), before Anne passed away. Interestingly, their other son, Tatu who lives in LA and is a photographer, is also here in Helsinki on vacation so we will see him on Monday when we visit Tapani. It continues to be quite a reunion.
OK.. that’s it for me. It’s about midnight and we have a long day tomorrow in Espoo and on to Fiskars Village Biennale.
Fern
From London to Helsinki. 5/31/2019
Greetings.. Well I think I messed up on some of the dates and will try to adjust when I have time. But today is definitely May 31 (here in Finland) and we left London and headed to Helsinki.
Hei Hei..
Dinner last night at Bright, a tiny restaurant that serves a northern Italian-inspired (?) menu, although the owner of the restaurant is a Kiwi (New Zealander) who was also serving tables. The restaurant is fairly new and he was quite humble in describing the dishes and also all the attention the restaurant has received. We started with a simple antipasti and moved on to a range of small plates, a pasta dish – followed by turbot. Good thing there were four of us (Elliott and Lara had made the reservation). Skipped dessert (duh! I think we’ve had enough to last for a month without dessert), as we had booked reservations at the London Cocktail Club in Bethnal Green, where a good friend/roommate of our god-daughter and recent Mount Holyoke graduate (we were at graduation about 10 days ago) is a bartender.
There are about six London Cocktail Clubs (LCC) throughout London. Very hip grunge décor, and a very very long and complicated cocktail list with names like Nuclear Daiquiri, Stone Fruit Sour, and Crack Baby. Lara and I got the Confessions of a Cucumber Salesman, and Mike and Elliott opted for straight up scotch (so boring when there were all these exotic choices with funny descriptions). Nadia was totally surprised to see us as we strolled in and ran from behind the bar to greet us. We chatted (it was a slow night), drank, and talked about what’s next for a philosophy and politics major from Holyoke (after the bartending stint, which I think she sees as a six month reprieve from academics, before heading to either law school or a PhD in Philosophy). So I think bartending is a great experience for either career. Anyway, she’s quite the mixologist which she apparently learned while working at LCC last summer. Nadia’s family is originally from Pakistan, but they live in London.
We left the bar after last call after midnight… and headed by tube back to the hotel to pack – which somehow seemed to take forever (don’t understand since we lightened our load by giving out our gifts to baby Finn). Eventually hit the pillow. This morning we taxied to Paddington and took the Heathrow Express to catch our Finnair flight to Helsinki.
This will be a whirlwind four days with lots of nostalgia and reconnecting with good friends. It’s been five years since our last visit and decades since we lived here. I think we’ve returned to Helsinki about 8 times since living here, maybe 10 times. While each return visit brings back lots of memories, it’s also a totally changing city. Still the Finnish lifestyle and culture remain – a country with high social values, which drive decision making at many levels. And of course a legacy and continuity of aesthetics and phenomenal design. Anyway, we are excited to see what’s new and to retrace old steps. Tonight we have dinner with old friends we met so many years ago.
The flight on Finnair was as to be expected – very organized and they manage to bring Finnish design to the service settings for the meals with Iitala glasses for wine and water, as well as plates and cups, and even the paper napkins are from Marimekko. Ah the Finns!
And of course the airport is just pure understated elegance, with birch wood veneer ceilings and everything in tones of grey (a far cry from the craziness and shopaholic wonder of Heathrow); stores are all beautifully designed and “packaged” into the architecture of the building. Every detail has been thought through. Furniture is all Finnish design and generally designed and built for the uniqueness of the space. In one part of the airport there is a great art piece – curved wood painted as a forest high above the seating, with the sounds of birds in the space. Since the airport is nowhere near as busy as many large city airports, it’s pretty quiet and the sounds of the birds are charming and effective in transforming you into another pla
We checked into the Hotel St. George (a new hotel in ann old building, in the downtown area – just a few blocks from where we lived oh so many years ago… but the neighborhood, once home to puliokis (drunks) is now the “art district” with apartments going for astronomical amounts). It’s just one year old although housed in a building dating back to the 1800s, so it’s our first time here. It’s located directly across the Old Church Park in the heart of city. It formerly housed the Finnish Literature Society, the Helsinki Finnish Club, and some other institutions. They’ve really tried to incorporate a lot of the history and arts into the building’s very very contemporary interior renovation. Included within the building is a good deal of art including a large Ai WeiWei dragon hanging near the entrance. They’ve also incorporated literature into the flow of the building including little cards left under the pillow with quotations from famous authors and philosophers.
The hotel and the room have so many electronic contraptions it’s difficult to figure out how to navigate. The door to the room locks and unlocks electronically; the bathroom has a remote control to let you determine the temperature of the seat which also has a light inside the bowl when the room lights are out; all doors within the hotel open automatically as you walk to them; and I’ve barely begun to investigate..
We had decided to eat at the hotel (Andrea Restaurant) since we were arriving in the evening and it just seemed to be the easiest thing. We were met for dinner at 9 pm by our really close friends, Antti and Heidi who lived in our old neighborhood in Helsinki. Antti is a rather renowned interior architect having designed the President’s Palace, The Opera Hall, among other significant projects; Heidi was in public health and I believe before she retired had been the director of public health or something like that at the national level. It was great to reconnect; it had been 5 years since we were last here and spent time with them. Andrea turned out to be quite wonderful…they say the menu is Anatolian/Nordic !!! We shared many small and larger plates including: horse meat tartare with horseradish shavings, rye crumble, and sorrel; spicy roasted squash with yogurt; sweetbreads; incredible octopus with pomegranate vinegar.. an amazing rhubarb dessert..
But mostly, it was good to talk and find out what’s been happening – how Finland is faring, how their children and grandchildren are doing… and to plan the next four days in what we often refer to as “our second home.” Tomorrow we will explore on our own, visit the neighborhood we lived in, see some new buildings that are getting high reviews internationally, and just stroll. It’s light out until about 10:30 pm and indeed it’s sort of light until midnight.. just days away from the longest day of the year and in Finland that is a spectacular time. Tomorrow is also the “white cap” day – when all the graduates who will be attending university come out of ceremonies wearing their white caps.. Lots of celebrating. We’ll also meet up with another friend for dinner. On Sunday we’ll spend the day at Antti and Heidi’s house in Espoo..
Excited to be here; just wish it was a longer visit. Next time.
Hyvää yötä and also Näkemiin (Good bye and Good night)
Until tomorrow.
Fern
Greetings from London where there are meetings to “prepare material against the ‘Pussy Grabbing One;” this poster announcing a meeting in Brixton, a neighborhood in South London.
A few missing items from the previous day or two, and then some comments about what we’re hearing about “T’s” visit and British and Swiss comments about the recent European elections.
For those who were interested in our meal at Rovi, the new Ottolenghi restaurant, we had: Pickles and fermented vegetables with duck pastrami; Burrata with raw zucchinis, and lime and basil; Tempura stems with a lime leaf vinegar dipping sauce (beyond yummy); An asparagus dish (some kind of butter and jalapeno); Beef carpaccio (melted in your mouth) with Jerusalem artichoke and a dollop of what I think was a very soft goat cheese; Celeriac shawarma; Grill of chicken parts including heart, liver, etc.; And for dessert we had a chocolate fondant that came with chili and I think crème fraiche ice scream, and also tiny rhubarb donuts with vanilla cream.
You asked… so now you know.
Regarding the European elections… people are worried; they were surprised by LePen’s rise, but the Greens were the success story; people want change (ooops where did I hear that one); center left and center right parties lost ground. And people continue to be shocked at Trump – what he stands for; what he’s doing to the country; how little respect US has in the world, today.
So today we strolled through Spitalfield Market. While there has been a market on that site for about 300 years, it has undergone many transformations. The original Victorian buildings and the market hall and roof have been restored and Spitalfields is a popular destination for food, crafts, and restaurants. Apparently in the 1990s there was some kind of dispute between the City of London Corporation (owners) and local residents about the redevelopment of the 80 year old; the city won, and now a large office block surrounds that side of the site. And then headed to meet Emma and Hem and Finn at a ne restaurant called Oklava, which I highly recommend.. Very tiny. Probably only fits about 30 people inside, but they have outside stools that meet up with the windows and people are eating there as well and being served from the inside window. Today was a beautiful day so the restaurant was hopping – inside and out.
It’s Turkish and like all of these new places it’s small plates and sharing.. After a rather strong Turkish Bloody Mary, we moved on to the serious task of eating (Hope I remember):
- Spiced bread with Mejdool date butter (disappeared at our table in seconds)
- Buttered Pide (sort of a flatbread), with runny egg, ricotta, some greens, and fresh peas
- Chili Roast Cauliflower, with red onion, parsley and I think pistachios
- Aubergine with cooked tomatoes and peppers, and spices.,.
- Kebab with lamb, lemon, and some other things
- Chicken thighs in spices
- Topped off with some obscenely amazing dessert…
Following that meal and staring at the baby, a lot, we strolled back to the hotel. Dinner tonight (Oh No… more food,..) is at Bright near Broadway Market. We bid farewell to Emma, Hem, and Finn and head to Finland to see friends in Helsinki tomorrow.. We return to the states on Wednesday.
Une journée à Paris — May 29, 2019
Bonsoir et Good Evening
Got started very early to take tube to London’s St. Pancras Station and Eurostar through the Chunnel to Paris. Arrived in Paris at Gare du Nord station at about 1:00 pm (including time change between London and Paris) and returned to London on the 9:15 pm train tonight. Probably equal time traveling as actually being in Paris. But we really weren’t going to Paris for the city (much as I love Paris); we were headed to visit with old friends.
We had decided at the last minute to meet up with old friends from graduate school days who have an apartment in the 6th ar (St. Germaine). They actually live on the upper west side of Manhattan and also in Connecticut which I think is probably their official residence. We had lost complete contact for several decades and frankly I didn’t even know what they were up to. When we last saw each other, Dorie was ABD at Columbia University where she was specializing in gerontology. Mike, her husband, was an engineer from Stanford who at the time was rethinking his career and took a try at working for a developer – and that didn’t go well. So last I knew he was with Bell Labs. I think we lost contact because we moved to St. Louis and then to California. Anyway…about three months ago I saw a poster at a gourmet grocery in Oakland announcing a book signing by Dorie Greenspan for her most recent cookbook “Everyday Dorie.” In all these intervening years Dorie had written 14 award winning cookbooks.. many about baking. I laughed because I never knew her to cook anything.
Well I went to the book signing and waited to see if she’d recognize me… and she did. I was in Manhattan about two weeks ago and we met up for dinner and tried to get caught up. They had a son, who’s now married. Mike apparently founded an electronics company and recently sold it. Dorie started baking when she had a child and decided she was good at it and she enjoyed it more than researching her dissertation. She began to write articles about cooking and children’s food and then they went to live in Paris for two years where she worked with Julia Child. She is the NY Times columnist for “On Dessert;” she’s been on The New York Times Bestseller List twice (for “Around My French Table” and for “Baking Chez Moi”). Anyway we felt rekindling the friendship made all sorts of sense – and we have deep history. Indeed we also discovered that we are related — sort of. Dorie’s grandmother’s sister (her great-aunt?) was married to my grandfather (his second marriage after my grandmother died).
So, when in NY (at dinner, naturally), they said they would be at their Paris place late May and their first day there coincided with our next to the last day in London. I said.. “Let’s meet up. We’ll take the Chunnel.” And so we did. It was a good day and lots of fun. We started at their place which is small (one bedroom on the very top floor of a classic building right on Boulevard Saint Germaine practically at the Odeon metro stop. Saw the apartment and their amazing views from two tiny balconies (big enough for a chair—maybe two). They’ve lived – part time — in this neighborhood for more than 20 years and it shows, since they run into all sorts of people they know as we walk.
After a bit we walked for lunch to Le Comptoir du Relais (I had actually had dinner there a few years ago and was most pleased to return); sat outside (weather was perfect unlike London where it has been overcast and chilly since we arrived); lunch lasted about three hours as we talked and caught up. They are truly part of the neighborhood which includes a lot of foodies, restaurants, and wonderful markets. Several times people came up to chat with them and they were clearly known by the shopkeepers at all the stalls in the market (and also by the staff at Le Comptoir – not a bad thing; the previous time I went I waited about nearly two hours for a table). Oh for the foodies – Mike and I shared a fantastic steak tartare, a wonderful aubergine salad, and a squid and chorizo dish. Mike and Dorie also had the squid and they had the asparagus and also foie gras. Everything was accompanied by a very nice red wine. And of course we shared desserts.
We then strolled their neighborhood and stopped at various shops since they wanted to feed us before we caught our return train (but we were way too stuffed to even think about any more food). We continued the conversation back at the apartment and then hustled to the metro to get back to Gare du Nord and on to the train and through the tunnel… And then 2.5 hours later we were back in London at St Pancras station and onto the tube back to Bank St and our hotel. Got some work done on the train, but not as much as I had hoped.
So, now I’ve experienced every class of service on Eurostar. But, frankly for 2.5 hours it really doesn’t matter that much. We wound up on first class on one trip because it was last minute and the train was booked. I took the business class another time; we took premier on the outbound today and coach (standard) on our return tonight. Obviously first and premier are more cushy with a good deal more room between seats; on those classes you also get a meal. When I went first class it was very very early in the morning and I heard the breakfast was great, but I totally slept through it!
Back in our room at the Threadneedles.
Tomorrow is our last full day in London and it’s pretty booked, including meals at two new restaurants in the burgeoning London eating scene.
Cheers –
Fern
PS – Someone asked if Finn was a boy or a girl… Boy!
London: Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Greetings
We began Tuesday back at Ottolenghi Spitalfield to grab a quick breakfast (I opted for the unbelievably wonderful dutch pancakes with raspberries and blackberries and some other goodies like yogurt with orange zest, and Mike went for the strawberry and plum birchermuesli)… accompanied by pear basil fresh juice. The plan had been to meet up with Emma, Elizabeth (Emma’s mom), and Finn at the Serpentine Gallery, located in Kensington Gardens. It’s a really small gallery (perfect for me since many of you know I really don’t like museums). They had a one-woman show of the work of Lucretia Hurtado (Venezuelan, but has been living in California for decades). She’s 98-years-old and this was the first one-person showing of her work. Needless to say it spanned about 70 years during which time she went through many different styles.
During breakfast we got a WhatsApp from Emma saying that Elizabeth wasn’t feeling well and decided to hop on the next plane home to Geneva so as not to spread any germs to the baby. Since the gallery was about an hour from Leyton, requiring taking the tube, Emma felt it was too much (would have been the first time on the tube with the baby). Doing it alone seemed tough. So she suggested we meet up for tea late afternoon somewhere near Liverpool Station as she could take the bus which was much easier and she’d already done that alone. We were also supposed to meet up with our god-daughter at the gallery as well. She also lives in London. Quick shift in plans and we all would meet for tea at 3:30 at the Ace Hotel (ultra hip) in Shoreditch in the restaurant called Hoi Polloi (!!).
But Mike and I decided to head for the Serpentine anyway–which included a long walk through Hyde Park (we are racking up our walking mile at about 6-7 miles per day, per the trusty app on our phones). We stopped briefly in the restaurant addition to the Serpentine – a very chic space designed by Zaha Hadid – which I actually liked a lot.
From there I dragged Mike to one of my favorite little boutiques on Kensington Church Street, where he proceeded to take a little nap while sitting on their couch – they seemed unperturbed. Chatted with the sales folks a bit – all immigrants (Italy, Latvia, Ecuador). Made a small contribution to the British economy and then we headed back by tube to the Ace Hotel for our tea date.
Emma with Finn—who seemed to really like this new environment (trust he might be a little hipster), Lara, Mike, and me. Lots of reconnecting (Lara hadn’t seen Emma in a long time and first time to see the baby). Lara had spent a few weeks one college summer being an au pair for Mike’s nieces (Emma and Julia) when they lived in Copenhagen.
And then we were off to our hotel to get some work done (yes there is always that pesky work issue popping up).
A few hours later we headed to meet Lara and Elliott for dinner at Rovi (near Oxford Circus), a new restaurant and a first for all of us. It was very good. No one particularly liked the interior design, but we came for the food! I’d recommend it. Details in tomorrow’s posting if I can remember.
Tomorrow will be a long and crazy day. We are headed to Paris to meet some old friends from NY for lunch – taking the chunnel both ways in one day; I’ve done it before and it’s fine. It’s a long and interesting story about our friendship. But, they have an apartment in Paris where they live part time, and they just so happened to be arriving in Paris early tomorrow morning. It was the only day we could possible come over to see them, so we decided it could be a plan. We leave on the 9:00 am train and arrive around 1:45 (1 hour time change); we will return on the 9 pm train and arrive back in London around 11 pm. The Eurostar is quite comfortable and I’m planning to get 2.5 hours of uninterrupted work time in each direction. Or so I hope. Mike thinks it’s perfect napping time.
Jusqu’à demain (I think that is the correct term for “until tomorrow”)..
Fern
Quick Trip Across The Pond. 5/27/2019
Greetings from London.
As most of you know our big annual trip is in December (stay tuned for Armenia and Uzbekistan — and maybe Tajikistan and Georgia), but we usually take a short trip to Europe in August. But Mike’s niece Emma had a baby about 8 weeks ago, so we flew to meet the new family member named Finley Sam Weber Patel (Finn for short). Warning, these postings will not be as exotic as previous ones over the past years, but perhaps no less interesting. That said, if you don’t like babies you might want to hold off reading until Friday when we depart London for Helsinki!
Got to London yesterday early afternoon (Sunday). Flight was fine, and I managed to watch at least two movies before digging into some work and serious napping. We’re staying in the “city” — as Londoners call their one-square mile financial center. We’re at the Threadneedle Hotel (where I’ve stayed several times before – older, business, upscale, with a fantastic domed-lobby). The hotel is conveniently located near Shoreditch and Spitalfield, very quiet on weekends when banks and financial institutions are closed, and very “buzzy” during the week. It’s located within a bevy of narrow, winding streets from another era. Took Heathrow Express from the airport to Paddington and then hopped in a cab for the remaining few miles to the hotel.
Was extremely pleased to be able to use the London FastTrack for entering the UK and avoiding all the lines and the customs guys who always complain that I need to have a completely “clean” page in my passport in order to enter UK. (???) But as I reconnected to the world by turning my phone back on prior to leaving customs area, I noticed I had some messages and a missed call from our burglar alarm company about our house in Oakland. It seems the back door alarm had gone off. Called Bay Alarm and they assured me that the police had come to the house and it was now “secure.” Not sure what that means but I took it that “all was well.” Still, no matter what I did I could not re-alarm the house on the phone (as usual). So, we had very good friends go to the house to see what was up; when they got there they called to say that the back door was left open (not so secure!). They entered the house through that open door while they called us and then the alarm got set off. Anyway, disaster averted; neighborhood safer than we realize; open door and apparently no one inside. Friends locked up and we realarmed remotely. So all good on the homefront.
Once settled in, we headed to Leyton where Emma and Hem (and now Finn) live. Easy ride on the Tube (5 stops) and then either a 5-minute bus (#58 or #158), 20 minute walk, or 5 minute taxi. Not seeing any bus, we headed to the taxi stand and took a five minute ride to the house.
Finn is quite adorable as you can see, and clearly the focus of everyone’s attention.
Leyton is an interesting neighborhood to the east.. and the terminus of the Central Line of the Tube. It has a long history, but in World War I a significant number of houses were damaged by zeppelin raids and so it was then built up as an industrial area apparently becoming quite known for neckties and also for the Thermos factory. During World War II it was a target because it was close to the London Docks and the railyard. This was followed by decline, but has benefitted recently from the development of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and a lot of renovated little neighborhoods, parks, and homes. As part of the development of Olympic Park for the 2012 games, shopfronts were restored and the demography also began to change (with Hem and Em part of the new wave of young professionals seeking affordable homes a bit further out from the center city or even East London (where they had lived previously). But it’s a very mixed demographic with a majority of residents being Black, Asian, Indian, Pakistani, or other ethnic minority — with large numbers of immigrants from Africa, Jamaica, Portugal, Ireland, and more – and very recent immigrants from South Africa, Serbia, and Poland.
Originally blue collar. the area is gentrifying and increasing in price. Indeed, Emma said that some friends recently tried to buy in Leyton but it had increased in price significantly since they had moved in, and the friends needed to move further east and north. We were told that in 2015 Vogue said it was becoming a “hot neighborhood.” Fortunately Em and Hem (who are often called by friends : “Hemma”) bought their house just a bit prior to this proclamation.
Many of the streets, including theirs, are comprised of townhouses from the early 1900s (or so I think). After getting acquainted with the new family addition, Mike and I headed out to dinner – thinking we’d go to Dishoon (Indian/Iranian small plates, in Shoreditch), but the line went on forever, and we hadn’t had any sleep yet. So we opted for Albion across the street, where I had been before several years ago. Dinner was fine.. and then we walked back to our hotel, for a good night’s sleep.
On Monday we opted to skip the hotel breakfast and walked to Ottolenghi Spitalfield (about 10 minutes from our hotel) for a great shakshuka breakfast. Then we headed to Hemma’s for a traditional Indian lunch cooked by Hem’s mom and dad. Totally yummy; you needed to roll us out of the house. After visiting a bit more, we all took a leisurely walk to and through the Olympic Park, with a stop for wonderful gelato and on to Stratford Station where we caught the train back to the city. We returned to our room and realized it had been extremely hot with no air circulating. We changed rooms — a pain in the neck but worth the trouble. And then a few hours later we headed out for dinner… gee do we do anything but eat and baby stare? Since it was a night where the following morning would be a work day, and it was almost 10pm, we figured we could get into Dishoom… Indian again, but perhaps we were inspired by the lunch. Great drinks and some lamb biryani, chicken tikka, some side dishes.. and we were in heaven.
OK.. Tuesday we will actually do more than eat and baby gawk — will tell more.
All the best,
Fern
Lost luggage; Rain; and Still Brussels Shines! 1/5/2019
Saturday Evening. Brussels
So, the luggage has not been located and the likelihood that it will be found is getting slimmer. They said that if it’s not located within 48 hours of our landing (It’s now about 36 hours), then it will be considered totally lost. We’re trying to be hopeful, but I think now that I understand how this luggage tracking works, it’s highly unlikely. Essentially, what we know is that we got a baggage claim check in Dar es Salaam and we saw it go on a conveyor belt (even had one of those very impressive VIP tags that the desk put on when we handed them the bag). But it was never “scanned into the system” as having been put onto a plane and definitely not onto any SwissAir flight. So it seems as if it’s either still at the Dar es Salaam Airport or its somewhere on the streets of Dar (probably being sold on the street to the highest bidder.)
Frankly, when someone opens up the bag they will be mostly disappointed – yes, they will find American clothing (lots of REI stuff), shoes, etc. – but they will also find lots of purchases of wonderful crafts made by different NGOs in each of the countries we visited. Don’t think that will be so appealing if it’s found in Africa. If they dig far enough and open lots of zippers they might find some American money and they will also find keys to our house and to Mike’s car and to his office… so if that person makes a trip to Oakland they will be able to find a nice place to stay!
Anyway, our two days here in Brussels have been great, despite the sadness over losing all of the physical reminders of the trip and the constant rain (drizzle and mist).
We arrived in Brussels at 9 am on Friday morning after having flown through the night and changed planes at 6 am in Zurich. Took about an hour to deal with the lost bag, and then we headed to the hotel: Le Dixseptiembre – a small place very well located. Mike immediately went to sleep and I showered and walked to the MIMA (Museum of Iconoclastic Modern Art), which focuses on graffiti and graphics. They had a show of protest graphics of the 60s and 70s, which turned out to be predominantly American posters – anti-war, ant-nuke, environment, etc. And although 1968 was a tumultuous year around the globe, most of the imagery was American. The walk to and from the museum (which is across a canal and in a neighborhood that is clearly gentrifying and filled with artist spaces) provided a good cross section of the city.
I met up with Mike at the central square in front of the Grand Palace and we strolled around, with the air wafting of Belgian waffles. There were tons of people – visitors and locals – strolling around in spite of the constant drizzle and mist. It was about 40 degrees.
Then we headed to Le Petits Oignons for a great dinner: snails with mushrooms and tarragon and other spices; Linguini with mullet botargo (roe) and organic lemon; steak tartare with pommes frites; and for dessert – panna cotta with fruit. We strolled back to the hotel and collapsed (but did turn on CNN to get a sense of what we are returning to).
Today we headed to a neighborhood about 3 miles from the hotel (walked) to the Saint Gilles area which is known for having a good many art nouveau buildings. First however we headed to a tiny little restaurant called L’Espicier.. It seats about 22 people and only serves lunch and it is just one meal, no choices. The woman who owns it, does the shopping at the market each day and decides what to cook, does all the cooking, serves the food, and cleans up..
The restaurant is only open from 11:30 to 2:30… We walked past it twice without noticing it, even though we were headed there and trying to find it. It’s about as simpler a place as you can find; used old wood tables; mismatched silverware; mismatched chairs. Food was fantastic.. simple French country home cooking.. all in one dish. Today it was some kind of pork sitting with potatoes and other vegetables. We had a nice red wine and for dessert there was a choice – chocolate cake or crepes; we tried both.
From there we strolled to an amazing shop called Le Typographie – where they have a workshop that does graphics and letterpress, and in the front they have a little shop that sells an amazing assortment of paper goods (some writing papers that they have letterpressed), and tools needed for writing; beautifully displayed, including a wall of the trays used to keep the old wooden letters for printing. And then we walked around the neighborhood to see the art nouveau facades, and finally wound up at the Horta Museum, located in the house that Victor Horta designed and lived in for his adult life. As one of the earliest initiators of Art Nouveau, the house is a remarkable example of the detail and craftsmanship of the era, as well as art nouveau’s respect for shape derived from natural forms. But more, the building uses light in amazing ways. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed and you even need to surrender your iphone before walking through the house.
We started to walk back to the hotel, but the rain got worse so we jumped into a taxi and headed to the Magritte Museum, which is actually a building that houses three separate and distinct museums. We opted to just see the Magritte part. They have a wonderful collection of pieces I had never seen, as well as some of the familiar paintings. Best of all, they had several of Magritte’s “films” – all of which were hysterically funny.
We then walked back to the hotel in the rain (because it was really too close to take a taxi –only 8 minute walk. And then after calling SwissAir a few times in the hope of getting more information about the lost bag (without success) and headed to a restaurant we had read about called De Maurice a Olivier, which has a Michelin star. It was a 15-minute drive. When we got there, we thought the driver made a mistake since he pulled up in front of a somewhat trashy magazine store that sold all sorts of magazines and also candy, but the sign said “Librairie — Restaurant.” We peeked in and thought it was a mistake since all we could see were the magazines. But it was too late, the taxi was gone. So we walked in and lo and behold, behind the front section of the “magazine/candy store” is a wonderful French restaurant (so French that no one spoke any English). The meal was served beautifully and the food was fantastic.
I had some kind of ratatouille with escargot, followed by amazingly tender rare duck served with cooked and peeled pear, some vegetables and a shot glass of mushroom soup. Before the meal began, they brought out a selection of all sorts of tiny treats including a shot glass of cucumber soup, something avocado-y, two wonderful cherry tomatoes in a great olive oil and vinegar, and about five other morsels. We ended with flaming crème brulee. A great surprise meal.
Now I’m signing off for good — packing and sleeping take priority. We leave early in the morning… homeward bound. See you all in the Bay Area. We land around 11 pm tomorrow night (Sunday); can’t believe I’ll be at the office on Monday morning.
All the best –
Fern
1/3-1/4/2019. Final Day in East Africa; easy departure from Dar; rocky arrival in Brussels
Nzuri .. Hadi wakati ujao .. katika Afrika… Goodbye… Until next time.. in Africa
Our final day in East Africa – Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to be specific.
Packed up our stuff and headed to Slipway – a somewhat upscale area on the coast about 15 miles north of the center of Dar. Along the way, you pass very large houses, mansion-like buildings; many under construction. The taxi driver said “this is where rich people live because they think these houses and this area is very safe.” When prodded a bit more he said that the people who live in these very very large new houses are the CEOs of big companies that have headquarters in Dar. He added that all of these people are White. Despite the fact that we were driving slowly and that we had been on this road before, we never saw any people outside these houses. Perhaps they stay inside to take advantage of their air conditioning. It is really hot in Tanzania. If we return, I think we’d go to Arusha which has a much more temperate climate and is at a higher altitude as it is the gateway to Serenghetti.
We had a barbecue lunch and did a bit of shopping. Given the heat, even Mike was open to some shopping since many, but not all, of the stores are air conditioned, or at least have fans. Back to the hotel to do the final packing and head for dinner, and then straight to the airport … our flight is around midnight – Dar to Zurich; Zurich to Brussels where we will stay for two nights and then Brussels to D.C. and D.C. to SFO. Still a ways to go.
No fail, whenever we get this close to the end of a trip I’m really just antsy to get back and my head is now totally spinning with everything I need to do once I return – both personal and work.. But mostly my head is circling around work tasks.
Wanted to go once again to Addis in Dar (still haven’t been there), but they decided to close for one extra day (!!) so we tried a few other restaurants and many were closed as well – long holiday. We went to a place called Ten 0 Six which sounded good, but when we got there (although the Internet said it opened at 6, the sign said it opens at 10 pm). So we just went to a nearby place that was a combo Thai, Japanese, Korean – pretty bad. Then we headed to the Dar Airport (Nayere Airport, officially). Aside from having go through the now-usual four security checks, photos, and Mike got fingerprinted – all 10 fingers – it was pretty smooth. We checked each of our rollies (the ones we usually carry on), and kept each of our computer bags and a shoulder bag that had a lot of odds and ends. I packed with amazing precision (I’m really a pro, even if I have to say so myself). I had separated nearly all of the stuff we purchased into one of the checked bags (Mike’s) and the clothes were all in my bag. That way, once we got to Brussels we didn’t really have to even open Mike’s bag.
We were traveling business class, so we went to the VIP lounge – places to sit and a bar. And then we boarded the Swiss Air flight from Dar to Zurich and transferred to Brussels. All was good. When we landed in both Zurich and Brussels it was the usual shock of arriving in a first world country after being in a developing country for several weeks. The shock of commercialism, glitzy stores, and the gleaming glass and metal structures with vast spaces was just so different from our departure airport. Lots and lots of stores and restaurants. Brussels Airport is large and goes on for quite a while. We made it up and down several escalators (a contraption we hadn’t seen in weeks) and went to get the two checked bags.
OK.. You probably already guessed it. My bag arrived and Mike’s didn’t – the one with all the gifts and memorabilia, along with some small gear and other stuff. We waited and waited and finally realized the bag really hadn’t come. We had been joking about this as we waited – since checking bags is not our usual mode. But when they announced that all bags from the Zurich to Brussels flight had been unloaded, we realized the joke was on us. Found the Lost Baggage counter (where there was actually a line of about 15 people, but not sure which flights they had been on). Made it to the person with whom you have to describe the bag, etc. She found it in the computer system as having been checked in Dar, but her computer didn’t give any more information than that. It never got scanned in Zurich or in Brussels, according to the system. So, now we wait for a phone call or email telling us the disposition of the bag. She said that if we didn’t get any news by the time we left Brussels (Sunday morning) we need to come to the desk with a list of the contents of the bag. Not sure whether to hold out much hope.
My guess is that either it never left Dar (and is sitting there somewhere) or it got onto another plane in Dar (there was one headed to Amsterdam around the same time), or it got lost in Zurich (the most hopeful of the possibilities). I was forced to check a bag in Rome one year en route to London and the bag didn’t show up. It was delivered to my hotel in London about 36 hours later. And one time I had to check my bag on a very small plane headed to SFO and it was not there when I arrived – but it showed up about 45 minutes later. So much for all these rules that the bags and the passengers cannot be separated on a plane.
Keep your fingers crossed.
Anyway, we are in Brussels.. It’s 11 am… We’ve been traveling since 10 pm last night (and a two hour time change). Mike hit the bed in record time. I’m headed out to walk the streets of Brussels – haven’t been here in ages… and so much has changed, from what I saw from the taxi. And there is a Christmas market that is still running.. so I’m off to check it out.
All the best – Fern
Farewell Zanzibar; Hello again, Dar es Salaam. 1/2/2019
After breakfast we walked to the Slave Market Exhibit located at the Anglican Church in Zanzibar, which is actually built atop the original slave quarters. Probably would have been best to view all of this on the first day to put our walks and what we were seeing into greater context… but somehow we didn’t do that.
It’s a pretty dark history with Zanzibar being the region’s main slave-trading port and one of the last slave markets in the world to close. Here enslaved men and women were confined in dark, virtually airless, underground chambers before being sold to do hard work on the Island’s clove plantations or being sold and transported to distant locations – mostly by Arabs. The exhibit is not just a history (extremely well put together, by the way), but also a real reminder of the atrocities that people were subjected to. And the exhibit doesn’t let us forget contemporary slavery – defined as bonded labor, forced labor, child slavery, forced marriage, and descent-based slavery. Indeed the exhibit also reminds us that “Products made by modern day slaves flow into the global supply chain and eventually into our homes, leaving most of us unaware of our contribution to supporting it.”
The exhibit ends with a graphic map of the world showing that 61% of those living in modern day slavery are in 5 countries: India, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Russia. But the majority of the exhibit traces the history of African slaves with Zanzibar as the hum for trading and buying slaves. It’s clear from the exhibit and the strong text that in the 1850s Zanzibar was filled with slaves — some in transit to other locations and others brought to Zanzibar to work in plantations, including in the labor-intensive clove plantations (which had become a major product and economic driver for the country). But slave trading was the major economic driver.
Some female slaves were brought in from other continents to be part of the harems of various sultans. White and Middle Eastern slaves were among the most prized. Two thirds of the population of Zanzibar was comprised of slaves. It was so much a part of the society that slaves who earned wages actually bought slaves themselves or invested in the slave industry.
One quote in the exhibit is interesting: ‘A woman came into the court and accused a man of having unjustly enslaved her. Evidence was produced and the woman liberated. The man was fined 40 rupees and 20 rupees were handed to the woman as compensation. She was asked shortly afterwards what she was going to do with the 20 rupees. She at once answered; I will buy a slave with it’
Underneath the hostel is the old slave chambers. The two underground rooms were used to keep slaves before being taken to the market for auction. There was only one small window at the end of the chamber.
The slave trade industry was abolished in 1873 but slavery as an institution continued in Zanzibar until 1909. And in reality, master/slave relations and clandestine kidnappings continued at least 2 decades beyond that.
Outside, there is a monument to the slaves who had been sold on the site. It shows five slaves – men, women, young, old — chained inside a pit. They look worn down, but maybe also somewhat uncooperative.
From there we walked to the Lukmaan Restaurant – a local Swahili place that seems to attract everyone from Zanzibaran workers to upscale Muslims to a handful of tourists. It’s a complicated set up… You sort of stroll around the “display” of foods and then tell someone what you want and how much and someone scoops it into bowls and then you try to find a table (not such an easy task). The cooking part seems to be “inside” and the eating is “outside but covered over. We had chicken in some kind of curry-like sauce and some kind of mixed vegetables in a spicy tomato sauce.. maybe a little like spicy ratatouille… Nothing alcoholic is sold.
From there we meandered our way back to the hotel to get our bags and head to the ferry. By now we sort of know our way around the immediate area of the hotel, but it seems as if we never take the same alleyway twice, so it’s hard to be sure you’re going in the right direction.
Checked out of the hotel and headed to the ferry, which once again was a bit of a challenge. Given our experience four days ago with the “cage” for luggage, we were determined to keep our bags with us on the ferry. But our two bags (one bag and one computer bag) were heavy and you have to climb a winding flight of stairs to get to the upper deck. Once again, we had been advised to get “first class” tickets which made sense (assigned seats, air conditioned place to wait for the ferry to board, and first to board the boat). So, when we got to the “first class lounge” (a pretty basic room), we talked with one of the guys who worked there and he agreed to bring our bags upstairs (good tip involved!) We were surprised that we were the only non-Africans in first class. I think that many of the Europeans who visit Zanzibar fly, so not too many non-Africans use the ferry. The crossing was a little rough (definitely much rougher than coming in the other direction). But the two hours went quickly, especially for Mike who was able to see (but not hear) the movie they were showing (Charlie Chaplin). I did some work.
The arrival in Dar was a little easier now that we had experienced it once already. We quickly located a somewhat legitimate taxi and headed back to the Serena where we had left our other bag. We were super-impressed when everyone from the doorman to the reception desk to the concierge remembered us by name (good training). Settled in quickly and headed to dinner on the coast at Karembezi. It was fine, not great. Still hoping to go to Addis (the supposed super good Ethiopian restaurant that has been closed for the holidays. We think it opens tomorrow so we might make it — on the way to the airport.
That’s it. We now have TV again (no TV in Zanzibar), so we are catching up on whatever has been going on (or not going on) beyond what we could see on our phones and computers.
We have all day in Dar tomorrow; our flight is at 11:30 pm; we arrive in Brussels the next morning at 9 am.
Best –
Fern
Fern's Travel Notes 