#112 - Ia Orana / Bienvenue / Maeva - Island hopping!

Previously I mentioned that I had been invited to a wedding in Tahiti.  Been there, done that, and now I am recovering from jetlag and a very busy week.

A whole new meaning to being laid back

Had several moments of entertainment when I arrived in Auckland (no direct flights to Papeete, unfortunately) and I had to find my connecting gate.  It wasn't up yet and it took a little while for the status of the board to sink in.



I don't think we're in Kansas any more, Toto
I arrived in Papeete almost completely incoherent from sleep deprivation and jetlag - sleep deprivation from 2 nights of waking up around 3:30am preceding my departure and jetlag Tahiti is 4 hours earlier the day before.

Arrived on the first night in Tahiti just in time to check into the hotel, have a quick dinner and fall into bed after emailing very important people (parents, friends, etc to let them know I got in safely).  There was a show going on at the hotel when I arrived but it felt like the actual travelling had taken days so I chickened out and went to bed instead of back to the lobby.  (View from my room.)  Too bad I was only going to be there for one night but I enjoyed it for the 90 minutes before I passed out.  

I had no idea when the ferries were for Moorea on Thursday but after speaking to the front desk when I checked in, I set a wake up call for 9am local time.  Or was it 7am?  Regardless, I remember picking up the phone and hearing it speak French before I hung up on the wake up call.  The next time I jerked up in bed was sometime around...10am.  Or a little after, it's a little hard to remember.  This was the morning view from my little lanai.  And what I initially thought was "Vahine Tahitienne" but actually "Vanille Tahitienne".

There was a mad scramble to reorganize my bags, re-pack and get to the lobby to book the ferry and taxis on both islands and then a quick peek to see what the hotel actually looked like.  So - a quick peek at the lobby view.  Wow.  I'm not sure there are sufficient words in my tired brain to describe what this was, but the water was an unbelievably blue-y / green-y / turquoise -y (insert a variation of blue or green here) and there were bungalows over them.  But I was actually on a mission:  the vanilla beans.

Scents to make anyone with a sweet tooth drool (or anyone who likes patisserie)
French vanilla is, apparently, the best vanilla in the world.  When I was at Le Cordon Bleu in London, I remember the chefs rhapsodizing over it (I have a feeling it was Chef Nicholas because his is the face I see in my mind when I think of French vanilla).  I had 15 minutes to saunter back to just outside my former room, get a lesson in vanilla and maybe, just maybe, purchase a few beans.  There was no waiting until next week because this was only on for 2 days and the next day was the last day.

You could smell the beans drying in the sun.  I had a quick run through around the entire little exhibit (so sorry I missed the coffee, I heard one of the people tell someone else that it was "exceptionnel" (I have no idea how to spell that in French).  I have no idea what this man on the right is doing.  Nor the woman, actually.  These beans have been in the drying / fermentation stage for about 2 months, with another 2 months to go before they are ready (for sale?).

After they have been in the sun for about 1 - 2 hours (on a day like this) the beans are wrapped up in the fabric and put into a cooler like this.  Jean (the very nice man who was explaining to me very slowly in French because he didn't speak English and my French is no longer very good) said that this is part of the process and the insulation of the cooler keeps in the heat of the beans.  They also give off some heat (I'm not sure if it's retained from being in the sun or because of the fermentation process) but if you stick your nose by the cooler, you can actually smell vanilla and fermentation.  And see the condensation and some flecks of vanilla on the lid.  (Of course I stuck my nose in there - wouldn't you, if you had the chance???)

Then there was the covered tent where people were grading the vanilla (left).  I'm not sure if you can actually see what the writing is on the grading stick (right) - I can't see it and I no longer remember (no coffee, jet lag and different time zone - I'm allowed not to remember).  But the end result is that you have piles of vanilla beans which are roughly the same length.

Yes, size does matter
So the grades of vanilla were:  Extra, Grade 1 and Grade 2.  Extra (bottom, closes to my hand) is premium - the longest, best quality (oily, plump, etc. etc.) and is about XPF 25,000 per kilo (approximately USD$275) give or take.  Grade 1 is a bit smaller.  Grade 2 is for all the broken or otherwise unacceptable pods - they get made into things like vanilla sugar or possibly paste or extract (I've forgotten some other important things).  Anyway, there was very little time and I had some shopping to do.  Unfortunately I left my credit card with the front desk so I had to use cash - all well and good but since access to ATMs are limited on Mo`orea, this definitely limits my shopping if I want to keep enough cash on hand for tips and taxis.  (Apparently the ATM doesn't always work!)

Given Australia's strict quarantine laws, I had to ask.  And they answered - hence the yellow sticker which will let me take my vanilla into Sydney and not have it confiscated.  There are smaller beans on sale at the deli downstairs - AUD$7 per vanilla bean.  How could I possibly pass up an opportunity like this when you can store them for several years (depending on correct storage) and I got them (almost) from the source?  500g (1 lb) of vanilla beans later, I had to run for my taxi.  They smelled so good the other passengers forgave me for making them wait for half a minute.

Goodbye, Faa`a, see you next week!
Like I said, very much like home.  Similar cliffs / mountains.

Similar views of people in outrigger canoes (although we don't use them as much for transportation anymore, I don't think).

 Similar views of the canoes on the beach, ready to go.

Approach to Cloud and Mist Shrouded Moorea

It was very nice to arrive at the hotel and be greeted with a cool scented towel and fresh juice while they got the paperwork together for check-in.




Not all my ideas are good ones...
You know how sometimes you think that you won't bring something because you can buy it at the other end?  That depends on how much it's worth to you.  There aren't any shops near my hotel so I went to get some sunscreen.  The most expensive sunscreen I have ever seen...this one is approximately $36 (USD or AUD, take your pick).  It's also too big to take home - the whole reason I didn't pack my own was because I didn't check any bags.

Only in Tahiti (also known as playing tourist to the hilt)
I had one full day before the wedding festivities started so I had to pack in as much as I could.  The choices landed on things I wouldn't do at home or couldn't do.  It began with an excursion to feed the rays and see some sharks.  The pictures showed shallow water and no sharks so despite my trepidation, I went.  Well, the water was actually chest deep - deep enough for the sharks to cruise around.  Holy crap - and yet, eventually I calmed down enough not to completely freak out every time something brushed against my leg.  Like a giant ray.  Or in one case, a toddler's leg (his mom was carrying him).  Luckily I wasn't the only one who screamed when something unexpectedly came up to us in the water and it was cold enough that no one stayed in for very long.  Tanemanu (pronounced Ta-neh-ma-nu) said that normally people stay in the water about 40 minutes but it's their winter and it was windy so we all got out relatively quickly.

Poisson cru
The next stop was a motu (small island) where we could go snorkelling.  It seems each hotel seems to have a small island assigned to it or maybe they own it.  In any case, they are private and you can't go on them unless you are a guest at a hotel.  There were drinks and fruit set out for morning snack and for those who booked a lunch package, preparations were underway for lunch and some traditional cooking / food demonstrations.  Basic ingredients:  white tuna (hamachi / yellowfin?) cucumber, carrot, onion, salt and coconut milk.

Hina and Lokahi
The afternoon was spent with some dolphins.  No one else had signed up for my session so I actually got to spend time with them on my own, including several rides.  Initial meet 'n greet was with Hina (their Goddess of the Moon), then several rides on Lokahi.  Of course the wardrobe malfunction occurred while he zipped through the water - several major adjustments later, I got to have another couple of rides.  Completely exhilarating and here we are, saying "nana" which is "goodbye".

Being in the cold water and all the swimming absolutely wiped me out.  I ended up ordering dinner in my room and getting ready for bed when -

In which music makes the world go around - also known as What a wonderful (small) world!

Then the highlight of my evening - I was actually all set to go to bed but I heard music from the lobby.  There was that moment of indecision when the bed with its crisp sheets beckoned but the distant melodies prompted the question, "will I wish I had gone when I wake up in the morning?"  So I changed out of my pyjamas and wandered back to the lobby bar where Woody and Frankie were rocking out their songs.  They saw me filming them on my camera and we got to chatting - Woody is a local boy.  That is, he's a local boy from Kailua.

Music truly does make the world go 'round - and as I mentioned that their music sounded a bit like home (small wonder, given Woody's Kailua roots), they then proceeded to play a couple of Hawaiian songs.

Checking out / checking in

The religious portion of the wedding was in accordance with the more traditional ceremony which apparently only became recognized as valid a few years ago.  The civil ceremony was on Tahiti but I missed it as I had to check out of my hotel and check into the one where I would be staying for the next 3 nights.  I got there early so had time for some breakfast while the hotel got the villa ready.  And of course, it was a beautiful day with a spectacular view for the wedding.

And the main event

I did manage to get the behind-the-scenes preparation for the wedding as the flowers and decorations arrived while I was checking in.  They rocked up in a pickup truck and piles of greenery was transported into the lobby area.

I also saw what looked like haku lei in someone's hand, disappearing around the corner so I snuck around to take photos.  All the smells were so familiar that I could almost believe I was home.  The biggest difference, of course, was the language.  My French is no longer fluent so there was a lot of "um"ing on my part while I looked for words.  They were very nice and patient about it though, unlike some of the Parisians who pretend they don't understand you.

There was the ceremony which was in Tahitian and French.  They tied the plant bracelets on the bridal couple and after all vows had been spoken they were wrapped in a tapa (traditional patterned and dyed fabric made from pounded bark).  Then a blessing and congratulations followed by dancing by Tahitian dancers during cocktails and photos.

Cocktails and canapes:

And dancers danced

The reception was at the hotel's restaurant down the hill, going on into the wee hours of the morning.  I think the last of us to leave got to sleep around 3am - and then we had to wake up because there was a Maa'a Tahiti (a traditional meal) by the beach.

Maa'a Tahiti
Preparing Poisson Cru

              Porc a chou                       Poulet fafa

             Tuna heads                         My plate (2nds...)

 Then more music and dancing...

My last day on Mo`orea was spent on a motu - across from the one I had been to with the Intercontinental.  It was too cold to get in the water - yes, I'm a wuss - but it was still a beautiful day. We all continued to get to know each other better as there were people who had come from quite a few different places.  Luckily almost everyone spoke really good English since my French was still very limited.

Leaving Tahiti
My last night was in Papeete as my flight back home left at 7:30am and there was no ferry back from Mo`orea in time to make the flight.  There was an extremely rough crossing between the islands - only 30 minutes but enough to make me not want to eat until the day was mostly over.

I went to the big markets but unfortunately the shopping wasn't really exciting - it was too much like all the touristy things we see at various tourist shops in Honolulu.  I actually liked the market part much better - the butchers, the fishmongers, the fruits, vegetables and stands which would juice / squeeze fresh coconuts.  Souvenir shopping I did in stores because my ATM card didn't work in the Tahitian banks, which limited options somewhat.  There was a lesson in how to tell good pearls (colors and thing) although I'm not sure if I could tell for anything other than Tahitian pearls and a visit to the Pearl History museum.

Late lunch at the hotel's restaurant (the not-fancy one) - good drink, good bread, BAD food - bad enough that they took it off my bill after the chef and the restaurant manager checked.  (Chicken fafa was cold, then still not hot when rewarmed in the microwave - I saw the chef - the chicken was so gristly that I had a pile of cartilage at the side of my plate and the taro / plantains / something whose name I don't know were hard enough to injure someone if you hit them with them - and yes, I was speaking French.)

Eventually recovered from being seasick so I met a friend I made on the plane for a drink and dinner.  We went to the hotel's Lotus Restaurant which was absolutely stunning - it was over the water and lit so you could see how clear it was.  And of course the food was amazing - I was sorry I didn't have my phone to take photos and unfortunately I don't think I can recreate it without a lot of work.

The light in Tahiti was amazing - hence so many landscape shots but it seemed that the view would change within a matter of 5 minutes or so.  This is the view from the hotel lobby as I was checking out and waiting for the taxi to the airport.  I got to try the coffee which was indeed "exceptionnel".

No troubles through Australian customs - the man laughed at me when I told him I bought Tahitian vanilla and waved me through.  Much faster than having nothing to declare!

Until next time, may you share memorable and happy moments with your friends and loved ones.

#94 - Life continues after LCB

After we all received our pass confirmations, it was time for a few well deserved drinks.  It was a warm March day so we all gathered in the courtyard outside the LCB Cafe.  There's a pub there so they provided us with drinks (and me with food) - there's a student discount, which was a bit of a bonus for our very last day as students.


We gathered for the last time - the others would see each other at graduation but I was due to get on a plane the following morning so this was our last chance to say hello.  Several of us also had quite a bit of packing up to do and limited luggage space in which to do it.  One of the things about missing graduation is that I wouldn't get to wear the chef's hat or get the medals from the chefs.  CB, one of the very nice people in LCB administration went upstairs to get my medals because they weren't going to be included with my diplomas which would arrive by post.  I carefully wrapped up the hard-won pieces of metal and packed them in my bag.  Then I had several rounds of repacking, with the result that it took me a couple of days and virtually unpacking everything when I got home to find them again (carefully tucked away in a plastic container).  My sister and my parents requested that I wear them while cooking - all I could think of was the universal horrified look which would cross one of the chef's face at such a suggestion...


Life after LCB...
The last couple of weeks since I got home have been pretty busy.  I'm not sure how, since I'm theoretically on vacation...some of it, of course, has been spent cooking for family and friends.  There's a certain expectation when you come home and you (theoretically) have been trained how to cook, that you will cook for people.


The difficulty is learning to differentiate between cooking / playing time and a cooking / time sensitive time.  That is to say, teaching that difference to well meaning friends and family.  It's sweet people want to participate but as one of my brothers told me, they don't (so he claims) know what they're doing and it's all about fun.  Which is fine, as long as their fun time isn't my time sensitive time because then it just stops being fun for everyone.  (Let's just say that trying to grill stuff on a grill which needs to be fired up and trying to make a theatre time is not the stuff of relaxing and fun dinner preparation.  Neither is fancy plating.)


A simple lunch turned out to be quite a large one.  What was meant to be lunch for 4 somehow rapidly expanded to 6, then 9...an example below of our simple lunch - grilled fresh mahimahi, grilled lemongrass/keffir lime/ garlic shrimp, salad with vinaigrette and grilled veggies.  My brother had been dying for fresh fish and as we had a pescatarian, this was friendly for all.  I still have dreams about cooking, but I'm hoping those dreams will get fewer and further in between.  It's no fun when the dishes are imperfect even in dreams - surely that must say something?


You say potato, I say potahto...
There's a place called Diamond Head Market and Grill here.  Several people are completely in love with their blueberry scones.  I have a slightly difficult time with this because the scones I'm used to (Australian/English influence) have always been circular ones which slightly resemble the biscuits of the American Southern cooking:  slightly crisp-ish on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside.  The scones I've had in the US usually resemble...triangular heavy dough things which could take out an eye, so I was doubtful about the blueberry scones.


I was immediately suspicious when I saw these large things because they were so shiny - yup, coated with some sort of sugary thing.  But actually quite delicious.  They put cream cheese in the batter so that gives it extra moisture and it's nice and kind of oozy and gooey when fresh out of the oven (first thing in the morning will do that).  I'm not a huge lover of sweets but I have to say that the next time I have a sweet craving, I might just head over and get one of these.  Perhaps tomorrow morning, if I get up early enough to eat one before ballet class - have to have enough time to digest it so that turning doesn't make you want to hurl.  That's not so elegant - not to mention it's a dead giveaway to the teacher that you haven't been spotting.  For more on spotting, I suggest you watch an episode of Gilmore Girls (the one where Rory is getting ready for her debut with the Daughters of the American Revolution).


Several evenings...with Schroeder and friends
It has been a music filled week leading up to Easter.  There was a wonderful concert last week - the soloist was Something Wolfram or Wolfram Something (from NY?  I don't have the program anymore or I would be able to tell you) and he played Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto.  He was this tall, imposing fellow who was so tall they had to lower his piano bench so that he could fit his legs under the piano.  It reminded me of Schroeder from the Peanuts comics - Wolfram's knees weren't quite up to his ears, but they weren't far off.


The newly reconstituted Hawaii Symphony Orchestra then played Dvorak's New World Symphony.  One of the oboists (coincidentally she's also the English horn) is staying with us so we got a little preview while she practiced - anyway, wow!  I asked later - she and the bassoon had discussed the blend of their sound and it sounded wonderful at the concert.


Later on in the week, we went back for another concert:  Russian Easter Overture (Rimsky Korsakov), the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and Tchaikowsky's 5th Symphony.  I forgot how long the symphony was and I kept nodding off in the last movement.  Oh, the whiplash!  Still, an enjoyable night and sweet lullabies...


Easter
The end of this trip is drawing to a close, marked by my first Easter at home in over 10 years.  It was a beautifully (mostly) sunny Sunday.  We started with Easter breakfast by the water.  It was supposed to be brunch but they did a couple of seatings and we left the arrangements sufficiently late that the only table we could get was at 9am.  Slight rate of attrition due to the early hour, but I like to think we acquitted ourselves well.  After the first couple of rounds to warm up (coffee, water, coffee, omelette, bacon, fried rice, coffee, some kind of BBQ chicken) the non-vegetarians went for the meats.  I headed for the prime rib (how could you not?  It's not something you would be cooking at home for breakfast - or at least, not something I would cook at home because you'd have to be up at the crack of dawn to do it), more rice and more bacon.  Bacon makes everything better...


Eventually defeated by the limited capacity of our bodies (stretched to their absolute limits) we headed for the water after applying copious amounts of sunscreen.  Yes, you can get into a swimsuit and get in the water, but to describe what we did as "swimming" would be like saying...actually, I'm in too much of a food coma to come up with a suitable simile.  More accurately, I think you could say we dipped ourselves - just enough to cool off.  I was going to do some reading this afternoon but fell asleep instead - and woke up just in time to make it to Easter dinner (another buffet!  Thank goodness I'm going back to Sydney and cooking for one) where I'm sure I stretched my capacity for food intake once again.  I don't really cook when it's just me so I took the opportunity of having quite a large supply of guinea pigs at home.


Now it's time for a second attempt to read about transferring proceedings from one court to another and the biggest challenge of all:  staying awake long enough to process it so that I can remember it tomorrow.  Finding the time to get caught up on readings has proved to be quite a challenge between all the things I have to do (unpack, repack, etc. etc.), the cooking and the resting.  I've been sleeping a lot since I got back - I think the stress of finals still hasn't fully worn off - I seem to remember not sleeping more than 6 hours or so on a given night during March and there's still a little bit of jetlag although that finally seems to be abating.


So until next time, happy Easter/Pesach and happy eating!

#68 - In which I get to walk through history...

English Countryside


The day after (not) graduation started relatively early.  I say relatively because I had taken to sleeping in as my schedule allowed (i.e. didn't have to get up for exams) and it was a Saturday morning.  I was going up to the English countryside and although I had previously promised to cook dinner, obviously this was out of the question given my knife handling skills are still precarious.  I chose an alternate occupation for the day - namely, being entertainment and the official photographer.  ACP and KP were going to paint a room for the impending arrival of a new family member in the next month or so.  Anyway - it was cold.  Officially really cold...generally for someone who comes from warmer climes, it's probably safe to say that it feels cold when you can see your breath frosting in the morning air.  There was also ice on the asphalt...and of course as we started to drive, there is the iconic symbol for the Underground.  You may or may not be able to see that this one we passed is the one for Arsenal.

One of the nice things about the houses in London is that they have little touches which give them such character.  This one seems to have been inhabited at some point by someone musical.  It was quite cute to see the clefs hanging out over the windows.  The treble clef has been kind of popular for patisserie tuile decorations because it's a slightly more interesting (and complicated looking, if you are not a musician) shape than the bass.  Potentially the alto as well...
  








Morning Tea

We drove towards Cambridge (north?  west?  couldn't tell you...) and eventually ended up going through a little town called Ware (where?)...ACP and KP had some painting to do and various bits and pieces which required our presence sort of by no later than noon.  Having arrived and shivered our way through their ritual of turning up the heating, etc. etc. they proceeded to attend to the various tasks.  Morning tea duling having been served and consumed (scones courtesy of the Cordon Bleu tea party, which I had kept in the freezer against such an eventuality as this), it was time to start painting.

I was on hand as official photographer, some entertainment (it's always funny when someone else falls and trips, as long as they aren't hurt), occasional joke and general all-around cheerleader.  No, there was no cheerleading outfit as it was too cold.  I did bring up some scones that had been in my freezer though - they served for a nice morning tea before the others began the job of painting a room.  The little church on the right is actually a shot I took from the window of the little room that was being painted.  The window had been opened part way to allow paint fumes to waft out into the cold (super clean smelling) air.  The only drawback is that it was also quite cold when the breeze blew.


Spoiled
Both ACP and KP are good cooks.  The nice thing about this for me was that since my hand was out of commission, KP was going to cook dinner.  A welcome change as I had been eating baked beans on toast with cheese.  Ok, toast was a baguette and cheese was sometimes a nice, hard chedder and sometimes a gruyere, but it still gets a tiny bit boring if you have it several nights running.  Anyway - delicious pasta by KP...in the meantime, ACP had made and put away the Christmas pudding for the following week and she and I watched KP make dinner.  What can I say, there are few things more enjoyable than when a someone cooks you dinner.

In which I find out I am not smarter than the heater
We rented a video that night (Body of Lies) - quite entertaining and if we were in any doubt as to whether we might have similar taste in videos, we found another copy of the same video near the TV.  It was freezing so I plugged in the little space heater.  In my defence, the light went on so I thought it was heating.  Couldn't figure out why it wasn't warm so I sucked it up.  The next morning when I went to turn it off, I found out I hadn't turned on the heating elements.  But honestly, if the light is on, wouldn't that make you think that the heating thing is actually doing its thing?

4 countries in 3 days...

Then it was an early wake up on Sunday so that I could make sure I got back into London on time.  There was a booking through Heathrow to fly to Dusseldorf (shorter trip) so that I could visit with a friend from law school.  Things are so close in Europe that it was only a little bit longer for him to come get me at Dusseldorf instead of Cologne.  Still cold - colder than the countryside had been, actually.  I was really regretting the fact that my sweaters were all in a closet in Sydney, which is currently in summer.  Especially since we ran into snow on Monday morning as we started to drive towards the mountains.

It was almost as though there was an invisible line over which all of a sudden snow appeared on the side of the road and on the branches.  This wasn't your small fall which melts as the day wears on, but rather the kind that has been there for a few days.  For the most part the brown bits from being driven over were at a minimum and it was just that smell you get in the air when it's snowing with the slightly glowy but dimmer light.

Winter Wonderland (Monschau)
We arrived at this little place called Monschau - a tiny village, mostly self-contained.  The ground wasn't that wet so we got a nice little walk around.  There were a bunch of little bridges going over the river - a tributary which eventually feeds into the Maas river (I think).  It was so picturesque I couldn't help myself from taking a zillion photos.  The Christmas market stalls were mostly closed as the market itself is only open on weekends.  Given the amount of traffic - or lack thereof - I can understand why.

We had a little stop for morning coffee / hot chocolate.  Once of the nice things about the cold is that since you are desperate to warm up, it feels a little less naughty to have a hot chocolate and since most of the places here use milk (instead of water, which you might get in the US) I think it tastes better.  More photos ensued before we went back out.  I have to admit to getting a little turned around at one stage so I thought we were on one side of the river when we were actually on the other side.  There was a stop at this shop which sold so many different kinds of mustard that I lost track.  I wanted to bring some back but hadn't checked any bags and was daunted by the weight so I gave the mustards a miss.

Maastricht
Then it was on through Belgium to the Netherlands - I hope I got the geography right!  Again there was an invisible line - a horse cropping grass through snow between Germany and Belgium, then something a bit more subtle at the Belgium/Netherlands border where at the bottom of a hill the snow disappeared and the light all of a sudden turned bit golden.  It was like we had driven into a Van Gogh painting of hay and other Dutch paintings with houses along a river.

More Christmas markets! We wanted to go into the church but it was actually closed so that didn't happen.  However, one of the good things was that since there had been some French influence since whenever, I was relieved to be able to understand the French signs.  Much excitement!

Then there was the option of stopping at Aachen on the way back to Cologne.  I love that everything is so close to everything else!  I remember reading quite a lot about how the capital of Christianity was in Aachen for a while.  Yes, I know this is going back quite a while, but then again, in this part of the world a "young" building was built in the 1500s (part of the wall in Maastricht).


In which the mind boggles - Aachen (aka Aix la Chapelle)
The streets wound their way around.  I mistook the Town Hall for the cathedral at one point - we were approaching from the side and it just looked a little church-y.  In any event, it wasn't - good thing because it seemed a bit disrespectful to have such a hugh market in front of the church, even though that was probably used as a gathering place for a while.

Stepping into the Aachen Cathedral was a completely different experience.  The first thing to hit you is the Byzantine style of everything - the mosaics were intricate, astounding and everywhere - which sounds less impressive than it actually is.  Apologies for the bad lighting / photography but this is the best I could do.  It invites you to just look and look - you could probably spend a lot of time just looking at everything but we actually had to get back.  No matter - it was enough to be in the Cathedral where Charlemagne's throne is.  There is a tour available to see it (apparently just a simple wooden throne) but we had missed it for the day.  Just something to bring you back another time, I think.

Outside view of Aachen Cathedral

Streets of Aachen and a Chrstimas Fai

It took UP's kids a little while to decide that perhaps the stranger wasn't so strange after all, although we didn't share a language in common so communication was done through the good graces of their parents translating or a little bit of mime and gestures.  They were very generous about my attempts to speak German (prompted, of course!) and if nothing else, there was a little bit of laughter at the American's attempts to pronounce words which to us can be a bit of a tongue twister.

In any event, it snowed early Tuesday morning.  I heard the something hitting the skylights and hoped it was snow, not rain.  Rain did eventually fall and melt most of the snow away, but when everyone got up in the morning, everything had been softly covered by about an inch of snow.  Getting the kiddies ready for school was interesting to watch.  I'd forgotten how wiggly they can be and seeing two parents almost outnumbered by an equivalent number of enthusiastic offspring was quite an experience.  I have to admit being glad that we don't have to do the same with my nieces and nephews.

After everyone had been dropped off at school and work respectively (UP's wife had to work) UP and I went to the Belgian Quarter of Cologne.  We walked through a park whose name I don't know and had coffee at a place whose name I've forgotten...then more walking - to the Cologne Cathedral.  When we were here a zillion years ago, the towers were not open to the public and they were covered in scaffolding.  There's still scaffolding but it has moved.   More Byzantine looking tiles and mosaics inside the Cathedral, as well as the controversial "new" stained glass window.  The colors match the cathedral quite well but apparently the design did not, being abstract rather than one depicting your typical stained glass scenes.  I could see both sides of the argument, which sometimes drives me crazy.  Occasionally it's just restful to have only one idea in your head.

UP was game when I suggested that we climb the tower.  Well - if you can count someone jumping up and down as "suggesting".  The only drawback was that we got caught in waves of teenage hordes who were there - possibly a school field trip but it was a little hard to tell.  I had expected to see Quasimodo up by the bell and the rest of the time I expected to see Harry and Dumbledore having a face-off with the rest of the cast of characters from the various Harry Potter movies.  Somehow they seem to end up by bell tower looking things quite often...

Several more Christmas markets later and a walk down slushy side alleys to the Rhine, we went to lunch.  A pub whose name I've forgotten where I had something like a brisket in BBQ sauce for lunch.  Really yummy and not something you would be able to eat, then do any work in the afternoon but perfect for a really cold day when you are on vacation.  Apparently it is a traditional dish (they describe it as braised Rhine beef or something similar)...followed by more walking.  Sorely needed after such a heavy lunch...all I can say is that it was delicious and if I could, I would probably have it every week - I wonder how it would taste with white rice to soak up all that delicious sauce.  Because the dish wasn't already filling enough, you know...

Back to reality
Back in London, there remains a ton of things to be done:  parking dispensation for the moving van, sort clothes, etc. for movers, get coffee so I am awake enough to direct the movers (rather than falling over which is what I feel like doing right now...apologies for any errors, I blame them on sleep typing.

So until next time, may the things that need to be done not pile up on you as they have done to me here.