Boog's Blog

Monday, rain promised, and some delivered but not much.

Escalators and large air-conditioned shopping centers on the plan.

Yesterday the streets were empty, weekend traffic. Today, like a normal city with lots of people on the streets and overpasses. The overpasses are the way to get around; there are many, covered, and pretty well linked.

Typical overpass.

The escalators were started in 1993 and head up one of the many peaks. Three main ones, each at a different street level, and then a series of smaller ones, 20, yes 20 of them, each their own levels. We rode them all.

First, to get there we tried a tram. Not modern to say the least. Price right at about $.15. Elder price, but normal price is only double elder price. Surface ride, more interesting but not with a/c like the MTR subway.

Tram ride above.

At one level we stopped at an open Starbucks. All of the other Starbucks have been boarded up due to the protests. The protesters have smashed and burned. According to the US press this is because the franchise owner is pro Bejing. I was able to ask an employee (snuck the question in while others were drinking) and she said that this one spared due to location. High up on the escalators implying hard to reach. O

Construction on the first level and one of the 20.

After walking down the 23+ levels cooling off was required and a shopping mall was just the thing. Landmark, one of the big ones, with a Starbucks reserve. Stores are safer inside big shopping malls. Dinner tonight will be in another large shopping mall.

In general we would not know that there have been protests here except when we check with the Concierge who advises maybe not go to that area this time. Has not been accurate. In Paris the subway stations were closed, and whole sections of Paris unavailable to tourists. So far, not so here.

Dinner at Dim Sum Library – decent food in Pacific shopping center. Usual dishes but well prepared.

On the way back from eating our first encounter with the protesters but this time an assembly. Went to take some pictures but George’s paranoia stopped me – got just one in and not a very good example. Most of the participants are young, wearing black and many/most black face masks and all quite peaceful. They were walking towards the assembly point at Central station and we were heading in the opposite direction. As a guess a thousand or so, but just a guess.

Side street, pic by QB.

Lights in HK

More traditional harbor view.

Sunday, HK time. Arrived to rain. Early morning, before 06:30

The pre-arranged car taking us to the hotel was able to zoom. No traffic and no protests. More on that below. The only indication of protests are the large plastic barricades at the sides of the road. They must be put up whenever needed for crowd control.

Great hotel, with another upgrade, thanks Michelle. Room with harbor views. Second not shown.

First up, a trip to get cash and an Octopus card, elder version (discounted). The card is used for public transportation, just like a wireless card or the old Oyster card of London. Rides are inexpensive but cash is not used.

Hot sticky high humidity walk to the Star Ferry, and old favorite of mine; it goes from Central to Kowloon. The ferry seems to be the same one I used 25+ years ago.

Wanted to go to Wan Chai area for touristing, food and the escalators but we were warned off. Protest planned in that area, shops to be closed early.

There has been much concern that I would join the protests, get arrested or ask far too many questions and be otherwise put aside. I promised, even though it pains me, to be “good” and “safe” according to the preferences of traveling partners.

Light show, HK style. During dinner we noticed several building with small light shows, most likely advertisements but logos not to our understanding. Discussing this with our server we learned of a nightly, yes every night, laser show on the harbor. Best viewed from Kowloon. Starts at 20:00. Short show but very popular.

Boogs are off on another adventure. Bit different this time. Traveling with Michelle and George on a Cruise.

First stop, HK, hopefully not too much in the midst of the protests. Will know soon. The fine hotel, arrangements by M, is the St. Regis in Central near Causeway Bay; site of some of the protests. We will play tourist for a few days before boarding the boat.

Have not been back to HK since the early 90’s; much change is expected.

Should be an interesting time to wander HK. Three years ago we were in the UK, walking the Thames River route, during the lead up to and then the Brexit vote. Another interesting time though without noticeable violence and in a more English centric language area. That said, most educated HKongers speak good English.

One big difference I expect to see is identity. The British island has been a unit since about the year 900. Brits have a long history for a British identity. Not so much in HK as they have been HKongers for less than 25 years.

I started this post several days before our departure. A test that the tech is working and to get a few thoughts down. This AM the “story” gets more interesting. Emergency powers were declared by C Lam. Here is a snippit from the Guardian

“The regulations empower the government to impose a series of draconian measures, including censorship, control and suppression of publications and other means of communications, arrest, detention and deportation as well as the freezing of assets, the authorisation of the entry and search of premises, and the taking of possession or control of any property.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/05/hong-kong-emergency-law-marks-start-of-authoritarian-rule

George reported that the nearest Starbucks was destroyed, ending hope for early am PSL.

The next post should be from HK where we arrive on Sunday HK time.

Friday. No rain forecasted and a bit warmer.

St. Martins in the Field organ concert. A visit and rejection at the National Gallery, and a picnic dinner in the room.

The concert:

The organ playing was excellent of course. The dissonance of some pieces not so much. Liked the base notes especially but overall the organ is of great quality. Naturally no recordings allowed.

After “tea” at the National Gallery we went shopping for picnic stuff. We intended to see the Sorolla exhibit but… at 14 pounds each plus donation we passed. A chelsea bun and a sandwich were substituted.

Seen at Fortnum’s. Just had to take a pic.

Was not considered for purchase.

Picnic dinner:

—–

Saturday – final weekend of this trip.

A varied weather day – rain, hail (in pic but I caught it too late), sun, rain, sun.

After the rain and hail went to the Wallace collection for our usual viewing of the Canaletto and the exhibition by Henry More, Helmets. Skipped when we saw the price, have already subsidized our quota for this trip.

Nice walk to the Grand Union Canal and Little Venice.

At the pool the Regents and Grand Union meet and diverge. Grand Union walk is very much like the Oxford canal. Housing on one side, boats on one or both sides.

Stopped to discuss house boat living with a smoker sitting at the edge of his boat.

– About 1000 pounds a year for a spot

-Must move either every 7 or 14 days to a new zone, rules vary by zone.

-Must move at least 30 miles a year

-Can winter in places with good hookups at 180 pounds a month for a 45 footer

-If spaces tight you can double park

—–

Dinner with Bobby et. al. Tom Yum seafood soup, fine salad, outstanding cabbage dish.

Wednesday. rain day

Exhibit day while QB takes “me” time.

Hearty breakfast at the hotel and then off to Design Center to see it and the Kubrick exhibit. Not a fan of either mid century modern design or exhibits of film but a good day for a walk in the rain of which there was more than one downpour.

Apparently large exhibit of his works, history, and techniques. I missed much of it.

After seeing a reasonable amount I mentioned to Bobby that I would wait outside for him. About 45 minutes later he emerged. Said I missed five rooms of film clips and other stuff. Oh well….

Dinner at Bobby’s with Muru in good form.

A classic and well done. Tomato salad with a bit of truffle oil.

——-

Thursday. Rain again but not much.

Visit to V&A after breakfast at the Hyde Park Serpentine restaurant. Decent Shatshuka.

Fine staircase. Most of the museum was to be built to this standard but alas ran out of money.

Beatrix Potter exhibit. Small but with wonderful drawings. She started at 8-9 years old with good water colors in her notebook. This is not from that notebook.

Tea in their formal dining area. Someone left their wallet/purse/phone on the seat. After finishing our snack tried to turn it in to a person who led us on a shortcut to the Potter exhibit – the museum is a maze even with a map and the museum employee started to explain how to get there and then said, ah, I will open some gates and take you directly. Same happened upon trying to return to the cafe.

As I said, tried to turn it in but no. He works for the V&A and we were in the cafe area. Need to turn it into them. Milburn staff runs the cafe so I needed to turn it a Milburn staff person.

You might think that this is just an odd chandelier. But it is much more. It is an air purifier.

Dinner with Bobby. This time lamb curry, chicken curry, roti, delish cabbage dish, asparagus and tomato salad, rice, homemade kimchi. Outstanding. Muru was the executive chef, others, not us, did the cooking.

Whereas the question of the type of plant raised in the previous post is revealed in conjunction with a trip to the famed Chelsea Physick garden.

But that comes later in the post.

—–

Monday, cool, no rain.

St. Martins concert, pizza at one of the best, with David James a pizza review expert and master Dalik maker.

After another Gails breakfast and a stroll down Sloan street and through Hyde Park on our way to Chelsea

for a while. Then..

Off to the National Gallery to see Canalettos, Turners and hear a QB pun, a rarity. We went up the stairs and turned left instead of right. “Wrong turn for Turners”.

As the signage says Canaletto made (some) of his paintings for consumption by English tourists.

Tea and scones later then off to St. Martins again. This time one of their best. Four choruses selected for their final evening of the season. Lead piece Spem in Alium. Each chorus was the best and the finale was all four choruses signing together. Ran out of programs and in theory I will get one via email following my request.

Got the link to the program. They sent it quickly.

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s18/sh/0d32f622-0806-4595-b92a-0f04a59f5d50/d5f4011f21f74c69918fcbe669f3ac7b

David James, Bobby and us rounded out a full day. Great to see him and all get together.

———

Tuesday.

Starts with free breakfast at the hotel. The restaurant opens today after a six plus month renovation of the Baker Street side of the hotel. We were invited to review or possibly praise.

Worthy of praise.

Off to the Physick garden, open and not raining this time. New Kunst installed at the entrance.

Asked the gardeners about the plant of earlier discussion. No one won the full paid trip around the world.

Fatsia japonica aka Paperplant. Berries are not edible, they blanched when I asked. Apparently a tropical plant that grows well in the UK. Used both indoor and outdoors.

Earl Grey and oil of bergamont

We are not fans of Earl Grey tea but many are.

Dinner at Bobby’s place. Muru better.

Bobby went all out! Wontons with scallops and shrimp,peppers de padron, fresh chicken broth with added ham into broth for flavoring and filled with thin noodles.

Then baby octopus in fiery red broth made, apparently, just for me.

Wow.

Saturday Cool, very cool, barely hit 50 degrees F. Intermittent rain.

Breakfast, again, at Fishers. Great Grosti. Bobby indicates I must remind him to get this dish at next sitting.

Another and now we interrupt our regular programming with a question. This tree is in the local garden. Fruit looks like blueberries only smaller. Tree is about six feet tall. Anyone know what this is?

Back to regular programing.

Headed off to the British Library. Main exhibit is 5000 years of writing. Paid exhibit with some flaws that were noted by us participants: very little to nothing on ancient or development of Hebrew, querty keyboard not discussed in the section on typewriters, overall not as comprehensive as it could have been. Printing sections done well.

Again another expensive entry museum that does not permit photos. No digital version of the exhibit available, only a 10kg clay paper book, looks excellent.

Dinner at Le Vieux Comptoir. Another for our list of good ones. Very large portions, seem to specialize in cheese and wine.

——-

Sunday, a little warmer, day for a walk planned in Essex. JD and Bobby were to join. Starting from Waltham Abbey.

Alas it was not to be today. A toad got QB, she thinks the French were trying to poison her. Expedition postponed for much needed rest. The George-QB travel toad alignment continues unbroken.

Toad breaking breakfast plus mine. Bok Choi at Selfridges with it fine tea, a favorite blend of ours.

Exhibit at the RA, Renaissance Nudes.

The first surprise was the Pope Pius IV covered some of the nudes in the Sistine Chapel

Two pieces of Saint Stephans with only one arrow. In Spain we always, as best as I can remember, saw him with 7 arrows.

A particularly interesting display showed two very similar looking books of hours. Each had a vibrant colored Bathsheba. In one she is clothed, in the other nude. Apparently there were separate versions for men and women. Never heard of this before.

A Titian that I have not seen before, located in Edinburgh. Venus emerging from the water. The reflection has been added as a bonus. Impressive up close. QB passed on the exhibit.

Dinner a picnic in the room.

Thursday some rain promised and delivered in the afternoon and especially on the way to dinner.

Another wandering day with good breakfast at Gail’s and a trip to St. Martin in the Fields to get some tickets.

At Gail’s a perfect Harry Potter moment with him actually reading the book.

Tomorrow night Choral Baroque concert with their choir. Yeah! Other tickets acquired but will be reported on as we get closer to the date.

The big events for the day are two fold. Muru’s art exhibit an then dinner planned at Din Tai Fung which has recently opened in London.

Muru at the exhibition with a self portrait.

He exhibited seven paintings. See link below.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0bC7oVmR_0cVFLm6PcYc8d5EA#Camden_&_Westminster

Dinner at Din Tai Fung. Long wait for a table, went for a pint and then hurried back directly into a glass door at the restaurant. Moderate amount of blood, bruise to be expected, histrionics on my part about the door and a discounted dinner. Holding ice to my forehead and forgot to take food pics. Standard Din Tai Fung fare, standard meaning excellent.

——

Friday. Cooler, no city warming here, with showers and rain in the afternoon.

Highlight was St. Martin in the Fields concert – outstanding choral group. Bobby joined.

Could not record or take pics of the concert.

We will go to an organ recital next week.

Dinner with JD and Bobby at a fine Italian restaurant. Briciole.

Tuesday

First and important correction: no truffle cheese eggies yesterday. We arrived far too early for France to allow eating eggs. No eggs before noon it seems, at least at Galleries Lafayette.

Second, here are some photos from Notre Dame yesterday. Just four to document the status as of this date. Naturally could not get any closer. Police and barricades surrounding all. Even the park was closed.

Here are some QB pics, better than the ones I took

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0F5OWzgAROXyEH7VyoUzOY6Jw#Paris_-_Les_Halles,_2nd_arr._&_4th_arr

Yesterday’s ice cream at Berthillon. Bobby might have had the two scoops.

Eurostar to London. Might have been chicken for lunch; that is what we heard them say.

We are back at the newly renovated Sherlock Holmes hotel which is now of Chiltern street. They moved the entrance and made Baker street two way. Little in this world is stable.

Dinner for roughage, Daylesford Restaurant. Three salads each. Then some berries from Marks and Sparks,

———-

Wednesday. Still nice

Breakfast at Pauls, good granola keeping with the theme of a less rich diet for at least today.

The tulips are out here as well. No roses in bloom as yet.

Just a building that I like.

Dinner continues with the same theme. Yogurt/fruit/granola for QB and many salads, Selfridges purchased for KB. Some Doombar as well.

Tomorrow, Bobby back from Lyon, Muru art exhibit and more….

Sunday, continued cool. Intermittent rain. Lots of walking again.

All lit up, after dinner walk back to the hotel.

First, after a hearty hotel breakfast up the Champs to see it and the new hip Galleries L. A stroll back the Champs to a post walk nap and then meet up with Bobby.

At the d’Orsey, natch.

We and youse saw the real one, here is an impression.

In addition to their great collection of impressionists there was a very special exhibition, one of the best we have seen in a while. Paintings, photos, film clips of Josephine Baker dancing, Cotton club clips, Manet’s great Olympia,on and on.

Model in this context is as a model for art and a model for society.

A great painting just becase …..

Dinner at Cafe du Commerce again. Another fine meal. Bobby and I had the soup de poisson, good but served far from hot, just barely warm.

——

Monday. A bit warmer and no rain.

Pompidou centre after breakfast, truffles and eggs for QB and Bobby, at Galleries Lafayette.

After Pompidou, which we decided not to enter as no interesting exhibits, we wandered Saint-Dennis and then over to Notre Dame so see the destruction. Walked around the cathedral and took numerous pics. Naturally could not get too close.

Eustace

Then over to have some Berthillon ice cream and then in the evening dinner at Bobby’s favorite place: l’Ambassade d’ Auvergne.

Bobby’s 32 hour lamb and alligot.

Tomorrow, London by rail.