What a mess!

Only days after the Queen opened the new British Airways Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow airport, it became apparent that all was not well. The new terminal was hailed as what was to become the pride of British aviation for this early part of the century, however now it has sadly turned into nothing less than a huge debacle and an embarrassment for the both British Airways and the British Airports Authority.

As I write this today at the end of March, over 15,000 bags that have disappeared into a large black hole somewhere in the bowels of the terminal - but no one appears to be able to do anything to reunite them with their owners. Yesterday over 60 flights into and out of T5 were cancelled, and today's list is expected to be at least that many or possibly more.

As one can imagine, the pain continues for British Airways as the news commentators have a heyday over all this trouble. On Friday, British Airways CEO, Willie Walsh, in typically British understatement admitted that this did not represent the company's "finest hour". It has been reported that the company could be liable for EU fines of as high as £5,000 (approx. $9,700) per passenger for allegedly misleading travellers about their compensation rights. Yesterday one of the planners of the Denver airport said in an interview that they always had backup contingency plans for every step of the transition to that new airport. If such a plan was in place for Terminal 5, it is certainly not apparent.

If you are reading this today (30th March 2008) or indeed into early and possibly as late as mid April and planning a flight to London's Heathrow on British Airways, you should check with BA or the British Airports Authority to ascertain the status of flight operations at Terminal 5. If you are flying on an airline other than BA or into any of the other London airports, such as Gatwick, your flights should not be affected.

Pompeo Batoni Exhibition

NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON
20th Feb - 18th May, 2008

If you are visiting London between now and May 18th don't miss an excellent exhibition at the National Gallery. It is highlighting the works of the premiere artist of 18th century Rome.

Batoni is widely known as a portrait artist, but as this exhibition demonstrates, he was also known throughout Europe for his religious and mythological painting. His work reflects a great knowledge of art, history and architecture. Even his portraits place the subject in an environment reflecting their interests in the classical world. The depth of color, the detail, the stories and the skill are all in evidence in this wonderful collection. I was particularly drawn to one of the first pictures on display that portrays a mythological view of Venice in the 18th century. Batoni painted at a time when learned gentleman did the Grand Tour. A portrait done by Batoni while visiting Rome was a must take home souvenir. Distinctive portraits were coveted by emperors, kings, popes, and princes. And by the way, some of the frames were as much a work of art as the paintings themselves.

As in most of these exhibitions, the presentation is nicely done with a video at the entry to give you the necessary background of the time, the artist and his style. All of the pieces are documented to read as you go along or an audio can also be purchased. There is a timed entry, however, there were no queues when we were there on a Tuesday afternoon.

To learn more about other art treasures in London, it's museums, or just activities and local tours around London go to our website, The Savvy Traveler.

State Visit at Windsor

We have seen many interesting events in the UK, and even in and around The Royal Bourough, but today's state visit by French President Nicholas Sarkozy has to be near the top of the list. The town was all but closed to traffic, of course, so we took the bus from the Park-Ride at Legoland, just down the road from Ascot. Upon arrival we found crowds of people already lining the parade route.

Windsor was all decked out in British and French flags, and the Queen's Standard (the large one!) was proudly flying atop the Castle. Just before the festivities began, the sun began to peak through proving once again that the President lives under a silver-lined cloud.

Arlene quickly located a local Police Constable who advised us of a good place to stand in order to get a good view of the events. It turned out to be an excellent vantage point, because the coaches passed within yards of our position, and we had great view of the entire pageant.

The parade began with line after line of troops in various ceremonial costumes marching in precision down the High Street. It continued through the Household Cavalry and culminated with the dignitaries themselves. And of course, there was the First Lady!

It was a great show, and once we returned home, we enjoyed watching the President's address to Parliament calling for further cooperation between Britain and France. See more pictures from the State Visit...

Waterloo International

We went into London earlier this week for lunch with friends, and to see a wonderful and highly recommended performance of "Buddy", currently playing at the Duchess Theatre on the West End. It was terrific, as one would expect from the reviews. Hopefully you will have an opportunity to see it soon.

For a change things went really well with our rail journey. Reports that much of the Easter weekend work had spilled over into the work week were either exaggerated or did not affect our route, because we arrived in Waterloo only 5 minutes late. However, on the trip in I could not help but notice the now defunct Waterloo International Terminal - former home of the Eurostar.

Some hail the move of the Eurostar to St. Pancras, for all reports a brilliant new facility, as a stroke of genius. We, however, are not happy. We used to be able to get on our little Ascot train, change at Waterloo and arrive in central Paris in just 2.5 hours from central London. Our 55 minute trip to Waterloo was not much more than driving to Heathrow and in most cases much less than driving to Gatwick. And you could check into the Eurostar up to 20 minutes prior to departure!

But no more. Now the journey takes almost days, because everyone knows that getting from Waterloo to St. Pancras is impossible. It's completely useless to even try around rush hour (almost anytime in London) - it could take as long as the trip to Paris!

The worst effect of the move, however, one that not only affects us but all Londoners, and indeed British, is the terrible waste of money and effort to build that very functional facility for naught. It now sits there sadly derelict - all boarded up. Where we used to see Eurostar trains bustling back and forth now stand empty platforms. I don't know how many millions of Pounds or Dollars were spent to build this now empty facility, but it certainly was poor management. Let's hope that no one now decides to move the Eurostar to Luton or Stansted!

A Prague Escape

We hopped off to Prague last week for a few days of R & R, that stands for research and relaxation. Research, as we wanted to look for the origin of a 19th century painting we bought in Italy a few years ago. The antique dealer we bought if from said it came from an estate in Hungary. Upon further study, we saw the piece resembled the Nazarene era in central Europe and looked remarkably like the Madonnas done by Czech Artist, F. Tkadlik. Having been to Prague before, we did not venture up to the Castle area above the town. A truly, lovely area but as the wind and snow kept coming down, not the place to be for this trip. Instead we stayed in Old Town at the Cloister Inn, a three star hotel with good value for the money - convenient, with breakfast and a large tidy room with excellent facilities.

We bought a Prague Card and used the unlimited transit to get familiar with the Metro, bus and tram system to get around. We still found the maps given to us there wanting, and as usual we used our Eyewitness Guide to point us to the right modes of transit, sights and places to eat. As this was Easter week, there were several markets. The Easter market in the Old Town Square was very festive with yummy things to eat and some nice things to buy as well. We were quite taken with the hot Trdlo, a doughy desert rolled on hot pipes served with sugar. Puppets are quite the thing in Prague and we couldn't resist a handmade little girl holding a lollipop for our granddaughter. Should you be venturing to Prague in May, be sure to check out the 63rd music festival commencing on May 12th.

Find out more about our trip on The Savvy Traveler website...

A Sign of the Times

Having just returned from a quick trip to Prague (more coming), where we flew on one of British Airways' older B-737's, I felt compelled to take note of a sign of the continuing decline in the refinement of airline travel.  On the way down from London I happened to notice that there was an unfilled hole in the back of the seat in front of me.  Then I saw that all the seats had these holes, and I quickly realised that this is where the coat hangers used to be!  They had simply removed them and left the holes open in the backs of the seats.

When we first moved to Europe in 1995, one of the "niceties" of flying was the fact that one could conveniently take one's jacket off and place it on the coat hook, just to the side of the seat-back tray.  This may not sound like much, because they were long gone in the US by that time, but I found it quite unique and useful when flying about Europe.  One of those things like, when in my very first days of business, looking down the aisle and seeing rows of well dressed businessmen in hats.  And no, I won't say exactly how far back that was, but the hats went quite a long time ago!

Now the suits are giving way to jeans and other informal styles of dress.  Apparently with so few "suited" travellers, British Airways simply felt the extra weight of the coat hangers was simply not necessary.  (I counted only 5 men in jackets on a recent British Airways intercontinental flight out of over 250 passengers!)

The point of all this is just to note that as time goes on, the former refinements of travel that we once took for granted continue to be eroded.  Those few remaining who ever flew in the 30's on aircraft such as the Boeing B-314 would say that flying then vs. flying now was a whole different mode of travel.  If you would like to learn more about the older, more refined style, visit the Foynes Flying Boat Museum, Co. Limerick, Ireland.  Every time we go, we are reminded of how dramatically aviation has changed in such a relatively short time.

Jersey Boys - A New West End Treat!

On a more upbeat note from the peace demonstration (see previous post), our Ides of March outing was more than saved when we were fortunate enough to get seats at a pre-opening performance of Jersey Boys playing at the Prince Edward. This play about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons has achieved rave reviews from La Jolla, California where it was first staged, all the way to Broadway. We sat by some of the producers who were anxiously awaiting the reaction of the theatre patrons in hopes that the show will now play as well in the West End.

The all British cast must have spent a lot of time with accent coaches, because the New Jersey accents were spot on! It always amazes me how one does this, because even though we've lived in the UK now for the better part of almost 12 years, no one would take me for a local. I guess that Tennessee accent is just a little tough to wash out!

But the show was terrific. We thoroughly enjoyed it, and as the old saying goes, "the joint was rocking!" The brilliance of the original musical talent behind the group came through and was well represented as song after song whisked us into a trance of nostalgic enjoyment.

The entire cast and show were wonderful, but I would be remiss if I did not point out especially Paul Ayres and Stephen Ashfield. Paul was actually a 2nd understudy for the role of Frankie Valli, but he has a great talent and allowed it to come forth in an amazing performance this afternoon. The last few songs in particular were outstanding and left the audience on their feet begging for more!

And Stephen's performance in the role of Bob Gaudio displayed a natural talent that will go very far. He was as at ease on the stage as if he were at a cocktail party among friends.

All in all it is a show not to be missed. And, be sure to buy a programme, as there is a lot of detail about how the play came to be and the history of the group. Jersey Boys opened Tuesday, 18th March 2008 at London's Prince Edward Theatre.

See Jersey Boys in New York! Purchase Jersey Boys Tickets from A NYC entertainment site with some great resources for Broadway shows which includes great articles and reviews on musicals and plays as well as resources for Jersey Boys tickets.

Today's London Peace Demonstration

We're back in London for awhile, and we always marvel at the variety of people, cultures and opinions we observe. Today we were walking by Trafalgar and happened upon a mass of angry people waving banners and carrying signs. Not just your average demonstration this time - a number of the signs penned George Bush as the world's #1 terrorist. This was truly an angry bunch, and it appeared that since their view of the status of the war was somewhat different from our own, our best strategy would be to slowly exit the scene.

"Peace" Demonstration at Trafalgar Square.

I have to say that the organisers drew a good crowd for the demonstration, and for a brief moment one might say, "Hang on a minute, there a are a lot of folks out there that think we're really, really bad!"

But then something else becomes apparent - see the red tunic the fellow in the front of the picture is wearing? If you really strain to make it out, you might just be able to make out what's on the back of the tunic - actually, here, I can enlarge it for you:

What's this? It actually looks like a red star! That's right, this protest is quite well attended by Communists and socialists! And if you don't believe it, look at the picture.

Now, we all have our own opinions about Iraq, and it is not my intent to debate that issue here. Suffice it to say that it is certainly a divided subject, however when you look at the history of what these people have brought the world, the Iraq tragedy pales in comparison.

The point I do want to make is that whatever your opinion of the war is, we should not allow it to be shaped by these groups. Many people have legitimate questions about the war and indeed want it to be over now - but we should not be led by those whose avowed cause is to do away with democracy and create another USSR kind of state.

The lesson is simple: believe what you believe, but allow your opinions to be shaped by open sources reporting reality. We should not allow ourselves to be swayed by people who are merely latching onto what they think is the current most popular cause just to push their twisted ideas of society.

One final note: our soldiers, those both of Britain and the US, are doing the job they signed on to do in support of their countries. They are not in Iraq because they want to be there or to make a political statement. They are there because they are serving and supporting their countries in an honourable manner. If we disagree with the reasons they are there, then we all, in both countries, have the right to make our positions known at the ballot box. That is what freedom is all about.

But when these brave men and women come home, they are due every respect that should be awarded to anyone willing to selflessly serve their country and indeed to even die for it if necessary. They are not the makers of the policy - they just carry it out. And that is what patriotism is all about.