Journal Entries
Turkey Diary
Posted Jul 20, 2009
HI plays the cello in an amateur London orchestra. Recent concerts have featured a famous Turkish soloist, Idil Biret http://www.idilbiret.org/ENG/IBeng.htm , who has always commented on the friendliness of the orchestra members. I think most professional orchestra players just turn up, play, and leave immediately…
As a result of this, Idil invited the orchestra to play in Turkey. After a bit of toing and froing, the concert was organised for Saturday 11th July. As the orchestra was picking up the tab for flights and 2 nights’ hotel accommodation, we decided to make a holiday of it and stay a few extra days.
We arrived on Friday after a slightly delayed flight. We were the cause of that delay: despite informing BA that we were travelling with 6 cellos, when we turned up the extent of their preparations for transporting them appeared to be two guys from maintenance with a length of nylon rope! They didn’t seem to have much of an idea what they were doing and made it up as they went along. After about an hour, all the cellos were firmly attached to their seats (they have to have a seat to themselves), and the pilot allowed the rest of the passengers to board. Naturally, we’d missed our take-off slot by this time, so had to wait.
On Saturday, HI had rehearsals, so I was left to my own devices for most of the afternoon. I walked up to Topkapi palace, where the concert was to be held in the evening, then went on to the Grand Bazaar, where I promptly got lost. This is traditional, apparently. Not realising that my guide book actually had a map of the alleyways of the Grand Bazaar in it (what? Read the instructions? Never! 
) I asked a passing Turk, who attempted to sell me a carpet in exchange for directions! I made it back out on to the main street then headed back to the hotel, where HI had finished rehearsing. We went for a late lunch/early dinner, then got ready for the concert.
The concert was in the open air, and featured music by Elgar, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. Idil Biret also played two encores, and the orchestra reprised Elgar’s Pomp & Circumstance at the end. Overall the concert went down very well, with an audience of around 2,000.
Unbeknown to us, there had apparently been some controversy about the concert, whipped up by an ultra-conservative muslim organisation, about the serving of alcohol within the Topkapi palace (which houses some religious relics). A crowd of demonstrators turned up outside the palace and waved placards, shouted, and burned the posters hanging outside advertising the event. At the end of the concert, we found out about this as we were held back after the spectators had departed, and were escorted down the hill to our hotel by armed police.
The following day, we spent 3 hours in the Topkapi palace, including their version of the crown jewels (they have an 85-carat diamond, the “Spoonmaker’s Diamond”, amongst other artifacts and jewellery). In the evening a boat trip with dinner had been organised, up and down the Bosphorus. We watched the sun set, and later, on the way back, there was a fireworks display (not for us!) being launched from mid-strait, so we sailed right under the display.
Most of the orchestra returned to the UK on Monday, but we had decided to stay out for longer, so we spent the next few days seeing the sights – the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia, the Grand Bazaar (again), the Spice Bazaar, the Chora Church, the Basilica Cistern. On the evening of the 14th we celebrated my birthday at the best restaurant in Istanbul, Mikla: http://www.themarmarahotels.com/The-Marmara-Pera/eatdrink-mikla-restaurant.asp which has a view over the city from the open air on the eighteenth floor.
On Thursday we returned to the UK. As we were the last to return, we didn’t have quite the same issue with the cello (there being only one of us) and I had handily kept the rope used on the outward flight, so we managed to secure the instrument much more quickly. We landed in London just ahead of rush hour so were able to make it home quite easily.
Souvenirs from Turkey: two cushion covers, a pepper mill, some spices, an Istanbul t-shirt, and loads of photos of mosques.
RF
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jul 20, 2009
Pet Shop Boys
Posted Jun 19, 2009
Just got back from seeing (the)* Pet Shop Boys at the O2. Brilliant. If they're coming to a town near you anytime soon, go see them. What a great show! Amazing what you can do with 4 dancers and some cardboard boxes!
RF
* I know they're plain Pet Shop Boys on all their albums, but Neil Tennant said "we're The Pet Shop Boys" all the time.
Discuss this Journal entry [4]
Latest reply: Jun 19, 2009
New Hard Drive
Posted Jun 14, 2009
...Is installed and working (well, duh! )
In case anyone missed me, or noticed I wasn't here, or anything...
RF
Discuss this Journal entry [11]
Latest reply: Jun 14, 2009
Happy Hootiversary
Posted Jan 3, 2009
...to me!
I joined this august institution on Jan 3rd 2003 under my original, and long-password-forgotten, alter ego of U213579.
RF
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: Jan 3, 2009
In Bruges
Posted Aug 22, 2008
Straight after the Düsseldorf meet, myself & HI hopped on a train to journey across Europe, ending up in Bruges via Köln and Brussel. We arrived early evening in the sunshine (having left all the rain behind in Germany), and, having consulted the map in my guidebook, we decided to walk to our hotel. Bruges is not a big place.
Our hotel was just behind the Markt, the central square of Bruges. We checked in, dumped bags, and headed straight out again for dinner in the Markt. Most of the restaurants and bars in the square offer pretty much the same sort of fare, so we plumped for one and I started straight off with a Belgian beer. This was followed by mussels and frites – the classic Belgian meal. The sky was clear and the air warm, so we stayed outside the restaurant and drank wine until quite late in the evening.
Near our hotel there is a cinema that shows the film In Bruges every day, and twice on Saturdays - the Brugesians are clearly quite pleased to have had a gangster movie made about their city!
The next morning, we had ourselves a hearty European breakfast of bread, cheese, ham and salami, and then headed out to start our touristing. This involved a trip on a canal boat, a visit to the church of Our Lady which contains a sculpture by Michelangelo, and the Town Hall museum. Unfortunately a lot of the other museums were shut on a Monday, but I think we got enough culture out of our trips. We had lunch in a café in the fish market, then spent the afternoon wandering about the town, taking pictures of architecture, and generally behaving like tourists. We fitted right in.
In the evening, we went out to dinner at Patrick Devos restaurant http://www.patrickdevos.be/index_fl.html - a place I’d found with the help of Google. We went for the Alliance menu with matching wines. In addition to the menu (which was extensive enough) we also had amuses bouches consisting of a smoked salmon and leek sprout roll, a goat’s cheese fritter, and a prawn and tomato sauce concoction with basil foam. Overall the whole gastronomic experience was very good, and if you’re ever in Bruges and have a €100 or so to spare, I heartily recommend it!
The following morning we went up the Bell Tower (scene of a scene from the film In Bruges), before heading to the train station and heading towards Brussels for lunch. HI knows her way around the city, having lived and worked there for a few years, and we went to one of her local restaurants in the neighbourhood that she used to live in, rather than one of the more touristy places. I had a boudin basque, which was delicious, together with (yet more) Belgian beer.
Finally we had to set off for the airport. On arrival we discovered that our flight was cancelled 
. We went and talked to the VLM desk, and they told us that they would pay for us to go in a taxi to Antwerp, where there was another flight into London City that we could catch. Antwerp is a tiny airport with only one airline operating from it. The plane got us back a full 25 minutes later than we would otherwise have got home, so no real problem with that.
So that was that. Our German & Belgian mission was complete. Now, all I have to do is upload some photos…
RF
Discuss this Journal entry [6]
Latest reply: Aug 22, 2008
A Super Furry Animal
Researcher U232535
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."