Paris - Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral

I attended 8 am Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral on this somewhat chilly and overcast morning.  It was a very nice service, celebrated by two Black priests and with 34 congregants in attendance.  There is something extraordinary about the fact that the Mass is the same in every corner of the world, although it is very special in French.  I was able to follow the order of the Mass and the readings by using the "Breviary" app on my IPhone. 

Notre Dame is very similar to the Washington Cathedral.  Of course, it's probably the other way around. 

Mass was held in the front section with the congregation seated on either side of the altar. 

It was a pleasant way to begin our first full day in Paris.

Back to Berlin....Without my luggage

Arrived today for my second visit to Berlin. This time, I'm accompanied by my daughter, Bridget. It will be a combination of business and pleasure. I have business meetings in Berlin, but will go to Paris for the weekend, for my first visit to the City of Lights.

The first change I noticed from my last visit was how expeditious the arrival process was. We had a layover in Munich where we showed our passport. But there were no customs declarations forms to fill out. Just show the passport and move right on through. Berlin was even more expeditious, actually too expeditious.  We just followed the crowd off the plane, expecting to be herded to some large immigration line, followed by a customs line.  In so doing, we walked right past baggage claim and the next thing we knew we were outside security without our luggage.  Uh oh.  I knew that couldn't be good.  Going back through the exist would probably have caused them to shut down the whole airport.

Sure enough, we had to go to a special office at the other end of the airport.  After about an hour wait, we were told that our luggage didn't arrive anyway.  Over to another office at another end of the airport.  To my relief, they told me that the luggage was in Munich.  Didn't make the connection, but would be delivered to the hotel in the evening.  And that's the situation, as it exists.  Hope they are right.

Thanks to an unbelievably organized wife, I had a change of close in my carry on, so no stress.....yet.

Not So Grim

I'm at Heathrow Airport getting ready for the trip back to Washington.  Things got a little better after my last post.  Once I accepted the fact that this would be the most expensive vacation EVER, I found some peace.

We stayed an extra day in London.  Attended a beautiful high Mass at Westminster Cathedral.  It had a large choir (men and boys), a partial Latin liturgy, incense, the works.  It was very nice.

Then, since a day without shopping is like a day without sunshine, we went shopping at Harrods.  Massive store, packed with people, a woman singing opera to people on escalators and a huckster selling the Vegimax, who was the spitting image of Eric Idle.

Finally, we went to the British Museum.  saw the Rosetta Stone, again, and an exhibit on the Books of the Dead from Egypt.

Maybe I'll post on everything that happened since Kilmainham Gaol, but I can't promise.

Kilmainham Gaol

It is interesting that Ireland's modern political history is best told in a horrific prison.  Kilmainham Gaol is a powerful symbol of the struggles of the Irish people.  Architecturally, it resembles the prison in The Shawshank Redemption. Unforgiving stones and steel.  Our tour guide was a burly, passionate Irishman with a full beard who talked non-stop for almost an hour and a half in a presentation that was rich with fact, anecdote and drama.  For instance, here's a picture of the altar where Joseph Plunkett, one of the leaders of the 1916 uprising, married his beloved, 3 hours before he was executed by firing squad.  His bride lived to her 70's and never remarried.

Dinner with the Saunders and Murphys

We had a delightful dinner with our friends, the Saunders and Murphys.  The Saunders are effectively our benefactors in the two times we've visited Ireland as a family, generously donating their car to us for our travels and, on our first trip, lodging.  The Murphys are friends of the Saunders' whose son, Liam, did a short exchange program in Washington.

It was a lively dinner, full of laughter and goodwill.  The restaurant was The Winding Stair, which is right off the Ha' Penny Bridge.  It was an unpretentious place with excellent food.  I would definitely go back.

Dublin - Reconnecting with Danny

Traveling to Dublin was uneventful. A nice benefit of the European Union, we breezed through Customs.  What we arrived to was unusual, though, a driving hail storm.  Standing in the taxi line, the hailstones were clattering on the overhang.  Within a short time, it turned to rain, more typical Irish weather.

We stayed at the Ashling Hotel, a recommendation of a friend in Dublin.  While it was a Best Western, apparently Best Western is a more upscale brand in Ireland that it is in the U.S.  It was a very nice, seemingly business hotel.  Clean with attentive staff.

London - A Short Visit

Boy, that was quick.

Preparing to leave a whirlwind visit to London.  So quick, there was no time to blog.

Here are the highlights:

Mexico City

I'm finishing up a business trip to Mexico City, my first visit to a Latin American country.  Most of the visit was spent in my hotel, my company's local office and a meeting at the Mexican "White House," called Los Pinos, with the Mexican Foreign Minister.  One of my Mexican colleagues pointed out that Los Pinos is very near the site that inspired the line the Marine Corps hymn that says, "From the halls of Montezuma..."

Mexico City is not at all what I expected.  My image was of a hot, dirty city, teaming with people.  In fact, the weather was delightful, 75 degrees, dry and crystal clear skies.  The city is very clean.  It is, however, teaming with people.  Traffic seems heavy 24/7.  I knew that was going to be a problem as we flew in.  We arrived at 10 pm and, looking out the window of the plane, every highway seemed gridlocked.

Speaking of the flight, it was among the more interesting I've had.   We flew over thunderstorms, which normally would have made me pretty nervous.  However, the flight was perfectly smooth during this period and the flashing lights from the lightening in the clouds below was spectacular.  Oddly, as we approached Mexico City, it got very bumpy under clear skies.  Go figure.

Getting back to impressions of Mexico City, I was struck by how little English is displayed around the country.  When I'm in China or Europe, I'm always surprised with the amount of English signage.  In Mexico, there's none.  Similarly, the English TV options in the hotel room are very few, far fewer than in countries much further away.  I guess I admire the Mexicans' refusal to concede their culture to the Gringos from the North.

Of course, the most fascinating part of the trip was the meeting with the foreign minister.  It was an important meeting dealing with some very significant issues.  Unfortunately for me, most of the meeting was in Spanish. Of the approximately 20 people in the room, I was the only "mono-lingual" one there.  A sad example of the failure of the American education system.  Still the meeting was very successful and my team is hopeful of a continuing business relationship.

Hope I get to come back.  If I do, I will spend more time investigating the rich history of Mexico, of which I only observed snatches traveling from one meeting to another.

A Memorable Dinner

I had a fascinating dinner with some colleagues two nights ago. I blogged about it on my other professional blog, World of Public Affairs, but thought readers of this blog might also be interested.

If so, click here.

An American in Berlin

In preparation for a business trip to Berlin, I consulted a travel guide called The Rough Guide to Berlin. Here's how the book described the city:

"No one would come to Berlin for light-hearted sightseeing: this is a profoundly scarred city... Berlin isn't a city where you can simply stroll and absorb the atmosphere...[P]oints of interest are, almost without exeption, sombre."

Well....

And here I'd actually extended my visit to allow for light-hearted sightseeing. Guess I'm going to have to stock up on the anti-depressants.

So, here I am, on the ground for two days, and my first advice is to never, ever buy a guidebook of the "Rough Guide" genre. Boy do they have it wrong. Berlin is a fascinating city, rich in culture. The architecture is breath-taking and the history runs very, very deep. To the extent there are "scars," they are the kind of scars that are consciously preserved for the amazing stories they tell. These stories are the fundamental stories of the 20th Century. The Kaiser Wilhelm Church, with everything but the steeple bombed away in WWII, preserved as an anti-war memorial. The remnants of the Berlin Wall, the guardhouse at Checkpoint Charlie. Amazing stuff. It's not for nothing that John Kennedy declared, "Ich bin ein Berliner!"
So rather than figure out what to do with myself in this "sombre" city, I find myself concerned that I do not have enough time to fully appreciate it. Sure will give it a try, though. Details to follow.