Thus You Shall Go to The Stars…

 

Our rocket man. (Also very best song to accompany this blog.)

If the Wehlen family had a motto, it might be: "Travel often with large groups to see this beautiful earth" (Iter saepe cum magnis coetibus hanc pulchram videre terram hanc pulchram...) or maybe just simply: sic itur ad astra: "thus you shall go to the stars."

Indeed, there is nothing like a big group trip: you bond in a way you don't at a dinner party or a night at the opera; and when you add in daily feelings of awe towards sky and space and sand, followed by a hot tub and an open bar; you have a pretty good week. 

 

The photos probably tell the story best...so I will not write much. But in short, we had a collection of the smartest, loveliest people for almost a week "and"...as it says in the bible: "it was good".  Thomas and I started an award while we were in Africa years ago for the best vacation-er. The person that joins everything, never complains even if bitten to death by mosquitos, the one who finds the gin and pours it for you first, the one who laughs in the face of danger and cold and heat, the one who makes you laugh on the earliest, coldest cruelest Wehlen morning excursions. On this person we bestow the sacred "Sundowner Award" for service to the noble cause of goofing off. This year the award went to F's brilliant friend from Exeter Peter T, who climbed mountains and introduced himself to strangers and never threw up in the hot tub...Mister perfect. Andrew, Thomas, Frederick and I debated the winner in our room the night before. We knew it probably had to be Peter, but Andrew made some strong arguments for one John B from Bielefeld, Germany. He maintained that we have never had a guest described as "unresponsive" and felt this level of joie de vivre deserved commendation. "Unresponsive"  was the word Luis used with me after he went to check on John.  I suggested to Luis that he needed to explore this further, and bring me a full report before I called his lovely mother (my friend) and explain we had, in essence, killed her son. Luis came back with the good news that John was alive, and "would be at dinner shortly".  Andrew argued that the minuscule length of time between "perhaps dead" to dinner in a pressed shirt was impressive. I couldn't argue, ..also this was the same kid who had been seen sniffling and Thomas told him to go to the pharmacy and take a Covid test. The test was negative, which of course means nothing, but he raced back on his bicycle being chased by stray dogs and drugged out men in ponchos, to make the bus that morning. Keep in mind another kid spoke perfect Spanish, acted as our translator, and had a 33 resting heart rate; and he didn't win....so you see how stiff the competition was this year. 

"Great time; Great Llamas; Great stars"- Quote by Will, K. Ca. USA

Thomas was quite nearly ecstatic with the level of conversation one could casually drop in on. These were actual examples: What is language exactly? Why can you see the stars better with your peripheral vision? What constitutes a descendent of Ghengis Kahn? What is art if an AI can make it? Should AI have rights? Why do college pre-med classes use inflated brains instead of the wrinkly ones....? or perhaps, in the lull before cocktails, why not dive into a chat about the Cyclone Zyklon, the pesticide that was used to gas the Jews!? The choices were endless. 

Our diversity was particularly splendid: we had Schneider siblings who have literally grown up in a five star hotel and claim friends from around the globe; and we had a kid from Exeter who had barely ever left his home state. But in the great margarita blender that is my kind of party, it all came together- better than the sum of its parts. If these kids are in charge of the world someday, we will be ok.  

I thought the main draw would be the night sky, but the day was filled with sights so strange and amazing, that it was effectively a tie. The night routine with the astronomy guide (not an astronomer, but well informed nonetheless) meant we would go up to a platform near the hotel and lie down on cushioned sun loungers under blankets. Then they turned off the lights, and what appeared to be a children's drawing of a night sky would materialize: endless little white blinking dots smiling down on us. It was sublime; silent and beautiful beyond description. No one wanted very much to jump up when the time came to look through the telescope, but when we did, we saw stars living together in pairs like large, lovely lesbians, (our sun is of course a single gal) and Saturn and huge comets, and dot after beautiful white dot. F was up (he tells me now) almost every night until 3 am because he couldn't tear himself away. 

Some of the highlights were lunch barbecues by the pool; walking as a group after dinner into the national park and simply looking up as one, at the heavens above;  Amy teaching me finally the trick to hanging out in a cold plunge for many minutes; taking an outdoor shower while looking at the Milky Way; and the simple pleasure of seeing people you like very much at dinner, and knowing you will see them again the next day. 

We only had one mishap on the day we woke up really early to see the geysers (the locals pronounced it geezers which we loved). We had a high altitude breakfast cooked for us and then started back to the blessed hotel and hot tub. I was sort of frazzled that day due to a very long bumpy ride out to the geezers. Then we hear an ominous sound and are told one of the vans was broken and a new one needed to be called in (we were at least an hour away from the hotel) Luckily for us, the one that broke was for the kids..so we handed out sun hats and drinks and left them by the side of the road. 

So we somehow got 23 people there and 23 people home; and we were sad when it was over. Thomas and I longed for humidity however so we settled in to a big fat seat on a South American airline (they are fabulous now) and fled to Miami. Lexi wrote and asked me if I felt invigorated after 11 days there. HA! I think I speak for all of us when I say we were absolutely exhausted...and dried up like prunes. Drinking wine and taking hot tubs at this altitude and humidity is not for the faint of heart. But that is how seductive the stars are: like all great loves, they will make you do crazy things. 

Onward Travelers! Where to next? xx

Will K and Frederick

Luis, Chico and international man of mystery John B

Schneider siblings and super star guests

One of many pools...was prettier than it looks

Breakfast at 15,000 feet. Group had woken up at 5 am and it was 30 degrees. And this photo was taken before they were stranded at altitude with a broken van. 

My neighbor

Geysers 

Breakfast of grilled bread and eggs

Can't do this justice....why do we ever fight or worry? 

Lunch in the desert waiting for us after a walk

Joe from PEA who drinks neither alcohol nor caffeine but embraces the hot tub with gusto

Intrepid crew drove to 18,000 feet and walked to 20,000. Our very own Hanna B. scrambled up the fastest

From left:
Joe (Exeter); Anouk (Schneider cousin); Chico; Harsha (UChicago roomie); Will; Mystery person; Peter (Exeter, and sundowner winner); Luis S; Ida S; John B (Long time Almhof guest )

Lovely Margaret Fry Brigham

Chico photographing a Vicuna at 15,000 feet 

Cafe in town

Chilly in Chile...about 7 am at 15,000 feet 

Ida and Hanna

sic itur ad astra

Happy barbecue day

Ida 

Chico with Sundowner winner 

John B, Chico and Will K; Peter T

Hanna and Ida

We set up chairs for them to wait for the new van to come

Luis with the Sundowner runner up John B

Chico and Charlie

Chico and Charlie in town

F and his well dressed mother.

Ancient rock scribles

Will following Thomas down a steep sand hill

Two Exonians Peter and Jacob

Chicago roommates

Amy, Simone, Ellie, Margaret..I appear to be losing my sense of humor as wait for breakfast

And thus you shall go to the stars....

Wandering Bananas

"Brazilian wandering spiders, also called armed spiders or banana spiders, belong to the genus Phoneutria, which means "murderess" in Greek. And it's no wonder why — it's one of the most venomous spiders on Earth. Its bite, which delivers neurotoxic venom, can be deadly to humans, especially children. 

They are often hidden in shipments of bananas, so unloading banana should be done with extreme care..."

     Greetings to all! 

 Well you can sleep easier tonight because the rainforest is one step closer to             being saved thanks to us. Did you know that the rain forest is responsible for 20% of all oxygen on the earth? So we left the tough streets and elegant cafes of Sao Paolo and took two flights into the jungle. The flights were on time and despite there being no business class, very comfortable. The only hesitation I felt was when we were boarding they simply waved us out of the terminal with the vague instruction: "last plane on the left." (Photo below of boys on the tarmac; it is a wonder they didn't end up in Bolivia.) We landed in a town called Alta Floresta, were picked up in a van, driven on dusty red roads for an hour and a half, and then climbed into a boat with our luggage. By this time we had hit the trifecta of exhausted, hot and hungry. Our guide Maurizio stopped every so often to point out birds along the river; and at first this was exciting, but after a short while we were praying he would stop talking and get to lunch. Finally, after about 40 minutes, we pull-up to a nice large deck with green umbrellas over the river where we were told we can swim. "In the river?? The one with caiman and anaconda and piranha? Yes he says...very unlikely an anaconda will be there, and the piraña are in the other part of the river." That is sort of the vibe in the Brazilian jungle: "it's probably fine." There is even a teeny sign that says casually: if you have an open sore, don't swim. I need not point out they don't have a sign like this by the YMCA pool. 

Anyway it is so hot, there was no way we weren't going in, so we did (every day) but no one was lingering I'll say that. 

Good game of chicken when you add crocodiles and giant snakes

We slept in an un-airconditioned wood cabin with netting for windows- it was hot, but with the fan at night it was ok. On our way to dinner at the central building...we had to watch for snakes and spiders, but it wasn't really scary. Food was good...cocktails available...and all round very much like an African safari vibe but not dressy. The days were spent either in the boat on the river, or walking through the jungle, or both. The walks were a nice sort of stroll to look at flora and fauna: we saw spider monkeys who yelled at us and then carefully collected branches to throw at our (Charlie's) heads. We also saw a herd of about 40 wild boar which was sort of intimidating, especially because guide had announced that there had been a group that had been charged the day before. But this was a different group of boars, and "it was probably fine". This made me not want to stop and linger near their salt lick, but I was in the minority. The guides- and all the Brazilians I met actually- were serious and totally dedicated to the work of conservation. They are as interested in the little leaf as they are the big dangerous animals- pumas and crocodiles for example. The guests however - and I won't name names- could only talk about birds for so long; then we wanted to know what could kill us. Charlie was particularly interested in anaconda, Frederick was counting the moments until the stars came out, and I was trying not to get killed by a wild boar or bitten by the bullet ant, an insect reputed to be the highest animal on the pain scale. The bite causes men to writhe in agony for two days; but no one dies. 

More than 1,000 year old tree; 250 feet tall. We do not want these cut down. 

View from the tower

always on time for meals these two

The dreaded tower

The worst insect turned out to be a surprise: on the tree by our hut was a colony of enormous, two inch long cicadas. Every time we came in or out of our room and walked past their tree, they would jump on us- on our backs and faces. It was ludicrous...like being jumped by a gang. We took to taking the long way around the tree at night, sneaking past them like you would a sleeping dog in a cartoon. Someone asked me "if one were afraid of insects, should one go to the rain forest? And my answer is no. Despite de forestation, and the ruinous effects of humans on all things, there are still plenty of things that will bite you. 

By far the scariest thing was actually a trip up a tower to see the sunrise. Maurizio said if one were afraid of heights it was not a good idea. I found this terribly un specific: how afraid of heights? I have no trouble riding in a ski tram, but I would never sky dive. But I figured I would try. We met before dawn in complete dark for coffee and then set off through the woods for a short walk. This was sort of unnerving, but Charlie was ahead of me making me laugh, so I managed. The tower is 150 feet high with stairs that are closer to a ladder in steepness. It is really loud in the jungle at this point - the little creatures are starting to wake up and the cicadas at this time of year, at this time of day, actually scream. It is a sound I love when I have a drink in hand or am lying in my bed, but now as I start to climb this rickety Brazilian metal ladder, the sound is ominous. Each step is sort of hard, because your body rebels against the idea..your brain tells you everything is fine, but your legs seem to be in active rebellion to get you to turn around; and through it all the cicadas are screaming like in a horror movie. At about half way we reach one platform where we can in theory give up- but there is no reason to because this level is also awful and I don't want to wait for everyone alone. So I keep following Charlie up and up until the top where we see a truly magnificent view, straight out of a David Attenborough series. I saw the sun come up: yes very nice, lovely, but when are we going down? Because the thing you discover 15 floors up is the whole tower is secured by these rather thin cables and it wobbles. So you are up there, without breakfast and you are wobbling and the cicadas are screaming. Then Maurizio answers my question- Oh we will stay just an hour and forty minutes; without coffee; and the wasps have now found us. I instantly transform from Jane Goodall to Woody Allen as I ignore the sunrise and concentrate on my can of bug spray, killing off the last remaining insects in the rain forest. When dear Maurizio thinks he has talked enough about various species of trees and cloud formations, we are allowed to descend- backwards (it is supposed to be safer) and get to breakfast. 

A high point of the trip was meeting Doña Vittoria, the owner of the lodge and surrounding park. Her father was a rich farmer in the area, and when she grew up she bought 100,000 acres or so to protect the land from de forestation. She is just the loveliest- in her 60s and soft spoken in a slightly wounded way. In excellent English, she told this very sad tale about the battle for the rain forest, where the combination of a poor country, bad leadership and basic human greed has led us to this dangerous point. If the land is bought, it can be protected- otherwise people will kill the animals and chop down the trees to feed themselves in the short term. At the little presentation Thomas of course raised his hand and asks what he always does, i.e. How much? How much would it cost to buy enough land? The answer was surprisingly little: Elon Musk or the Gates Foundation could basically save the rain forest with $100 billion. Anyway, one visit and you feel how important it is...how much life and oxygen are in the jungle; and how much we need both. 

At the last minute, we decided not to do the long two lights into Sao Paolo, only to turn around the next day and take two more flights into the desert. Thomas somehow finds a private plane to take us all away, and three handsome Argentinian pilots come to the jungle for our exit. Margaret always says she is  a desert person, but Thomas and I are happier in the jungle. Yes, it will kill you, especially if you have even a moment of weakness- an open sore, a half a candy bar left in your room, a broken window. Water is everywhere; life is everywhere- even perhaps unhappily in your pillow. But where the desert is quiet and empty, the jungle is a Puerto Rican wedding- overflowing with drama and life and thick, intoxicating air.

Yes, I rather think we are jungle people. 

Confidence inspiring plane; slightly worrisome runway

Was so excited for trip, and then promptly fell asleep somewhere over Bolivia 

Viva Brasil

 

The So Ho of Sao Paolo: lots of graffiti art and hippy chicks. 

Greetings from São Paolo! 

We flew from Lisbon to here and landed in winter. It is not cold- far from it, but it gets dark at 6 pm and this was a surprise. One hears that the southern hemisphere faces the sun at a weird time of year, but you just don't believe it. 

First thing: SP (takes too long to write it out) is big, really big. It is about 13 million people and that is not counting the outskirts of town. Charlie was amazed when he landed, at the sight of building after building; high rise after high rise as far as they eye could see. Since I am now in the actual jungle which is a more interesting entry, I will keep the Sao Paolo entry short. I loved the city- it is huge and tropical and looks like a very fun place to be rich. The rich live in enormous houses with enormous tropical gardens  all surrounded by gates. Most have barbed wire and armed guards in little buildings too. Basically this town, and all of Brazil, used to be rather dangerous, and perhaps they haven't gotten out of the habit. From what we read, if you stay in your prissy little neighborhood, you are perfectly safe, but the concierge told us not to walk around with jewelry on. SP is the New York of Brazil- all about the money and movement: the older accountant brother to the scantily dressed, never made it out of high school younger sister that is Rio de Janeiro. I half expected to be met at the airport with a caipirinha and a lei but it was all rather business like and the neighborhood remarkably quiet for a Friday evening. 

Here are some things I learned from the fabulous tour guide we had one day:

The place is so crazed over soccer that they no longer allow both teams' fans to attend the local games. Apparently they killed each other a few too many times and now is like going to see a warriors game, i.e no dissenting voices in the crowd. 

They make a little cheese puff that I can't stop eating...they eat it all the time, even at breakfast. In fact they are very pro bread in general. 

Brazil was this fun beacon of freedom to the world..a sloppier US so during times of trouble, so they had tons of immigrants. Now they are home to the largest populations of Jews, Italians and Japanese anywhere outside of their home countries. 

The McDonalds have armed guards. 

They have incredible architects...the most famous of them, Oscar Niemeyer, (of UN building fame) lived until he was 104 when he dropped dead while working. 

The highlight was this tour by this wonderful man who used to be an engineer, then banker; but he wanted to become a tour guide. He got the idea when he was told by his bosses at the bank to take a client out and "show him a good time". He told us that meant girls and bars, but the guy was a 75 year old Canadian, so that plan was out. When he picked him up he said the client was so shy he would not look at him and just said he wanted to go to the library and look at books about the communal aspect of sports. Our man then made a rather Brazilian decision and decided instead to take him to a local soccer match. But he didn't tell him because he thought he would say no. So they get to the parking lot and he says "I have decided to take you to a game" and the client says: "I can see that." They sit in the cheap seats with the crazies to give him the real effect. Score is 1:1;  they all stand up except for our client who stares at his hands.(our guide was basically going to be in deep doo if the guy didn't come back happy..so he was stressed) Then home team goes to 2:1; crowd is sharing beers and client takes many sips. Score goes to 3:1 and it is mayhem...people are kissing strangers. Score goes to 4:1 and it is a cacophony of joy and love and insanity..so much so that our guide thinks he better pull the plug and get poor Canadian home. But when he looks, the entire section- including the Canadian- has their shirts off and are waving them around. 

The bank gets the deal.

When the Canadian is preparing to leave he is in a meeting with our friend's superiors and asks for him to come in. He comes in a starts to apologize for dragging him to this game, but the Canadian stops him and says: you changed my life. I wanted a book, but you put me in a book. I wanted to read a story and you gave me a story. You made me a part of life, and I will never forget you. True to his word, years later he died and our guide gets a call from Canada. It is this man's son and he says..my father wanted me to call you and tell you he never forgot you. I don't know what you did but you made him very happy. 

The guide said that is when he decided he just wanted to do this for a living: give people these short magnificent experiences. Only trouble with this kind of enthusiasm is that when you are jet lagged and sign up for a four hour tour but say you only need to be taken through traffic for two hours, he will have none of it. He is fanatical about you not forgetting Sao Paolo. At one point I wondered if we had been kidnapped.

So there you have it, cheese puffs, and glamor and soccer and lush tropical gardens and incredible kind happy people.  Sao Paolo is a very fine place indeed. 

Hotel pool

Landed at night from Lisbon..happy room service er

Blood really is thicker than water

 

Vintage Portuguese postcards I found. I do not know this cow. 

The human body functions best at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. When it overheats and bcomes dehydrated, the blood thickens. The heart has to pump harder and it and other organs can be seriously damaged. When core body temperature rises too high, everything breaks down: The gut leaks toxins into the body, cells begin to die, and a devastating inflammatory repose can occur. Part of the insidiousness of heat related deaths is how quickly they can happen. 

So HOW ARE YOU GUYS??? The San Franciscans have won the lottery this summer with the fog; we are drooling over the beach pictures sent by Janette and Albert. Here we had a few days where we felt the breeze from the blessed Atlantic Ocean and thought we would escape the worst. Then we were slapped with a few days of hot, smoky hell and reconsidered our life style choices - specifically the ones that involve coming to Southern Europe in July and August. Thomas has taken to reading magazines with Yachting in the title, and brochures of Finnish real estate. 

When you live with 91 year old war survivors who don't cool the house, but diligently heat the pool, you develop a sixth sense that is part spiritual and part thermodynamics. (The latter is of course the study of the relations between heat, temperature and energy.) We are experts on many things: we know how long we can play at high noon on a hot tennis court and how much Gatorade will be required. We know there is not enough Gatorade in the country to get us to play at 4 pm. We know the exact path through the golf course that has the most shade, and the most breeze. We know now that an area of heat next to an area of greenery will create a breeze that makes you want to keep living. Most importantly, we know which restaurants have have air conditioning. 

The good news about heat is you pay attention. You pay attention to the exact moment before you enter a cold, familiar ocean; and the bliss of entering the only room in the house that has air air-conditioning (snuck in by Thomas a few years ago). You pay attention to the song of ice cubes landing in your glass, and marvel at the amount of sweat on the front of your hands and under your eyes. You pay attention to any news story that says we will fight climate change. 

Things are better now, I am sitting in the office here and there is a little breeze coming from the open door. It is a regular summer day in the Algarve: I don' t have a wash cloth on my head and there is no smell of smoke. 

Luckily we are heading to winter soon. I enthusiastically bought cashmere sweaters here in preparation and then learned that Sao Paolo in winter is basically like San Francisco: 65-70 in the day and 55 at night. The packing is going to be its own blog entry. I have three nights at semi sophisticated restaurants in Sao Paolo winter- including the 7th best restaurant in the world that is devoted solely to pork, They raise their own pigs apparently and then kill them. (pray for me). Then we go into the Amazon jungle where I am required to wear beige and sweat a lot. In the form required for the hotel there (called the Cristallino lodge) we were asked how much we weighed (for the life preservers) and what animals we were afraid of. (I wanted to ask how much time they had; but settled for crocodiles).  Thomas and Frederick left it blank thinking that they were indeed afraid of certain animals but didn't want to miss out on seeing them. Charlie probably wrote strawberries and left it at that. Lastly we go to high altitude - dangerous sun during the day and freezing cold at night where I will be standing outside. 

In my next life I want to start a travel clothing store where you can input your trip and they send you every thing, already packed. 

Did you all know that we had the shortest day every recorded? Apparently the earth spun faster than it has ever before. Also, if one person fires a bullet horizontally, and another person drops a bullet at the exact same time, the two bullets will hit the earth simultaneously. 

OK I have to get this up because I am presently in Sao Paolo and it is amaaaazing. Tomorrow into the jungle we go, so I have to write fast. 

até à próxima Portugal 

Is This the Beginning or the End?

Think of the helpers ladies....(these firemen are French, but close enough)

We left Milan with many heavy bags and it was hot and crowded at the train station, but I could not have been happier. I was gayly skipping around looking for Italian sandwiches and sneaking coffees behind Thomas' back. Because once you are on a European train, and that train happens to be going to Zurich, you have reached the height of civilization. Bad things don't happen anymore; luggage is not lost, people are not loud, coffee is poured. Beside the Queen Mary, it is when I am happiest moving through space. In Zurich we stayed at my favorite, the Baur au Lac and ACB and MFB joined, and the sun was out and we swam in the lake and just marveled at how clean and perfect it all was. I think I saw a homeless person, but after quite a lot of discussion, we decided he was just drunk and littering (probably by accident; even drunk the Swiss don't litter). It was delightful. In fact, Zurich now has a few areas that border on actual cool and Frederick was so dazzled he is definitely looking at the ETH for graduate school. 

Alas, things went quickly downhill (oh year 2022, why can't you just relax?) We were on the way to the airport and Frederick announced he felt sick. So he has increasingly clear Covid symptoms and is piling on mask on mask on the plane but we think: ok, stay calm, we are almost there: almost to an actual house and not a hotel, to Lydia and her cake. 

Nao (as they say here.) 

We are picked up as usual by Lydia's son Carlos, and he says casually that there are fires licking the front gates of Quinta do Lago, but how was your year? One house has already burned down, and we may or may not be able to go to our house. I believe I have some of Eloise's producer gene in me and I am already solving this problem in my head and the plan involves not driving the two hours towards the fires, but a retreat to the excellent hotel in Lisbon where I will be close to concrete and airplanes: two things one needs at times of fire. But Thomas thinks Lisbon is "too hot"- code for no water for him to swim in, and we should go closer at least. So I say that if we are looking for a hotel, then we are not the only ones and perhaps he should get on the phone. Sure enough, lots of evacuated hot people are calling the same places and we end up in the last one available: something called Pine Cliffs I think....tag line "where happiness has meaning" or maybe it was 'life has meaning'. We stuff Chico into his room and try to steady our nerves with sushi and Chilean white wine. The cliffs start to have meaning....

Anyway the heroic firemen put them all out, and we are able to come in after two nights. F has covid but feels ok...he is in his little wing away from all but us and the Wehlens come next week. Does anyone else find this year to be just so tense? 

 I find myself increasingly in need of Mister Rogers' quote: 

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say: look at the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." 

Markets crashing? Kid with Covid on a plane? Fires burning the earth and your house? Think of firemen and astrophysicists. Think of immunologists. Think of Liz Cheney and nice people on the train. Oh yes and thank God for the Webb photos- thank god for the Carina Nebula: cutest little star nursery. Hold onto those thoughts like the railing on a ship. Hold on my tribe!!!!!

 Here is what I have learned so far this summer: things are not bad, in fact they are in many ways better. Every place I went was better that it was before. San Francisco is even better than it was before. I know that is not a very fashionable opinion, but it is the truth. (Before you argue with me, read Season of the Witch or talk to any native over 45 years old.) I think maybe (just maybe) our standards have gotten better and the dark side of human behavior seems less acceptable. Maybe it is darkest before the dawn. Or maybe it is really the end and we will burn together waiting in line for over-priced coffee. 

Too close to call. 

Did I mention we are going to the Amazon jungle with Charlie and Frederick before Chile? Pray for good wifi people because this will be the blog of the century. We have two nights in Sao Paolo first, then two flights into the jungle where I fear we will be watching a lot of birds. Nothing against birds but five nights seems like a lot. 

Anyway we have a month to go here in Portugal. More very soon my pretties...we have to stick together: holding each other with one hand, and the photos of baby stars in the other. 

Big Beautiful Cities Tour

Former New York body works building in SoHO, now a Pilates study. 

 
 We heard a lot about flight delays and chaos at airports but so far so good. The itinerary for the summer is New York; London; Milan; Zurich; then in theory, Portugal, then - wait for it- curve ball: Amazon rain forest with Charlie and Frederick; then Chile. SO the packing, with 90% of my things at the old house, was tricky and  am not sure I succeeded. I packed as if I were going to an exclusive event every evening and it instead it was a lot of family dinners.  I am dragging around a lot of bags, one of which has the "HEAVY BAG" tag on it; which makes me feel like a bad. 

Thomas got us into first class on BA and the crowd did not disappoint: my fellow passengers were a woman with very large diamonds wearing LuLu Lemon; a man who thought he should smile at all of us….and an orthodox jew or two. The steward walked us to the seat in case finding 2A was too hard; and meals it was explained to me were on demand. One just starts yelling that one is hungry. Another steward came to say how heroic we were for managing to get on such an early flight. She is right of course; it was 8 a.m. and someone has to eat the asparagus soufflé. 

We had such a New York week! Our first night in the upper east side, an old man was so angry his order didn’t come that he told the much younger manager that “If I could I would punch you in the face right now!!” But apparently due to his spaghetti shaped 80 year old arms, this was not an option for him. Then we saw Fran Leibowitz walking down Park avenue looking grumpy and smoking a cigarette; and we heard a woman tell her child who was crying and wanted a ride in the pram that she was a “sociopath!” (New Yorkers all have the lingo to make sure the next generation goes to as much therapy as they do). I love this town. 

We walked around as usual and tried a few trendy restaurants- one of which served goat intestines. It was an Indian place in the village and they don’t serve Naan, which makes a Wehlen sad. 

Heather and I took lots of walks around Central Park which is glorious this time of year- the weather was strangely cool - SF was hotter than New York. 

Thomas doesn’t notice things that are not right in front of him- the fight behind me at the restaurant went over his head as did the Leibowitz sighting. But he did see Dr. Oz at breakfast and said he looks older than he does on tv. I thought about what I would say if we ended up in the elevator together….what searing little line would express my chagrin at the way he has turned to the dark side. For the uninitiated: he is a doctor that used to be on Oprah regularly telling us to look at our poops, and now he is a Trump defender running for senate in a state that is not his own (PA). I finally landed on something I hoped was both simple and ominous: 

“I sincerely hope you are watching the hearings.” It reminds me of when Bill Clinton came to Chris N’s mother’s building and she found the whole thing sort of an inconvenience….Amy however was (one assumes) in full make-up and heels and really thought about what she would say. She went with a classic- Marilyn Monroe esque greeting “Good evening Mr. President”. Pretty good…flirty but with full deniability. Chris’ mother was the best though..she just said loudly: “Welcome to the building!!!” I love that. SO confident and blasé. 

The hearings …oh the hearings…dare we hope? (Dare we?) The stupid runs strong in my country I tell you. 

Speaking of stupid, I have to say that the New York waiters are so much more professional and even polite compared to those in my fair city. I am not kidding…all kinds of good manners and clever problem solving that I don’t often see in San Francisco. At home I don’t think they want to do this as a profession , they want to develop apps or become actors. 

The Berkeley Hotel pool..working away

London is always so very wonderful and a week is way too short. We saw lots of Peter and K but the little work we had, combined with our jet lag made the days short. I didn’t get to go to a play or see the inside of Kensington Palace where William and Kate live and Queen Victoria grew up (before she was Queen and moved to Buckingham Palace).

I am presently in Milan at the incredible new Four Seasons which is in a converted convent. In my room are 15th century frescos on the ceiling, and there is a very beautiful swimming pool in what was once the cisterns. It has arches and dramatic lighting which contrast with the little kiddies in floatation devices bobbing around with me. Milan is so elegant- the stores, the people, the buildings. It doesn't have a single tree as far as we can tell, so it is not for the outdoorsy set, but it looks really good compared to when I lived here (there was a world expo here in 2015 or os and a few billion was spent to spruce it up).

Seeing lots of beloved Margaret and G who are in great shape and cooking lots of healthy food for us. 

Back in a jiffy…xx