The Misanthrope loaded himself onto a plane last Sunday, put on his neck pillow, took an Ambien, retreated to the cocoon of the Bose noise-canceling headsets they were handing out and slept his way to England. I've always hated the flight over to Europe because, for unknown reasons, jet lag absolutely destroys me in that direction. Miraculously, I felt entirely fine this time. Maybe that is one of those benefits of getting older - at least until I get so old that I need no sleep and spend my nights awake, listening to the sand run out of the hourglass of my life.
Anyway.
This morning at Heathrow I noticed that the Iberia, Lufthansa and Alitalia Business Lounges were all together on the same staircase. Hmmm, what do those three countries have in common? I am sure this is not a coincidence.
I spent the day in Milan enjoying the delightful absurdity of Italy. I really love that country. Nothing ever gets done, nothing works and nothing is efficient in the least, but the food is amazing and the people always look FABULOUS. Not the best place to be when you are doing business, but a perfect place if you have nothing to do and a LOT of time in which to do it. The lunch alone was worth the pain of getting up at 0500 GMT this morning to catch my flight. We were late for every meeting, but nobody cared because...well, it's Italy. As my Italian colleague put it, "The farther south you go, the later you can be. By the time you get to Naples, you just have to show up the same day as the appointment."
Tonight it is Zurich. I don't think there could be a more polar opposite to Italy than the German part of Switzerland. Even our bags came out of the baggage carousel on time and efficiently. And the city is immaculate, almost frighteningly so.
Anyway, when I return, I will determine to which robot-based band I can pledge my allegiance.
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3 comments:
Hell, you can get those here, look into Gong and Amon Duul! Failing that....well shit, I have all the good Krokus records....
I'm envious. Unlike most humans, I enjoy travel, for any reason. Getting away from home does me good.
I think the fact that I lived in so many different places in my formative years instilled a need for travel.
The trip has been fun so far. I've been along this route (London, Milan, Zurich, Geneva) so many times that it's a little tedious. I am trying to get investors in Scandinavia so I can meet the future Mrs. Cavalier
Totally! "This is my fiance, the lovely and talented Alotta Fagina, from Naples. Alotta, meet the Smoke 7 Mirrors guys...."
;-)
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