1 - Happy 80th Birthday, Pop !! - Departure

It wasn't long after my return from my California visit this past February/March  (see all 31 California Dreamin'  blogs by clicking here)  when I got a call from my sister Jeanette (whom from this point on I will now call Jay) and she asked, "Hey Bro (that's me), Dad's birthday is coming up and I am thinking of doing a party.  Do you think there is a chance you could come back so soon?"   To which I replied, "I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

....and so the trouble begins.  Jay has 100's of brilliant ideas.  One is to make a birthday greeting video.  All guests who come and who can't come are asked to send in a 45 second selfie camera phone video clip and send it to Jay who will have it put together into one long b-day greeting.   I wanted to make a special greeting from the top tourist destinations of Copenhagen but decided to do something easy and have Jens join in.  A major Danish birthday tradition is the Danish birthday song. So, I decided to send a little Danish culture to my Pop. Here are the 45 seconds I sent in. 

I dag er det Mike's fødselsdag,

Hurra, Hurra, Hurra!

Han sikkeret sig en gave får 

som han har ønsket sig i år

og dejlig chokolad med kager til.

Today is Mike's birthday,

Hooray, Hooray, Hooray!

He will surely get a present

that he has wished for this year

and yummy chocolate with cookies.

I pretty much chopped it up.  No wonder Jens couldn't keep up.

But that's not the troubling part.  It's my standard travel trauma that I have told about so many times before.  However, this time, there was a new spin on it.  Normally my struggle is to get back home from my destinations.  Here before I even got off of the ground, actually already at the start of check-in, my anxiety had already stepped up a few notches.  No seat confirmation = Business Class is full.  No bag tag = ?  No idea.  I've never experienced NOT getting a bag tag.  Self check-in panel said:  See an SAS agent.  No worries, the young man assured me.  We'll get you a tag.  I asked if I didn't get a tag because the flight was full.  He said the flight was not full - but Business Class was.  I walked to gate E 20-something.  I handed over my boarding pass to the woman behind the counter.  She said: Don't expect to get on board.  The flight is over booked.  We are actually going to have to bump off full paying passengers.   She was looking at the computer as she was saying this.  At the same time, another colleague was walking up behind the counter to start her shift.  She overheard our conversation.  She turned to the woman I was talking to and said: The flight's not full.  There's space.  WTF? 2 different women working at the same gate on the same flight, and they are saying something totally opposite of each other.  I had to assume the women looking at the computer and actually seeing that the flight was overbooked was the one to listen to.  Which of course, really bummed me out.  But one thing I have learned is: don't leave and give up hope before the gates are closed.

Being employed at the airport, I would see "stand-by" baggage almost daily.  An employee flying on company discount tickets get a red tag that says "stand-by" on it.  The bag is placed nearby the flight but separately from all the other "normal" baggage.  The baggage handlers don't put the stand-by bag on board until they get the message from the ticket controllers that there is space for the stand-by passenger (me).   So, I walked over to the window and spotted my bag with the red tag.  That's it there in the photo.  I kept an eye on it.  Would they put it on the baggage belt, or would they put it on the baggage wagon and drive it back to the arrival terminal?

As I look out of the window, my eyes are totally glued to my bag.  I am totally oblivious to what it going on behind me.  However, I am aware that people are starting to disappear because the boarding process has begun.  I almost passed out with shock when I see the baggage handler walk to my bag, he grabs it, and walks away from the baggage belt.

In the circle you can see the baggage handler walking away from the baggage belt with my bag.  You can also see the baggage belt in the foreground has been pulled away from the aircraft because all the bags have been loaded onto the flight.  Notice all the baggage wagons are empty.  My heart sinks as I see the baggage handler walking away from the flight with my bag and walking towards the last baggage wagon to put it on and bring my bag back to the passenger terminal.

But take a look and see what happens next.

And then over the speakers I could hear that I was being paged to come to the desk.  I ran up to the woman at the gate and she handed me a boarding card with a seat number. Praise Jesus !!   Next thing I know, I am on my way to Boston.

2 - Happy 80th Birthday, Pop !! - Boston to Southbury w/ James

 

My biggest regret is that these are the only 2 photos I have of me, and James and they are of very poor quality.  Sorry.  I was just so overwhelmed over so many things that have happened in the last 10 hours:  

1 - that I finally got here (Boston airport) after I was told that there was no space on the flight.  

2 - that after 30 some years, I am visiting again with my good friend James whom I met in Boston when I was visiting the east coast of USA for my very first time.  I was wandering aimlessly around Boston back in 1987 or '88.  I needed a hotel room.  I walked under the sensor of the front doors of the Chandler Hotel, the doors slid to the sides, causing me to look into the lobby and there I saw this gorgeous man behind the front desk.  This was obviously the right place to book a room.  James provided wonderful "room service" and we have remained friends ever since.

3 - frantically trying to connect with free airport Wi-Fi.  Then loosing connection.  Then losing my phone.  Then losing my mind. When I connected to let James know I landed, he said he knows, and he knew that the flight landed early.  He said he was waiting in his car for me right in front of the arrival doors.  I said OK but I just stepped off of the flight and first I need to pass thru customs, get by bag, and go tinkle.

4 - I've now reached the arrival hall and I am all set but I just want to let James know that I needed 5 minutes to go to the restroom and I will be right out.  But dang it!  I couldn't connect to Wi-Fi.  I asked a young girl standing nearby if she could help me.  She pushed all kinds of buttons on my phone.  She didn't have any success either and then she just handed me her own phone and said: Here! Call your friend on my phone.  Wow!  What a sweet, trusting woman.  How generous.

5 - then the worst of all things possible happened.  Even worse than not getting on the flight.  I lost my phone with all my credit cards, driver's license, bus card, health card and basically my whole life on speed dial.  It was everything I was supposed to use in the USA for the next 3 weeks and the rest of my life in Denmark. I walked into the restroom.  Set my backpack and my phone on my suitcase.  I tinkled, I walked to the sink to wash my hands.  Then when I was done, I grabbed my backpack and suitcase and walked out of the restroom and out of the arrival hall and out of the exit doors.  I was to meet James right at the exit doors.  He told me that, that is where he was at.  I waited and waited and waited. But where the heck is James - I wondered.  He said he was right out front of the exit doors.  It was baking hot, so I had to stand in the shade of the building and back away from the curb.  Maybe I was too far back from the road and James couldn't see me.  I tried to get close to the curb so James wouldn't miss me, but I kept having to move back into the shade.  Too much time had gone by, and I knew there was something wrong.  So, I wanted to try and see if I could connect to Wi-Fi again to try to call James and find out what was going on.  That was when my heart fell to the ground.  My phone !!  Where the heck is my phone !!  I felt all my pockets.  I rummaged all through my backpack.  I opened all the zippers and dumped everything out on the sidewalk.  Ear plugs, black-out eye-mask, nose and mouth corona mask, sleeping tablets, travel size toothpaste, travel size hand sanitizer, Danish coins, breath mints, toothpicks, all spread out all over the sidewalk -  but no phone.  No phone!  Jens is going to kill me. Where the heck is my phone ?!!!  What am I gonna do ?!!!   I had it just a moment ago in the restroom when I set it down on my suitcase to wash my hands.   Dang it!  I realized I somehow left it in the restroom.  I ran like crazy as fast as I could back to the restroom and there it was, on the floor right in front of the sink where I washed my hands. The travel gods were with me this day.  They got me on the flight and they watched over my phone until I could rescue it.  It fell off of my suitcase and landed on the tile floor without making a sound.  I was so upset at myself for pulling the perfect screw-loose-absentminded-eddie move.   I always do this.  I always carelessly put down my keys, wallet, phone, eyeglasses in places without thinking about it and can never find it again without a panic.  My father, over the years, would say to me, "It's a good thing your head is screwed down to your neck, or you would lose that too" - and he's right.  

To this day I keep thinking about what would have happened had James been in his car, right out in front of the doors of the arrival hall.  I would have hopped into his car and not have a clue that I dropped my phone on the restroom floor and left it behind until later that evening and 2 states away.

6 - totally star struck that I am seeing James again after soooo many years.  It was surreal.  And what a sweetheart to drive all the way from his home in Rhoad Island to Massachusetts back thru Rhoad Island to Connecticut to where my sister Christine and her husband Robert lives. 

I am just so bedazzled to see James and I quickly open my phone and snap these two photos while he is driving.  I didn't review the pix until my return home.  And so sorry that I didn't snap anything while we were out doing things.  What was surprising to me was that Christine and James had already become phone pals. The plan with my sister Christine was that because by the time we finally would pull into the driveway, it would be too late for Christine to have dinner waiting for us.  So, she suggested for me and James to find someplace along the way to have dinner.  I said no problem because James is a foodie.  He knows all the best places to eat.  His facebook page is proof of that with some of the most scrumshus food shots posted on his fb.  But Christine and James had been talking and James told me that Christine called him and said that She and Robert placed a food order at a mom n' pop restaurant called Reins's Deli and all we had to do was just stop and pick up the order.  We got the food but we still had an hour behind the wheel before we would even arrive.  When we finally got to Christine's place, we attacked the food.

Because Christine had to work, I spent time with James the following day as well, while he was here in Christine's neck of the woods.  She really does live in the woods.  Christine was so nice and welcoming to let James spend the night instead of him having to drive all the way home again late at night and it gave us a lot more time to catch up the following day.   We went to lunch/brunch at a recommended favorite of Christine's and Robert's.  A long drive for me but just around the corner for the folks of CT.  We get there and it was closed.   So, we found a different place.  Very cute and very tasty.  I am just so bummed that I didn't snap pix of James and me eating together at this place.  Here is the link to a few pix from google.  View the "Vibe" photos to see what the place, Leo's, looks like.  I was sure I took photos but when I got home - nothing.  

Eventually I had to say good-bye to James and as he drove to the end of the driveway, I was just about to yell, STOP!! but it was too late.  I realized after the fact, that I didn't snap a good-bye photo.  I guess I was really living in the moment.  I hope his visit sticks into my memory until James finally comes out to CPH for a visit.  

Get your ass out here, James !  Time to get that passport stamped.

3 - Happy 80th Birthday, Pop !! - Visit w/ Christine and Robert

 

Christine made me promise her that I would not post this photo.  It was sooooo horrible.  It looked like we had spiderwebs all over our faces.  We actually cracked up over it, but she absolutely demanded, in no way was I to post it.  But this is actually a doctored version with all the spiderwebs softened and/or removed.  I hope it's ok now Christine.  I hope you now approve of this.  You are such a cutie that I just couldn't resist.

Christine had just returned from work.  What should I do with Eddie? - Christine asked Robert.  Take him for a walk where you walk the dogs, Robert suggested.  It's too hot - Christine argued.  And boy was it ever.  Hot and sticky.  As beautiful as this state is, I just wouldn't be able to handle the humidity.  But a walk we did, and it was a beautiful forest to sweat in. 

The following day, Christine had to work again.  While she was sweating away at work, Robert and I went to have brunch at their favorite place they talked about; where they suggested that James and I go to.    

A little hole in the wall from 1949.  The Laurel Diner.  It was like stepping back in time - a very tasty time.  

I don't remember now all that happened, and in which order because it's now several months later that I am telling this story.   What I do remember is that I ended up spending a lot of time with Robert and it was really nice.  He took me on a long car ride showing me the area.  Connecticut is really a beautiful state.  And when Christine came home from work, we had some really nice chats too.  Most of the time was spent relaxing and catching up on what has been going on.   Too much Jens stuff to talk about but we ended up talking about many other things and it was really nice to wash my head out with other subjects.  It was such a nice visit for me.   They kept me fed well, too.  Christine is an excellent chef and Robert knows the best restaurants.

One day just crashing out in the backyard 

by the pool and looking up 

admiring all the greenery and beautiful blue skies.

Just a quick selfie as we wait for Robert to pull out the car from the garage.

I have a huge smile on my face because of something

Christine said.  Christine always makes me crack up.

We are off on a drive to find a place to eat.

We come to an amazing fish restaurant.

We are able to eat in the outdoor garden area.  The restaurant is near a golf course and on the way there, we passed this this sign.  It immediately grabs my attention.  Victor Borge, a Dane, is a very well know musician in Denmark and a musical comic in the USA. Without knowing a word of English, he escaped the escalating German war by ship from Europe to the east coast of the US in 1940. 

One of Borge's other famous routines was "Phonetic Punctuation," in which he read a passage from a book and added exaggerated sound effects to stand for most of the main punctuation marks, such as periods, commas, and exclamations marks.  Another is his "Inflationary Language", in which he added one to every number or homophone of a number in the words he spoke.  For example: "once upon a time" would become "twice upon a time", "wonderful" becomes "twoderful", "forehead" becomes "fivehead, "anyone for tennis" becomes "anytwo five elevinnis", "I ate a tenderloin with my fork and so on and so forth" becomes "I nined an elevenderloin with my fivek, and so on and so fifth".

For not knowing a word of English in 1940, he sure learned to master the language almost overnight and became one of the biggest wealthiest comics of all time back in the early 40's to 60's, selling out one-man shows at Caringi Hall for quite a long time.  Lots of televisions recordings like on The Ed Sullivan Show and many others of that type.  He lived and died in Connecticut.  Half of his ashes are in CT and the other half in Denmark.  You can google a lot of videos on YouTube.  Victor Borge on wikipedia. 

Eventually it was time to say good-bye to my favorite east coast sister and her husband.  Christine and Robert were a little nervous about how I was going to get to JFK airport.  Christine really couldn't drive me there because she had to work.  Robert was limited to short drives as his arm was having difficulties.  I assured them that I didn't want to be driven all the way to JFK anyway.  I told them I would take the train.  I just needed a lift to the nearest train station.  I only knew of Bridgeport and Fairfield train stations about 45 minutes to one hour away.  But even that would be a long drive one way for me and both ways for Robert.  Christine and I talked about how maybe I could drive one way and Robert could drive back.  I ended up googling "Southbury to JFK" on public transport.  Last time I went from Manhattan to Southbury, it was on the Peter Pan bus.  Robert was sure I could get back to Manhattan via Peter Pan and that was what I really wanted to do.  I told Robert that Peter Pan doesn't stop anymore in Southbury.  Sure they do, he says, he saw a Peter Pan bus just the other day.  True he did see the bus as it is still running but the Southbury bus stop no longer exists.  We drove by the old bus stop just the day before to be sure and true enough, it was closed down.  I continued to google.  How funny that Robert and Christine didn't even know that there is a train station right in the next town just 25 minutes away.  It was so simple.  Then a 2½ hour train ride with 1 station transfer for $17.  No hassle with freeway traffic. Very easy going.  I gave myself plenty of time to see a bit of NYC as I needed to then switch train stations - Grand Central Station to Pennsylvania Station and then a train to JFK which also requires a train transfer from the Jamica Station to the airport on the AirTrain.

Eventually I got to JFK.  And thanks to my mom for letting me book a flight using her AA MasterCard miles, I didn't have to worry about flying stand-by.  However, I did have to worry about not losing my phone again.

4 - Happy 80th Birthday, Pop !! - Station to Station

While writing the last part of blog part 3, my thoughts made me title this blog part 4: Station to Station.  I guess it's because I had that album by David Bowie and it came to mind when I wrote that I needed to get from Grand Central Station to Penn Station.  Anywhoo...... As I mentioned at the end of blog part 3, I needed to get from station to station.  I think most people would have taken the underground train/metro. Especially in this heat.  But I gave myself time to walk the distance to take in the most iconic parts of Manhattan.  And take some time to stretch out my legs from the 2-hour train ride from Danbury, CT.  Plus, I still had another hour train ride to go.

Soon I am at the Pennsylvania Station.  I enjoyed this walk very much.  So glad I did it. Next challenge would be to figure out which one of the 100's of train platforms I need to get to and where to get off at, to get on the AirTrain to get to JFK

I made it.  Fairly easy and this was my first time.  I got to JFK in good time.  I still have my phone.  According to google maps I needed to take a bus which I was not looking forward to but that was wrong.  The AirTrain stopped right at the terminal - as I suspected it would.  Just step off of the train, go up the escalator and there you are, right at the check-in counters.  There was a very long line of people waiting to check in.  I walked up to the woman checking in passengers and asked, "Isn't there a do-it-yourself kiosk here?"  "Yes", she replied, "it's just around this wall."  I walked to the other side of the wall and almost had a heart attack.  There were nearly twice as many people.  The most stupid, idiotic thing about American Airlines is that you could not buy luggage space when booking the flight.  You could only do it at the airport and nobody knew what the funk they were doing - not even me.  Everybody was scrambling to get help from the few flight assistants that were there.  I was watching another couple in the line next to me.  The machine spit out their boarding pass.  They were getting ready to leave the check-in kiosk.  "Hey", I yelled at them, "Don't forget your boarding pass!"   "What?"   "Your boarding pass - don't forget your boarding pass!"  "What?"  4 times this went back and forth.  Finally, I just reached into the kiosk tray, grabbed the passes and slapped them into the man's hand and said, "Your gonna need these."    "Oh thank you, thank you."   I wonder if they still have their phones.  Now it was my turn to step up to the check-in kiosk.  I was talking and watching the guy in front of me to see how this thing works.  He got lucky and did it without a hitch.  He kind of stuck around while I was giving it a go.  Something went wrong but between the two of us, we were able to figure it out and then the kiosk spit out my boarding pass.  Praise ye jesus!  I am now on my way to sunny cali forn ni ay!

Eureka! I found it.

See what I did there :-)

According to Google maps, 

this is Sand Hook Bay in New Jersey 

(the 2 photos below), just south of JFK airport.

See how google maps matches my photo? (above)

5 - Happy 80th Birthday, Pop !! - LAX and Amtrak

I finally arrive in LAX.  The best option to visit my California family is to land at Orange County airport aka John Wayne International airport aka Santa Ana airport with code SNA.   This is the best option because it is only 7 minutes from Jay's house.  But to land here, I would have had to be at JFK by 4:30 am.   So LAX it was.  Jay said - no problem to pick you up from LAX as long as you arrive late in the night.  The flight landed at 9 pm and what a surprise that Jacob, my nephew, from Tennessee, his flight landed at 8:30 pm.  He just had to walk from T3 to T4 where I was, and we basically met right at the luggage carousel at the same time.  We went out to the street and there came Jay to pick us up and whisk us off to OC.  On the way home we stopped at In-N-Out Burger but just kept on driving to the next In-N-Out because there were 50 cars in line. It was about 10:30-ish at night. We ended up driving to 4 different In-N-Outs because they were all overloaded with cars in the drive-thru.  Everybody's got the munchies for In-N-Out.  WTF!  I think we ended up at McDonalds. 

So sorry, no photo of arrivals or burgers or any such things.  Only mostly text here.  It was a holiday weekend.  One of the reasons why I used my mother's AA miles was to not to have to fly stand-by and risk not making it to my own father's b-day party.  It was also planned that I would come early and help Jay set up tables, chairs, tents, decorations and such, the day before the party.  Jacob and I arrived on the 1st of September, which is my dad's birthday, but the party was on the 4th during the Labor Day weekend.  Jay had a whole long story why they, Jay, and my folks, would get together and celebrate on the 4th instead of the 1st.  

On Friday, the 3 of us drove down to Ocean Side where we were to meet my mother.  We dropped off Jacob with my mother and she drove him back to her house.  My dad had no idea that Jacob was in town.  It was a surprise.  And boy was my father pleasantly surprised.  Also, my dad had no idea that a party for him was still to come.

There were so many things that happened, and I can't remember them all or in the right order, so I am just going to throw them out here for free viewing.  On this blog we will start with the train travel between Jay's house and my folk's house.  I also used Amtrak for transportation to DTLA a couple of times.  But that will be in another blog story.  I bet you can hardly wait.

My mother offered me her car and Jay offered me her car but the last thing I wanted to do, was to drive the freeways of southern CA.  Christine and Robert raised their eyebrows when I told them I want to take public transportation to JFK.   My family thinks I have gone off the deep end for taking public transport instead of a car.  But this is what I am now used to and prefer it.  

OK - All of the following pix have been shot thru a heavily tinted train window with non-lighting speed involved.  For most of them, I could remove the yellow hue and soften the screen, but they are still a bit blotchy.

There are a few options for those into overnight "camping" along the coast.

This is one of my favorite spots to have lunch.  The restaurant and bar are built on long, tall, wooden pilings.  The restaurant and bar are actually above the water with the waves breaking underneath while you eat.  Check out the Fisherman's Restaurant and Bar in San Clemente. 

Below:  This is the Oceanside Transit Center station about 35 minutes from my parent's house.  Even with public transport, one is still required to have help from a friend, family member or taxi to complete the trip.  Unless of course you are staying at one of the nearby surf-side hotels.  Then it's only a 7-minute walk from the station to complete your journey.

And the hotel is literally next to the tracks.

Where you see the traffic lights, is where the tracks are at.

Where it gets really crazy is where the tracks are almost 

about to be washed away by the waves.  

Notice that in part of the video above 

and the photo below, 

that I am pointing the camera almost straight down.

The waves are crashing just a few feet/meters from the tracks.

Now I know why there were life preservers under the train seats.

OK - really?  And just what exactly is this fence supposed to be doing?   

Keeping the train from falling into the ocean or keeping the sealions 

from hitching a free ride to San Deigo?

6 - Happy 80th Birthday, Pop !! - Girls on Film

When my best friend George, whom I will now call Carlos, found out I was coming to CA again, he said to me, "Ok, Eddie, instead of me coming out to your sister's house for the weekend, I'd like to make it a special visit."  He offered, " Do you want to go see Moulin Rouge at the Pantages or do you want to see Duran Duran at the Bowl?"

For those of you who don't know what the Bowl is. 

The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheater in the Hollywood Hills.

Notice the Hollywood sign at the top of the photo on the right.

It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in the US.

It opened 100 years ago in July 1922.

If you read my travel blog from my CA visit in February, then you will recall that Carlos took me to see Hamilton at the Pantages.  So.... been there, done that.  "OK", I said, "Let's do the Bowl", taking him up on his offer.  Not because I wanted to see that old, tired music group from the 80's but because it's probably 40+ years ago since I have been to the Bowl.  Plus, it was summer and it's outdoors and it would be a nice experience no matter who was on stage.

But before we get to the Bowl, Carlos wants to show me an installation at the Broad, which he also took me to the last time I was in town.  The art exhibition was free, but he didn't know you had to have reservation for this one particular installation.  So, we went to see something else instead.  A work from a Japanese artist.

That's the museum behind Carlos' head.

After the museum, we took the metro to Hollywood to get some dinner for the concert.  We stopped at a Lebanese take-away restaurant and then off to Trader Joe's for some wine.  Then we dragged it all, along with an entire camping kitchen that Carlos had schlepped around with him all over LA.  We were going to make a very special musical pic-nic at the Bowl.  

Carlos has a special transportation pass.  We just had to make our way to the shuttle van.  It was up 100 steps or so behind the Dolby Theater where the Acadamy awards are presented to the Oscars winners.  The van takes off and it moves just a little bit faster than walking speed because off all the traffic - one of the reasons I didn't want to do a car in So. Ca.   I brought an umbrella with me that my mother let me borrow. The news said that there was a storm over the Pacific on the way towards California. On the train from Oceanside to DTLA, the umbrella was so old and unused that a few plastic parts started to fall off of it just while I was carrying it.  I was wondering what it would do once it came time to opening it.  I was also hoping that I wouldn't need to open it.  It was very close there for a while.  There came a few drops as we were about to walk into Trader Joe's supermarket.  When we came out, everything was slightly wet, but the drops had stopped.  

OK, so now we are slowly, very very slowly approaching the Bowl.  Carlos is worried because we should have been there by now and we should be sitting at one of the few tables available, eating dinner before the concert starts.  Finally, the van pulls into the lot, stops, opens the door and all 20 passengers stampede to the entrance.  I was the last one out.  I have no idea where Carlos zoomed off to and I have no idea where to go.  Zillions of people are walking in every direction.  Finally, I see Carlos waving me down with a look on his face that translated to: get your old man ass over here, PRONTO!  "Oh god, Eddie", Carlos worryingly says to me as we start to feel a drop here and a drop there fall upon us.  "I hope it doesn't rain."  He says this while we are in line to get in.  We are next and we have to go thru security.  They check his pic-nic trunk.  Most people had a pic-nic basket.  But not Carlos.  He has a pic-nic trunk.  It has everything.  Silverware, fine porcelain, lead based crystal wine glasses, The finest cotton weave tablecloth with matching napkins.  It has everything, even running water.  No, wait! that's water from the sky.  Now it's starting to pour down, just as it is my turn to be checked thru security.  Then the guard says to me, "Sorry, sir.  No umbrellas"  

What ?!!!  

"No umbrellas", he repeats.  

I said, "You're kidding me!"  

"No sir, You'll have to go over there and check it in."  

I look "over there" to where he was pointing.  A long line of people doing who knows what.  

I said, "I'm not going over there to stand in a long line to check in a crumbling umbrella, just take it", I whined.  

"No, sir.  I'm sorry. I cannot do that. You'll have to check it in yourself", he sternly said to me.  

Loudly, and frustrated I said, "No way am I moving from this line to that line."  I took the umbrella, and I just chucked it as far as I could away from the line.  While the guard is still rummaging through my backpack, I hear someone say, "Hey! There's an umbrella her!  Did someone lose an umbrella?  Did someone drop an umbrella?"  

I shouted back, "It's yours now!"  

"What!?"  

I repeated even louder, "It's yours now!"  

Again, he said What???

I turned my back.  I don't have time for this.  We gotta hurry and find a table to sit at so we can eat before the show starts.  We have Middel Eastern dolmas to consume.  White wine to swim in.  I need to wipe my greasy lips on fine linen.  Ah anit got no time for no umbrella babysittin'!   

Dude is at a concert and he's wasting time trying find a home for a broken umbrella!  sheese!

Poor umbrella.  Nobody wants it.

OK - so we are thru security and making a mad rush to find a table.  We get upstairs and we get a chance to breath because there are a lot of tables to choose from.  Why?  It's pouring down rain and who wants to eat in the rain?  All the tables and chairs are soaking wet.  We decided that we are not going to let the rain bum us out.  We'll just sit here and proudly and joyfully take it in.  It turned out we laughed, we gobbled, we talked to each other, and we talked with other joyful people around us.  The food was delish and so was the wine. With all the stuff Carlos brought with him, it was like a 5-star pic-nic.

We got such joy from meeting this guy.  93. Plays tennis.

Came to see Duran Duran.  

Amazing.

Eventually I wised up and stated to look around for a trash can.  "Hey Carlos, do you see a trashcan anywhere around?"  He knew I was up to something no good.  His shock and horror grew as he saw that I had spotted a trashcan and started to make my way towards it.  His mouth dropped when he saw me digging around in the trashcan like a homeless person.  A few other people looked at me like that too - like, omg! that guy is wearing a plastic bag, eating and drinking out of the trash can!

Do I look like a homeless drunken bum?

I just knew that there were fresh clean plastic bags at the bottom of the can so I opened the can and reached into the bottom of it and pulled out a fresh clean roll of plastic bags.  Ripped a bag off of the roll and made me a rainsuit.  I wore it through the entire concert as it rained the entire evening.  Imagine, it was freaking hot my entire time on the east coast and the west coast.  The one day I want to sit out in the evening to hear some music, was the one day it rained.  All we could do was laugh.  And laugh we did.  We had such an amazing time.  

I had no idea who was going to be the warm up act.  Carlos didn't even mention it.  I don't think he even knew who it would be.  It was a group called Le Chic. The leader of the group is Nile Rodgers whom I don't know.  Or so I thought I didn't know.  It turns out he is a writer, producer and musician.  He's worked with such big stars as Dianna Ross, David Bowie, Madonna, Debby Harry, and Duran Duran for example.  It turns out, I knew all the songs.  Carlos and I had a blast tuning back time to the 70's and 80´s, dancing in the aisle, under the stars, soaking wet.

All the best shots and video are on his camera, I took a few.  Some of these are from Carlos' camera.  We had no idea of what the "snow" was in the search light.

All the videos here are low quality, grainy and bouncy.  

But it's what I have.

And of course, you can just go to YouTube for the good stuff.

These are just fun memories for me.

Here come Niels and Le Chic

And now for the headliner band, Duran Duran.  Here I was thinking they would be no big deal, but they put on a fantastic show, and I couldn't believe that I knew all the songs.  It was a blast dancing and singing to the tunes of Duran Duran, with Carlos in the rain, but no Gene Kelly umbrella.

click here to listen

Now it is the end of the concert with a 100-year anniversary fireworks celebration.