Partying in Europe

Well, much to my surprise I have survived another Bela Vista event - supposedly the last, but we'll see. As you may recall, I doubted I'd be along this time, due to cost, but sanity prevailed.

Getting there and back is the worst part. I took my window seat at Mascot, next to a large couple and resigned myself to my fate. Then I discovered my meal tray was broken - no, no upgrade, alas, but I was moved to a four in the middle, with only one bloke on the other aisle, so I had two seats to Kuala Lumpur. Then to Vienna I had an aisle with a slim girl in the window, so we shared the middle seat. The worst part is arriving in Vienna at 6am and having to wait for a 10.30 flight to Kiev. Had coffee, breakfast and a Bloody Mary!

I was a "surprise" to most of the Bela Vistans already in Kiev, and that worked quite well. I had the first night off to get over jetlag and hid in a quiet corner of the bar. One of our mob returned to his friends in the foyer and said, "There's a bloke in the bar who looks just like Hugh O'Keefe!"

But after that, it was five nights on the trot - a shonky, honkytonk grand in Kiev and the world's smallest electronic keyboard in Tiblisi - God, how I hate them! I didn't mind the five nights as I would have been in the bar anyway. But for three of them I went to bed when everyone went out for the evening and got up at 10.30 to be at the keyboard when they returned. Mostly a 2am finish, 3.30 on the last night.

Didn't see much of Kiev as I was only there a day and two nights. Went to the huge outdoor war memorial on the Sunday - quite spectacular - and had a Russian themed lunch - much stodge and potatoes. Then to the Kiev Opera House for "Manon Lescaut" - dead boring but beautifully sung. Then me on the honkytonk (the advantage of crook pianos is that I can blame them for all the mistakes).

Monday, all in pink, we flew to Tibilisi, capital of Georgia. Charter jet, great food and service and plenty of room. We flew over the Caucasus, as I wrote in my previous blog. Arrived in the tin shed that is the International Airport to be greeted by flag-waving masses. Turned out Georgia's judo team had just won the world title. But we didn't half feel silly all in pink.

The Marriot Georgia was a most luxurious hotel and my "piano" was in the hotel bar. Got friendly with the bar staff who wouldn't let me pay for drinks as I was a fellow worker - shades of the old Soviet. They are very friendly and honest people. Last night there, on my own, I got a taxi from the Old Town to the hotel. When I gestured "How much?" the old driver shrugged, so I gave him 5 lari (about $3). He didn't look happy, so I threw in another two lari and then he beamed! So much for international communications.

By the way, Georgia has its own alphabet which is no use to anyone but themselves, so forget about street signs and the like.

Had some wonderful food there - tomatoes you could eat like an apple (not since my childhood), fresh produce and all varieties of cold meats, and a wonderful thing they do with walnuts: mash them up into a sort of pate and add them to salads - yummy! And Georgia is famous for its wines, both red and white (esp. a lovely pinot grigio style). Russia used to be their main market, but while the two countries are at loggerheads over Georgia's drift to the West, Russia has embargoed their import. All the more for us.

Had the strangest day out to the Stalin Museum (!?) (Where, pray tell, is the Hitler museum?) He was born in Gori, an hour or so from Tibilisi. His two room birthplace is now a shrine and the Museum is huge, but a little scanty when it gets round to the gulags. Had our group photo taken under "one of the few remaining statues of Stalin in the world". Well, yes. Then had lunch and a barbecue by the river on a gloriously sunny day (they all were) and were entertained by schoolkids who did the most wondrously acrobatic dancing and drumming. The youngest, about eight, was a terrible showoff and we all wanted to take him home.

One day we had a garden party, dressed as woodland pixies and fairies, in the old part of town by the river. A highlight was the vodka still - mmm, very fresh. (In both countries vodka is served with meals along with the red and white wine.)

It was great to meet up with so many friends (about 100 of us), some who haven't been to the dos for over ten years - pity about my memory. A newcomer was Victor, a young up-and-coming concert pianist from Germany - very matinee idol. Of course I didn't let him anywhere near my awful keyboards and on the last night of farewells I said to him, "I'm so sorry I never heard you play, and just as sorry you did hear me play!" But he was very kind.

This has gone on long enough, sorry I can't do pictures (so come to Luke and Jamie's) and I'll save London and Devon for the next entry.

Hugh