Our last few weeks in San Francisco were very intense -- as many of you who helped us get out of the city know. ASIFA threw an amazing going away party for us replete with fabulous food and did the wine flow. There is no way we can thank Laura Tuluse and the crew of volunteers that she recruited, those who made and donated so much delicious food, and of course Carl and Sandra of Carl's Fine Film for giving us the most perfectly beautiful location.
Miss P. threw a real bash for us -- jam packed with so many friends -- people that we love so much -- lots of good food and again lots of wonderful drink -- we partied into the wee hours!!! Our last night in town we had a few of our very closest pals over to just eat, drink and hang out at Michael Lyon's home -- hard to believe that he actually put up with Nik and I plus our two beloved dogs and all of our stuff for so long!!! Nik actually set up a recording studio in his living room and recorded several episodes of MONSTORIES that had to be in Canada before we could get on the plane. Nik was totally amazing the way he just kept forging ahead and writing music in what to most seemed like total chaos but was becoming frighteningly normal to us!!!
The big day finally arrived and preparing for one last visit to our beloved beach we looked out the window only to discover that our car had been towed that night -- we thought it was the Gods were having one last cosmic laugh on us!!! It took two cars and a truck to get us, our 11 pieces of luggage (including an 88 key electronic piano, and of course, the two dogs and their kennels. However, it wasn't such a karmic laugh when we got to the airport where we were told that the dogs could not fly because there was an embargo on animal flight until October due to heat. I explained first to the counter person and then her supervisor that the dogs were already booked in, air cargo had all ready cleared them, and that further we had NO home or vehicle to go back to and we had to be in Portugal to perform by 10 May .
The powers that be said we would have to go to British Air Cargo to clear up the matter -- this turned out to be easier said than done!!! With Peter Doty driving the truck with Nik and the dogs in their kennel and Dot Jensen and I in a car (the rest of our baggage was checked in but on hold at the ticket counter) it was like the Keystone Cops with us alternately finding and losing each other for the next two hours because the baggage counter couldn't really give us directions -- all they would say was "It's very difficult to find!" One would assume that they would have a map to give us, but of course - no. It is hard to believe that so many inept people work at SF International Airport but everyone we asked for directions sent us in a different direction . . . It was a real nail biter with the flight take off time clock ticking away!!!
Finally, almost by accident we found British Air Cargo only to be told that Nik, Peter and the dogs had just left to go back to the ticket counter, all was cleared up and the dogs could fly with us. Turns out that the ban goes into effect 1 May and it was only 28 April (which is why I had booked us for the end of April instead of the 1st of June). The person in charge of animal air flight couldn't believe the stupidity of the ticket counter and must have given them a good bit of hell over the phone because Dot and I got back to the ticket desk to find Nik with the dogs almost ready to board, if we had gotten there 10 minutes later none of would have been able to board the plane!!!
The only upside to 2 hours of chasing all over South San Francisco is that the airline did not charge us for the dogs or 11 pieces of luggage that we had-- a savings of more than $1,000.00. The only sad note was that we were rushed to the gate and did not get to give Peter and Dot a proper good-by hug and kiss!!!
We thought that the worst was over and all was smooth flying from then on -- I hate to fly, but that was one plane that I was very happy to be on!!! But, nothing is truly easy!!! We landed in Heathrow, London and got to our connecting flight gate to Amsterdam only to be told that the airport vet was worried about one of our dogs and did not feel that it was fit to fly, but they would give us no details - only that we must go to customer service and call the vet. Turns out that at SFO -- that bastion of fuck up -- they did not put our vet’s report on the dog’s cages which would have explained that Molly was lame and pants rather heavily normally, so the British doctor was worried that she had been wounded during the flight and was in great distress. After clearing this hurdle up it turns out that we could now not get a flight out until 7:00 PM -- a five hour wait.
Finally in Amsterdam and the inevitable --- four of our eleven pieces are missing, but Molly and Kirby arrive in great shape and ready for adventure. The very animal loving Brits had put Molly in Kirby's extra large kennel and Kirby was transferred to a massive hand made wooden affair -- almost big enough for Nik and I to live in. What with all of the luggage, the 88 key piano, and the two dogs, we could barely fit into the rented station wagon and were forced to leave the kennels at Amsterdam airport -- it was actually a good thing that they lost our luggage because we could not have fit in another four pieces. By now it is after midnight and we head off to Gent in pouring rain -- but at least we are all four on the ground and together again!!!
Sunday dawns gray and rainy but that cannot dampen the excitement of the four travelers who awake in our rented station wagon outside of our friend Rob’s house. We didn’t want to wake him when we arrived at 4 AM. It is very cold – unseasonably so –and of course no luggage arrives on Sunday – and yesterday was 1 May (May Day) a European national holiday and so no luggage again.
8 May, Monday We have been in Gent a week and it has been so packed full of things to do that it seems as if I never have any time to write *****I’m sitting in a little bar on the coast of Spain drinking tea (yes dear hearts I do drink tea not wine in the morning) We drove through France – there is nothing quite like French countryside in the spring – daffodils and lilacs everywhere and no where is there food to compare!!! Even Nik found the pastry too rich to eat two at one sitting!!! Crossing the border into Spain we reached Bilboa and Besauri where we received a very warm reception at the Anima Basauri 2 (2nd Basauri Animation International Film Festival). Our dear friend, Signe Bauman, from New York was invited to present a retrospective of her work at the Fest and invited us to join her on our way to Lisbon – we were given a royal reception.
We arrived just as the filmmakers and staff were finishing a fabulous lunch at one of the famous private Spanish Eating Clubs and even though we were not hungry they insisted that we try some of the delicious food and it was indeed as wonderful as I had always read that it would be!!!
The Festival, in it’s second year, is small but the director ------------------- is a woman of great energy and she and her staff have brought together a wonderful group of peole involved in the world of animation. We became immediate friends with a journalist and his girl friend from Barcellona and a Mexican animator and his girlfriend. This year Mexico was the honored country and there was an opportunity to view a wide range of films from there which are normally not seen in the US.
Unfortunately we arrived for only the last two days of the Festival and didn’t get to see as much animation as I would have liked but made many new friends and partied a lot! Saturday night’s in Bilboa are like Carnival – every Saturday night – the custom is to go from bar to bar in old town – inside and out – and drink one drink at each bar and then move to the next one == all night long and of course, every so often a plate of tapas is passed around. By three A M the streets were still jammed with people and broken glass covered the streets and bar room floors. There was much laughing, joking and sillyness in several languages!
Sunday morning we awoke to a very quiet townand finally settled in to spend the day watching animation. Then closing the closing night awards ceremony and back to parting – after much food and drink at the theatre we head back to the Eating Club.
