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Nik in the kitchen of the Basque eating club
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 the 28 of 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 ten minutes later none of would
have been able to board the plane!
The only upside to two 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 Ghent 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 Ghent 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 (Second 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.
all text© 2006 Nancy Denny-Phelps