Frankenfurter

So back to reality with the Frankfurt Book Fair. Geoff and I did everything ourselves this year. Cocksy's got no cause for concern - Geoff decided a crowbar was the best way to coax our storage crates open (ably assisted by the requisite grumpy German warehouse manager).

Meanwhile I grovelled around on the floor with a drill.

But all went well in the end, and only one fight later (which is a new world record), here's our little stand all set up and ready to go,

with all our beautiful books.

Geoff scrubbed up pretty well too.

Now just the small issue of 45 meetings in 3 days...pass the vodka!

The Arch gets his groove on

The launch of Tutu: The Authorised Portrait took place on Thursday at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town. Upon arrival the Arch was presented with a Tibetan scarf by a representative of the Dalai Lama which he wore throughout the event.

Mpho Tutu, daughter and co-author, commenced proceedings with a prayer (I mean how else do you start a book launch for an archbishop?!). 

Followed by Bono, who officially launched the book.

And then sang "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" to the Arch, backed by the Soweto Gospel Choir. Allister Sparks, co-author also spoke and took the opportunity to once again castigate the government for not granting the Dalai Lama a visa to attend Tutu's birthday celebrations, calling it "a disgraceful insult". 

Artists from the Philani Clinic, of whom Tutu is patron, then presented the fresco we commissioned based on the cover image of the book to Tutu, followed by more performances from the Soweto Gospel Choir. 

There were some hilarious moments – Tutu didn't think the artists had painted his nose big enough and his Elvis-like dance moves had everyone up and dancing in the aisles. The event concluded with personal thanks from Tutu to everyone involved in making the book, including a lovely tribute to PQB.

The event was covered by all major media outlets and coverage in Friday's newspapers was blanket in South Africa as well as making most international media.

All in all it was the most joyous book launch Geoff or I have ever attended, truly a special experience and I couldn't think of a better way to dive back into work. A pretty awesome start to re-immersing myself in work.

If anyone's interested in the media links I have listed them here. Mr K (seen here with Arch and a visitor from the Hawke's Bay) and I even made the BBC!

BBC UK: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15210086

The Guardian UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/06/desmond-tutu-birthday-party-anc

Times South AFrica: http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2011/10/07/bono-serenades-desmond-tutu

Mail & Guardian South Africa: http://mg.co.za/article/2011-10-06-bono-serenades-tutu--the-only-rock-star-in-room

SABC: http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/921d9700489845e68d1aef742f1f380f/Bono-hails-Tutu-20111006 and http://www.sabc.co.za/news/f1/0ef0718048966e029529d5c2cc8d6636/Tutu---The-Authorised-Portrait-20111006

Cape Argus: http://www.iol.co.za:80/capeargus/honouring-our-80-year-old-hero-1.115269

MSNBC US: http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/06/8188128-desmond-tutus-80th-birthday-dance

Voice of America: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/southern/South-Africas-Desmond-Tutu-Marks-80th-Birthday-131358818.html

Huffington Post USA: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/07/praise-for-desmond-tutu_n_996029.html

It's been great...

but all good things must come to an end. Booooo!!! And so whilst I was ready to depart, Greece wasn't and decided to be on strike on the very day of my departure - no buses, no trains and no taxis. Is the universe trying to tell me something?!

The lovely lady at the hotel in Hydra phoned a friend in Piraeus who is a taxi driver by trade and wasn't working - because he's on strike - and he agreed to pick me up from the boat and drive me to the airport in his personal car. For a small fee of course. All very covert because he can't be seen to be working. Hilarious.

And so I arrive in Paris as the leaves are turning, and only the hardiest of street vendors are plying their wares, and somehow it seems appropriate that I finish my travels as the autumn wind is nipping at my heels.

Naturally I'd quite happily do it all over again but the only thing missing is all of you!  It's been lovely however to have you all along for the journey, and thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your company, but for now I must bid you adieu.

In the meantime feel free to keep checking back in this week for details of the Archbishop's birthday celebrations - it should be fun!

Au revoir mes amie.

Rxx

Lunch in Hydra

...just to make a change from Lunch in Provence. Although the only real difference is my "chevre chaud" was substituted for "salade Grecque" - ie. "la meme merde, differente de jour".

Not that I'm complaining, I could happily live on feta, olives and lettuce leaves with lashings of olive oil for quite some time.

The views however make all the difference!

This was my favourite - the tiniest little fishing port you've ever seen, overlooked by a family restaurant where you can sit on the verandah all afternoon drinking white wine with authentic Greek music playing gently in the background. Perfect!

Floater!

There was great excitement at my little beach the other day when someone spotted what appeared to be a dead body floating in the water.

An obliging Adonis swam out to investigate further and it turned out to be an elaborate prank.

Someone had sewn a shirt to some jeans and then stuffed them with packaging to make it float.

One way to get us all talking though!

When the cat's away

Well, they're not away but rather in charge! I have finally discovered the cats of Greece and they all seem to live in Hydra. They are everywhere! But look at that face - awwww...!

They seem to have the human population well under control - as you walk along the cliff edge or around the town you'll see little piles of cat biscuits that the locals leave out.

Each shop has at least one, if not two or three, feline talismans.

Even the street vendors.

And then of course there's always the "I'm so cute" act for the unsuspecting tourist crowds just to make sure one doesn't go hungry.

And to be fair they earn it...

This is your average dog, of which there are many in Santorini, and always in this position. Slackers!

Donkey kong

The coolest thing about Hydra is that cars and scooters are banned by law and the only transport is on foot or by donkey. So welcome to your taxi queue from the arriving ferry.

As my balcony is literally right on the port I watch the freight boats unloading their freight every morning. The donkeys are all so patient and I feel sorry for them weighed down by everything from vegetables to terracotta roof tiles. The driver's 'trill' to the donkeys to tell them what to do - which is really quite calming for the humans as well.

This rather appealed. If you look closely the donkey has a disabled sticker on his saddle. I can't work out if it means he's for disabled passengers, or whether he's disabled...

but I suspect this guy is about to be!

This driver seemed to have his charge under rather more control, even turning around to strike a pose for me.

Heavenly Hydra

The final destination in my quick peruse of the Greek islands was Hydra. It's part of the Saronic group of islands and is home to Mt Eros which is apparently where the original statue of Venus de Milo was discovered.  This is the main port - my hotel is immediately to the left of the tower as you're looking at the picture.

And hence this is the view from my balcony.

The coastline is stunning - and very much Homer territory, you expect Odysseus to come charging up a cliff face at any minute.

There are no beaches as such, more like pebbles, but the water is a stunning colour and once you get used the rocks is gorgeous for swimming.

All interspersed with respectably distanced cafes and bars just to make sure you don't get too thirtsy along the way.

Loved this - some trickster has perched a garden chair atop a wooden pile for the ultimate coast front view.

Paros... was closed

Paros is pretty quiet, and although it's refreshingly free of cruise boat touring parties it wouldn't be first on my list of the Cycladic islands to return to.

Parikia is the main port with the requisite fishing boats.

I quite liked this one - not sure if the sign means they do laundry as well as fishing, or just that their fish are very clean?

The town itself is flat but quite nice, with some lovely shops, artists studios and surprisingly good restaurants.

My favourite was a vegetarian restaurant I discovered on my last night run by two queens who'd done it up a la Rio meets Vegas meets K Rd. They insisted on giving me a guided tour of bathroom - which I must admit was pretty amazing. The food wasn't bad either! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me - they were the most exciting discovery I made during my entire visit.

The weather was pretty lousy so went to Aliki, the next port down the coast, for a dive with an Italian marine biologist who trains dive instructors in her spare time. Pretty amazing to see bits of 2,500 year old amphora lying around the sea bed. For obvious reasons again I didn't have my camera on me, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Sayonara Santorini

I so didn't want to leave but Nikolas had an entire wedding party checking in and turfed me out, so it's off to Paros I go. As I flew to Santorini I decided to get the ferry to depart - leaving from the port is quite spectacular as the island literally rises straight out of the sea.

The ferry called at Naxos on the way - a very cute little fishing village.

And a rather impressive ruin as you sail into the port. Although I suspect there's not a lot else going on...

I arrived into Paros just as the sun was setting... to discover my 'traditional house' in the old town was so traditional it had a cockroach the size of a small domestic cat presiding over the bathroom. By this time it was dark so I braved the night and swiftly checked into a much better class of establishment at first light. I don't do cockroaches!