London Calling

We arrived in London last Saturday afternoon on the Eurostar, and Sophie's cousin picked us up with her driver in a silver Mercedes. For those of you that haven't been paying too much attention, we flew from New Caledonia to London at the behest of the United Nations International Maritime Organization to receive a medal for the rescue we did in Fiji last year.

Anyway, from the train station, Sophie's cousin took us to the Sanderson in SoHo to drop off our bags and then we went to have afternoon tea at one of the best spots to do so in London. Contrary to my understanding of the thing, afternoon tea has little to do with drinking tea, and more to do with eating dozens of different delicacies, mostly in the form of tiny little sandwiches with the bread crusts cut off. These are offered in all-you-can-eat fashion and followed by scones and clotted cream, so by the end we waddled back to the hotel and passed out for the night.

On Sunday we walked around our neighborhood and down to the river Thames. It was quite a treat for me to visit Trafalgar Square, an homage to one of the greatest seafarers ever. That evening we met with Lindsey and Ian from Maritime New Zealand to go over the details of the ceremony on Monday night. They gave us a wonderful welcome and took us out to a great little Spanish restaurant for tapas.

Monday was the big event at IMO headquarters just on the other side of the Thames. We arrived at 4:30 in the afternoon and waited in a hall while the Assembly was finishing up their business for the day. At 6:00 they shuffled us into the assembly room and we realized just how big of a deal this was. There were about 500 delegates from 126 different countries, a large stage with a podium, video cameras and a gaggle of photographers, with a battery of translators behind plate glass above the room. They were there to present the awards for Exceptional Bravery at Sea and a series of certificates to all of the navies that have sent warships to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia to fight piracy. Aside from us, the front row was populated by admirals and CO's from around the world in full livery. They first presented letters of commendation and certificates to various crews of merchant and military ships for exceptional acts of bravery. Then our turn was up for the medal and they actually read a long account of the rescue we performed. Secretary-General Mitropoulos invited us up on stage and we shook hands with all of the dignitaries there. Mr. Mitropoulos was very generous in his praise and even asked me permission if he could kiss my wife. Once we received our medal I said a few words of thanks, especially for New Zealand–who nominated us for the award and sponsored our trip to London– and the NZ RCC which had been so critically helpful during the rescue, and we took our seats.

The second medal was given to AST2 Abram Heller, a US Coast Guard rescue swimmer who saved 8 people in harrowing conditions off the coast of Alaska. During a severe winter storm.

Later that evening, after the ceremony for the navies, we all went upstairs for a reception. We spent the time meeting some of the most powerful people on the sea and we got to hear some great sea stories. The whole time Lindsay and Ian took wonderful care of us and made sure we never lacked an audience or had an empty glass in hand.

On Tuesday night we were invited to the U.S. Coast Guard's reception aboard the HQS Wellington, a beautiful restored ship moored in the Thames. Again we met some very interesting folks, including the Commandant of the USCG who, we found out, went to high school in my neighborhood.

The next morning we took a flight back to San Francisco and we spent the 10 hours reliving this incredible experience in our minds.

Paris

Last week we landed in Paris after a 22 hour trip from San Francisco. The extra fun-time was spent changing airports in London during a 4 hour layover, taking a packed train through Paris' less glamorous neighborhoods and finishing off with a taxi ride to Sophies' cousins' apartment. We had a wonderful welcome "chez les Tallepieds" who have a beautiful apartment with a close-up view of the Eiffel Tower.

We spent the next 3 days holding court to a steady stream of family and friends, some of whom came from quite far away to see us during our short stay. We even got to meet the newest member of the family: Ivan Riou!

I was hit with the worst jet lag I've ever had and spent most of my days nodding off impolitely, and my nights wide awake in bed, trying not to move or breathe too loudly so as not to incur Sophie's wrath, as she was sleeping soundly.

One night we had a particularly eclectic gathering in the Tallepied's living room which included a fashion agent, aerospace engineer, IT consultant, photographer and lighting designer, fashion strategist/guru, and the two of us straight out of the sub-tropics. At some point in the evening we realized that Sophie would be the first woman to receive the IMO's award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea, and the notion took off like wildfire. It was still early and the number of empty wine bottles didn't yet outnumber the people in the room, but suddenly everyone was yelling and fussing about the best way to get this important news out. Within minutes the French wire services were on the phone, press releases were being typed and finessed, and personal networks were being worked. Not sure anything came of the effort, but it was a lot of fun and a bit impressive to see all of these professionals, a couple of them at the top of their game in the Paris creative/fashion scene, go to work on a problem. Almost made me want to go back to work.

On Saturday morning we took the Eurostar to London. What a way to travel! Much more comfortable than a plane, and door-to-door, much faster.

Update on London will be next...

United Nations Award in London

We're back in Noumea from our trip to Vanuatu. It's nice to be back in a marina surrounded by civilization. We must be getting soft. The rest of our trip was exciting, with visits to some wonderful villages, no more fish despite lots of effort, and head winds the whole time, so lot's of slamming into it and lots of motoring, rain, blech.

Here is a photo of the striped marlin we got on the way to Erromango, mentioned in the last post. Biggest fish of the trip.

Today's headline is that in 2 days we will be jumping on a plane (or series of them) bound for London where the United Nations will be awarding us medals for the rescue we did in Fiji last year (read about the rescue). The award is for "Exceptional Bravery at Sea". We were nominated by the New Zealand Government and they are very kindly sponsoring our trip out to London for the awards ceremony. Although we knew we'd been nominated, we were very surprised–and deeply honored–by the IMO's decision. The IMO (International Maritime Organization) is the United Nations' division which oversees all things maritime. Sophie and I will be sharing the medal with a U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer who saved 8 lives in severe winter weather off Alaska. We're humbled to be in that kind of company.

We will be stopping in California to drop the kids off, spend a few days recuperating from the trip, and then go on to Paris then London for the ceremony on the 23rd. Then back to California just in time for Thanksgiving.

We will post some pictures from London which, in November, will be quite a contrast from Noumea–where summer is just kicking off.

Un peu de français maintenant:

Nous sommes de retour en Nouvelle Calédonie après un mois super au Vanuatu. Nous avons reçu un accueil incroyable et découvert de nouveaux paysages. Les Vanuatais ont toujours un grand sourire et sont trés contents de partager leur culture. Malheureusement, le vent n'a pas toujours coopéré et nous nous sommes souvent retrouvés au pré serré ou le vent dans le pif! Nous avons également eu le plaisir d'avoir Coralie et son copain Greg à bord d'Océalys.

Nous nous envolons dans 2 jours vers la Californie puis Londres. Pourquoi Londres??
Et bien, nous avons eu la grande surprise d'apprendre que nous avions été nominés par l'ONU - pour être plus précise, l'IMO ( International Maritime Organization), branche maritime de l'ONU - afin de recevoir le prix "d'exceptionnelle bravoure en mer" pour le sauvetage du bateau Timela l'année dernière à Fiji!! Nous sommes donc invités à recevoir notre médaille à Londres. Bien évidemment, nous sommes vraiment trés honorés de recevoir cette distingtion. Nous voilà donc en route vers Londres.... la vie est pleine de surprises.

Sur un autre sujet, encore plus émotionel, nous avons remis les cendres de mon père dans ce lagon calédonien qu'il aimait tant. Après 2 années de voyage dans mon équipet, entre mes bonnets et mes chaussettes, il est enfin de retour au pays de ses rêves. Massimo et Annabelle sont convaincus que "grand-père" va se réincarner en dauphin. Après avoir débatu entre un requin, un poisson perroquet, une tortue ou un dauphin, ils se sont mis d'accord sur le dauphin, le plus sympa de tous! et qui ne risquait pas de se faire piquer par un chasseur sous-marin.
Une page est tournée et c'est avec un coeur allégé que j'ai dit mon dernier aurevoir à mon père.