I finally landed in London to find that all direct flights to Prague were fully booked. If I wanted to be home in Prague before the start of Yom Kippur, the only option was to take two Lufthansa flights, one to Munich and then another on to Prague. In effect, it was going to take me almost a long to get from London to Prague as it did from New York to London. Such is how crazy travel can be.
At least I managed to get about four hours quality sleep on board my trans-Atlantic flight. Beforehand, I was able to have a very pleasant chat with a lovely and most intelligent lady from Hong Kong. She's an environment engineer and works for her small family business. Her name was Phoebe Lam, and I was most amused when the menu was given out and we were asked to select our main course for the dinner service, that Ms, Lam actually chose the lamb!
Your aunt Rachel is always accusing me of talking to everyone. Well, it's true. I do try to engage with people around me. i have to say that it often reaps terrific rewards. People can be so fascinating. Now I have another contact who may become a regular reader of this blog as I told her all abotut you and my daily musings.
I also saw a sweet, romantic film with Vanessa Redgrave called Letters to Juliet which is inspired by Shakeswpear's great love story, Romeo and Juliet and filmed in Verona among other beautiful locations in Italy, a country that I adore.
So with just 90 minutes so spare, I landed at Prague, took a tazi home and rushed off to the synagogue for what is supposed to be a contemplative 25 hours. The opening Kol Nidre always moves me. Its tune never fails to send a shiver down my spine. It was wriiten for the cello by Max Bruch who is also the composer of one of my favourite violin concertos of all time. As I leave for schul, I hope to find some spiritual connection over the following hours.
