Back from Bogota...and workbench

The view from my hotel room in Bogota

Well, I'm back from my trip to Bogota which was pretty exhausting given I think it took me longer to get to and from there than I actually stayed there.  I'd also forgotten that the city is at 2800m altitude, which made walking around urban regeneration sites quite tiring.  The Radisson Royal hotel had a nice bedroom and an OK restaurant but the bar was rubbish.  In fact all they did was push a drinks trolley into the lobby lounge in the evening.  Decidedly lacking in atmosphere.  Next time I go (and this is looking likely) I think I will stay at the Marriott again.  

Typical decor in the Hotel Zaza

As I booked so late I had to overnight in Houston on my way over so stayed at the trendy Hotel Zaza again. My particular friend S from Vancouver managed to get over too, so that perked up what could have been a dull eighteen hours.  Even better she came on to Colombia as well so we could catch up on news.  She spent much of the time (other than jewellery shopping) trying to persuade me that I should paint sixteenth century conquistadors, given they were so active in Colombia, looking for Eldorado!  I think I have quite enough on at present!

I was pretty jet-lagged the whole trip so actually didn't have a vodka Martini!  I mainly stuck to beer, which in Bogota was the ubiquitous Club Colombia.  This was a perfectly acceptable American-style lager with, perhaps, a bit more character than US equivalents.  It evaporated remarkably rapidly, however...must be the altitude.

In Houston we had a nice Oregon Pinot Noir with dinner. Erath was very satiny and smooth with an intriguing mixture of slightly smoky sage and plum tastes.  Anyway it went very well with our Texas steaks!

On the way back I had a four hour stopover in Houston airport and as soon as I arrived I found out that my plane was going to be an hour late.  S had a six hour wait before her flight back to Vancouver.  So a long lunch was called for! The choice of places for lunch in the airport, however, is not good at George Bush International.  The Sports Bar (death by tortillas), Ruby's diner (death by burger) or a seafood restaurant (death by salmonella).  Given neither S or I thought it was sensible to have seafood before a ten hour flight we went for Ruby's where, we have to say, the burgers were rather good.

Better still, beer of the month was Sam Adams Octoberfest, a nice red beer, which was actually not at all bad in a caramel sort of way.  The only way to remain in the restaurant for any length of time was to keep ordering more beer.  Next trip (next week) is to Serbia, which I haven't been to before

27th Jaeger's commander, Luitenant-colonel WJ Grunebosch, under way

I've managed a bit more painting this week but am currently working on 32 figures at once (24 Prussian line and 8 Dutch Jaegers) which, given that they are all Napoleonics makes for slow going.  I reckon each figure needs about forty separate stages and I am only getting one or two applications (e.g. two shades of a colour) done per session.  I was looking for a Dutch mounted officer for the 27th Jaegers and was about to order one from Perry Miniatures when I had a look at some of my file boxes full of "in progress" figures.  I had already got one and had even cleaned him up so just needed to base him.

The big question is, although it is still some time off, what unit do I paint after I have finished these?  The obvious thought is to do a unit of French infantry and I have based enough Perry plastics and metals for a 36 man French battalion but don't think I can face any more of these yet.  I have around twelve A4 file boxes full of "in progress" figures.  To qualify for this status they have to be based at least.  Some are well on the way so maybe I just need to look at some which have  a reasonable amount of paint on to go next.  I would like to paint a whole unit again, though, so I need to do an inventory of what I have.

I went to Bath today and when I visited a couple of years ago I bemoaned the loss of Bonapartes model soldier shop and the shrinking Games Workshop.  More bad news on this visit as this nasty orange shop front is all that is left of Bath Model Centre.

I always used to go in here to get paint and modelling supplies, at least, but, after 66 years, spiralling rates and loss of customers partly due to extensive building works nearby have done for it.  Shame.