A short excursion to Sofia

by Nick Foulkes
14 June 2010

And so to Farnborough aerodrome for a short excursion to Sofia, to see my friend, philanthropist, publisher and patron of the arts, Spas Roussev.

Transport came courtesy of Netjets and jolly nice too. I was a little apprehensive as the last time I flew on a Netjet, I fell foul of one of its employees, who considered that I had been guilty of the cardinal sin, delaying the wheels-up time, by my tardy arrival at the airport – me being unavoidably detained by the vital purchase of a gold Cold War era tank at an antique shop en route (if you went out of the way) to Sofia airport.

Happily this employee is now an ex-employee and last I heard he was working in a car plant somewhere in the former Soviet Union – quite right too. His replacement, an utterly charming man, could not have been nicer; as it happened one passenger who had come from America was slightly delayed, but instead of falling out with him, the nice Mr Netjets made him feel as though he had done us all a favour by allowing us to spend more time enjoying the splendid terminal facilities at Farnborough.

As is customary on arrival at Sofia, the local broadcast and print media was out in force to film and photograph not just my entry into the city, but that of Bryan Ferry, Elle MacPherson, Tim Jefferies and Dylan Jones who were also on the flight. The reason for my presence in Sofia was to view a museum show by Zeng Fanzhi. Zeng is apparently the most expensive living Chinese artist, a position that he has achieved only with the help of my good friend and FQR contributor Fabien Fryns.

I just had time to visit a single antique shop, where I was most taken with a couple of stuffed turtles, before I was due at the Prime Ministerial Palace, to meet the elected leader of this; the pearl of the Balkans. Actually it wasn’t me that he was so keen to meet as Elle, but he was extremely polite to the rest of us and he and I exchanged tokens of mutual respect, while the Minister of Culture dished out the equivalent of the Legion d’Honneur to Tommy Hilfiger (who was also in town to support Spas), Zeng and other distinguished guests including Annie Liebowitz (an absolutely charming woman who was sorely tempted to come and see the stuffed turtles with me).

I warmed immediately to the Minister of Culture as he conducted this ceremony while keeping a half smoked cigar between index and middle finger (very Churchillian). All in all, I think that Messrs Cameron and Clegg could learn a thing or two from the sort of relaxed and affable kind of politics practiced in this young democracy.

And then it was time for the exhibition. A triumph. Fabien was on hand with his charming wife Lucy to explain the paintings to me while art world luminaries, including FQR contributor Simon De Pury accompanied by Mrs De Pury, Julia Peyton Jones and her friend Hans of the Serpentine Gallery, enthused over the works on the walls.

Then after a drink on the terrace of the Flanagan’s restaurant where we watched the TV news footage of our arrival it was off to the party – a spectacular affair where my gastro-discovery of the evening was a dish of salmon served with wasabi sorbet. I was also able to catch up with old friends including a charming woman who runs the country’s most successful security company and peripatetic FQR blogger, poet and big hair girl Olivia Cole, who had been airlifted in for the occasion.

A short excursion to Sofia

At about midnight, I set off with Spas to start the after-party at his Italian restaurant, where over a few plates of chilled spaghettini with tuna and lime and capers (delicious), the hard core of art lovers including Prince Nikolaos of Greece, debated the finer points of Zeng’s brushwork, safe in the knowledge that the head of Bulgaria’s leading security firm was on the next table with a man who looked like a 1960s astronaut and who transpired to be the head of security at the US Embassy.

Eventually in need of a little bit of breakfast before wheels up at 11 am, I walked with Fabien back to the Radisson hotel for a full Bulgarian breakfast at Flanagan’s and then, changing out of my navy Blue Rubinacci linen suit and into my lavender Rubinacci linen suit, it was off to the airport…it was only when we were taxiing for takeoff, that I remembered that I had forgotten to buy the turtles and I felt it would be imposing on the goodwill of nice Mr Netjet to ask him to hold on while I nipped back into to town.

Besides I need to have another excuse to return to Sofia soon.

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Tags: Bryan Ferry, Dylan Jones, Elle Macpherson, Netjets, Sofia, Tim Jefferies, Zeng Fanzhi

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