Welll, I am in London and will be flying back this afternoon the the US. For some reason, Internet access in hotels in Siberia is not readily available. Go figure!
However I did jot some things down along the way. Here is "Part 1" of the comments about the trip since the last real entry. (The quick blog was sent by text message so I was obviously not able to write too much.)
Well, I was very glad that I had spent a couple of nights in Moscow before joining the group. On Monday, the group had a long drive back to Red Square (near my first hotel) and then we only had 15 minutes to look around on our own without the guide talking to us. We also de-bussed (new word) on the other direction from where I had stayed and there were no souvenir tents in that area. Since I had decided that I would buy a couple more things when I returned, I used my 15 minutes to walk briskly back to the merchants and purchase the remaining items that I had wanted for myself. As it turned out, we have yet to see such a large tourist trap…I mean, large collection of souvenirs.
Oh, I think I forgot to mention in my last decent-sized post that the business center at the Marriott made a mistake. Instead of charging me 240 rubles for my Internet usage, they put the ticket # down (133444) as the cost for the time. Fortunately I caught the mistake during checkout. I won’t give it away, but go ahead and use xe.com to figure out how much 133,444 Rubles is in USD and you will see why I was concerned.
We flew on Monday night to Irkutsk. With the time change that meant that we left Moscow at 6:30pm and arrived in Irkutsk at 5am the next morning event though the flight took less than 5 hours. Siberian Air uses a bright green color on the entire outside of the plane and a combination of a lot of different bright colors on the inside of the plane. They fed us dinner about an hour into the flight and then breakfast about an hour before we landed. So, we essentially ate our way across Siberia. When we arrived, the airport was definitely…. an experience. We were shuttled to a building that looked like a little shack and it looked like the inside of a house that had been gutted to make a more open building in the inside. The luggage carousel appeared like a donkey should have driven it. Many of us took pictures of it because it was so rough looking. Fortunately, once our luggage arrived we were able to quickly locate our tour guide and take us to the hotel.
Hotel Irkutsk was supposed to be a 3 star hotel but obviously perceptions between countries can differ in what they think is a 3 star hotel. It was nice a clean but extremely small rooms. I was fortunate that due to some confusion I ended up with my own room instead of sharing with the only other person that needed a roommate – a guy. Considering the tiny space of the room, I was very lucky!
Siberia turned out to be very hot (not India hot but still very hot). Apparently the rooms in the hotel that faced the river (including my room) were the only ones that had A/C. I didn’t find the control at first because it was actually a remote control that operated it but once I did turn it on, believe it or not – I froze myself out with how cold it got. I actually had to turn it OFF for a while!!!! (Gosh, that was a great air conditioning unit!)
Irkustk was a very unique looking city of 600,000. There are many buildings in the downtown area built in the 19th century that look very elegant and regal – like Paris but more colorful yellows, blues and pinks. In contrast, the surrounding town has a lot of wood home and log homes. Apparently the cost of a nail was so expensive when the city was being successful that you could buy a horse with one nail (okay, I can’t remember exactly what the tour guide said because I was still jet-lagged so ignore this comparison if I got it wrong – see what happens when I can’t regularly “Google” things I hear about?!?!) Anyway…. the city used resources that were readily available – Trees – to make their homes and didn’t really need to use nails the way they constructed them. Today there are a variety of styles of homes but many of the wood/log homes still stand () and from what our tour guide/English teacher said, the city is very expensive so she still lives with her parents.)
Wednesday morning, we headed to Lake Baikal. It is HUGE and Beautiful!!! It reminds me of Lake Tahoe in CA but at a much larger scale and less people. The lake was too big for us to drive around in the time we had and we stuck to the lower mountainside of the lake. Many of us were commenting that if it were in the States that developers would have put up exclusive homes and hid the coastline with condos. In general, the parts of Siberia that were saw were gorgeous with birch and pine trees all over the place. Although it looked green and enticing now, apparently the 7+ months of winter deter people from moving there…go figure!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Hello from Siberia!
I'm with a great group of science people and will be heading soon to Lake Baikal.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
A litte bit longer post from Moscow...
Greetings from Moscow!
I have to say that I have enjoyed my time in Moscow so far. Here is a brief recap since I was not able to have good email access until now due to computer problems...
My first flight on Aeroflot was fine. The plane was nice and new so I hope the other Aeroflot flights I will be taking will be just as nice. There were some kids on the flight that started running up and down the aisles though. First one little girl in her mom's shoes (very loud clunky shoes) started running, then another joined her, then another, and then another...so 5 kids were running back and forth on the plane. When they started getting excited about hiding behind the curtain separating buisness class from the rest of us, the flight attendant from the more exclusive area stepped in to try to figure out where all the kids came from. They still kept running, but anytime they made it past that barrier, the lady (with her best Russian-behave-yourself-look) would poke her head back into our cabin to try to figure out where they came from.
The customs process in Moscow was not as bad as I thought it would be (makes me wonder if I missed a step or something...if I am late getting back to the states, you'll know why.) I made it out to the main lobby and saw the taxi stand which I had read would give better deals than the massive amounts of taxis awaiting tourists outside. I heard one person in front of me quoted 2,200 Rubles for her ride to city center and also heard her get them down to 2,000 R. So, when they quoted me 2,200 (at least they were consistent), I was also able to get them to reduce it to 2,000 R. (Yes, I realize that I am not the best negotiator so any of you who have been to Russia will probably tell me that I easily paid twice as much...but I don't necessarily expect to bargain with official looking businesses. Reread my India part of my blog if you want to see how far I've come.)
My hotel, Marriott Aurora, was beautiful. The best hotel of the trip so far (yes, even nicer than the "cool" London hotel...except I missed all the free stuff from that hotel.) I used my Marriott points and it was well worth it! For the same amount of points that it cost me to stay at a Courtyard by Marriott in NYC, I was able to stay in a very impressive hotel (complete with speakers in the delux bathroom so I wouldn't have to miss out listening to my shows or music.) Other Marriott Moscow hotels cost more points per night but I can't imagine them being a more convenient hotel. I was in easy walking distance of Red Square and around the corner from a cute side street that was only for pedestrians and lined with little cafes. I was also down the street from the Bolshoi (sp?) Theater. Assuming I was looking at the right building, it looked like they were doing some work on the outside of it. It was cute though because the tarp that covered the construction site looked like an elegant building...perhaps the theater itself?
Moscow is a unique looking city. Parts of it looking like Paris, London, NYC, etc but then other parts of it remind me more of Mumbai or Dehli (but very clean). Even in the tourist-y areas of the city, I really only saw Cyrlic letters. As I mentioned in my short post, I was chicken to use the little Russian I know. Marriott really caters to an international hotel so many of them spoke English. When I went over to Red Square, I was impressed with how many of the vendors spoke English (or enough to sell items to tourists). They often just started rattling off prices in English when people walked up. I decided to take my time looking at the items while I was there since my tour group will be heading there on Monday and I can looks at the sites at that time. As far as other things I did, I went into a book store (I recognized the word for "books" on the outside - woohoo!) but it appeared to be one that focused on school books and supplies. If this was part of my Fulbright trip from last summer, I would have exited the shop with tons of books but alas, this trip is out of my own pocket and I didn't want to use up all my money before the tour starts. I also was brave and order some sort of sandwich thing at a vending cart. I am still not sure what I had because it didn't look like the picture. I tried to order it in Russian but I obviously miss pronouced whatever the word was and just nodded my head when the person said something (most likely) along the lines of "oh, you want a strange sandwich thing" (no idea what she said but I am sure that is pretty close to it.) I tried to go into the McDonalds in Red Square but the lines were HUGE!!!! I did take a picture of the name on one of the umbrellas and will hopefully be able to post it.
There was a different total solar eclipse tour staying at the Marriott so I introduced myself to their leader. She was very nice and able to figure out which tour group I was on (I am sure all those "totalies" who lead groups are familiar with each other. This morning, I packed my bags and arranged for a taxi to take me to my new hotel to meet up with the tour group. I have met a couple of the other group members already but we don't officially meet until tonight. One of the guys told me that he had to pay 2,200 R since he came on his own. (Ha! I at least beat him in the bargaining for an airport ride!) ;) The room is nice and simple but pales in comparison to my room at the Marriott. Oh, Marriott Aurora - How I miss you!) It was funny that in the brochure in this new hotel that there was information on the shortage of toilet paper in Russia. I brought my own with me from REI and Target (yes, Target now sells travel toilet paper) so hopefully I am all set for the trip.
Well, that about catches you up on the latest of my journey. By the way, I just ate a Salmon sandwich with fresh fruit and veges on it. I hope it does not cause a replay of the time in India when I got sick in my first meal outside the protection of the fancy hotels. Yikes! (I'll let you know.)
I have to say that I have enjoyed my time in Moscow so far. Here is a brief recap since I was not able to have good email access until now due to computer problems...
My first flight on Aeroflot was fine. The plane was nice and new so I hope the other Aeroflot flights I will be taking will be just as nice. There were some kids on the flight that started running up and down the aisles though. First one little girl in her mom's shoes (very loud clunky shoes) started running, then another joined her, then another, and then another...so 5 kids were running back and forth on the plane. When they started getting excited about hiding behind the curtain separating buisness class from the rest of us, the flight attendant from the more exclusive area stepped in to try to figure out where all the kids came from. They still kept running, but anytime they made it past that barrier, the lady (with her best Russian-behave-yourself-look) would poke her head back into our cabin to try to figure out where they came from.
The customs process in Moscow was not as bad as I thought it would be (makes me wonder if I missed a step or something...if I am late getting back to the states, you'll know why.) I made it out to the main lobby and saw the taxi stand which I had read would give better deals than the massive amounts of taxis awaiting tourists outside. I heard one person in front of me quoted 2,200 Rubles for her ride to city center and also heard her get them down to 2,000 R. So, when they quoted me 2,200 (at least they were consistent), I was also able to get them to reduce it to 2,000 R. (Yes, I realize that I am not the best negotiator so any of you who have been to Russia will probably tell me that I easily paid twice as much...but I don't necessarily expect to bargain with official looking businesses. Reread my India part of my blog if you want to see how far I've come.)
My hotel, Marriott Aurora, was beautiful. The best hotel of the trip so far (yes, even nicer than the "cool" London hotel...except I missed all the free stuff from that hotel.) I used my Marriott points and it was well worth it! For the same amount of points that it cost me to stay at a Courtyard by Marriott in NYC, I was able to stay in a very impressive hotel (complete with speakers in the delux bathroom so I wouldn't have to miss out listening to my shows or music.) Other Marriott Moscow hotels cost more points per night but I can't imagine them being a more convenient hotel. I was in easy walking distance of Red Square and around the corner from a cute side street that was only for pedestrians and lined with little cafes. I was also down the street from the Bolshoi (sp?) Theater. Assuming I was looking at the right building, it looked like they were doing some work on the outside of it. It was cute though because the tarp that covered the construction site looked like an elegant building...perhaps the theater itself?
Moscow is a unique looking city. Parts of it looking like Paris, London, NYC, etc but then other parts of it remind me more of Mumbai or Dehli (but very clean). Even in the tourist-y areas of the city, I really only saw Cyrlic letters. As I mentioned in my short post, I was chicken to use the little Russian I know. Marriott really caters to an international hotel so many of them spoke English. When I went over to Red Square, I was impressed with how many of the vendors spoke English (or enough to sell items to tourists). They often just started rattling off prices in English when people walked up. I decided to take my time looking at the items while I was there since my tour group will be heading there on Monday and I can looks at the sites at that time. As far as other things I did, I went into a book store (I recognized the word for "books" on the outside - woohoo!) but it appeared to be one that focused on school books and supplies. If this was part of my Fulbright trip from last summer, I would have exited the shop with tons of books but alas, this trip is out of my own pocket and I didn't want to use up all my money before the tour starts. I also was brave and order some sort of sandwich thing at a vending cart. I am still not sure what I had because it didn't look like the picture. I tried to order it in Russian but I obviously miss pronouced whatever the word was and just nodded my head when the person said something (most likely) along the lines of "oh, you want a strange sandwich thing" (no idea what she said but I am sure that is pretty close to it.) I tried to go into the McDonalds in Red Square but the lines were HUGE!!!! I did take a picture of the name on one of the umbrellas and will hopefully be able to post it.
There was a different total solar eclipse tour staying at the Marriott so I introduced myself to their leader. She was very nice and able to figure out which tour group I was on (I am sure all those "totalies" who lead groups are familiar with each other. This morning, I packed my bags and arranged for a taxi to take me to my new hotel to meet up with the tour group. I have met a couple of the other group members already but we don't officially meet until tonight. One of the guys told me that he had to pay 2,200 R since he came on his own. (Ha! I at least beat him in the bargaining for an airport ride!) ;) The room is nice and simple but pales in comparison to my room at the Marriott. Oh, Marriott Aurora - How I miss you!) It was funny that in the brochure in this new hotel that there was information on the shortage of toilet paper in Russia. I brought my own with me from REI and Target (yes, Target now sells travel toilet paper) so hopefully I am all set for the trip.
Well, that about catches you up on the latest of my journey. By the way, I just ate a Salmon sandwich with fresh fruit and veges on it. I hope it does not cause a replay of the time in India when I got sick in my first meal outside the protection of the fancy hotels. Yikes! (I'll let you know.)
Saturday, July 26, 2008
A Quick Hello from Moscow
Hello
(Well, that was quick...right?)
Moscow is very cool but my computer isn't coming back on yet so I am typing as much as I can in a couple of minutes. I have been a big chicken when it comes to trying of my Russian but I have said "thank you" a couple of times. I will try to get my computer back on to write more.
(Well, that was quick...right?)
Moscow is very cool but my computer isn't coming back on yet so I am typing as much as I can in a couple of minutes. I have been a big chicken when it comes to trying of my Russian but I have said "thank you" a couple of times. I will try to get my computer back on to write more.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Waiting for my flight...
Greetings from Heathrow Airport!
I have a seat on the flight to Moscow (a good start) and now I am waiting to find out my gate. I miss the ability to wait anxiously by the gate instead of in the general post-security area. Although I must say it is a clever way for people to spend the rest of their money on various items in the duty free shops. I have heard people speaking Russian already (very cool). I understood the word for "good" and "chocolate"...two words out of a couple hundred...perhaps I need to retake that Russian class.
Well, I only have a few minutes of internet time so I guess I better go.
I have a seat on the flight to Moscow (a good start) and now I am waiting to find out my gate. I miss the ability to wait anxiously by the gate instead of in the general post-security area. Although I must say it is a clever way for people to spend the rest of their money on various items in the duty free shops. I have heard people speaking Russian already (very cool). I understood the word for "good" and "chocolate"...two words out of a couple hundred...perhaps I need to retake that Russian class.
Well, I only have a few minutes of internet time so I guess I better go.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Train back to London
Greetings from the train back to London. I am facing backwards in a car filled with children...should be a "fun" journey.
Scotland was great. Edinburgh was a very nice city filled with cool old buildings. It was also swamped with tourists from all over the world. It seemed much more concentrated with international people that almost any other city that I have visited. I am thinking that it feels that way due to so many sites and tourist shops being along the Royal Mile. Whereas in NYC or Paris, the tourists are spread out all over the city, in Ediburgh they seem to focus on the same area. Well, that is my thinking as of right now. Feel free to give other insights. Even though the A/C in my room wasn't that great and a strange drip started yesterday right above the toilet (clean looking water...the night manager didn't seem to think it was anything to worry about...but I can't say that I enjoy feeling mystery drops while I am in the bathroom), I still enjoyed the hotel due to the great location.
Some of the locals that I talked to were joking about all the things that Edinburgh does just for the tourists. For example, all the people wearing kilts up and down the Royal Mile are just for us. (Although I did see some funny advertisements in the windowns of the kilt-rental stores to get people to wear them for formal occasions.) I told one of the locals about the bagpiper in Glen Coe and that started a whole conversation about how many people he thought weren't even Scottish that try to get money from tourists. (Of course, he was in that college-cynical stage of life.)
It is about a 4 hr 45 min train ride to London. From there it will take a bit longer to get to my airport hotel. (No, not staying at the cool hotel from before.) It will also be fun to figure out what I need to do to make sure my ticket on Aeroflot works tomorrow. From what I understand, they have some different policies so I want to make sure I can actually get to Moscow tomorrow instead of finding out at the last minute that I don't have the right tickets. Should be exciting!
Well, typing and writing backwards is not working out well for me right now. Perhaps I will just watch some episodes of Psych on my iTunes instead.
Scotland was great. Edinburgh was a very nice city filled with cool old buildings. It was also swamped with tourists from all over the world. It seemed much more concentrated with international people that almost any other city that I have visited. I am thinking that it feels that way due to so many sites and tourist shops being along the Royal Mile. Whereas in NYC or Paris, the tourists are spread out all over the city, in Ediburgh they seem to focus on the same area. Well, that is my thinking as of right now. Feel free to give other insights. Even though the A/C in my room wasn't that great and a strange drip started yesterday right above the toilet (clean looking water...the night manager didn't seem to think it was anything to worry about...but I can't say that I enjoy feeling mystery drops while I am in the bathroom), I still enjoyed the hotel due to the great location.
Some of the locals that I talked to were joking about all the things that Edinburgh does just for the tourists. For example, all the people wearing kilts up and down the Royal Mile are just for us. (Although I did see some funny advertisements in the windowns of the kilt-rental stores to get people to wear them for formal occasions.) I told one of the locals about the bagpiper in Glen Coe and that started a whole conversation about how many people he thought weren't even Scottish that try to get money from tourists. (Of course, he was in that college-cynical stage of life.)
It is about a 4 hr 45 min train ride to London. From there it will take a bit longer to get to my airport hotel. (No, not staying at the cool hotel from before.) It will also be fun to figure out what I need to do to make sure my ticket on Aeroflot works tomorrow. From what I understand, they have some different policies so I want to make sure I can actually get to Moscow tomorrow instead of finding out at the last minute that I don't have the right tickets. Should be exciting!
Well, typing and writing backwards is not working out well for me right now. Perhaps I will just watch some episodes of Psych on my iTunes instead.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Search for Nessie
Well, it was a nice day yesterday visiting the Highlands of Scotland but I am sorry to say that I did not see Nessie - unless you count the many plastic, stuffed, or carved versions around the country. I learned a lot about the history of Scotland - including the ways that "Braveheart" changed William Wallace's story around. Some of the fun things that we saw include the castle used in Monty Python and the Holy Grail movie (for all the castles), the location used in the highlands for Hagrid's Hut in one of the movies, and a bridge that was not used in the Harry Potter movies but that our guide suggested we take a photo of it and tell our friends back home that it was the actual bridge. One of the clever things we saw included a man in full Scottish wear playing a bagpipe at one of the scenic viewpoints where most of the tour buses stopped to take photos of Glen Coe (the geographic area - not Glen Close, the actress). He was a big hit with the tour groups since everyone wanted photos of him and many people were leaving a tip. So, if any of you want a part time job in the Highlands (and can play the bagpipe), you might be able to get some extra money (although the commute would be quite a journey since only 3 homes are located in that particular area and no other ones will be allowed to be built...but you can figure out the details later.)
As for Loch Ness, it was a very nice area. I was able to join a 1-hour cruise on the Loch itself. Apparently the person in charge is a marine biologist (hmmm, perhaps I can use my biology degree to go look for Nessie.) One of the cool things about the cruise was a 2D and 3D radar scan of the bottom of the Loch as we went on our tour. In talking to some of the locals, a few of them had their own stories of Nessie although many of them were from childhood memories. ;)
After being exhausted from an all-day tour yesterday, I took it easy today and went to see Edinburgh Castle which is just down the road from my hotel. I decided that when I become a rich and famous teacher that I will get my own castle...perhaps I shouldn't count on that happening....
As for Loch Ness, it was a very nice area. I was able to join a 1-hour cruise on the Loch itself. Apparently the person in charge is a marine biologist (hmmm, perhaps I can use my biology degree to go look for Nessie.) One of the cool things about the cruise was a 2D and 3D radar scan of the bottom of the Loch as we went on our tour. In talking to some of the locals, a few of them had their own stories of Nessie although many of them were from childhood memories. ;)
After being exhausted from an all-day tour yesterday, I took it easy today and went to see Edinburgh Castle which is just down the road from my hotel. I decided that when I become a rich and famous teacher that I will get my own castle...perhaps I shouldn't count on that happening....
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Edinburgh
Greetings from Edinburgh!
I've decided I want Scottish ancestors...hmm, perhaps it doesn't work that way. So far, Edinburgh is right up there with my favorite cities. For those of you who knew my original plan to be bold and stay in a hostel, I chickened out. I found a great deal on-line at a hotel near the train station and right next to the Royal Mile. I am very happy with the location and the room. The only problem is that I don't have access to free wireless so this post will be very short. (I feel like I am taking the GRE writing exam again while I watch the usage time tick by...I guess it adds to the excitement of writing a blog.) ;)
Tomorrow I will join a tour to go to Loch Ness. It is an all day trip on a bus. I might have been able to find one of the smaller tour groups but not for Monday. I will let you know if I see "Nessie". If nothing else, I have already seen some cute Loch Ness Monster stuffed animals, carvings, and glass objects.
Oops! My time is ticking away! Gotta go!
I've decided I want Scottish ancestors...hmm, perhaps it doesn't work that way. So far, Edinburgh is right up there with my favorite cities. For those of you who knew my original plan to be bold and stay in a hostel, I chickened out. I found a great deal on-line at a hotel near the train station and right next to the Royal Mile. I am very happy with the location and the room. The only problem is that I don't have access to free wireless so this post will be very short. (I feel like I am taking the GRE writing exam again while I watch the usage time tick by...I guess it adds to the excitement of writing a blog.) ;)
Tomorrow I will join a tour to go to Loch Ness. It is an all day trip on a bus. I might have been able to find one of the smaller tour groups but not for Monday. I will let you know if I see "Nessie". If nothing else, I have already seen some cute Loch Ness Monster stuffed animals, carvings, and glass objects.
Oops! My time is ticking away! Gotta go!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
London
I was able to get a few hours sleep on the plane inspite of waking up a few times to help the pilot when some turbulents hit. As a result, I was able to stay awake until 1pm London time before jet lag hit me.
I must say that the Andaz hotel in London (a new part of the Hyatt family) is very nice and is right next to the Liverpool St metro station. It is a modern hotel and I don't think I am cool enough to actually be staying here. When you walk into the lobbey (or "Living Room" as they call it)it looks more like a modern art studio instead of a hotel. They don't even have a normal looking registration desk. Instead, they have a nice large table that the people are standing around with laptops. "In theory" I got an incredible deal on the hotel but not I am worried that I might have miss read the amount or it was actually in pounds because all those extras that you normally have to pay for in your room (internet, movies, mini-bar - all organic, by the way, etc) are all included. Too bad this is at the beginning of my trip since Laundry service are included for free too.
Well, I am off to track down some food!
....I'm Back from my food excursion. I went into Liverpool St. station which has a mall type feel to it. I found a tasty salad and sandwich in a "fair trade"/organic food place- complete with a biodegradable paper bag. When I returned to my room, my key didn't open the door. (It is not a normal room card key that you swipe...this one you hold up to the door plate and it opens it.) I went downstairs to see if I had somehow demagnetized it. After they reprogrammed it, I kept it away from my phone (as they suggested) but I still couldn't get my door open. Not wanting to confess to the cool kids in the lobbey that I couldn't figure out how to open my door, I kept trying until I finally held my card correctly, in the right spot, and for the right amount of time. (I think that I will wait until tomorrow morning before I deal with figuring out how to open the door again.) ;)
Pardon me while I increase the volume on the system that my iPhone/iPod is docked in right now and take a sip of my organic apple/strawberry juice from my free mini-bar. Perhaps I should also put on the robe and slippers now too. ;)
And for those who are wondering - Yes, there is a Starbucks around the corner and they have a drink that is supposed to be "white chocolate mocha" but it is called "white caffe mocha". It wasn't as good as my normal version but I guess it will have to suffice. =)
I must say that the Andaz hotel in London (a new part of the Hyatt family) is very nice and is right next to the Liverpool St metro station. It is a modern hotel and I don't think I am cool enough to actually be staying here. When you walk into the lobbey (or "Living Room" as they call it)it looks more like a modern art studio instead of a hotel. They don't even have a normal looking registration desk. Instead, they have a nice large table that the people are standing around with laptops. "In theory" I got an incredible deal on the hotel but not I am worried that I might have miss read the amount or it was actually in pounds because all those extras that you normally have to pay for in your room (internet, movies, mini-bar - all organic, by the way, etc) are all included. Too bad this is at the beginning of my trip since Laundry service are included for free too.
Well, I am off to track down some food!
....I'm Back from my food excursion. I went into Liverpool St. station which has a mall type feel to it. I found a tasty salad and sandwich in a "fair trade"/organic food place- complete with a biodegradable paper bag. When I returned to my room, my key didn't open the door. (It is not a normal room card key that you swipe...this one you hold up to the door plate and it opens it.) I went downstairs to see if I had somehow demagnetized it. After they reprogrammed it, I kept it away from my phone (as they suggested) but I still couldn't get my door open. Not wanting to confess to the cool kids in the lobbey that I couldn't figure out how to open my door, I kept trying until I finally held my card correctly, in the right spot, and for the right amount of time. (I think that I will wait until tomorrow morning before I deal with figuring out how to open the door again.) ;)
Pardon me while I increase the volume on the system that my iPhone/iPod is docked in right now and take a sip of my organic apple/strawberry juice from my free mini-bar. Perhaps I should also put on the robe and slippers now too. ;)
And for those who are wondering - Yes, there is a Starbucks around the corner and they have a drink that is supposed to be "white chocolate mocha" but it is called "white caffe mocha". It wasn't as good as my normal version but I guess it will have to suffice. =)
Friday, July 18, 2008
On the road again...or should I say "In the air again"
Greetings from Dulles International Airport!
I can't believe I was in India last year at this time. Time has gone by very quickly (but I still think I have things that I need to unpack from that trip!) Although it was a long trip last year, I must admit that I was having India withdrawals as the new Fulbright participants emailed my group to ask for advice.
This summer I am off on a new adventure - The UK and Russia! I will be spending some time in Scotland (perhaps even try to see if I can find the Loch Ness monster) and then join a tour group in Moscow before visiting Lake Baikal and trying to see the total solar eclipse in Novosibirsk. Yep! I'm headed to Siberia! (I realize that most people consider going to the beach a vacation so I guess I shouldn't be surprised when people thought I was kidding about where I was headed. I often had to add, "really...I really am going to Siberia" in response to their puzzled look.)
I tried to see a total solar eclipse twice before - once in 1999 in England and the other time in 2002 in South Africa. Both times I was clouded out. According to the totalies, if I am clouded out again they might ban me from trying to see the total solar eclipse again...I don't know if Russia is known for clear skies so let's just pretend that this is my first time to see the eclipse just in case they are serious. (By the way, I can't remember if it is to-TAL-ies or TO-ta-lies but that is how many of the people at the 2002 eclipse referred to themselves. They are the people that plan every vacation on where the total solar eclipse will occur. Think of them like the trekkies or trekkers of solar events. In case you are wondering, the US will have a total solar eclipse in 2014 and 2017 that will be visible from Kentucky. Reserve your rooms now!)
My flight to London leaves in less than an hour and I am very excited about my upcoming adventure. However, I am not a fan of overnight flights. I feel that I need to stay awake to somehow "help" the pilot fly the plane. My personal goal is to get a few hours of sleep before landing in London. I will let you know if I am successful or if the pilot needed me. ;)
Well, time for me to do a few last minute things before waiting for my flight!
I can't believe I was in India last year at this time. Time has gone by very quickly (but I still think I have things that I need to unpack from that trip!) Although it was a long trip last year, I must admit that I was having India withdrawals as the new Fulbright participants emailed my group to ask for advice.
This summer I am off on a new adventure - The UK and Russia! I will be spending some time in Scotland (perhaps even try to see if I can find the Loch Ness monster) and then join a tour group in Moscow before visiting Lake Baikal and trying to see the total solar eclipse in Novosibirsk. Yep! I'm headed to Siberia! (I realize that most people consider going to the beach a vacation so I guess I shouldn't be surprised when people thought I was kidding about where I was headed. I often had to add, "really...I really am going to Siberia" in response to their puzzled look.)
I tried to see a total solar eclipse twice before - once in 1999 in England and the other time in 2002 in South Africa. Both times I was clouded out. According to the totalies, if I am clouded out again they might ban me from trying to see the total solar eclipse again...I don't know if Russia is known for clear skies so let's just pretend that this is my first time to see the eclipse just in case they are serious. (By the way, I can't remember if it is to-TAL-ies or TO-ta-lies but that is how many of the people at the 2002 eclipse referred to themselves. They are the people that plan every vacation on where the total solar eclipse will occur. Think of them like the trekkies or trekkers of solar events. In case you are wondering, the US will have a total solar eclipse in 2014 and 2017 that will be visible from Kentucky. Reserve your rooms now!)
My flight to London leaves in less than an hour and I am very excited about my upcoming adventure. However, I am not a fan of overnight flights. I feel that I need to stay awake to somehow "help" the pilot fly the plane. My personal goal is to get a few hours of sleep before landing in London. I will let you know if I am successful or if the pilot needed me. ;)
Well, time for me to do a few last minute things before waiting for my flight!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)