Plum Crazy

Thorvaldsen's Lion

This is a particularly beautiful monument in Luzern. It commemorates the members of the Swiss Guard who died defending Marie Antoinette.

Across Lake Luzern

At last, the pictures from Luzern have been uploaded. This is a view across Lake Luzern. In the to back, you can see the Chateau Gutsch, a very expensive hotel you can only reach via funicular.

How About Another Picture?

So the new job is great, but the hours are intense. Not to mention that it's, yes, budget season! Those of you who are long-time readers might recall my feelings on budget season. Here at the new company, budgets start in May and end in November. Why, yes, the fiscal year IS a calendar year. Consider it part of the "Full Employment for Finance Professionals Act."



What with all that, free time is not prolific. So it's more pictures for you! This one I took some years ago during a trip to Cape Cod. It's actually shot with a real old-fashioned 35mm (that's how long ago it was) and then scanned in.

Reason #5,937 Why It Doesn't Suck To Be Me

A view of Zurich from across the River Limatt.

Ilyka Asks, Ilyka Gets

More photos of my travels! This is from a recent trip to Montreal. As soon as I remember where I put my camera, I'll upload the photos I took in Luzern; a city even prettier than Zurich.

Home from Dublin

The flight back coming from Dublin was fine. No major delays. The only thing I missed was not being able to bring my eye drops on board. I have very dry eyes. I generally put drops in my eyes every 3-4 hours, and I can't so much as doze off without having to put drops in my eyes immediately upon awakening. The hardest part of the flight back was having to keep myself awake for the entire time. So it's off to my doctor to get a prescription for eye drops, since I can't bring the kind I buy off the shelf in my purse on the airplane.

Anyway, a photo of the lovely Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin:

Slainte!

I made it to Dublin yesterday morning, more or less on schedule. We landed only one hour late, which given I was flying from Heathrow, wasn't bad at all. I only had to wait on line for an hour to check in too. With everything going on yesterday, I count myself lucky. I have rearranged my return flight so that I'm flying directly back from Dublin, however. I was originally supposed to connect through Heathrow.

Dublin is a lovely and charming city. Some gorgeous Georgian architecture around Merrion Row. The streets are exceedingly narrow. This surprised me a bit. Yes, the financial district in New York suffers from narrow streets, as do parts of London. But if you venture a bit, you can find wider streets. Not so much in Dublin. Makes it hard to take photographs, as you can't really get far enough away from certain things to really get them in view. So less photos than hoped.

They also close things down here early (other than the pubs). Most stores close by 6 pm, even on Friday and Saturday. Nonetheless, I've managed to tour about quite a bit. Took a Viking Splash tour yesterday and walked around Grafton Street (the main shopping street south of the River Liffey). Today I headed out to the National Gallery, Oscar Wilde's House (which you cannot go inside, disappointingly), Trinity College and the Book of Kells, Dublin Castle, the Guinness Storehouse, and finished up at the Georgian museum Number Twenty-Nine. I also walked along the River Liffey, crossing over both O'Connell and Ha'penny Bridges. Tomorrow it's off for a closer look at both Christchurch and St. Patrick's Cathedrals. I have seen them both, but I want to see a bit more.

For your viewing pleasure:

Dublin Castle

Along the River Liffey

This Is Dedicated To The One I Love

In a change of pace, I'm sitting in the airport waiting to board a flight for London.* I'll be in London through Friday morning, at which time I'll board a plane to Dublin. I'll spend two days in Dublin (for fun!) and then fly home. Hopefully many photos will be taken in Dublin.

However, all is not sweetness and light about this trip. There is one person I will miss very much. He knows who he is, and this is for him.

Close your eyes and I'll kiss you,
Tomorrow I'll miss you;
Remember I'll always be true.
And then while I'm away,
I'll write home every day,
And I'll send all my loving to you.

I'll pretend that I'm kissing
the lips I am missing
And hope that my dreams will come true.
And then while I'm away,
I'll write home every day,
And I'll send all my loving to you.

All my loving I will send to you.
All my loving, darling I'll be true.

*If change of pace is defined as something I do pretty frequently.

Victoria and Vancouver

www.flickr.com

Victoria and Vancouver were simply beautiful. We spent 3 days in Vancouver, touring the downtown area and Stanley Park. Stanley Park is magnificent. Absolutely worth the trip just by itself. We had a beautiful day to go out there, too.

The next day it poured, but we headed off to Granville Island Public Market anyway. Worth the 10 minute ferry ride. Do not eat before you go there! We made the mistake of eating breakfast before we went there, something we both regretted. We did stay over for lunch. The choice is amazing. I bought some duck pate and fresh bread from a couple of different stalls. Wonderful.

We also spent some time going around Yaletown and Gastown. Lots of good restaurants in Yaletown, and we wound up eating most of our meals there. We didn't hit Gastown until our last morning there, but it was really cool. Hands down best meal we ate, though, was at Chambar. If you get a chance to visit Vancouver, splurge one night and go to this restaurant. It's between Oldtown and Chinatown. The food is primarily Belgian, although the chef is Northern African and his lamb tajine is fantastic.

Then we took the ferry over to Victoria. This is not a quick trip, so if you do decide to go, give yourself plenty of time. It takes about an hour to get from downtown Vancouver to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal on the Pacific Coach Lines bus. The ferry ride is 95 minutes, but with the breathtaking scenery, this passes pretty quickly. Then it's another 30 minutes from the Swartz Bay ferry terminal to Victoria itself.

Victoria itself is pretty small, but it's charming. At least once you get into Victoria itself. As we were on the bus from Swartz Bay to Victoria, I was looking around and swearing to myself that had the trees been different, I'd have thought I was on Route 3 in New Jersey. Strip malls, used car lots, appliance stores... But once you hit the city itself, the ambience changes completely. You definitely see the British influence there. Very touristy, though.

Things to do in Victoria. There are basically two. One is Butchart Gardens, which is astoundingly beautiful. The climate in the Pacific Northwest is definitely conducive to gardens, and this is the best of them all. Technically this isn't in Victoria itself, but by bus it's about 35 minutes.

The other thing to do is have high tea at the Fairmont Empress. Yes, it's pricey ($54 Canadian). Yes, it's touristy. Still, if you can afford it, do it. It's a taste treat, and the ambience is reminiscent of something you only read about in novels these days.

There are also a lot of tourist shops in Victoria, so you can also spend money. Rogers Chocolates is worth a visit, just for the aroma. If you like tea and china, go to the tea shop at the Empress Hotel. And the Christmas in Victoria shop is open all year round!

A Taste of Butchart Gardens

I've been on vacation in Vancouver and Victoria. Coming home tomorrow. I had a wonderful time, especially in Stanley Park and Butchart Gardens. So for tonight (well, this morning for you New Yorkers), I leave you with this flower from Butchart Gardens.

Oh, Vienna

So much for Vienna blogging. The internet connection in my room wasn't working, so I decided to enjoy the city rather than spend a lot of time in a local Starbucks to get the wireless connection. Besides, Starbucks in Vienna? What for! I went to the cafes and drank melange, an Austrian coffee speciality. And ate pastries and tortes and a lot of dishes served with applesauce. I had a great time, spent hours walking around the city, went to museums and the opera.

If you want to see some of the pictures I took while in Vienna, just use the flickr badge below!

www.flickr.com plumcrazy's Oh, Vienna photoset

Bloggen oder Nicht Bloggen? Das Ist die Frage.

I'm off tonight to Norwich and Vienna. I'll be spending four days in Norwich for a team-building offsite, and then flying off to Vienna for three days of vacation. I've never been to Vienna, and I'm really looking forward to it. I've never been to Norwich either, but East Anglia in April isn't quite as enticing. Also there's that whole team-building offsite thing. While those can be fun, they're not conducive to sightseeing. So while I hear that Norwich has a beautiful cathedral, the chances of my seeing it are slim.

I'm going to try to blog a bit. Certainly I'm minimally going to try to post pictures from Vienna. But if I don't, farewell and auf wiedersehen until Monday, April 10th.

Why I Should Never Be Allowed to Navigate in a Strange City

So I'm here in Austin, TX for the night. I was trying to get to the office from the airport, but got lost. So then I thought I'd head straight to the restaurant, but I had no idea where I was. Finally the head of our Austin call center rings me on my cell phone to find out where I am. I inform him I'm quite lost, but near a Candlewood Suites. He tells me to pull over, and he will come fetch me. Turns out the parking lot I pulled into was right across the street from the restaurant.

I aspire, one day, to go to a strange city and not get lost. Today was not that day, but it's always good to have goals.

Pump Up the Volume

Or "You know you're a New Yorker if..."

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Chicago. Flew in last night, arriving at about 6:30 pm CDT. Flew back tonight, arriving at about 9:30 EDT. As an aside, one of these days I hope to actually see Chicago. This is my third business trip there, but I've never stayed for more than 24 hours.

Back to the main point, though. I was in Chicago when the White Sox won the ALCS. I even watched the last two innings of the game from my hotel room in the heart of Chicago. I'm sure you all know that this is the first time that the White Sox have been in the World Series since 1959. The Cubs haven't been since 1945. Yes, no Chicago baseball team has been in the World Series in 46 years. So I was expecting to hear the noise when the White Sox clinched a World Series berth. In New York, the minute the Yankees or Mets clinched one, you'd hear the cacophony. The horns honking. The people cheering. You don't even have to be a sports fan to know when a New York sports team has gotten into a championship.

So there I was, braced for the hoopla. But it never came. That's not to say that Chicagoans weren't celebrating. You could see on the news that they were celebrating. Just not loudly. And that was kind of weird for me. I felt kind of let down. I don't know. Maybe if the Cubs had made it instead, you'd have heard it. I know the White Sox are not Chicago's team the way the Cubs are.

So what about it, those of you familiar with Chicago. Do you feel the noise when other Chicago teams win? Even if baseball isn't Chicago's lucky sport, da Bears and da Bulls have made it often enough.

On one other note, I'm thinking of renting myself out to cities as a lucky charm. I went to London, and London got the Olympics while I was there. I went back to London, and London won the Ashes for the first time in 15 years. I go to Chicago, the White Sox get into the World Series. Do you think I have a business model?

London Blogging?

I'm heading back to London again for the week. Business trip, so there won't be much in the way of photos. The hotel I'm staying in this time has broadband access, so I may try to blog. Which would be more than I've been doing from Hoboken recently.

Speaking of Hoboken, I'm moving back to Manhattan on October 1st.

Handy Traveling Tips

Don't wear an underwire bra when flying.

Sacré Coeur!

Et voilá! La basilique du Sacré-Coeur.

Pour regarder d'autres photos de Paris:

www.flickr.com plumcrazy's Paris photoset

New York Bound

I'm sitting here in BA's Club World Lounge waiting for my plane to board. Yes, that's me sitting in the lounge, talking on my cell phone to Bruce, since he was being sluggish and, instead of being at his desk ready for a video chat with me, had already gotten into bed! You'd think it was nearly 2 am in New York or something.

I got here 3 hours ahead of departure, as I thought, mistakenly, that security would be extra tight in the wake of Thursday's terrorist attacks. But have laptop with wireless card, will travel. The coffee in the lounge is actually pretty good, which is in stark contrast to the coffee on the plane itself. As I was drinking it on the flight out, I was amazed they even had the nerve to call it coffee.

Despite the tragic events of Thursday, I enjoyed this trip. Sunday I spent two hours touring the Tower of London. I then hopped on the tube and went to the Apple Store in Oxford Circus. Sadly, they did not have what I wanted. Walked over to Piccadilly Circus, hopped a tube back to Tower Hill, and met up with a colleague who was in London this week too. We had a bit of lunch and then took a boat down the Thames to Westminster. Walked back and ate dinner.

Monday I took the Eurostar to Paris for the day. Ooh la la. It had been 20 years since I was last in Paris, and I loved it. Ate a croque monsieur for lunch, then took the Metro to Ile de la Cite and went to Notre Dame. I then walked across the bridge to my favorite part of Paris - the Ile St. Louis. Who says you can't go home again? I found the same dessert shop where I had gone a couple of times during my days as a high school exchange student. That poire belle helene? Tasted every bit as good as I remembered it. Walked across to the main part of Paris and took the Metro to the Louvre. Walked through the Tuileries and got on the Metro to Montmartre. I don't care what anyone else says, as far as I'm concerned, Le Sacre Couer is the most beautiful church I've ever seen. After touring that, I went back to Gare du Nord and took the Eurostar back to London.

I worked the remainder of the week, but we did head down the pub every night after work with our London colleagues. Fantastic people. I'll miss them all when I'm back in the States.

Well, cheers for now. Some thoughts on why London deserved to win the 2012 Olympics, why I changed my mind and realized it would have been good for New York, and why New York did not win it, when I'm safely ensconced in my apartment.

Even More Reasons to Love the Brits

As an American, you hear lots of stories about the spirit of the Brits. How they faced the Blitz with a stiff upper lip. How they survived 30+ years of IRA terrorism without it getting them down. Having been here in London during yesterday's terrorist attacks, I have now experienced it live.

In the midst of the confusion and carnage, people remained calm. Obviously there were the phone calls and text messages to worried friends and family. People were taking breaks from work to watch the news. But mostly people were considering how they were going to get home. It wasn't uncommon to hear people say things like "The same way you do during a strike - walk."

After work, we all went down the pub for a drink (or two or three or...). The pub was bursting at the seams. Out came the stories of the IRA bombs they'd all lived through. "There was one time when I was at Victoria and 5 minutes after I passed through, someone placed a bomb in a bin." But everyone was calm and, all things considered, in good spirits.

Once we'd had enough drinks at the pub, we went next door for a curry (Indian food for those who aren't familiar with the lingo). More drinks, good food, good conversation.

Today the City is a bit quieter than usual. A lot of people took public transport, but a lot also heeded the request from the government to stay home if they could. Those here are going about their business as usual. I'll be leaving the office shortly to go to Leadenhall Market for lunch and a bit of shopping.

So if any terrorists or terrorist sympathizers are clueless enough to think they've somehow caused panic in England, guess again. Far from it.

God bless the Brits.

I Am All Right

Fortunately, I wasn't near the sites of any of the explosions. I was actually already at the office when the first explosion was reported, and my hotel is right across the street from the office.

I love the Brits. Six explosions, but no one panicked. Most people were just worried about how they were going to get home.

London Bound

I'm sitting here in the British Airways lounge at Newark Airport waiting to board a plane to London. As I type on my laptop ensconced in a comfortable chair, I'd like to thank the people who garnered us enough credits from flying first class to get me this free business class ticket. Although I, personally, would have flown coach had I had to pay the full price of a business class ticket (even though it's company funds), this is much better.

I'm very much looking forward to my trip. London is one of my favorite cities. I have my new Nikon Coolpix S1 with me, so I expect to snap many a shot. And have adventures. Like Cain in Kung Fu.

Here's to London blogging!

More Photos!

Yes, it's true. I've become afflicted with Flickritis. More photos are up. I really need to remember to carry my digital camera with me, because there are tons of times I see something and think "Damn, I wish I had my camera with me!"

www.flickr.com plumcrazy's London Calling photoset

Flickring

I done went and got me a Flickr account. So from now on, photos will be posted there. Checketh it out.

www.flickr.com plumcrazy's Go West photoset

Mmmm, Steak

But no corn. The restaurant didn't have corn. They did a nice prime rib, though.

Learn From My Mistakes

So, if you happen to live in a state that has a large Italian population and you visit a state that doesn't, don't order "Italian" food.

Just sayin'.

Steak and corn, dammit! From now on, I'm eating steak and corn. I'm in Iowa, for chrissakes! What was I thinking?

On Spending 4 Days in Iowa on Business

I have arrived here in West Des Moines, Iowa for a business trip. I'll be heading to the office tomorrow, but right now I'm exhausted. This is the first time I've been to Iowa, and there's not much I can tell you about it yet. My only observations to date are: It's cold. It's windy. It's flat. The people are friendly. The first two clearly are related to the time of year. The last two are not. At least I hope not, since it would be rather scary if, during the summer, Iowa became mountainous and the people turned into raving lunatics. But that's something best left to a Stephen King novel, not real life.

One of the odd things about being a native New Yorker is how weird you feel when you leave the New York metropolitan area. It's a very different kind of life outside the hustle and bustle of New York City. Even other large cities in the U.S. don't move at the same breakneck speed, although they come closer. I won't say that this is the "real America", because that would imply that I live in some mock America, which I do not. Downstate New York and its environs are still part of the United States. I'm just as real an American as someone from the Midwest or the South. We may have different lifestyles and different beliefs, but for all that, we are, every one of us, real Americans. [Spare me the reminder that there are New Yorkers who feel superior to Midwesterners and Southerners. I know that. Just as there are Midwesterners and Southerners who feel superior to New Yorkers. There's no dearth of that in either direction.]

It's a slower pace of life, though, and that takes some getting used to for a native New Yorker. We have to reset our expectations and our pace. That's harder than it might sound. It's not necessarily relaxing, because frustration doesn't breed relaxation. One of the reasons I often limit my personal travel to big cities is that I like the speed of a big city. I'm used to it. I find it difficult to give it up. I never understand New Yorkers who insist that they want to get away from the problems of New York for a while, go out to a more rural area and expect service to be as fast as it is in New York. The speed and the hassles of big city living are inextricably intertwined. If you want to escape the hassles, you have to give up the speed.

So today, when I stopped off at a Starbucks cafe in a Barnes & Noble here, I took a deep breath. I was the only person in line and was in the midst of completing my transaction, when the manager walked up and decided that would be the perfect time to count the money in the cash register. At first, I started thinking "What the hell? Couldn't you have waited until I finished making my purchase? We were nearly done." Then I reminded myself I wasn't in New York and the extra few minutes wouldn't really matter.

Besides, there was something quite comforting about seeing a Barnes & Noble near my hotel. I don't have any friends in this area, so it was something recognizable in the midst of the unfamiliar. I welcomed it like a long-lost brother. Perusing its familiar bookshelves and the unchanging store layout, I felt warm, I felt happy, I felt really tired. [Okay, that last one probably had more to do with getting up at 5:30 am and the two flights I had to take to get here.] Small, local bookstores do have a charm you will never find in a monolith like Barnes & Noble. But when you're away from home, it's just nice to see something well-known.

I'm Back

I have returned from my mini-vacation to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. Much fun was had by all. On Friday, we traveled up to Whidbey Island, drove around, and then headed over to the Olympic Peninsula to look around. Magnificent.

Saturday we spent doing more technical type stuff. We began the day touring a Russian Cobra submarine, and then headed over to Boeing Field and the Museum of Flight. Really cool, and definitely things I wouldn't have done on my own.

Afterwards we returned to sightseeing, driving up to Lake Union to look at the houseboats and then over to Queen Anne Hill. We ended up taking the adults-only tour of the Underground. It wasn't particularly X-rated, but some of the tales of the parlor houses, brothels, and cribs wouldn't have been appropriate for children. There is a more family-friendly tour during the day. The Underground is pretty neat, and you definitely learn a fair amount of city history, so I would recommend it to any visitors to Seattle.

I snapped a few photos on Friday, so without further adieu.

A lighthouse on Whidbey Island

A view of the mountains from Dungeness

A view of the mountains from a ferry crossing the Puget Sound

Only in Seattle - A Starbucks with a drive-thru window.

I debated whether or not to post this picture, because I don't think it's particularly good. However others have said it's a good picture of me, so judge for yourselves. My friend snapped it while we were eating breakfast on Friday morning. Yes, that is my Blackberry in my hands.

Caffeinated

So here I am in Seattle taking a mini-vacation. Got to the hotel around noon PDT. First thing I did after leaving the hotel? Bought coffee, of course. I'm in Seattle. I steadfastly refused to go to Starbucks, though, even though there does seem to be one every half-block in downtown Seattle. I've seen them every few blocks in NYC, but the caffeine coverage in Seattle is much greater. You can barely walk a step downtown without seeing a coffee bar.

I decided to opt for Seattle's Best Coffee. That is the name of the franchise. Damn good coffee, though (is anyone else having an Agent Cooper flashback now). I had a skim Irish Cream latte. I could easily get addicted to those. Yummy. Fortunately, not to worry. As of even date, there are no Seattle's Best Coffee franchises in Hoboken, and I don't remember ever seeing one in NYC either.

After that, I wandered around for a bit. Somehow I managed to accidentally wander into the shopping district. I swear, it wasn't my intention. I think I must have shopping antenna or something. So I bought a pair of shoes. And a hat.

I returned to the hotel for a bit, and then decided I needed to actually eat something, as the last thing I'd eaten had been about 10 hours earlier and consisted of a bagel and cream cheese. But first I went to the Pike Street Market. I must say that, although I could understand how amazingly cool it would be to shop there if you lived in Seattle, as a tourist attraction, it didn't really bowl me over. I was like "Wow, people selling fish. I've seen people selling fish at the Fulton Street Fish Market." I walked down to the Sound and then back up to the Market. Then I finally ate dinner at a small cafe in the Market that overlooks the Sound.

I was fairly tired at that point, so rather than doing anything massively exciting, I took in a movie. I went to see M. Night Shyamalan's new flick "The Village". What an annoyingly stupid movie. He needs to stop worrying about twists and focus on telling good stories. "The Sixth Sense" was a good story that happened to have a twist. But the twist became "the thing" about it. "Unbreakable" was also a good story, but it had a twist too. So I guess Shyamalan figures all his movies need a twist. I hated "Signs", both the story and the twist. This one was worse.

Now I'm awaiting my friend's arrival from California. What a boondoggle. He should have been here several hours ago, but alas no. This is why I was eating dinner and taking in movies by myself. At least there'll be no more of that for the remainder of the trip (tomorrow and Saturday, basically).

London Bridge Is Falling Down

Clearing up a popular misconception:

This is NOT London Bridge. It is a very beautiful bridge. It's the most beautiful bridge in London. It may be the most beautiful bridge in the world. However, it is Tower Bridge.

This IS London Bridge. It's now somewhere in Arizona, BTW. It's not a very pretty bridge.

Not So Foggy London Town

Well, I'm back from my week in London. The weather was thoroughly unLondon-like, with nary a wisp of fog. It rained only one day, being mostly bright, sunny, and hot the rest. I had a marvelous time. I'm a bit tired right now, so I won't go much into my London adventures (such as they were). I will leave you with two photos, though.

The relatively new Swiss Re building, fittingly nicknamed "The Gherkin"

A small private cottage in the middle of St. James Park