A few photos from the hotel...
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Buenos Aires
A gorgeous hotel! The Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt Buenos Aires is really a stunner, gorgeous art and I love the gardens between the Palace and Posadas building. I forgot that I could see the water from the top floor...
Working a ton and haven't even set foot outside the hotel since my arrival, but the meetings have been productive. I am hopeful to finish by 7pm today so that I can take a bit of a walk, but I hope the rain subsides... at least there is minimal jet lag - the best part of travel to South America (that and my colleagues down here)!
A gorgeous hotel! The Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt Buenos Aires is really a stunner, gorgeous art and I love the gardens between the Palace and Posadas building. I forgot that I could see the water from the top floor...
Working a ton and haven't even set foot outside the hotel since my arrival, but the meetings have been productive. I am hopeful to finish by 7pm today so that I can take a bit of a walk, but I hope the rain subsides... at least there is minimal jet lag - the best part of travel to South America (that and my colleagues down here)!
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
Cancun
What a strange experience - it is SO WINDY right now, my door keeps squealing from the wind beneath the cracks. I've had to put my heavy marble table against it to keep it from making that whistling noise which is going to drive me nuts. Between the disco next door and the squealing wind, I've had no more than 5 hours sleep a night since last Wednesday. I'm exhausted.
Tomorrow is my last day here for the presentation, then I am traveling home.... with my sunburn. It is a doozy, I am so mad. All I wanted to do is sit by the pool for an hour and now I got a bad sunburn... even with suntan lotion. Crazy! It hurts but it should be better by the time I'm on the flight on Wednesday...
I love hanging out with all my colleagues in South America and Mexico... they are so funny and fun! It truly is my favourite region of the world, I feel so lucky to be working with these hotels... I will be back in Mexico in mid-November, then off to South America in December, January and likely April. Lots of trips down south!
I hear my pillow beckoning. For once, the disco isn't blaring and I have stopped the door squealing. A night of sleep?!?!!!!!
What a strange experience - it is SO WINDY right now, my door keeps squealing from the wind beneath the cracks. I've had to put my heavy marble table against it to keep it from making that whistling noise which is going to drive me nuts. Between the disco next door and the squealing wind, I've had no more than 5 hours sleep a night since last Wednesday. I'm exhausted.
Tomorrow is my last day here for the presentation, then I am traveling home.... with my sunburn. It is a doozy, I am so mad. All I wanted to do is sit by the pool for an hour and now I got a bad sunburn... even with suntan lotion. Crazy! It hurts but it should be better by the time I'm on the flight on Wednesday...
I love hanging out with all my colleagues in South America and Mexico... they are so funny and fun! It truly is my favourite region of the world, I feel so lucky to be working with these hotels... I will be back in Mexico in mid-November, then off to South America in December, January and likely April. Lots of trips down south!
I hear my pillow beckoning. For once, the disco isn't blaring and I have stopped the door squealing. A night of sleep?!?!!!!!
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Cancun
So hot and humid here... in Chicago apparently it is snowing in early October, but here I am sweating bullets! The Hyatt Cancun Caribe Resort has really improved, they have done a wonderful job. I've worked hard the last two days in our meeting and am just exhausted... tonight we are going to downtown Cancun, which I've never done before, to have a few drinks. Hopefully I will make it for an hour or two before I collapse!
The most amazing experience happened on our first night; we had a reception on the beach, and the hotel arranged to get baby turtles that had just hatched that morning for all of us to release into the water. They were so small, they fit right in the palm of your hand and were so cute! We all let them on the beach and they ran into the water and off they went. It was a great and unique experience; apparently it is seasonal so we were very lucky to experience it.
Tomorrow off... time to spend by the pool and catch up on my emails. I just hope the weather will be nice and not quite as hot. Caught the score of the Michigan State game... they lost big time. Coach is gonna be fired!
Ciao!
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Cancun, Mexico
The destination looks great!
Only 9 months since Hurricane Wilma hit, there is little sign that a category-5 sat on it for more than 2 days. In fact, it looks better than ever… the beach is replenished and both cleaner and bigger than ever, the streets and hotels manicured with great face lifts. The Hyatt Cancun Caribe Resort looks incredible, a much needed improvement – it feels like a brand new hotel.
It is so hard to be here and work all day, to come back to the room and see the very turquoise blue ocean… with nary an opportunity to visit. Do emails, work out, go have dinner, sleep and get up early to do a day of work all over again, then off to the airport!
Look forward now to the reopening of the hip new Hyatt Regency Cancun…
The destination looks great!
Only 9 months since Hurricane Wilma hit, there is little sign that a category-5 sat on it for more than 2 days. In fact, it looks better than ever… the beach is replenished and both cleaner and bigger than ever, the streets and hotels manicured with great face lifts. The Hyatt Cancun Caribe Resort looks incredible, a much needed improvement – it feels like a brand new hotel.
It is so hard to be here and work all day, to come back to the room and see the very turquoise blue ocean… with nary an opportunity to visit. Do emails, work out, go have dinner, sleep and get up early to do a day of work all over again, then off to the airport!
Look forward now to the reopening of the hip new Hyatt Regency Cancun…
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Tokyo - photos
Very nice posh place, the Park Hyatt is! Weather is cloudy so I can't even see Mt. Fuji... I have a lot of work to catch up on, so I think I'll spend some my Sunday doing that... might as well do it in luxury!!
Got a coffee in a machine at the airport that was so confusing to use! Also then threw the cup away afterwards, and there was an option in the waste for "Pet Bottles" - what the hell are those?
Took the train to Omote-Sando and saw some bizarre girls dressed up like S&M Animé. They were total posers, so I took a few pictures but then got bored as I'm sure they were of me. Walked through a park to to Meiji-jingu, the main shrine of Japan. Pretty but exactly like the one Andy and I saw earlier this year, so I just moved on... I could not believe how HUGE the park was though, quiet too, and it is in central Tokyo. Amazing. Then hit this cute area totally by accident, lots of windy streets going up and down hills with bakeries and eateries... then off to enjoy my luxury at the Park Hyatt.
Home tomorrow! Yeah!
Ho Chi Minh City - photos
What an interesting day.
A few things to note before I forget: I've seen more older people with severed limbs here than in any city; I was told by a young Vietnamese boy "Honey, I love you"; older women really DO wear pointy straw hats here; pollution from all the mopeds is terrible; the Viet currency has the funniest name in the world - it is called the Dong; I am the only blond in the entire country right now; I look so foreign, locals just hound me to sell anything to the point that I am tired of going out and fighting it anymore.
I walked to Reunification Palace which is the seat of government and is also a museum in some ways kept exactly unchanged since the Vietnam War. Strangely, the areas still used by the President are also unchanged since the war - meaning very bad condition and very bad taste. Look at the photos - one room actually has a stuffed leopard and a chandelier in it amongst 70s carpet.
Most interesting was going to the roof and seeing a helicopeter there from the war; also interesting was the bunker in the basement, kept as a museum used just as during the war. The ending was very interesting - a museum of pictures and mementos about Vietnam's occupation by the French, the American war and subsequent victory by the Communists. What was most interesting was not that it wasn't factual, and in some ways very fair, but also very slanted anti-American; there was not a single positive comment about the American war. I'm fascinated and will likely want to read more about it politically (rather then the 1.5 million movies on the battles).
Then went shopping, including buying a linen print of communist propoganda. This was truly a fascinating store, much of it so anti-American that it actually made me feel bad; curiously, some other Americans were in there as well looking to buy a print, but they said exactly as I felt: "Well, we're not going to buy any war posters." There were many that showed USAF planes burning and crashing from the sky, some posters showing South Vietnamese soldiers tied up on a post and being shot. Fascinating. I ended up getting something not quite so harsh but still rather Bolshevik. Very cool.
I have so much crap to take home! I look forward to sleeping tonight and just relaxing in Tokyo tomorrow; I think I will just stay at the hotel, relax and other than go for a walk just work in my room. A lot of catching up to do!
What an interesting day.
A few things to note before I forget: I've seen more older people with severed limbs here than in any city; I was told by a young Vietnamese boy "Honey, I love you"; older women really DO wear pointy straw hats here; pollution from all the mopeds is terrible; the Viet currency has the funniest name in the world - it is called the Dong; I am the only blond in the entire country right now; I look so foreign, locals just hound me to sell anything to the point that I am tired of going out and fighting it anymore.
I walked to Reunification Palace which is the seat of government and is also a museum in some ways kept exactly unchanged since the Vietnam War. Strangely, the areas still used by the President are also unchanged since the war - meaning very bad condition and very bad taste. Look at the photos - one room actually has a stuffed leopard and a chandelier in it amongst 70s carpet.
Most interesting was going to the roof and seeing a helicopeter there from the war; also interesting was the bunker in the basement, kept as a museum used just as during the war. The ending was very interesting - a museum of pictures and mementos about Vietnam's occupation by the French, the American war and subsequent victory by the Communists. What was most interesting was not that it wasn't factual, and in some ways very fair, but also very slanted anti-American; there was not a single positive comment about the American war. I'm fascinated and will likely want to read more about it politically (rather then the 1.5 million movies on the battles).
Then went shopping, including buying a linen print of communist propoganda. This was truly a fascinating store, much of it so anti-American that it actually made me feel bad; curiously, some other Americans were in there as well looking to buy a print, but they said exactly as I felt: "Well, we're not going to buy any war posters." There were many that showed USAF planes burning and crashing from the sky, some posters showing South Vietnamese soldiers tied up on a post and being shot. Fascinating. I ended up getting something not quite so harsh but still rather Bolshevik. Very cool.
I have so much crap to take home! I look forward to sleeping tonight and just relaxing in Tokyo tomorrow; I think I will just stay at the hotel, relax and other than go for a walk just work in my room. A lot of catching up to do!
Friday, June 23, 2006
Ho Chi Minh City
I've fallen in love with this place!
The people here are so nice, the service level is just astounding. Everyone smiles... the city is bustling with so many people, it is amazing. The food is great and of course it is incredibly cheap!
An oddity: I tried to place a call today to Switzerland, but apparently it is illegal to call there from Vietnam. A strange political fallout from a communist country? I thought Switzerland was neutral...
Had a 90-minute Thai Massage here, feel great. The Park Hyatt Saigon is just truly amazing, extremely luxurious in a city where you just would never expect it.
All day shopping and relaxing tomorrow, then off to Tokyo at midnight!
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Wow, what a place.
In the first ten minutes of arrival I experienced more culture than I had in 3 days in Sinagpore... the airport arrival outside of the baggage claim was filled with more people than I have seen at any third-world airport, but unlike the chaos that usually ensues, it was eerily controlled - no screaming babies or people asking for taxis, rather, just 3,000 people looking at us hoping we were their loved on/associate/friend/potential ride/whatever...
As we drove down the streets, what really struck me was how at there were almost no cars, but about 300 mopeds at each stoplight. Intersections filled with mopeds, one guy was carrying a shell of a computer between his legs while driving it. Along the streets, it looked like lots of little colourful buildings similar to Mexico City without the grafitti - but in front hanging from the telephone poles were not only a few cables but hundreds of them, as if the growth to commerce has been so fast they haven't had time to put the cables underground.
The drive to the hotel was past Reunification Square - a park with a museum holding two tanks from the Vietnam war, with big red flags and building sized posters of crowds of happy people.
The hotel itself is stunningly gorgeous, a throw back in time. When you enter you feel like you just walked into 1948 Saigon. Gorgeous potted palms, huge shuttered french paned windows and a grand piano adorn the lobby.... the male employees in white banded shirts and black slacks, women all in long black robes, both uniforms perfectly pressed and hair clean and kept back. Rooms are just stunning, old simplicity...
Had dinner in an open air local restaurant, with a tree in it. The outdoor edges were covered with a sail underwhich were the kitchens... freshest vegetables I have ever had, we had to make our own spring roles by hand... neat. Cheap as hell.
But now I am just exhausted so going to sleep...
Wow, what a place.
In the first ten minutes of arrival I experienced more culture than I had in 3 days in Sinagpore... the airport arrival outside of the baggage claim was filled with more people than I have seen at any third-world airport, but unlike the chaos that usually ensues, it was eerily controlled - no screaming babies or people asking for taxis, rather, just 3,000 people looking at us hoping we were their loved on/associate/friend/potential ride/whatever...
As we drove down the streets, what really struck me was how at there were almost no cars, but about 300 mopeds at each stoplight. Intersections filled with mopeds, one guy was carrying a shell of a computer between his legs while driving it. Along the streets, it looked like lots of little colourful buildings similar to Mexico City without the grafitti - but in front hanging from the telephone poles were not only a few cables but hundreds of them, as if the growth to commerce has been so fast they haven't had time to put the cables underground.
The drive to the hotel was past Reunification Square - a park with a museum holding two tanks from the Vietnam war, with big red flags and building sized posters of crowds of happy people.
The hotel itself is stunningly gorgeous, a throw back in time. When you enter you feel like you just walked into 1948 Saigon. Gorgeous potted palms, huge shuttered french paned windows and a grand piano adorn the lobby.... the male employees in white banded shirts and black slacks, women all in long black robes, both uniforms perfectly pressed and hair clean and kept back. Rooms are just stunning, old simplicity...
Had dinner in an open air local restaurant, with a tree in it. The outdoor edges were covered with a sail underwhich were the kitchens... freshest vegetables I have ever had, we had to make our own spring roles by hand... neat. Cheap as hell.
But now I am just exhausted so going to sleep...
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Singapore
Oh, the joys of webcams!
Setting up the webcam has been hilarious... when I go to the computer the dogs are invariably in the room locked up. It is funny to look in and spy on them when Andrew is not there... generally they are bored waiting for someone to come home, but my favorite is to knock on the desk and shout out "who is it?" They run around barking acting like someone is there and it was just me playing a game with them from Singapore!
The amazing thing is to see Jake will bark when he hears me walk around or talk on the phone here in Singapore. His ears are so good he can tell it is me and he barks thinking I'm home . Whenever I mute the speaker, he is quiet. Truly amazing.
My last day here... yesterday after going to breakfast I went shopping... my God I spent a lot of money. My credit card got security halted and I could not clear it until 11pm last night because of the time difference. How frustrating! I really was spending a lot of money!
Today it is raining a bit... I am off to Ho Chi Minh City for a conference, so I have to pack and run soon. Danielle and Mark are coming over to the house so while they have a beer they will go on the Webcam and say HI to me in Singapore where I will be having coffee... a party 6,000 miles away and I'll be a part of it! Too cool!
Friday, June 16, 2006
Singapore
I'm always surprised how busy it is here... like New York, tons of people everywhere... and they just shop shop shop. That's ME tomorrow.... I so badly need some new clothes, I am going to spend lots of money. But luckily it is the shopping sales - "The Great Singapore Sale" is from 26 May - 23 June and I'm in the middle of it!
So tomorrow will be just to take it easy... nice, given how hot and humid it is. It is 82 degrees - feels like 92 - and it is almost 10pm! Crazy...
off to bed!
I'm always surprised how busy it is here... like New York, tons of people everywhere... and they just shop shop shop. That's ME tomorrow.... I so badly need some new clothes, I am going to spend lots of money. But luckily it is the shopping sales - "The Great Singapore Sale" is from 26 May - 23 June and I'm in the middle of it!
So tomorrow will be just to take it easy... nice, given how hot and humid it is. It is 82 degrees - feels like 92 - and it is almost 10pm! Crazy...
off to bed!
Friday, May 19, 2006
Buenos Aires - photos
You know, getting older is kind of a funny thing. I still get thrilled about opening a luxury hotel - all the activity, seeing the finishing touches, the buzz of excitement in the community. But it is tempered with so much more now - I miss home, Andy, my friends, my parents. My mom is in Ireland - how was her trip? Dad mentioned how well the lawn looks; what did he do to get it that way? Andy's been dealing with the rain in Chicago - has it been that dreary? Are the dogs restless? How is Kim's new job? Funny how I'm more rooted than I ever dreamed I would be. Yet I am happy about it, it keeps things in perspective.
The hotel here is really amazing, and I can't wait to come back and see it in operation. The people are just so wonderful, really warm and truly excited about working at such a spectacular place. Room 208 is just AMAZING, I can't even believe what it will be like with all the activity, guests rushing past the Piano Nobile forgetting they had reserved a Spa suite or a table in the dining room near the cheese room. Just a wonderful place. I can close my eyes and see it happen, but for now, it is just construction and dust dust dust everywhere! The staff gave me a wonderful, personal sendoff... I was very touched...
I haven't worked out for two weeks, I've been sick, working on emails from 7am-8am and 10pm-12am every night, plus dinners and drinks... what a trip! All I want to do is sleep... sleep... sleep... but until then, how about a 12 hour trip from B.A. to Chicago?!?!!!
Look forward to my next trip here when I can actually visit the city! What a concept!
And on a final note... yes, I have now heard of Diego Maradona!
You know, getting older is kind of a funny thing. I still get thrilled about opening a luxury hotel - all the activity, seeing the finishing touches, the buzz of excitement in the community. But it is tempered with so much more now - I miss home, Andy, my friends, my parents. My mom is in Ireland - how was her trip? Dad mentioned how well the lawn looks; what did he do to get it that way? Andy's been dealing with the rain in Chicago - has it been that dreary? Are the dogs restless? How is Kim's new job? Funny how I'm more rooted than I ever dreamed I would be. Yet I am happy about it, it keeps things in perspective.
The hotel here is really amazing, and I can't wait to come back and see it in operation. The people are just so wonderful, really warm and truly excited about working at such a spectacular place. Room 208 is just AMAZING, I can't even believe what it will be like with all the activity, guests rushing past the Piano Nobile forgetting they had reserved a Spa suite or a table in the dining room near the cheese room. Just a wonderful place. I can close my eyes and see it happen, but for now, it is just construction and dust dust dust everywhere! The staff gave me a wonderful, personal sendoff... I was very touched...
I haven't worked out for two weeks, I've been sick, working on emails from 7am-8am and 10pm-12am every night, plus dinners and drinks... what a trip! All I want to do is sleep... sleep... sleep... but until then, how about a 12 hour trip from B.A. to Chicago?!?!!!
Look forward to my next trip here when I can actually visit the city! What a concept!
And on a final note... yes, I have now heard of Diego Maradona!
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Buenos Aires
Raining today after 4 beautiful days of sun and near-70 degrees. We've been working nonstop downstairs in the basement of our beautiful hotel that is about to open. It is exciting! I look forward to my next visit... after many delays, it appears relatively ontime.
A lot of fun on this visit but a lot of work, too. I have never laughed so much and worked so late. Every night lasts until around 11pm because everyone in S America dines late. So strange to go to dinner at 10pm with almost noone in a restaurant and leave at 11 or 11.30 and see the place full!
The Recoleta district is full of trees and nice buildings....
Leave for home tomorrow!
Raining today after 4 beautiful days of sun and near-70 degrees. We've been working nonstop downstairs in the basement of our beautiful hotel that is about to open. It is exciting! I look forward to my next visit... after many delays, it appears relatively ontime.
A lot of fun on this visit but a lot of work, too. I have never laughed so much and worked so late. Every night lasts until around 11pm because everyone in S America dines late. So strange to go to dinner at 10pm with almost noone in a restaurant and leave at 11 or 11.30 and see the place full!
The Recoleta district is full of trees and nice buildings....
Leave for home tomorrow!
Friday, May 12, 2006
Sao Paulo - photos
I love this hotel! Truly amazing.... not only is the food incredible and the decor nothing short of perfect, the hotel unpacked all my clothes while I was in meetings and the rest is being sent down to the laundry. I didn't even ask to do this, and I can't wait to get the clothes back because they will look GREAT as if I just bought them from the store! Best hotel in the company!
Literally worked all day and exhausted but looking forward to sleeping in late and then going on a city tour, then come back and change for a fun night of dinner...
But now, off to a massage at Anakena Spa at the Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo...
I love this hotel! Truly amazing.... not only is the food incredible and the decor nothing short of perfect, the hotel unpacked all my clothes while I was in meetings and the rest is being sent down to the laundry. I didn't even ask to do this, and I can't wait to get the clothes back because they will look GREAT as if I just bought them from the store! Best hotel in the company!
Literally worked all day and exhausted but looking forward to sleeping in late and then going on a city tour, then come back and change for a fun night of dinner...
But now, off to a massage at Anakena Spa at the Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo...
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Santiago de Chile
Another long day yesterday... very hot here, unusual for this time of year; I am certain it must have been 80 degrees F. Pollution was real bad, you could barely see the Andes. The new freeway is finished, it now only takes about 25 minutes from the airport to the hotel - it goes for 6km directly under the river in a tunnel.
Will be working most of the time, I am hoping to have some free time later today to at least go to Pura - a great local art store in Las Condes - as well as maybe the nearby mall for a walk; but I am here for work and honestly don't have much free time due to meetings and training...
This morning the Andes look so beautiful as the sun rises over them. Such a spectacular setting for a city!
Another long day yesterday... very hot here, unusual for this time of year; I am certain it must have been 80 degrees F. Pollution was real bad, you could barely see the Andes. The new freeway is finished, it now only takes about 25 minutes from the airport to the hotel - it goes for 6km directly under the river in a tunnel.
Will be working most of the time, I am hoping to have some free time later today to at least go to Pura - a great local art store in Las Condes - as well as maybe the nearby mall for a walk; but I am here for work and honestly don't have much free time due to meetings and training...
This morning the Andes look so beautiful as the sun rises over them. Such a spectacular setting for a city!
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Earthquake in Mendoza!
(earthquake map to the left, this quake in red)
In a deep sleep, I was awakened at just a few minutes past 6am by a quite strong quake. It lasted I would guess 15 seconds and was in a rolling motion - I was sufficiently certain that the quake had awoken my colleague Maria, so I called her in her room.... and yes, Maria was wide awake!
I tried to look on-line to find a registry but so far haven't found it listed.... will keep looking, but if it was centered here, my guess it was between a 5.0 and a 6.0. Definitely strong enough but no damage, I'm sure....
Lest anyone forget, Mendoza was famously destroyed by an earthquake in 1861; its wide boulevards and strategically placed plazas were created to allow buildings to crash into the street yet provide space for people and emergency equipment to move around them to the official congregation points - the plazas. The ruins of the cathedral remain to remind the residents of just how dangerous the area is...
The USGS posted this on their website... a 5.1, but at 129.5 miles, very deep in the earth... a good guess by me!
MAG UTC DATE-TIMEy/m/d h:m:s LATdeg LONdeg DEPTHkm Region
5.1 2006/05/09 09:02:27 -32.374 -69.266 129.5 MENDOZA, ARGENTINA
link: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.php
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Mendoza, Argentina - photos
Cloudy skies this mid-Autumn day in Mendoza. The wide boulevards appear as tree-tunnels with ceilings of orange and gold. The plazas are quiet as any typical Sunday afternoon, the occasional family or couple walking by.
Such a pretty little city. The hotel welcomed us in open arms as always; after settling in, I called Dave who runs www.vinesofmendoza.com. He has a tasting room on the edge of the plaza and he knows my friends Aimee, Kim and Cheryl. We had a nice glass of Cabernet and talked about our mutual friends and what we are doing in life. It was a fun, relaxing conversation in a comfortable slick tasting room just steps off the Plaza Independencia. He invited us to an asado, which is an Argentine barbeque, tonight at 9pm.
After our talk, Maria and I walked around the streets and up through the park to the lake. A long walk, but very nice on a Sunday afternoon. Very peaceful, but it was funny to see some Americans (obviously) walk by in their t-shirts and shorts (too cold for that) and dogs. Now it is a rest with a glass of Malbec by Trapiche (just had this in Chicago last Thursday!) in my room before a walk through the art fair and then the asado!
Cloudy skies this mid-Autumn day in Mendoza. The wide boulevards appear as tree-tunnels with ceilings of orange and gold. The plazas are quiet as any typical Sunday afternoon, the occasional family or couple walking by.
Such a pretty little city. The hotel welcomed us in open arms as always; after settling in, I called Dave who runs www.vinesofmendoza.com. He has a tasting room on the edge of the plaza and he knows my friends Aimee, Kim and Cheryl. We had a nice glass of Cabernet and talked about our mutual friends and what we are doing in life. It was a fun, relaxing conversation in a comfortable slick tasting room just steps off the Plaza Independencia. He invited us to an asado, which is an Argentine barbeque, tonight at 9pm.
After our talk, Maria and I walked around the streets and up through the park to the lake. A long walk, but very nice on a Sunday afternoon. Very peaceful, but it was funny to see some Americans (obviously) walk by in their t-shirts and shorts (too cold for that) and dogs. Now it is a rest with a glass of Malbec by Trapiche (just had this in Chicago last Thursday!) in my room before a walk through the art fair and then the asado!
Aeropuerto - Santiago de Chile
It amazes me how great it is to fly down to South America... because there is relatively no time change to North America, there is no jet lag, only what I call travel lag.... that is, just feeling tired from being in a seat for 12 hours. Since I had dinner on the flight to Miami, I literally skipped it on the flight down and slept 20 minutes into take off, waking up only 45 minutes before landing. That's 7 hours of sleep on a flight! I feel a bit groggy but good!
Flying down here is so cool, along the Andes mountain range. The sun was just starting to rise - that deep blue/red colour on the horizon - and you could see the outline of the mountains, still snow capped of course. Incredibly gorgeous. Nearing landing, as is usual this time of year, you can see the low fog hugging the valleys, nooks and crannies of the low mountains. Pretty. At least not enough to delay my arrival!
I am waiting in the Admirals Club (strangely like its namesake - an old ship Admiral's office, wood and plaid seats - yuck) drinking my powdered orange juice waiting for Maria. She is getting in any minute from México D.F. and then we fly together to Mendoza. Today, we will meet Marlenne at the airport, then after getting settled to do some wine tasting and join an asado - a traditional barbeque of Argentine beef. Yummy! Oddly, Aimee's friend Dave moved to Mendoza so there will be an MSU contact there... we're everywhere!
Ok, off to finish my Tang...
It amazes me how great it is to fly down to South America... because there is relatively no time change to North America, there is no jet lag, only what I call travel lag.... that is, just feeling tired from being in a seat for 12 hours. Since I had dinner on the flight to Miami, I literally skipped it on the flight down and slept 20 minutes into take off, waking up only 45 minutes before landing. That's 7 hours of sleep on a flight! I feel a bit groggy but good!
Flying down here is so cool, along the Andes mountain range. The sun was just starting to rise - that deep blue/red colour on the horizon - and you could see the outline of the mountains, still snow capped of course. Incredibly gorgeous. Nearing landing, as is usual this time of year, you can see the low fog hugging the valleys, nooks and crannies of the low mountains. Pretty. At least not enough to delay my arrival!
I am waiting in the Admirals Club (strangely like its namesake - an old ship Admiral's office, wood and plaid seats - yuck) drinking my powdered orange juice waiting for Maria. She is getting in any minute from México D.F. and then we fly together to Mendoza. Today, we will meet Marlenne at the airport, then after getting settled to do some wine tasting and join an asado - a traditional barbeque of Argentine beef. Yummy! Oddly, Aimee's friend Dave moved to Mendoza so there will be an MSU contact there... we're everywhere!
Ok, off to finish my Tang...
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Washington, DC
Fourth week of travel in a row.... wow, I'm tired. At least the weather here is great... the hotel runs an apartment building next door, it has been nice to "live like a local" for a change. I went to the supermarket on Monday and bought food for the week; went for a walk in Georgetown on Monday, then nice to be able to walk to the health club and relax a little more instead of living in a hotel for a week. Comfortable.
Next week I'll be in Chicago the whole week.... hooray!
Always forget how nice the city is here. Georgetown is so charming; cobblestone streets and old colonial row buildings with cherry blossom trees shedding their buds. Very pretty.
I also am now totally addicted to American Idol. I was for sure that Ace (the pretty boy) would be kicked off this week, but he actually did alright - the pretty dumb chick, Kellie, is for sure saying sayonara. She totally messed up! A fun thing to follow while I'm traveling... I call Andy after every singer commenting on who was the best.
Home on Friday!!!
Fourth week of travel in a row.... wow, I'm tired. At least the weather here is great... the hotel runs an apartment building next door, it has been nice to "live like a local" for a change. I went to the supermarket on Monday and bought food for the week; went for a walk in Georgetown on Monday, then nice to be able to walk to the health club and relax a little more instead of living in a hotel for a week. Comfortable.
Next week I'll be in Chicago the whole week.... hooray!
Always forget how nice the city is here. Georgetown is so charming; cobblestone streets and old colonial row buildings with cherry blossom trees shedding their buds. Very pretty.
I also am now totally addicted to American Idol. I was for sure that Ace (the pretty boy) would be kicked off this week, but he actually did alright - the pretty dumb chick, Kellie, is for sure saying sayonara. She totally messed up! A fun thing to follow while I'm traveling... I call Andy after every singer commenting on who was the best.
Home on Friday!!!
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