Markus’ Blog

I am a little late updating. I have been back from San Jose since Friday night. The trip was pretty eventless as far as flights and immigration are concerned. I wasn’t given a hard time crossing the border into the US, the flights were on time (both ways) and the rental car (a bright red Mazda 3 sedan) was good as well.

The exceptional event happened during the day on Friday. I got to attend the qualifying for the San Jose Grand Prix that took place the Sunday after. This was not planned when I booked the trip. It only turned out after the fact that it would be “Grand Prix weekend”.

A couple of pictures of the event are now up as well.

The quietness over the last ten or so days says it all: not much has been happening.

Tomorrow morning it’s time again for me to fly down to San Jose. It’s the usual quarterly visit to see my manager and team mates. I am not expecting anything spectacular to happen.

We’ll see how the immigration procedure goes tomorrow, given that I just returned from the states less than two weeks ago. It should be fine, though. The last trip was for vacation — and they like people coming for vacation and spending their money in the States.

Just wanted to briefly mention that New York photos are up for public “consumption”. Enjoy.

Yes, it was a good trip. Even though we didn’t get to do everything we wanted to do and even though the nice “dinner cruise” that we had planned for July 4 turned out to be a cruise without dinner (and we decided to not go), it was fun.

We went on a scavenger hunt in Greenwich Village, for instance. It was our first time doing something like that. It was great fun exploring the neighbourhood that way. I can say now, Greenwich Village seems a little West Endish. ;)

Last, but not least, I may have to revisit the generalized I hate flying statement that I made not too long ago. On our way there, Cathay Pacific showed once again why they have the reputation they have. Good service, good food, beer and wine for free, good audio/video system. Everything was great — and the plane was on time. (Compare that to American Airlines where they charge you US$4 for a muffin and who won’t give you your luggage back if the flight is cancelled.)

The flight home was even better. Why? Because they decided, for some completely unknown reason, that we would be upgraded to business class. Was that ever nice. I’ve never seen that much leg room on a plane in my life. It’s a 2-3-2 seat configuration — on a Jumbo jet (in economy class they have 3-4-3). That shows that there was room not only length-wise, but width-wise as well. And holy cow, do those seats ever recline. They almost turn completely horizontal.

The service? Phenomenal. The fight attendants are not only blindingly fast, they also address you by name.

It was a good trip, indeed.

It’s almost time for us to leave New York City. We still have a musical to go to (A Chorus Line), then we have to figure something out to spend our last afternoon in the city. Then it’s off to JFK and back home, where we’ll arrive in the early morning hours (something like 2am).

I can’t wait to be back. There are tons, TONS of more things that are left to be seen and done. We didn’t work off our entire list of things to do, but that was just because we put so much on it to begin with. All the more reason to be back soon. And maybe I get to ride on one of those New York sightseeing (double-decker) buses (which keep driving past the Internet cafe) next time. lol

That’s it for now.

Time has gone by fast, in two days we’ll (almost) be on our way back to the airport to fly home. We’ve seen many things already, our most recent accomplishments are detailed on my schveetie’s post.

There’s still a ton of stuff that we would like to do. Unfortunately, some of it will probably have to wait. That’s not too bad, though. It just means that we have to come back soon.

I’m glad we finally managed to get tickets for Broadway shows, two in fact. For a little while it looked like that wasn’t going to happen.

Tomorrow, we’ll go to the Met, on Saturday we’ll go to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We’ll see what else we manage to fit in.

It has been a couple of very busy days, and undoubtedly, more busy days will follow.

We went to the United Nations Headquarters today and took a tour through their chambers. We learned, amongst other things, that worldwide spending on weapons is increasing faster than ever. It’s crazy how much money goes towards that. The amount needed to meet basic needs of the poorest is miniscule in comparison. They told us that, every second, a million dollars goes towards weapons. However, it seems it’s very hard to get (some) countries to spend much, much less than that, so their people’s basic needs can be met.

Yesterday we did the Guggenheim Museum and the Neue Gallerie (a German/Austrian exhibit). After the two museums, we walked through Central Park. Quite amazing that you can’t even hear the city while you are in it. I was sure that while it may look like nature, you would still be able to hear city sounds (like honking, which they seem to love here). But you can’t. Quite amazing.

More things yet to come.

The flight here was good. We got in on time and, on top of that, got good food while on board. And who would have guessed, they gave us wine and beer for free. lol

It’s warm, but not too bad. The wind makes it okay. We already saw lots of Midtown: Times Square, the Theatre District, brunch at BB King with the Harlem Gospel Choir, many taxis, tour busses, tourists, etc. We made our way to Roosevelt Island (on the F subway train) and rode the Roosevelt Island Tram (the one from Spiderman) back into Manhattan.

Now it’s on to the Empire State Building. Way cool!