Saturday, February 10, 2007
Just getting started. Cathy dropped me at JFK, where I was over 3
hours ahead like I'm supposed to be and then was in the terminal in
under a half hour. I found a power outlet to do some work (including
write this sentence) at a gate where about 100 hyperactive Australian
kids were waiting to board a flight to Salt Lake City.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
At some point on Delta 118 from JFK to Paris, it became Sunday
morning. Arrival at 8 AM CET, which is 2 AM EST. We seemed to arrive
at a terminal under construction (maybe the one that collapsed not
that long ago?) and then took a bus, then a very informal trip through
customs, then a long walk through the airport to Terminal 2D,
highlighted by a couple of pictures [2
Pictures] and a real-life French crossiant. The flight to Munich
[5 Pictures] was no trouble.
In Munich, after getting bags, meeting Travis (without his bags --
which were still in Philadelphia), and some trouble with the German
phone system while trying to reach Thrifty rental car, we were on our
way to Munich in the rented Audi A4 (I like their idea of "midsize"
here). We ended up taking a more scenic route than necessary, but got
to the ArabellaSheraton Westpark [9
Pictures]. There was time for a little sightseeing and dinner in
downtown Munich [35 Pictures] before
heading back to the hotel for an early night.
Monday, February 12, 2007
We got Travis' late-arriving bag and got on our way from Munich by
late morning. After taking a wandering route through town to find the
autobahn we wanted [10 Pictures], it was
on south toward Austria [20
Pictures]. We picked up our Austrian toll sticker just before the
border [7 Pictures] and crossed the (now
unguarded) international boundary [3
Pictures]. We spent most of our ride on the autobahn, but took
the adjacent local road in Kufstein [5
Pictures] and again further south [20 Pictures]. When we got to the
Innsbruck area it was still early afternoon so we decided to drive a
bit south to Italy. The autobahn down to Italy was very impressive,
but also very expensive (8 Euros one way on top of the 7.80 Euros for
the sticker to be on the Austrian autobahns in the first place, for a
road that's not more than 40 km long) [5
Pictures]. We arrived at the border and went about 30 km further
south to check out the area a bit [6
Pictures]. We got as far south as around Mules, then took
the local road back to Innsbruck. Along the way, we stopped for a
quick lunch in the border town of Brenner, Italy [16 Pictures], and drove through some
impressive scenery and interesting little towns [18 Pictures]. Back in Innsbruck,
we had all kinds of trouble finding the hotel. Every time we wanted
to go in a particular direction, that turn wasn't allowed.
Eventually, we found it and checked in to the Best Western Goldener
Adler [Picture]. It is right in the old
town of Innsbruck. The down side is that the expected Internet
connectivity just didn't work. We just had limited access on the
hotel computer.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Day 1 of the conference and the day of our talk. The only pictures
are one of the conference center [Picture] and two of Travis delivering the
talk [2 Pictures].
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Ski day! With the general lack of snow in the Alps this winter, we
decided to go to the highest ski area near Innsbruck: Stubai Glacier.
On the way out in the morning, we got our first really spectacular
views of the mountains right around Innsbruck [9 Pictures]. These pictures and
the others from the ride up are taken with the FujiFilm camera. The
ones on the mountain are taken with the more portable Canon. Pictures
from the ride up are divided into those from the autobahn [8 Pictures] and those from the road up
the Stubai valley [28 Pictures].
We parked and bought lift tickets, then took the gondola [5 Pictures] up to the Gamsgarten
lodge [4 Pictures], where we
rented skis for the day. Our early runs were in the western parts of
the area [22 Pictures],
before we moved to the back side toward the south [9 Pictures], then the front
east side 16 Pictures]. Then
it was lunch time, and we ate at the Dresdner House [6 Pictures], near the Mittlestation
(the midstation of the gondolas from the base). We spent the
afternoon revisiting parts of the mountain we liked. The rest of the
ski pictures are on one page [31
Pictures], then a couple from the base at the end of the day [3 Pictures].
Despite the overall lack of snow, we found excellent conditions in
those places where we could ski, including quite a few tracks of nice
powder, some as much as knee-deep. A really excellent day of skiing.
Finally, there are just a couple pictures taken back in Innsbruck at
the end of the day [2
Pictures].
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Back to the conference to hear some talks. Still, there was time and
opportunity for some good pictures. The pictures are divided into
three pages: from a walk to get lunch [23
Pictures], from a walk up the city tower [28 Pictures], and from a walk in a park near
the conference center during the afternoon coffee break [6 Pictures].
Friday, February 16, 2007
Time to leave Innsbruck and head back to Munich for flights back to
the U.S. on Saturday. There are some pictures of the hotel in
Innsbruck [21 Pictures] and some
pictures of Dom St. Jakob (St. James' Cathdral) [18 Pictures] on the way to and from the
conference center to check e-mail before hitting the road. We finally
checked out around 11 and were on our way. We decided on a different
route (shorter distance, longer time) up through the Alps. There are
pictures leaving Innsbruck [12
Pictures] and up through Austria [22
Pictures] and Germany [17
Pictures]. When we got to Munich, we hit some traffic [3 Pictures] then drove around in circles
[2 Pictures] looking for the English
Gardens. We eventually found them and walked around and got a late
lunch [37 Pictures]. From there, it was
up to the airport area to return the car and check into the airport
hotel for the night.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
The long, long travel day. It started by checking out of the
Kempinski hotel at the airport around 8 AM CET, getting through
checkin, passport control, and security in time for the 10 AM CET
flight to Atlanta. That flight was almost 10 hours, but with no
delays. There are some pictures from this one, although the vast
majority of the time there was nothing to see but clouds [14 Pictures]. Arriving in Atlanta
around 2 PM EST (8 PM CET), it took about an hour to get off the
plane, clear immigration, claim bags, clear customs, recheck bags, and
get back through security. That left 3 hours before the next flight,
plenty of time to recharge the laptop, buy a wireless Internet day
pass, and get something to eat. The second flight was all in the
dark, so there were no real picture opportunities other than the
seat-back video screeen of the route [Picture]. Lots to see, but nothing that
could be captured in a picture. Arrival in Orange County was just
after 8 PM PST (5 AM CET), and I got my luggage and car and was in the
hotel by 9.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Today was a free day in Southern California. The main event of the
day was a ride to visit Neil in San Marcos near San Diego. There are
pictures from a "vista point" along I-5 through Camp Pendleton [8 Pictures], from Neil's neighborhood
[13 Pictures], from Moonlight Beach
[13 Pictures], and from Carlsbad [11 Pictures]. The pictures from the
roads that didn't make the cut are on their own page: [17 Pictures].
Monday, February 19, 2007
After a morning at the hotel preparing for Wednesday's talk, I took a
ride to Santa Monica [16 Pictures]
around lunch time. While there, I got a call from friends who were
going to Disneyland for the afternoon, so I got back in the car and
headed back to Orange County. The late afternoon was spent with Mike,
Jennifer, and James at Disneyland, then I stayed to do a few more
rides after dinner [29 Pictures].
Again, there is an entire page of pictures from the roads only: [41 Pictures].
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Full day at SIAM CSE 2007.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Full day at SIAM CSE 2007.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
This was the last day to do a little exploring of the area and the
skiing didn't look especially promising, so I took a ride. I ended up
doing a very long loop out into the desert and back -- over 600 miles
on the day. The more interesting pictures are grouped onto a few
pages while the less interesting ones are all on the one linked at the
end. The ride started by heading toward San Bernardino [3 Pictures]. Next, it was I-10 out into
the Palm Springs area [3 Pictures]
before a side trip down toward the Salton Sea [13 Pictures]. Then there was only time
for a quick stop at Joshua Tree National Park [32 Pictures]. Since I only saw a small
part of the park, I didn't see any Joshua trees. Next time. From
there, it was back to I-10 [3 Pictures] to
Blythe [4 Pictures] for lunch and then a
brief visit to Arizona [9 Pictures] to
fill up on much less expensive gas. With a full tank, it was back
across the Colorado and up US 95 [26
Pictures] to Needles [16 Pictures].
The pictures from the rest of the ride are along I-40 [13 Pictures]. It was dark by Barstow and on
I-15, the climb was good until the summit, where a cold and windy rain
began and stayed all the way back down into LA. An finally, here are
the [48 Roads/Signs Pictures].
Friday, February 23, 2007
Time to head back home. After a morning dealing with a major
construction project right above my room (don't ever stay at the
Holiday Inn Express in Costa Mesa), it was off to the airport for an
uneventful trip. The flight from Orange County to Cincinnati was
nice, but there were a lot of clouds over the Rockies, so no views
there. There are a handful of pictures from the air passing over
St. Louis [7 Pictures]. Arrival was on
time in Cincinnati and the (gasp) Comair flight to Albany was full and
noisy but reasonably on time.