Boston → Alaska → Houston: 2012

Friday, August 3, 2012

Business Trip to the Netherlands: Detour to Moscow and St. Petersburg

I work for an international energy company with offices in Den Haag, Netherlands. For the past few months, several people from my office have traveled to the Netherlands to work there for a few weeks at a time. Recently I had the same opportunity. I stayed in Den Haag for almost three weeks, so I had plenty of chances to explore the surrounding area, but I wanted to start the trip with some adventure: Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Flights were surprisingly inexpensive (everything is more expensive in Europe right?). The fare on Lufthansa was around $75. Taxes brought the total to $250. Considering that Moscow is more than 1500 miles from Amsterdam, and that a flight from Houston to a city 1500 miles away would more than likely cost $400 on such short notice, I think I got a great deal.

I flew to Moscow's new Vnukovo airport. This is just one bit of evidence that I saw that told me Moscow is a growing city. In fact I saw many new construction projects while I was there. This new airport was a pleasant change from most American airports I have experienced within the past few years. There was an emphasis on visual design that is often absent in more practical American designs.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

From the airport I took a train to the Leningradsky rail station that connects with the Moscow Metro system. On the way I had to transfer trains and decided to explore the station a bit. The station was beautifully decorate with marble and communist artwork.

When I arrived at the rail station I had dinner. I'm not sure what I ate, but it was cut from this post of meat.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

Also the station featured a monument to Lenin (the station is named for him after all).

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

I slept in a two-bed cabin on the overnight train to St. Petersburg. Riding with me in the cabin was a young woman who claimed to be a lawyer working for Gazprom. Later she admitted that she wasn't a lawyer in reality... I think maybe she was trying to impress me. We had breakfast in the morning. The train food wasn't bad.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

The train left around midnight and arrived around 8 AM, so I was able to see the train in daylight for the first time when I arrived.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

I walked around the station for a while trying to find a restroom.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

Finally I found one despite my lack of understanding of cyrillic (eventually I could sound out most words, but not at this point).

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

Inside I started a habit of taking photos in the restroom (probably not a good idea if anyone is looking).

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

The train station was within walking distance of most of the best sites to see, so I started out on foot taking photos along the way. Many of the buildings are designed by Italian architects and resemble the buildings of Amsterdam.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

Many of the buildings were being washed as I passed by... perhaps they were washing off the remnants of winter ahead of the coming tourist season.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

I saw the Kazan Cathedral and stopped for a tea across the street while a rainstorm passed. After the rain cleared I wandered back out and took a riding tour of the city.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

The tour guides spoke English fairly and took me to several must-see sites around the city. I saw a battleship with some historical significance. My favorite site of the tour was the Church of the Savior on Blood.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

The fence surrounding the church was very impressive.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

After this tour I continued on foot toward the Hermitage Museum, also known as the Winter Palace. The sun was peeking out as I arrived.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

Inside the museum I saw many beautiful decorations and masterpieces of art.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

From the Hermitage I left to take some more photos of the buildings around the city before sunset.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

Eventually I had dinner and went back to the train station for my trip to Moscow.

From Moscow and St. Petersburg

Check back soon for photos from Moscow and beyond.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

New Orleans Information Architecture Summit

As part of my project at my company I have been researching ways to improve the user experience of technical software developed in-house. This has involved mostly lots of reading, but I decided to supplement this learning by attending a conference in New Orleans for two days in March. Of course I found time to take some photos while I was there.

My hotel was a few blocks away from the French Quarter and Bourbon Street area. On the night I arrived I wandered out to find some food. I hadn't gone far when I heard a trombone playing the Flintstones theme song in the distance. I followed the sound to Bourbon Street. It was after 10 PM on a Wednesday, but the street was still crowded.

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I found some pizza by the slice and went back to the hotel for the night, but the following day after the conference, I walked several miles from the French Quarter to the Whole Foods in Uptown. Along the way there was unusual vegetation.

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There were also many beautiful buildings.

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I think the last one symbolizes the city in a way. The pink surface cries out "party time!" while the large crack up the corner says there's a little rott beneath the surface. In New Orleans there were obviously many beautiful features, and many opportunities for fun, but the aging city has its problems. In all I enjoyed the city very much and would certainly go back again.

Christmas Roadtrip: TX -> AL -> IA -> TX

One thing I miss about being a graduate student is the road trip. It's easy enough to disappear for a week sometimes without anyone taking notice, so I had the opportunity to take several roadtrips over the past few years. With the Christmas and New Years Day holidays coming up I saw a rare opportunity to drive a couple thousand miles without blowing all my vacation time.

I needed to see my family in Alabama, and I knew several of my friends would be in Iowa helping with the Ron Paul presidential campaign so I had two good waypoints to work with. I stayed a few days in Alabama visiting my mother, grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. I also met my uncle's new Great Dane puppy.

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And my cousin's French bulldog puppy.

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I also baked a quiche with my mom. It turned out really well even though we used mostly Wal-Mart ingredients. (There is no Whole Foods near Jasper.)

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From Alabama I drove in the general direction of Iowa with two short stops in mind. I passed through Memphis to pick up some spare parts for my 220D at a junk yard. The yard had many cars listed online, including a green 220D with many parts already taken.

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I found what I needed and moved onward. I slept in St. Louis and woke up at dawn to take a photo at the arch there.

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Snow had fallen overnight, leaving the roads very messy. I saw at least two accidents as I was driving out of St. Louis including this one. Seeing these makes me realize how lucky I am to have driven more than 200,000 miles with only one major accident.

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When I arrived in Iowa I worked phones and wrote web scripts for Ron Paul for a week. Yes I used my vacation time to do work, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Time seemed to pass extremely quickly there amongst good friends.

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After the election night I drove home to Texas and that was the end of my Christmas vacation. Of course Ron Paul didn't win Iowa, but my goal was to enjoy the experience no matter the result. Mission accomplished.