Saturday, July 29, 2006

The slow road to Boston

Sure we could have taken the turnpike from Northhampton to Boston, but looking at trees and asphalt for the entire drive sounded kind of boring (along with our dislike of large vehicles is a dislike of actual driving), so we took route 9 the entire way. The perfect route it turned out, since it took us right from Northhampton to Jamaica Plain, where we were staying with Jim for two nights. On our route 9 drive we got really good at figuring out which small towns were within spitting distance of a Walmart. The check list goes something like this: Oddly empty downtown? Boarded up shop windows? A grocery store with a going out of business sign?
Ladies and Gentlemen - you are the proud recipients of a huge (negative) tax generator, traffic creating, soul sucking, downtown killing, less then living wage paying - Walmart. (cue the band and the fireworks.)

The old villages and towns that were too far away from a Walmart to reap the benefits of cheap goods from China were a sad sight indeed. I'm not sure how their residents could possibly think that their vibrant little main street with small shops and pedestrians, trees and kids riding bikes, tax revenue generating shops that actually encouraged a driver to stop and walk around could possibly compete with 20 acres of parking lot baking in the sun.

Cheryl and Jim

The two things that I want to mention about Boston (besides what a great host Jim was and how much fun we had going out with him, there he is above): the Boston Museum of Fine Arts rocks! What a good collection they have of early American art and furniture, and a good modern collection that they are working to improve with a lot of recent acquisitions. Oh sure, you can build a fancy building and get a lot of press (cough cough de Young), but if the collection isn't great all you have is a fancy building and nice bathrooms. The de Young has great bathrooms.

The piece of art that made the biggest impression on me was an Edward Hopper called A room in Brooklyn. What tickled my fancy was the placard with the description of the piece. The official description said something about depicting the loneliness of Brooklyn..someone had crossed out loneliness and substituted beauty and tranquility. Rich and I laughed at the image of someone from Brooklyn seeing that and thinking - hey! You 'dissing Brooklyn? and pulling out a ball point pen and improving the official version.

The other thing that made us sit up and take notice were the performers at Jacques
http://www.jacquescabaret.com/
and reactions of the audience. Since we live in SF we certainly have the opportunity to see drag performances, they are fun and great to watch. At Jacques it was more interesting to watch the audience then the performers. Jacques seems to have captured the bachelorette party business - I guess the women feel it's a non-threatening environment and the groom is probably happy that the bride isn't at a Chippendale type place with male strippers. So, the next time you're in Boston check out Jacques. We had fun.


When we get back to SF I'll add some photos to the entries.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Hot and humid?

I promise to never again make fun of the phrase people use when it's hot..."Well, at least it's a dry heat..." I know we're spoiled in SF, and in California in general but the past week has really made me appreciate it. We flew into Washington DC and rented a car for the three weeks we're bouncing around New England. Of course the nice man at the car rental counter "hooked us up" with a mid-size car - we reserved a compact - and all who know us know perfectly well that we like our cars small, like our.....oh, tried and failed to think of something cheeky there...like our underwear - no, doesn't work, like our credit card bill? Oh well, if you think of something funny that would have worked, please say it to yourself. Anyway, we held out for a compact, a Chevy Cobalt, better gas mileage, easier to park - all of which I of course explained to the rental car guy, none of which he cared about. Making friends, sharing the gospel of small cars and fuel efficiency.

We drove to Gettysburg PA to spend one night on our way to MA. We had just enough time to check out the battlefields (and sweat), walk around town (yes, more sweat), have a good Italian dinner (AC, now I understand you), and do the cool retro 1950's style electric map in the visitors center. The map is really useful in understanding how the battle of Gettysburg progressed, and why it was such a watershed moment in the Civil War, even though the war went on for another ...3 years I think? Sad to think of how many lives were affected. The display on battlefield medical treatment was gruesome.

IMG_0011

It was on to visit Rich's cousin Lori in Northhampton next. Northhampton must be the Berkeley of MA, we felt right at home. Took a nice walk around the town and campus of Smith College and had a great brewpub dinner. Lori has traveled a lot so we had lots of great travel talk. We are now considering re-arranging the itinerary to go to Turkey, both Lori and my brother-in-law Christopher speak very highly of Istanbul, as did a woman we meet last night out with friends. So, who knows....

next entry, Boston and a great night out with Jim. Two words: drag queens. After that, an amazing farm in MA and a hot and humid NYC.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Packing up and saying goodbyes.

Cheers

Although we don't leave on our big adventure until Sept. 1st, we will be on a 3 week trip to the East Coast starting Wednesday, and then a trip to Colorado for a week. So, not much time left in SF, and not much time to pack up the apartment. We've started to pack up and since we will have house sitters staying at our place we need to leave it neat and tidy. That means the current state of chaos needs to be cleaned up. As we found when we moved into our 600 Sq Ft rental cottage - there isn't much room for boxes! Well, not if you actually want to walk around. So, today will be re-org day. When you live in a small place you spend a lot of time re-orging.

Yesterday Rich's step-mother Julie had a lovely going away party for us. She had a map marked with our stops and solicited travel tips from the guests. We got some great advice and some lovely gifts - a travel clothesline and some soap were my favorite. We intend to be doing a lot of laundry in hotel sinks!

Thursday, July 06, 2006

By popular demand....the itinerary.

Rich and Cheryl’s Itinerary, dates are subject to change.
East Coast trip beginning on July 19th.
Colorado trip beginning on Aug 17th.

Leave for Geneva on Sept 1st.

After we return to SF in June 07 we intend to go back to Europe to do some bike touring.

To Munich and on to Geneva:

Flight: LH 459 operated by: LUFTHANSA
from: SAN FRANCISCO CA INTL, TERMINAL INTL
to: MUNICH DE FRANZ J STRAUSS, TERMINAL 2
Departure: 01. September, 21:55 h
Arrival: 02. September, 18:00 h
Class: Business Class (D), confirmed

Flight: LH 3690 operated by: LUFTHANSA CITYLINE
from: MUNICH DE FRANZ J STRAUSS, TERMINAL 2
to: GENEVA CH, TERMINAL M
Departure: 02. September, 18:45 h
Arrival: 02. September, 19:55 h
Class: Business Class (D), confirmed

From Geneva through Vienna and on to Sarajevo:

Flight: OS 572 operated by: TYROLEAN AIRWAYS
from: GENEVA CH, TERMINAL M
to: VIENNA AT VIENNA INTL
Departure: 11. September, 10:35 h
Arrival: 11. September, 12:20 h
Class: Business Class (D), confirmed

Flight: OS 757 operated by: AUSTRIAN
from: VIENNA AT VIENNA INTL
to: SARAJEVO BA BUTMIR
Departure: 11. September, 13:30 h
Arrival: 11. September, 14:40 h
Class: Business Class (D), confirmed

We’ll travel through Eastern Europe, starting south with the good weather and going north back to Vienna and then on to India:

Flight: OS 33 operated by: AUSTRIAN
from: VIENNA AT VIENNA INTL
to: DELHI IN INDIRA GANDHI INTL, TERMINAL 2
Departure: 09. November, 11:10 h
Arrival: 09. November, 23:10 h
Class: Business Class (D), confirmed

We’ll stay in India until Dec 11 then on to Thailand:

Flight: TG 318 operated by: THAI AIRWAYS INTL
from: MUMBAI IN CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI, TERMINAL 2C
to: BANGKOK TH BANGKOK INTL, TERMINAL 1
Departure: 11. December, 23:00 h
Arrival: 12. December, 04:50 h
Class: D, confirmed

Flight: TG 253 operated by: THAI AIRWAYS INTL
from: BANGKOK TH BANGKOK INTL, TERMINAL DOM
to: SURAT THANI TH
Departure: 12. December, 10:40 h
Arrival: 12. December, 11:55 h
Class: C, confirmed

Then from Thailand to Vietnam:

Flight: TG 697 operated by: THAI AIRWAYS INTL
from: PHNOM PENH KH POCHENTONG, TERMINAL INTL
to: BANGKOK TH BANGKOK INTL, TERMINAL 1
Departure: 01. February, 10:30 h
Arrival: 01. February, 11:35 h
Class: D, confirmed

Flight: TG 684 operated by: THAI AIRWAYS INTL
from: BANGKOK TH BANGKOK INTL, TERMINAL 1
to: HANOI VN NOIBAI, TERMINAL INTL
Departure: 01. February, 17:50 h
Arrival: 01. February, 19:40 h
Class: D, confirmed

On to Hong Kong:

Flight: UA 862 operated by: UNITED AIRLINES
from: HO CHI MINH CITY VN TAN SON NH
to: HONG KONG HK HONG KONG INTL
Departure: 23. February, 06:05 h
Arrival: 23. February, 09:40 h
Class: D, confirmed

Flight: NZ 38 operated by: AIR NEW ZEALAND
from: HONG KONG HK HONG KONG INTL
to: AUCKLAND NZ, TERMINAL INTL
Departure: 01. March, 19:00 h
Arrival: 02. March, 10:45 h
Class: D, confirmed

And on to New Zealand:

Flight: NZ 531 operated by: AIR NEW ZEALAND
from: AUCKLAND NZ, TERMINAL DOM
to: CHRISTCHURCH NZ, TERMINAL M
Departure: 02. March, 12:30 h
Arrival: 02. March, 13:50 h
Class: M, confirmed

Then to Austrailia,

Flight: NZ 793 operated by: FREEDOM AIR / FULL AIRNZ SERVICE
from: CHRISTCHURCH NZ, TERMINAL M
to: MELBOURNE VI TULLAMARINE, TERMINAL 2
Departure: 30. March, 15:35 h
Arrival: 30. March, 17:25 h
Class: D, confirmed

To Singapore:

Flight: SQ 232 operated by: SINGAPORE AIRLINES
from: SYDNEY NS KINGSFORDSMITH, TERMINAL 1
to: SINGAPORE SG CHANGI, TERMINAL 2
Departure: 26. April, 12:55 h
Arrival: 26. April, 17:50 h
Class: D, confirmed

Then to China

Flight: TG 402 operated by: THAI AIRWAYS INTL
from: SINGAPORE SG CHANGI, TERMINAL 1
to: BANGKOK TH BANGKOK INTL, TERMINAL 1
Departure: 04. May, 08:15 h
Arrival: 04. May, 09:35 h
Class: D, confirmed

Flight: TG 612 operated by: THAI AIRWAYS INTL
from: BANGKOK TH BANGKOK INTL, TERMINAL 1
to: KUNMING CN, TERMINAL INTL
Departure: 04. May, 10:50 h
Arrival: 04. May, 14:05 h
Class: D, confirmed

The flight home is open.

from: SHANGHAI CN PU DONG
to: TOKYO JP NARITA
Class: D, open

from: TOKYO JP NARITA
to: SAN FRANCISCO CA INTL
Class: D, open

Monday, July 03, 2006

Who wouldn't miss this crew?

Work Crew

Group photo from my going away lunch of Thai food and chocolate cake. People said nice things, which was sweet. This is why I never aspired to work from home.

Is Rich getting happy? See below for an idea.


What's the name of the street?