Lavonardo

I’ll finish the long-stretched and overdue travelogues with the last remaining one.

Had to participate in a meeting with chinese officials (regarding MeeGo privacy and security issues) in Beijing about a year ago.

Went into the meeting almost straight away from the flight. The local rush hours were utter killers, spent hours in a cab going both ways. The meeting itself was quite painless, would have appreciated something to drink, but that’s a minor complaint. Almost dozed off during the other presentations (mainly in chinese, and thus impossible to follow).

Ate Peking Duck on the first evening and the dish is worth all the accolades it gets. Succulent duck, exquisite sauce and crispy vegetables. Conveniently enough the restaurant was in the lobby of the hotel, so avoided venturing outside in a quite jetlagged state.

Took one day off before flying back home. And spent it all on a bus trip. Nominally the ride was about the Great Wall, but we saw plenty more (usually accompanied with a shopping opportunity). The wall was indeed impressive – despite the very cold day the section was quite packed with tourists.

Was quite disappointed on the flight out that apart from food and tea there wasn’t that much to take home in the airport (was expecting to buy a decent cookbook, but couldn’t locate a proper bookstore).

Another travel-related victim in the slow posting-times: a long autumn weekend in Prague.

First time in the city, and quite a pleasant break from the bleak finnish autumn indeed.

Did plenty of the mandatories:

• Charles Bridge with its statues is impressive, and off-season even pickpockets seem to have disappeared.
• Prague Castle, on the other hand, is less so. Big, yes, but not that unique in any way.
• Czech beer is even better domestically. And there’s way more breweries and flavours than just Velko, Urquell and their kin.
• Czech food is meaty and done with plenty of butter.
• Czech waiters who know that you’re from Finland want to talk about ice hockey almost non-stop.
• There’s absinthe for sale (or at least advertised) almost everywhere.
• Kutna Hora’s Church of Bones is odd, and far more interesting than the same-y catacombs of Paris.
• The jewish cemetery is impressive, the synagogues very much on the crowded side (after being closed for a couple of days before).
• Golems are popular. Bought one. A fridge magnet, that is.
• Franz Kafka is popular as well. Bought a full set of his novels and short stories. Probably could have got it cheaper from Amazon, but it felt appropriate.
• Christmas decorations are sold no matter what the season.
• The city is far less decrepit than Sofia.
• Fewer american hipsters than expected.
• Can’t remember the name of the hotel, but it had a really scary statue of a dog just outside our room.
• Tančící dům, the dancing building, is not exactly a self-explanatory name. It looks more like an unexpected collapse.
• Missed any of the defenestration sites. Oh well, there’s always the next time.

Spent two days in Tallinn in the waning days of summer holiday (which is to say that this is a long overdue entry).

Cruised over with the Viking XPRS, a mostly painless way of travel. Apart from the departure on the Helsinki end, when the lobbies were packed with hurried people lugging way too much taxfree beer for anybody’s comfort.

Stayed in Hotel Viru, almost next door to the Old Town. The hotel was worth its three stars, nothing out of the ordinary either way on the scale. Hotel Viru was built in the swinging seventies, and contained a KGB station on the top floor. Following the dissolution of the soviet union, the facility was abandoned and has now been turned into a museum. In addition to the museum of covert intelligence, the view over the city from the 22nd floor was worthwhile.

Ate a decent pizza at Dulcinella, and a very nice african dinner (at the appropriately named African Kitchen).

The best bar visited was Pôrgu, in the cellars of an old town house. They stocked quite a variety of estonian beers, which fortunately range quite far beyond the disappointing eurolagers of Saku and its kin. The highlight was a strong house ale from Saarenmaa.

It’d indeed been seven years since the last visit to San Francisco (alleged to in the early days of this very blog).

Woke up early, real early. Though having gone to bed around eleven, the irreversible wakeup at 0420 actually did produce some five hours of effective sleep.

Went to breakfast at the first opportunity (very american, bacon included) and then had a more than reasonable delay in departing (sudden attack of the carbohydrates didn’t help).

So I didn’t get out of the hotel that early, and the Powell Street cable car to the Fisherman’s Wharf already had a long line. The cars came and went, and managed to snap a few good pictures of them at the plate. Got on perhaps the fifth one, and had a smooth ride all the way to the waterfront.

First stop was the Ghirardelli Square, had to stock up on the very traditional San Francisco chocolate. Had quite a bit of difficulty finding the entrance – quite an accomplishment on a building that is geared for absolutely one thing, a massive influx of tourists. Picked up half a dozen variants of the chocolate, a good start for a shopping trip.

Built up hunger on the Hyde Street Pier (though skipped the museum ships) and had my first ever meal at an In-N-Out Burger. The cheeseburger was quite OK, though not really worthy of the accolades.

The Wharf hadn’t changed much. Apart from my favorite gallery had gone AWOL (eventually discovered they are moving to a bigger location, but currently closed). Visited a couple of shirt stores, souvenir stores and the National Park Store on top Pier 39. The sealions are still present west of the Pier, lounging on the floating docks and filling the air with their barking.

Instead of taking the historical tram (F line is run with ancient cars that each looks different) back to Embarcadero, decided to walk back.

Looped via the Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill. Hadn’t been inside on previous visits. The views were nice, but nothing spectacular.

Visited the only remaining bookstore along the way back. San Francisco has lost Borders (the gigantic one on Union Square), Stacey’s and Barnes & Noble – leaving the City Lights as the only one I could find. The organization was less haphazard than ten years back, and picked up my first Robert Goddard mystery novel and a couple of other books.

Record stores seemed to be an endangered species as well. Virgin Megastore on Market looked like it’s been shuttered for a long while, and I was out and about too early for Rasputin Music as well.

Dinner turned out to be a simple and quick affair. Ventured out to a chilled evening in shorts and decided to grab something in the immediate neighbourhood instead of acquiring a west coast flu. The something turned out to be a triplet from Taco Bell, Seven Eleven and a liquor store. The last one of the list is the only worthwhile one, as the two Acme ales were a pleasant discovery indeed.

The ~20k steps took their toll, and after trying in vain to stay awake to the sixth episode of Game of Thrones, gave it up around ten o’clock, destined to wake up way too early again, on the first day of the actual conference.

The trip back was pleasantly uneventful.

The cab ride to Newark was longer than expected, and the ukrainian driver kept on talking throughout the journey. The journey first through the Lincoln tunnel and then beside Hudson River brought up an unexpected view of New York.

Newark airport turned out to be a bit provincial and undergoing repairs.

Had a dinner at the usually reliable Sam Adams brewhouse. The beer was almost undrinkable (mental note: Cherry variant is terrible), the service glacially slow and as the crowning glory the cashiers went offline when I tried to pay. Fortunately had just enough cash to cover the meal.

The twin flights (flew through Heathrow) were painless, though full. A small consolation was the upgrade to economy extra – had to pay extra for a heavy suitcase, and got upgraded on account of that.

The shops in London were surprisingly modest in covering the upcoming royal wedding – I’d have expected a lot more junk for sale.

The native american art had clearly piqued the interest of TSA – the suitcase had been opened and the items inspected, as evidenced by admissions of the fact and plenty of official tape with which the wrapper had been fixed.

The first morning in New York was rainy and bleak. Bleak enough to derail plans. Aimless exploration turned into the second bona fide shopping expedition of the trip.

Random recollections (no photographs to protect the innocent):

• Breakfast at a Subway that’s right where the tourist buses leave may require a tad more patience than is the norm.
• Macy’s is still big and its’ topology hard to understand.
• Victoria’s Secret has a special location to park male visitors. The visits can be long, and a seat should not be squandered.
• Compleat Strategist has a respectable selection of indie games. And friendly service. Finally managed to pick up Day after Ragnarök.
• English football games occur quite early in the afternoon, and Chelsea fans tend to be annoying abroad as well.
• Umbrella prices may be naturally high, or hiked up when rains arrive.