Rome Uploaded

Rome, Day 6

The conference finally ended today a little after lunch, so I decided to use my remaining time to run through the city and check out the Roman monuments in the glow of twilight.  While I've been to most of the sites in Rome before, there's something very beautiful about how they look in the setting sun.  Also, ever since my first trip to Rome, I've been drooling over the thought of gelato from San Crispino - hands down the best gelato I've ever had.  While I was in the area the other day, the shop hadn't opened for business yet, so today was my last day to get some gelato, cold as it is.  This place only uses fresh, seasonal ingredients, so every visit could very well be different!

Walking around by myself at night (with a camera, no less) always makes me a bit paranoid, but somewhere between gawking at the ruins and sending text messages to people back home made me lose my focus, and I looked up to find this guy standing in front of me, just staring.  After introducing himself, he kept volunteering to give me a tour of Rome, take me to dinner, and also kept asking what hotel I was staying at.  On the one hand, he wasn't completely creepy about it, but at the same time, it just seemed like something out of those educational videos about travel safety.  Don't talk to strangers!  Beware of seemingly nice men who want to take you places! 

In any case, here's my favorite picture from the night.  There's nothing quite like the Roman Colisseum bathed in moonlight, and seeing it literally stopped me in my tracks; it's simply breathtaking.

Rome, Day 4

Nothing exciting to report today, except this amazing view that I woke up to.  It's been raining a little (wouldn't know, I'm mostly indoors), so it's been a bit hazy.  I wish I knew how to properly capture the amazing light breaking through the clouds.

Rome, Day 3

Woke up early today to take full advantage of the half-day before the 1pm start of the conference.  Unfortunately, I didn't wake up as early as I wanted, so I only managed to make it down to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain.  After this, I'll most likely be inside the hotel working for the next few days, networking and feigning excitement about my work.  Boring, boring, and even more boring.  At least there will be plenty of food and alcohol to ease the pain.  I should probably also mention that this hotel serves the world's best coffee, so at least there's that to look forward to.

Rome, Day 2

I'm not going to have much time to myself during this trip, so with today's free day before the conference, I decided to head to Vatican City, even though I've previously been.  I may not be Catholic, but I can certainly appreciate the religious and historical significance of St Peter's Cathedral, as well as admire the beauty of the architecture and sculptures within.  I realize it makes for a cheesy post, but I challenge you to step inside and not be taken aback.  If you do visit, don't forget to make the climb to the top of the dome.  Besides the much needed exercise, the views are spectacular.

Unfortunately, my excursion was cut short due to a conference call I had to take back in my room, but at least the panoramic view from my balcony is nothing short of breath taking, which made concentrating even harder.  The front desk was right to suggest that I switch from street view to city view, even if the beds are smaller.  This is just a part of my view - the domed building to the right is St. Peter's Cathedral.  If I can ever figure out how to stitch my photos together, I'll post the panoramic.

You Say Tomato

Dry farmed tomatoes, courtesy of Early Girl Farms and one Mr. Kent Hu. I've never had these before, despite being a tomato lover, and Casey won't stop raving about them. Expectations are high, but I thought I'd take a picture before trying them.

Salt Lake City, Day 2

Even though it's been a really short trip, I've managed to squeeze in a little bit of sight seeing. Had some free time yesterday to check out the Mormon sites at Temple Square, complete with a close encounter with proselytizing tour guides. On my way to the airport today, I got notice that my flight was delayed an hour, so I made a quick detour to the State Capitol for a quick peek. I've never been inside a State Capitol before, and it was a bit eerie that the building was completely empty. Very beautiful, but weird that there wasn't another person in sight.

Bug Me Not

Bugs are gross, but these made for great pictures. Madagascar hissing cockroaches on the left, and a bazillion lady bugs on the right. Thanks to my buddy for lending me his 50mm f/1.8.

Yang Can Cook (Maybe)

I have no intentions of turning this into a cooking blog, but since I did cook today, I decided to try and play with my camera and take some pictures. I always mean to cook a big pot over the weekend so I can have an easier time during the week, but for whatever reason, I've only done it a few times. Admittedly, I had to call my mom for some reminders, but I think it turned out pretty well, and now I have lunch more or less taken care of this week.

Barcelona, Day 6

The hotel provided breakfast hasn't really been much to write about, but the restaurant does face Las Ramblas, making it fun to eat and people watch. This morning, as I was finishing my breakfast, I noticed a big group of kids, approximately 20 five-year olds waiting to cross the street. What was interesting wasn't that there was such a big group of kids, but that they were all dressed like elephants. Shortly after they crossed came a group of clowns, then mice, then a group of lions, then ring leaders, vets, and gypsies. It took a good 10 minutes for the circus to cross, and even though I saw it from the beginning, I was too flabbergasted to come to my senses and take a picture. I managed to sneak a peak at the Finnish family sitting in the booth next to me, and they neglected their breakfast mid-bite, as had I.

After breakfast, I started walking down Las Ramblas and headed down towards Cafe de l'Opera for some churros con chocolate. These are not your churros of Disneyland fare. In Spain, churros are not sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, but are meant to be dipped in thick hot chocolate, usually for breakfast, but also suitable as a snack. If you've seen On the Road Again, you can watch Gwenyth Paltrow babbling some nonsense about this.

Found my way down to Barceloneta in time for lunch at Can Majó, located on the beach, and was initially disappointed when I saw that the menu indicated a minimum of two portions for the paella. When the owner came by to greet me, I asked him about the two person minimum, and in response, he smiled and said he'd make me the paella for one. In what would be my most expensive meal here, I ordered a seafood soup to start, followed by the seafood paella per the owner's recommendation. The weather was virtually perfect, and from my table outside, I could see the waves crashing against the beach. The service was fantastic, and the food was amazing.

Walked around a lot more after lunch, and eventually found myself at Casa Batlló, where I took the tour again, despite doing it two years ago. I'm still not sure whether or not I'd live in an apartment designed by Gaudí, but it's certainly fascinating to go through and take pictures.

For my last dinner, I originally planned on going back to Cerveceria Catalana, but the place was so packed that I had to go to my second option around the corner on Las Ramblas, Taller de Tapas. It must be said that if you're dining alone in Barcelona, tapas is the best way for you to sample a little of everything without wasting food or breaking the bank. In fact, all of our tapas meals have been extremely cheap, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for great food at affordable prices. It also needs to be mentioned that a good Spanish lager is the best complement to tapas. For dinner I ordered more ham, seasonal mushrooms, grilled razor clams, and a crema catalana for dessert. Everything was delicious, and the crema catalana was amazing. I'm going to miss dining in Barcelona.

French Riviera Uploaded

Pictures finally uploaded.

Nice 2008

Monte Carlo 2008

Nice, France - Day 3

Back in Nice, for one last night before going home. Since there wasn't much time to do anything before dinner, I decided I didn't want to be stuck in my hotel room taking a conference call. Instead, Christine and I walked out to the Promenade and I took the call at the beach, while watching the sunset. Best meeting ever....kind of makes it hard to leave.

Monte-Carlo, Monaco - Day 3

Spent most of the morning working, but thankfully was able to take some pictures before the bus shuttled us back to Nice. Some people opted to skip the bus ride home and took the helicopter ride back instead. If you ask me, if you're going to arrive via helicopter, the baller way to go would be to take it coming into Monte-Carlo, and not departing.

Nice, France - Day 2

Christine and I mostly walked around Nice today, exploring the neighborhoods and Castle Hill, which is no longer home to a castle (but is still on a hill). The views from atop Castle Hill are indeed beautiful, and even has a little playground for kids. Thankfully, there weren't many kids around, so we were able to climb around and play. :)

Christine's guidebook also had a little blurb about Nice's noon cannon - apparently, in 1861, an old British colonel had the city of Nice install a cannon and asked that it be fired promptly at noon everyday, so that he'd know when to eat (his wife was supposedly forgetful and forgot to serve lunch). This custom has survived through the years, and everyday at noon, the cannon still goes off to remind people to stop and eat lunch. Despite reading this, Christine and I completely forgot, and I actually jumped as we were walking through Nice.

Pictures Uploaded

Pictures have finally been uploaded!  

Nürnberg, Germany

London Oct 2008

London, Day 1

Ju Yon and I made a quick day trip to Oxford today, mostly because it's famous, distinguished, and beautiful, but also admittedly because we wanted to see some Harry Potter sights. While visiting Christ Church, we were pleased to find that we weren't the only Harry Potter fans, as we ran into a French school group, all dressed in Hogwarts cloaks. I read somewhere that tourism to Oxford has increased 40% since the Harry Potter movies, so clearly, we're not the only ones.

Unfortunately, we didn't have too much time to walk around the city, but we did see most of the key sights. I was also surprised to learn that Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodgson) was actually a mathmatics professor at Oxford when he wrote Alice and Wonderland, and used many of the surroundings at Oxford as inspiration for his story.

Nürnberg, Germany - Day 3

For my last day in Nürnberg, Martin and I went to the nearby town of Fürth to have brunch with another coworker and his girlfriend, then drove out to the countryside to check out the beautiful views. Besides being another beautiful Franconian city, Fürth was also home to Sandra Bullock, and you all know how I feel about Miss Congeniality. For the more serious minded, Fürth was also the birthplace of Henry Kissinger (you know, longtime friend of John McCain).


Originally, Martin had planned on taking me rock climbing in the Franconia countryside, supposedly one of the best/most beautiful places to do so. Unfortunately, the scheduling didn't work out, which is alright, given how cold it's been. As a consolation, Martin drove me out there anyway, just so I could see how beautiful it is. The countryside is mostly made up of little villages and private farmland, all of which is easily accessibly to the public. Rock climbing areas are visibly marked from the road so that visitors can get to it without disturbing the main crop area, and there's also an understanding with the farmers to allow people to walk through.

Being from California, you definitely don't get access to scenes like this outside of National Parks. Even in the parks, you're acutely aware that you're in a special, cornered off area of civilization, filled with tourists and governed by rules and visiting hours. While it's great to deem areas as special and in need of active preservation, it's sad to think that places like that aren't more commonplace. I'm guessing, though, that things are different outside of California.

Nürnberg, Germany - Day 2

Franconia in the fall is absolutely beautiful! While it was a pretty cold day, the sun was out, shining in the clear blue skies, contrasting beautifully with the red bricks of the city buildings. After breakfast, Martin took me on a tour of the Nürnberg Castle, which dates back to the 1100s. The Castle itself actually contains two castles, one for the then current visiting Holy Roman Emperor, and the other for the ruler of Nürnberg. The original city was bounded by an outer wall which protected the residents, then an inner wall which surrounded the two castles. Unfortunately, most of the buildings were destroyed during World War II, but everything was eventually restored to historical form. Unlike most American locations, the castle grounds are open even late at night, offering visitors a spectacular view of the city, along with a certain spookiness with the glowing interior lights.

For dinner, we met up with some coworkers and their families at a restaurant at the bottom of the castle, which was originally a witch house. Apparently, there was a big fear of witches during the Middle Ages, but as it was also suspected that they had incredible healing powers, the kings would kick the witches out of the inner city, but kept them close enough just in case they needed their aid. Of course, when they had no need for them, the witches were killed. The witch house now serves traditional Bavarian food, and for dinner we had a sampling of sausages - boiled, grilled, and smoked, lots of local beer, and I had a pork shoulder with potato dumplings. So much food, but so delicious. Again, Martin has the pictures from dinner, but I will leave you with a few pictures from the day. Fret not, once I get all the pictures, I'll post the album here.