We were left to our own devices Saturday morning, but breakfast at Cafe De La Presse right next door to the Triton was already a habit. Linda and I walked down to Embarcadero and sampled the huge farmers market in and around the Port Ferry Building and then took in a capoeira street performance that Linda's daughter and her boyfriend were in. We didn't do the zip line or the tai chi and the rest of the afternoon/evening was book related (see my other blog Cool Books)
Other things the group did, hit Chinatown for souvenirs, clothes-shopped in Union Square, had a Chinese painting lesson, caught a Giants game (they lost), visited Haight Ashbury, visited museums (the Picasso exhibit at the Stein) and MOMA to name a few.
A couple of things to note. Downtown San Francisco is very pedestrian friendly. From the Triton we found it an easy walk to most places (West Portal Books was a muni ride away) Unless you are planning on using muni and cable cars a lot, a one-day visitors pass will probably do you - plus a lot of quarters. BART we only used on one there-and-back journey but you can go from Montgomery BART station straight to the airport. A useful app for anyone with an iphone is routsey (free) - you tell it which station you are at and it tells you the next bus/tram/cable car/bart arrival times.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
San Francisco Day 1
We visited the pirate supply store that funds a local writing program on Valencia and Dog Eared Books - also on Valencia which I videoed because the owner surveyed his customers and painted their favourite books spine-out all over the exterior of the shop. Lunch was at El Delfin, followed by a few more murals and then we rounded off the tour with ice cream at Humphrey Slocombe (thai chilli lime) then the group split up to do their own thing. Linda and I walked up through ChinaTown to City Lights bookstore and back in time to meet the rest of the group for dinner. We went two streets down from the hotel (maiden lane?) where there are French, Italian, Spanish and American eateries. The group went Italian but all the restaurants looked fantastic.
Monday, January 10, 2011
The CES Edition
This is not the most exotic place to visit but having the chance to go and look around the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is not something that comes up every day. The show is huge it took two days just to cover all four halls. My love of tech is well-known and I had a brilliant guide, hubby reads all the tech blogs religiously so he could speak a higher level of geek and then translate it (I only speak basic geek with a little nerd thrown in.)
A few things you should know about trade shows, you will be walking a long way, so wear shoes that don't rub and don't even think about heels unless you are a booth babe and even then by the end of the day believe me you will want to kill someone. Don't dress in anything that resembles a second skin or has sequins on it, the Adult Entertainment Expo is on at the same time at the Venetian and you may end up being mistaken for a porn star.
Things you will see at any trade show.
The tradeshow shirt - hubby wore his on day one, black with white stripes, one in five of the males I saw were wearing one.
The big companies will have mega-sized booths. Panasonic and Samsung and to a smaller extent Verizon, Garmin, Navtec etc.
Trade show carpet, I kid you not. The stuff is spongy which allegedly helps the trade show monkeys who are on their feet all day.
Fast food - duh! To complete my tradeshow experience I had a tradeshow lunch, a hotdog with all the fixings and a soda. I ate this leaning against a wall in the main concourse. Believe me your day isn't complete until you've seen guys in thousand dollar suits sitting on the floor lunch in one hand, phone in the other (which can get really messy if you forget which hand is which.)
Lots of people with wheelie bags, if you don't work this out quick you'll get your feet run over and may even end up flat on your face having tripped over said wheelie (I didn't fall over any but it took a lot of fancy footwork to avoid them) I was several hours in before I asked hubby what the deal was with the wheelies. It seems that some coventioneers carry everything with them. Mind you knowing how difficult it is to get a hotel room it makes a kind of sense.
So here's my take on CES.
All the big companies are trying to push 3D TV and projectors - still. Tablets are huge, Apple didn't have a booth but their people were around. The Audi stand was an amazing piece of marketing. At one point I found myself in my own personal hell - a whole row of e-reader vendors. The little guys where the standout for me it's one thing to hear about 3D printers but to see one in action on the MakerBot stand was very cool. The holographic answering machine, the dash mount that solves a problem you never knew you had, the Toddy cloth which I'm ordering right now to keep my IPod screen clean, the gadget that turns your IPhone into a universal remote and those are just the first things I can think of. I saw flying robot drones, electric cars, a plethora of phones and cameras, projectors, projector screens, laptops, apps, tablets, headphones, you name it it was there and the high end audio part of the show was incredible Naim and Morel - with the fatlady speakers (a work of art even when silent) Another side effect of the show, that many techies in one place takes up so much bandwidth that's it is pretty much impossible to get a wi-fi signal. Trade shows are part of hubby's life and now that I've experienced CES I know a little bit more about how that works. I also walked at least 5 miles in one day - it could've been more - that included walking to and from the Venetian where we'd stashed the car on the first day. The second day we got wise and took the shuttle. If you get the chance to go you should. CES has been on my list for a while now along with ComicCon and a shuttle launch. One down.....
A few things you should know about trade shows, you will be walking a long way, so wear shoes that don't rub and don't even think about heels unless you are a booth babe and even then by the end of the day believe me you will want to kill someone. Don't dress in anything that resembles a second skin or has sequins on it, the Adult Entertainment Expo is on at the same time at the Venetian and you may end up being mistaken for a porn star.
Things you will see at any trade show.
The tradeshow shirt - hubby wore his on day one, black with white stripes, one in five of the males I saw were wearing one.
The big companies will have mega-sized booths. Panasonic and Samsung and to a smaller extent Verizon, Garmin, Navtec etc.
Trade show carpet, I kid you not. The stuff is spongy which allegedly helps the trade show monkeys who are on their feet all day.
Fast food - duh! To complete my tradeshow experience I had a tradeshow lunch, a hotdog with all the fixings and a soda. I ate this leaning against a wall in the main concourse. Believe me your day isn't complete until you've seen guys in thousand dollar suits sitting on the floor lunch in one hand, phone in the other (which can get really messy if you forget which hand is which.)
Lots of people with wheelie bags, if you don't work this out quick you'll get your feet run over and may even end up flat on your face having tripped over said wheelie (I didn't fall over any but it took a lot of fancy footwork to avoid them) I was several hours in before I asked hubby what the deal was with the wheelies. It seems that some coventioneers carry everything with them. Mind you knowing how difficult it is to get a hotel room it makes a kind of sense.
So here's my take on CES.
All the big companies are trying to push 3D TV and projectors - still. Tablets are huge, Apple didn't have a booth but their people were around. The Audi stand was an amazing piece of marketing. At one point I found myself in my own personal hell - a whole row of e-reader vendors. The little guys where the standout for me it's one thing to hear about 3D printers but to see one in action on the MakerBot stand was very cool. The holographic answering machine, the dash mount that solves a problem you never knew you had, the Toddy cloth which I'm ordering right now to keep my IPod screen clean, the gadget that turns your IPhone into a universal remote and those are just the first things I can think of. I saw flying robot drones, electric cars, a plethora of phones and cameras, projectors, projector screens, laptops, apps, tablets, headphones, you name it it was there and the high end audio part of the show was incredible Naim and Morel - with the fatlady speakers (a work of art even when silent) Another side effect of the show, that many techies in one place takes up so much bandwidth that's it is pretty much impossible to get a wi-fi signal. Trade shows are part of hubby's life and now that I've experienced CES I know a little bit more about how that works. I also walked at least 5 miles in one day - it could've been more - that included walking to and from the Venetian where we'd stashed the car on the first day. The second day we got wise and took the shuttle. If you get the chance to go you should. CES has been on my list for a while now along with ComicCon and a shuttle launch. One down.....
Monday, October 4, 2010
Singapore
The first thing you notice about Singapore is the heat, the second the humidity. As our taxi pinballed between lanes on the way into the Orchard Road district I was glad I'd followed the advice of numerous websites and come armed with a wardrobe of cotton. The roads are framed with lush tropical vegetation, the place is a botanist's dream. As we left the taxi the humidity hit me again, imagine running a really hot bath, minus the extractor fan okay now quadruple it and you have some idea why you don't see many people running in Singapore.
During our stay which included the Singapore Grand Prix we elected to use public transport and it was a revelation. This system (the MRT) works, we bought visitors passes which give you unlimited travel on the subways and buses. The stations are clean and so are the carriages. There are massive fines for eating and drinking in the subway so Singaporeans don't do it. Not that you can't eat and drink underground. You see there are two Singapores, the city on top and the underground. Most shopping malls have several basement levels including massive food halls, you can watch the food being prepared right in front of you and unlike US fast food this is actually good for you with more emphasis on spices and colourful fruits and veggies and it tastes so good. We had a fantastic lunch with some friends at Lau Pa Sat a whole gallery of hawker food. Tom Ga, a spicy soup with various fish, carrot cake (which doesn't contain carrot - it's a kind of local white radish) Vietnamese Spring Rolls, Mutahbak, Octopus, star fruit, and much more. It was pick and share and it was great. Also had a wonderful barefoot indian meal at Lagnaa in the Little India district and some fantastic tapas out at Clarke Quay.
Weather - it rains in Singapore every afternoon for about an hour. You can't set your watch by it but a day without rain is rare.
Things to see in Singapore,
You have to go to at least one mall, this doesn't sound very touristy but they have to be seen to be believed. Gucci, Prada, Woolford, Chanel, Zara, Jill Sander, Rolex, Longines, every high end retail outlet you can think of. They have a branch in every mall. Ngee Ann City mall has the largest bookshop in Asia - Kinokuniya - 43,000 sq feet of books and magazines.
The Sky Park at Marina Bay Sands Hotel - stunning views, gardens and an infinity pool (you can't swim in it but you can look) $20 Sing buys you a ticket.
The Singapore Flyer, Singpore's very own big wheel around $30 Sing for one trip.
The Singapore Science Centre. It's a bit of a hike, take the MRT out to East Jurong and either bus or walk it from there, but well worth it. Admission depends on the type of package you want, snow city, CSI experience, IMAX or just plain Science Centre.
Lau Pa Sat Festival Market, 18 Raffles Quay. Dive in to the local food and don't be afraid to try something new.
Singapore Zoo, 80 Mandai Lake Road, we MRT'd to Ang Mo Chio station and got bus no 136 from there or the hotels run a shuttle. Lots of different areas but worth the price of admission ($18 Sing) on it's own was the Fragile Forest exhibit, I was buzzed by butterflies and red and green parrots, watched flying foxes from the lookout and even got pawed by a ring tailed lemur. We didn't go on the night safari but I wish we'd had the time.
Sentosa Island - take a cable car from Mount Faber (the only time we took a taxi) Aquarium, Butterfly House and we did the Sky Ride, which is like riding a ski lift and gives you some great views of the island. Admission again depends on the package you pick, there are zip line rides, a sky tower, luge rides, an Images of Singapore exhibit, Songs of the Sea, dolphin shows, a fort, you'll need a day at least.
A must visit is the Singapore Visitor's Centre on Orchard Road.
Tourist Traps are Lucky Plaza and Sim Lim Square. Buy any electronic goods from them at your peril. If you do buy anything - a camera say - the warranty will only work in Singapore.
Singapore is one of the safest and cleanest cities in the world. I'm already saving for my next ticket.
During our stay which included the Singapore Grand Prix we elected to use public transport and it was a revelation. This system (the MRT) works, we bought visitors passes which give you unlimited travel on the subways and buses. The stations are clean and so are the carriages. There are massive fines for eating and drinking in the subway so Singaporeans don't do it. Not that you can't eat and drink underground. You see there are two Singapores, the city on top and the underground. Most shopping malls have several basement levels including massive food halls, you can watch the food being prepared right in front of you and unlike US fast food this is actually good for you with more emphasis on spices and colourful fruits and veggies and it tastes so good. We had a fantastic lunch with some friends at Lau Pa Sat a whole gallery of hawker food. Tom Ga, a spicy soup with various fish, carrot cake (which doesn't contain carrot - it's a kind of local white radish) Vietnamese Spring Rolls, Mutahbak, Octopus, star fruit, and much more. It was pick and share and it was great. Also had a wonderful barefoot indian meal at Lagnaa in the Little India district and some fantastic tapas out at Clarke Quay.
Weather - it rains in Singapore every afternoon for about an hour. You can't set your watch by it but a day without rain is rare.
Things to see in Singapore,
You have to go to at least one mall, this doesn't sound very touristy but they have to be seen to be believed. Gucci, Prada, Woolford, Chanel, Zara, Jill Sander, Rolex, Longines, every high end retail outlet you can think of. They have a branch in every mall. Ngee Ann City mall has the largest bookshop in Asia - Kinokuniya - 43,000 sq feet of books and magazines.
The Sky Park at Marina Bay Sands Hotel - stunning views, gardens and an infinity pool (you can't swim in it but you can look) $20 Sing buys you a ticket.
The Singapore Flyer, Singpore's very own big wheel around $30 Sing for one trip.
The Singapore Science Centre. It's a bit of a hike, take the MRT out to East Jurong and either bus or walk it from there, but well worth it. Admission depends on the type of package you want, snow city, CSI experience, IMAX or just plain Science Centre.
Lau Pa Sat Festival Market, 18 Raffles Quay. Dive in to the local food and don't be afraid to try something new.
Singapore Zoo, 80 Mandai Lake Road, we MRT'd to Ang Mo Chio station and got bus no 136 from there or the hotels run a shuttle. Lots of different areas but worth the price of admission ($18 Sing) on it's own was the Fragile Forest exhibit, I was buzzed by butterflies and red and green parrots, watched flying foxes from the lookout and even got pawed by a ring tailed lemur. We didn't go on the night safari but I wish we'd had the time.
Sentosa Island - take a cable car from Mount Faber (the only time we took a taxi) Aquarium, Butterfly House and we did the Sky Ride, which is like riding a ski lift and gives you some great views of the island. Admission again depends on the package you pick, there are zip line rides, a sky tower, luge rides, an Images of Singapore exhibit, Songs of the Sea, dolphin shows, a fort, you'll need a day at least.
A must visit is the Singapore Visitor's Centre on Orchard Road.
Tourist Traps are Lucky Plaza and Sim Lim Square. Buy any electronic goods from them at your peril. If you do buy anything - a camera say - the warranty will only work in Singapore.
Singapore is one of the safest and cleanest cities in the world. I'm already saving for my next ticket.
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