Back Home Again!

[anathema]

Four flights, 10000 miles and almost $3000 later, I'm home Well, actually, as I type this I'm 35000 feet above the USA heading - according to the flight map - 56° North-East. My knowledge of US geography isn't good enough to identify the state we're over, sorry... We're just about to cross the border into Canada, after which it's the Atlantic, then down over the UK to London. Then I catch a flight back up the UK to Edinburgh, my computer and a huge pile of dirty laundry. I wish we had the capacity for 747s at Edinburgh, this would be so much quicker

So, I've had a few days in LA, done a little work, and seen a few of the sights. The less said about the work, the better! I'm thinking of titling my report "Four Meetings and an Argument".

I've done the Universal tour, seen some movies, visited the Walk of Fame (pictures below) and experienced US airport security first-hand. True to form, I always get more hassle returning to my own country than I ever do when visiting others...although at least I did't trigger the metal detectors this time! Wasn't too taken with facilities at LAX - I kind of expected a little more than a couple of shops and a Starbucks. Maybe it was just the terminal I was in. The plane was delayed, of course, but we look to be making up the lost time now

I like LA. Having family there probably helps - I got to see a lot more of the city than I usually do when I'm away on business, because they knew where to go and were able to take me around. I even managed to get a drink without being ID'd! I will be back later in the year

Next trip will hopefully be to Eindhoven, next month. Anyone know a good bar there? ;-)

First pictures here:
http://www.anathema.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Hey, sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for posting pics of the 'stars' and hope to see more soon!

BTW, was blood spilled during the argument?

FOZ

 

[anathema]

There's another pic up - check out the 'Roommates' thread!

Foz - I wouldn't know, the entire thing was conducted in Japanese...doh!

 

[anathema]

Got the rest of me photos up

www.anathema.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

 

[Muppetsdownunder]

You lucky guy! Judging by the photos it looks like you had a fun time. I would love to go overseas with a bit of money aswell. I'd hopefully meet up with a few muppet fans from muppet central too.

That's pretty amazing, you being on a plane and on muppet central aswell. Is the internet fast up there and does it cost much extra?

Hope you had good time!

 

[Muppetsdownunder]

Did you go to Universal studios Hollywood? was it a tour of hollywood and a universal studios trip all in one?
Thats what we did when we came to the US in 1994, it was great. I loved the whole time there, the photos brought back memories!

 

[anathema]

You lucky guy! Judging by the photos it looks like you had a fun time. I would love to go overseas with a bit of money aswell. I'd hopefully meet up with a few muppet fans from muppet central too.

That's pretty amazing, you being on a plane and on muppet central aswell. Is the internet fast up there and does it cost much extra?

Hope you had good time!

Heh I *wrote* the article sitting on a plane, but I couldn't post it until I got back to my computer, about 12 hours later... There's no net connection in cattle class :-(

All being well I will be back to LA for a week or so in mid-December. Before that, I'm off to Eindhoven in three weeks, and Tokyo in early November.

The LA trip was for business, so I didn't have that much time for sight-seeing. However, since I was staying five minutes walk from Universal, I went there. It helps that my company's LA office is actually *on* the Universal lot! Next time out I plan to go do Warner Bros, and then we'll see

The Egypt photos are from a holiday a couple of years ago. Now that was fun!

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Alex!

What great pictures...from Egypt I mean. I'm so in love with stuff like that.

What were the conditions in the inside of the pyramids? Were they cold and damp--moisture in the air?--or dusty?

Reason I ask is that (as you know, I study ghosts and junk like that and) I see the possibility of "orbs" in the photos.

In the stairwell

in a room

I was just excited at the fact that there might be such a thing going on around you, considering that dust and/or water particles may not have been in the air.

 

[anathema]

I was just excited at the fact that there might be such a thing going on around you, considering that dust and/or water particles may not have been in the air.

Sorry to disappoint you Foz, but that's just the camera flash reflecting off a dust particle. Digital cameras tend to pick these things up more than film ones - something to do with the optics I think. I've yet to see a 'ghost' photo that I can't explain ;-) The artefacts may be exacerbated by the JPEG compression on the picture too - I had to squash them rather a lot for web display.

The pyramids were (as I recall) quite dry considering the number of tourists that go inside them each day. At the time of my visit, the second pyramid was closed while restoration work took place, including the installation of a dehumidifier. The Great Pyramid only allows 100 visitors per day in order to cut back on the level of moisture in the air (although it's possible to bribe the tomb guards to let you in out-of-hours They are of course fairly dusty inside.

I was very impressed with the performance of that camera, btw. You're not allowed to use a flash inside many of the temples and tombs because of the damage it'll do to the paintings. So pretty much all the interior shots were done under the existing (low) lighting. I doubt I'd have got results like that with my old 35mm! So far as I recall, the only place I used the flash was inside that pyramid. All the relief carvings are illuminated from below by dim yellow fluorescent tubes; the tombs use white lighting, but it's still pretty dim. Not that you'd know it from the photos ;-)

There's a painting of a blue-headed god (picture 1.64) which I can't identify. It looks like a Smurf though...

 

[Muppetsdownunder]

That must have been great going to Egypt and exploring those great sites. Thats something I would like to do some day, it must have been very fun and interesting like the photos are.