Blog Archives

My first overnight business trip in quite a while…this time to Atlanta. So yes, a hotel window pic is definitely in order…this time, the comfy Four Seasons…my very first Four Seasons, I believe.

One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the nearby High Museum with my colleagues. Coincidentally, the museum is hosting a series in conjunction with the Louvre. The current exhibit is about 130 objects from the Louvre’s “ancient world” collection. My favorite piece was a simple, painted cup/vase from a city in modern-day Iran. The piece dated from 6000BC…which just blows my mind. An 8000-year-old object!!

After touring the museum, we had drinks and dinner at the hip restaurant at the museum…Table 1280. This high-design space served up some fantastic dishes. I had a veal tagliatelle that was amazing and reminded me of Siena.

We finished the night with a grand discovery…a new drink. One of my colleagues introduced us to a simple 50-50 Baileys and whiskey. Wow. Fantastic. We have dubbed it “The Ed”.

This photo is one of Jeff’s, and it is truly wonderful.

I wanted to pass along a plug for Jeff’s blog, because I know that since he only posts once every 7 months that you may not visit regularly 🙂

But last night, Jeff posted an impressive set of photos from our visit to Paris…and specifically some exceptional shots of the Louvre at night. He was giddily bouncing around the Louvre courtyard, and captured its special nighttime vibe. I love how the long exposures blend the lighting from the buildings and glass and fountains.

Its well worth the visit…sooooo, click here now!! The lines are open and operators are standing by.

Here are some of the highlight photos from our second day in Germany (Tuesday/Dienstag, Oct 23) and our drive to the Roman city of Trier in the Mosel Valley. The trip details are in the blog entry HERE. Our day began with a drive through windmill-dotted fields, with a lunch break in Idar-Oberstein with its church embedded in the hillside.

Trier is a tourist mecca, with its Roman structures scattered through modern streets and squares.

The #1 Roman site in Trier is the 2nd-century Porta Nigra.

Next we visited the adjoining Cathedral and Church of our Lady.

The Roman Basilica is a fascinating blend of the original 2nd-century structure, with add-ons across the centuries.

Finally, we circled the ruins of the expansive Roman baths.

It was a FULL day, to be sure.

A heavy, soaking rain lumbered through the Bay Area on Saturday. Ironically, I had just pulled these two ‘cats and dogs’ Far Side panels from my desk calendar this week. They are also amazingly funny…and a tiny bit sadistic 🙂

The rain had passed by Sunday morning, leaving a brilliant blue sky devoid of pesky particulates. We ventured out to Ocean Beach, to see if there were any visible signs of the terrible oil spill in the Bay on Wednesday. On first glance, everything appeared normal, except for some understated “no swimming” signs. However, along the rocky coast, you could see the bands of oil-stained sand at the high-tide mark. Still, these patches didn’t seem to convey the true ecological damage done…and in fact people seemed to be playing on the beach as normal. There was even a family playing with their kids and building sand castles, while nearby volunteers picked up oily trash with oil-covered rubber gloves.

On a more pleasant note, we did take advantage of the sunshine and had lunch today at the Park Chalet. I tried this amazing thin pizza piled high with wild mushrooms, whole cloves of roasted garlic, and creamy goat cheese. Amazing.

Lastly, we passed several “pumpkin patches” as we crossed the city. Naturally, they are all being converted into Christmas tree lots. This lot’s transformation caught my eye in particular, because of the unfortunate pumpkins skewered atop the poles surrounding the lot. We need to return in a few weeks to see whether a snowman or Santa gets skewered next!

Sacramento is the land where the bland and the insane mingle in broad daylight.

At the same time that the Hilton lobby is blasting a shameful Muzak piano rendition of Hey Jude, there is an overweight guy standing here with baggy shorts and a snowflake-covered ski hat. It is 70 degrees outside.

Then again…nothing else is going on here!!