OK, now I know a bit better...
...and things are pretty raw. It's midnight and I just got home from a mini adventure.
After getting set up in the hotel, we headed over to the university, which is all of one building (!?!) where the conference is being held. The building does have a couple of radars on the roof so it really is a college of science with focus on physics and atmospheric studies. The venue is just fine for our small band of global met trainers. It reminds me of the old 'gymnasium' school buildings in Switzerland where I went to 5-7 grade. We set up the computers, which are very nice new laptops, helped haul enough vodka up the stairs for each of us to have our own bottle at the ice breaker on Tuesday eve, then went out to dinner at a German restaurant with 5 Finns, 3 Americans, 1 Australian, 1 Dutchman, 1 Italian, and 2 Russians. Pretty wild.
Instead of doing the reasonable thing at 9:30 PM, which would have been to go back to the hotel and catch up on some sleep, I went with Pat to his hotel near the center of the city, 3 subway stations with 1 transfer and a couple of blocks of walking away. From there we headed up Nevsky Prospekt, the main drag to the sites to see. With the sun still up and not setting until 11, we ended up walking further than we planned. We got to the Winter Palace, or the Hermitage, which is en par with the Louvre in Paris in terms of grandeur, age, size, ornateness, etc. It's closed this late but I need to get back during the day to go see the Leonardo DiVinci pieces in there.
We headed back towards Pat's hotel, knowing that we kind of pushed it in terms of it getting late, already a bit concerned about wandering around after midnight, when we missed our metro station. Hmmm. A bit more wandering and we finally found it. Pat hopped off at his stop but that left me with 2 more to go and transfer in between. Normally, that's not a problem for me at all - I get a kick out of figuring these things out while taking in the sites, smells, and looks. But here, man, it's different. I was way way way more comfy in China than here. There is no English on any signs and folks are not exactly the open friendly walk on up and ask me a question kind of people. For some reason, I find them a bit intimidating and unapproachable. Of course, I have yet to try to talk to someone on the street so my fears might be totally unfounded. But just the knowledge that crime is more prevelent here than in many places, that westerns are not all that appreciated, and that I went wandering with my camera, laptop, wallet, credit cards, cash, etc. all with me at once, kind of kept me on edge. Of course, I found my tranfer stop just fine, remembered the pattern of letters I needed to look for, made the trains in both places just fine and wandered the several blocks back to the hotel with not a single evil look from anyone. I'll be much more at ease tomorrow now. Plus, our forey into the old city area has given me a lay of the land so that I now know where I want to go back to and what sites I want to spend time at.
Anyways, I need to hit the sack. I'll try to call tomorrow but I'm not sure how the timing will work out. I'm giving a workshop all day and I'm not sure what the plan is afterward. I'll bring the ipod and I'll have skype with me on it and the laptop so hopefully we can connect.
Love and hugs from a big and old and very interesting place,
Bruce/dad
After getting set up in the hotel, we headed over to the university, which is all of one building (!?!) where the conference is being held. The building does have a couple of radars on the roof so it really is a college of science with focus on physics and atmospheric studies. The venue is just fine for our small band of global met trainers. It reminds me of the old 'gymnasium' school buildings in Switzerland where I went to 5-7 grade. We set up the computers, which are very nice new laptops, helped haul enough vodka up the stairs for each of us to have our own bottle at the ice breaker on Tuesday eve, then went out to dinner at a German restaurant with 5 Finns, 3 Americans, 1 Australian, 1 Dutchman, 1 Italian, and 2 Russians. Pretty wild.
Instead of doing the reasonable thing at 9:30 PM, which would have been to go back to the hotel and catch up on some sleep, I went with Pat to his hotel near the center of the city, 3 subway stations with 1 transfer and a couple of blocks of walking away. From there we headed up Nevsky Prospekt, the main drag to the sites to see. With the sun still up and not setting until 11, we ended up walking further than we planned. We got to the Winter Palace, or the Hermitage, which is en par with the Louvre in Paris in terms of grandeur, age, size, ornateness, etc. It's closed this late but I need to get back during the day to go see the Leonardo DiVinci pieces in there.
We headed back towards Pat's hotel, knowing that we kind of pushed it in terms of it getting late, already a bit concerned about wandering around after midnight, when we missed our metro station. Hmmm. A bit more wandering and we finally found it. Pat hopped off at his stop but that left me with 2 more to go and transfer in between. Normally, that's not a problem for me at all - I get a kick out of figuring these things out while taking in the sites, smells, and looks. But here, man, it's different. I was way way way more comfy in China than here. There is no English on any signs and folks are not exactly the open friendly walk on up and ask me a question kind of people. For some reason, I find them a bit intimidating and unapproachable. Of course, I have yet to try to talk to someone on the street so my fears might be totally unfounded. But just the knowledge that crime is more prevelent here than in many places, that westerns are not all that appreciated, and that I went wandering with my camera, laptop, wallet, credit cards, cash, etc. all with me at once, kind of kept me on edge. Of course, I found my tranfer stop just fine, remembered the pattern of letters I needed to look for, made the trains in both places just fine and wandered the several blocks back to the hotel with not a single evil look from anyone. I'll be much more at ease tomorrow now. Plus, our forey into the old city area has given me a lay of the land so that I now know where I want to go back to and what sites I want to spend time at.
Anyways, I need to hit the sack. I'll try to call tomorrow but I'm not sure how the timing will work out. I'm giving a workshop all day and I'm not sure what the plan is afterward. I'll bring the ipod and I'll have skype with me on it and the laptop so hopefully we can connect.
Love and hugs from a big and old and very interesting place,
Bruce/dad
