6 cities in 12 days

I just got back from my whirlwind business trip, and am exhausted but the trip was a definite success, so that helps cut through the fatigue some. I was gone for 12 days, and visited New York, Boston, Hamburg, Munich, Paris, and London. (Whew.) With so many cities, I didn't get a chance to do much other than eat, sleep, fly, and work, but I was glad to be able to visit Heather and Dan when I came through Boston. We had a great time having dinner and dessert, and walking across what must have been half of Boston.

The most amusing anecdote about the trip came in Hamburg. I was walking around town with a colleague of mine and we came across what looked to be a free museum. There wasn't a word of English anywhere to be seen, but we walked in to check out what it was. The first display had a mannequin in an unfamiliar uniform sitting behind a desk with an old typewriter and a bulletin board with paper over his head. The second display had glass cases on what looked to be carved ivory tusks and another glass case with (I kid you not) Pokemon cards and toys amongst other small trinkets. Hanging on the wall were a couple boxes of MS-DOS 4.1. The third display had maps of the EU and a huge wood cutout of a cow.

The displays continued to be completely confusing until we came to a breakthrough conclusion: the museum was for the German customs office, and we were looking at displays of the kinds of things they check for! It was one of those moments where a totally confusing situation finally falls into place and everything makes sense. When we got to the displays of drugs woven into rugs and cigarettes filling the insides of furniture, it all fit and was very interesting--I wish I could have read the display cards!

I took just a few pictures on the trip as I could, and I think this is the most fitting one. We were in Paris for less than 24 hours from touchdown to takeoff, but there was a view of the Eiffel Tower from the conference room I was working in. That's pretty typical of the whole trip--if I couldn't see it from the office, my hotel, or the cab, I probably didn't see it.


And of course I picked up a couple magnets:


You can't see from the picture, but the bus is actually sticking out on a spring about a half-inch from the main magnet and so it wobbles around.