Category Archives: travel
Napa Valley – SuperFastTrip
Drove up to Napa valley early early in the morning today to take a look at a sailplane that is for sale. I left at 6a in San Jose and arrived north of Napa 8:35p. We rigged, checked and packed up the sailplane, only for me to leve at 12:30 again. On the way back lots of good memories arose from previous Napa Valley trips. I saw the Darious Winery, the Coulinary Institute, and even the hotel where my parents and I have stayed about a decade ago.
Still looks just like ten years ago. Amazing. On the way back I was passed by a DB-9S – the driver moved very aggressively in traffic. Nevertheless the sound of that car is AWESOME! Sure enough I passed him 5 miles later, when he was sitting on the shoulder pulled over by a cop. 🙂
Later on the way back I stopped at Vik’s in Berkeley for Indian food. Pictures attached. Vik’s has slightly moved from the location I remember from a couple of years ago. The venue is huge now and I had to wait in line for a bit. The food was as always: Excellent! I had a Dahi Pakara Puri and a meat dish. Yummy!
Protected: Random CA Picture post
Napa Valley – SuperFastTrip
Drove up to Napa valley early early in the morning today to take a look at a sailplane that is for sale. I left at 6a in San Jose and arrived north of Napa 8:35p. We rigged, checked and packed up the sailplane, only for me to leve at 12:30 again. On the way back lots of good memories arose from previous Napa Valley trips. I saw the Darious Winery, the Coulinary Institute, and even the hotel where my parents and I have stayed about a decade ago.
Still looks just like ten years ago. Amazing. On the way back I was passed by a DB-9S – the driver moved very aggressively in traffic. Nevertheless the sound of that car is AWESOME! Sure enough I passed him 5 miles later, when he was sitting on the shoulder pulled over by a cop. 🙂
Later on the way back I stopped at Vik’s in Berkeley for Indian food. Pictures attached. Vik’s has slightly moved from the location I remember from a couple of years ago. The venue is huge now and I had to wait in line for a bit. The food was as always: Excellent! I had a Dahi Pakara Puri and a meat dish. Yummy!
Labor Day week-end to Bay Area, CA
Over Labor Day week-end (Sept. 5-7th) we flew out to CA to visit old friends over Labour Day week-end. It was a nice break from the TX summer heat, that has been bogging us down this year with record temperatures. CA welcomed us with pleasant temperatures in the 80ies and blue skies. We stayed at a friend’s place and met lots of people from our former life in CA. The four day trip was very pleasant and Rohan enjoyed exploring his surrounding.
During the flights he was mostly manageable and slept for large stretches. This helped with keeping our sanity.
We both enjoyed coming back to our old home and were reminded of many fond memories we have of the time we lived there. We’ll be back to visit – no doubt.
Alaska airline has picked up the non-stop route between San Jose and Austin after American Airlines has discontinued its service. This is a pleasant surprise, as flying non-stop with a baby is so much more preferable over a connecting flight.
Traveling with car seat, baby diapers and all the equipment that you need for a baby is definitely different from hopping on a plane while I was single…
From Germany to Austria for skiing
Last Saturday we got an early start to drive from Neustadt to Bad Hofgastein in Austria – about 650km (400 miles). We hit winter weather on the road and drove in snowing conditions all the way. There were stranded trucks, unable to climb the hills and cars – lots of cars – mostly from the Netherlands, which were headed in the same direction. Instead of the planned 7 hour drive, it took us 12 hours to arrive at our final destination. For that reason our stop in Salzburg was cut short to a coffee break with a short stroll into the old district with the cathedral.
The 12 hour drive in thick stop and go traffic with snow was even too much for my Autobahn taste …
Chennai
Today I woke up at 4am local (23:30) German time, 16:30 Texas time and couldn’t go back to sleep. The last couple of days, my jet lag was managable, but getting more than 6 hours of sleep in one shot is hard. Glad I had an entertaining book to read (“My life as a Quant” – Emanuel Denman). I also caught a slight cold which makes me a little weak.
The baby was sleeping so cutely on our bed and only woke up by 6:15a. Then he wanted to play immediately. His energy in the morning is very invigorating. With temperatures above 30C during the day, the apartment was  nice and warm in the morning. We stripped him off all of his clothes and diaper and let him play completely naked on the warm marble floors. Very entertaining to watch. Eventually he had a big pee and was highly amused about sitting in it… the joy of a simple life.
Chennai – Security and traffic
Yesterday, we had lunch at the five star Sheraton restaurant. When we pulled up to the hotel we were greeted by a closed gate and two security officers. They demanded to search the trunk and used a mirror to inspect the bottom of the car before admitting us to the main entrance of the hotel. The driver got quite annoyed by this procedure, but I felt that the upped security measures were warranted after the Bombay bomb blasts on 26. Nov 2008. The hotel industry has responded to the threats with heightened security for their guests. Annoying but reassuring. Strange times.
On a different note: there are so many new cars populating the streets of India. So many Tatas, Marutis, Suzukis, Toyotas, Hyundais that haven’t been here in 2006. Apparently financing for the common man has picked up in the country. Along with it comes ever worse traffic jams. Lots of physical medians and flyovers where built since my last visit. Change is happening.
Americanized – away for too long
You know that you’ve been away from Germany for too long, when:
- you’re unable to identify your Golf Kombi rental car in the parking area (because they don’t sell this model in the US)
- you wonder why people are driving so slowly (140km/h) on the Autobahn (they used to drive faster when I still lived here)
- you wonder how people can live with such small fridges
- you are amazed by all the cute little trash cans people have (where the heck do you put all the packing material from your Amazon orders?)
- you wonder when the Weinbiet tower was cut in half (apparently it was only taller in my memories)
- when you find Germany’s busiest airport, small, cramped, inconvenient and “Stueckwerk”, lacking an overall broad vision (did you ever walk the new Terminal 1 parking garage walkway? Low ceilings, non heated, no buses, no conveyor belts and elevators that only go up or down – not both – a strange place indeed)
Looks like I’m a spoiled and confused American with a German passport by now.
Travel – Chennai
Last night we arrived in Chennai. After picking up our bags, MrsM’s parents were waiting outside to pick us up with a driver. He was nowhere to be found, and turned out sleeping in his car. It took multiple calls from his boss to wake him up.
After loading everything into the large car I sat in the front and got ready to fasten my seat belt when the driver told me: “No, no use, it’s dusty!”. I was stunned, mumbling somethin, “Oh, we rather die…”. And MrsM  commented that believing in reincarnation sometimes works in your favor. So true. Different country, different customs. Needless to say we made it home safely. Statistics…