San Francisco 2014 Labor Day Trip

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Thursday August 28 Georgetown – San Francisco
I went to water aerobics since we didn`t have to leave until after 10. I had left my swimsuit at the rec center so we stopped by on the way to the airport. We got a sandwich at Schlotsky’s at the airport which we ate in the Admirals Club. We had no extra time in DFW.  I watched “The Million Dollar Arm” on the plane.  We actually had a snack and a glass of wine at the SF Admirals Club before taking Super Shuttle.  At Suze’s I went to Fresh N Easy and got pizza for supper.  We walked down to Eagles Point to grab a geocache. Suze wanted to watch Robin Williams “Birdcage: but I went to bed.

Friday August 29 San Francisco
Suze & Luis went to work.  I looked on line for a picnic table and ordered one from Lowe’s.  Phil and I drove long the water, getting out at Pelican Beach to watch surfers and use the potty.  Then we went to Costco near the airport where we got gas and picked up 3 caches on the Bayfront Trail.  Then we got a couple of things at Costco before heading to Lowes.  It took a long time for them to deliver the table and we stuffed it in the car.  We took a circuitous route back and unloaded the heavy box.  Closer inspection showed that the table would be very hard to assemble and impossible because one the pieces of wood was rotten.  So began and afternoon of hassling Lowes to get one delivered and the other returned.  But after many hang-ups and talking to many folks I think we got it straightened out.  I made pork chops and mashed potatoes for dinner.

Saturday August 30
Suze and Luis decided to run to Baker Beach and Phil and I walked.  It was a gloriously sunny morning and we enjoyed seeing all the people on the beach and the beautiful flowers in the lawns of the fancy houses.  Luis had to go to work so Susannah and Phil went to the Garden Café shop to get yummy sandwiches for us,  After we ate and Lowes delivery service took away the defective table and installed the good one, we headed to Marin in the Golden Gate Bridge traffic.  We went up the road to Hawk Mountain and then stopped most of the way down to the headlands at a battery where I talked to a very interesting guy who told a lot of stories about his grandfather : he had been at Pearl Harbor during the attack and used his own rifle to shoot at planes because they couldn’t get into the armory.  Later he was at Angel Island where he ferried laundry to Alcatraz.  During the Korean War he helped out nuns get leftovers from the soldiers to the orphans.

We were too late to go to the lighthouse which closes at 3:30 but we saw deer and watched huge harbor seals.  We explored another battery and then went to Rodeo Beach where we sat on a log and saw four dolphins frolicking in the surf.  Fantastic!  Then we went to Sausalito.  We had planned to geocache but on the way we stopped to explore Galilee Harbor, a boat dock where artists and people in the ship building trades lived in a semi-commune of 39 boats.  One of the residents spent a lot of time talking to us about the place.  When we got home, we ordered Chinese food from Tsing Tao which Suze and I brought home.  We watched “Maiden Voyage” about the youngest person to sail solo around the world.  She was 14 when she stared and 16 when she finished.


Sunday August 31 San Francisco
We all got up early to go meet Karen Mottola at her apartment which was gorgeous – she can even see the ocean!  We then all walked to Seal Rock Inn for breakfast.  Karen took a bus from there to the airport.  We walked back on the Lands End Trail.  Another gorgeous day.  Then the four of us went to Sonoma with Luis driving.  We stopped at Viansa Winery where Suze and I did a wine tasting.  Phil and I split a salad and baguette and Suze and Luis had sandwiches.  We sat out on a picnic table and listened to a really good trio of women singing western music. We then drove around the square in Sonoma to get an idea of the place and headed to Napa to see the earthquake damage first hand. It had many similarities to Christchurch – the tagged buildings: green for ok, yellow could go in to clean but damaged or red for no entry.  Then we walked on the Napa Riverwalk and found a geocache.  We went to San Rafael to one of Luis’s favorite restaurants, a Puerto Rican place called Sol Food.  We took the food home and ate it.  We watched CodeBreaker about Alan Turing.  It was great but Suze fell asleep. yummy Sol Food


Monday September 1 San Francisco
Luis had to go to work.  I wanted to leave the geocoin  somewhere in the “mountains, so we rode busses to Mt. Davidson which is the tallest point in San Francisco.  I had us get off in the wrong place so we wandered around in a neighborhood and then got a bus right to the trailhead.  The trail led to a huge cross that the City had to sell the land around it to settle a lawsuit in order to keep the cross.  The views were fantastic and the day was great.  We took Uber back to Suze’s .  She and I went to Fresh N Easy to get the fixings for our barbeque.  Luis started the fire when he got home and I had precooked everything but the hamburgers. The neighbors, Neil and Anne, brought their hamburgers and joined us.  It was really sunny and a fun way to inaugurate the picnic table!

Tuesday September 2 San Francisco
Luis had to leave for work really early.  Suze did her chores and left us to our own devices.  Phil and I took the bus into Fishermans Wharf.  We started at Aquatic Beach where there was an Art Deco CCC building with an exhibit from the New Bedford Whaling Museum that told the story of the Portuguese (Lusophone) diaspora mainly from the Cape Verde Islands and the Canary Islands.  Phil learned a lot about the heritage of the people around Carver!  We also looked at the Customs Exhibit and learned a lot of interesting factgs like Herman Melville, US Grant, and Chester Arthur had all been customs agents.  I had wanted to go to the Boudin Sourdough Bread place.  We shared a bread bowl filled with clam chowder and then paid for the tour of bread baking.  We learned a lot there, too!  We took the bus back to Suze’s and Phil went to the store for me.  I made papas rellanas (mashed potato balls filled with leftover hamburger and coated and fried) plus a ham loaf from the Christmas ham!  We went to bed early.

Wednesday September 3 San Francisco –

2014 June 22-27 Uppsala

June 22 Uppsala

Photos from Uppsala are in an album on Flickr - https://flic.kr/s/aHsjZbQ1Vg

On the train from Stockholm to Uppsala,  I recognized a SIGCSE friend and we talked.  As we exited the train in Uppsala it began to rain again.  We found the hotel easily and got settled in just in time for the reception. On the way, we peeked into the DomKyrkan. The Universitet Huset was gorgeous and the talk about it very interesting.  No food, except pretzels but both alcoholic and non-alcoholic wine.  Lots of good conversation and Camille really enjoyed the building.  We went out to eat with Amber Settle and Yvon Feaster to a close by Italian restaurant, Il Forino where Camille had ravioli and I had risotto.  Back to the hotel where I prepared for the meeting.  It was after midnight when I went to sleep.n

Monday June 23 Uppsala

I got up at 6:30 to have breakfast with Boots.  We took the bus to Polacksbacken.  There were four of us trying our credit cards.  At first the bus driver couldn’t do it, but finally it was ok and we got to the conference just in time.  The keynote was interesting on new devices and techniques for student centered learning.  At the coffee break I took the bus back to get Camille.  She slept too late for the 10:30 closing of breakfast.  We went to the newspaper shop and bought bus cards.  I think the driver entered on mine that I was a child, but I am not sure.  We did get to the meeting and looked for a geocache, again unsuccessfully and because it was very cold, windy and rainy, we gave up.  Lunch of scalloped potatoes, yummy veggies and pork was quite good.  I spent much to the meeting talking with Shuchi Glover who just finished her PhD at Stanford.  She was then one of the presenters in the group I chaired after lunch, along with two women from Argentina and Yvon with whom we had eaten dinner the night before.  The coffee break had yummy sweet pastries that both Camille and I enjoyed.  We were late for the last session because the room was wrong in the part of the program I was looking at .  What we did hear was good – a young woman from Toronto gave an excellent history of women in computing, and two other speakers were interesting as well.  We left during the question period to get the bus since they only run every 20 minutes
I was going to change for the banquet but because of the rain, I just wanted to keep warm.  We huddled under the umbrella and got to Norrlands Nation at exactly 7 and we were among the last to arrive.  An a capella group from the Nations members sang to us as we sipped sparkling wine on the staircase.  The room where the banquet was held was huge and we got seats which looked out the window at the houses on the other side of the river and whose roofs were covered with tons of birds. Service was slow but conversation was good.  We had a fish roe appetizer and the main dish was venison with lingonberries.  During the evening we sang many songs and raised out glasses. (we had been supplied with song sheets).
Dessert was ice cream with some sort of sauce.

The banquet ended about 11.

Tuesday June 24 Uppsala

I had breakfast with Boots and then Camille joined us.  Camille walked with me as far as the boat we would be taking later in the day so she would know how to get there and meet us for the trip to the castle. I walked to the conference first through the waterside garden and then up onto the forest path.  It was beautiful. I got there just in time for Boots’ session on the history and future of ITiCSE.   I picker up a sack lunch for Camille and one for me and joined the group walk back toward town and the boat. I had a king talk with Virginia Grande who is chairing the next ACM-W Europe conference in Uppsala.  Camille was waiting when we got there. The boat ride was sunny thank goodness and Mikey Goldweber and I solved lots of SIGCAS problems and then Susan Rodger, Mikey and I talked about iSIGCSE and other stuff.  Then they pretended to throw me overboard for twisting their arms – Susan to be SIGCSE chair and Mikey to be SIGCAS chair.  It took two hours to get to the Skokloster Castle by going down the Fyris River and a long time on Lake Malaren where the castle is. Out tour guide was very good but we only had an hour to see the castle because we had the two hour ride back!

Camille and I went geocaching just as we left the boat and found the one there on the bridge.  We went with Susan Rodger and Boots and Bill Cassel, finding another one by the cathedral before going to Tzatziki, a Greek restaurant on the river. It was really cold, but the restaurant had blankets for us to wear We had a large variety of mezes that were super. It was quite late when we got back to the hotel and then even later when we got to sleep.

Wednesday June 25 Uppsala

Once again I had breakfast with Boots. Camille slept in.  Boots and I walked through the forest to the conference, arriving just in time for the keynote, Åsa’s PhD advisor, Jan Guilleksen’s talk on becoming digital.  It was quite interesting.  He had Simon face the audience so he couldn`t see Jan and Jan had Simon give him directions to put on a jacket. It was funny. I texted Camille to get up which she did, five texts later J. I started to go back to get her at the break but she texted me that she was going to take the bus.  I worked on preparing to interview Elizabeth Patitas from U of Toronto and finished getting stuff around the time Camille was arriving on the bus.  I was glad to see her and she was very proud to have taken it successfully!  We had salmon for lunch.  She and I took the bus back so I could get my equipment for the interview.  I stopped at an apokotet for some cranberry pills. I was able to return on the same ticket as going because it was within 75 minutes.  I interviewed Elizabeth and finished with enough time to transfer my files before the wrap up.

I took the bus back with Boots.  The guy sitting in front of us 1) fell off his seat while texting and 2) overheard us talk about geocaching and volunteered where there were some! Camille was there to greet me.  After regrouping in the room, we went for a walk.  Turns out the church I went to when I was living here is right behind our hotel and is no longer a church, but a high tech company.  How sad.  Camille and I then walked to Linnaeus Garden which is open on Tuesday nights for free. We then found a geocache and walked around a bit before going to eat at the Texas Longhorn Restaurant.  When we paid the bill I had to use show ID to use the credit card and the waiter (who spoke little to no English) almost fell over with joy to notice it was a Texas driver’s license! Back at the hotel we turned on the TV a minute to say we watched Swedish TV and then I worked on this blog.  A key has fallen off my tablet keyboard and I have no idea when nor where and I truly don`t even know what that key did!

Thursday June 26 Uppsala


I actually slept until 8:30.  We had breakfast and then headed out first to the Godis store for gift candy.  Then we walked to the Gustavium (the Uppsala University museum) which was really well done. We saw grave boats of the Vikings, Rudbeck’s anatomy amphitheater from 1660’s.  The Augsburg Cabinet for a portable art collection was amazing. 

We then bought our bus tickets for the day’s travels and for the airport bus.  We rode out to Gamma Uppsala.  We climbed the mounds (a man helped me up and I sat on my bottom down). We looked for a geocache in the old church and heard a pianist play there.  The Celsius family is buried inside.  We went to the Odinsburg café for a snack and then to the museum gift shop after another exploratory walk.  It was a lovely day. We got off the bus ealy when I spied a market with fresh fruits and veggies and we got strawberries that were as good as they looked!   \Once back at the hotel we regrouped , packed and headed out to the castle, finding a geocache by a house Ingmar Bergman lived in and one by the castle where a mass grave of Swedes killed in a conflict with the Danes had been uncovered in recent history.  We walked up to the castle and then down to the botanical garden.  Camille was tired, so we cut that short but did find a really cool kids’ playground that looked like an old Swedish village.  On the way back we stopped at a fast food hamburger place called Max where Camille got a veggie burger, fries and a shake.  Camille’s earphones were broken, so I went downstairs and worked on my files and let her listen to music before going up to bed.

Friday June 27 Uppsala – Newark –Decatur
I got up at 5:15 and showered, and Camille got up and around really quickly and we were able to grab coffee and tea and rush the half mile to the bus and got the 6:03.  We got through all the security quickly and ate the food I had brought with us from the hotel breakfast.  We bought coffee and tea.  We had to go through a second long line just to get into the boarding area but no problems. I watched the Grand Budapest Hotel on the flight.  Lunch was chicken and rice glop and snack was a grilled Panini.  In Newark we had to ride a bus to the last flight because their train is still broken.  No TSA pre (and I didn’t use Global entry because of Camille) so long line there as well.  I got us fruit and veggies in a coffee shop.  The terminal was old and run down with few services. We got Marta and were at Gwyneth’s in good order. She and Phil met us outside the Artisan.  We had Greek salad and pizza for dinner and watched our pictures on their big TV.
 

Sweden June 19-22, 2014 Stockholm

Check out photos here https://flic.kr/s/aHsjYXeLgW

Wednesday June 18 Blue Ridge - Decatur
The rhododendron bush by the dining room window is in full bloom.  Phil and I went for a walk behind the cabin before final packing for Sweden.  We went to Ellijay to the Dollar Tree for toothpaste and to Walmart for a few last minute things.  We stopped at Ballground for a geocache and ate lunch at the BijUns Barbeque and it was really good! Phil left and Gwyneth made me drive her car to meet Chloe to give her her swim suit.  I found the geocache by the Burnt Fork Restaurant and then we went to the Decatur Farmers Market.  Phelix was incredibly well-behaved. We got bread, flavored butter and peaches. Camille made a yummy veggie pasta sauce and Chloe made Greek salad – Yummy.



Thursday June 19 Decatur – in air
We got out and on the train in good order.  It was a good think because when we went to the United desk we found our flight to Chicago had been cancelled!  A nice United desk person helped us get rebooked on a much better schedule.  Delta to Newark and United direct to Stockholm.  We got seats together on both flights!  We hung out a bit in the Admirals Club in Atlanta but it was too complicated to do so in Newark.  We did have lunch in Newark – Camille gave me part of her sandwich and I shared my fruit with her.  I watched Monuments Men on the flight over.  I had chicken with a great half bottle of Meomi Pinot Noir.

Friday June 20 in air – Stockholm

Passport control in Stockholm was the fastest I have ever experienced in any country!  We bought 2 day Stockholm cards at the airport.  I managed to drop our bus ticket printout in the toilet but retrieved it and it worked for the bus to town!

Camille fell asleep on the ride into town, but we were alert enough to walk to the old town (Gamla Stad) and enjoy finding our hostel – the ship Birger Jarl, aka the Anedin Hotel.  We were allowed to check in early and have a great room – bunks with a harbor view of Skeppsholmen, the island with the museum of modern art.  It has a toilet, sink and shower which drains on the floor, but is very clean.  I bought breakfast for us for tomorrow at 80Kr each.

Camille showered while I checked on internet which is only available in the lounge/bar room but plenty of electricity and good bandwidth.

We headed out shortly after.  It was cold and even rained a bit. We searched unsuccessfully for a geocache on Stora Hopegrand Street, but enjoyed the walk.  We saw a wedding photo shoot and then enjoyed listening to a little kids brass band in front of the closed for the day Nobel Museum.  We went into an old German church and then Camille searched for her two stores – sci fi and comic.  But the sci fi was closed for midsommar and the comic one not to be found.  We had very expensive coffee and a raspberry confection at a quaint café. We then listened to some girls sing about midsommar but all with enter type coats!

We walked through the palace toward the next island. As we crossed the bridge to Skeppsholen, it began to rain.  Not for long, but we did manage to find the Museum of Modern Art – closed for midsommar. Then we went back to walk along the Strandvagan to the island with Djurgaren.  We stopped for blueberry ice cream for Camille and a hot dog with two huge dollops of yummy mashed potatoes.  I dropped one of the dollops on the ground.

We then had enough energy to go to the Vasa Museum which was incredible.  It was even better than I remembered.  We looked at all the exhibits and then watched a movie and Camille fell asleep again!  We got revived by a visit to an interactive history exhibit there, and a geocache outside up a slippery hill.  Camille wanted to explore the cemetery behind which was pretty and sad to her.  We found the bus back, and hopped off to take a boat ride around the island and back past our hostel.  Again we took the bus back to the hostel.  Her Stockholm card seems to work for the venues but not the bus!  They let her on anyway.  Camille was hungry so we sought out food.  Pizza and a salad shared and a glass of wine for me at Michelangelo’s in Gamla Stad for 350Kr.

Back at the hotel by 7:30 and Camille fell asleep immediately. I finished my Bible for the day and then called Phil on Skype.

Collage of First Day in Stockholm

 
Saturday June 21
I got up about 7 and showered and worked on catching up on my diary (and blog).  I drank coffee from the machine in the hall and finally woke Camille at 9:45 in order to eat the breakfast we had paid for when breakfast closes at 10.  And we did eat a huge one, as well as take away sandwiches and boiled eggs for a picnic later.  We went to Gamla Stad again, not finding one geocache but Camille spotted another because the word graffiti was written on a wall near it.  She then went into Comic Heaven, a store she had wanted to visit.  We went to the Royal Palace and watched a fancy changing of the guard parade and then went into several great museum in the palace.  The first was Tre Kronor, a history of the castle about three stories underground.  Really fantastic.  Then we went into the Hall of States the guest apartment for heads of state, coffee and a very sweet princess cake for Camille, the royal apartments, the treasury and the chapel.  We went back to the hostel and got ready for the next adventure.

We took a bus to the Nordiska Museet where we only had a half hour before closing but saw a lot of cool stuff including a doll house display, a furniture display, a Sami display and an exhibit curated from the museum’s storage called “stripes”!  We took another bus to Grona Lund (like Tivoli Gardens) and enjoyed the crowds and revelry.  We ate out lunch from Breakfast and took a train to Skansen. Most displays were closed but we went in a couple and Camille bought a pen at a gift shop.  We went in a farm house and a church.  But we also went in the zoo displays of wolves, wolverines and a huge owl of which there were at least 5.We found out way out but not where we entered and walked along the water near really nice old homes.

We took the tram back part way and then the bus we wanted didn’t run in Saturdays, so we got back on the next tram, and walked through a park and back to the hotel.  We actually watched a TV program from Grona Lund with the group after the ones we saw performing!

We took a bus to the Nordiska Museet where we only had a half hour before closing but saw a lot of cool stuff including a doll house display, a furniture display, a Sami display and an exhibit curated from the museum’s storage called “stripes”!  We took another bus to Grona Lund (like Tivoli Gardens) and enjoyed the crowds and revelry.  We ate out lunch from breakfast and took a train to Skansen. Most displays were closed but we went in a couple and Camille bought a pen at a gift shop.  We went in a farm house and a church.  But we also went in the zoo displays of wolves, wolverines and a huge owl of which there were at least 5.We found out way out but not where we entered and walked along the water near really nice old homes.

We took the tram back part way and then the bus we wanted didn’t run in Saturdays, so we got back on the next tram, and walked through a park and back to the hotel.  We actually watched a TV program from Grona Lund with the group after the ones we saw performing!

Took a tram one stop (or first tram) to Skansen.  Thee was hardly anyone there which was interesting since Grona Lund was packed.  We went through part of the zoo and into the old regions where very few places were open.  We did go in a manor house and a church.  Camille bought a pin at the one souvenir shop that was open.  We watched the wolf and the wolverines in the zoo and were entranced by a bunch of owls. We were kind of lost when we left Skansen and exited a bit away from where we intended but enjoyed the walk along the water and fancy old houses.  We took a tram and got off at the wrong spot because our bus didn’t run late on Saturdays.

  The Anedine Hostel, Skansen and Old Town

Stockholm Day 2

Back at the hostel we regrouped and headed off further south along the water and then into old town.  We got a great felafel from a take away vendor and went back to the hostel.  Bed for both around 11:30.

Sunday June 22 -- Stockholm to Uppsala

We packed up and ate breakfast, once again making sandwiches from the breakfast bar for our lunch.  We used the wifi for a while and then checked out and stored out suitcases.  We went out, hoping to go to the Medieval Museum, but it was closed for Midsommar.  We looked for a cache we didn’t find and got caught in a downpour.  Camille didn’t find anything to buy at the SciFi bookstore but did make a few purchases at the Comic Heaven store.  We went back to the hostel, used the web and took off for Central Station.  We had thought to take the bus, but opted to walk and enjoyed the shopping street.  We just missed a train to Uppsala and got tickets for the next one.  We ate out lunch but I refused to pay $6 for a bottle of water – no tap water in the station!

Once on the train I recognized a SIGCSE friend and we talked.  

Barb's Trip to India Day 8

Monday February 17 Gurgaon - Delhi
Amardeep went to work and I stayed back to pack.  In order to take home  the large framed plate that I was given as a gift from the conference, I had to pack everything into my red bag and put my back pack with my computer into my smaller roller bag.  I carried the picture in the conference bag.  Sant Lal picked me up and we went to the Mall in Saket because I wanted to try an India McDonald’s.  I had the spicy paneer sandwich (without lettuce or tomato which comes with), fries and a coke.  The paneer was good but the bun and cheese were pretty bad. Back at Amardeep’s office I recorded a video for CEOHP and took some pictures.  Then we headed to IIITD for Amardeep to give a lecture on the First Day of teaching a class to Pankaj's class.  While we were in his office we found out that we were featured panelists at a women in engineering panel after the class. We also went to a reception for PK’s program Precog (privacy and security of social networking).  Busy day!  Then we headed to the fancy shopping center by the Grand for dinner at SetZ with Mangala Gowri and Laura Haas.  It was an interesting place with some 7 different cuisines each with its own set of chefs.  I had pasta, Laura and Mangala had Thai and Amardeep had risotto.  The bathrooms had fancy Japanese style toilets with heated seats.  Amardeep left me off at the hotel with Laura and I went to her room.  There was a very fancy wedding going on so we went down to watch the groom arrive and see all the gorgeous dresses on the women guests.  There was a lot of confusion about the ride to the airport, so we went down to the lobby and waited with Radia Perlman. 

Barb's Trip to India Day 7

Sunday February 16 Gurgaon – Agra-Gurgaon
We left Amardeep’s at 7:30 and got to the hotel shortly after 8 to pick up Dave Patterson and were on our way to Agra.  The fog was really dense and travel on the superhighway was down to a crawl because of it.  We eventually stopped at the rest area for tea.  It was really crowded and the rest room was gross but there was a nice attendant.  And the tea was good!  On the road we stopped several times to look at birds – we saw Sarus cranes and even a family of three.  We also saw a blue cow (Nilgai antelope) family.  We also saw lots of kilns in fields for making bricks.  Once at Agra Fort Amardeep engaged a guide.  Inside the fort we met up with Shafi Goldwasser and Radia Perlman and their guide.  The builder of the Taj Mahal was imprisoned by his son at the Fort and spent his time in a room facing the Taj Mahal.  We took the extra tour to the glass palace or Shish Mahal where the ceiling and walls were covered with tiny mirrors.

Then we headed to the Taj Mahal through crowded streets, stopping at a small hotel for a bathroom break.  When we got to parking it was quite some distance from the Taj Mahal and we took a camel cart ride to the entrance.  Amardeep had her throat lozenges confiscated! The entrance to the Taj was impressive but the first view of the Taj Mahal was more than I expected.  The building and grounds were unbelievably beautiful.  We tried to stay for sunset but got too cold.  We headed back to a fancy hotel (ITC Mughal) for dinner but we were too early for the tandoori ovens and had a rocky start to what turned out to be a nice meal in the coffee shop with local wine (Sula Vineyards Cabernet-Shiraz).

We headed back and took Dave to the Grand and we got back to Gurgaon at shortly after midnight.

Barb's Trip to India Day 6

Saturday February 15, New Delhi-Gurgaon

The Grand New Delhi
We had breakfast at the hotel with Laura Haas, Shafi Goldwasser and Amardeep before the ACM meeting.  We were a bit late getting to the meeting which had already started. This audience was mainly men as opposed to the day before when it was mostly women.  Lunch again was near the stadium.  I sat with the head of IBM research India and his predecessor who is now at Xerox India.  After the meeting we went back to the hotel and had coffee with Laura at the fancy shopping mall next to the hotel.  Then Sant Lal took us to the dinner at the faculty club at IIT.  They had no bottled water and flat Pepsi, but good India food and great conversation. Amardeep was elated that Vint Cerf took down a quote from her! 

We took folks back to the hotel and then headed back to Amardeep’s in Gurgaon where it was after 11pm.

Laura Haas and Vint Cerf; below Vint Cerg, Amardeep and Shafi Goldwasser

Barb's Trip to India Day 5

Friday February 14, 2014 New Delhi, India
Amardeep and I found breakfast which was very good.  We sat with Mathai Joseph and talked with John White, Pat Ryan and others.  Lots of vans took us to the meeting at IIT Delhi.  I put the ACM-W skirt on the stage.  Because of rain, the meeting had a late start but it was excellent.  Lunch was outside in a covered area next to the stadium.  I got to cut the long line as a VIP!  I think my talk went over well.  Lots of questions, good ones.  I enjoyed the talk by PK about his students’ app for safe journeys.  Radia Perlman talked about internet protocols and Laura Haas from IBM about cloud big data.  After the meeting we had a SIGCSE India meeting with John White and Mathai and other interested folks.  It looks like the SIG would be organized under ACM India.  Many of the speakers and committee went to the conference leadership dinner at the Ashok Hotel southern India restaurant.  I had a pancake called an uttapam. We went back to the hotel and immediately went to bed.

ACM-W India Meeting

Barb's Trip to India Day 4

Thursday February 13 Gurgaon, India and Delhi Tours
Amardeep and Sant Lal dropped me off at Connaught Place for the city tour (at the grand price of $5).  The tour was in on an old bus with a local guide.  We had to give him money for three of the  places we went to (250 INR each or about $4).  The first stop was a Hindu Temple where we had to leave out cameras and cell phone behind.  They took my external battery away from me because they thought it was a cell phone!  No shoes, either.  The temple, Laxminarayan, was gorgeous and very interesting.  Hindus use a variant of the star of David and also a swastika!   The bus then drove down to the Qutub Minar, a UNESCO world heritage site. It is a 12th century muslim tower and ruins.  We then headed to a scruffy parking lot across the street from Lado Sarai, the first park Sant Lal took me to.  There was a Delhi tourism store, selling rugs and other goods high pressure Turkey style.  The group had tea from a guy with a cart outside.  I passed on it.

Lotus Temple, Gandhi's Last Residence, Laxminarayn Temple, Qutub Minar

Fig Tree, Red Fort, a cremation Ghat, Humayan's Tomb

We then went to the Bahia Lotus Temple where we had to shed out shoes and hand them into this underground window where we got a wooden coin for their retrieval.  The temple itself looked like the Sydney Opera house and we went inside during the daily service.

Our final morning visit was to the Gandhi Memorial museum where Gandhi spent his last days on earth and was assassinated.

We returned to the Connaught Place tourist office where there was a café.  I ate the lunch I had brought along in the courtyard where monkeys scampered along the courtyard roof.

The afternoon tour included a ride through the embassy row and then out to the Red Fort, a huge complex with tons of walking.  It was also a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Red Fort was the residence of the Mughal emperors of India for nearly 200 years, until 1857.  Nearby were a lot of Ghats, or cremation sites for famous people like Indira Gandhi and her son Rajeev.  We stopped at the site for Mahatma Gandhi, Raj Ghat.  I was surprised at the memorials and the huge plot of land surrounding each cremation slab site.

The final stop was at Humayan’s Tomb, commission by his wife for him.  It was very impressive.

The tour bus let us off two blocks from the starting place with little information on how to walk back.  I was very nervous but finally got there and was relieved to see Amardeep and Sant Lal.  Amardeep directed Sant Lal to a grocery store so she could get gluten free food including cereal for herself.  We went from there to the Grand Hotel where Amardeep and I spent two nights.  We had dinner in the hotel restaurant.  We ordered too much food but the fried paneer was very good.  A large party of very noisy people (Amardeep said they were rich and uneducated) drove us nuts.  We were happy to go back to our room!

Barb's Trip to India Day 3

Wednesday February 12, Gurgaon and New Delhi
We took Amardeep into work and then Sant Lal took me shopping at Dilli Haat, where Sant Lal bargained for he things I was interested in.  Dilli Haat is a market where the vendors rotate and has fairly low prices.  After we finished shopping, we headed to Amardeep’s office at BML Munjal University in Saket where I made a presentation to the founder, Ashkay Munjal , Babi Mitra from MIT, Davinder Singh who used to be with Coca Cola, Vinayak Kalluri.  I used my slides and handouts that Amardeep had prepared on ABET and her department’s curriculum to compare and contrast with Curriculum 2013 and previous IEE/ACM versions.  Afterwards we went to Hauz Khas for dinner at a south Indian restaurant NAIVEDYAM.  I had a tea called rasam and dosa, large rice paper roll with sauces.  I also had coconut water in the coconut!  There was a family eating near us and Amardeep pointed out that the maid didn’t have food – she just was there to supervise the kids.

Barb's Trip to India Day 2

Tuesday February 11 Gurgaon -
Amardeep went to work and the driver came back to take me to the Sultanpur  National Park to look for birds but first we looked for two geocaches.  We finally found one near the Crowne Plaza Hotel!  Whew!  The one near a coffee shop must have been behind a bunch of boxes and cartons.

The drive out to Sultanpur was wild.  The roads were rough, Gurgaon even had a guy herding sheep across traffic and then the villages we passed through were very poor. I saw some people carrying wet cement on their heads to a construction site.

When we got to the Park, it was closed on Tuesdays.  Sant Lal asked me if I wanted to go to a different park and took off on a dirt side road to a Hindu Temple that was in the middle of nowhere.  We walked into the courtyard of the temple that had a big white horse statue and I was surprised when Sant Lal didn’t lead me to the temple but to a gate in the back where he talked to some men and then led me out into a field.  I was stunned to see tons of birds – mostly water birds like herons and stilts and ibises.  I had Sant Lal go back to the car and get my .binocs and water.  We traipsed through mud along dikes and saw cranes, painted stork, lots of geese including bar headed, cows with cattle egrets.  It was fantastic! I think the place was called Dhankot.

Sant Lal returned me to Amardeep’s where I cleaned up a bit and then we headed into town to pick up Amardeep and we went to her favorite restaurant, Café Diva in a small, upscale shopping center.  She had risotto and I had Roadside food of Goa.  We got back to Amardeep’s at 10:30.

Barb's Trip to India Day 1

Monday February 10 Delhi (Gurgaon) India
The plane was on time but it took a long time to get through immigration (although it was shortened by an official that moved a few of us to the Indian passport line.)  Then I had to wait a long time for my suitcase.  Amardeep and her driver, Sankt Lall were there to meet me—Amardeep at the exit and Sankt Lall brought up the car.  We drove to her apartment in Gurgaon, arriving at about 3:30 am.  Amardeep went to work and I rode along with her driver, who took me sightseeing and geocaching,  Our first stop was a small park, Lado Sarai.  Our next stop was Hauz Khas Village where we looked for a geocache.  It was a beautiful park and we actually walked over a mile to go .1 mile before we found the entrance to an archeological park with Sultan tomb ruins.  We looked for a cache in one of the rooms of the ruins  but couldn’t find it.  After we explored the ruins, we headed to Deer Park which did have a ton  of deer.  We walked around the lake below the ruins and looked for another cache unsuccessfully but saw monkeys and birds.

The next stop was the lovely Lodhi gardens where I ate my lunch near some ruins (Bada Gumbad Mosque and Tomb). The we walked around the whole Park  Lodhi Gardens where I tried to solve a puzzle cache.  I found all the caches but I think I made a math error and was too tired to finish.   The driver left me off at the Sheraton where the guard opened the car trunk and I had to go through a metal detector.  I walked into the hotel like I knew what I was doing (actually I wanted he bathroom) and went to the bar for coffee which I nursed until Amardeep joined me from her work across the street.  We were back in Gurgaon by 9 and ate the lovely meal that Amardeep’s cook had made, but not to bed to midnight.

Barb's Trip to India Part 1 Getting There

Saturday February 8 G’town - London
I continued to pack.  It was a beautiful day, so Phil and I walked the neighborhood. We mailed the Valentine’s cards to the girls and Suze. Phil drove me to the airport. I bought a Schlotsky’s sandwich and had a coke at the Admiral’s Club  and hung out until time for the plane.  Then I discovered I hadn’t transferred my iPhone cord to my backpack.  Right across from ny gate was a BestBuy vending machine that had exactly what I needed and only $14.99.   On to DFW and its Admiral’s club. My plane was a bit late but OK.  I had a seatmate when we loaded but the plane wasn’t full, so he moved and I had a two-seater to myself.  I slept well.   

Sunday February 9 London – Delhi (Gurgaon) India
Arrived in Heathrow and went through one security so I could hang out at the Admiral’s Club before changing terminals for the British Airways flight.  The second security was awful. They didn’t like my set of charger and I had to unpack my whole backpack. I decided to brave security twice
Curled up and slept after lasagna and free wine (a South African pinotage.

San Francisco Family Reunion

Tuesday April 9 Georgetown – San Francisco

I slept terribly –so worried about waking up on time.  We left really early (before 6) in case the sequester made the TSA lines long.  Instead what happened was we sat in traffic for 45 minutes on 71 because of an accident.  Only a few lucky breaks got us to the plane on time. The lady driver at Fast Park ask the dispatcher to let us go because we were late due to the wreck, and there was absolutely no line at TSA.  Our group was being called as we got to the gate.  Whew!  I worked on Henry’s interview on the flight until my battery got too low.

Walking the Coastal Trail in Outer Richmond

We got into SFO early and had little trouble finding the shuttle.  Boy was that easy!  Our plane landed about 9:40 an we were at Suze’s by 10:45.  Gwyneth and the kids were off on a walk to met their friend. She had left us keys and texted me with pictures of the hiding place.  Phil and I had breakfast and then set off walking.  It was absolutely gorgeous out – and the coastal trail was packed.  We ran into the family near the Legion of Honor.  Back home Gwyneth and I went to Fresh and Easy with Chloe to get stuff for lunch.  I called the dentist for mouth wash and they arranged to get my prescription to CVS. After lunch of risotto and mac and cheese, I took Chloe to the playground and then to CVS.  Then we walked to Ocean Beach and hung out.  Afterwards it was back to the playground with both girls and to the store for more food – tortellini, salad and watermelon..  Gwyneth had the kids and me go up on the roof to take late afternoon shots of the city.  I made supper and Luis and Suze came home.  Lots of video games and I was exhausted.  Suze had bought a new blowup bed at Target so there were plenty of places to sleep.  I was very cranky at bedtime but slept incredibly well.

Wednesday April 10 SF
I got up early as did Gwyneth.  I made coffee and then she convinced me to go on the roof with her to see the effect of sunrise on the view – it was spectacular!

Views from Suze and Luis' Rooftop

After Suze and Luis went to work and we took off for Lincoln Park to find a geocache.  We found it after a lot of looking.  Then we walked up to the Legion of Honor Museum  and walked down to the Lincoln Park Playground so the kids could show Gwyneth.

Legion of Honor Museum

We had a bit of lunch – hotdogs and leftovers and took the bus to Fisherman’s Wharf.  The girls got ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s.  We walked to Pier 39 to see the sea lions and a gull swooped down and stole Chloe’s ice cream!

Chloe's Heath Bar Ice Cream Stolen by Gull at Pier 39

We walked further to the Alcatraz Cruise place and after getting our tickets, had yet another snack.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a boat ride.  There was a lot of walking and it was all interesting.  We took the audio tour inside the prison and watched some videos about the Native American occupation in 1969.  We had an awful time getting a trolley to a bus – when we did get onto the tram it was more squished than I had ever been.

Views at Alcatraz

We caught a bus back to Outer Richmond, and ordered food from Pagan, a Thai-Burmese Restaurant around the corner. 

Thursday April 11 SF

A day without a real plan.  We went to the neighborhood playground and watched what was surely  nursery school field tip of three and four year olds holding hands and singing kids’ songs like  Twinkle, Twinkle – they were mostly Asian and adorable!  After Chloe was nearly played out there  we walked up hill forever to an overlook of the Sutro Baths and then we walked down to the visitors center.  It was sunny, windy and cold,  We went to the gift shop at Cliff House and then walked along Ocean Beach watching dog walkers handle up to 9 dogs each off leash!  We stopped for lunch at the Beach Chalet.  Gwyneth treated us for my birthday.  It was really good.  I had a meatloaf sandwich but didn’t like it, so Phil ate it and I ate his veggie burger.  He had a Riptide Ale – appropriate for the locale.  We had yummy sweet potato fries.  We walked back through Golden Gate Park, finding a geocache and watching the bison that were funded by Marissa Mayer.

View of Sutro Baths and Pics of Lunch at Beach Chalet

Back home we rested until it was time for me to take Chloe to see Suze play her first kickball game in Golden Gate Park with the Arup Ninjas.  It was a very lopsided game – Arup lost.  I had driven Suze’s car over and she drove back. We tried to find the extra special kids playground but never really saw how to get there and park.  Phil had spent a lot of time trying to fix the cats’ auto food dispenser.

 

Kickball Game at Hellman Hollow in Golden Gate Park

Gwyneth had bought a bunch of hors d'oeuvres for supper and we snacked before bed.  I never saw Luis because he had gone to Oakland to an ASHRAE meeting  and got back late.

Friday September 12 SF

Suze and Luis took off early to walk the 5+ miles to work on Walk to Work Day.

We took our time getting ready to go – took the bus to the Haight  Street corner of Golden Gate Park.  We walked to the Koret Children’s Quarter – the oldest playground in the US.  Chloe loved the climbing structure. 

Chloe in Crow'sNest at Koret Children's Quarter

Even Camille gave it a try.  The concrete slide wasn’t so big a hit, though. We were disappointed that the operator chose just the moment we approached to close the carousel for his lunch break.

We walked on through the lovely AIDS Memorial Grove to  the Academy of Sciences where Gwyneth and Chloe went in and to the deYoung Museum where Phil, Camille and Barb had lunch, toured the Girl with the Pearl Earring exhibit and then briefly looked at wonderful things in the permanent exhibit.  Because of the special exhibit which included a lot of Rembrandt era etchings (some tronies), the entire featured menu food items were Dutch.  Phil loved the pot pie!

A docent insisted that we go to the  Hamon Tower for a view before we left and it was special.

Golden Gate Park Ferns and view of and from DeYoung

We rested at Suze’s until she got home and she took the Buteras to their hotel.  We picked up Luis near Arup and headed back to Outer Richmond.  She left me off at the grocery and I got food for dinner.  I made Ritz Chicken, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.  Although it was a VERY late dinner it was really good if I do say so myself!

Saturday April 13 SF

Phil and I went to the Farmers Market at the Ferry Building.  We watched a cooking demonstration on veggie paella and wandered around the stalls.  We shared an open faced veggie sandwich and an odd Aztec tea. 

Veggie Paella Demo at Ferry Building

Gwyneth had taken Camille to Japantown to meet up with a friend and then G and Chloe joined us at the Farmer’s Market,  We walked back to G's hotel, stopping at a toy store.  Luis and Suze joined us there. We hung out at the hotel for a while and then off to Moscone Center (Luis and I found a geocache inside the California Historical Center) and then grabbed snacks.  Chloe, Suze and I rode the carousel and Chloe played in the playground.

      

Hanging out in Yerba Buena Park

We took two buses to Coit Tower – cool ride through Chinatown and then North Beach (Little Italy).  The bus took us right to the top and we walked down, seeing the Parrots of Telegraph Hill flitting about and squawking.

Back at the hotel we watched TV and Camille wanted to go to a shop which turned out to have closed early.

We left the Buteras and took a cab back to Outer Richmond where I got stuff for a pizza supper before Suze and Luis lef for a late party.

Sunday April 14 SF

We accidentally got into the finish line of an MS walk!

The four of us took the bus in to the Ferry Building to meet up with G and the girls.  We all ate a bit from different venues and walked the Buteras back to their hotel, stopping to look at a funky dress shop, Harajuku Hearts,  with Camille.

After our goodbyes, we headed to the Mission District to a Street Sunday event – walking up and down Valencia St.  Phil and I peeled off and geocached.

Street Sunday in the Mission District

Luis headed home and Suze, Phil and I walked to Mission Dolores Park and further up to Mission San Francisco de Asis.  We were convinced to wait outside for a woman, Edie Littlefield-Sundby, walking the missions in honor of her surviving cancer.  The mission and its associated basilica were fascinating.  We headed back to Outer Richmond.

Mission San Francisco de Asis -- Ohlne Indian hut and Statue

We ordered Mediterranean food and  had it delivered.  We ate while watching an old movie – The House on Telegraph Hill.

Monday April 15 SF

Not where the geocache is

Phil and I hung out and caught up with diary, newspaper, etc.  The weather was cold and forecast to be really windy and sunny.  Phil wanted to walk anyway so we headed for the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park.  We found a geocache near the Prayer-book Cross.

We then went to Stow Lake and decided to walk to the top of Strawberry Hill.  The park is so beautiful.

View from Strawberry Hill in Golden Gate Park

We ate lunch at the boathouse and made our way to the Gardens. The woman at the kiosk told us to concentrate o\n the California section because it was most in bloom.

When we got back we heard about the terrible bombing at the end of the Boston Marathon.

We took the bus back and we got steak and potatoes for supper.  Afterwards we watched a movie with Suze and Luis – Smoke Signals.

Tuesday April 15  SF-Georgetown

Suze began the wash before going to work.  Luis had left very early to go to physical therapy.  Phil and I packed and waited for Barbara S. to come visit.  She got stuck on the Oakland Bay Bridge but made it only 45 minutes late. 

Barbara S and Phil hold up the Golden Gate Bridge

We walked to Eagles Nest overview and then along Camino Del Mar in Sea Cliff to China Beach.  We stopped at Fresh and Easy for some supplies for lunch and back at the apartment had steak sandwiches.

View of Suze's Building from Lincoln Park

 The Super Shuttle came for  us at the same time Barbara was leaving.  We had a very interesting ride to the airport – to University of San Francisco and Bernal Heights.

The flight was uneventful but when we got to the parking lot, my front tire was flat.  It took over an hour for AAA to get there to change it.  Alas, we were really tired when we got home!

Travels Fall /Winter 2012

October 4-6 Hopper (Baltimore MD)

Gloria Townsend and Paul Gabbert

At the Reception

October 20-23 Lynchburg, Virginia

Nov. 2-3 Chicago SIGCSE Board

SIGCSE Board Dinner Mercat Planxa

Nov. 15 - Dec 3 Georgia Thanksgiving Vacation

Chloe and Phil at the Corn Maze in Ellijay

Rob and Chloe before the Blue Ridge Turkey Trot

Thanksgiving in Blue Ridge

Phil Geocaching in Hayesville NC

Little Williamsburg in Blue Ridge

Dec 13-18 San Francisco California visit with Suze and Luis

Clockwise from top left:

Suze and Luis' Door; Hanging cards, Parade of Boats, at Cafe Pacifica, and 100% Sweet and at the Science Museum

September travels

Coast to Coast and North to South

Pacific Coast Sept 1 in San Francisco; northern border Niagara Falls, Canada September 9, Atlantic Coast Plymouth, MA September 10 and Gulf Coast at Galveston, TX September 27

We began our car trip two days after we returned from California.  Our first goal was to get to Wauseon, Ohio for Barb's class reunion.  Most of the festivities were held at the Heritage Inn in Archbold, part of the Sauder Enterprise -- you may see Sauder furniture in high end stores like Wal-Mart
.


We also took some time to visit friends and places around Wauseon.

Phil at Fulton County Museum where we saw artifacts from my grandparents;; visiting  Jean and Dave in assisted living pictured with Jean's daughter-in-law, Bev; Barb's parents' grave in Wauseon

We headed off to Massachusetts but missed a turn in New York State and decided to detour to Niagara Falls, Canada.  We had a great time.  We saw Jay Cochrane tightrope walk from the Skylon Tower to the Hilton Hotel; and saw the evening colored light show.  We had a fantastic pizza at Johnny Peppers -- watching the owner roll the dough and bake the pizza in the wood fired kiln. In the morning we enjoyed walking through the commercial section of town and down to the lovely gardens and falls view.

Niagara Falls, Canada

We then went to Carver, MA where we had a grand visit with Phil's sister Belle.  We did lots of local exploring including a drive down to Cape Cod to Falmouth and Woods Hole.  We learned there that Paul Revere had cast the bell in the church on the Falmouth green and that Katharine Lee Bates who wrote America the Beautiful was born in Falmouth. We walked a lot in Myles Standish Forest, along the shore in Plymouth and around Carver. We ate a lot!  We had pizza from our favorite place Georgio's in Carver together with Steve and Gay.  Gay is a nurse and took everyone's blood pressure!  Crazy family!  We drove around looking at many places Phil and Belle had lived as children.

        The last evening we had a lobster cookout in Belle's backyard.

From Massachusetts we headed south for a few days at our cabin in Blue Ridge.  We did some hiking, resting, and geocachine plus Barb had 3 phone meetings and three paper reviews!  We headed to Decatur to celebrate our granddaughter Camille's birthday before going back to Texas.


The final leg of our trip was to Houston where Phil had some medical appointments at the Baylor College of Medicine.  A Trader Joe's had just opened not far from our hotel, so we had great food in our extended stay hotel room thanks to TJ.  We used the trip as an excuse to explore places on Galveston Island that we had not been to before. Before heading back home, we took a guided tour of Ima Hogg's Houston Bayou Bend mansion and gardens .  We were the only two on the tour and the guide, a chemistry/art history major at Rice was fantastic.

Galveston State Park Beach

Home at Last!!!!