30 April 2016 - Berlin, Germany - Part 2

I am finishing up a second week of work in good ol' Deutschland. Once again I am really starting to miss my home in sunny California. My co-workers in the Irvine office make fun of me. "Why did you move to CA if all you do is travel for work". I guess in the end, when work slows down or I choose to travel less, CA is where I want to be. I am trying to invent a more economical way of having a place to live as paying 2k a month for an apartment I only live in for a week is not making me happy.

This week I took my class out to dinner at the Lindenbräu in the Sony Center. I like this touristy beer house for the traditional German food. I had the Schweinsbraten and Apfelstrudel. What do you think of the following?


Speaking of food, another popular dish here in Berlin is Kurrywurst mit Pommes. I am not sure why this dish is so popular. It is simply a chopped up hot dog, ketchup, curry powder, and a side of fries. This is something my dad makes out of laziness when he has to cook dinner. I think it would be better with Johnsonville Brats. It looks like this:

On Friday afternoon, I visited the TV Tower and enjoyed a nice view of the city.

 

Mojito!

I also took some time to wander around this part of the city. I got a nice view of the Berlin Dom Cathedral. 

That's it for this trip...

23 April 2016 - Berlin, Germany - Part 1

I've been working in Berlin for the past week and have one more week to deliver. This is my second visit to this city. The weather has been a mixed bag of good and bad, fluctuating between sunshine and 10°C (50°F) and rain and 0°C (32°F). For the most part I have enjoyed some long runs and walks when the weather has behaved.

Every work day I have walked past Checkpoint Charlie, a historic relic (replica) of the Cold War.

I've really enjoyed going for long runs and walks at the local parks


I paid a visit to the Berlin Zoo and Aquarium. This is a very nice Zoo, up there with the quality of the San Diego Zoo. They have one of the best Big Cats displays I have ever seen, I got to get frighteningly close to animals that could easily turn me into dinner. I also found the penguins, my favorite!

 The Aquarium was average, I like the one in Boston and Atlanta much more. The Combination ticket cost 20 Euro. 

On Sunday I completed one of my last long training runs before my Half Marathon in Orange County on May 1. I started the day running through the Tiergarten and ended up looping at mile 5.5 at the Castle located in Schlosspark Charlottenburg. I only had a goal of completing 10 miles (about 16 km) but due to the beauty of the day and the cool trails I kept going further for exploration.

I have run to the end of the Zoo/Tiergarten before, but since last year had not gotten to continue following the canal.

Near the end of the run I found an outdoor antique flea market...I love going antiquing! What a perfect end to a near perfect weekend.

Stay tuned for Part 2...

16 April 2016 - Virginia is for Lovers

Heading out on a work trip once again. Traveling from SNA (Irvine, CA) to TXL (Berlin, Germany) via PNF (Newport News, VA). A few months ago, two of my close friends invited me to a wedding. One thing special about me as a frequent traveler is that if you invite me to your special day I will cross the planet to be there.

I started my day with a discovery of a hole in my favorite Keen hiking boots aka a "flat tire". So I visited a local Bass Pro Shop and was delighted to find the exact same shoe in my size! What does one do with a new pair of hiking books and a few hours to spare? Go hiking of course.

I took a random guess at a local trail and ended up on the Noland trail. It is a nice packed limestone 5 mile loop around a lake near the Newport News Mariners Museum.

I hiked a few miles out and back. I still had a few hours before I had to get ready for the wedding so I gave the Mariner's Museum a try. The last one of these I went to was the one I greatly enjoyed in Amsterdam. This one turned out to be even better. I especially loved the massive collection of model ships.

The restrooms had this great lesson on the origin of the name for a ship's toilet or "Head". Gave me a good chuckle.

Around 2 PM I returned to my hotel to get dressed for my friends Wedding. I was given permission to represent the family colors (Clan McKay) so I wore my kilt. What a fun conversation starter. Moreover, what a fun and memorable wedding. Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs Auth. I can not wait to see yall again.

"I can't believe Cytog wore a kilt...we had a kilt at our wedding!"

Here is the best I can provide of my outfit. The wedding photographer has a better capture with my Argyle Coat.

10 April 2016 - A Layover in Japan - My First Sakura!

If you know me, you know I love traveling to Japan. I took my first trip in 2008, went back in 2009 for a friend's wedding, and took my first travel companion in 2013. Japan holds a place near and dear to my heart as I have made many friends there as well as it was one of my first huge (or series of) culture shocks which kicked off my deep desire for travel.

As I tried to leave Guam on Saturday the 9th I experienced one of the negatives of travel: Flight Cancellations. I arrived at the airport at 9am for an 11 am flight home GUM-NRT-SEA-SNA. The flight kept getting delayed for "maintenance reasons".

This flight should have left 5 hours ago.,..ooooh free pizza.

At pm the flight was canceled because the flight crew hit their legal limit of working hours (wish I had that). It was an odd day for me. Board the plane, get back off the plane, have an unplanned meal at the airport, get back on the plane, ask to leave the plane, get hotel voucher from airline, take shuttle to free hotel, sleep a few hours, return to airport.

Airport Ramen and Milk Tea...soo good...sooo bad for me.

Working with the Delta Platinum Medallion line I managed to rebook my trip. As it turned out it gave me a 7 hour layover in Japan. It has been 3 years since I have been to Tokyo and I really miss my friends. I was hoping to attend a church service at one of my favorite locations (or at least stop by for lunch). So I filled out my customs forms, got my passport stamped and took to the trains that always get me lost.

The train ride from Narita to Tokyo takes about an hour. For the first time in my life (and completing an 8 year goal) I finally got to experience Sakura (桜 or 櫻; さくら). Every trip I have made thus far in my lifetime has been only during late summer and fall. Ever since I learned about the cherry trees blossoming, I have had a desire to see this event.

Also, the Dutch tulips are a huge hit in Japan too...

In the end, as I usually do, I missed my JR line train stop and went about 10 minutes too far. Backtracking on the Tokyo Metro, I finally found Fukagawa Church. Think about some place you visited 3 years ago, do you remember how you got there? Yea, me neither, so I took good notes last time. I managed to arrive right as the morning service was ending and lunch was starting. I had about 30 minutes to say hello to Pastor Naoyuki sensei, Noriko sensei (his wife), and my other friend Yugi Hosoya. 

I tried my best to work on communicating my visit to Noriko sensei but all my flight changes made for a confusing plan. None the less, she encouraged me to do my best (がんばってね。 or Ganbatte ne.)! I did apologize quite a few times as part of me still feels, in spite of my best intentions, what I did was rude in Japanese culture. The good thing here is that the Christian side of things supports the concepts of bringing family and friends together at church...and Fukagawa church sets a perfect example of being a welcoming place. Also, they really wanted me to have a nice lunch with real japanese food before my long flight home.

In September, I am going to return to Japan and I have purchased airline tickets for a few talented friends who will bring (and receive) great Joy from this church.

8 April 2016 - Guam Adventures - Part 3

My long business trip to Guam is winding down and I am starting to really miss my home in CA. The 84-90 degrees with humidity every day has started to get to me. That is like an Ohio summer day and I had enough of those for a life time. That being said, it is still plesant to the eyes...

I found a shopping center in Agana because I needed to buy some new Board Shorts (my new favorite swimwear). They happened to be having a cultural festival. Here is a video I captured of some really cool Chamorro dance/drumming:

One evening I tried out the Dinner Show at the hotel. Not sure why but the idea of playing with fire and grass skirts both terrified me and made me laugh. Sadly, however, the BBQ dinner was not fresh. Who serves BBQ on the beach from chaffing dishes??!!?!?

On Wednesday night, there is food/craft market in the Cheif's park in Agana. Finally, I found some REAL island BBQ. Parking can be scary here, but I got there early so it was great for me. I must have spent about $20 sampling everything!