Sunday in California

Sunday was our first real day "off", so we took to the road and went to see some sights.

First stop was to the famous Venice beach:


Next Stop : Santa Monica where we walked across the pier, and ended up having lunch in a nice Mexican restaurant.

The pier was abuzz with activity from performers to stalls + many other activities:


It is illegal to smoke in public places in California, but they did make provision for smokers by allowing them just a little space on the pier:


Continuing on with the highway, we encountered a typical Californian traffic jam:


Next stop was:


Where we just happened to walk onto:

Flying out

On Saturday I was scheduled to fly out to Los Angeles around 2pm. This gave me just enough time to get the shuttle back to the mall in the morning to go and exchange a faulty purchase & to get my first cup of Caribou for the day (which also turned out to be probably my last cup of this heavenly brew).

The flights were allright, and except for some turbulence because of thunderstorms around Dallas, I got to see some amazing scenery out of the airplane window.

Arriving in Los Angeles from Minnesota is like going into the morning rush-hour in Cape Town after visting a Karoo-town for the weekend. These Californians are crazy :)

Mall of America

Friday afternoon we had a little bit of time available, so some of the team went to visit the Mall of America. This is surely one of the biggest shopping malls in America :


The above is a picture of one of the rides INSIDE the mall, to give you an idea of the scale of this place!

Sears turned out to be one wicked shop - my credit card suffered, but it was worth it! Other notable visits included the Caribou Coffee shop . Also saw the biggest Apple Store I've ever seen (amazing little things in there...).

Nordstrum is similar to Stuttafords in SA, but more upmarket. You can buy anything there from Armani to $140 ties.

Obviously, myself being a gadget-man, I mostly noticed the shops with the most amazing array of gadgets and stuff. The automatic floor washer robot was quite a treat...

Packing into an Uno - American Style

How many people can one fit into the back of an American pickup truck?

And we ate some more...

Today was once again started with a generous helping of Caribou White Chocolate Mocha, followed by some intense User Interface debates. The whole day was basically taken up by work, so once again not much to report except that we had dinner at Don Pablo's mexican restaurant, followed by a very cramped trip back to the hotel in the back of a GM truck :-)

Tomorrow is our last working day in Eagan, and we will finish it off with a visit to the Mall Of America - the largest shopping mall in America. My credit card is already doing push-ups...

Caribou Coffee, work & Cabellas

Wednesday was the first full day of work, but to get us in gear we were introduced to the phenomenon called Caribou Coffee. It is impossible to explain, but this is simply THE BEST espresso-based coffee I've ever tasted! My experience started off with a Large Mocha, served with two chocolate-covered coffee beans. As Matt remarked, "This is my kinda M&M!" :)

I won't say much about the day's work, except that it was tough - especially for some who didn't have too much sleep...

The evening we were treated to a drive out to Cabellas - the biggest outdoor & hunting outfitter in the state. This place is HUGE (as everything else around here)! Its probably half the size of the Milnerton Makro, and sells only outdoor clothing, equipment, hunting equipment etc. My credit card felt the stress, and lost a bit of weight...

Aferwards we went to the Timber Lodge Steakhouse for dinner. Once again excelent American hospitality and brilliant food. (I have to apologise for not finishing everything, but I think thats a physical impossibility for any South African...)

Arrived in Eagan MN

I had a really comfortable flight from London, being introduced to true American hospitality on American Airlines. I cannot however say the same for Chicago airport - it seems to have been built to confuse. For instance, in my 2 hours there I never once saw a single clock... It surely wasn't built for lazy people either - if I wasn't at least a bit hiking fit, I might have needed a few rest-stops while walking to my departure terminal - not a single conveyor belt in sight :)

I arrived in Eagan on Tuesday at roughly 13:30 - thanks to Jason (and Matt) for collecting us from the airport and whisking us away in Jason's Ford F150 truck. I quickly learned however that the F150 is a small truck - even though huge by South African standards.

Tuesday evening was spent at a nearby restaurant called Buca di Beppo's - a family style Italian Restaurant where food is served to the whole table and not individually. Here I also quickly learned that beer by the tap = A BIG GLASS!!

London in 3 days

I've been to London before, but this time I've seen a new side that I haven't seen before. Living on the outskirts is a lot more relaxing than central London!

I nice picture of Richmond:

Also, went on a short trip and visited Stonehenge:

And as with all overseas trips, scaffolding will always ruin a nice church - the Salisbury Cathedral:


A visit to the British Museum was also on the cards, specifically to visit the current Michaelangelo exibition. The museum truly is huuuuge - only had about an hour to check it out before attending the exibition, so only focussed on ancient Egypt - with items on display such as the Rosetta Stone:

Off to the States

Well, I'm off to the USA for 2 weeks! Will try and update this site regularly with any news of my travels - watch this space!

Scenery

A nice pic from the weekend for family and friends...