The flights were uneventful. I did enjoy the upper deck of the 747-8i between Washington D.C. Dulles and Frankfurt, Deutschland (Germany). I’m staying at the Marriott Marquis attached to the City Centre Mall (for obvious reasons – I don’t need to go outside to forage for food) Pictures of my room below: …
In the evening I took the “L” back downtown. I got off at Addison first, walked around Wrigley Field and took a few photos. I didn’t stay long because it started to sprinkle. I then continued to the “Merchandise Mart” stop and took dome photos of the “L” train from the 7th story of…
When I arrived at the airport this morning I was pleasantly surprised. Yesterday I slept in and didn’t check in right at 7:21 AM, the result of which was I was 3rd or 4th on the upgrade list (despite my 1K status) and only 2 first class seats were available. I touched the kiosk to…
I’m catching a later flight today to do some actual exploring. Unfortunately pretty much all of the race shops are closed on the weekend. I took an Uber to the airport and picked up a rental car to use for the day. JR motorsports, owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Moorseville, NC had their…
Tonight I walked to Dale Earnhardt Jr’s restaurant / bar called “Whisky River”. The food was good – and they had Yuengling on draft. Since Yuengling is still only available in certain states (only as far west as Louisiana) I always make an attempt to find it when I can. I had the Philly…
Tonight I walked down to Mert’s Heart & Soul for dinner. Soul Food In Charlotte It was one of the restaurants featured on Diner’s Drive Ins and Dives. I had the blackened pork chops with red beans and green beans. The corn bread was the best I ever had. Normally cornbread…
Tonight after talking to the folks at visitor information in the Convention Center I went to the Mint Museum which is open until 9 PM on Wednesdays (and has free admission at that time as well). I know what you are thinking – because I was thinking the same thing, but no it is just a…
Noting too adventureous today. I snapped a few photos downtown during the magic hour and in the evening. Picture below is from the park during the magic hour…. sunset was behind me. Photos below are the same, only slightly different post processing in the HDR software.
It was most definitely the longest day at a technical conference. The program went from 8 AM to 7 PM. Our reward was a 90 minute visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It certainly brought back memories. They had Geoff Bodine’s car from 1984 (first Winston Cup win for Rick Hendrick as an owner)…
I’m off to Charlotte, NC this morning. I’m taking the early flight to take advantage of the day to explore – and to go to Charlotte Motor Speedway to drive a stock car….. I signed up for the 3 PM session of the Rusty Wallace Racing Experience. They had a 70% off special…
I booked myself on another cruise today: Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas from Sydney, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand. See this cruise and others It was only $690 per person plus taxes and by being a shareholdder I will get $200 onboard credit. I’m looking forward to…
This morning (June 5th) the transfer to the airport was scheduled for 11:30, which did not give me much of an opportunity to explore, so I had breakfast at the hotel (best breakfast I had at a hotel) and did some work on my photos, videos and book keeping (accounting). I chatted with a few…
Videos of Pandas at the Chongqing Zoo in China
Last day of the guided tour. We left the hotel at 8:30 and went directly to the bund (waterfront) in front of the customs house. I took some pictures, but the sun was coming from behind the Oriental Pearl Tower, so I am not sure they will come out very good. The lighting for…
Here is the tour operator’s planned schedule: Breakfast at hotel 11:00 Lunch at hotel, leave checked bags in lobby to be loaded on bus 12:00 Depart hotel for Chongqing airport 15:20 Flight from Chongqing to Shanghai 18:00 Arrive at Shanghai airport Then bus to restaurant (table service which would take an hour) and bus…