Adventures in Seattle/Vancouver/Victoria!

Hey!  Its been a LONG time since I've updated, but its just been absolutely insane!  We started out in Seattle and we hit some totally cool spots: Seattle Space Needle, Pike Place Market, Seattle Aquarium, and Tillicum Village Tour.  Phew... and all that in a day!

On Saturday, we headed out to Tracy and Adam's wedding on Vashon Island outside of Seattle.  Despite a little rain (actually a lot) it was still a total blast... and I have to say one of the funnest weddings I've been too (despite not knowing a lot of people).  Congrats to Adam and Tracy!  The cheesecake wedding cake was awesome!

We finished up in Vancouver, which we were able to explore the main city - including China Town, Granville Island, and some great restaurants around town.  We were in Victoria, which was hella expensive!  But we got to see Butchart Gardens.  Totally awesome! 

Once piece of advice though for those thinking of driving from Seattle to Vancouver... don't do it, try to fly there!  Remember that the Vancouver public transportation totally rocks so you definitely don't need a car.  Check out http://www.frommers.com for great places to check out.  We used it and it rocks!  While in Seattle, check out http://www.yelp.com for some great places to go and eat.

Another Day... more rain..

Waking up to more rain... I took the train to Berchtesgaden, Germany/Salzburg, Austria to go on my Eagle's Nest tour, the (now) 100 million dollar home on the mountains built for Hitler in 1938.  Of course I didn't find out until I was on the tour that he had only gone there once, and was extremely claustrophobic... go figure... Despite the rain, the clouds cleared enough for me to get a nice view of the town and Salzburg (note the evil retarded smile I have... that occurs when you don't see sunshine for 3 days) =P

 

After suffering through a total 4 hour train ride I got back and after a beer and some sausage, I called it a night.  Just got back from the Deutsche Museum, and I have to say for a nerd like me its one of the cooler museums out there.  Its like the Smithsonian Museum for Germany!  A WW2 nut myself, I got to check out the old German air force aircraft, including the ME-262 (the first operational jet aircraft).  Definitely a cool museum.

Hopefully the rain subsides, I still want to hang out at a biergarden for a Weisswurst and a Weizzbier!

Dr Tran's Adventure in Europe continues...

After finishing work early on Thursday afternoon (and leaving the beautiful hotel to the left), I headed out on the Autobahn at a leisurely average speed of 200 km/hr (which is about 125 mph) I got to the city I started at, Munich!

After checking into the Hilton Munich City, I walked about a mile to the Glockenspiel, and luckily even hit it at 11am.  Just enough time to see the huge crowd surrounding it .... tourist trap! 

 

Walking further, I walked by a T-Mobile store, which had a huge line just for the new 3G IPhone.  Man, apparently there are Apple fanboys even in Munich...

 

 

After walking around Munich (estimated about 12 miles of just walking) I got some rest, and the next day I decided to start the day exploring and found myself in the Olympic Park, the home of the 1972 Munich Olympic games. 

Gonna get some rest, then tommorow I head to Salzburg to check out the Eagle's Nest Tour in Austria!  Woohoo!  Hope the weather holds up...

Update from Teisnach Germany!

What a week... luckily I am going to finish work early tommorow... so that means I get an extra day of hanging out in Germany!  I decided to book the Eagle's Nest tour, which if you don't know is where Hitler's hideout was on the top the Alps.  Here it's an amazing view!

So after about an average of 3 beers in the great region of Bavaria and whole lot of meat and potatoes, going to finish up here and head back to Munich.  By then there should be more pictures to be taken!

Writing from Prague/Germany!

What a trip... after an early flight at 630am from SD to Chicago, I then hopped on the flight to Munich for 10 hours.  It is nice to be flying in business class!  After landing, headed out to Prague, which turned out to be a 3.5 hour drive.  Yikes!

After getting lost for a while in Prague trying to find a hotel, I ended up booking one that I knew was on my GPS (which happens to be retarded, since it doesn't have a map, so I have to trust the voice to let me know where I was going).  I then embarked on my journey around Prague!  I grabbed lunch at a local restaurant, which happened to have the best chicken club sandwich I ever had... weird that it had to be in Prague...  The short of it was I walked about 12+ miles around the city, which I recommend as the best way of getting around the city.  I got to see all the nooks and crannies of the city... walked through the old town square, towards the Prague castle, and underlying areas.

Currently I am in a small village area named Teisnach, Germany which is where I'll be doing work in from Monday-Friday.  More pictures to come, trying to survive on stealing WIFI from hotel to hotel =P  After I finish my work here, I'll be spending the rest of my trip in Munich.  Woohoo!

Sad day... :(

My dog Tina which I've had since 1992 is on her last days.  She's about 18 years old (translates to about 85 in human years).  It's one of the things that sucks about having a dog... they won't outlive you and when they pass away, its really like losing a part of your family....

Busy Busy Times....

Since Ms. Catherine Cheng has pleaded that I continue updating my blog, I shall :)

Came back from Boston last weekend for Thuy Anh's friend Suru's wedding in which she was the maid of honor. It was my first time in Boston, and it was a total blast! Flight got in hella late, and we rolled in to Boston around 1AM, and got to the hotel around 2:30am (eeks!). We slept, and had to wake up at around 5:30am so that we could meet Suru to help her get ready. Despite all that, it was a blast, and the wedding was beautiful!

After the wedding was over, we planned on roaming around Boston, which we stayed near the Chinatown.

Only minus was I decided to contract a unique case of a single dilated eye. I seriously looked like a one eyed monster.... I came back to SD and went to the hospital... in which I saw a doctor at 11pm who didn't have a clue what I had. She even popped the medical book out in front of me. At the end, my eye actually got better by the end of the week.

Travel Travel Travel!

Just to update, my travel schedule for the next few weeks is going to be crazy!

Here's the schedule so far:

• July 4 - July 15th: Munich, Germany/Prague, Czech Republic (for work/fun)
• July 31 - August 4: Portland, Oregon (for uNAVSA conference)
• August 7 - August 13: Seattle, Washington (for Thuy Anh's friend Tracy's wedding)

I am stoked for my trip to Germany... I am still trying to figure out the best way of going around:

[PLAN A] is to fly in by Saturday July 5th, then drive from Munich to Prague (a 3 1/2 hour drive)  spend a few days in Prague, then drive to Teisnach, Germany which is where I am working from Mon-Fri, then when I am done, drive back to Munich where I can spend the rest of my time there.

[PLAN B] fly in by Sat morning, spend my time in Munich until Sunday, then drive to Teisnach (a ~2 hour drive) and then after I am done, hang out in Prague from Saturday/Sunday, then drive from Prague to Munich then spend the rest of my time there. 

Guess I'll just go with my gut when I get there :)

New Camera out for a spin!

Just got a new camera, the Canon S5 superzoom camera, and decided to take it out for a spin!

Child abuse :)

Little fun with my cousin Claire... she was fine afterwards... hehe =P (Check about half way into the video if you're lazy....)

Wallet's Bleeding!

OMG!  Gas prices are insane.  I guess it doesn't help with the fact that I have a car that sucks in 91 octane fuel... I paid almost 65 bucks today for a full tank of gas!  That's the cost of a video game... :(  At some point I will definitely have to start thinking about using the trolley/coaster to get to work (*gulp* or even think about riding my bike to work from SDSU area to Mira Mesa)

Enjoying a warm weekend in San Diego

Thuy Anh and I decided to go on an adventure this week, so we took the trolley out to the San Diego Convention Center and then afterwards headed out to Little Italy.  After a nice pleasant hike in an albeit warm environment and getting a slight tan, we got to the Little Italy Spaghetteria.  Despite some average reviews of the place, we tried it anyways (influenced by a buy 1 get one free coupon) and were pleasantly surprised by food.  TA ordered a shrimp primavera pasta and I ordered something resembling a chinese hot bun with red sauce :)  Not bad!

 

On Sunday, I got the chance to take my mountain bike out on a spin, hangin' out with my friends Trang and Andrew on the trails of Penesquitos Canyon Reserves near Mira Mesa.  Was a total blast to break in the new mountain bike and get a taste of speed riding downhill.

New Bike! And other assorted updates...

What a week!  I think I worked like 60 hours this week, but had a project due, so had to be a trooper to get it all done so that I can at least enjoy the weekend :)

My little niece Claire came down, and had a blast... of course she decided to try my snowboarding helmet on just for kicks....

On Wednesday this week, Thuy Anh and I decided to go for a nice little hike in Balboa Park.  If you haven't done so recently, I highly recommended!  We had a nice time just chillin' around =P

And finally after much anticipation, I got my bike I bought online on Tuesday built it up, sent it in to get tuned up, and finally got it back today.  I'm stoked!  Took it out for a ride this morning and it was a blast.  Can't wait to take it out this weekend (hopefully its not too hot)

Time to breathe part 2!

Also this last weekend (May 3rd-4th) Thuy Anh and I went back to Arizona to hang out with her parents as well as have a house party with her friends. Was totally fun, as we bbq'd and played Ticket to Ride (here at amazon).

But a totally cool thing today was I bought a mountain bike, so I will be ready to start taking it on the mean trails of San Diego wilderness (at least what's left of it!)

Finally time to breathe! (part 1)

Been so busy lately haven't even had time to update this thing!

Its been a crazy last few weeks, including a work trip to the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in Las Vegas. The highlight of that was I got my parents to come out who thoroughly enjoyed it... with some gambling on the side of course!