"Orlando's worlds" - sea world

Third world seen in Orlando: "sea world". This one is probably the one that requires the least explanation. Pictures should suffice. So here they are with few comments.

The pirates show with seals was quite funny, especially when it turned out that the kid chosen to interact with the seal could not speak a word of English... The trainer/translator managed to save the show and get back to the storyline. The seal was happy to get an extra serving of fish...

The killer whales made a big impression - or rather a big splash.

The dolphin show was probably the most athletic, with the highlight being the dolphin surf! The dolphins seemed to have even more fun than the humans.

The underwater viewing platform was probably the best place to observe them, swimming and twirling. I was surprised to see many marks and scratches on their skin. A keeper told me that it was due to dolphins biting each other, as a way to communicate.

OK, so not everything at sea world was about show and high speed. This huge octopus found a nice relaxing spot between a starfish and a sea anemone.

 The sea horse was graciously moving up and down.

 The jellyfish was trying not to get entangled with his neighbors.

Let's keep the best for last. Here a huge manatee, quietly floating. Such a peaceful animal... yet another endangered specie. This is the largest animal that I still had not seen - I wonder which one took that spot now...

Philadelphia

To start with the obvious - although not well known outside of the USA - Philadelphia was the first capital of the country! Yes, from 1790 until 1800, it was the capital, while Washington was being built on a swamp... OK, it was only for a meager ten years, but still! Philadelphia had also been the most populated city in the US.

Today, tourists are guided through the "Constitutional tour" to discover the highlights of the last colonial days and the first independent days. Philadelphia has its own White House, actually just its foundations, because the building was destroyed in the 19th century. There is the Capitol, and the Supreme Court. All look like traditional, yet unimpressive, buildings. There is the Declaration House, where the Declaration of Independence was written. A little bit further, we come across the Independence Hall, where the Declaration and the US Constitution were signed. And I should also mention the Hollywood-look-alike "Signer's Walk", with a plaque for each signer of the Declaration of Independence. Still in the neighborhood, the first two banks of the US. All the powers in this town!

One of the most well known object is the "liberty bell". It has to be said that this bell was not made of the best iron.... and broke several times. One of the last time it was broken was a few years ago, when a visitor used a hammer to hear its sound. Since then, approaching the bell means going through airport-style security checks.

The independence also means having a new flag. The legend has it that the first flag was sow by Betsy Ross and it looked like the one below.

All in all, it seems that the city remains in admiration for Benjamin Franklin. He features on most public places, old or modern. His old house, compound and post office, as well as his resting place are part of the tour.

Philadelphia also hosts several museums, including the one dedicated to Rodin. The pieces were great, but unfortunately not well presented. The light was mostly bad. Still it is necessary to show Rodin's masterpiece: the Gates of Hell. To admire the details, one solution: go to Philadelphia.

Finally, I have not spoken much about American food - for obvious reasons - but let me make an exception here and mention the famous "Philly's cheese-steak". Of course, it is not high cuisine, but it is good nonetheless. Especially when it is made and eaten at Jim's Steak.

Being late with this blog, I thought - although it might not be appropriate - that I would put this picture of Adventure Park in Wildwood, on the New Jersey coast. Since the picture was taken, the hurricane Sandy passed nearby and it is very much possible that this park was flattened out... 

American election night

 After months of political campaigning, lots of corrosive TV ads, and three high-level debates, it was finally time for election day. It started in the apartment block, where the concierge asked if I was going to vote - and was a bit shocked when I said "no". It continued in the bus, with the driver repeating at each stop to remember to vote. However, I did not see the long lines of voters.

It proceeded in the evening with an "election night" in a local theater with a lively crowd of Americans, 90 percent Democrats, as is typical in Washington DC. The main news channel was CNN, which seemed to me to be a bit slow in announcing the results. Maybe it was more cautiousness, in light of the mistakes made in previous elections. 

The results came in state-by-state, as the voting closed according to each state's practice. The big moments where went CNN was making projections. Each state coming in blue, the color of the Democrats, was greeted by loud cheers, while the red states, the color of the Republicans, were almost booed. Still there were many yellow states, which were too close to call. In between the announcements, there was music, food and drinks. All in all, I thought the crowd was quite civil.

Obama and Romney needed to reach 270 electoral college votes to be elected. After every projection, the numbers reached by candidates would be adjusted. After winning several swing states, such as New Mexico, Nevada, Wisconsin and Iowa, CNN announced after 23pm their most anticipated projection: BARACK OBAMA re-elected President, since he had won Ohio. Cheers, claps, hugs, champagne. It was party time !

It was then time to go to the White House and celebrate with the American people. Quite a good crowd, mostly young people and students. Here again, happiness and togetherness were the key words. No exhuberance, maybe because of the very cold evening... 

After this long and difficult campaign, the work of putting America back on track awaits the President. Good luck to him, good luck to America. Shall I finish by God bless America...

Boston

Boston gives the impression of an enjoyable city, with a mixture of "old" and new. Let me concentrate on the "old". Boston is proud to be the home of many "Firsts" in the United States: first public park, first public school, first university, first library, first subway/metro, first integrated church (where whites and blacks could pray together), oldest baseball park... Then, upon asking when these firsts happened, you get reminded immediately how young this country is, how little history there is. The metro clearly has an old feel to it.Still Boston played an important role in the American Revolution, and the walking tour called "Freedom Trail" gives a great account of this role.

Boston is closely related to the Kennedy dynasty. No wonder that we got to see a lot of Kennedy places, including his memorial and the "domain" on Cape Cod. In town, the walking tour included a stop at the restaurant where John proposed to Jacky.

I suppose a must in Boston is to visit Harvard. It gives a strange impression, again of this mix between the "old" and the new. Let's start here with the new: the tour guide pointed to the dormitoriums and places where Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Ban Ki-moon, Matt Damon, and John Kennedy used to hang out in Harvard. There are around 20000 students annually. I was quite impressed that, even though tuition fees are very high at around 50000 dollars a year, many students pay a much reduced amount, thanks to the huge university endowment. Still only around 7 percent of those who apply end up studying there.

As to the old, Harvard was founded in 1636. The tour guide (a female) was very precise in recollecting when women were first admitted at Harvard, first given a full Harvard degree, or got the position of President. But, when asked about the admission of black students, she could not give any answer... We got to hear some other interesting stories though. One relates to this statue of John Harvard - apparently the third most photographed statue in the US after the Statue of Liberty and the Lincoln Memorial. Among the three errors on this statue, the most unbelievable one is that the statue does apparently not depict John Harvard himself.... Indeed, all the drawings and portraits of John Harvard were distroyed in previous fires of the library, long before it was decided to build a statue. There are many theories about who the statue is, but one thing is certain - it is not a John Harvard.

The other interesting story was about the Harvard Library, named after Harry Widener. This Harvard alumni was wealthy and went on a book-buying spree in Europe in the early 1900s. On his journey back to America, the ship he was travelling in sunk - he was on board the Titanic. All the books were lost too. His mother - wealthy as well - then offered to build a library in memory of his son. She attached three conditions: 1) the exterior walls of the library must not be moved, otherwise the money she gave Harvard would go to the city of Cambridge, 2) there needed to be a room in the library where the ghost of his son could go and read books, and 3) every student at Harvard needed to learn and pass a swimming test, because she believed that had her son known how to swim, he would not have died... The last requirement was discountinued after this rule was judged discriminatory against physically-challenged students.

Let's finish with a little quizz. Look at the picture below and try to guess which two-word famous expression it illustrates...

You got it: time flies !

Switzerland - best of??

On certain special occasions, you have to show the best of your country to visiting dignitaries. That's what happened in early September when we held a work meeting in Montreux. This is probably the most scenic (well actually the second-most, after Geneva) place in Switzerland, with the lake, the vineyards, the mountains. Obviously, the weather was fantastic - some of my colleagues even swam in the lake.

Then, Switzerland is mostly associated with chocolate, excellent chocolate. So there we go and visit a chocolate factory, Cailler. The factory is more than 100 years old and still making profits - although not as much as in some recent years, because of an unfavorable redesigning of the packaging. We all learn about the history of chocolate, its content, and we wee a small production line.

Of course, the tour finished with a stop at the shop. Some colleagues almost compete to buy the most chocolates. It is certainly good for the economy!

Besides chocolate, Switzerland also has the best cheeses, with "Gruyere" being right there at the top. So, there we go to visit the Gruyere castle. After a guided tour, we have a small lunch where we taste the famous "Gruyere" cheese and listen to speeches by the local authorities. Good to hear that local politicians do speak English, have a good sense of humor, and manage to raise the level of their speech and make it appropriate for our international guests.

Then, on the way for lunch, still a typical Swiss moment with the throwing of the flag and the playing of the alphorn. I would say it is hardly possible to organise a more typically Swiss week-end than this. Still I must admit that I enjoyed it very much...

New York (not only for the US Open)

Back in New York, first things first, a stop at the 9/11 square. The Freedom Tower is almost complete, and the memorial site. Unfortunately, it is a very cumbersome procedure to be allowed into the memorial site. A closer look at the two pools will be for next time.

Of course, each time you go to New York, there are new things to see and to discover. This time, the highlight was the high line. It is a disused metro line, which runs above ground on the western side. It has been transformed in a pedestrian path, with gardens and stands. It runs through old and modern buildings, and it has certainly become a draw card. Indeed, neighboring apartment blocks mention that they are close to the high line. Furthermore, while walking there, we got to see a guy getting on his knees and asking his girl to marry him. Finally, we were interviewed by students from NYCU, who were doing a study on what locals and tourists thought about it. All in all, I have to admit that I still prefer the "ligne verte" in Paris.

The other visit was the Metropolitan museum. Of course, the arts, paintings, and pieces were very interesting and of high quality. The clearly chose quality over quantity, but it also meant that each section did not have much depth. Fortunately, there was also the bar on top of the museum, with a fantastic view of Central Park.

This year's US Open was a rollercoster: high up with the release of Monday's program, according to which Federer was planned to plan his fourth round match, and then down down, when it was announced that his opponent would not be playing after all. We were joking that this American tennis player was chickening out, but then we learnt that it was due to cardiac problems. It is difficult to accept, but indeed there are things more important than tennis. Since I could not take any picture of Federer, I hesitated who to put here. I opted for the eventual winner, Serena over Sharapova. And you should thank me that I am putting a picture and not a sound bite.

The second time at the US Open and there are still things to discover. One the ground, instead of the Hollywood stars, commemorative plaques for previous winners. It was easy to find the best one! And it seems that he could even get a new one with the mention of Trainer.

Canada

The first stop in Canada was Toronto, mostly for the tennis tournament. The most interesting picture is neither one of the winner nor of the finalist, but rather of the army of people trying to dry the court. This is a labor- and time-intensive process. Maybe they should think about investing in a cover... Otherwise, Toronto gave the impression of a huge city, with many distinct neighborhoods where immigrants would congregate by origin. There is China-town, Brazil-town, Italy-town, ... Very multi-cultural but no specific "Toronto" character. 

Second stop was the Niagara Falls. It is the third big falls that I visit after the Victoria Falls (see entry from November 2009) and the Iguazu Falls. While they were the ones with the most water volume, the main characteristic of the Niagara Falls is their over-exploitation as a touristic center. In that sense, they were less majestic than the others.

The third stop was in Canada's capital Ottawa. A small town with a very British looking Parliament building. There was a light-and-sound show but it was cancelled due to equipment problem and a change of the guard that took place much earlier than I anticipated. What we did not miss though, was the yoga and hula-hoop classes taking place on the lawn right there. I guess it is the way for Canadians to show that they are not so British after all...

Next stop, Montreal. Of course, this city is very welcoming since it is a mostly French-speaking. Talking about language, I should still acknowledge that their accent is not too bad, whereas some of their words are really funny - for my french-speaking readers, try to guess what the following words mean : un char, un chum, un breuvage. Montreal is a very pleasant European/French mix. Many pedestrian streets, many outdoor restaurants and bars, excellent bakeries. It also hosted the Olympics in 1976. The stadium (see below) must have looked quite futuristic then. And guess who opened the Games? Yes, Queen Elizabeth, as she is also head of state in Canada.

Driving further, two things struck me: 1) the state of the roads and of infrastructure is more similar to the US than to Europe, and 2) there are so many towns that are called "Saint-...". Thankfully, the GPS helped us find our way among all these saints.


Last stop, Quebec. It is probably the most charming city in North America, with cobble-stone streets, historical houses, as well as an upper and a lower town by the Saint Laurent river. It feels a bit like in Venice, with tourists representing 99 percent of the people.

Some tourists end up staying in this huge 681-rooms hotel, that can be seen in-between the two flags of the Quebec province. Actually, I might have to stay the "nation", since the Parliament in Quebec is called the "national" Parliament, and not the "provincial" one.

To finish, a little political note. The elections in Quebec are due to take place on the 4th of September, and the campaign was starting. There were posters all over the place, including this one with the chef of the Party Quebecois, the leading candidate according to the polls.