I left off in Amsterdam. We walked around after dinner. The streets were busy. We ended our walk at the large square. There was a carnival set up there. The sight of Harris wheel and a number of lift, rotate, and drop attractions were threatening the comfort of our dinners.
My room on the second floor, two stories further up the winding staircase on the attic occupying the entire floor was like the cavernous gates of hell. It was too big. I could not fall asleep for a while.
In the morning the cab took us down to the expo center. It was 8am on Friday and barely a person in sight. They must have been all waiting in an enormous line to get their iPnone 5S. It was launching in Amsterdam on the 25th. HRTech Amsterdam was much smaller and less showy than its US counterpart. We were done with our agendas in about 3 hours.
We headed back to town and continued walking around waiting for our afternoon flights/train rides. My colleagues, Paolo and Veronica, respectively from Italy and France were great to hang out with. We really liked Amsterdam. The city seemed to have infinite amount of and combinations of narrow alleys and wide streets crossing the canals. By 2pm the streets finally filled up. The weather was cool and comfortable.
By late afternoon I grabbed a cab to the airport. We passed the line for the iPhone again. The taxi driver lamented that so many people seem to have a computer/mobile addiction. To keep the conversation going I agreed and mentioned my brother's withdrawal symptoms whenever away from Facebook for more than three hours. The driver countered that Facebook is absolutely not the right example of dependency but rather a "valuable tool to stay in touch with family and friends a few times a day." He whopped out his iPhone and started to type furiously. I bit my lip, my hands started to grope for the seatbelt, and I hoped that there won't be any cars around. In a little while he turned around and thrust his phone at me. "There how is this an addiction??" It was the carpark cartoon :)
The border patrol agent in Gatwick scanned only one of my fingers and did not pry too much - they much be getting used to our comings and goings.At last I was at home. was great to see everyone at home!! We said good night to kids and got out to have a couple of drinks to celebrate Dima's 38th birthday. We are happy and honored he chose to mark the occasion with us in the UK. The evening started out very nice. At night we got a hold of Dan R. and though he would not crack had correctly guessed the reason for the mandatory corporate training on Monday. That provided room for discussions late into the evening.
My room on the second floor, two stories further up the winding staircase on the attic occupying the entire floor was like the cavernous gates of hell. It was too big. I could not fall asleep for a while.
In the morning the cab took us down to the expo center. It was 8am on Friday and barely a person in sight. They must have been all waiting in an enormous line to get their iPnone 5S. It was launching in Amsterdam on the 25th. HRTech Amsterdam was much smaller and less showy than its US counterpart. We were done with our agendas in about 3 hours.
We headed back to town and continued walking around waiting for our afternoon flights/train rides. My colleagues, Paolo and Veronica, respectively from Italy and France were great to hang out with. We really liked Amsterdam. The city seemed to have infinite amount of and combinations of narrow alleys and wide streets crossing the canals. By 2pm the streets finally filled up. The weather was cool and comfortable.
By late afternoon I grabbed a cab to the airport. We passed the line for the iPhone again. The taxi driver lamented that so many people seem to have a computer/mobile addiction. To keep the conversation going I agreed and mentioned my brother's withdrawal symptoms whenever away from Facebook for more than three hours. The driver countered that Facebook is absolutely not the right example of dependency but rather a "valuable tool to stay in touch with family and friends a few times a day." He whopped out his iPhone and started to type furiously. I bit my lip, my hands started to grope for the seatbelt, and I hoped that there won't be any cars around. In a little while he turned around and thrust his phone at me. "There how is this an addiction??" It was the carpark cartoon :)
The border patrol agent in Gatwick scanned only one of my fingers and did not pry too much - they much be getting used to our comings and goings.At last I was at home. was great to see everyone at home!! We said good night to kids and got out to have a couple of drinks to celebrate Dima's 38th birthday. We are happy and honored he chose to mark the occasion with us in the UK. The evening started out very nice. At night we got a hold of Dan R. and though he would not crack had correctly guessed the reason for the mandatory corporate training on Monday. That provided room for discussions late into the evening.
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