2 Days in Rio de Janeiro

Thursday: We arrived in Rio around 6:30 PM and it was short ride to our hotel. We were right on Copacabana beach. A couple of things to note about the beaches in Rio – the first thing is that the beaches have lights and it’s common to find people on the beach at night. The second is that they clean the beaches each night and make sure there is ample garbage bins to collect the trash that accumulates on such busy beaches.

We had seafood at an open air café, having a drink and watch life go buy. A great way spend a Thursday evening - especially after 3 fairly intense evenings in Sao Paolo.

We wondered the board walk after dinner and found an open air market until it started raining and then went back to the hotel.

It is quiet this time of Summer in Rio due to the proximity to Carnival - which happened 2 weeks ago - they say that it will become very busy again in a another week or so.

Friday: The days start off warm at about 80 degrees with 110% humidity and it gest warmer from there. I went for a run and managed to catch the beach before it came alive.

According to our cab driver - this is one of the warmest summers on record and extremely dry. Of course they are expecting more rain again tonight and were very thankful for the rain the previous evening.

We were successful in our meetings with the Sun teams and Oracle teams in Rio and that evening decided to try and get some sight seeing in.

We decided to take the Gondola up to Sugar Loaf "Pao de Assucar" (pictured right) and get a view of the city. It worked out to be much more entertainment than we expected. We did make the trip to the top as the Sun set and a storm made it's way in. We had a fantastic view of a lightening storm coming our way.

We were captivated by the view of Rio at night as the storm approached. As a comparison the picture on the left is just before a strike.

Now the same picture on the right during a lightening strike - looks like the the lightening is trying to take out the Jesus statue - no worries we went and visited the next day - no damage)

By the time we realized this may be a bad time to be stuck on top of a big rock with nothing but the largest lightening rod (Gondola Cable) within 200 miles as our ride down - we were a bit late.

We did make it down from the top to Urca hill, but we were stuck there for about 90 minutes while lightening repeatedly hit various parts of the gondola cable - sent sparks flying, knocked out power, knocked out the backup generator for the top of the hill, and blew up a few light bulbs. (stuck in Gondola loading station pictured left)

After all the excitement we had dinner a bit later than planned, but it all worked out. I was still able to connect up with a fried from U of M Business School who was been down in Brazil since graduation working for McKinsey & Co - currently taking a sebatical to work with the Mayor of Rio. Felipe took us out for our best meal of the trip to Forneria Sao Sabastiao.

We visited a few bars near Felipe's house afterward - he made a few recommendations so we tried them all.

Saturday: We decided to make our way up to Corcovado to see the grand statue of Jesus. It appears to be quite the pilgramage for tourists.

We did make it to the top, but there was a layer of clouds and fog on the way in, which obscured the view a bit - second time that happened for us on the trip.

We then wen to the beach for an hour or so. Every vendor on the beach tried to sell us something. Mike being the savvy buyer that he is - bought 7 styrofoam airplane kites for 5 real (about $2 US). That was about as much Sun as we could handle. We grabbed lunch and watched a number of people playing volley ball, before making our way to the airport for the 15 hour flight home.

It was a good trip, but it's also good to be home. There are so many hours of work behind the scenes - these pictures really on portray a small portion of our time spent in Brazil (but I figured this is the more entertaining portion)

For more pictures click here.

EMEA Trip - Day 4 - Walldorf to Munich

Another light coating of snow – the trail I went running on last night is now covered in Snow. I had to go outside since my room was in the basement – must not be on the frequent stay program with Holiday Inn (just what I need is another card).

From 2009 - Feb - Germany 3 Days

Sunrise over the SAP campus.

From 2009 - Feb - Germany 3 Days

This is the main headquarters – started here in this farm town in Germany and now has 55,000+ employees, it’s own futbol team, a work out facitility that would make most Olympic stadiums jealous, several bars, a bus service and a couple of restaurants.

Another long day of meetings – these trips would be so much more fun if I wasn’t working (then again, I probably wouldn’t choose Germany in February – unless I was going skiing). The day went well and it only took 4 hours to drive back to Munich this evening. I followed my GPS – bad idea – it doesn’t understand the concept of the Autobahn – much better to drive an extra 60 km (at 180 km) than drive 120 km through small towns and traffic lights in the dark.

Tomorrow is a travel day - I've only added the pics from above the Germany Album – looking forward to being home. Hope all is well with each of you.

Travel’n Jay

EMEA Trip - Day 3 - Munich to Walldorf

Starting the day with a light snow storm in Munich

From 2009 - Feb - Germany 3 Days

I had a morning full of meetings. Not much fun to report, I finished up in Munich around 2 PM and then took off for Walldorf. It’s a 300 km trip that takes about 3 hours (sometimes a bit less). I’m not sure driving 200 km/hr (124 mph) is a good thing for a brand new car, but it sure is fun. I did learn that at speeds over 150 km/hr (93 mph) that the wind shield washer doesn't work very well - it just blows over the car.

The town of Walldorf where SAP is Headquartered (there are 5 Walldorf's in Germany) is a small town - it doesn't cover the space that the SAP Campus does. It was a nice sunset.

From 2009 - Feb - Germany 3 Days

I took a chance to spend some time in the Sauna to warm up before dinner. We had dinner in an italian restaurant that is in the middle of SAP's sports complexes and their own football (soccer) team that is doing very well this year.

I've got one last day before heading home. I've updated the Germany Photo album. Looking forward to some rest.

Travel'n Jay

EMEA Trip - Day 2 - Paris and Travel to Munich

After a solid nights sleep thinking their metro trains were a bit noisy, I learned that was actually very strong winds making the noise and keeping the airport closed. The group I was with last night had to take the train this morning because the flights were continually canceled and pushed.

A good day of meetings and chance to wonder a bit on the way to the train station to catch my flight. There were 2 things that caught my eye on the way to the Metro. The first was a a scooter with 2 wheels on the front.

From 2009- February - Paris Day 1.8

Leave it to the French to get training wheels on backwards – evidently this helps on loose sand and dirt – when someone grabs the front breaks – it makes it less likely for the bike to slip and tip (not sure why they don’t just use the rear breaks – probably a law against it or something).

The second thing to catch my eye was an advertisement - I'm not sure what this is calling out, but as a pilot I will think about where I park my planes.

From 2009- February - Paris Day 1.8

I do wonder what type of Pilot Jimmy is (was)?

I also did a self portrait with the Eiffel Tower to prove that I was there.

From 2009- February - Paris Day 1.8

It was another cold wet day - looking forward to even colder weather in Germany.

I've updated the Paris Album with a few more photos.

Getting into Germany was no problem - I picked up my rental car - brand new VW with only 12km on it - I tried to take a short cut out of the garage.

From 2009 - Feb - Germany 3 Days

JUST KIDDING - Another advertisement that really catches your attention.

I'm in for the night - here is the link for my Germany Photos - look for future updates.

Travel'n Jay

EMEA Trip - Day 1.8 - Paris

After waking at 6 AM on a Sunday morning to catch an 8 AM flight, I arrived in Paris at 6:30 AM on Monday – yup – whole day gone with only remnants of a few movies that I caught between naps, 4 airline meals, and lots of dry air (maybe even a bit of a cold to boot). The 21st century sky warrior – fortunately I was upgraded to Business Class so I at least had great service.

I’ve arrived in Paris and it’s cold and rainy. Not a huge deal since we have a day packed with Meetings. Not going to bore you with the meetings, but a couple of interesting observations always add a new dimension to any trip. First, we went to a Lebanese restaurant for lunch and had wine, what else would one need with a large meal, Jet Lag, and lack of sleep to keep the afternoon meetings interesting. The interesting point was that our wine was from Lebanon also – so much for only drinking French wine in France. I guess they are getting over the importing issues.

After dinner tonight I had a chance to go for a quick walk (only rained a bit) and came across a second interesting point – electric bicycle automated rentals. I’ve take a picture of the machine and the bikes – you drop your card – pick a bike that has been charged and off you go – return it and you’re done. I’m curious about how long the bikes last between repairs and how well the electric bikes handle the excessive humidity (aka rain).

I picked up a couple of perspective shots of the Eifel Tower and the city through out the day. Here are the photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.fiala/2009FebruaryParisDay18#

Hope all’s well.

Travel’n Jay

North Carolina Trips

I am running more and more behind on these, but figure I’d drop a line. I’m back from the second trip to NC in the past 3 weeks and I must have the magic touch – no snow this time, but a couple of the days the temperature didn’t get over 30 degrees. Ruling NC out as a place to live – too cold! The meetings were good – blah, blah, blah, blah.

I had a couple of hours before catching my flight so I took a quick trip down to the auto show in Raleigh. I somehow manage to be traveling whenever the show is in SF. Nothing too significant on the photo front, but I did take a couple. http://picasaweb.google.com/jason.fiala/2009NorthCarolinaTripsJanFeb#

I’m not going back until it warms up – appears to be any week that I don’t go there. Hmmmmm…….