What ho, folks!

I’ve been all week in London on business: two conference speeches; interviews, business lunches – all as per the norm. Also as per the norm – a little sightseeing fitted in for good measure. Just the other day I was real lucky that all the work for the day was to be completed before lunch, leaving the rest of the day for recreation. So that morning I donned the trusty ‘smart’ jeans, put my sneakers in my bag for changing into from my office shoes, and out we headed after the obligatory Full English :).

The morning’s work I mentioned consisted of a presentation given at Cloud Expo Europe. This was held in the enormous ExCel London, here, which I soon discovered was not far from the Thames, my fave river :). So it was Thames-wards we – my travel companion A. Sh. and I – headed after the conference…

From the exhibition hall it’s just five minutes’ walk to the Emirates Air Line cable car link that crosses the Thames – the one A.B. and I saw but didn’t have time for just the other week. So glad we had time this week as a short ride on it is just awesome. Highly recommended – if the sun’s out, like it was for us.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEJBASNuiZQ/

Read on: Back down to earth…

…”Oh no, not again?!“

Oh yes. I know because it’s in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I quote:

“Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of petunias as it fell was ‘Oh no, not again?!’. Many people have speculated that, if we knew exactly why the bowl of petunias had thought that, we would know a lot more about the nature of the Universe than we do now.”

I was reminded of that paragraph earlier today. I was on an airplane yet again and looking out of the left-side window down at the passing paysages below. ‘Oh no, not again?!’ I thought as I glanced at the map on the screen in front of me showing the plane’s trajectory: passing over Amsterdam on my way from Moscow over to London. Just the other day I flew the exact same route, only the other way round!

“Hmmm, a bit like the petunia, only the other way round,” I thought. I’m not sure if that’s self-criticism or an overestimation; physicists and botanists have different views on this topic, so I won’t comment. I’ll just say that coming in to land at Heathrow was just as it should be: with London fully in view through the window!

Over there is where my travel companion A.B. and I walked a half-marathon along the banks of the Thames last week…

Read on: back in Blighty…

From Utrecht we headed back west, this time in a car, over to The Hague. It was time to be tried – not in court – but by detailed speeches: my own, the first at the International ISCC One Conference Protecting Bits and Atoms, but more about that in a bit.

On the eve of the conference I got in a bit of one of my favorite pastimes – strolling around the place I’m visiting on business – which this time was the seat of the Dutch government and parliament (not to be confused with the Dutch capital – Amsterdam).

So, what can I say? Overall impression, in one word: dull; in three words: a little boring. Though a coastal city with a wonderful beach (see below), it was just a little too quiet for comfort. But then again, it’s low season. Folks were few and far between both in town and along the coast. “Like at midnight in Norway north of the polar circle: the sun’s shining but there’s no one around,” my travel companion A.B. articulated. “Indeed, A.B. Or just like at midnight in Iceland,” I corroborated.

One thing I will say in the Hague’s favor: its beach is just awesome!

Read on: Visiting Kaspersky Lab BNL…

In London we hopped onto a plane and off we flew across the North Sea – to Amsterdam.

Not that we had long in ‘Dam, for we were whisked straight off to, first, Utrecht, then the country’s political center, The Hague, for a spot of business.

In this post: Utrecht – the city of the bicycle.

Bikes are everywhere here. No really everywhere – the place is overrun with them. And if you’re on foot you’ve got to watch it: a moment’s absentmindedness and before you know it there’s a bicycle bell trilling behind you hinting that you… kindly move out of the way (polite, the Dutch:). I think they should introduce caps with wing-mirrors fitted, which should be mandatory for all newcomers to the city, i.e., for all those not born here and so without the required special sixth sense for detecting incoming two-wheeled hazards.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BD4wFXIOid8/

Read on: The atmosphere = laid-back…

I normally do these here blogposts according to the following M.O.: if there aren’t many photos to go on, then lots of text needs to make up for that; if there are plenty of photos, I let them do the talking and ease off on the word count…

Today folks, there’ll be few words. That’s the thing about the UK’s capital: there’s always so much to see and snap. I was there at the weekend with my travel companion A.B. – also a Londonophile – and we ran a veritable photographic half-marathon along stretches of the banks of the Thames I hadn’t checked out before, taking in all the nooks and crannies along the way.

The night before our photo-marathon we stayed in my fave hotel in the capital: Ham Yard. Not the nearest lodgings to the Thames, but just as well: our warm-up in getting to the river took in St. Paul’s Cathedral – and of course we just had to get up to its famous dome…

Taking photos and videos is forbidden inside the cathedral, but the views from the top and also all around it are simply stunning – desktop-wallpaper-able.

Read on: Orchestras play alfresco…

All business done down in Israel; now for some R&R: a leisurely springtime stroll around a sunny Tel Aviv.

Spring’s the best time of the year in these parts, IMHO. Summer here is just oppressive – hugely hot and horrendously humid – forever reminding me of Bulgakov’s words: “More than three hours had gone by since the procession had reached the hill, and although the sun over Mount Golgotha had already begun its descent, the heat was still unbearable.” Ok, he was referring to Jerusalem, but that’s only 50 kilometers away. But I digress…

Read on: Walking along the shoreline…

Novorossiysk is also my hometown! I was born here 50.5 years ago. My family lived in this here building – 21, Revolution of 1905 Street – for many years. We moved away in the early seventies to Khlebnikovo in the Moscow Region, which is where I started going to school.

Here’s number 21:

In this yard I played in the sandbox, rode my first bicycle, and climbed the apricot and mulberry trees… Oh, the nostalgia!

Read on: And this is how the building looked in 2002…

The other day our executive director (E.D.) received a note with the agenda of an upcoming business trip of mine:

• Krasnodar: meet with the regional governor, sign a cooperation agreement;
• Krasnodar: meet with our Krasnodar business partners;
• Krasnodar: give a lecture at Kuban State University;
• Flight to Novorossiysk;
• Novorossiysk: meet with our Novorossiysk business partners;
• Novorossiysk: visit the city’s seaport.

Attached thereto was a receipt for prepayment of rental of a helicopter to get from Krasnodar to Novorossiysk. The name of the company that owned the chopper? Abrau-Durso – the well-known (locally) wine-and-champagne producer!

“Aha. I get it. And you call this a business trip?!” joked E.D. :)

Alas, there was no time for us to fit in a visit to the winery for a tasting. See, it was business, E.D. :)

The views from up above were rather spectacular:

Read on: A real nice place…

I like lists. I like comparisons. So when, a while back, I drew up a list of the cities I’ve been to in Russia, I was rather surprised to discover I’ve been to more US cities than Russian ones! Ok, just two more – 16 against 14 – but still. How so? Why for? Is not normal. (Here’s the methodology for the calculation and the lists of the respective cities.)

Aaanyway, I’ve just added another city to my list of Russian ones visited: the city of Krasnodar.

What can I say? Krasnodar is a real nice place – especially in the center. It’s clean and tidy; it’s bright and colorful; it’s nicely maintained and furbished; while the bright sun up in the clear blue sky imbued the city with a fresh, spring-y mood. In short: my impressions were extremely positive.

Read on: Been there. Must return one day…

Getting from Cancun in Mexico to Sanya in China, will never be one of the simplest routes – even given the most favorable of weather conditions. All the same, it will never be one of the longest. Still, that route does belong to the category of the ‘trickiest air routes in the world’, i.e., between South America and Southeast Asia (flying in either direction) : the distances are always big, and the air routes are rarely straightforward.

For example, flying from Hong Kong, Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur to Santiago or Buenos Aires will always be an avia-endurance test both in terms of total journey time and the number of connections. I say always, since all available routes – all four of them – all take approximately the same number of hours to complete.

My question:

What are these four (very different) ways of flying (on a commercial flight) from Southeast Asia to South America? (incidentally, one of them I’ve yet to fly myself). Let’s say, from Hong Kong to Santiago and from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires?

Source

Read on: … and the answer is…