Archive for the ‘Archive’ Category

Feel like some of these myself at times . . .

Some photos from the Air and Space Museum.

The Blackbird Stealth Bomber

The Space Shuttle Enterprise.

I’m in Florida at the moment for a conference. This is the view from my hotel room, and I had anticipated going for a swim in the afternoon. Unfortunately, about an hour after this there was a tornado warning with an amazing thunder and lightening storm. That’ll teach me for being smug about an afternoon swim.

We were very fortunate to have our Grandmaster from Australia visit. It always amazes me to watch someone gifted in taking people from where they are to a skill level beyond what they think they could achieve in only a few hours – pure leadership.

 

Here are some pics from Havana. Cuba is certainly a surreal place!

Old cars!

A Havana Square.

The Capital Building.

The Capital Building at night not lit up as there is not sufficient electricity to light it up!

These photos are the clean streets, yet just off them, well, not terribly pleasant.

This is an overview of Trinidad.

This is a typical street (although this one isn’t cobbled). And yes, more horses and carts than cars!

This is the image on the quarter coin (see below)  – a famous Trinidad scene.

This is one of the main highways – 4 lanes. A couple of interesting things. First, note the condition of the road. It was full of potholes and uneven surfaces and the driver frequently changed lanes or slowed down to avoid these. Second, where is the traffic? Not many can afford a car so not much traffic at all. In fact, look at the photo below to see how people get around in Cuba.

Hitching (and often paying for it) is the most common way to get around outside of the cities.

This is the major department store in Cienfuegos (about 150 000 people). I don’t think Harvey Norman has anything to be concerned about.

Rubbish collection in Cienfuegos.

This is my favourite – you’d take your chance wouldn’t you? Give up or run? Run! Mind you, if they catch you, have a look below to see where they send you.

The prison just outside of Cienfuegos.

Here is a picture of the inside of the Cuban plane (which was filthy by the way) as we landed. It looks like smoke but imagine it is vapour of some sort. Both when landing in Cuba and back in Mexico, the passengers clapped once the plane landed! I don’t recall these two things occurring on any Air New Zealand flight.

Did a tour in Savannah on a Segway. I want one!!!

Went to Disney World and got on all the rides I wanted too – OK, so a big kid at heart.