Category: travel

Pg Day Paris

Today, I presented a talk in Paris for the first time! Once again, I saw many people I didn’t see since October and had great conversations! And – I am in Paris again!

We arrived yesterday, and guess what – there is another transportation strike going on! Fortunately, it was not as bad as in London last week! We walked around a little bit; saw the reconstruction of the Notre-Dame, and returned back to the hotel.

A view from our hotel window

More to come!

Still Traveling

I have 300 more pictures and 30 more stories to tell about the time I spent in Ireland, but life goes on, and I can’t keep up with it!

I arrived in Stockholm last night and spent the whole day not leaving the hotel, attending the conference, and talking to friends and peers. And tomorrow morning, I am leaving for Paris!

The whole conference was great, filled with presentations, meetings, and conversations!

Glendalough National Park

On Saturday, my friends took me to two places outside Dublin. The first place we visited was Glendalough National Park. First of all, it’s an exceptionally beautiful park, the nature is amazing, there are hills, lakes, waterfalls, and old trees. Most important, however, is that it is the oldest monastic site, founded in the 6th century!

The trees covered with moss
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Dublin, Day 2

Walking through the city after the parade. These windows to the underground structures are made inside a busy supermarket.

It was surprising that there were not so many people on the streets!

There was no way to get closer to Molly Mallone
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Other Pictures From Saint Patrick’s Day Parade In Dublin

I made tons of very short videos to capture the dynamics of the parade, and the easiest way to show them here is by embedding the Instagram posts. Take a look, and scroll through them – there are several videos in each!

Saint Patrick’s Day Parade In Dublin

It is very different from what we have in Chicago, and I am so glad I was here today! What an amazing experience!

Everybody asked me whether it was different from the Chicago Saint Patrick’s Day parade – and it was. It was a little bit shorter (two hours at any point of the parade route) and way less loud. The streets were not as crowded as in Chicago. There were fewer bagpipe bands and fewer Celtic dances, no politicians, no elected officials, and no political parties. Noboby was giving away goodies. There were many American marching bands – go figure! And there were a lot of beautiful floaters!

It will take me some time to post even a small fraction of pictures, just a few today!

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First Day In Dublin

It’s great to see old friends after many years! It’s great to get to know a new country you never visited before.

All great. We took a long walk to the Lighthouse, visited the national Irish Gallery, when to Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells…

And St Patrick Day is tomorrow – I can’t wait!

Visiting Our London Office

I had a connection in London on my way to Dublin, and when I was planning my trip, I decided to make it a day in the office. I exchanged my tickets so that I arrive in London at 9-10 and leave at 8-50 PM.

It would be all good if not for the tube strike right on that day! But it was too late to make any changes! And in any case, I do not regret making this stop, although it entailed two two-and-a-half-hour rides from/to Heathrow. I spent about five hours in the office, met a lot of people with whom I work closely together, answered their questions, and solved half of the world ‘s problems! I loved the London office:

The office is smaller, so they do not cater, and everybody places their food orders, and then orders are delivered by noon. Since I was not there in the morning, I had to look for the sandwich supplies in the fridge. Overall, it was a little bit hungry day: I ate breakfast in the Finnair lounge at 6-30 Helsinki time, and next time I had some food at noon of London time! And then – at 7-30 PM in Heathrow!

Helsinki – Love, Always

… even when it’s raining all day, mixed with wet snow, I still love it! Especially since, if you know how, you can walk underground almost from anywhere to anywhere in the city center. And if not underground, there are roofs over the courtyards!

I met with my friend Natasha in the Oodi library, and we caught up on all the news in our lives and in the world in general, and then Boris joined us, and we had lunch on the first floor of the library. Then Boris and I did some shopping, and we returned home. I resumed doing some work (I do not count myself on vacation until Thursday), but after a little bit, Boris asked me what my plans were. It took me a while to get from him what he meant, but as it turned out, he was wondering whether we were going to celebrate Pie Day 😀. How could I say “no”?!

Traveling As Finnair Gold

My two weeks of travel had begun. There are no direct flights to from Chicago to Helsinki this time of the year, so I had a connection in London. It was the first time I used a Oneworld lounge in O’Hare, and it was a great decision because I could have a way better dinner than on the plane. Also, I could go to sleep immediately after the boarding was complete and have close to normal sleep time. No need to wake up for food :).

Same with breakfast – they gave us just a half-cup of yogurt on the plane, but I went to the Oneworld lounge in Heathrow and had an English breakfast there.

I loved that they had small teapots with a cup and a milk pitcher (same as when you have plates and cups at the buffet). You can take one, choose your tea bag(s) and pore whatever milk you prefer, and then take this set back to where you sit.

After I arrived in Helsinki, I tried to put a contact lens in my right eye for the first time since this weird thing happened, and it felt OK. Today, I wore both lenses for about six hours, and it was all good, but I am not sure for how long I will wear them tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a very long day!