meinen Reisen MY TRAVELS mijn reizen mes voyages meus cursos mis viajes minhas viagens mo taisteal mine rejser mina resor i miei viaggi

For my digital imaging course, I am restoring a picture. I have a little more work to do tomorrow. Some parts of the picture are tricky. I need to fix the left woman’s nose, a piece of the carpet, and the woman’s shadow is a little off too. Ugh. This could take forever. It will never be perfect. The guy’s shoes are tough too. You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

Today, I hosted an event with the consuls of Canada and Mexico. The United States was not allowed to be there due to a gag order.

We had a Canada-Mexico Fusion breakfast.

They showed some relevant videos.

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been extremely busy.

I picked up Andrea at the airport last Friday.

A few of the highlights of the weekend included:

• Going to the Greater Orlando Blueberry Festival at Southern Hills Farms. There were 10 varieties of blueberries.
• Visiting Gaylord Palms (Andrea’s first visit)
• Cheering on the half-marathoners in the Star Wars Race
  • Andrea had one of the best signs. Everyone liked it. I would say probably 100 people said how great the sign was.
  • I had a sign that said, “What does the fox say?” Run, Run, Run — It had the Zootopia fox on it, but it wasn’t relevant to the Star Wars’ theme, so I didn’t hold it up much
• Eating at Morimoto Asia in Disney Springs
  • The sushi was the best I have had in a while. It is flown in from Japan each day.
• Buying an outdoor furniture set
  • Actually two camping chairs and a small table

There is also a picture of the new SBA administrator as she visited the NEC again yesterday.

The EXIM Conference was really fun. The content was very good. I met some other REPPs (Regional Export Promotion Partners). I actually know a few from other conferences. I really know the organization which won REPP of the year. They are the Florida Export Finance Corporation in Miami. They have spoken at two of my events.

The closing ceremony was at 1:30 p.m. yesterday. I had to go from the zoo metro back to the Silver Spring metro, walk about .5 miles back to the hotel, and obtain my suitcase. I need a new suitcase as the arm doesn’t pull out all the way or I need a go go gadget arm. Anyways, I had to pull my suitcase .5 miles back to the metro. I thought I could transfer after two stops to get on a train which goes to my weekend hotel. Well, I had the yellow train doesn’t run through that stop between March 4 – April 13, so I had to get on another train and make another transfer at another point. Then, I had to get on another train to Reagan National. From the airport, I had to wait another 10 minutes to get on another train to my hotel stop. I left the conference around 1:45 p.m. and made it to my hotel (which is in Virginia) around 4:30 p.m. It was tough, cold, and windy. (I wanted to give up at Reagan and just fly home).

Anyways, I woke up early today. Fortunately, I caught the train immediately upon arriving to the metro around 8:30 a.m. I made it to the parade around 9:15 a.m. The Cherry Blossom Festival Parade started at 10 a.m. It was supposed to be a 2 hour extravaganza. It was 2 hours, but it was so slow and there were so many gaps. There were a lot of bands. I saw Carrie Ann Inaba, judge on Dancing with the Stars. I left around 11 a.m. and went to the White House and gift stores near it.

Afterwards, I walked back to the National Gallery of Art (all of these walks are about .5 miles). I love the National Gallery of Art. It has a lot of impressionist’s works. I befriended a guard when he told someone that they couldn’t take a picture. Evidently, two pictures had sentences said that you couldn’t. I asked about light and he said that some of the owners just don’t want it. I then asked him and said that he didn’t have to tell me, but why isn’t there more security. He said that the National Gallery of Art is supposed to be open to and accessible to the public. He pulled me over later and told me stories. He said that though you see no protection, if you even touch a picture, you may be detained, ID’ed, and given to the police. He said one woman didn’t like the nudity of one painting and tried to ruin it by ruining that portion. Another time a woman started yelling at a painting. She needed mental help and ended up being hospitalized.

I walked over the Museum of the American Indian only because I like their food. I don’t think they have that many exhibits and they make us go though extensive security. I got the bison chili. (I ate at Ted’s Montana grill last night and also had a bison burger). Well, the line was moving slowly and I saw the $3.80 fry bread with cinnamon and honey and powdered sugar. I am trying to get rid of my sugar addiction, but I failed miserably. The fry bread was so good and probably so bad.

Afterwards, I walked to the metro and traveled to to the Japanese Street Festival near the National’s Stadium. I paid $11 to get in. It wasn’t worth it. I walked around and saw the tents. It was massive. There was an interesting mix of people as many people were dressed like Japanese Anime characters. The food area was packed. I didn’t stay too long. I went back to the metro. Then, I thought I should see what else is around. I walked back to the Festival and down to the Anacostia River. Then, I walked back to the metro. When I transferred, I got a direct train back to my hotel area. After getting off the train, I got a California bowl at California Tortilla and brought it back to my hotel room. I was almost falling asleep walking back. The bowl was so good. I wish we had a California Tortilla. After eating, I feel asleep.

This morning, I was supposed to go to a pre-conference meeting. Long story short…. I did not. It is too complicated a story.

The good news — there is plenty to do around the conference hotel.

I walked to the Washington National Cathedral. I saw inside, but I didn’t want to pay $12 to really see everything. I saw the gardens and then, I left to go to the zoo.

At the zoo, there were so many kids. So many. I can’t handle masses of kids between age 5 to 20. They were loud (like normal kids). Poor pandas. The good thing is they don’t know how rare it is to see pandas. So they looked and left. The adults stuck around the longest. Currently, there are two pandas as one returned back to China. One panda was outside when I arrived and one was inside. I went to see the other animals (one gorilla was celebrating its 35th birthday) and when I came back both pandas were inside. One was sleeping.

After the zoo and lunch, I was going to return to my hotel and reply to some emails, but it was nice day, so I got off at Metro Station in downtown D.C.

i found a Starbucks and bought a D.C. mug. I walked to the White House, but it was blocked. I decided to walk towards the MLK Jr. Monument as I knew that was the best spot for cherry blossoms. I walked by the new African-American Museum, the Washington Memorial, the WW II memorial, and the D.C. Memorial. At the MLK Jr. Monument, you can look over to the Jefferson Memorial. There were plenty of people taking pictures of the cherry blossoms. I was expecting huge blossoms, but I guess there were some. They didn’t smell as I thought they would.

Afterwards, a motorcade drove by. Who knows who was in it. I walked to the Korean Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial.

It all sounds so easy. It is easy, but I would say I probably walked 8 to 9 miles today. I am tired.

Well, the conference starts at 8:40 a.m. tomorrow. I will definitely be there for the next two days, so no pictures until Saturday night. Good-night!

(I have replied to all emails since.)

I left around 10 a.m. and headed to the airport this morning.

Due to some weather problems, the plane arriving to pick us up was late. I experienced the same weather problems as we took off and during the flight and upon landing. (I think I made it to D.C. around 4:45 p.m. after a 20-minute wait after landing for a gate to open up).

I am now in D.C. attending the EXIM Bank Annual Meeting and Conference. The airport was beautiful, but the cherry blossoms are mostly done.

I went directly to the hotel. I took the metro, because it is pretty fun. I have a club level room, so I had some hors d’oeuvre and then, went to a local Greek quick service restaurant.

I have some short meetings tomorrow. I think I should be done by 2 p.m. The conference is near the zoo, so I might have some cool pictures tomorrow night!!!

Last Sunday afternoon, I drove out to New Smyrna Beach to the North District of Canaveral National Seashore. New Smyrna was packed and evidently, so was the seashore. I had to wait an hour for people to leave. When I finally entered the seashore, no one was around. The area was pretty boring, but it is nice that it is protected. It was neat to see the difference between the Seashore and the condo-packed New Smyrna. If you want a private beach, the Canaveral National Seashore is empty.

Earlier for lunch, I stopped at Wake Up Cafe. A girl was studying abroad in Spain and met her future husband who was from Argentina there. Her parents became sick, so they moved to New Smyrna and opened up a Spanish – Argentine restaurant. It was really good. While there, I walked by a Bob Ross Workshop. Bob Ross was born in Daytona Beach and died in New Smyrna. I think I might try to attend one of their classes one Saturday and paint a wooded scene.

On Tuesday, I was given two tickets to the Magic game on Wednesday. I asked Mireya if she wanted to go along with me thinking we would get free food as the tickets were $160 club level. Well, we went, but we didn’t get free food. We didn’t stay until half-time. It was a good game evidently. Russell Westbrook scored 57 points for OKC and had a triple-double. He scored right at the end to send the game to overtime and ultimately OKC won, of course. The Magic might be one of the last teams in the NBA. The only player I knew on the Magic, Victor Oladipo, appeared in the OKC starting line-up which was news to me. Obviously, I don’t follow the Magic too well. Evidently, he was traded last year and started for the Thunder in October. He signed a 4-year deal for $84 million shortly after. The crowd still cheered for him, so it seems like he was liked here. Again, it seemed like more people were there to see Westbrook than anyone.

Today, I went shopping at the outlets and walked around Epcot.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Michael! Hope you had a nice day!

Last Thursday, we headed back to Orlando. We drove back into Georgia and over to Jekyll Island. We stopped for Orange Juice after crossing into Florida.

Before going to the Flower & Garden Festival, we went to Sweet Tomatoes. Once in Epcot, Andrea started looking for the Easter eggs. I bet she was one of the best in spotting them. She found them pretty quickly.

German had their Christmas drink, gluhwein as it was extremely cold (Well, in Charleston, it was 27… In Florida, it probably was in the 50’s).