Paul's Down-Home Page

When I got to AMS, I made a stop at the
Rijksmuseum at the airport.
This is a neat idea: an art museum embedded in the concourse of the airport.
They’re currently featuring an exhibit called "Really
Rembrandt?" featuring pictures that were once thought to be Rembrandts but
aren’t, plus one ("The
Oriental") that was first thought to be authentic, then a fake, then
authentic again. Unfortunately, my plans to take a refreshing shower in the KLM
Crown Lounge was thwarted by a combination of KLM’s unclear policy on who gets
lounge access and their ongoing inconsistency in enforcement. So, too bad. I’d
been forewarned by FlyerTalk that the KLM lounge folks jealously guarded their
showers, so it wasn’t the end of the world. After that, getting to Oslo was
easy.

I didn’t know that there was a train (the
Flytoget, or airport
express train) connecting the Oslo airport with the Sandvika area, where my
hotel was. I found that out after paying NOK 1180 for a taxi (that’s about
$165). It was a long taxi ride, but still, that’s a heck of a fare. I was
careful to take the train for my return to the airport (but more on that in a
bit). When I got to the hotel (the

Thon Hotel Oslofjord, part of a local chain) I found it to be a pleasant,
open building right near several shopping areas (including a
grocery store
where I bought some Norwegian mystery food for the boys). As is the case with
many hotels in Europe, the in-room Internet is wireless-only. This proved to be
a problem, because both the reliability and performance of their net connection
was poor, and that’s all we had access to in the meeting rooms downstairs. I had
lunch with Jim McBee, then spent the rest of the day working on some new and
improved demos. The Sandvika chapter of Rotary met in the hotel that evening,
but I was too busy with my demos to go to the meeting– now I rather wish that I
had gone.

I got up early Thursday morning for the roadshow itself. This time, I had to
present an hour-long keynote plus my regular sessions. That definitely makes the
day a bit longer. However, my new keynote demo of Exchange ActiveSync and the
mobility policies in Exchange Server 2003 SP2 and Exchange Server 2007 went
really well. I couldn’t get the provided telephone to work properly, so I had to
cut short the unified messaging demo, and I didn’t have time to even attempt the
demo of Exchange’s new Local Continuous Replication feature. Too bad; it’s a
really cool demo. I was surprised to see how many people in the audience had
Windows Mobile devices, though, so the EAS demo was definitely very well
received. After the keynote, I had to hustle to my other meeting room to present
my track sessions on Exchange mobility, unified messaging, and real-time
communications. As in Portugal, the demo of Exchange UM (and particularly
Outlook Voice Access) was a huge hit. During the day, I got a chance to pop in
on Jim and Glenn to see how their sessions were going; they both reported smooth
sailing and a fair number of audience questions. I enjoyed getting to see Glenn,
since I normally only see him at Microsoft events.

One difference I’ve noticed about European audiences is that they tend to ask
fewer questions in group settings. Overall, we had more questions in the Oslo
sessions than we did in Lisbon, but still many fewer than I’d expect from an
identical event in the US. I’m not sure why this is. However, the attendees were
friendly and engaging, and fortunately they spoke much better English than I do
Norwegian. (I’m going to try to learn a couple phrases of Afrikaans before I go
to Johannesburg.)

Speaking of Norwegian: I think I liked everything about Norway, from the
architecture to the pleasing mystery of road signs and food labels to the fact
that it was still light at midnight. The weather was decent, the people were
friendly, and I enjoyed the few glimpses I got of the city and countryside.
Unfortunately, it was such a short trip that I didn’t get to do even the minimal
sightseeing I squeezed in in Lisbon; I’d like to take another trip to the region
when I have more time to look around. (Oslo’s about the same size as Toledo, but
it’s a heck of a lot more interesting!) It’s clearly an expensive place to live,
though; there’s a hefty income tax, plus VATs on everything you buy, plus
additional taxes on some items (like cars). I got quite a lecture on how
wonderful Norway’s social support net is from my cab driver, who somewhat
ruefully admitted that his cab (a Mercedes station wagon) cost about $40,000
list but cost him about $78,000 when taxes were factored in. Wow.

My original return was supposed to be OSL-CDG-CVG-TOL, but I only had an hour
to transfer planes at CDG– and as anyone who’s been there knows, that’s not
nearly enough time. I changed my flights to go OSL-AMS-CVG-TOL, with my first
flight at 0655– early, but still doable. Then yesterday, the airport radar at
Stockholm’s airport failed, and that caused a ripple effect of delays and
cancellations– so my convenient [sic] 0655 flight was cancelled and I had to
take a flight at 0615 with a plane change in Copenhagen. No problem: I woke up
at 0350, took a taxi to the Sandvika train station, and paid NOK 96 for a ticket
on the 0424 train (which I just barely made!) A 45-minute train ride later, I
was at the airport, which was pure chaos. Fortunately, I made the flight. The
SAS Airbus 321 that I was on had a cool nose camera; they left it on in flight
so you could see landmarks passing below as we flew along. SAS also served a
delicious little deli-style breakfast box, with fresh, warm rolls, little
containers of yogurt and juice, and small pieces of meat and cheese. Highly
recommended! I ddn’t get to see much of the Copenhagen airport; however, like
the Oslo airport it was spotlessly clean, well-lit, and much more nicely
appointed than the typical comparably sized US airport. Then it was on to AMS,
which I can now navigate like a pro. I easily made my flight to Cincinnati
despite the bad advice I got from Delta agent Erika R (she made me go to the NW
transfer desk to check in, and of course NW was having none of that). Now I’m on
my way home, although I won’t actually be able to post this until I get there.
Tomorrow I’m helping out at the boys’ Scout day camp, and on Sunday I plan to do
as little as possible!

And so, off to
Oslo. It’s traditional that I forget
something on every trip. For Lisbon, it was my sunglasses. For this trip, it was
my USB headset (which I use with Skype
to make cheap international phone calls) and a camera.

My itinerary was a
little unusual this time; I went DTW-ORD-AMS-OSL on the outbound, all on
Northwest and KLM. The ORD-AMS leg was on a KLM 747-400 (in the "combi"
configuration, which carries fewer passengers and more cargo than a standard
747-400). I was seated in row 2, just under the cockpit. It’s amazing how much
more you can see from this far forward– I was so far in front of the wing that
I couldn’t see it at all from my seat. I was treated to a gorgeous view of the
late-afternoon Chicago skyline as we flew over it.

How does
KLM’s business class
stack up to Delta’s? The two are similar in many respects; the seats are about
the same size and pitch (though I found KLM’s to be slightly more comfortable).
After takeoff, the initial service on both includes a small dish of nuts. Delta
heats the dishes, which definitely makes the nuts taste better. For dinner, my
choices were tenderloin of beef with a bacon and cheese crust, a stuffed chicken
breast, or teriyaki salmon (which I passed on only because of its spinach and
shiitake filling). One touch I missed from Delta flights is the inclusion of a
soup, which DL usualy makes available as both an appetizer and entree.

The in-seat video
system is very similar to Delta’s, although KLM seemed to have more recent
choices. As a bonus, they provide noise-canceling headphones, but they use a
funny plug so you can’t use your own headphones with the IFE or their
headphones with your own equipment. Alas. I watched part of Last Holiday during
dinner and got a few good laughs.

Unfortunately. KLM
doesn’t seem to have

power ports in their seats– if I had known that I would have pressed
to get on another airline! This wasn’t a major problem, as I slept for about
four hours; if I’d planned on working through the flight, though, that would
have posed a problem. I’m definitely going to have to rethink my travel plans to
Johannesburg (which involve going ATL-AMS-JNB-AMS-MEM on KLM) if I can’t use my
laptop throughout the flight.

I arrived in Portugal after a completely uneventful air trip TOL-CVG-CDG-LIS. Actually, my transatlantic leg was better than most; I sat next to an American expat who was working for Michelin. We had a fascinating conversation about working overseas, the differences between French and American companies, and various misadventures he had while adjusting to French bureaucracy. Speaking of which: when I got to CDG, I found that, as usual, Air France managed to add a delay to my schedule, but I was in such a good mood from my post-arrival shower at their lounge in Terminal 2C that I didn’t mind too much. (Note to self: remember that CDG isn’t air-conditioned and dress appropriately).

Along the way to the terminal, I found a small chapel that had a guestbook wherein visitors were encouraged to write messages or prayers. I wrote my testimony in French, which was kind of neat. Of course, it’s entirely possible that my rusty grammar will turn people off, but I was pleased that my habit of reading French-language church publications had enriched my vocabulary so much.

I got to Lisbon a few minutes late and headed to the arrival area to meet Devin, whose flight had arrived around the same time. I’d wanted to buy a prepaid SIM for Arlene’s old phone (which is now my outside-the-US phone), but there were none for sale at CDG. Fortunately, Vodafone had a kiosk right in the Lisbon arrival area, so we bought SIMs and took a taxi to our hotel. I can’t say that the taxi driver was the least friendly driver I’ve ever had, but he’d certainly rank in the top ten.

Despite his demeanor, though, we made it to the Vila Galé Opera hotel just fine. The hotel sits right near a large convention hall and next to the Bridge of 25 April (the linked photo was apparently taken from our hotel’s front yard, or very close to it; the picture below was taken from a pedestrian bridge near the conference center). It was a nice enough place; as you might expect, there were lots of subtle and not-so-subtle differences from typical US hotels, including the fact that you have to stick your room key in a slot near the front door to turn on the room’s electricity. All in all, not a bad place to stay.

We had a pleasant dinner at a restaurant right across from the hotel; there were actually a row of them in an area called Las Docas (“the docks”). The restaurant where we ate had a great menu that listed, among other delicacies, barnacles and spider crab skull. Though it was hard to resist (I mean, who doesn’t love skull?) I had a steak, which turned out to be quite good. The service was fairly poor; I found this to be true of all the restaurants and other public venues (notably, the airport). People just didn’t seem to care.

The staff at the conference center was exceptionally helpful; they got the telephone and network connectivity set up flawlessly. As a result, the 1200+ attendees got what they came for: an in-depth look at the new features in Exchange 2007, Office 2007, and Windows Vista. My presentation on Exchange Unified Messaging was a real hoot; I was driving the UM demo of Outlook Voice Access from my MacBook Pro and a telephone that had been patched into the room’s sound system. The audience loved it when I told OVA to clear my calendar because I was going to the beach, and the demonstration of Live Communications Server’s telephone control features went very well too. (As a bonus, I got to meet Exchange MVP Rui J.M. Silva and an Outlook MVP whose name I’ve regrettably forgotten.)

In the afternoon, after Devin and I got done, we went sightseeing / souvenir hunting. We walked several kilometres into town, where I spotted a cow (see below) from this year’s Cow Parade and a very cool statue of Prince Henry the Navigator (note the elephants around the statue’s base). We didn’t find any souvenirs, sorry to say. However, we both noticed that the people on the streets looked somewhere between downtrodden and angry, in all but a few cases. Maybe it was just the area where we were.

I went back to the docks and had a great dinner of chouriço (sausage, baked in a dish with two cheeses on top) and lasagna at a restaurant called “Cosmos”. Then I went back to the hotel, worked for a while, slept all too briefly, and took my next flight LIS-AMS on TAP Air Portugal. Good news: they have in-flight entertainment. Bad news: it was “Big Momma’s House”. Worst news: they play the movie audio over the cabin PA, in English, with onscreen Portugese subtitles. Man, I had those headphones on in nothing flat.

Even though I had a 90-minute layover in AMS, I almost didn’t make my flight; I had to find a Delta gate to check in, and that took some doing. I was almost the last pax aboard my flight back to CVG, but after that, I had a smooth trip back home except that my new airplane laptop adapter doesn’t have enough juice to drive the MacBook Pro while it’s charging. Jim McBee told me his had the same problem, but I dismissed it as a one-off. Oops. Time for a new one, I guess.

Actually, it’s time to get ready for going to Oslo tomorrow.

Delta had a big event in Atlanta last night. I couldn’t attend (duh), but some of the folks from FlyerTalk who did attend posted their notes on the event, and some of the planned changes are pretty exciting; in particular, they’re stepping up the frequency of aircraft deep cleaning, they’re retrofitting song amenities (like in-seat in-flight entertainment) to their mainline fleet, and they’re upgrading the business cabins for their international fleet. I hope these changes bear fruit!

Update: my favorite enhancement is definitely being able to get automated notification of flight delays. Reportedly, Delta’s going to enhance this so that you can specify someone else to get your flight alerts– I’d love that feature, as it gives me an easy way for Arlene to keep track of when to get me from the airport. Running a close second is this report that DL’s going to stop buying CRJs and get the EMB-170/190 instead, which is about a million times more comfortable.