Silly SEASON

Greetings race fans,

We are about to enter the silly season at my place of work. Before we do, I have been trying to take it easy. None the less, with a name like this, I do travel from time to time.

Two trips of note recently have been one to NYC and one to Toronto. NYC is one of my favorite small towns in America. Toronto is not one of my favorite towns North of the border... I'm more a Victoria, BC, Montreal, and Banff type of guy...

At any rate, the last two trips to NYC have witnessed the closing of a portion of Times Square to vehicles. And, of course, most have now taken a peek at the TKTS booth and bleachers on 47th (I believe)... Duffy Square. This icon in the making is the creation of Mr. Leahy and his coworkers at Perkins Eastmen (http://www.perkinseastman.com/). This creation proves once again that people are more interested in watching people than almost anything else. Collective narcissistic behavior in a fun and crazy sort of way.

The trip to Toronto was very brief. A stop over on the way to the Peg. Google: Portage and Main... supposedly one of the most windy corners in Canada. Toronto has some great architecture, and another trip is planned at some nebulous point to take a closer look. Uncle Frank G has played there. Other famous architects abound. And, of course, one can find ZINC (Bonus) all over the city. In addition, the summer time dining in downtown Toronto is almost Euro-like. And the people watching here is also... well, something to see.

Until next time, Race Fans, do yourself a favor and spend a late summer weekend in NYC or Toronto.

-G

small LAKE city

Greetings race fans,

It has been quite some time. Sorry about that. I have been on the road over the last couple of months but the destinations have blurred in the rearview mirror of one rental or another, or in the contrails of the various planes. I have also been in the office a little more than usual.

At any rate, yesterday I flew back home to Raleigh after a few days in Salt Lake City. Or, as an architectural rep in the area calls it, "Small Lake City." In the architectural and art world and even some of the cooler restaurants -everyone seems to know everyone.

We spent some time with an old classmate from the architecture program at silo-tech (NDSU) and took her out to din-din at Eva's. She does custom residential work for some executives that work at a certain software firm. (Seattle to Salt Lake and back again? Don't ask.) The rep knew five of the people walking in after we were seated and the classmate knew the server and others. This wasn't an isolated event. Speaking of Eva's -pretty cool and recommended. Small plates and very good prices. Also, for lunch, I can give NICHE a four and a half Lilliputian score out of a possible five on the Gulliver scale. Great prices, good sandwhiches and a fairly hip/urban vibe.

One of the nice things about Salt Lake is that you can truly get anywhere in about ten to twenty minutes. The rep told me that there are about a million people in the Salt Lake metroplex, and yet, the city is incredibly easy to get around in when compared to other million person areas and suburbs. I drove to Sandy, Utah to look at a store I did years ago when I was still living and working in Fargo. I had a very narrow window of opportunity between the last appointment of the day and the designated "pick-up-coworker-rep-possible-customers-and-go-eat" time. I drove to Sandy in about twenty minutes, looked at the store, snapped some pics, and drove back within another twenty-five to thirty minutes. Those times would have been considerably less, however...

July 24th is a state holiday in Utah. Don't ask and I won't tell. Enough said.

Concerning architecture, the one must see building in SLC is the Public Library by Moshe Safdie. The library opend in 2003 and still looks great. Everyone will talk about "the Temple," but for my money, on a limited time budget, I would spend every moment at the Library -at least it is a building I can get into. And believe me, it is a building that you want to get into. Moshe is Moshe because he kicks major tail in the twin worlds of concepts and detail. Five Lilliputians out of Five, fo' sure.

So, let's recap:

Niche for Lunch. 4 1/2 Lilliputians on our Gulliver Scale.

Eva's for a small plate, laid back evening meal. 3 Lilliputians on a scale of five.

Spend the hours in between at the Public Library -5 Lilliputians.

Until next time,

Travel Safe.

KOLN

I have some prints -etchings actually, done by a local (not well known) North Dakota artist. I bought them years and years and years ago before I moved to Portland. One of these pieces of art is an etching of Koln's cathedral. So, when a March trip gave me the chance to take a day-trip from Brussels to Koln... well, race fans, I jumped on the train and said, "Ich bin ein Koln-er-type-er-don't-speak-much-German-er..." Here are the snaps.

The trip to Belgium is below this post and the trip to AIA San Francisco -actually the most current post is below that.

Thanks for playing.

-G

March on Brussels

How do, Race Fans?

These are from my March trip to Brussels. Totally forgot to enter them into the mix. The past week to San Fran (post below) is much more current. Sorry. Busy G, these days.

Possible text to come, but for now...

Trip to Spa -outside of Belgium.

Then a night or two in Belgium -one at the beautiful Hilton Conrad... near the orange bunnies. (Lots of public art in Brussels.)

Then a day trip to Koln, which will actually be entered above this post.

Thanks for playing... talk to you soon.

-G

PS: The QuickBurger franchise is the Belgium Burger King, Mc D's, etc. Quick and cheap. Note that it was across the street from the Versace store.