I'm off to the USA again. It was 2010 when I last visited. It;'s a much more rushed trip this time with only late approval to travel. This time I am attending and speaking at he deep learning lab conference in Seattle. I'll be over for four days with connecting flights at LA.
It was an early start from Bendigo, leaving at 5.00 to get to Melbourne Airport for the 7.00 check in time. The Plane left at 10.10 and was a new United Airlines Plane. It was very comfortable and new. I was lucky to have a window seat. We had dinner at about 11.00 AUS time. After that web began to cross further into the pacific and it got progressively darker. The movies were good. They had all the Harry Potter films as an option. I watched Max Max and Terminator Genesis and later a documentary on skateboarding. In-between I slept as much as I could and also did some work on my presentations for the conference.
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| Hot and dry in LA |
When I arrived at LAX it took ages to get though customs, even though I'd been given an express pass to get through the line quicker as I had a short connection time for the next flight. Getting in at 6.45 US time, I needed to be on the other flight by 8.45. After a frantic rush and what seemed like the longest walk to the united terminal (terminal 7- the last one!), it turns out the aircraft was delayed due to an engine malfunction. After a wait till 10.30 (in which we had to stay near the boarding gate) we finally got going.
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| Waiting at gate 88 to board the Seattle flight. Must be the furthest gate in the whole airport! |
The plane was no frills, even carryon luggage wouldn't fit in the overhead lockers and many people including myself had to have it stowed. It was a smooth flight though. I had two seats to myself, so I could relax a bit. We arrived at Seattle Airport at @ 1.30 after which I caught a cab, driven by a nice West African man to the Marriot Waterfront motel.
This is the view from the hotel front looking out on the waterfront.
At the motel, I checked left my bag- as I could not check in until 4.00, answered and sent some emails in the lobby of the hotel, using the free wi fi and then I went for walk downtown.
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| Seattle is incredibly hilly |
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| and very steep |
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| Multi Layered overpass framing downtown Seattle in the background |
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| Another row of steps to go from the waterfront to 1st avenue |
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| In the park in the centre of town there are table tennis tables, foosball tables and giant chess to play with. |
The Newspaper dispensers still feature on corners. Seem to be mostly blue.
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| Typical street corner. |
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| Shopping district. Nordstrom Rack and Old Navy. |
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The first Starbucks on the corner of 1st and Pike st. Just near the Pike Market. Went in for a coffee. It was surprisingly bad. Better than the airplane coffee though!
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| Yellow school buses are still a novelty to me. |
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| Street lights are different. They Hang with signs in between. |
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| The Seattle Aquarium and there's a Seattle 'eye' too! |
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| Trolley buses! I think this is the first time I've seen one close up. The Panto is two single lines. I've seen the drivers getting out to put them back on the lines occasionally. |
I had a nice meal of fish and chips at a local inn on 1st avenue near the Pike market. The people were friendly and the Alaskan Cod was almost as good as the fresh fish up on the Gold Coast!
Tomorrow is the first day of the conference proper and will be a very busy day with little time for sight seeing. I'm hoping to get up early and walk to the needle for a look.
