Overall, this was an interesting roadtrip on which I got to see three brand new stadiums (Citi Field, Yankee Stadium, Target Field) and two stadiums that I'd never seen a game at before (PETCO Park, Turner Field) although I had visited Turner Field for a ballpark tour a couple of years ago on a cold January weekend when I was in Atlanta on business, and Coors Field that I'd visited last year and really liked.
Target Field was a beautiful facility - easily the nicest ballpark that I visited this year. I wasn't all that taken by the new Yankee Stadium, although that might have been coloured by the intense heat in New York on the days I visited. Citi Field is nicer, I think. I like the way that they have lots of different club areas, and these are available for people n different pricing levels and not just those paying top dollar. I liked PETCO Park too, in a great location down on the coast. Coors Field was just how I remembered it, and I enjoyed it yet again.
I've had so much weather this year, too! From the intense heat of New York at the end of August to the chilly midnight in Minneapolis as the Twins and Tigers went 13 innings to the pleasantly warm San Diego (although the locals thought it chilly!) and heat of Atlanta, to the tornadoes on my return to New York. However, no rain outs, which is good news.
This is the first time I've flown BusinessFirst internationally and I think I shall do it again, as it was so much nicer than Economy. From the quiet lounge at Heathrow, to the six-course meal on the flight, to the priority baggage label that resulted in such a short time from wheels-down at Newark to being in my hotel room. Sadly, I didn't get the upgrade on the way back, but at least that means I get the 20,000 miles and $250 back, though. And I did get a complimentary upgrade on ones of the legs between San Diego and Atlanta.
Saturday, 25 September 2010
Final day
For the final day, I didn't really have time to do anything much, so I requested a late checkout at the hotel, intending to leave on the 2pm hotel shuttle, go to Manhattan, have a nice dinner, then go to the airport in plenty of time for my 8pm flight home. Most of this worked very well. I dropped in at Rochester's to pick up my new pair of trousers that I had bought to replace a worn-out pair and continued on the subway to Penn Station. I decided to eat something simple at the TGI Friday's there, before taking the New Jersey Transit to the airport. It was whilst I was perusing the bill at around 4.40pm, that I thought I'd check the status of my flight, so I got out my itinerary to check the flight number. That's when I noticed that my flight was actually at 6.40pm, and not 8pm!
Fortunately, a NJT train was just about to leave and I made this train and got on the airtrain to Continental's main terminal: terminal C. Unfortunately, the check-in process that I had completed the night before hadn't actually checked me in, and having taken ages, well at least 5 minutes, to answer all the questions and options at the check-in, I completed the procedure at 5.41pm exactly - which is exactly 1 minute too late, so they refused to let me on the flight! I was placed on standby for the following flight, 40 minutes later, with the warning that all the evening's flights to London were over-booked.
So I had to proceed to the gate for the later flight and wait. I was the only passenger on the standby list, though, so I only needed them to be one person short. Finally, 15 minutes before departure, the man at the desk beckoned me forward and said that one lady was not travelling after all, so I had a seat! This turned out to be a good seat (12A) much further forward than the one I had on the original flight (39F), and it was only 40 minutes after the one I was supposed to be catching. In the end, all the US to UK flights were arriving 45 minutes to an hour earlier than scheduled, so I landed at pretty much the original flight's scheduled time, and the baggage for that flight was still coming around when our baggage was coming out too, so I didn't miss out by very much at all.
My Dad picked me up outside and I went home for dinner, before travelling home to Cambridge on the train in the afternoon, as the engineering works had finished by then. I didn't sleep on the plane at all, so I was quite tired by the time I got home, and I fell asleep in the armchair, only waking up at after 3am!
Fortunately, a NJT train was just about to leave and I made this train and got on the airtrain to Continental's main terminal: terminal C. Unfortunately, the check-in process that I had completed the night before hadn't actually checked me in, and having taken ages, well at least 5 minutes, to answer all the questions and options at the check-in, I completed the procedure at 5.41pm exactly - which is exactly 1 minute too late, so they refused to let me on the flight! I was placed on standby for the following flight, 40 minutes later, with the warning that all the evening's flights to London were over-booked.
So I had to proceed to the gate for the later flight and wait. I was the only passenger on the standby list, though, so I only needed them to be one person short. Finally, 15 minutes before departure, the man at the desk beckoned me forward and said that one lady was not travelling after all, so I had a seat! This turned out to be a good seat (12A) much further forward than the one I had on the original flight (39F), and it was only 40 minutes after the one I was supposed to be catching. In the end, all the US to UK flights were arriving 45 minutes to an hour earlier than scheduled, so I landed at pretty much the original flight's scheduled time, and the baggage for that flight was still coming around when our baggage was coming out too, so I didn't miss out by very much at all.
My Dad picked me up outside and I went home for dinner, before travelling home to Cambridge on the train in the afternoon, as the engineering works had finished by then. I didn't sleep on the plane at all, so I was quite tired by the time I got home, and I fell asleep in the armchair, only waking up at after 3am!
Braves @ Mets
The final game of my roadtrip was the first game of the final season series between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets. The journey to the stadium was without incident tonight, after the previous night's trek through Queens. I didn't have such a great seat for this game, as the same seat costs several times more for a game against the Braves than against the Pirates. The Mets classify opponents into one of five pricing levels, where the Braves are in level 2 whereas the Pirates are in the bottom level 5. However, the view from my $100 seat in section 414 was OK, and I had access to the Promenade Club on that level, plus the Acela club and Caesars Club in the level below. The clubs are worth having access to - very nice, although I thought that the food was on the expensive side for what it was.
Whilst being able to see the whole field well, I also had an excellent view of many of the planes that pass over Citi Field. The game itself was pretty close except for the inning in which the Braves scored all 6 of their (unearned) runs which carried them to an eventual 6-4 victory. An error and a walk to the opposing pitcher were the keys to the big inning, as Jason Heyward eventually hit a 3-run homer to cap the inning. Sadly, the Mets seem to have packed in the season already although they have a player with a great name: Duda. He hit his first MLB homer tonight to give the Mets fans in attendance something to look forward to next year, at least.
The funniest inter-inning event of my roadtrip occurred tonight. Often fans at the ballpark will have the opportunity to win something in a lottery or by answering questions about the team. Tonight, the promotional item involved the following sequence of messages on the giant scoreboard, with a live video feed of one particular section of the stands. The messages went something like this:
"An important announcement"
"for the Mets fan in section xxx, row yyy, seat zzz"
(at this point, the fan in question stands up and starts to look excited)
"You have ..."
(fan gets even more excited, wondering what he's won ...)
"B.O.!!!"
(fan looks slightly deflated and tries to sit down, but is being kept standing by his "friends" in the adjoining seats, and eventually manages to leave the stadium)
This was followed by an advert for the deodorant for which this was all a promotion. General concensus is that this was all being filmed for a TV advert, on the basis that the same thing happened a couple of days later too.
See also the MetsPolice blog (a fan blog, not actually the police force)
Whilst being able to see the whole field well, I also had an excellent view of many of the planes that pass over Citi Field. The game itself was pretty close except for the inning in which the Braves scored all 6 of their (unearned) runs which carried them to an eventual 6-4 victory. An error and a walk to the opposing pitcher were the keys to the big inning, as Jason Heyward eventually hit a 3-run homer to cap the inning. Sadly, the Mets seem to have packed in the season already although they have a player with a great name: Duda. He hit his first MLB homer tonight to give the Mets fans in attendance something to look forward to next year, at least.
The funniest inter-inning event of my roadtrip occurred tonight. Often fans at the ballpark will have the opportunity to win something in a lottery or by answering questions about the team. Tonight, the promotional item involved the following sequence of messages on the giant scoreboard, with a live video feed of one particular section of the stands. The messages went something like this:
"An important announcement"
"for the Mets fan in section xxx, row yyy, seat zzz"
(at this point, the fan in question stands up and starts to look excited)
"You have ..."
(fan gets even more excited, wondering what he's won ...)
"B.O.!!!"
(fan looks slightly deflated and tries to sit down, but is being kept standing by his "friends" in the adjoining seats, and eventually manages to leave the stadium)
This was followed by an advert for the deodorant for which this was all a promotion. General concensus is that this was all being filmed for a TV advert, on the basis that the same thing happened a couple of days later too.
See also the MetsPolice blog (a fan blog, not actually the police force)
Friday, 17 September 2010
Pirates @ Mets
I took the AirTrain to the subway station and took the E express headed towards Manhattan. To get to Mets games, you have to use the 7 line, as it's the only one that goes close, which meant changing trains at 71st-Roosevelt Avenue. At 71st, there were people saying that the 7 train wasn't running. There was an awful lot of confusion and nobody seemed to know where to go or what to do and there were hundreds of people. There were very few MTA staff anywhere to be seen. The one guarding the entrance to the 7 train said we had to leave the subway station and take a bus. He didn't elaborate on which bus or the location of the bus stop. Eventually, after about 20 minutes or so or milling around outside, a traffic policeman appeared and indicated that we should walk 4 blocks and catch a Q66 to take us to the ballgame. I met two Mets fans on their way to the game, both called Bob, who were friendly and we walked together, as they knew roughly where they were going - although there were lots of people streaming along all the pavements. We passed a tree that had been split in 3. After 15 minutes of walking, we reached Northern Boulevard and found the bus stop. There were about 50 people queueing. No buses came and the road was almost gridlocked. Then some buses did go past but were out of service. After 20 minutes of waiting, it was clear we weren't going to get anywhere and after phoning home to check the address of the stadium to see how far away it was, Bob and Bob decided to walk and I went with them. It was 50 blocks away, and it took over an hour, by which time I was exhausted. It was still raining slightly too.
I was sent up the private escalator to the Delta 360 club on the Sterling level, where my seat was. If that sounds posh, then that conveys what it's like perfectly. Although it was the middle of the 5th inning (half way through the game), I decided to have something to drink and eat inside first, as my seat was out in the rain. There was a bar, with seats, and lots of large easy chairs everywhere and lots of TVs on which to watch the game. Outside, most people were huddled at the back under what little shelter there was. I finally went back out to my seat during the bottom of the 7th inning. I showed the usher my ticket and he said I didn't have to sit in my assigned seat - it didn't matter where I sat. There were about 6 people in their seats in my section, section 17, just off to the third base side of the plate, with an excellent view. There are over 200 seats in the section. By now, the rain was leaving off and it was just a light drizzle. The usher had supplied several expensive-looking high-quality paper towels for drying the seat off which worked well. I was able to sit several rows closer to the front than I should have in a normal game. It would have been nice to see a whole game from there.
Just as Bob, Bob and I arrived at Citi Field, a 7 train went past on the subway, which at least meant that we'd be able to get back into town on the train after the game. However, the status updates were giving in the stadium towards the end of the game, indicating that the 7 was running again, but the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) was suspended between Manhattan and Jamaica (the end of the 'E' line, where I have to return to my hotel from). I did not hurry to leave the stadium after the game, chatting to my usher for a while, taking photos, waiting for the inevitable queues to clear. The upside of so many people not being able to get to the game in the first place was that there was a lot fewer people trying to leave again! In the end, I got back to my hotel about 12.30am. Since the LIRR wasn't working west of Jamaica, the E train was packed with commuters still trying to get home as well.
Later on, I discovered that a tornado had been spotted in Queens (the borough of New York that I'm in and the stadium is in) - something that the weather services here are still trying to clarify - and that lots of trees were down all over the city and the subway and the rail lines. In fact, this morning, LIRR is still disrupted.
I appear to have developed a cold as well, unfortunately - no doubt caught from the girl sitting next to me who was sniffing all the way from San Diego to Houston a couple of days ago.
I was sent up the private escalator to the Delta 360 club on the Sterling level, where my seat was. If that sounds posh, then that conveys what it's like perfectly. Although it was the middle of the 5th inning (half way through the game), I decided to have something to drink and eat inside first, as my seat was out in the rain. There was a bar, with seats, and lots of large easy chairs everywhere and lots of TVs on which to watch the game. Outside, most people were huddled at the back under what little shelter there was. I finally went back out to my seat during the bottom of the 7th inning. I showed the usher my ticket and he said I didn't have to sit in my assigned seat - it didn't matter where I sat. There were about 6 people in their seats in my section, section 17, just off to the third base side of the plate, with an excellent view. There are over 200 seats in the section. By now, the rain was leaving off and it was just a light drizzle. The usher had supplied several expensive-looking high-quality paper towels for drying the seat off which worked well. I was able to sit several rows closer to the front than I should have in a normal game. It would have been nice to see a whole game from there.
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| Excellent $102 seats for the Pirates/Mets game |
Just as Bob, Bob and I arrived at Citi Field, a 7 train went past on the subway, which at least meant that we'd be able to get back into town on the train after the game. However, the status updates were giving in the stadium towards the end of the game, indicating that the 7 was running again, but the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) was suspended between Manhattan and Jamaica (the end of the 'E' line, where I have to return to my hotel from). I did not hurry to leave the stadium after the game, chatting to my usher for a while, taking photos, waiting for the inevitable queues to clear. The upside of so many people not being able to get to the game in the first place was that there was a lot fewer people trying to leave again! In the end, I got back to my hotel about 12.30am. Since the LIRR wasn't working west of Jamaica, the E train was packed with commuters still trying to get home as well.
Later on, I discovered that a tornado had been spotted in Queens (the borough of New York that I'm in and the stadium is in) - something that the weather services here are still trying to clarify - and that lots of trees were down all over the city and the subway and the rail lines. In fact, this morning, LIRR is still disrupted.
I appear to have developed a cold as well, unfortunately - no doubt caught from the girl sitting next to me who was sniffing all the way from San Diego to Houston a couple of days ago.
Return to New York
The weather forecast for Thursday was not good - it looked like a band of thunderstorms were heading into the New York area, with a promise of prolonged periods of rain and thunderstorms all evening. Fortunately, my flight arrived early afternoon, and although it was a little bumpy during the descent, landed safely. I made my way to the hotel and have a room on the 4th floor again, where the wireless networking doesn't work properly. The cabled network didn't work either, but now I've plugged the wire directly into the port on the wall, it seems to be working.
The hotel shuttle turned up after I'd only been waiting a few minutes, and I got to the hotel at around 5.20pm. The front desk staff didn't believe me that there were thunderstorms due. Just before 6pm, a terrible storm struck New York, with lots of lightning, sheets of torrential rain, mostly horizontal in the gale force winds. However, it was just heavy rain when the 6pm shuttle back to the AirTrain was ready to leave, so I went anyway. This turned out to be a mistake.
The hotel shuttle turned up after I'd only been waiting a few minutes, and I got to the hotel at around 5.20pm. The front desk staff didn't believe me that there were thunderstorms due. Just before 6pm, a terrible storm struck New York, with lots of lightning, sheets of torrential rain, mostly horizontal in the gale force winds. However, it was just heavy rain when the 6pm shuttle back to the AirTrain was ready to leave, so I went anyway. This turned out to be a mistake.
Final night in Atlanta
I didn't get to do any tourist things in Atlanta, really. I went straight to the game on the day I arrived, and all of the daytime on my one full day in Atlanta was spent at the ballpark. In the evening, I went out for dinner with a colleague from work, Jon Green. Jon is in Atlanta with one of our customers, doing professional services work.
As a result, I was able to choose a restaurant that was in the recommended list but only reachable by car. The 4th&Swift restaurant (its name, not its location) was very nice and the portions were properly sized which was nice. The bill was very reasonable too, so Jon's going to be able to expense the part of the bill he got. It was nice to be able to sit and talk to somebody through the evening, for a change.
As a result, I was able to choose a restaurant that was in the recommended list but only reachable by car. The 4th&Swift restaurant (its name, not its location) was very nice and the portions were properly sized which was nice. The bill was very reasonable too, so Jon's going to be able to expense the part of the bill he got. It was nice to be able to sit and talk to somebody through the evening, for a change.
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Washington Nationals @ Atlanta Braves (2)
I ha a letter under my hotel room door last night saying that they needed to move me a different room, because they wanted to do painting and other decoration work on the 10th floor. This was accompanied by another $20 breakfast voucher, so I now have too many! In the end, they don't want me to move room, because I'm checking out tomorrow. But I still used the voucher.
I left the hotel rather late today, at 11.30am, but I was pleased to arrive at Turner Field just before midday. Today's game started at 12.10pm, and the Braves rested a number of their starters from the night game yesterday. I was in exactly the same seat as yesterday, but I choose to sit one to the right, so I could see better. Three people turned up on the 5th inning to sit in my row, and they left in the 7th again. Apart from that,. there was nobody else in my row. There didn't seem to be many people here at all, really. Probably a combination of it being a post-Labor-Day, mid-week, midday game against a not-very-good team: who beat them again today. The grand slam in the 2nd inning was enough to give the Nationals the game as the Braves couldn't get enough hits at the right time to push any more than 2 runs across. They had a base-running mistake, where a run did scored, but the run-down ended the inning.
Bobby Cox came to talk to the home plate umpire between innings, bringing his lineup card, so I assumed, along with the rest of the crowd, that he was going to change the pitcher's spot with a double-switch. However, after a while, the home plate umpire called over the crew chief from third base, and then the other two umpires went over, and they spent a couple of minutes looking at the lineup card and debating. In the end, Bobby returned to the Braves dugout and the game continued, with nobody the wiser. It wasn't even as if he was delaying the game so that he could get another pitcher ready - the pitcher already in the game pitched the whole inning. Since he's retiring after 20 years as manager of the Atlanta Braves, the Braves are doing several special events in their final homestand to end the season, which starts on September 27th. He's clearly liked and respected a great deal here.
Turner Field is fine for night games, more of a problem for day games if you're anywhere but the back few rows in the field level. The seats were hot to touch too, and the sun beats down on your back throughout the game. More shade came over my seat in the 8th inning, which was a relief, but those closer to towards the front and in the third base side didn't get any shade at all.
All the staff I spoke to were helpful and keen to offer assistance. Whenever I asked for directions, they insisted on showing me the way rather than just describing it. The premium seat food service is well-organised: you've got the people going up and down the aisles that you order from and pay, they put your order into their PDA and an inning or so later, somebody else delivers it. I eventually found somebody who could look at my ticket for the 28th September game, but they won't refund it as it is a single game ticket.
I left the hotel rather late today, at 11.30am, but I was pleased to arrive at Turner Field just before midday. Today's game started at 12.10pm, and the Braves rested a number of their starters from the night game yesterday. I was in exactly the same seat as yesterday, but I choose to sit one to the right, so I could see better. Three people turned up on the 5th inning to sit in my row, and they left in the 7th again. Apart from that,. there was nobody else in my row. There didn't seem to be many people here at all, really. Probably a combination of it being a post-Labor-Day, mid-week, midday game against a not-very-good team: who beat them again today. The grand slam in the 2nd inning was enough to give the Nationals the game as the Braves couldn't get enough hits at the right time to push any more than 2 runs across. They had a base-running mistake, where a run did scored, but the run-down ended the inning.
Bobby Cox came to talk to the home plate umpire between innings, bringing his lineup card, so I assumed, along with the rest of the crowd, that he was going to change the pitcher's spot with a double-switch. However, after a while, the home plate umpire called over the crew chief from third base, and then the other two umpires went over, and they spent a couple of minutes looking at the lineup card and debating. In the end, Bobby returned to the Braves dugout and the game continued, with nobody the wiser. It wasn't even as if he was delaying the game so that he could get another pitcher ready - the pitcher already in the game pitched the whole inning. Since he's retiring after 20 years as manager of the Atlanta Braves, the Braves are doing several special events in their final homestand to end the season, which starts on September 27th. He's clearly liked and respected a great deal here.
Turner Field is fine for night games, more of a problem for day games if you're anywhere but the back few rows in the field level. The seats were hot to touch too, and the sun beats down on your back throughout the game. More shade came over my seat in the 8th inning, which was a relief, but those closer to towards the front and in the third base side didn't get any shade at all.
All the staff I spoke to were helpful and keen to offer assistance. Whenever I asked for directions, they insisted on showing me the way rather than just describing it. The premium seat food service is well-organised: you've got the people going up and down the aisles that you order from and pay, they put your order into their PDA and an inning or so later, somebody else delivers it. I eventually found somebody who could look at my ticket for the 28th September game, but they won't refund it as it is a single game ticket.
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| Turner Field, view from section 101L, row 22. |
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| Bobby Cox and the umpires discuss the lineup card, the other umpires approach to join in |
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Washington Nationals @ Atlanta Braves
The hotel receptionist told me that there is a free shuttle provided to ferry people to the baseball game from the centre of town. This was useful to know - so I followed the instructions and 45 minutes later I'd arrived and had picked up all my tickets, including the one I don't want but can't get a refund for. Of course, with his recent surgery, I'm not going to be seeing Stephen Strasburg, but today I'm seeing Livan Hernandez for the Nats against Jair Jurrjens for the Braves.
I walked the long way around the stadium concourse to get to my seat which was directly behind home plate. Although this is good seat, and it's exactly the same seat as I've got tomorrow afternoon too, it is directly in line with the pitching rubber and home plate and a rather thick cable that runs up the protective netting to the remote-control TV camera on the top, which obscures things a little. Also, the umpire is standing in the way! And there was one person in the whole row in front of me, and he was in front of me, and his head blocked my view completely, although he kept leaning from side to side to see around the thick cable, so I had to lean the other way.
I've always liked Hernandez, ever since I saw him pitching for Florida (on TV) in 1997. He's ultra-cool and never rushes except when absolutely necessary (and even then, not always!) He doesn't make a fuss about things that aren't going his way or even things that are going his way. In the first inning, Adam Dunn (Nats) hit a massive home run out onto the centrefield concourse, measured as the 6th longest HR ever at Turner Field (opened 1997, as it used to be the Olympic Stadium) and Livan followed this up with an RBI double in the 2nd, and actually launched a home run of his own in the 4th inning, which drew the ire of the crowd. He did it all, including pitching 8 shutout innings just giving up 5 hits. At this point, what started as a fairly small crowd, rapidly dissipated and about half of the starting attendance saw Burnett strike out the side in the bottom of the 9th to seal the 7-0 win. Losses by the Braves are good news for the Giants, as the Braves lead the wildcard race, and if the Giants can't keep up with San Diego, they'll need to rely on the wildcard. The Braves still have ambitions of winning the NL East, of course, but if they do, then the Phillies would be the wildcard leader.
I walked the long way around the stadium concourse to get to my seat which was directly behind home plate. Although this is good seat, and it's exactly the same seat as I've got tomorrow afternoon too, it is directly in line with the pitching rubber and home plate and a rather thick cable that runs up the protective netting to the remote-control TV camera on the top, which obscures things a little. Also, the umpire is standing in the way! And there was one person in the whole row in front of me, and he was in front of me, and his head blocked my view completely, although he kept leaning from side to side to see around the thick cable, so I had to lean the other way.
I've always liked Hernandez, ever since I saw him pitching for Florida (on TV) in 1997. He's ultra-cool and never rushes except when absolutely necessary (and even then, not always!) He doesn't make a fuss about things that aren't going his way or even things that are going his way. In the first inning, Adam Dunn (Nats) hit a massive home run out onto the centrefield concourse, measured as the 6th longest HR ever at Turner Field (opened 1997, as it used to be the Olympic Stadium) and Livan followed this up with an RBI double in the 2nd, and actually launched a home run of his own in the 4th inning, which drew the ire of the crowd. He did it all, including pitching 8 shutout innings just giving up 5 hits. At this point, what started as a fairly small crowd, rapidly dissipated and about half of the starting attendance saw Burnett strike out the side in the bottom of the 9th to seal the 7-0 win. Losses by the Braves are good news for the Giants, as the Braves lead the wildcard race, and if the Giants can't keep up with San Diego, they'll need to rely on the wildcard. The Braves still have ambitions of winning the NL East, of course, but if they do, then the Phillies would be the wildcard leader.
Early morning
I set my alarms for 4.30am, 4.50am and 5.05am this morning, each recurring every 15 minutes, as I had my taxi coming at 5.25am to take me to the airport. I made sure that everthing bar essentials was packed the night before, and everything left over was laid out ready for final use before being packed, and I made it down to the lobby just about on time, where the taxi driver was waiting. All I had to do was drop my bag off and go through security, and the whole procedure took very little time, as I had suspected - in fact, less than half an hour after leaving my hotel room, I was through security, so I had time for a coffee.
It was just about light as we took off, in a Boeing 737-900. I had the aisle seat and somebody was in the window seat, with a gap between us. It was very modern, with a seatback TV for everybody on the plane, plus for $6 (free in 1st class), you could have live satellite TV throughout the flight. In the end, I didn't pay for that. Yet again, I seemed to be seated behind the only person who fully reclined their chair for the whole journey. The flight arrived early at Houston, but it was a long walk to the other end of the terminal building for the Atlanta flight. I knew I was on the upgrade standby list for this flight, because I saw it on the website when I checked in. However, when I arrived in Houston, I looked at the list on my laptop and I wasn't on it any more. I enquired at the desk why my name had been dropped off, and the lady poked around the computer for a bit and finally found out that I had indeed been put in first class, in seat 1A. Sadly, this was an older aircraft with no TVs at all, but I did get a free lunch: nuts, bowl of fruit, shrimp salad with champagne vinaigrette, cheese and crackers, two Milano biscuits, and constant refills of water and coffee - all served on proper plates, in proper glasses, with metal cutlery! I had intended to watch a TV programme that I had downloaded, however, by the time the meal was over with, we had nearly arrived at Atlanta.
I took the MARTA train from the airport into the centre of town and then got a bit lost finding the hotel, not helped by the directions being wrong (the bit where it says turn right, should say turn left), but fortunately, there are lots of maps around in the street so I didn't go far wrong. I arrived at the hotel and had a couple of surprises!
Firstly, as a Gold priority club member, I could choose a free gift (I chose a free breakfast, as the Internet here is free). Secondly, I noticed my name up on the wall in reception on a "Guest of the Day" poster! I'm not sure how they choose the Guest of the Day, and unfortunately, they'd spelt my name incorrectly and got the first and last names around the wrong way, but it was definitely me. The Guest of the Day automatically receives a free breakfast (so I've got two vouchers for free breakfasts, which is handy, as I'm here for two nights) plus a wad of vouchers for free drinks in the hotel bar, which is not so useful for me.
A colleague from work arrived at Atlanta airport from London a couple of hours after me, but he's staying out of town near a customer site. We are going out for dinner tomorrow evening. Maybe we'll find something to drink for free in the bar afterwards, although he'll be driving, so won't be able to use up all the vouchers.
It was just about light as we took off, in a Boeing 737-900. I had the aisle seat and somebody was in the window seat, with a gap between us. It was very modern, with a seatback TV for everybody on the plane, plus for $6 (free in 1st class), you could have live satellite TV throughout the flight. In the end, I didn't pay for that. Yet again, I seemed to be seated behind the only person who fully reclined their chair for the whole journey. The flight arrived early at Houston, but it was a long walk to the other end of the terminal building for the Atlanta flight. I knew I was on the upgrade standby list for this flight, because I saw it on the website when I checked in. However, when I arrived in Houston, I looked at the list on my laptop and I wasn't on it any more. I enquired at the desk why my name had been dropped off, and the lady poked around the computer for a bit and finally found out that I had indeed been put in first class, in seat 1A. Sadly, this was an older aircraft with no TVs at all, but I did get a free lunch: nuts, bowl of fruit, shrimp salad with champagne vinaigrette, cheese and crackers, two Milano biscuits, and constant refills of water and coffee - all served on proper plates, in proper glasses, with metal cutlery! I had intended to watch a TV programme that I had downloaded, however, by the time the meal was over with, we had nearly arrived at Atlanta.
I took the MARTA train from the airport into the centre of town and then got a bit lost finding the hotel, not helped by the directions being wrong (the bit where it says turn right, should say turn left), but fortunately, there are lots of maps around in the street so I didn't go far wrong. I arrived at the hotel and had a couple of surprises!
Firstly, as a Gold priority club member, I could choose a free gift (I chose a free breakfast, as the Internet here is free). Secondly, I noticed my name up on the wall in reception on a "Guest of the Day" poster! I'm not sure how they choose the Guest of the Day, and unfortunately, they'd spelt my name incorrectly and got the first and last names around the wrong way, but it was definitely me. The Guest of the Day automatically receives a free breakfast (so I've got two vouchers for free breakfasts, which is handy, as I'm here for two nights) plus a wad of vouchers for free drinks in the hotel bar, which is not so useful for me.
A colleague from work arrived at Atlanta airport from London a couple of hours after me, but he's staying out of town near a customer site. We are going out for dinner tomorrow evening. Maybe we'll find something to drink for free in the bar afterwards, although he'll be driving, so won't be able to use up all the vouchers.
SeaWorld San Diego
After the conclusion of the Giants/Padres series, I had a free day in San Diego before travelling on to Atlanta, so I took the hotel's free shuttle bus to SeaWorld for the day. The shuttle goes at 9.30am and returns at 5pm. it got me there at about 9.50am, which was OK, because they don't open the gates until 10am. My ticket cost $69, but it will let me go in as many times as I like in 2010 - there wasn't any discount for just one day. Although the gates opened at 10, the attractions didn't actually open for another 5 minutes, as we had to have the national anthem played before everything could start for the day!
I decided to view all the shows in the morning, so that I could look at things in the afternoon and be ready to be collected at 5pm. The shows are timetabled so tat you can do that. All the shows last 20-25 minutes, with a 45-minute gap between them. I think that since it is now out-of-season, they don't run the shows as many times during the day - each show only ran twice a day.
The first show I went to was the Sealions Live show, which took the form of two humans, two sealions and an otter performing on what was dressed as a TV show set, re-enacting several popular TV programmes, including Sea Lion SI (CSI), Dancing with the Pinnipeds (Strictly Come Dancing), and a couple of others too. The second show was the Blue Horizons show, in the Dolphin stadium. In addition to the dolphins, it featured some vultures and some other birds (I couldn't work out why) and some other animals, a lot of men dressed as birds on trapezes and splashing. The third was the Believe show featuring Shamu the killer whale. All serving military personnel were required to stand up before this show was allowed to being so that they could be clapped, which was very odd - San Diego seems to feel a closer association to the armed forces than many other cities. The San Diego Padres' Sunday uniforms is a khaki camouflage colour, too.
There was no shade at any of the shows, and it was a hot & sunny day. I had remembered to put the sun cream on everywhere except the back of my hands, which are now very red, whilst everywhere else is not so red. I decided not to bother with the Pets show or the Sesame Street show, as I thought that even the main shows were targeted at children, so those two would be not so good. I did visit the Penguins, in a nicely-cooled environment and the Arctic adventure area, which contained polar bears and Beluge whales, and was similarly pleasantly cold. After lunch, I went around the other aquarium buildings and took lots of pictures, athough my battery ran out towards the end of the day.
I left at 4.55pm, and the hotel van was waiting in the shuttle pickup area for me, and so I was back at the hotel before 5.30pm and was able to go out to dinner in the evening and then pack for the early start the next day - flight leaves at 6.40am, so I've got the taxi booked to take me to the airport at 5.25am (it's less than 10 minutes away - I can see the runway from my room! - and I've already checked in, just need to drop the bag off and go through security)
I decided to view all the shows in the morning, so that I could look at things in the afternoon and be ready to be collected at 5pm. The shows are timetabled so tat you can do that. All the shows last 20-25 minutes, with a 45-minute gap between them. I think that since it is now out-of-season, they don't run the shows as many times during the day - each show only ran twice a day.
The first show I went to was the Sealions Live show, which took the form of two humans, two sealions and an otter performing on what was dressed as a TV show set, re-enacting several popular TV programmes, including Sea Lion SI (CSI), Dancing with the Pinnipeds (Strictly Come Dancing), and a couple of others too. The second show was the Blue Horizons show, in the Dolphin stadium. In addition to the dolphins, it featured some vultures and some other birds (I couldn't work out why) and some other animals, a lot of men dressed as birds on trapezes and splashing. The third was the Believe show featuring Shamu the killer whale. All serving military personnel were required to stand up before this show was allowed to being so that they could be clapped, which was very odd - San Diego seems to feel a closer association to the armed forces than many other cities. The San Diego Padres' Sunday uniforms is a khaki camouflage colour, too.
There was no shade at any of the shows, and it was a hot & sunny day. I had remembered to put the sun cream on everywhere except the back of my hands, which are now very red, whilst everywhere else is not so red. I decided not to bother with the Pets show or the Sesame Street show, as I thought that even the main shows were targeted at children, so those two would be not so good. I did visit the Penguins, in a nicely-cooled environment and the Arctic adventure area, which contained polar bears and Beluge whales, and was similarly pleasantly cold. After lunch, I went around the other aquarium buildings and took lots of pictures, athough my battery ran out towards the end of the day.
I left at 4.55pm, and the hotel van was waiting in the shuttle pickup area for me, and so I was back at the hotel before 5.30pm and was able to go out to dinner in the evening and then pack for the early start the next day - flight leaves at 6.40am, so I've got the taxi booked to take me to the airport at 5.25am (it's less than 10 minutes away - I can see the runway from my room! - and I've already checked in, just need to drop the bag off and go through security)
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| Clyde & Seamore, with Biff in Sea Lions Live |
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| Dolphin Stadium, featuring other animals too |
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| Shamu show |
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| Penguin enclosure, plus a strange red & grey one! |
Monday, 13 September 2010
Peohe's
This evening, I went back on the ferry to Coronado Island to a restaurant that I found where when I visited earlier in the week. I took more pictures on the ferry on the way over, as it was approaching evening time and the light was starting to fade. Even though my reservation wasn't until later, they were able to let me in half an hour earlier, which was good, because I wanted to get the earlier ferry back to the other San Diego ferry port so I could visit other shops.
After I had been seated, with a nice bay view, the light started to fade fairly quickly. The twilight doesn't last very long this far South, and the light goes from day to night almost instantaneously. Peohe's doesn't have bright lighting - in fact, the lighting was so low, you almost couldn't tell that there was any at all, and the fake flickering electric "candles" in a jar didn't really case much light either. I could barely see the main course or the pudding speciality: Godiva Lava cake. When the bill game, I had to use the flashlight application on my phone to provide sufficient illumination to be able to read it!
Since the lava cake was so nice, I decided to return back to the hotel afterwards rather than visit Ghirardelli's for a pudding. The ferry journey back is slightly quicker, as it can take a more direct route due to the way the lanes are organised in the bay. One thing that the navy does do, though, is illumination: the fleet was all lit up! With lights! And this lot didn't go out. It was very pretty, but photographs don't tend to come out very well.
After I had been seated, with a nice bay view, the light started to fade fairly quickly. The twilight doesn't last very long this far South, and the light goes from day to night almost instantaneously. Peohe's doesn't have bright lighting - in fact, the lighting was so low, you almost couldn't tell that there was any at all, and the fake flickering electric "candles" in a jar didn't really case much light either. I could barely see the main course or the pudding speciality: Godiva Lava cake. When the bill game, I had to use the flashlight application on my phone to provide sufficient illumination to be able to read it!
Since the lava cake was so nice, I decided to return back to the hotel afterwards rather than visit Ghirardelli's for a pudding. The ferry journey back is slightly quicker, as it can take a more direct route due to the way the lanes are organised in the bay. One thing that the navy does do, though, is illumination: the fleet was all lit up! With lights! And this lot didn't go out. It was very pretty, but photographs don't tend to come out very well.
San Francisco Giants @ San Diego Padres (game 4)
The final game of this important 4 game series took place on Sunday afternoon at PETCO Park. My seat was on the third base side, where lots of other Giants fans were also sitting, near to the Giants' dugout. It was hot in the sun again, although as the game progressed into the 7th inning, the sun had moved around enough to put us in the shade.
Today was the big matchup of the aces: Lincecum for the Giants; Latos for the Padres. With Andres Torres in hospital having an appendectomy, the Giants lineup was rejigged slightly, but despite the change, Buster Posey highlighted the first inning with another 2-run home run. It turned out to be enough. Later Jose Guillen would had a sacrifice fly, and then Tim Lincecum himself slapped a 2-RBI single down the left field line, although in truth, it would have been a double if he'd run it out. The Padres got one run back, but that was it as the Giants tacked on another run and threatened in several other innings too. The big key was staying out of the double plays that had affected so many innings in the previous 3 games.
Pablo Sandoval had another interesting game. Having been responsible for hitting into several of the double plays in the series, he finally had a positive impact in this game. He got on base with a walk, and later hit a deep fly ball that enabled Cody Ross, pinch-running, to score from 1st base when the Padres' centrefielder, Durango, dropped the ball. Unfortunately for Pablo, that goes in the scorebook as "E8, no RBI". When he did finally make a run for home plate, it led to the comedy moment of the game, as he tried to smother the San Diego catcher, Yorvit Torrealba, by sort of half-collapsing and half-bellyflopping on top of him. He doesn't do sliding, clearly. However, he did also pull off a terrifically athletic diving catch at 3rd base to stop a Padres rally.
As with some other teams, the inter-inning entertainments were the same each day, which does get a little repetitive, although they never got around to the stolen base game today, where one selected fan has to run to second base, remove it from position and run back with it in order to win a prize. Everybody in the stadium won another 2 tacos though, as the lady guessed the right Jack Hat.
Today was the big matchup of the aces: Lincecum for the Giants; Latos for the Padres. With Andres Torres in hospital having an appendectomy, the Giants lineup was rejigged slightly, but despite the change, Buster Posey highlighted the first inning with another 2-run home run. It turned out to be enough. Later Jose Guillen would had a sacrifice fly, and then Tim Lincecum himself slapped a 2-RBI single down the left field line, although in truth, it would have been a double if he'd run it out. The Padres got one run back, but that was it as the Giants tacked on another run and threatened in several other innings too. The big key was staying out of the double plays that had affected so many innings in the previous 3 games.
Pablo Sandoval had another interesting game. Having been responsible for hitting into several of the double plays in the series, he finally had a positive impact in this game. He got on base with a walk, and later hit a deep fly ball that enabled Cody Ross, pinch-running, to score from 1st base when the Padres' centrefielder, Durango, dropped the ball. Unfortunately for Pablo, that goes in the scorebook as "E8, no RBI". When he did finally make a run for home plate, it led to the comedy moment of the game, as he tried to smother the San Diego catcher, Yorvit Torrealba, by sort of half-collapsing and half-bellyflopping on top of him. He doesn't do sliding, clearly. However, he did also pull off a terrifically athletic diving catch at 3rd base to stop a Padres rally.
As with some other teams, the inter-inning entertainments were the same each day, which does get a little repetitive, although they never got around to the stolen base game today, where one selected fan has to run to second base, remove it from position and run back with it in order to win a prize. Everybody in the stadium won another 2 tacos though, as the lady guessed the right Jack Hat.
Sunday, 12 September 2010
San Diego Bay Cruise
Today, I went on the two-hour cruise around the North Bay and South Bay, with the Hornblower Cruises company. This is rather an odd tour, because you can buy either tour separately or both together, but it's the same boat, so we did the North Bay tour and then returned to port for 15 minutes to let some people off and take more people on, then did the South Bay tour. For some odd reason, they don't sell tickets for South+North, only North+South! It was ideally timed though, as the tour started at 10am and finished at 12.15pm, which left three-quarters of an hour to get to the ballgame.
It has been cool and cloudy early in the day whilst I've been in San Diego, and today was no exception. However, by the time we docked at the end of the first half of the tour, the sun had started to break through and it was heating up. I saw the sealions lying on the dock, and lots of the navy ships during the tours. It's also the best place to get photographs of the San Diego skyline. In fact, the tours involved seeing an awful lot of Navy ships - the tour guide just enumerating them as we sailed past each one. I saw one dolphin, very briefly, but too quickly it was gone before I could take a photograph.
It has been cool and cloudy early in the day whilst I've been in San Diego, and today was no exception. However, by the time we docked at the end of the first half of the tour, the sun had started to break through and it was heating up. I saw the sealions lying on the dock, and lots of the navy ships during the tours. It's also the best place to get photographs of the San Diego skyline. In fact, the tours involved seeing an awful lot of Navy ships - the tour guide just enumerating them as we sailed past each one. I saw one dolphin, very briefly, but too quickly it was gone before I could take a photograph.
Saturday, 11 September 2010
San Francisco Giants @ San Diego Padres (game 3)
Saturday's game was a day game, and it was also September 11th. I was sitting arlund in section 105 again for this game, in the same seat that I had for Thursday evening games. Unfortunately, all of the 100-numbered sections are at the front of the field level in full sunshine for the whole game, which made it rather hot.
Thie game was over in just over 2 hours as a result of excellent pitching on both sides. Madison Bumgarner (candidate for name of the year) pitched 7 innings for the Giants, with no walks and just 3 hits, although the first hit was a solo home run to Yorvit Torrealba in the 3rd inning. When he was lifted for a pinch-hitter, he'd only thrown 79 pitches, but with the Giants down 1-0, offense was required. However, none was forthcoming and the Padres repaid the favour of the night before by taking a 1-0 victory. The Padres now lead the NL West by 1 game again with the mouth-watering finale of Lincecum vs Latos scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.
I nearly got a foul ball today. My seat was directly above the tunnel that the security and media people use to get to the field, next to the Padres dugout and one foul ball screamed down the tunnel and hit something hard inside. The girl next to me flinched like a girl. The guy sitting to my left has had season tickets for the past 25 years, so knew a fair bit about the Padres! He was interested in my road trip and what I thought of the various stadiums, so we chatted throughout the game.
Despite San Diego now leading the division again, the run-ins for the two teams are quite different, significantly favouring the Giants, I think. The Rockies are only 3GB too, at the moment, so they're in the mix. The Dodgers aren't, and neither are the Diamondbacks:
Thie game was over in just over 2 hours as a result of excellent pitching on both sides. Madison Bumgarner (candidate for name of the year) pitched 7 innings for the Giants, with no walks and just 3 hits, although the first hit was a solo home run to Yorvit Torrealba in the 3rd inning. When he was lifted for a pinch-hitter, he'd only thrown 79 pitches, but with the Giants down 1-0, offense was required. However, none was forthcoming and the Padres repaid the favour of the night before by taking a 1-0 victory. The Padres now lead the NL West by 1 game again with the mouth-watering finale of Lincecum vs Latos scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.
I nearly got a foul ball today. My seat was directly above the tunnel that the security and media people use to get to the field, next to the Padres dugout and one foul ball screamed down the tunnel and hit something hard inside. The girl next to me flinched like a girl. The guy sitting to my left has had season tickets for the past 25 years, so knew a fair bit about the Padres! He was interested in my road trip and what I thought of the various stadiums, so we chatted throughout the game.
Despite San Diego now leading the division again, the run-ins for the two teams are quite different, significantly favouring the Giants, I think. The Rockies are only 3GB too, at the moment, so they're in the mix. The Dodgers aren't, and neither are the Diamondbacks:
| Giants | Padres | Rockies |
|---|---|---|
| 3 vs LAD | 3 @ COL | 3 vs SD |
| 3 vs MIL | 4 @ STL | 3 @ LAD |
| 3 @ CHC | 3 @ LAD | 3 @ ARI |
| 3 @ COL | 3 vs CIN | 3 vs SF |
| 3 vs ARI | 4 vs CHC | 3 vs LAD |
| 3 vs SD | 3 @ SF | 4 @ STL |
Friday, 10 September 2010
San Francisco Giants @ San Diego Padres (2)
Friday's game 2 of the series was a night game, like game 1. Having won the first game, the Giants were only 1 game back in the NL West standings, hoping for a win to put them into a tie for first place. Tonight, I was in section 102 which was right behind the plate, just off-centre to the 3rd base side. I was in the back row of the front set of seats, and there were spaces either side which was nice.
The game was scoreless through 6 innings, and quite fast moving too, really. The Giants' pitcher Jonathan Sanchez did not have very good control, despite giving up very few hits, he walked a ton of batters - I lost count of the number that he put on base, but then stranded. The Giants pinch-hit for him in the 6th inning, but his line will look OK except for the walks (5IP, 1H, 0R, 7BB, ND) This game was a complete contrast from Thursday's game that was dominated by the home run. The Giants were handicapped by hitting into yet more double plays today, to add to the 3 they hit into yesterday - nothing stops a rally faster than a quick double-play.
In the end, what was a very close call in the 7th inning may have decided the game. The Giants' Aubrey Huff got hit by a pitch and immediately ran towards the Giants dugout, until he saw the trainer and manager coming out to see if he was alright, at which point he reversed direction and ran off to first base, chased by the coach and manager. He took second on a strikeout, jarring the ball out of Eckstein's hand as he arrived, and beat a throw to a third on a routine groundout, before scoring on what should have been an inning-ending double-play that Uribe hit in to. The Padres started to mount their challenge in the bottom of the 8th, and so the closer, Brian Wilson, was summoned to stop the threat, which he did. However, the Giants conspired to get men on base on the top of the 9th, and because Bochy hadn't double-switched Wilson into the game, Wilson actually had his 5th at-bat of the season . To be honest, he looked all at sea, and didn't seem to really know which end of the bat to hold. However, he came back to his proper job in the bottom of the 9th and closed the game out to give the Giants a 1-0 victory that puts them leave with San Diego atop the NL West.
The game had motored along for the first 6 innings, completed in an hour and a half, but the intensity of the game slowed it down from there on and the game took just over the 3 hours to complete.
For the first time in 70 or so games that I've attended, there was a problem with a drunk and disorderly spectator near me. Two girls and a man turned up during the top of the 7th inning and sat next to me with one seat gap. The girl nearest to me was clearly very drunk and kept poking me and screaming for one team or the other and generally making a nuisance of herself. I cast a quick glance to the steward at the back of the section and noticed that they were being observed. During the bottom of the 7th, two policewomen arrived to escort the two girls away, which was nice. Everything returned to normal after that.
The game was scoreless through 6 innings, and quite fast moving too, really. The Giants' pitcher Jonathan Sanchez did not have very good control, despite giving up very few hits, he walked a ton of batters - I lost count of the number that he put on base, but then stranded. The Giants pinch-hit for him in the 6th inning, but his line will look OK except for the walks (5IP, 1H, 0R, 7BB, ND) This game was a complete contrast from Thursday's game that was dominated by the home run. The Giants were handicapped by hitting into yet more double plays today, to add to the 3 they hit into yesterday - nothing stops a rally faster than a quick double-play.
In the end, what was a very close call in the 7th inning may have decided the game. The Giants' Aubrey Huff got hit by a pitch and immediately ran towards the Giants dugout, until he saw the trainer and manager coming out to see if he was alright, at which point he reversed direction and ran off to first base, chased by the coach and manager. He took second on a strikeout, jarring the ball out of Eckstein's hand as he arrived, and beat a throw to a third on a routine groundout, before scoring on what should have been an inning-ending double-play that Uribe hit in to. The Padres started to mount their challenge in the bottom of the 8th, and so the closer, Brian Wilson, was summoned to stop the threat, which he did. However, the Giants conspired to get men on base on the top of the 9th, and because Bochy hadn't double-switched Wilson into the game, Wilson actually had his 5th at-bat of the season . To be honest, he looked all at sea, and didn't seem to really know which end of the bat to hold. However, he came back to his proper job in the bottom of the 9th and closed the game out to give the Giants a 1-0 victory that puts them leave with San Diego atop the NL West.
The game had motored along for the first 6 innings, completed in an hour and a half, but the intensity of the game slowed it down from there on and the game took just over the 3 hours to complete.
For the first time in 70 or so games that I've attended, there was a problem with a drunk and disorderly spectator near me. Two girls and a man turned up during the top of the 7th inning and sat next to me with one seat gap. The girl nearest to me was clearly very drunk and kept poking me and screaming for one team or the other and generally making a nuisance of herself. I cast a quick glance to the steward at the back of the section and noticed that they were being observed. During the bottom of the 7th, two policewomen arrived to escort the two girls away, which was nice. Everything returned to normal after that.
Coronado
Today, I went on a brief trip across the bay to Coronado. It's actually joined to the mainland by two road bridges, although it is technically an island. I crossed to the island via the ferry boat, as all the long bay tours were fully booked. I'm hoping to go on the bay tour tomorrow or Monday. There is a group of touristy shops and restaurants there, where I had an ice cream. I was able to paddle briefly in the Pacific Ocean, as they have sandy beaches on the island, whereas the mainland side of the bay is mainly sea-defence rockpiles or the piers for the port of San Diego and the ferries and the military and the cruises.
I see the weather forecast on my phone every day and it keeps telling me that it's 21C/70F. I'm sorry, but I just don't believe it. It's at least 25, if not higher. However, it does get rather chilly in the evenings, so I don't believe the 18C/64F temperature reading either. I am really surprised at how cold it gets here.
I see the weather forecast on my phone every day and it keeps telling me that it's 21C/70F. I'm sorry, but I just don't believe it. It's at least 25, if not higher. However, it does get rather chilly in the evenings, so I don't believe the 18C/64F temperature reading either. I am really surprised at how cold it gets here.
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| Coronado shops and part of the beach, from the ferry |
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| San Diego skyline, from the ferry |
Click on the images
In case you didn't realise, if you click on the images in the posts, you'll get the full-size 3072x2304 pixel 3MB versions!
San Francisco Giants @ San Diego Padres (game 1)
Thursday evening was the first game in a crucial four game series between the Giants and the Padres. The Padres come in with a 2-game lead in the NL West race.
Torres got the top of the 1st off to a good start with a triple, scoring later on Sanchez's single. The Giants' pitcher, Matt Cain, doesn't often seem to get much run support, so this was an encouraging start. It got better in the third, when Aubrey Huff hit a ball out to centre, over the 400ft sign, with a runner on base. Despite Will Venable getting one back in the bottom of the 3rd, Uribe hit a solo shot, then Buster Posey - a rookie of the year candidate, who'll garner more votes if he hits more 2-run shots like that - in the 5th, and then Pat Burrell clobbered one off the top of the Western Metal Supply Co building.
In fact, San Francisco should have been a lot further ahead, but the Pades got 3 double plays in the early innings (two by Pablo Sandoval) which erased a number of their baserunners.
Meanwhile, Matt Cain was busy working on 3-hitter until he tired in the 9th and the Padres got a couple of runs back. It was good to see Bruce Bochy allowing him the chance to go out and finish it - Cain had only thrown 108 pitches through 8, so had a great chance of the complete game. His line finished as 8+IP, 3ER, 5H, as the bullpet shut it all down and sealed the win.
I nearly got a ball today - but from the Padres mascot, rather than a foul ball hit by a player.
It got quite chilly in the late innings - reminiscent of San Francisco, in fact!
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| An excellent view of the action from my seat |
Torres got the top of the 1st off to a good start with a triple, scoring later on Sanchez's single. The Giants' pitcher, Matt Cain, doesn't often seem to get much run support, so this was an encouraging start. It got better in the third, when Aubrey Huff hit a ball out to centre, over the 400ft sign, with a runner on base. Despite Will Venable getting one back in the bottom of the 3rd, Uribe hit a solo shot, then Buster Posey - a rookie of the year candidate, who'll garner more votes if he hits more 2-run shots like that - in the 5th, and then Pat Burrell clobbered one off the top of the Western Metal Supply Co building.
In fact, San Francisco should have been a lot further ahead, but the Pades got 3 double plays in the early innings (two by Pablo Sandoval) which erased a number of their baserunners.
Meanwhile, Matt Cain was busy working on 3-hitter until he tired in the 9th and the Padres got a couple of runs back. It was good to see Bruce Bochy allowing him the chance to go out and finish it - Cain had only thrown 108 pitches through 8, so had a great chance of the complete game. His line finished as 8+IP, 3ER, 5H, as the bullpet shut it all down and sealed the win.
I nearly got a ball today - but from the Padres mascot, rather than a foul ball hit by a player.
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| The Swinging Friar - mascot of the Padres - on top of the San Diego dugout |
Harbour walk
Today was my first full day in San Diego. I decided to walk over to the bay and see what was there and walk along a bit. I took a lot of pictures of the marina, the bay, the historic boats and Seaport Village.
I had expected San Diego to be hot, but it isn't. It's only around 21C/70F in the day according to the forecasts, although I'd have said it was hotter than that, and in the evening it's downright chilly. Many parallels with San Francisco, with the cold Pacific Ocean on the doorstep providing the cooling. San Diego is the last place on my trip that I would have considered my coat might be required!
I had expected San Diego to be hot, but it isn't. It's only around 21C/70F in the day according to the forecasts, although I'd have said it was hotter than that, and in the evening it's downright chilly. Many parallels with San Francisco, with the cold Pacific Ocean on the doorstep providing the cooling. San Diego is the last place on my trip that I would have considered my coat might be required!
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| View over the South Bay from the San Diego Convention Centre |
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| The expensive end of the marina |
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| The centre of Seaport Village, a group of shops near the waterfront |
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Admiral Ackbar to be new mascot of a US college sports program?
I saw this on ESPN and thought it was some kind of weird TV programme, but no, it's actually true! The University of Mississippi is looking to update its sports mascot and the current front runner is ... Admiral Ackbar!
The full story on TMZ.com
The full story on TMZ.com
Donovan's
This evening, I had dinner at Donovan's Steak and Chop House. I had booked this whlist waiting in the lobby for the SuperShuttle in Denver this morning, as I have the OpenTable application on my phone that lets me set up the bookings. Although I knew roughly where in town it was, I didn't realise it was next door to PETCO Park - the home of the San Diego Padres, who were playing the finale of their series against the Los Angeles Dodgers this evening. I'll be in an attending capacity tomorrow for the series opener between San Francisco and San Diego.
I spent another $100 on the dinner tonight, but it was excellent. The smoked salmon starter was expensive but excellent, and the steak fell apart when the knife was rested on it. I walked down from the hotel in about half an hour whilst was slightly downhill. The restaurant even has a free shuttle van to take diners back to their hotels, which is a good idea, but I decided to walk back, which took an hour because it was uphill and I went a slightly longer way around to have a look around.
I spent another $100 on the dinner tonight, but it was excellent. The smoked salmon starter was expensive but excellent, and the steak fell apart when the knife was rested on it. I walked down from the hotel in about half an hour whilst was slightly downhill. The restaurant even has a free shuttle van to take diners back to their hotels, which is a good idea, but I decided to walk back, which took an hour because it was uphill and I went a slightly longer way around to have a look around.
Bay view
I have arrived in San Diego this afternoon, where it was a little cloudy earlier, but is now bright and sunny.
I had to get up relatively early this morning for my 8.35am shuttle pickup for the trip to the airport. The journey took an hour, but over half of that was spent going around in circles through the one-way system in the middle of Denver visiting different hotels. The flight arrived 15 minutes early, and fortunately, the complimentary shuttle for the hotel turned up just when I did, so I didn't have to phone for it and then wait.
I had reserved a room with a bay view, because it wasn't any more expensive with one that didn't have a bay view. The hotel is a round tower, so fortunately, I'm near the top and not facing the freeway or the airport, as those can get quite noisy. One of the hotel reviews I read said that he could wave to the passengers on the planes as they landed!
I had to get up relatively early this morning for my 8.35am shuttle pickup for the trip to the airport. The journey took an hour, but over half of that was spent going around in circles through the one-way system in the middle of Denver visiting different hotels. The flight arrived 15 minutes early, and fortunately, the complimentary shuttle for the hotel turned up just when I did, so I didn't have to phone for it and then wait.
I had reserved a room with a bay view, because it wasn't any more expensive with one that didn't have a bay view. The hotel is a round tower, so fortunately, I'm near the top and not facing the freeway or the airport, as those can get quite noisy. One of the hotel reviews I read said that he could wave to the passengers on the planes as they landed!
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| View from my room on the 15th floor |
Reds @ Rockies - game 2
I had a lazy day on Tuesday, as the game was scheduled for the evening. I wandered about the shops on the 16th Street Mall instead. There was a piper standing on the street corner outside my hotel, and although I was on the 4th floor, in a room with sealed windows, I could still hear him quite clearly as he ran through his entire repertoire of Scotland The Brave, The Skye Boat Song and God Bless America. Twice. God Bless America on the bagpipes ... doesn't work, if you were wondering.
Since the game was an evening game starting at 6.40pm, I had my main dinner at 5pm at the Keg restaurant near to the ballpark. I was quite surprised that the restaurant wasn't busier than it was, it was probably less than half full, and it's a recommended restaurant only 5 minutes walk from Coors Field. The dinner was very nice and very good value, I thought - much cheaper than the other places I'd eaten in Denver.
I was sitting in the club level on the first base side for this evening's game, whereas on Monday i was on the third base side. I had a front row seat in row 2 because that section juts out sideways as it goes from front to back, so I had an excellent view sitting next to some senior ladies who had come down from Aurora, near the airport, to support their team. The lady sitting next to me was very chatty and even offered me some of her peanuts to nibble on during the game.
The game opened up very early as CarGo (Carlos Gonzalez) hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the 1st inning to put the Rockies on top early, with a lead that they would never relinquish. To be honest, the Reds wre fortunate now to be down even more early on as the Rockies had loads of baserunners. However, the Reds kept it much closer today, as they got a couple back and then a third after the Rockies had added one on. The crowd was really into the game today with lots of ear-splittingly loud cheering. Huston Street saved the game in the 9th, to give the Rockies another win. CarGo is now leading in two of the three triple crown categories (RBI and batting average), and trails Albert Pujols by just 3 in the home run category. With the majority of his remaining games at home, he has an excellent chance of winning the NL HR race too.
I'm now at Denver airport, just about to board the flight to San Diego.
Since the game was an evening game starting at 6.40pm, I had my main dinner at 5pm at the Keg restaurant near to the ballpark. I was quite surprised that the restaurant wasn't busier than it was, it was probably less than half full, and it's a recommended restaurant only 5 minutes walk from Coors Field. The dinner was very nice and very good value, I thought - much cheaper than the other places I'd eaten in Denver.
I was sitting in the club level on the first base side for this evening's game, whereas on Monday i was on the third base side. I had a front row seat in row 2 because that section juts out sideways as it goes from front to back, so I had an excellent view sitting next to some senior ladies who had come down from Aurora, near the airport, to support their team. The lady sitting next to me was very chatty and even offered me some of her peanuts to nibble on during the game.
The game opened up very early as CarGo (Carlos Gonzalez) hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the 1st inning to put the Rockies on top early, with a lead that they would never relinquish. To be honest, the Reds wre fortunate now to be down even more early on as the Rockies had loads of baserunners. However, the Reds kept it much closer today, as they got a couple back and then a third after the Rockies had added one on. The crowd was really into the game today with lots of ear-splittingly loud cheering. Huston Street saved the game in the 9th, to give the Rockies another win. CarGo is now leading in two of the three triple crown categories (RBI and batting average), and trails Albert Pujols by just 3 in the home run category. With the majority of his remaining games at home, he has an excellent chance of winning the NL HR race too.
I'm now at Denver airport, just about to board the flight to San Diego.
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Some photos from Denver
Here are a couple of photographs from Denver.
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| 16th Street Mall, Denver |
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| Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies |
Monday, 6 September 2010
Reds @ Rockies - game 1
Monday September 6th was Labor Day here in the United States, and I'm in Colorado to see the Rockies open a homestand with a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds. The forecast was for a sunny day with the temperature preductd to hit 32C/90F again. I made sure that I had used the factor 50 sucream that I had bought the evening before, as today's game was a day game, with first pitch at 1.10pm.
I have tickets in the club level again here, which was handy, as the air-conditioned club level is much more pleasant than the other levels. Fortunately, the third-base side of the club seats are in shade, even during day games, so I didn't have to sit in the direct sunlight. It was surprisingly windy too, so there were lots of hotdog wrappers flying through the air. Whilst the skies were clear over Denver, the mountain view was obscured by some low cloud.
The 7th inning stretch today featured a rather good trumpet solo from a US Navy sailor performing God Bless America. The crowd were invited to sing along, but participation was somewhat limited, but he got a deserved cheer at the end as he departed the field. This was immediately followed by the traditional Take Me Out To The Ballgame, which more people joined in with. After that, we had "Hey! Baby" (apparently, originally a hit in 1962). This received almost total crowd participation, and with its chorus's closing line of "will you be my girl", is an excuse for the camera crews to find lots of good-looking women in the crowd to be displayed on the big scoreboard screen.
The Rockies had their ace pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez going against the Reds' Aaron Harang. Everything was cruising along for two scoreless innings, and then in the third inning everything set off. The Reds scored 4 runs in quick time and with a coaching visit to the mound, it looked like "U" could be out early, but Jim Tracy decided to stick with him - he had fewer than 50 pitches, despite the high-scoring inning, and he re-paid the manager's faith by closing out the inning with just the 4 runs conceded. The bottom of the 3rd inning, Colorado also managed to put 4 runs on the board, with some hard hit balls to the fence. However, Dusty Baker didn't leave his starter in, pulling him after 2 2/3 innings, having thrown 72 pitches.
In the end Jimenez threw 122 pitches in 6 innings and left with a 5-4 lead that the Rockies would never surrender, as they added on another 5. Lots of baserunners all over the place in this one, and the game took 3hr15 even though only 8 1/2 innings were needed.
The poor Colorado catcher, Oliva, had a nasty moment in the top of the 9th, when he was caught awkwardly by a foul ball and collapsed in obvious agony. At first the crowd were concerned, until Tracy and the trainer came out and just stood next to him without touching anything - at which point it became clear what the point of impact was. It was clearly a tough one, because Oliva was on all-fours and tried to stand up after a while, but collapsed back down again immediately. Still after a couple of minutes, he received an ovation and carried on, although once the strikeout of the batter was completed and he threw the ball around to the first baseman, he managed to short-hop it, so was clearly still feeling it a little.
I have tickets in the club level again here, which was handy, as the air-conditioned club level is much more pleasant than the other levels. Fortunately, the third-base side of the club seats are in shade, even during day games, so I didn't have to sit in the direct sunlight. It was surprisingly windy too, so there were lots of hotdog wrappers flying through the air. Whilst the skies were clear over Denver, the mountain view was obscured by some low cloud.
The 7th inning stretch today featured a rather good trumpet solo from a US Navy sailor performing God Bless America. The crowd were invited to sing along, but participation was somewhat limited, but he got a deserved cheer at the end as he departed the field. This was immediately followed by the traditional Take Me Out To The Ballgame, which more people joined in with. After that, we had "Hey! Baby" (apparently, originally a hit in 1962). This received almost total crowd participation, and with its chorus's closing line of "will you be my girl", is an excuse for the camera crews to find lots of good-looking women in the crowd to be displayed on the big scoreboard screen.
The Rockies had their ace pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez going against the Reds' Aaron Harang. Everything was cruising along for two scoreless innings, and then in the third inning everything set off. The Reds scored 4 runs in quick time and with a coaching visit to the mound, it looked like "U" could be out early, but Jim Tracy decided to stick with him - he had fewer than 50 pitches, despite the high-scoring inning, and he re-paid the manager's faith by closing out the inning with just the 4 runs conceded. The bottom of the 3rd inning, Colorado also managed to put 4 runs on the board, with some hard hit balls to the fence. However, Dusty Baker didn't leave his starter in, pulling him after 2 2/3 innings, having thrown 72 pitches.
In the end Jimenez threw 122 pitches in 6 innings and left with a 5-4 lead that the Rockies would never surrender, as they added on another 5. Lots of baserunners all over the place in this one, and the game took 3hr15 even though only 8 1/2 innings were needed.
The poor Colorado catcher, Oliva, had a nasty moment in the top of the 9th, when he was caught awkwardly by a foul ball and collapsed in obvious agony. At first the crowd were concerned, until Tracy and the trainer came out and just stood next to him without touching anything - at which point it became clear what the point of impact was. It was clearly a tough one, because Oliva was on all-fours and tried to stand up after a while, but collapsed back down again immediately. Still after a couple of minutes, he received an ovation and carried on, although once the strikeout of the batter was completed and he threw the ball around to the first baseman, he managed to short-hop it, so was clearly still feeling it a little.
Denver Chophouse
The Denver Chophouse was the restaurant I had booked for dinner on Sunday evening after arriving in Colorado in the early afternoon. The restaurant was busier than I had expected, so it was a good job that I had booked. That's twice now that I've turned up at a restaurant with a booking and been shown directly to a table, whilst the walk-ins were having to stand and wait. This steak was fairly expensive too, but it was nice, but it filled me up so I passed on the dessert again.
Having felt the heat earlier in the day and seen the forecast for the next couple of days, I decided that it would be a good idea to buy some sun cream. I hadn't needed any in Minneapolis and got by in New York as I knew I wasn't going to be outside much. Fortunately, many of the shops will still open at 9pm even on a Sunday, so I was able to get some.
The downtown area of Denver hasn't changed much since I last visited, except for there being a lot more roadworks! So I'm not going to take a lot of new photos this year.
Having felt the heat earlier in the day and seen the forecast for the next couple of days, I decided that it would be a good idea to buy some sun cream. I hadn't needed any in Minneapolis and got by in New York as I knew I wasn't going to be outside much. Fortunately, many of the shops will still open at 9pm even on a Sunday, so I was able to get some.
The downtown area of Denver hasn't changed much since I last visited, except for there being a lot more roadworks! So I'm not going to take a lot of new photos this year.
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Minneapolis to Denver
I had breakfast earlier today, as I had to get down to the airport for my flight to Denver. When I went down in the lift, there were a couple of porters wheeling about luggage with nice looking Texas Rangers baggage tags on them. Lots of the visiting fans stay at the hotel, because it's convenient for the ballpark. However, as I was leaving the hotel, I shared a lift with Rich Harden and a couple other Texas Rangers players who I didn't recognise. Apparently, most of the visiting teams stay in the Marriott that I was in, but they are up on the concierge-level restricted floors at the top. I didn't ask for autographs or anything like that, as they clearly "off-duty" as it were.
When I checked in online the night before, I was most displeased at being asked to pay a $23 baggage fee by United Airlines. My whole itinerary is with Continental, but with two of the internal flights operated by United (these are two airlines that have just had their plans to merge approved). Continental also have baggage fees, but they are waived for all the flights in an itinerary if it includes an international flight, as mine does, obviously. However, for the codeshare flight, they created a separate itinerary on United contaning just the internal flights, and thus no international leg, and therefore a $23 fee. I expressed my displeasure to the Continental staff at Minneapolis St Paul and to the United staff at Denver, but didn't get anything other than an apology and a promise that I'm going to have to pay another $23 for my Denver to San Diego flight on Wednesday which is another codeshare flight operated by United.
I paid to upgrade to Economy Plus (it was only £20) and had the three seats in row 11 on my side of the aisle to myself, so plenty of space. At Denver, I bought a round-trip Supershuttle journey to the hotel and back for $34 as there's no useful public transportation from the airport to downtown. The flight left on time and arrived 20 minutes early. The hotel room is very nice, and I've taken the option of getting bonus Marriott points by not having the room serviced. I rarely really need my room serviced anyway, and this one's got two beds that I can use.
It's warm here in Denver - 33C/92F, but I'm sitting in my airconditioned hotel room until dinner time in a couple of hours or so which I've got booked at another expensive steak house right next to Coors Field, although the Rockies are away from home today, so I don't expect it will be to busy.
When I checked in online the night before, I was most displeased at being asked to pay a $23 baggage fee by United Airlines. My whole itinerary is with Continental, but with two of the internal flights operated by United (these are two airlines that have just had their plans to merge approved). Continental also have baggage fees, but they are waived for all the flights in an itinerary if it includes an international flight, as mine does, obviously. However, for the codeshare flight, they created a separate itinerary on United contaning just the internal flights, and thus no international leg, and therefore a $23 fee. I expressed my displeasure to the Continental staff at Minneapolis St Paul and to the United staff at Denver, but didn't get anything other than an apology and a promise that I'm going to have to pay another $23 for my Denver to San Diego flight on Wednesday which is another codeshare flight operated by United.
I paid to upgrade to Economy Plus (it was only £20) and had the three seats in row 11 on my side of the aisle to myself, so plenty of space. At Denver, I bought a round-trip Supershuttle journey to the hotel and back for $34 as there's no useful public transportation from the airport to downtown. The flight left on time and arrived 20 minutes early. The hotel room is very nice, and I've taken the option of getting bonus Marriott points by not having the room serviced. I rarely really need my room serviced anyway, and this one's got two beds that I can use.
It's warm here in Denver - 33C/92F, but I'm sitting in my airconditioned hotel room until dinner time in a couple of hours or so which I've got booked at another expensive steak house right next to Coors Field, although the Rockies are away from home today, so I don't expect it will be to busy.
Capital Grille requires substantial capital to pay bill
For my final evening in Minneapolis, I went to the Capital Grille which is just a block away from the hotel. It's one of those places where the menu doesn't have $ signs next to the prices and when the menu offers you a steak, you know that that's exactly all you are going to get, so you have to add all the sides individually (at $9 a pop).
The smoked salmon appetizer was very nice, though a main course in itself really. The "Filet Oscar" steak ($43) was very nice for a fillet steak, but perhaps I should have had the sirloin or the porterhouse. The lady sitting at the next table, who I chatted to and her husband briefly during the meal and for quite a while afterwards, had the 24oz porterhouse and we all just laughed at the size of it when it came.
I passed on a dessert and coffee. Once the tip was added, the bill came to over $90, for just the two courses! The food is excellent, though, and I don't mind paying for that. All the staff at the Capital Grille are excellent and can talk knowledgably about everything that they offer, including the extensive wine list. I also talked to the hostess at the front desk for quite a while when I had finished and was leaving, and described my holiday to her.
The smoked salmon appetizer was very nice, though a main course in itself really. The "Filet Oscar" steak ($43) was very nice for a fillet steak, but perhaps I should have had the sirloin or the porterhouse. The lady sitting at the next table, who I chatted to and her husband briefly during the meal and for quite a while afterwards, had the 24oz porterhouse and we all just laughed at the size of it when it came.
I passed on a dessert and coffee. Once the tip was added, the bill came to over $90, for just the two courses! The food is excellent, though, and I don't mind paying for that. All the staff at the Capital Grille are excellent and can talk knowledgably about everything that they offer, including the extensive wine list. I also talked to the hostess at the front desk for quite a while when I had finished and was leaving, and described my holiday to her.
Saturday, 4 September 2010
Texas Rangers @ Minnesota Twins - game 2
Although there were no tickets left for Saturday's game when I bought the other two on Thursday, after Friday night's game, I visited the ticket window, as the ticket man on Thursday had suggested that sometimes tickets may have been withheld until the last minute or returned.
I got the last seat for Saturday's game.
This final seat was in the Legends Club again, section A this time, but in the wheelchair row again, which was an excellent place. The views are just as good as from section L on the other side. This was a day game, and first pitch happened on schedule, as all the ceremonials had been carried out much earlier in the day. I arrived about 15 minutes before the start of the game, as the hotel had had some trouble with my door: the cleaner's key couldn't open it; the hotel's maintenance guy's key couldn't open it; my own key worked perfectly! The maintenance guy said that as long as my key was working, he wasn't going to tamper with the system and potentially break it! However, they must have sorted out the problem, because my room had been serviced when I got back from the ballgame.
As a contest, this game was over by the end of the 1st inning, as the Twins managed to bat around and take a 5-0 lead, highlighted by Jim Thome's 583rd career home run (441ft), tying McGwire for 9th all-time, and a bases-clearing triple by Tolbert, in for the rested Valencia. Tolbert would hit another triple later in the game, whilst Thome went on to hit a 400+ ft 3-run HR in the 4th inning to stretch the lead to 9-0 and whilst there were some brief signs of life from the Rangers after that, the Twins added on more to give Carl Pavano an easy win and, more importantly, to rest the bullpen.
Josh Hamilton seemed to hurt his arm again whilst fielding and although he continued after a medical visit to centre field, was substituted shortly after his next at-bat - I'm afraid he looked like he was in some pain. This must be a real concern for the Rangers - they really can't afford to lose him for the stretch run.
I really enjoy watching Vladimir Guerrero bat, with his style of trying to hit pretty much anything that is physically reachable, whether it bounces out front or is above his head. He'll never die wondering, that's for sure.
I've really enjoyed all three games that I've seen here in Minneapolis. The stadium really is beautiful, and looks so different to the other new ballparks I have seen, including Yankee Stadium. All of the staff have been so friendly and willing to chat and help. I hope they can sort out the isues with overseas credit cards, because I'd really like to return here quite soon and see the Twins again. If I was going to pick an AL team to support, I think I'd probably go for the Minnesota Twins.
I got the last seat for Saturday's game.
This final seat was in the Legends Club again, section A this time, but in the wheelchair row again, which was an excellent place. The views are just as good as from section L on the other side. This was a day game, and first pitch happened on schedule, as all the ceremonials had been carried out much earlier in the day. I arrived about 15 minutes before the start of the game, as the hotel had had some trouble with my door: the cleaner's key couldn't open it; the hotel's maintenance guy's key couldn't open it; my own key worked perfectly! The maintenance guy said that as long as my key was working, he wasn't going to tamper with the system and potentially break it! However, they must have sorted out the problem, because my room had been serviced when I got back from the ballgame.
As a contest, this game was over by the end of the 1st inning, as the Twins managed to bat around and take a 5-0 lead, highlighted by Jim Thome's 583rd career home run (441ft), tying McGwire for 9th all-time, and a bases-clearing triple by Tolbert, in for the rested Valencia. Tolbert would hit another triple later in the game, whilst Thome went on to hit a 400+ ft 3-run HR in the 4th inning to stretch the lead to 9-0 and whilst there were some brief signs of life from the Rangers after that, the Twins added on more to give Carl Pavano an easy win and, more importantly, to rest the bullpen.
Josh Hamilton seemed to hurt his arm again whilst fielding and although he continued after a medical visit to centre field, was substituted shortly after his next at-bat - I'm afraid he looked like he was in some pain. This must be a real concern for the Rangers - they really can't afford to lose him for the stretch run.
I really enjoy watching Vladimir Guerrero bat, with his style of trying to hit pretty much anything that is physically reachable, whether it bounces out front or is above his head. He'll never die wondering, that's for sure.
I've really enjoyed all three games that I've seen here in Minneapolis. The stadium really is beautiful, and looks so different to the other new ballparks I have seen, including Yankee Stadium. All of the staff have been so friendly and willing to chat and help. I hope they can sort out the isues with overseas credit cards, because I'd really like to return here quite soon and see the Twins again. If I was going to pick an AL team to support, I think I'd probably go for the Minnesota Twins.
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| View from section L of the Legends Club (Thursday) |
The Hiawatha Line and Minnehaha Park
The metro service between Target Field in downtown Minneapolis and the Mall of America to the south of Minneapolis-St Paul airport mostly runs alongside Hiawatha Avenue, and is thus known as the Hiawatha line. There is a park, accessible from the metro called Minnehaha Park, which contains a large waterfall. I visited the park on Friday briefly, to look at the falls and to see what was there, and then again properly on Saturday.
On the Saturday, I followed the trail alongside Minnehaha Creek from the waterfall to the creek's confluence with the Mississippi. The park is in two sections - an upper part that is maintained and looked after, and the lower glen which is largely left to its own devices, although essential works to shore up the banks and the steep sides is done. Whilst at first the path was sometimes difficult to follow, it was just like a normal walk through wooded countryside alongside a fast-moving river. However, in some places, the gravel had been washed away leaving large muddy section with lots of puddles which were very slippery and carried the risk of falling into the creek itself. However, it was possible to get around the blockages most of the way until the end. Thoughtfully, a boardwalk section had been installed along a latter part of the walk which, although uneven, and with some small puddles, was easy to follow, until it just stopped at a swampy section! It was necessary to clamber up the slope and hang on to the trees to get past the worst section, which took some time, but after that part, the path was dry and easy to navigate until it came out on a beach at the confluence of the Minnehaha Creek and the Mississippi River.
I decided to return on the other side of the creek, which was a much easier route and not flooded at all. As a result, the return journey was much quicker than I had anticipated and I got back to the park entrance well ahead of when I needed to be back in order to get up to the ballpark for the 3.10pm game.
On the Saturday, I followed the trail alongside Minnehaha Creek from the waterfall to the creek's confluence with the Mississippi. The park is in two sections - an upper part that is maintained and looked after, and the lower glen which is largely left to its own devices, although essential works to shore up the banks and the steep sides is done. Whilst at first the path was sometimes difficult to follow, it was just like a normal walk through wooded countryside alongside a fast-moving river. However, in some places, the gravel had been washed away leaving large muddy section with lots of puddles which were very slippery and carried the risk of falling into the creek itself. However, it was possible to get around the blockages most of the way until the end. Thoughtfully, a boardwalk section had been installed along a latter part of the walk which, although uneven, and with some small puddles, was easy to follow, until it just stopped at a swampy section! It was necessary to clamber up the slope and hang on to the trees to get past the worst section, which took some time, but after that part, the path was dry and easy to navigate until it came out on a beach at the confluence of the Minnehaha Creek and the Mississippi River.
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| Minnehaha Falls |
I decided to return on the other side of the creek, which was a much easier route and not flooded at all. As a result, the return journey was much quicker than I had anticipated and I got back to the park entrance well ahead of when I needed to be back in order to get up to the ballpark for the 3.10pm game.
Texas Rangers @ Minnesota Twins - game 1
Today I was at the back of the lower tier, in the wheelchair row again - you cannot see the main scoreboard from these seats or for the first few rows of main seating. This is a shame, although you do have to mini-scoreboard at field level in right centre and you can see the TV monitors just above you for TV replays.
This game was close all the way through, and was generally very well played as you would expect from two top contenders. The Twins had another battle tonight, after having exhausted most of the pen the night before in the 13 inning loss to the Tigers (who had another successful extra-inning (11) affair in Kansas City, so their pen must be shattered too) The Rangers executed a perfect suicide squeeze - with so many players running about in close proximity to the plate, it's nowhere near as simple as it often looks on TV. The Rangers scored the run and the Twins got the batter-runner at first base.
Runs were traded through the game until eventually the Twins managed to hang on to a hard-fought win. The crowd was really into it again, and very loud - hardly anybody had left by the end of this one compared to the previous night, so it was a wonderful atmosphere all around.
This game was close all the way through, and was generally very well played as you would expect from two top contenders. The Twins had another battle tonight, after having exhausted most of the pen the night before in the 13 inning loss to the Tigers (who had another successful extra-inning (11) affair in Kansas City, so their pen must be shattered too) The Rangers executed a perfect suicide squeeze - with so many players running about in close proximity to the plate, it's nowhere near as simple as it often looks on TV. The Rangers scored the run and the Twins got the batter-runner at first base.
Runs were traded through the game until eventually the Twins managed to hang on to a hard-fought win. The crowd was really into it again, and very loud - hardly anybody had left by the end of this one compared to the previous night, so it was a wonderful atmosphere all around.
Friday, 3 September 2010
Detroit Tigers @ Minnesota Twins
The Legends Club is very nice. You get an at-seat service throughout the game, although I didn't actually use it. The seats are very comfortable too. I was actually in the wheelchair row at the back of section L. This is much better than being in a normal row, because they don't have fixed seating - they just put free-standing seats out with a lot of gap between them, so there's plenty of space. Also, you're right next to the door into the club area, so you can pop in quickly whenever you like, without disturbing anybody else. I only had a helmet sundae to eat this evening, so now have a mini Twins helmet to add to my collection.
This was the finale of a series with the Twins looking for a sweep. Scott Baker was going for the Twins against Justin Verlander for the Tigers. Verlander really does throw it hard, although he had to throw a lot of pitches early and was almost knocked out of the game. Baker lasted only two innings himself, leaving with pain in his arm, which is a worry for the Twins.
This is the inaugural season for Target Field, and it is an impressive building - in my opinion, more impressive than the new Yankee Stadium. It's not built from traditional red bricks, but from locally obtained limestone. The yellow stone look gives the stadium a very classy look. This is complemented with the old-style scoreboard - but done electronically. The big scoreboard screen in left centre looks great (as does the one in Yankee Stadium), but this stadium has a view of the downtown skyline. The yellow and green colour style contrasts nicely with the teams dark blue colours with red & white splashes. Any other team looking at having a new stadium would do well to see what the Twins have here - it really is beautiful.
The atmosphere here was totally different to how it was in New York. The crowd were into the game in a big way. The stadium was full, and it did get noisy - and there was a pre-season Vikings game going on on the other side of downtown, which didn't hit the attendance at all. The two teams traded runs through the game, although it looked like the Twins had finally secured a decisive 4-run advantage late in the game until the Tigers staged a come back, led by two solo homers from Raburn & Inge (both pinch-hitting). The Twins hit back to take the lead again, but the Tigers tied it in the 9th taking us to extra innings. The evening was beginning to cool off by this point, as we passed 10pm. The Tigers finally scored a run in the top of the 11th inning to take a 9-8 lead, only for the Twins to take advantage of sloppy Detroit fielding in the bottom of the 11th to scrape it back again. The game finally ended just before midnight when Detroit's closer Valverde shut down the Twins in the bottom of the 13th, after Detroit had scored once in the top of the 13th. It was quite chilly by this point - but a welcome change from New York.
Another game, another ejection too! Joe West, the 2nd base umpire and crew chief, had an action-packed game. Two blown calls, and one that was very close but that which went against the home team. It was the second blown call that brought Twins manager Ron Gardenhire out to argue, to lots of cheers from the crowd. A lot of in-the-face shouting and finger pointing then ensued, until West ejected him, at which point the crowd cheered him even louder as the argument continued. Eventually, he made his way back to the dugout, kicking at the grass, the dirt, and still shouting, but he went and sat down in the dugout again. The umpires reminded him that he had to leave the dugout and return to the clubhouse after being ejected, which set him off again, throwing things out of the dugout, including a ball and a towel, before finally leaving.
This was the finale of a series with the Twins looking for a sweep. Scott Baker was going for the Twins against Justin Verlander for the Tigers. Verlander really does throw it hard, although he had to throw a lot of pitches early and was almost knocked out of the game. Baker lasted only two innings himself, leaving with pain in his arm, which is a worry for the Twins.
This is the inaugural season for Target Field, and it is an impressive building - in my opinion, more impressive than the new Yankee Stadium. It's not built from traditional red bricks, but from locally obtained limestone. The yellow stone look gives the stadium a very classy look. This is complemented with the old-style scoreboard - but done electronically. The big scoreboard screen in left centre looks great (as does the one in Yankee Stadium), but this stadium has a view of the downtown skyline. The yellow and green colour style contrasts nicely with the teams dark blue colours with red & white splashes. Any other team looking at having a new stadium would do well to see what the Twins have here - it really is beautiful.
The atmosphere here was totally different to how it was in New York. The crowd were into the game in a big way. The stadium was full, and it did get noisy - and there was a pre-season Vikings game going on on the other side of downtown, which didn't hit the attendance at all. The two teams traded runs through the game, although it looked like the Twins had finally secured a decisive 4-run advantage late in the game until the Tigers staged a come back, led by two solo homers from Raburn & Inge (both pinch-hitting). The Twins hit back to take the lead again, but the Tigers tied it in the 9th taking us to extra innings. The evening was beginning to cool off by this point, as we passed 10pm. The Tigers finally scored a run in the top of the 11th inning to take a 9-8 lead, only for the Twins to take advantage of sloppy Detroit fielding in the bottom of the 11th to scrape it back again. The game finally ended just before midnight when Detroit's closer Valverde shut down the Twins in the bottom of the 13th, after Detroit had scored once in the top of the 13th. It was quite chilly by this point - but a welcome change from New York.
Another game, another ejection too! Joe West, the 2nd base umpire and crew chief, had an action-packed game. Two blown calls, and one that was very close but that which went against the home team. It was the second blown call that brought Twins manager Ron Gardenhire out to argue, to lots of cheers from the crowd. A lot of in-the-face shouting and finger pointing then ensued, until West ejected him, at which point the crowd cheered him even louder as the argument continued. Eventually, he made his way back to the dugout, kicking at the grass, the dirt, and still shouting, but he went and sat down in the dugout again. The umpires reminded him that he had to leave the dugout and return to the clubhouse after being ejected, which set him off again, throwing things out of the dugout, including a ball and a towel, before finally leaving.
New York to Minneapolis
Whilst in New York, I tried to buy tickets for the Twins games over the phone. Unfortunately, this was unsuccessful just like buying the tickets on the website. The man didn't appear to be able to understand what I was saying, but after we'd struggled through what sounded like the same form that I had failed to fill in on the website, he also found that the credit card was rejected, which didn't bode well. I had to leave the hotel at 7am this morning, even though the flight wasn't until 11.35 because the hotel shuttle only leaves hourly and leaving at 8am would have been too late, due to an odd 45-minute gap in NJ Transit trains out to Newark. Despite joining the E train only one station from the start of the line, it was the rush hour and I didn't get a seat and the journey to 34th St Penn Station seemed to take forever. Needless to say it was very hot again, and only slightly less hot on the train. In retrospect, I should have got off the train or not got on it in the first place and taken a train the other way up to the terminus and started with a seat.
The train out of Penn Station, just before 9am, was fairly empty, as you'd expect, as it's going the 'wrong way' for the rush hour. Fortunately, it appears I don't have to pay the $25 baggage fee on any of my internal flights, as I had feared. I don't know whether this is because it is an international itinerary (which has usually been sufficient in the past for them to waive the fee) or because I'd had a BusinessFirst flight in my itinerary. Whichever way, it is a welcome saving of $150! I was able to sit quietly and cool down and have breakfast when I got to the airport. Fortunately, there were lots of food outlets near the gate so I could have a coffee and sausage on toast.
The flight to Minneapolis left on time and was a bit bumpy at various points. I had a single seat, so it was both an aisle and a window seat, rather than being in the pairs on the other side of the aisle. I decided to have lunch at the airport before collecting my baggage, as I thought it would take some time to come out. When I got there, the conveyor had already stopped and the remaining bags, mine included, had been placed together next to the airline's office.
It is much cooler here - only in the 70s. I took the metro rail service to downtown Minneapolis and walked the two blocks to the hotel. I have a huge room here at the Marriott. I also received a loyalty voucher with a choice of 1 day free Internet access, 5 Buffalo wings, 1 draft beer or 250 Marriott reward points. I chose the $14.95 value Internet access, even though I think they have a nerve charging that much for it. In fact, that's the only problem with this hotel: everything's chargable. Some things are a little odd: drinks glasses made of glass; coffee cup polystyrene. A small straw to stir coffee, HD television and more ways to connect your laptop to display on it.
As it was around 3.30pm by the time I was settled in, I decided to go to Target Field to see if I could buy tickets for tonight's game. I couldn't work out whether or not I could use my metro ticket again (it was still within the 2.5 hour validity limit - but can you make multiple trips?) but as I was wondering, I looked up and could see the stadium only 3 blocks away anyway, so I walked up there instead. It was threatening to rain as I left, some light spitting, but then it cleared up and the sun game out. After circling the place once looking for the open ticket window, I found it. The man there was able to offer me a seat in the Legends Club (not available only) and a ticket for Friday (I chose to go in the lower section rather than the Legends Club again, but now I wish I'd taken him up on the offer), but confirmed that they had nothing left at all for Saturday. The Legends Club tickets were only $2 more than the other tickets.
Then the moment of truth arrived: an attempt to pay by credit card. Earlier in the day, I'd taken out another $100 in cash, so I had plenty in case I had to resort to paying by cash. However, this time the transaction went through with no trouble at all. The added benefit of buying in person at the stadium: no convenience fees, additional charges, or anything extra.
I returned to the hotel for a quick dinner (another $18 - for a salad!) and then went the stadium for the 7.10pm start.
The train out of Penn Station, just before 9am, was fairly empty, as you'd expect, as it's going the 'wrong way' for the rush hour. Fortunately, it appears I don't have to pay the $25 baggage fee on any of my internal flights, as I had feared. I don't know whether this is because it is an international itinerary (which has usually been sufficient in the past for them to waive the fee) or because I'd had a BusinessFirst flight in my itinerary. Whichever way, it is a welcome saving of $150! I was able to sit quietly and cool down and have breakfast when I got to the airport. Fortunately, there were lots of food outlets near the gate so I could have a coffee and sausage on toast.
The flight to Minneapolis left on time and was a bit bumpy at various points. I had a single seat, so it was both an aisle and a window seat, rather than being in the pairs on the other side of the aisle. I decided to have lunch at the airport before collecting my baggage, as I thought it would take some time to come out. When I got there, the conveyor had already stopped and the remaining bags, mine included, had been placed together next to the airline's office.
It is much cooler here - only in the 70s. I took the metro rail service to downtown Minneapolis and walked the two blocks to the hotel. I have a huge room here at the Marriott. I also received a loyalty voucher with a choice of 1 day free Internet access, 5 Buffalo wings, 1 draft beer or 250 Marriott reward points. I chose the $14.95 value Internet access, even though I think they have a nerve charging that much for it. In fact, that's the only problem with this hotel: everything's chargable. Some things are a little odd: drinks glasses made of glass; coffee cup polystyrene. A small straw to stir coffee, HD television and more ways to connect your laptop to display on it.
As it was around 3.30pm by the time I was settled in, I decided to go to Target Field to see if I could buy tickets for tonight's game. I couldn't work out whether or not I could use my metro ticket again (it was still within the 2.5 hour validity limit - but can you make multiple trips?) but as I was wondering, I looked up and could see the stadium only 3 blocks away anyway, so I walked up there instead. It was threatening to rain as I left, some light spitting, but then it cleared up and the sun game out. After circling the place once looking for the open ticket window, I found it. The man there was able to offer me a seat in the Legends Club (not available only) and a ticket for Friday (I chose to go in the lower section rather than the Legends Club again, but now I wish I'd taken him up on the offer), but confirmed that they had nothing left at all for Saturday. The Legends Club tickets were only $2 more than the other tickets.
Then the moment of truth arrived: an attempt to pay by credit card. Earlier in the day, I'd taken out another $100 in cash, so I had plenty in case I had to resort to paying by cash. However, this time the transaction went through with no trouble at all. The added benefit of buying in person at the stadium: no convenience fees, additional charges, or anything extra.
I returned to the hotel for a quick dinner (another $18 - for a salad!) and then went the stadium for the 7.10pm start.
Oakland Athletics @ New York Yankees - game 2
Wednesday was my first full day in New York. I decided to go and see how the World Trade Center rebuild project was going, so I took the hotel shuttle to the AirTrain, and got on the E train to the end of the line in southern Manhattan. The whole area is a building site still, as you would expect, but it is all a lot more organised than it was the last time I visited a couple of years ago. They are planning to open the new memorial on September 11th next year - the 10th anniversary of the event itself. There is now a free exhibition that you can go in to look around to see the progress, the stories of people, and designs for the memorial. They have live webcams on which you can see the shape of the two new waterfall pools being constructed. It's still hard to visualise the finished article, as obviously none of the 500 trees are in place yet.
It was 37C/98F today. I made my way back up Broadway graudally, going into shops every couple of blocks or so, just to cool down a little. I found all the mobile phone shops together on 5th Avenue, but of the 3, only T-Mobile do SIM cards for PAYG, and the woman there said I would be better off just using the free wi-fi around the cities as there was plenty of it. So I still don't really have very good access to wi-fi for navigation - all the free wi-fi places seem to need you to visit a web page to accept the terms & conditions before allowing you to access anything, which is a pain in the neck when you just want to see a map. However, when it does work, it works nicely. This afternoon, I spent an hour or so in a Starbucks having an iced mocha coffee and using their network. I wrote some of the blog entry whilst I was sitting there.
This time, I took the B train up to Yankee Stadium which was surprisingly uncrowded - so much so, I thought that perhaps it was an express that wasn't going to stop at the stadium, but it was the right train. This evening, I was up in level 3, without the in-seat service, but thankfully, high up enough to catch the breeze. It made everything tolerable (it was still 90F when the game ended!) The game was much tighter, although the crowd still appeared somewhat lacklustre in their support for the home team. In all the years I've been coming to the USA to watch baseball games, I don't recall seeing many ejections, and tonight's was a good one. Jorge Posada had had the day off until coming in to pinch-hit for the backup catcher in the 8th inning. After being called out on a third strike that looked like it over the batter's box rather than the plate, he started arguing with the home plate umpire. Of course, as he knows, arguing balls & strikes is an automatic ejection, but he wanted to get his money's worth. He was shouting at the umpire, finger pointing and then started drawing lines in the dirt with a bat to show where he thought the pitch was. Even when restrained by his manager, he was still finger-pointing and shouting and trying to get into the umpire's face - it was quite funny to watch. The end result was that the Yankees had to use their third catcher for the 9th inning.
Yankees won by a run. They were lucky, I thought. A number of seeing-eye singles crept through the infield or just over the outstretched hands of the infielders, whereas the A's were hitting them at the fielders every time. I did get to see Mariano Rivera save the game, though - he probably got the biggest reception of anybody except Derek Jeter. It is odd, but nice, to still here the late Bob Sheppard's voice announcing Derek Jeter's at-bats.
The new stadium is going to have to rebuild the mystique that the old, demolished stadium had. It will take time. The previous stadium was built in a time before the Yankees had won anything - this time, they already have done a lot of winning, and that has affected the ambience somewhat - a superiority complex, I'd say. Whilst that goes for the organisation and the fans and probably a few of the players (A-Rod, in particular), it doesn't apply to the two main men: Jeter & Rivera. Both seem to me excellent examples of how professionals should behave.
It was 37C/98F today. I made my way back up Broadway graudally, going into shops every couple of blocks or so, just to cool down a little. I found all the mobile phone shops together on 5th Avenue, but of the 3, only T-Mobile do SIM cards for PAYG, and the woman there said I would be better off just using the free wi-fi around the cities as there was plenty of it. So I still don't really have very good access to wi-fi for navigation - all the free wi-fi places seem to need you to visit a web page to accept the terms & conditions before allowing you to access anything, which is a pain in the neck when you just want to see a map. However, when it does work, it works nicely. This afternoon, I spent an hour or so in a Starbucks having an iced mocha coffee and using their network. I wrote some of the blog entry whilst I was sitting there.
This time, I took the B train up to Yankee Stadium which was surprisingly uncrowded - so much so, I thought that perhaps it was an express that wasn't going to stop at the stadium, but it was the right train. This evening, I was up in level 3, without the in-seat service, but thankfully, high up enough to catch the breeze. It made everything tolerable (it was still 90F when the game ended!) The game was much tighter, although the crowd still appeared somewhat lacklustre in their support for the home team. In all the years I've been coming to the USA to watch baseball games, I don't recall seeing many ejections, and tonight's was a good one. Jorge Posada had had the day off until coming in to pinch-hit for the backup catcher in the 8th inning. After being called out on a third strike that looked like it over the batter's box rather than the plate, he started arguing with the home plate umpire. Of course, as he knows, arguing balls & strikes is an automatic ejection, but he wanted to get his money's worth. He was shouting at the umpire, finger pointing and then started drawing lines in the dirt with a bat to show where he thought the pitch was. Even when restrained by his manager, he was still finger-pointing and shouting and trying to get into the umpire's face - it was quite funny to watch. The end result was that the Yankees had to use their third catcher for the 9th inning.
Yankees won by a run. They were lucky, I thought. A number of seeing-eye singles crept through the infield or just over the outstretched hands of the infielders, whereas the A's were hitting them at the fielders every time. I did get to see Mariano Rivera save the game, though - he probably got the biggest reception of anybody except Derek Jeter. It is odd, but nice, to still here the late Bob Sheppard's voice announcing Derek Jeter's at-bats.
The new stadium is going to have to rebuild the mystique that the old, demolished stadium had. It will take time. The previous stadium was built in a time before the Yankees had won anything - this time, they already have done a lot of winning, and that has affected the ambience somewhat - a superiority complex, I'd say. Whilst that goes for the organisation and the fans and probably a few of the players (A-Rod, in particular), it doesn't apply to the two main men: Jeter & Rivera. Both seem to me excellent examples of how professionals should behave.
Oakland Athletics @ New York Yankees - game 1
Since it was only about an hour before the game, the 4 train up the east side was very crowded. Although the trains are airconditioned, they still get hot and stuffy although not as bad as the stations themselves.
My seat was on the back row of the lower level, so I had a good view of the action. However the heat was still intense even as we moved into the evening. Oakland just couldn't catch a break. Three stolen bases for the Yankees in the first inning alone and they never really looked like losing the game. Unfortunately, this game seemed to drift aimlessly and slowly - perhaps the heat was getting to the players as well. Even with the occasional waft of the homemade fan, formerly a Yankees 2010 Game Schedule leaflet, by the girl next to me, there was no breeze at all. I left my seat after the 5th inning and saw the rest of the game on the outer edge of the concourse where there was a very occasional light breeze. In fact to avoid the crush on the subway, I left in the middle of the 8th inning.
My perceptions of the new stadium are that it's still very new and shiny, but it doesn't have the same atmosphere as the old place. The crowd were really flat and disinterested as far as I could tell - most of the crowd involvement stuff was ignored - e.g. trying to encourage clapping with two strikes on the batter, or trying to induce the crowd to make some noise. Maybe it was the heat. Or the one-sided scoreline.
The Yankees won, by a lot.
My seat was on the back row of the lower level, so I had a good view of the action. However the heat was still intense even as we moved into the evening. Oakland just couldn't catch a break. Three stolen bases for the Yankees in the first inning alone and they never really looked like losing the game. Unfortunately, this game seemed to drift aimlessly and slowly - perhaps the heat was getting to the players as well. Even with the occasional waft of the homemade fan, formerly a Yankees 2010 Game Schedule leaflet, by the girl next to me, there was no breeze at all. I left my seat after the 5th inning and saw the rest of the game on the outer edge of the concourse where there was a very occasional light breeze. In fact to avoid the crush on the subway, I left in the middle of the 8th inning.
My perceptions of the new stadium are that it's still very new and shiny, but it doesn't have the same atmosphere as the old place. The crowd were really flat and disinterested as far as I could tell - most of the crowd involvement stuff was ignored - e.g. trying to encourage clapping with two strikes on the batter, or trying to induce the crowd to make some noise. Maybe it was the heat. Or the one-sided scoreline.
The Yankees won, by a lot.
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Scorchio!
The day of my first game arrived with the temperature predicted to hit the high 90s. It did. Most of the day was taken up crossing the Hudson, though. Since I arrived late in the evening, I stayed one night in New Jersey last night before transferring to New York today. The trip always takes longer than you expect and this time it took over 4 hours door-to-door. However, the trip was easy enough.
My room is small, by normal hotel standards, but it is clean and tidy although the wireless LAN doesn't quite reach my room. After reading some of the reviews of the other hotel I booked in New York, I've decided to rebook my second stay in New York to be at the same hotel, with a request for a room one floor lower and at the other end of the building (I walked about the hotel testing the strength of the network) The breakfast is rather basic - not even cereal. I'll have to stock up on cereals as I go around the country so I've got enough to cover that stay.
The hotel runs a shuttle bus every hour to JFK Airport. I take that and go on the Airtrain to the subway station and then into Manhattan. I had trouble with it allowing me to buy multiple tickets on the same day, but it did let me buy a 10-trip ticket the next day (which halves the price of the trips), which will work about just about right - and it doesn't expire until December 2012.
My room is small, by normal hotel standards, but it is clean and tidy although the wireless LAN doesn't quite reach my room. After reading some of the reviews of the other hotel I booked in New York, I've decided to rebook my second stay in New York to be at the same hotel, with a request for a room one floor lower and at the other end of the building (I walked about the hotel testing the strength of the network) The breakfast is rather basic - not even cereal. I'll have to stock up on cereals as I go around the country so I've got enough to cover that stay.
The hotel runs a shuttle bus every hour to JFK Airport. I take that and go on the Airtrain to the subway station and then into Manhattan. I had trouble with it allowing me to buy multiple tickets on the same day, but it did let me buy a 10-trip ticket the next day (which halves the price of the trips), which will work about just about right - and it doesn't expire until December 2012.
Monday, 30 August 2010
Turn Left
I did get to turn left when I got on the plane.
When I contacted the airline to confirm the upgrade on the Sunday evening, they said they'd sort it out, but they managed to delete it altogether! So I phoned them again and I got a window seat (2F) next to a nice young American lady. The seat did indeed go flat, but I didn't have it like that much. The dinner was served not long after take-off, starting with warm roasted nuts and another drink, then bread rolls/garlic bread with a mixed salad with vinaigrette. Next came the appetizer, which was morel mushroom soup accommpanied by seafood-filled pastry and lamb kebab with chutney. For the main course, I chose the tenderloin of beef with marsala sauce, carrots, sugarsnap peas and potato au gratin (other choices were roasted Peruvian chicken; Seafood Stew; and Pasta Bowl). The cheese course was next, but it tasted odd so I didn't eat very much of the cheese - but they had some Cheddars biscuits. The dessert course was a very nice vanilla ice cream, with chocolate sauce. After that, coffee was served. I'm pleased I just sampled the free buffet at lounge, because I was considering having a proper dinner at one of the restaurants instead, but I'd never had managed everything on the plane if I had have done that. A couple of hours after dinner there was a wonderful baking smell wafting through the cabin, which turned out to be freshly baked cookies - they were very nice too.
I watched the 007 film (Tomorrow Never Dies) and played a couple of the games. As we chased the sun westwards, we had a magnificent sunset from deep red through yellow to light blue to dark blue.
We left the gate on time and then taxied around for half an hour but we arrived early, touching down just about 9.20pm local time. After a short taxi and a short walk, I was at immigration and despite having to do the procedure twice because the fingerprint scanner was dirty, that was very quick. My bag was one of the first out, with its bright orange "Priority" sticker. By 9.45pm I was through all the formalities and headed to the AirTrain station, and I was in my hotel room at 10.30pm on the dot, barely an hour after touching down.
It's warm here - it was reportedly over 90F (32C) earlier this evening, but had cooled down to 84F (29C) by the time I arrived.
When I contacted the airline to confirm the upgrade on the Sunday evening, they said they'd sort it out, but they managed to delete it altogether! So I phoned them again and I got a window seat (2F) next to a nice young American lady. The seat did indeed go flat, but I didn't have it like that much. The dinner was served not long after take-off, starting with warm roasted nuts and another drink, then bread rolls/garlic bread with a mixed salad with vinaigrette. Next came the appetizer, which was morel mushroom soup accommpanied by seafood-filled pastry and lamb kebab with chutney. For the main course, I chose the tenderloin of beef with marsala sauce, carrots, sugarsnap peas and potato au gratin (other choices were roasted Peruvian chicken; Seafood Stew; and Pasta Bowl). The cheese course was next, but it tasted odd so I didn't eat very much of the cheese - but they had some Cheddars biscuits. The dessert course was a very nice vanilla ice cream, with chocolate sauce. After that, coffee was served. I'm pleased I just sampled the free buffet at lounge, because I was considering having a proper dinner at one of the restaurants instead, but I'd never had managed everything on the plane if I had have done that. A couple of hours after dinner there was a wonderful baking smell wafting through the cabin, which turned out to be freshly baked cookies - they were very nice too.
I watched the 007 film (Tomorrow Never Dies) and played a couple of the games. As we chased the sun westwards, we had a magnificent sunset from deep red through yellow to light blue to dark blue.
We left the gate on time and then taxied around for half an hour but we arrived early, touching down just about 9.20pm local time. After a short taxi and a short walk, I was at immigration and despite having to do the procedure twice because the fingerprint scanner was dirty, that was very quick. My bag was one of the first out, with its bright orange "Priority" sticker. By 9.45pm I was through all the formalities and headed to the AirTrain station, and I was in my hotel room at 10.30pm on the dot, barely an hour after touching down.
It's warm here - it was reportedly over 90F (32C) earlier this evening, but had cooled down to 84F (29C) by the time I arrived.
Heathrow
Travel to the airport was very smooth, although the journey down to Kings Cross took twice as long as usual due to engineering works, although it was good that I didn't have to change train at all. The underground was quick and fortunately, the H&C underground platform comes out next to the Heathrow Express platforms! I bypassed the check-in queues to get my boarding pass and check bag in, and now I'm sitting in the lounge in Terminal 4 - right at the opposite end of the terminal to the gate the plane's going to leave from! There's a cold buffet here, with meats and cheeses, crisps, and coffee and cake. All free - except for the 20,000 airmiles that the upgrade cost me!
Thursday, 19 August 2010
Itinerary
| Date | Journey | Route | Flight | Times |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30/8 | LHR-EWR | London Heathrow - Newark | CO19 | 18.30 BST - 21.40 ET |
| 2/9 | EWR-MSP | Newark - Minneapolis St Paul | CO2993 | 11.35 ET - 13.32 CT |
| 5/9 | MSP-DEN | Minneapolis St Paul - Denver | CO6883 | 12.30 CT - 13.52 MT |
| 8/9 | DEN-SAN | Denver - San Diego | CO6726 | 11.43 MT - 13.01 PT |
| 14/9 | SAN-IAH | San Diego-Houston | CO131 | 06.40 PT - 11.50 CT |
| IAH-ATL | Houston-Atlanta | CO1757 | 12.55 CT - 15.57 ET | |
| 16/9 | ATL-EWR | Atlanta-Newark | CO2843 | 12.05 ET - 14.18 ET |
| 18/9 | EWR-LHR | Newark-London Heathrow | CO28 | 18.40 ET - 06.45 BST |
| Dates | City | Hotel |
|---|---|---|
| 30/8-31/8 | New Jersey | Hampton Inn, Newark Airport |
| 31/8-2/9 | New York | Holiday Inn Express, Kennedy Airport |
| 2/9-5/9 | Minneapolis | Marriott City Centre |
| 5/9-8/9 | Denver | Courtyard Marriott Downtown |
| 8/9-14/9 | San Diego | Holiday Inn Express, 1st Avenue |
| 14/9-16/9 | Atlanta | Holiday Inn Downtown Centennial Park |
| 16/9-18/9 | New York | Holiday Inn Express, Kennedy Airport |
| Date | Game |
|---|---|
| 31/8 | Oakland A's @ New York Yankees |
| 1/9 | |
| 2/9 | Detroit Tigers @ Minnesota Twins |
| 3/9 | Texas Rangers @ Minnesota Twins |
| 4/9 | |
| 6/9 | Cincinnati Reds @ Colorado Rockies |
| 7/9 | |
| 9/9 | San Francisco Giants @ San Diego Padres |
| 10/9 | |
| 11/9 | |
| 12/9 | |
| 14/9 | Washington Nationals @ Atlanta Braves |
| 15/9 | |
| 16/9 | Pittsburgh Pirates @ New York Mets |
| 17/9 | Atlanta Braves @ New York Mets |
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