Days 19 to 22 - Richard and the conference

We've decided it is easier to just do a single blog for each of us for our days of doing different things in San Francisco.  Here's my experience.

I got to walk through the main lobby of the hotel several times each day - it is very impressive.

Main lobby of the Claremont Hotel

The 34th International Conference on Critical Thinking and Educational Reform started on Monday morning and there were about 350 attendees, from 20 other countries and 40 US States (I met people from Nigeria, Ireland, Antigua, Singapore, China (studying in Canada), Germany (working in the USA), and South Africa).  These conferences are great for the people you meet and the things you learn.  I was privileged to meet some really good people and hope to stay in touch with them.

Assembled for the opening ceremony

Three and a half day later the conference finished.

Me with Nelson from Nigeria at the closing ceremony

In between the opening and closing ceremonies I learned some things:
1. Thinking is really, really hard work, but rewarding if you do it properly and persevere.
2. Every domain in which we work has fundamental and powerful concepts - as trainers we need to identify these concepts and help the learners to develop a deep understanding of them.  Too often we lose sight of the fundamental and powerful concepts against a background of facts and trivia.
3. Television is not helping us to think.  I found out about a book, written by a man named Jerry Mander, titled: Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television.  The surprising thing is that the book was published in 1978.
4. Ralph Nader, now 80 years old, is a most impressive human being.  He gave an excellent talk, stimulating, insightful and well reasoned.  I bought a copy of his latest book, and got to meet him to get him to sign the book.

Ralph Nader gets to meet me - I'm sure he was less impressed than I was by the experience

The workshops conducted during the conference actually required us to work - unlike many conferences where you can just kick back and soak up the experience.

One of the workshops during the conference

It's difficult to get a normal-sized cup of tea in the USA. 

My vat of tea is on the right.

 

 

Tomorrow we'll post Rhonda's experiences from the week.  By for now.

Day 18 - Rhonda and Richard win the San Francisco Marathon

Sorry, I meant to write: "Rhonda and Richard win over the San Francisco Marathon".  We were booked on a San Francisco Bay cruise and discovered that the San Francisco Marathon was scheduled for the same day, and running across our path to the harbour.  Luckily, the race was pretty much finished by the time we made our way to the harbour, so we didn't experience any delays in getting to the pier for the cruise, hence we won over it.

Along our way we came across Pier 1 1/2, a water box, and a finish line (the wording is a bit ambiguous.

In due course we reached our pier, checked in, and joined the line for the boat.  The cruise was excellent and gave us a very good look around Alcatraz, with commentary about the history of the prison.  Sadly we hadn't been able to visit the prison itself.  We tried booking online a couple of weeks ago but visits to the island are limited and were booked out until 20 August.  Still, we had a good look at the island, and learned a lot about it.

Our boat

Alcatraz 1

Alcatraz 2

Alcatraz 3

Alcatraz 4

Alcatraz 5

We also sailed out to, and under the Golden Gate Bridge, although I believe it should be called the Orange Gate Bridge, since that's the colour it is painted (to make it more visible in the frequent fogs). 

The Orange Gate Bridge - from a distance - hard to get a sense of scale from so far away

Almost there

On our way back - note the small building under the arch of the bridge, on the left

Not actually a small building - the bridge is huge

We had excellent views of the shore on the way back from the bridge, three random shots are below.

Safely back on dry land we set off for Pier 39, and lunch.  After a short wait, with me holding the 'buzzer thing' to let us know when a table was free, we settled down for a hearty meal (crab cakes for Rhonda, fish and chips for me - we felt like seafood after the cruise).  

A cleverly-named shop at Pier 39

After lunch we set off for a stroll further along the harbour edge, it was very interesting.  We saw a man walking his lizard, and other cool things.  After a short walk back towards the train station (it's actually a long walk back to the train station, but we got lazy, and the way back was very much up hill) we eventually waited for and caught a cable car.

Trust us, this street is very steep, tour buses and vans seating more than 8 are prohibited from driving up it

Our tram - after we got off

Another great day, and I'm looking forward to the conference, which starts tomorrow.  Bye for now, and hope this post finds you all happy and healthy.

Day 17 - Museumed out

We started with a stroll down to the train station (2 kilometres away according to the GPS in my phone).  The main train system here is called the BART, seemingly in homage to the Simpsons (although Rhonda is pretty certain it stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit).  Not quite as user friendly as the systems in Washington and New York, but it beats walking everywhere (or hiring a car, or taking taxis everywhere).

Once in the City we had to get on a different (light rail/cable car/tram) system, which required a different ticket.  That took us near to the Golden gate Park, where the "de Young Museum" is located.  Thankfully I had enough self-restraint not to ask where "de Old Museum" was located.  We stopped near the park for a bite to eat and it was suitably yummy.  Below is an almost entirely gratuitous photo of the restaurant where we ate.

Lunch venue - centre of shot - Park Chow

The park was quite nice, with people playing sport, or otherwise enjoying themselves. 

I thought this was a piece of installation art in the park (the balloons, not the men on the bench).  Rhonda worked out that is was decoration for a wedding

The de Young Museum is a very impressive building, with a varied and interesting collection.  Some shots of the exterior are below.

First glimpse of the museum

Second glimpse - to give you an idea of scale, the tower is nine stories high

Close up - we're almost there

Whoa!  What happened there?  Now we're at the side of the museum

The collection featured sculptures, paintings, installations (I gather that installations are when workers simply forget to take their rubbish away - ow!  Rhonda hit me).  Some shots from inside are below.

An installation

Lovely weaving

A cast-glass sculpture - eerie but beautiful

My favourite painting - the light was brilliantly captured

A safety pin for very large nappies

 

We then went up the tower and had a great view of the park and surrounds. 



The only photo of us not enjoying the view

A view across the park - the building opposite is interesting

After the museum we returned via the same rather convoluted series of rides on public transport.  Overall a great day out.  Tomorrow we're booked on a San Francisco Bay cruise.  We'll let you know how that goes.

Day 16 - Washington to San Francisco

All good things come to an end, and we finally had to leave Washington.  Our stay there was most enjoyable, and we were both a little sad to leave, still onward and westward.  If you like Canberra you'd probably like Washington as well -and we can't recommend the AKA White House too highly.  We spent the early morning finishing our packing and then travelled to the airport in a Lincoln limousine - for less than the cost of a taxi in Australia for a comparable journey.

The airport was a bit confusing at first - the self-check in wasn't overly intuitive.  With assistance we were able to complete the process, and, $50 later for our suitcases (apparently our tickets, flying with United Airlines, didn't include checked luggage).  Our seats were at the very back of the plane and we weren't initially seated next to each other.  Thankfully a very generous lady swapped seats with Rhonda so we could sit together.  Rhonda thinks the lady just didn't want to spend an entire flight sitting next to me - I understand that.  The Steward looking after our section of the plane was fantastic, a great sense of humour and he was very engaging - apart from trying to hit on Rhonda (in jest, although I understand his motivation).  Rhonda got a coffee, which was undrinkable, so she took it back and he gave her two complimentary bottles of wine.  The flight lasted about five and a half hours.

We got to our Hotel in the late afternoon and felt very relieved.  It's rather grand, as you can see from the pictures below.  I'm here for the 34th International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education Reform, which is being held at the hotel (as it is every year) so we get a very good room rate (less than the hotel in New York).

The Claremont Hotel Resort and Spa

Feeling pretty happy at this stage

I stayed here just over three years ago, and, frankly, had a better room (with views over San Francisco Bay), but we have no complaints.  We wandered down the road (and when people in San Francisco wander down the road they wander DOWN the road - it's very hilly here), had dinner in a lovely Italian restaurant, bought some groceries and staggered back up the mountain to the hotel.  Tomorrow we're off to the de Young Museum, in Golden Gate Park - apparently you can't visit too many museums.  See  you all then.
 

Day 15 - Botanicus perfectus

Our last full day in Washingtown DC (dirty clothes), and I have to say that we started the day with all of our clothes clean - Rhonda excelled.  The plan for today was the National Botanic Garden, some more museums, and a stroll to Georgetown.  The Botanic Gardens were beautiful.  They are not large, but are filled with small sections on themes, such as: Hawaii, deserts, jungle, medicinal plants, endangered plants, and other stuff (or, to give it its correct Latin name, otherus stufii).  A series of shots of the outside and inside are shown below.



I'd hate to have to clean the windows

Orchids

A steaming pile of jungle

I never knew cactus could be so pretty

A king-sized planter

After the Botanic Gardens,  we strolled up the National Mall and visited the Hirshhorn Museum (also called the donut - since it's a circular shape with a hollow centre.  The building is great and there was an amazing piece of sculpture outside - a column built from tubes of steel and wires that just seems to float in the air.

The outside of the Hirshhorn Museum

Inside the donut



You can't see too many Henry Moores 

The amazing column

Then it was on to the Smithsonian Castle and a couple more art galleries.  The Castle is not a museum, but is an interesting building. 

The Smithsonian Castle

It is, however, sadly devoid of punctuation. 

Apparently you can enter staff as long as you enter other people as well

The other art galleries, the Sackler and Freer Galleries featured Asian art and the work of James McNeill Whistler.  Fabulous collections and beautiful buildings, most of the galleries are actually under ground.  Below is a photo of the staircase in the Sackler Gallery.

After that it was back to the hotel for a short rest, before walking to Georgetown and having a final dinner in Washington.  On our way we saw the Mexican Embassy, which features a couple of preserved houses.

The plaque shown below was fixed to the front of the Embassy.

Georgetown is a beautiful, older area of Washington, full of interesting eateries and shops. 

The "Old Stone House", the oldest house and property in Washington

We had dinner at an interesting restaurant called "Thunder Burger Bar".  It was yummy, and, to be completely honest, probably did not provide a balanced diet.

Anyway, that's enough for today's blog.  Rhonda raised a martini to you all during our Thunder Burger Bar dinner.