Starting from Hamburg - Germany at around 7 o'clock. Weather is cold as usual (have not experienced anything else because I just live there for 3 months now ^^).
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After playing around with my Camera and getting more annoyed with my Zune after I installed the latest firmware yesterday (Zune software just sucks, same as any stupid iTunes stuff) at Hamburg airport and Frankfurt airport my plane to Seattle left at around 11:00 am from Frankfurt.
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Germany is getting smaller and smaller and I tried to take a few shorts with maximum zoom but they all were to blurry, so I have chosen this picture instead. From now on the whole flight was above clouds and it seems like it was bad weather all over the place.
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Over Greenland I some ground again, but it does look all icy and unpleasant down there ^^
The plane ride was actually quite nice, each seat had its own entertainment system, which crashed only twice during the flight (it was running Windows CE). Also my first time flying with Lufthansa to the US. As usual I could not sleep during the flight so I read a book and watched some movies and TV shows.
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At around 11:30 AM we have been flying for over 9 hours but the local time tells us different. After flying over the Cascades (see picture) and later Mount Rainer we landed in Seattle. The immigration guy told me that it seems like half our plane was full of people attending the MVP Summit :)
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And here we see Kirkland and Redmond where Microsoft is located. On the very left you can also see Seattle Downtown.
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This is a better picture of Seattle. I zoomed in a bit because we were still kinda far away. The plane was originally approaching from the North, but after making a big curve we landed from the South. The airport seemed to be quite busy and that must be the reason for taking a bigger detour.
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At the ground and after getting through all the extra security checks (well, here is your luggage, but hey, just give it back to us in a few minutes, we will check it again) I decided to take a bus to Seattle Downtown, which turned out to be the stupidest idea of the day.
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Not only did the bus arrive 40 minutes behind schedule, it was also packed and the passengers were complaining how stupid the driver is. It seemed like he drove the wrong way and made stops where this bus is not supposed to stop. Next time I will take a cab again, I did not even find my hotel at first because no one seems to bother putting up street numbers anywhere on the houses. An impossibility in Germany.
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But even without street numbers these buildings always amaze me. Frankfurt has some skyscrapers too, but in Hannover or Hamburg buildings do not seem to get very high and they certainly are not sitting right next to each other ^^
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I finally reached my hotel and I got a nice view on the east side of Seattle, but the weather is just too nice to go to sleep now (just up for 19 hours, nothing special for a game programmer ^^).
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Instead I decided to go down to steet level again and explore Seattle a little bit more. Last time I visited I skipped some attractions.
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My hotel for the first two nights is this one, the Seattle Renaissance Hotel with 28 floors. I'm pretty much in the middle at floor 15. From Monday on I will stay at another Hotel sponsored by the MVP Summit :)
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The sun is still high and the weather was really nice at around 18 degrees celisus, much better than in Germany and better than the last time I visited. It was nice to be able to run around with just a shirt on (ok, I had pants too).
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Some flags outside a building. Can you spot the one that seems to appear twice?
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On the left side you an see a church. Hmm, churches to certainly look much different in Germany.
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Shadow mapping, reflection and lighting effects are working out quite nicely in this real-world-engine.
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In the back you can see the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle where the MVP Summit will be held (for the most part I think).
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Can you see the girl running through this waterfall?
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This is ridiculous. If you want to wiretap someone, do not have a 10 meter high antenna sticking out of your car roof. No way no one did not notice this thingy.
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Okay, where is the Monorail so I do not have to walk all the way over to the Seattle Center park. Ohh, I guess it is over there.
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Last time I was here the ride was free, now it costs 2 dollars. Well, still better than walking and since a dollar is only 0.62 Euro cents, it is not that much ^^
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For some reason I think these people are doing something wrong. It might be fun to walk down a roller coaster, but I guess there must be some other way to make it even more fun.
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I took many pictures of the Space Needle and many pictures from the top, but I already posted enough pictures for today. I will post these pictures tomorrow. This is a big fountain in the middle of the Seattle Center park.
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The sun decided to go to sleep, maybe I should think about it too after being up for almost 24 hours now (well, the day is not over yet).
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If I had such a limousine getting back to the hotel would have been easier I guess. But instead of going back directly I went to shop a little bit. Gotta love the fact that most stores have opened up almost all the time and any day of the week.
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