Getting around
This is more a travelling and planing blog so if you are looking for my daily life, you’ll have to look somewhere else :)Archive for 2009 Florida
Round trip to Bahamas in 30 hours
So I’m back again in Ft Lauderdale spending my last evening in US for this time. One of the warmest nights so far, they are talking about record-breaking temperatures for the moment. Well I’ve been to the Island Grand Bahama. It was the beach part of my trip this time. And it was nice. I had to leave at 4 pm to get to the ship, but I got to see a wonderful sun rise.
I also got to see the cruise ship Ocean of the Seas, remarkable big.
I arrived in Freeport in Grand Bahamas, a rather ugly port only with industrial buildings. A taxi took me to the nearest town and my hotel.
My Hotel was also a Marina and my room had a view over the boats.
Then I went to the beach with a book and a smile on my face!
I actually didn’t do that much more. Well I went to the town in the evening but it was so touristic that I left really fast again. All this was yesterday, today I left the island at 3 am and had a rather dull trip back to Ft Lauderdale. The sun set was nice though.
This could be the last words from this trip. I’m not sure if I will have time to go online tomorrow.
A lazy day
Im back in Miami area and used the day for som shopping as I went down the east coast. Right now I’m in a small Motel in Ft Lauderdale. The weather is perfect, about 28 degrees and below 18 in the night. I dont need to use the AC in the room and that’s makes it easier to sleep well.
This was the first day that I haven’t used my camera so I will show you some old pictures together with some thoughts.
In USA, as you can see, SAAB is no longer a part of GM.
So far I have seen more Volvos than Saabs here. No french cars at all though – very strange. In the Norwegian pavilion at Epcot I found a SAS sign.
That’s all for now, I’ll make an early night. I’m going to Bahamas tomorrow and the Cruise ship check in is at 5 pm. I will stay one night in Freeport and just lay on the beach, actually for the first time on this trip. I don’t know if I will be able to go online.
Kennedy Space Center
For half the money compared to Epcot I had a very much more pleasant day at Kennedy Space Center today. A lot to see and some amazing attractions. It is not that much to say about it, I’ll let the pictures speak for them self.
The “car” that moves the rocket to the launch pod.
The Saturn engine – still the most powerful engine ever built.
I strokes me that I now have to go to Russia to see their launch site to complete the total history of rocket science. As perhaps you know I visited Peenemünde this summer and thats the place where it all begun.
A bit of nightlife
Yesterday I went to see Darryl sing and play at the Orlando night club Blue Martini. It was very nice, ad I enjoyed it being out among friends. As you can see we had a great time.
You will find a clip of Darryl performing on Youtube.
Launch of Atlantis
Today I made an old dream come true, I witnessed the launch of a manned spacecraft.
The launch was very successful and it was really awesome seeing it take of. It was also very impressing as the sound reached me, some 30 seconds after take off.
unfortunately, the wireless Internet at my hotel is too slow. i will therefore end this update now.
Epcot
Today I spent a lot of time and money at one of Disney’s theme parks Epcot. I must say, I’m a bit disappointed. The park was ok, but i had expected more for $100.
The Spher is actually quite interesting. It’s called a geodesic sphere and is made out of triangles. It’s originally “invented” for buildings by Fuller. You probably seen some at radar stations or so. The reason why this interests me is that this building inspired to a Nobel prize in chemistry. Carbon-60 is a spherical molecule built pn the same principle. Me being a former chemists, this interests me!
Anyway, Epcot is divided into two parts, one more scientific, the other about some different countries all over the world. I started off at the science part. The best ones where Mission: SPACE and “Honey, I Shrunk The Audience” Mission Space is a matter of fact a centrifuge and even got slightly motion sick.
The pic above is from one of the countries represented in the park. I will let you guess what country for now. The answer you will find at the bottom.
I juts had to visit the German Oktober fest. It was strange, b ut there actually was a German music group playing traditional instruments, like the alp horn…
All the time there was synchronized music playing, Christmas Music like White Christmas, Jingle Bells etc. It felt very strange in the Orlando heat and sun. The I ran into the first Swedish thing
It made out a small piece of a huge Disney Christmas Tree.
Tomorrow I’m off for the east coast to watch the launch af Atlantis. Unfortunately my hotel made a mistake with my tickets so I can’t get in to Kennedy Space Center. I will have to watch the launch from the outside. But it’s ok, a bit cheaper. On Tuesday I will se all of the center instead.
Oh yes, the answer, it’s Norway. Easy to see on the blond girl!? Below is a pic showing Norway and China.
Orlando
Today I had to drop of the bike 😦 I then directly went to Orlando, I drive of approximately 300 km. Straight roads as always, hard to stay awake 😉
In Orlando X-mas has arrived 🙂
I arrived at my hotel early afternoon and I spent some quality time at pool side looking at the sun. Tonight i met an ex student of mine, Mersina. She is living in Orlando nad we had dinner at Cheesecake Factory and were talking of old times. Very nice. Sha also invited me to her husbands gig on monday evening. Really looking forward to this.
West to East – last day on bike :(
I’m back in Miami, just for the night to drop off the bike. Tomorrow I’ll go north to Orlando.
The drive today was very Sunny, I have a severe sun burn om my lips and nose. Driving south the whole day with the sun in my eyes was beautiful though. To find a road with at least one or two bends I drove via Tampa. And I ended up in the florida orange plantation. The roads where smaller but still very straight. Next time on a bike in USA will therefore not be in Florida.
This morning I woke up by the sun, it was a stunning view. The few clouds than fastly disappeared and I hit the road aiming for Miami. On my way to Miami I stopped in a town in the middle of nowhere. As I drew through I just realized that this small town was my idea of USA. College, football filed, small shopping centre and lots of petrol stations and fast food restaurants. I stopped
some western-like shops to make a picture of me on the bike. I think the surroundings speaks for themself. (I cropped this pic for you to se me on the bike a bit bigger)
Unfortunately I forgot to put in the put in the support – I’ll have to correct that in Photoshop later 😉
Cool(d) day
Today winter arrived in Florida. Temperatures dropped to below 20 degrees. I’m glad I got a leather jacket. Luckily summer returns for weekend. Today I lost my keys to the bike. But very remarkably I found them again. I had to drive back for an hour my last stop and I found them on the place I last parked. It’s a bit tricky with the Harley, it has no ignition key so you can drive it without any key. You just need the key to lock it. I was very happy, you can imagine, and I sang the whole way back to St Petersburg.
Still it has been a nice ride. approaching St Petersburg is quite thrilling going over a new bridge. It was very windy but the view was breathtaking. I couldn’t stop to take any pictures but I found one on the web.
Right now I’m watching Antikrundan, the US version. Here you really can realize the different age perspective America compared to Europe slash Sweden. The TV show is a lot about thing from the last century.
I’m staying 2 meters from the Mexican Gulf. A small hotel and a nice room, but it is very off. At least I can’t find anything exciting around here.
Key West to Everglades
Today has been ups and downs. I had to leave Key West early to manage to stay out of rain. That went well, I could always find a gas station to fins shelter. Some rain was really impressing, thunder etc. Then I had to spend 2 hours in Florida City to fix my GPS-problem. All this made me miss some attractions.
I am now starting to get to know my bike a little better. I feel more secure and manage for instance to do U-turns without looking to bad. And there has been some U-turns today. But U-turns are almost the only turns I make. The roads lack them completely.
If you know how I like to drive you will realize that this is not my kind og bike riding. But I now understand why my friend Kim makes funny faces when I want to drive a gravel road. Anyway, the Harley is very confortabe but my legs are too long. To stretch out I will move back on the passenger seat 🙂
But it is fan to drive!
This night I ended up in a small place in Everglades. I’m almost alone in the Hotel, it is totally of season. I don’t mind, the owners are nice and I ended up in the Hotel bar. The restaurant is closed so I had to drive 6 miles to the very famous (?) Iron Rhino
A very american bar where the local bikers come together. This night though, I was the only one with 2-wheel. I wanted something to eat and they had a lot to choose from as long it came with french fries. Most of all burgers, but I got a greek kebab kind of thing. The bartender went crazy as I told him I was from Sweden. Great he ment and said that his favourite music is Swedish. Nowadays that is very possible, Abba, Roxette, etc. But I didn’t know a single band. He is a metal fan…
After a nice ride back I’m know sitting in the lobby updating my blog.
Getting around 
