Minionize Yourself at Universal Studios Hollywood!

          After you put up with me for that long Hong Kong post (you win 50 awesome points if you read it to the end which earns you a hug from Captain Z), I decided to give you a break with a much shorter post about our most recent California adventure.  That's right, D and I are back in California for three months this time with our first ever apartment together having a 91101 zip code.  I definitely didn't see that coming!

Can you spot our minion hanging out with this guy?

           My mom would be very proud of the DZ duo for successfully navigating our way through Universal Studios with efficiency and so much fun!  My family has always been big on amusement parks and my mom was usually the event planner who scheduled out the activities for the day to make sure we got to do everything in a timely manner and still have time for food and enough sleep to get up and do it again tomorrow.  We've been to Wisconsin Dells, Mackinaw City, Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando, and even done a 2-day Twicket for 6 Flags Great America, so when I say my mom is good at planning multiple day vacations, I have a lot of evidence I could give.

          D and I are still new at adventure planning and we're still learning how to efficiently use our time on big adventure days such as at amusement parks.  Sometimes we end up doing a lot more walking than needed to get to all the rides and attractions and my mom would see that as wasted time.  That was not the case on Thursday when we went to Universal.

          We arrived at the Curious George parking garage with our prepaid parking and park entrance tickets so we were able to quickly get into the park and enjoy the scenery of the Studio CityWalk on our way.  A new ride: Dispicable Me Minion Mayhem just opened this year so we headed there first.  At 6 Flags if you don't head to the newest ride first thing as soon as the park opens you will have a good hour's wait in line.  We were worried because we arrived about 30 minutes after the park opened, but as we headed into Gru's neighborhood we were surprised to see very few people.

          I need a disclaimer now.  Yes, I am 27.  Yes, I have 4 nephews from the ages of 2.5 weeks to 9 years.  Yes, I used to teach middle school math and have since also completed a degree in chemistry.  But that doesn't mean that I can't internally squeal with delight at the sight of two people in amazing minion costumes standing outside the ride entrance taking pictures with kids.  I might have given the excuse of having a nephew who is obsessed with minions as the reason for wanting my picture with them, but honestly, I wanted to cry with excitement at how adorable they were and I totally just wanted a picture with them for myself.

          To summarize: Yes, I am a girl with incredibly girly impulses at times and I am not ashamed to admit it!

          The same impulse hit me later when I saw Doc Brown and Lucy standing in the Universal Plaza.  I was also giddy at the sight of Scooby Doo and Shaggy because Shaggy really looked like my oldest brother.

          We got right into the Minion Mayhem ride and we had a blast getting turned into minions and trying to pass minion training with hundreds of minions, Gru, and his three little girls on screen.  At that moment, D and I officially became kids for the day and we let our excitement after all the rides show.  I'd say this adventure made it onto our top 10 days together list.

          The ride exits into Super Silly Fun Land which feels just like the amusement park in the movie with the very same carnival game that Gru blows up.  Their are fluffy unicorns and minions everywhere.  After riding our 4-eyed bug in circles and taking pictures of all the minions, we finally head to the lower lot.

This vendor saw me taking a picture and swatted the beetle away as soon as he saw it.

          Down here we get right into line for Revenge of the Mummy where we're grateful for misting fans keeping us cool.  A giant beetle is flying around (could it have picked a more perfect ride to hang around?) and I feel the impulse to catch it, but it never comes near enough.  D says that I am not strange for wanting to play with beetles.  I'm not sure others would agree.  The ride is a blast.  It's an indoor roller coaster with the most thrilling part in the dark before the ride starts going backwards and returning us to the exit, grinning ear to ear.  We are both impressed by that ride.

          Next we pass people visiting with Optimus Prime as we enter Trans Formers.  Like the minion ride, we get 3-D glasses again and we're taking on a wild adventure with Evac to save the AllSpark.  The way Evac moves us through the Nest and the city is seamless and exciting.  Again, we are both incredibly impressed.  I haven't had this much fun on rides since I was a kid.  If you let yourself believe what's going on around you you really can get caught up in the excitement.

          Bumblebee was getting his pictures taken when we left and I realized that there's actually a person inside of him.  How costumes have changed!

          We explore NBC Universal where they have props from Psych, Warehouse 13, Jurassic Park, The Office, The Box Trolls, and Back to the Future (among props from things I haven't watched).  They even have the original DeLorean freshly fixed up and looking just as it did when Doc Brown made his first test run.  I think the baby triceratops was one of the coolest props here.

          Next, Dora is unaware of an impending raptor attack as she greets guests, and we get in line for a cruise through Jurassic Park.  The ride gets diverged off course and we end up surrounded by raptors, acid spitters, and we're just about to be eaten by a giant tyrannosaurus just as the floor drops out and we plummet down a steep waterfall to safety...whew!  We were soaked, but alive.  They provide paper towels to pat yourself down with and we dry our dripping hair a bit but let the occasional breeze and strong sun work on the rest.

          Lunch is up next, but as we walk by the animal show we see that they are seating now, so we head in to give us more time to dry off, and what's better than not having to wait in line for a show?  The animal actors cause a lot of havoc as they run through their act, and even their selective obedience makes the show more adorable than if they'd done everything right the first time.  I think Dusty is still learning his moves.

          Now we make it to lunch and split a 'gourmet' sub sandwich and giant 'gourmet' raspberry doughnut, yum!  Not only did we eat in the French area of the park, but we actually had French people sit next to us.  Very authentic!  We went to check show times and saw that the Special Effects Stage was now seating so we headed right on in.  They showed us how practical and visual effects are done with only minor glitches.  I thought it was interesting, D thought it was a bit hokey.  Ok, the secret is out, shows like that are usually pretty lame; they can't seem to help it.

          We head across the plaza to check out Shrek but never make it because that's when I get distracted by the Mystery Machine, Shaggy, Scooby, Lucy, Doc Brown, Frankenstein, Dracula, Curious George, Sponge Bob, and Woody Woodpecker.  We stop for pictures, and just in time, too! Shortly after we leave we see everyone parade back to the lands from whence they came.

          Donkey is visiting with a little girl and her family at his shack and we find out that the stunt show is about to start.  We head over and take a seat in the soak zone.  We are now in a Water World atoll and some of the citizens are taunting us with water, spraying people and then looking up at the sky like they don't know where that water came from.  The three section leaders start to get us cheering and we don't cheer well enough-SPLASH!  We are soaked.  D and I are cracking up as water drips down our noses.  Our section cheers much louder next time so we don't get the bucket treatment again.

          The show is amazing.  I have seen on land stunt shows, car stunt shows, but this is the first water stunt show with jet skis, diving, and so much fire.  They even launch a giant water plane right out over the whole set so it splashes into the water, no wires, they seriously launched it!  We speak briefly with the cast member who lit himself on fire, then we decide to come back for 9 o'clock showing as a plan for the perfect end of the night.

Shooting a scene for CSI.

          We make it to Shrek 4-D and try to evade Lord Farquad's ghost.  The three pigs and Pinocchio did try to warn us!  I love this ride because it is a fun 3-D short that shows a little of what happened between the first and second movie, and where Shrek and Fiona went to honeymoon, which is cute.  The studio tour tram ride is the next must do on my list.  I don't know if every day works like this one, but there is a minor glitch again as we have some mechanical difficulties and get stranded near the filming location of CSI in a pretend city.  We wait in silence because the tram guide can't speak when filming is going on nearby.  Finally we're able to move again and she apologizes profusely for making us sit for so long with just silent Jimmy Fallon to entertain us with his juggling, card tricks, spinning, and staring contests on the screens.

          We go through Skull Island and get a really awesome full 360 degree 3-D King Kong vs dinosaurs experience as our tram is badly beaten up in the battle and you look left, right, and everywhere trying to see it all happening.  Normally my mind likes working out the mechanics of how all the visual effects and ride effects are done, but today I am really able to let go and immerse myself in the stories presented to us, and that makes today so much better.

          We drive through the wild west, little Europe, Whoville, and Amity.  Whoville is much smaller than you'd think but it looks really cool.  I almost got eaten by Jaws, but fear not, I escaped unscathed.

The Bates Motel, nothing psycho going on here.

One of my new favorite shows is filming season 2! About a Boy

War of the Worlds

          After we return, we hit up the Simpsons ride which is another unbelievable simulator taking us on a wild roller coaster ride as Sideshow Bob tries to kill us.  Who knew radiation would save the day?  We have just enough time for one more ride before the stunt show and we decide to ride the Mummy again.  It feels like we go even faster, but that is likely due to our exhaustion.  It's such a blast.  We make it to the stunt show and get a seat in the middle section out of the splash zone and enjoy the show for a second time from a different perspective.  This time we watch to see when the bad guy trades places with his stunt double that catches on fire.

Heading back through the CityWalk.

          We had such a great time and we're so glad to have season passes so we can go again next weekend with D's brother and again in September when hopefully there will be less crowds.  A post-script: I slept better after this park than I've slept in a while.  Nothing like a long, exciting day to wear me completely out.

Flitting Off to Hong Kong

          I am officially a Mrs.!!!  D and I tied the knot on May 24th in the same church where my parents and maternal grandparents were married.  We had a wonderful time seeing so many friends and family members, and then 6 days later we are in a plane heading to Hong Kong.  D has to present a paper at the ICRA 2014 conference and we decide that a week in a new country sounds like a perfect honeymoon opportunity.  D's dad drops us off at O'Hare and we make it to our gate as they line us up according to boarding order.  D is group 3 and I am group 4 so after grabbing snacks and taking a quick potty break we get in line for group 4.  D commends my group 4 assignment as we get chosen from our line to go through the express line and we get to board a little earlier than the rest of the group.  We find our seats and settle in for take off.

Heading to O'Hare's International Terminal.

          The nearly 16 hour flight doesn't feel so long when we have a sandwich to share, followed by a hot dinner, a snack of ice cream and a small sandwich, and a hot breakfast provided by United Airlines and served by a friendly flight attendant who smiled at us every time he brought us food or drink.  Of course we're grateful and are sure to say thank you.  The screens on the seats in front of us also provide entertainment in the form of free movies, tv shows, and games.  We watch Caddyshack, Whose Line is it Anyway?, play sudoku and solitaire, I learn a little Mandarin then upon landing remember Cantonese is the second official language with English so it won't help me here.

Our first views of Hong Kong.

          We left around 1:15 in the afternoon May 30th and landed at 6:10 in the evening on the 31st.

Minion became our trip mascot.  Here he is testing out the bed for us.

          Flying was the easy part; the real challenge starts once we have all our luggage and need to get to the hotel.   Once we exchange some cash for some HKs (Hong Kong dollars) and get our train tickets we hitch a ride on the Airport Express to see that it's already dark outside as we speed in and out of tunnels to Tsing Yi, Kowloon, and finally the Hong Kong terminal.  We walk across many more moving walkways to get to the Central station on Hong Kong Island.  Here we learn about the Octopus card for buses and trains so we each get one and hop on the subway to the Wan Chai station.  The trains are so fast!  Leaving the station we come up to a dark sky, but the city is full of lights and people bustling about.  The two things I notice as we walk along Hennesey to our hotel is how prevalent smoking is among all legal age groups and how many really fancy cars are around.  Every car shines as though it is a matter of pride to just own a car in this city.  A large cockroach skitters across the sidewalk in front of me.  I am starting to see a pattern in how new cities greet me.  We make it to the OZO Wesley hotel, check in, shower off the gross feel that airplane bathrooms and the instant stickiness of Hong Kong humidity provide, walk behind the hotel to grab two large bottles of water at the 7-eleven (we were warned not to drink the tap water), then pass out in our super comfy bed.  Success, we made it!

          We wake up refreshed and ready to explore on our first day.  Our next challenge is to find food.  Google tells us about a place called Triple O's that is just down the street from us that is supposed to have a wonderful blueberry shake that is calling my name.  We grab the camera, our trip mascot Minion, a pocket map and head west on Hennessy.  Large, shiny skyscrapers fill the western vista and we guess that this must be a more modern part of the city.  We find our way into Pacific Place and realize that our eatery is inside a huge, upscale mall.  Versace, Bulgari, Cartier, Gucci, Chanel, Prada and so many other big names that you hear about but I avoid like the plague.  I'm not even going to think about those price tags; my money is better spent elsewhere.

Made entirely of small plastic mustangs, I thought this was very eye-catching.

          We walk by incredible window displays and find the basement food court.  After we order a couple Canadian burgers, a blueberry shake, fries, onion rings, and a green creme soda (interesting color), we walk around the extensive food market.  We want to eat in the mall so we can explore more but our next lesson is that seating in Hong Kong is extremely limited and we don't want to find out how rude we have to be to get a seat in this completely crowded food court.  Instead we head upstairs and steal an empty table in the Starbucks seating area.  The shake is incredible, like blueberries blended into real cream.  The creme soda is sweet and refreshing.  The onion rings and fries aren't over-fried so their flavor is perfect, and even the burgers have a healthier flavor to them like the burgers my mom made before turkey took over for beef.

There are mirrors or tv type screens in each horn.

          We work off our meal by walking around the several levels of shops.  There is a toy shop selling kits of not Legos but something similar and D points out the pirate ship for me.  Large woven trumpets hang from the main mall ceiling and upon seeing many others with their cameras out I feel safe to take mine out and grab a quick shot.  We walk by the AMC theater to compare prices and they are very reasonable, about the same as at home.  For some reason the Spiderman movie has a separate price from the rest; we wonder why?  With this successful food outing complete, we head back to the hotel for a quick nap before the welcome reception for the conference.  Apparently that plane trip exhausted us more than we realize, though, because we don't get up again until 4 a.m.

Very little traffic to be seen.  Not what we expected.

          We dress nicely for the conference.  I wear my purple dress shirt and dress pants with my black short heeled shoes and D wears a blue button-down with nice dark jeans.  We munch on trail mix for breakfast since the conference is providing sandwiches during a lunch talk.  Using the map we plan our walking route to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and run into D's adviser, Dr. S, a couple blocks down the road as he's out getting to know the area.  He has also made the observation that it doesn't take long to get very sweaty and sticky walking around.  The humidity is certainly a force to reckon with which is why my hair lives in a pony tail if we go outside.  Dr. S goes back to his hotel to cool off and we continue on our way across many busy streets.

Minion made a new friend on the only grass we saw in Hong Kong.  The conference center is on the right.

          Luckily we find a footbridge that goes over the busiest street as my heels have me walking slowly and my feet are already starting to hurt.  We walk through a green area with plants and elderly women getting morning exercise then finally find the door to the convention center.  Once we reach the escalators leading to the check-in booth we realize there must be a better way to get here as most people enter from the opposite direction.

Nighttime view of the conference building.

          We sign in, get our name tags and bags, and head to the opening speaker.  D feels bad because my first conference speaker is completely boring.  He talks about why China needs robots to do the labor due to a labor shortage in order to stay a top manufacturer for the world.  He plays videos of robots at work and the audio of the multiple videos clashes and the speaker becomes inaudible.  We are glad when he finishes and we can break out into the smaller talks.

We didn't see any dragon boats but we did find a tall ship!

          We skip the first round to grab breakfast and take a walk around the building, and I take my shoes off to give my feet a break.  We have a ham and cheese bun and I get a sour plum and kumquat drink that I learn I don't like, and D gets juiced watermelon from another place so we can sit at one of their tables.  As we walk off breakfast, I grab lots of shots of the city behind us and across the waterway.  Today is the Dragon Boat Festival but we can't spot any signs of it.  We head to the second session of talks next.  These are more interesting 17 minute presentations on the papers that the grad students wrote.  We are hoping to meet up with Dr. S but we don't find him until we get in line for the lunch talk.  We talk about our impressions of Hong Kong and marvel as the session line grows and grows.

Coastal construction with the city behind as seen from the conference center.

          Thankfully we got in line when we did because it isn't long after us that the food runs out and there aren't many seats left inside.  I eat my chicken and potato salad sandwich while this presenter shows us a very neat robot they are working on for underwater or land jobs.  It is controlled by a remote control that moves as the controller's hands operate similar mechanisms.  It can swim, walk, and manipulate objects while maintaining balance.  This guy is looking to use robots in many different settings for different purposes and what his team has done already is quite interesting.

The walkway on a busier day.

          D and I find a better route to head back to the hotel after lunch for a relaxing break until the evening Pecha Kucha talks.  This new route is an elevated walkway that leads from the building to Johnston Road that connects to Hennessy near the hotel.  Travelling here is so much easier, and we are amazed at how few people we see.  Even traffic is good as the few shiny cars, buses, trolleys, and red taxis pass under us.

I didn't take a picture of the Ferrari but here's a Bentley instead.

         After a lot of Googling we decide to take a walk behind our hotel to check out Star Street which is supposed to have a large selection of fancy-ish restaurants on it.  We walk past the 7-eleven and head south onto a street that looks more like a place you wouldn't want to walk at night rather than the fancy restaurant location of town.  Again we are met with many shiny cars and I am surprised to see a shiny red Ferrari parked on the curb.  Well if the driver trusts this neighborhood enough to leave a Ferrari here, I guess it can't be that bad.  We walk all along Star Street and realize the restaurants are down the side streets rather than actually on Star.  There is a small park with neat curvy trees and cement benches hidden in a corner as we head back north.

Minion was really excited about the yummy cupcakes.

          Hong Kong does a pretty nice job of keeping this bustling city quiet in small parks here and there.  Heading back toward the hotel we walk by store fronts that I'd imagined Star Street would have, big glass windows, fancy lighting, and D points out a cupcake shop as I'm snapping a picture of a Bentley parked here.  I give D my best pretty please? face and we head into the shop.  My pretty please face wasn't even needed though, this is after all our honeymoon and D pointed out the shop for a reason.  There are so many cupcakes to choose from!  Finally we settle on a peanut butter cupcake and a dark uber chocolate cupcake to take back to our hotel.  These cupcakes are SO rich they are well worth their 3-4 USD each.  They taste homemade, fresh, and nothing like the Walmart cupcakes I'd buy at school when I had a craving.

          That evening we take the easy elevated walkway route back to the conference center and enjoy the Pecha Kucha speed talks.  These are 20 slides with 20 seconds for each slide on various topics.  I think 4 out of 6 were very interesting.  I loved the talk on soft robotics, but it was hard to get excited about the talk involving the cranes at shipyard docks.

Most things here are very well maintained and clean.  It definitely adds to the comfortable atmosphere.

          The air is much cooler when we leave so we take a short break in the courtyard by a large fountain enjoying 80 degrees vs 90s.  We sit and talk about how so far we both really like Hong Kong and the conference is interesting, and we just marveled at the size and number of buildings squeezed onto the flatter part of the island.  The trees near us are those neat wavy ones again.  Not much here feels like home.

          That night we eat dinner at a local restaurant just behind our hotel.  This is our first experience of not fitting in.  We enter and do not know if they have a seat yourself policy or if we should wait.  We see a lady behind a register who ignores us for a bit before seating us.  We are given menus that are in both languages (thank goodness because it doesn't appear the workers speak any English) but the pictures do not have English labels so we have to match the lettering to figure out what they are showing.  I am surprised to see shark fin soup and other shark fin recipes and they receive a disapproving eye narrowing.  We are served hot tea and some type of nuts that are very crunchy but D enjoys them.  We let the tea cool, neither of us usually drinks tea, but when we try it we find that it quite tolerable.  After we decide what we want to order we start watching other tables to learn how to get the wait staff who are just standing around, not busy, to return to our table.  I make eye contact a few times but they do not come over.  I see a woman wave the man over for the check and I begin to wonder if this is not a rude gesture in Hong Kong, but if it is the only way to get service.  Finally they must take pity on us and they return to take our order.

           The food is very good.  We stay in our comfort zone and order foods similar to what we would order at Chinese places at home.  The big difference is once again the flavor.  The food made here tastes healthier, it isn't drowned in sauce, and there are no extra ingredients.  Everything on our plates is there to add flavor and substance.  I had chicken and green onions in a light sauce and D.  We both sadly turned down the offer of rice as it would have helped to finish the lightly cooked and therefor strongly flavored onions.  We will remember to accept the rice next time.  D finishes his dish but stops helping with mine once the meat is gone; even he can't force himself to keep eating the strong onions.  We pay and talk about the experience on the very short walk home.

We binge-bought but it took us days to finish all of these.    

          Conference Day 2 finds us both in nice jeans, t-shirts, and tennis shoes.  I can't wear my devil shoes two days in a row.  We listen to some talks, hang out in a window seat facing the firehouse while waiting for other sessions, then head back to the hotel for an afternoon snack and short break before tonight's dinner.  We stop at Hoixe Cake Shop bakery on the way and buy way too many sweets and interesting looking baked goods, but the total price is still very reasonable.  One more stop at a juice place for kiwi-banana juice and orange-pineapple juice.  She juiced them right in front of us, the fruits plus a little extra water.

The view from the walkway.  I love the bright lights and colorful buildings.  To the right is a row of taxis.

          The cheese-filled blueberry roll is amazing and we end up buying several more of those throughout the rest of our trip, the mystery biscuit that was probably bean paste or something was horrible, and the egg custard was ok but not very flavor-filled.

The centerpiece on a rotating platform.  I expected the dishes to be placed here.

After this dinner I knew what I had to bring back for my sister.

          Dinner that night is a completely different story!  D and I get to the conference center to find the dining hall is decked out in a fancy way, the menu shows us what our NINE!! course meal will include, and we grab two empty seats at a back table since everywhere else is filled.  D manages to locate Dr. S and let him know where we're sitting so we can talk afterwards and then the speakers give their speeches and food is being set before us.

          The first plate is the Suckling Pig and Barbecued Meat Combination Platter.  It has barbecued suckling pig (YUM!), jelly fish in spring onion oil (interesting texture: bouncy until your teeth cut into it then is just slices apart, good flavor), de-boned pork shank served with rice vinegar (not enough good flavor to make up for the multitude of textures), sliced beef marinated with Chinese herbs (the crunchy coating was too weird to make me want another bite), and cucumber with scallion oil (quite good).  We ate what we wanted and then our plates were whisked away and shortly replaced with a new one.

          Second course is Gratinated Crab Meat in a Shell.  Oh boy!  I have never had crab before tonight and I wasn't sure I would like it.  I have been missing out!  This crab was the best thing we had all night.  Had I known it would be my favorite part of the night I wouldn't have let them take my leftovers away.  It had a breaded coating with the shredded meat inside.  I must point out we ate everything tonight with chopsticks and it was fun poking into this guy and devouring the delicious meat inside.

          Third couldn't get close to topping second but it is pretty good: Sauteed Prawn and Jumbo Scallop with Vegetables.  I am not a seafood person so one prawn is plenty for me and the scallop, I try, but it is a no go.  The broccoli is good, though.  A nice change from all the meat.

          Fourth has us both half wishing we hadn't promised to try everything.  It's a bowl of soup with mystery veggies and organisms that were probably slimy when they were still alive: Double-boiled Sea Whelk (what?) and Chicken Consomme with Morel and Brassica (again, what?).  We determine that the brown wavy things must be the morel because I remember hearing that is a type of mushroom, the spotted chewy piece we assume is likely a relative of a snail, not very tasteful, and the veggies and broth are ok.  So we survive and aren't too disappointed.  It was ok overall!

          Next is Steamed Oasis Giant Garoupa.  We'd seen garoupa on the menu last night at the Ming Garden Restaurant.  Now we learn that it's actually fish commonly known in other places as grouper.  I am not a fish fan so after a taste I pass on the rest.  Even poor D who got a bowl full of fins agrees that it has too fishy a flavor and doesn't eat too much of the meat.  We sit back and ponder the giant fish head staring at us from the center of the table for the remainder of the course.

          Sixth is back within my comfort zone: Chicken with Spring Onion and Smoky Tea Leave.  YUM!  I am already getting rather full by this point but I use my chopsticks to pick off as much meat as I can eat.

D is demonstrating his chopsticks technique for my sister's approval.

         The Fried Rice with Egg White and Assorted Seafood with Vegetables seems to me to be a clever use of all the leftover bits from preparing the earlier dishes.  D and I both pick at it a bit, but are feeling full enough to not eat a whole lot from our bowls.  Plus, at this point I've had enough seafood to last me a month.

          The last course before dessert is Noodles with Dumpling served in Supreme Broth.  I don't know what supreme broth is but it was just ok in my opinion.  The title also forgets to warn that more seafood is hidden inside, so after a taste of the dumpling I keep to the noodles.  D enjoys the dumpling, he has a much higher seafood tolerance than I do.

          Some ribbon dancing and water drums entertain us through dessert along with a bit more talking.  The conference will be held in Seattle next year so they played a promotional video for what visitors can expect to enjoy after they write an acceptable conference paper and get their travel arrangements made.  D hopes to submit a paper for this conference again.  I wonder if that means I might get to see Seattle with him.

          Dessert is a piece of cake that was initially cut with a samurai-looking sword, very ceremonial.  It was full of fruit as Fresh Cream Cake with Fruits would imply.  It was a fresh way to end the meal.  D and I cleared our dessert plate and waddled home.  Great job, Hong Kong!  Thank you for giving us a wonderful sampling of local cuisine!

          We briefly meet up Dr. S after dinner, but he is confident that D is ready for his presentation tomorrow.  Back at the hotel D runs through is presentation a few times while I relax with a book.

          Day 3 is D's presentation day and the last day of the conference.  We miss the first round of presentations so D can get a little more sleep and practice time in.  We make it to the lunch awards talk and end up eating Beijing duck breast sandwiches.  D enjoys it but I find it hard to swallow thinking of our pet duck Katie back home.  I enjoy my chicken sandwich, though.

D sets up his presentation while he waits for the session to begin.

          D's presentation is right after lunch and I get the job of saving his seat while he sets up and presents.  That job is apparently much harder that I would have guessed.  After D rejoins me in the audience the man next to me leans over and asks if we're on our honeymoon.  My best friend gave us Bride and Groom luggage tags for the trip and D has the Groom one on his bag.  We say yes we are and he tells us he thinks that there's no better place to spend a honeymoon than in Hong Kong with 2000 of the world's finest robotics experts.  We agree while laughing.  For some reason this set of talks was very popular.  4/6 presenters are very interesting and do a nice job, so perhaps that's why this room is so popular.  It could help that one presenter is from Disney.  D's presentation goes very well and he talks with a researcher working on a related project after all the presentations as I watch the coastal construction going on outside the window.

          We take our window seat again and play a game of War while waiting for the farewell reception to begin.  They are serving beverages and finger foods although they clearly weren't anticipating the crowd that arrived.  The food vanished quickly but the lines for the food held fast to their hope.  D and I give up and hit up Yoshinoya for dinner and enjoy our horde of sweets back at the hotel.  Can you call memory foam a sweet, though?  I need to teach them how to make proper cakes. ;)

          With the conference over our honeymoon can begin.  Tomorrow we start on the real adventures.

Farewell Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, thank you for hosting us!