Renaissance ClubSport, Walnut Creek

The hotel is attached to a full gym with two swimming pools, so there's no excuse for me to skip workouts in the mornings, right? I'll be staying here for the entire month of August. The valets all seem to know my name by now. 

Sheraton, downtown Seattle

My very first upgrade courtesy of Starwood Platinum status. This is what's considered a Junior Suite at the downtown Sheraton in Seattle. Not bad, but since I was by myself for only a night, pretty much a waste. 

Brussels, Belgium

Palais Royal. Equivalent to Buckingham Palace. 

Brussels, Belgium

Notre Dame du Sablon. Past the cathedral and down the road is where the Pierre Marcolini chocolatier sits, one of the best chocolatiers in Belgium. 

Brussels, Belgium

I stuck around for some of their practice sessions, but didn't end up staying for the concert.

Brussels, Belgium

Back to the stage in the center of Grand Place. Here's what was going on. 

Brussels, Belgium

Imagine Madonna's "Hung Up" playing while these people dance. Umm...yeah. This was their finale. 

Brussels, Belgium

Definitely performance art.

Brussels, Belgium

Walking around I stumbled across this. At first it appeared to be some really poor cheerleaders but turned out to be some sort of performance art piece. 

Brussels, Belgium

The famous statue Manneken Pis. His costume is apparently changed on a regular basis. 

Brussels, Belgium

One last shot of Grand Place.

 

Brussels, Belgium

Making my way past all the restaurants found me at Grand Place, the main square of Brussels. It's a tough to get an idea from this picture of all the buildings enclosing this place. You can just see a stage area on the left of the shot. More on this later. 

Brussels, Belgium

Continuing down Galerie de la Reine, I found the beginning of Rue des Bouchers: an alleyway filled with a number of restaurants one after another after another. I came back here later and picked a restaurant at random and had some mussels and fries.

Brussels, Belgium

Just past Place Agora is this covered alley build specifically for pedistrian traffic called Galerie de la Reine (Queen's Gallery). There were a few chocolatiers down this way, but apparently the real places are somewhere else, close to Le Sablon.

Brussels, Belgium

I had time on Saturday to tour downtown Brussels. I arrived there about 1pm and started walking for a few hours. This is the first place that I went from the train station; Place Agora is a small market area where they sell lots of touristy things for more money than you really want to pay.

Holiday Inn in Brussels, Belgium

The bed wasn't exactly great quality, but I did get to watch a lot of weird Belgium TV. This and the office is what I saw for the first four days of my trip. More pics to come of Brussels when I had a chance to tour around. 

4 Points Sheraton in Emeryville

Just across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco. This is not the place you want to hang around outside after 9pm. Trust me. 

Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park

One of our days off, Daisy and I took a trip to various touristy things around San Francisco 

Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf

I'm still working on night shots with my camera, but I was able to capture some sea lions snoozing the night away. 

Daisy and her grad buddies when they came out for the AERA conference in San Francisco. Luckily, I happened to be working in San Francisco at the same time. 

Hertz #1 Club GOld

Hertz has this nice little service called the #1 Club Gold which lets you reserve a car ahead of time then find your name on the board and walk to the appropriate spot. The car's waiting with keys in it. Can you find my name on the board?

St. Regis in San Francisco

The fact that no one was using this pool was beyond me, but it sure made swimming in it nice.

St. Regis in San Francisco

If the 42" plasma TV in the bedroom wasn't enough, you can use the LCD tv in the bathroom while brushing your teeth. 

St. Regis in San Francisco

Hands down, the best hotel I've ever stayed. The blinds and lights are all controlled by the alarm clock next to the bed, which also happens to be the telephone. 

Palace Hotel in San Francisco

Come play with us... Come play with us Danny. Come play with us, forever, and ever.