DB2 Blog

After a busy month of conferences, it's good to be home. It was fascinating to see Warsaw for IDUG Europe; it was my first trip there.

From my limited knowledge of history, Poland has the unfortunate placement of being on the way to other destinations. When Napoleon, and later Hitler, want to go to Russia with a few hundred thousand soldiers, Poland was on the way and was invaded each time. Chopin wrote many sad songs about what was happwning to his beloved country. Of course, the Russian came through again when they later attacked Hitler.

We took time off on the last day of the conference to visit Warsaw's old town and the Royal Palace. We were told that it wasn't the original palace; the original palace was completely destroyed by the Nazis, and then the rubble was mined for other construction. There were few buidlings left standing in Warsaw.

It took Polish volunteers ten years to reconstruct the palace. My hat is off to them. The palace is as close to perfect as it can be, and it is lovingly maintained. I spent a few minutes watching an artisan repair a small section of gold leaf. It is painstaking work.

My second trip was  back to Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas for IOD and the Gold Consultant briefing. I felt in somewhat better shape for the 5+ miles of walking required.

If you are ever looking for a quiet spot on the Vegas strip, I highly recommend a small pond in the middle of the Wynn Hotel. The bar serves a nice riesling and you can pretty much forget the bustle around you. It's a short 1 1/4 hour walk from Mandalay Bay.

Home time is limited by IDUG regional events. I'm now off to San Ramon CA and the following week is Harrisburg PA and Kansas City KS.