Angelina Jolie Funds Cambodian Wildlife Sanctuary

Interesting article from Treehugger, not only is she hot, but Angelina does some really awesome stuff.
Treehugger: Angelina Jolie Funds Cambodian Wildlife Sanctuary

Backpacking the Emigrant Wilderness

This past weekend Shveta, Meesha, Pritesh, and I took a short overnight backpack trip into the Emigrant Wilderness. It was an easy 2.8 mile hike from Crabtree Camp to Camp Lake, where we stayed. After setting up camp, we all took a quick dip in the lake before heading up to our campsite for dinner.

Dinner consisted of Santa Fe Pasta, which was good, and Bavarian chocolate mousse, which was a big letdown. Afterwards we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset, beautiful stars (we could even see the Milky Way!), and a nice warm campfire. The next morning we chowed down some oatmeal and headed back to San Jose. A really nice trip, and only about 3-4 hour drive from here, we'll definitely have to go back! Hopefully Meesha will post pictures soon as I didn't remember to bring my camera.

Project Gutenberg

Here's a great site where you can download tons of books for free. Great if you're looking for some reading material while bored at work :) They have lots of classics worth looking into. Welcome to Project Gutenberg - Project Gutenberg

Elevator Hack?

Check out this hack that apparently lets you skip anyone waiting for the elevator :)
link

Picture of the Day at Gadling

Sweet! One of my pictures made it to PotD at Gadling. Check it out:
http://www.gadling.com/entry/1234000633055988/

Google Talk!

Looks like Google is at it again, now they've just released a IM/Phone client called Google Talk. You access it at:
http://talk.google.com
you will require a gmail account to use it.

Switzerland

After leaving Burgandy we headed for Luzern in Switzerland. It was a nice city situated on a clear blue lake. We were immediately hit with the really high cost of living when we tried to withdraw from the ATM and the smallest amount we could take out was 200 Swiss Francs. After walking around a bit, we headed into Bern to our hotel for the next few days.

The next day we headed up to Interlaken, gateway to the Alps. This was the highlight of the trip, taking trains up the mountains, hiking, and exploring small towns up in the Alps. Shveta and I loved it so much we came back the next day for some more hiking. The sharp, snow covered peaks were just breathtaking, with rolling green hills below them. We also ran into a number of cows with their windchime-like bells attached. After coming back from the 2nd day of hiking, we found out that British Airways had gone on strike, so that caused us lots of stress and confusion as we headed to Geneva.

After arriving in Geneva we stopped by the airport, got new tickets issued by BA, and then headed to our hotel. We ended up having to stay over an extra night in Geneva, but made the most of it by going to a street fair and walking around the city. Although it was pretty nice, it was nothing compared to hiking the Alps. If someone were headed to Switzerland, I'd just say skip the big cities and head straight to Interlaken. All in all, it was a fun trip! Wonder where we should go to next? :)

Treehugger: Solar-Powered Toyota Prius Project

I was wondering when someone would try to make a solar powered Prius.. and it looks like someone is giving it a shot:
Treehugger: Solar-Powered Toyota Prius Project

Burgandy

Our next stop was in Vezelay, a small town on a hill with a nice church. It was a welcome change for all the large cities, and had gorgeous views of burgandy. We spent a few hours wandering the streets and church, then headed to Beaune.

The next couple days we spent in the town of Beaune. On one of the days Shveta and I rented bikes and went biking through the vineyards. It was a really great ride, through the wine country, and by the sunflower fields. We stopped at a few wineries and had some great tastes of wine, then headed back into Beaune. After our time in Beaune was up we headed on towards Switzerland. Click here for more pictures of Burgandy.

10 mph: it’s like On the Road, ‘cept with… Segways. - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Interesting post on Engadget about a documentary of a couple of guys who went across the US on a segway. Might be a weird, but interesting film to see.
10 mph: it’s like On the Road, ‘cept with… Segways. - Engadget - www.engadget.com

Paris Trip

After a quick 2 hour ride from London we arrived in Paris. So far Paris has been my favorite large european city. I thought the people there were very friendly and the city itself was beautiful! We visited the Arc de Triumphe, Orsay Museum, Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, St. Chapell and toured around the city. I think I actually liked the Orsay more than the Louvre, probably because I like impressionist paintings. The Eiffel Tower was really huge, and we called Meesha to wish her happy birthday from the 2nd deck. St. Chapell has the most impressive stained glass you could ever imagine, you walk up the the 2nd floor of the church and its just awe inpsiring. The pictures do not even come close to doing it justice. We also took a short day trip to Versailles, which was a far more impressive palace than Buckingham.


One evening we stopped by a famous ice cream shop called Berthillon, which had the best chocolate ice cream I've ever eaten. Overall the food in Paris was pretty good, even though we couldn't enjoy many of the dishes since they had meat. After a few days in Paris, we rented a car and headed down to Burgandy. For more pics click here.

Back From Europe!

Big Ben
Originally uploaded by Fred Hsu.

Hi everyone, we just got back from our two week trip to Europe. It was really great, we got to see London, Paris, parts of Burgandy, and parts of Switzerland.

So far I've uploaded the pictures from London to my flickr site, so I'll blog on those first.

London was great, but pretty expensive for us. The weak dollar definitely killed us this trip. Our initial cab ride from the airport cost us over $100 USD, and basically everything we bought/ate there was double price for us. We decided to brave the tubes though we were situated right at Kings Cross station. Lots of cops and security everywhere, but we didn't hit any problems. London's subway system is brilliant, cleanest and most organized subway I've seen.


Over the next few days we visited the sites, Big Ben, Parliment, Westminister Abbey, took a ride up the London Eye Ferris Wheel, Shakespeare's Globe, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Buckingham palace.

The people were really nice, probably one of the highlights of London to me were its people. Also we were pleasantly surprised with the abundance of good, healthy restaurants. In particular I liked a small chain called Giraffe, which served great food, and had a global theme. We also had some great pizza at Pizza Express. I ordered a pizza with egg on it for the first time, and it was delicious (don't knock it till you've tried it!).


After 3 days of touring London we hopped on the high-speed Eurostar to Paris. You can see our pictures from London here.