Asia-Europe 2012

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut

After crossing West Virginia and Pennsylvania, I finally met my parents in New Jersey. I was pleased to see them again, since I’ve been on the road for such a long time.

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During the weekend we went to Philadelphia, mainly to see the the Seaport Museum, featuring USS Olympia (claimed to be the world’s oldest floating steel warship, launched in 1892) and the submarine Becuna, dating since WW2, as well as other exhibits inside the building.

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Sunday there was a racing event counting for the American Le Mans challenge, this time at Lime Rock, in Connecticut.

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After a short stay in Paris, Laura is finally in Bucharest, and she sent me this good bye picture to be posted on the blog.

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Tags: cars, museum, watercraft

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July 31, 2010|20 usa (east)|Post Comment »

The Northern Carolina Transportation Museum

I made the first important stop at this museum located in Spencer, NC. It is housed inside an old steam locomotives repair shop and has trains, cars, planes and boats on display. There is also a short train ride (only around 2km inside the museum area). I paid extra for a cab ride (the first one in life!)

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Tags: museum, train

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July 26, 2010|20 usa (east)|Post Comment »

The Kennedy Space Center

I was interested in visiting the Kennedy Space Center to observe the differences between it and the one in Guyana. Owing it probably to the proximity to the Disneyland, the KSC visit feels like one to an amusement park: rides, 3D theaters, special effects, popcorn, restaurants and so on. Nobody was wearing an astronaut’s suit, though 🙂

The bus took us to an observation deck, to an old Apollo control center and to the cargo preparation area for the shuttle program. Besides those, there are many full size mock-ups, including a shuttle, the Saturn V and other rockets and sections of the International Space Station.

One of the cargo preparation areas. Occasionally, alligators could be seen in the canals like this one

The Apollo command center

Saturn V mock-up and other exhibits

The Lunar buggy, also a mock-up

Some of the first suit designs

Outside the cargo preparation area

Inside the cargo preparation area

The toilet aboard the International Space Station

The ISS lab

The shuttle cargo bay with the payload, mock-up

Tags: museum

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July 23, 2010|20 usa (east)|Post Comment »

Guyana Space Center

The visit at the center lasted for about 3 hours. We moved by bus and visited two launch sites and two command centers. We learned there are 5 launch sites: Ariane 4 and Diamante 2 (both decommissioned), Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega (last two under construction, to be completed by end of 2010). Three launch sites are needed so the space center will be able to accommodate all customers’ needs (regarding payload size and orbit type). The command centers were extremely silent, totally opposed to the agitation seen on TV.

Pictures show: Parts/payload, in storage after shipped by plane; Ariane 4 launch site; Ariane 5 launch site; Centre de Lancement 3; Centre de Lancement 3.

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Tags: museum

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July 8, 2010|18 france (guyana)|Post Comment »

A rainy day in Buenos Aires

Yesterday we spent many hours in BA. First of all we went to the old docks area, where, after a walk on the waterfront, we visited the museum aboard the Uruguay corvette. From there we continued on Avenida Belgrano. The whole city and it’s inhabitants were all dressed up for the upcoming holiday.

The rain got stronger after a while, but we found shelter at the subway. Line A is famous for it’s century-old trains, with original wooden interiors.

For the evening, we booked a tango show at BA’s oldest cafe, Tortoni.

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