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US vacation trip, April 22 — May 2, 2005

April 22 — 25: Three Glorious Days in New York City

The weekend of April 23-24 I attended the Ayn Rand Institute's Centenary Celebration of Ayn Rand at the Marriott East Side hotel, close to Grand Central Terminal — see the schedule and lecture topics. It was a very successful and enjoyable event, where I also could say hello to a number of old friends and acquaintances, like Anu Seppala, Allan Gotthelf, John Ridpath, Peter Schwartz, Nort Buechner, Richard Ralston and Ellen Kenner.

Click the small photos for larger views and some remarks.

The four talks on Saturday were all very good, as was my pal Harry Binswanger's Sunday morning talk — but my favorite talk, much to my surprise (and the only one which didn't cost any money to attend!) was ARI Executive Director Yaron Brook's closing presentation about all the work done by ARI. Yaron is a lively, enthusiastic presenter and a great salesman for ARI. After his talk I went up to him and paid him the best compliment I could think of — and which I certainly meant 100%: "Yaron, you're a worthy successor to Mike." (That's of course Mike Berliner, who was the Executive Director of ARI since its fledgling inception in 1985 until he semi-retired in 2000. Alas, Mike was ill and couldn't attend this Centenary event, and his scheduled talk was delivered by Yaron.)

After the closing of the Centenary event Harry and I went for lunch and then to his swanky apartment, where we spent some pleasant hours chatting, mostly about our beloved computers and software. I occasionally tutor Harry in his modest attempts at using Photoshop — it's my revenge for all the philosophy tutoring I have endured at his hands. ;-) Harry — a Professor of Philosophy at ARI — has long been working on a book about the nature of consciousness, and whenever it comes out it will be a breathtakingly brilliant work.

On Sunday evening I strolled through NYC's streets for hours, admiring The City of Cities, and then I had a miserably expensive and totally second-rate steak dinner at a supposedly famous steak restaurant, Smith & Wollensky's — I hereby warn you against them!

On Monday I enjoyed an excellent — and blessedly inexpensive — lunch with Jean Moroney Binswanger, talking about her seminars on thinking skills and generally catching up. I recently designed the logo for Jean's company, Thinking Directions, and seven years ago, in 1998, I was her very first paying customer, which earned me the eternal honorific title of "Guinea Pig Number One". Jean is a sweet, bright gal, and I always enjoy our talks.

April 25 — 26: One Glorious Day in Massachusetts

At 14:00 I boarded a train at Pennsylvania Station, bound for Boston. I hate commercial flights, not because I'm afraid of flying but because of all the goddamn hassle and crowds — but train travel is almost 100% hassle-free, so I'd rather spend hours on a train than half an hour on an airplane. This was a fine 4-hour ride, which I mostly spent looking out the window from my excellent seating in a quiet back corner and enjoying some sips of Cointreau (my favorite liqueur).

I arrived at my stop around 18:00, and was immediately met at the station by my cousin and old buddy Hans Nordby, who — unlike me — had the great fortune of being born in the USA, because his father (my uncle Helge, brother of my Father) immigrated there in 1949. Hans works in commercial real estate in Boston and he and his family moved two years ago to a small rural town south of Boston, called Dover. I had never been there, but it sure was a nice house and area! I met his wife, Kelly, and their two children, Christian, who's just a one-year old baby, and Evan, who's four and a lively, chatty fellow. It was too complicated to figure out exactly what kind of relative I was to the kids, so we decided that I'd just be their Uncle Klaus. We had a pleasant steak dinner and brownies for dessert, chatted about this and that and went to bed around 23:00 — early for me, but I had to get up damn early.

April 26 — May 2: Six Glorious Days in New Hampshire

On Tuesday morning Hans drove me up to Boston, where I picked up my rental car close to the airport — a terrific Ford SUV! I said goodbye to Hans . . . and then I was on my own. This was the very first time ever I have driven in the USA all alone (I didn't have a driver's license until three years ago, so I could never rent and drive cars during my earlier US visits), so the first minutes I were a bit nervous about the driving, especially since I had to follow directions about finding my way to the proper highway — the 93, which would lead me north to New Hampshire. But once I found that highway I started to relax a bit, and after half an hour I was really beginning to enjoy myself!

The drive north on 93 from Boston through Massachusetts to New Hampshire takes about one hour — and soon I'll write up some remarks about my travels and adventures in NH (I drove 1,500 miles/2,400 Km in six days). Meanwhile, click on the photos below for larger views and some remarks — and here is a handy New Hampshire map of my driving.