When I got to AMS, I made a stop at the Rijksmuseum at the airport. This is a neat idea: an art museum embedded in the concourse of the airport. They're currently featuring an exhibit called "Really Rembrandt?" featuring pictures that were once thought to be Rembrandts but aren't, plus one ("The Oriental") that was first thought to be authentic, then a fake, then authentic again. Unfortunately, my plans to take a refreshing shower in the KLM Crown Lounge was thwarted by a combination of KLM's unclear policy on who gets lounge access and their ongoing inconsistency in enforcement. So, too bad. I'd been forewarned by FlyerTalk that the KLM lounge folks jealously guarded their showers, so it wasn't the end of the world. After that, getting to Oslo was easy.
I didn't know that there was a train (the Flytoget, or airport express train) connecting the Oslo airport with the Sandvika area, where my hotel was. I found that out after paying NOK 1180 for a taxi (that's about $165). It was a long taxi ride, but still, that's a heck of a fare. I was careful to take the train for my return to the airport (but more on that in a bit). When I got to the hotel (the Thon Hotel Oslofjord, part of a local chain) I found it to be a pleasant, open building right near several shopping areas (including a grocery store where I bought some Norwegian mystery food for the boys). As is the case with many hotels in Europe, the in-room Internet is wireless-only. This proved to be a problem, because both the reliability and performance of their net connection was poor, and that's all we had access to in the meeting rooms downstairs. I had lunch with Jim McBee, then spent the rest of the day working on some new and improved demos. The Sandvika chapter of Rotary met in the hotel that evening, but I was too busy with my demos to go to the meeting-- now I rather wish that I had gone.
I got up early Thursday morning for the roadshow itself. This time, I had to present an hour-long keynote plus my regular sessions. That definitely makes the day a bit longer. However, my new keynote demo of Exchange ActiveSync and the mobility policies in Exchange Server 2003 SP2 and Exchange Server 2007 went really well. I couldn't get the provided telephone to work properly, so I had to cut short the unified messaging demo, and I didn't have time to even attempt the demo of Exchange's new Local Continuous Replication feature. Too bad; it's a really cool demo. I was surprised to see how many people in the audience had Windows Mobile devices, though, so the EAS demo was definitely very well received. After the keynote, I had to hustle to my other meeting room to present my track sessions on Exchange mobility, unified messaging, and real-time communications. As in Portugal, the demo of Exchange UM (and particularly Outlook Voice Access) was a huge hit. During the day, I got a chance to pop in on Jim and Glenn to see how their sessions were going; they both reported smooth sailing and a fair number of audience questions. I enjoyed getting to see Glenn, since I normally only see him at Microsoft events.
One difference I've noticed about European audiences is that they tend to ask fewer questions in group settings. Overall, we had more questions in the Oslo sessions than we did in Lisbon, but still many fewer than I'd expect from an identical event in the US. I'm not sure why this is. However, the attendees were friendly and engaging, and fortunately they spoke much better English than I do Norwegian. (I'm going to try to learn a couple phrases of Afrikaans before I go to Johannesburg.)
Speaking of Norwegian: I think I liked everything about Norway, from the architecture to the pleasing mystery of road signs and food labels to the fact that it was still light at midnight. The weather was decent, the people were friendly, and I enjoyed the few glimpses I got of the city and countryside. Unfortunately, it was such a short trip that I didn't get to do even the minimal sightseeing I squeezed in in Lisbon; I'd like to take another trip to the region when I have more time to look around. (Oslo's about the same size as Toledo, but it's a heck of a lot more interesting!) It's clearly an expensive place to live, though; there's a hefty income tax, plus VATs on everything you buy, plus additional taxes on some items (like cars). I got quite a lecture on how wonderful Norway's social support net is from my cab driver, who somewhat ruefully admitted that his cab (a Mercedes station wagon) cost about $40,000 list but cost him about $78,000 when taxes were factored in. Wow.
My original return was supposed to be OSL-CDG-CVG-TOL, but I only had an hour to transfer planes at CDG-- and as anyone who's been there knows, that's not nearly enough time. I changed my flights to go OSL-AMS-CVG-TOL, with my first flight at 0655-- early, but still doable. Then yesterday, the airport radar at Stockholm's airport failed, and that caused a ripple effect of delays and cancellations-- so my convenient [sic] 0655 flight was cancelled and I had to take a flight at 0615 with a plane change in Copenhagen. No problem: I woke up at 0350, took a taxi to the Sandvika train station, and paid NOK 96 for a ticket on the 0424 train (which I just barely made!) A 45-minute train ride later, I was at the airport, which was pure chaos. Fortunately, I made the flight. The SAS Airbus 321 that I was on had a cool nose camera; they left it on in flight so you could see landmarks passing below as we flew along. SAS also served a delicious little deli-style breakfast box, with fresh, warm rolls, little containers of yogurt and juice, and small pieces of meat and cheese. Highly recommended! I ddn't get to see much of the Copenhagen airport; however, like the Oslo airport it was spotlessly clean, well-lit, and much more nicely appointed than the typical comparably sized US airport. Then it was on to AMS, which I can now navigate like a pro. I easily made my flight to Cincinnati despite the bad advice I got from Delta agent Erika R (she made me go to the NW transfer desk to check in, and of course NW was having none of that). Now I'm on my way home, although I won't actually be able to post this until I get there. Tomorrow I'm helping out at the boys' Scout day camp, and on Sunday I plan to do as little as possible!
Posted by Paul at June 13, 2006 03:44 PM