stours

The First Days

2006-05-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

Ronald Vuillemin, founder of Novodex, was our mentor when we studied electrician engineering at the University of Applied Science of Luzerne, Switzerland. One day he asked us if we would like to go to St. Louis, Missouri for several weeks to work for Ageia. Of course we said yes. It would be a big experience for us. Then in summer 2005 the adventure started.

After a nice flight with Delta and a short stopover in Atlanta we reached St. Louis. We took the Metro to go to our appartements at Hawthorne on West-Pine Boulevard.

It was a nice warm evening and we went out to look for a telephone. Then we found a nice bar. A&J's Grill and Bar. We drank a couple of soda and went back home to go to bed.

The following pictures we made out of our appartement.

On the next morning we went to Ageia for doing some work. But after work we had to make our appartements more comfortable. So first we looked for a shopping center to buy all the stuff that we needed for a homey life. So we bought some eggs, cheese, fresh vegetables and other delicious things.

From the food sight it was alright but then we wanted to watch some DivX movies that we had on our notebooks. We had a video output on the notebook but it was not compatible to the input from the TV. Therefore we went to Radio Shack and got some capacitors to build a simple converter.

Lo and behold, it worked.

Now everything was prepared to have a nice stay at Hawthorne.

Let's Make A Sightseeing Tour

2006-05-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

During our stay in the USA we made other things than working aswell. We visited the Forrest Park several times. One time we saw a band playing some nice sound next to "The Muny".

We stopped there for a while to listen to the music. It was really cool. It seemed like everyone there was friendly and happy.

On our bike tours through St. Louis we found some nice sceneries. There was this castle looking house with the moon in the background.

It looks some kind of frightening but the bright light in the foreground aerates the whole thing.

The next two pictures we toock on the way back home from a Cardinals game. On one, the moon with the clouds are really nice too.

The second shows the spirit of the streets after a STL Cardinals game.

It is amazing. There are so many people on the streets and everyone is happy.... if the cardinals have won.

When you go to St.Louis you have to visit the Arch. Of cource we did this. It was amazing to stand next to the arch and watch up to the top. We never went on the top of the arch, maybe next time we visit St. Louis.

On our little trip to Herman, Missouri we saw many nice landscapes. We had to take a picture from this farm.

In Europe we don't have many barns that are red, but in the USA we saw zillions of them.

The next picture we took in the lobby of the Hawthorne Apartments. It was a really old-fashioned lobby. But it was kinda cool to go in and out there.

The BBQ's

2006-05-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

During our USA trip we were always most welcome. The first weekend we were invited to a BBQ at Steve Boroh's house.

It was really nice. We plaied some kind of billard and ate delicious food. There was a dessert we didn't know. It was a green bulk and looked very strange to us. But we tried it and astonishingly it smelled good.

Some weeks later we had a BBQ at John's home. We went there with James Dolan. The first thing we did there was a really chaotic drive with John's golf cart. It was crazy. James and John sat down in the cart and we stood behind on the footboard. Roman was filming and Xander held our drinks therefore we both had no free hand to held us. But just have a look to the little piece of film we made...

After this wild ride we board John's boat and enjoied the sun and the water.

Back in John's house we ate something and 'gazed' the Tivo and the big TV screen.

It is really nice to lie down on the couch and watch TV through prism glasses.

This was another day we won't forget our whole life.

But this wasn't the last time we visited John. There was anohter BBQ party there. This time John invited also some other people that we met on the lakeside. We played Ping-Pong, swam in the pool or measured our strenght with some box matches.

After that many activities we all were hungry. The grill was full of lucious meat.

We ate as much as we could.

Later John showed us one of his films. It was 'The Last Starfighter'. It was so great to seat in front of the pool and watching a movie.

That was really a amazing experience. Thank you John.

A Nice Afternoon In The Zoo

2006-05-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

John told us to go to the famous St.Louis Zoo. One afternoon we did this. It was a sunny day (like almost every other day too) and we enjoied walking through the 'garden'. We saw many animals like this Elefant.

But we also saw a nice hut like the explorer had built in Africa.

We tried to feel like such an explorer. Just look on the picture. There was only the tropical hat missing on Xander head.

Short Trip To Chicago

2006-05-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

During our stay in St. Louis we decided to visit another city in the States. We came to the decision to do a journy to Chicago.
To do this we went to the rail station to ask for prices and schedules. The conclusion was that it is easier to take the car for this trip. Otto generously lend us his car.

Instead of just do a weekend trip we took two days off. So we could spend half a week in Chicago. The ride was ok and after about 5 hours we saw the skyline of the big city.

This was very impresive. We've never seen such a skiline bevore.

There were some nice and interesting days in front of us. After we found our lodging we started to explore the city. We went to the lakeside and watched the nice girls doing some sports. And we informed us what is worth to visit during our short trip.
Of course we bought a ticket to lift up to the top of the City the Sears Tower Skydeck. It was amazing to see all the big buildings that seemed to be little huts. But the most beautiful sight was the huge lake michigan. It looked like an ocean.

We saw this sailors after our Skydeck experience.

It's kind of lomographie a realy nice variety of photographic art. If you have a look to the right hands of this seamen they seem to be 'copy paste'.

We also liked the channels of Chicago. It would be very nice if one owns a flat next to such a channel and you can go down to your boat and drive out to the lake.

Another day we visited the Field Museum.

The Dinosaur exhibition was good but the other rooms with the 'near' history of Chicago and its surrounding was even better. We spent allmost half a day in these halls. The photograph with the Indian mask is really nice and sharp. We like this very much.

One time we'd liked to do a boating trip with a speed boat (speed dog). This boat with two diesel engines each 1000 horse power was not bad. It smellt like at the airport. During the ride the guide told us some more or less interesting suff about Chicago and after 20 minutes we returned safely to the harbour.

During summer there is a big fireworks at the lakeside once a week. We joined the presentation and made some nice pictures. The one below, showing the skyline by night is not bad but sadly we didn't have a boat to watch the events from another point of view.

Let us tell a funny story that we underwent in Chicago. We walked down one of the numerous streets of Chicago when a man asked us for some bucks. He said he was waiting for a friend but he didn't show up and now he hadn't enought money to return back home by Subway. Xander was generous and gave him 5 dollars. The man thanked and said that he will send us the money back by mail. Therefore Xander took a picture of the guy and its driver's license. Everything seemed to be allright. But some days later back in St. Louis we saw that the photograph was unsharp and the face was not recognizable...

And of course we've never heard something from the money or this guy....

John from the J&A's Bar & Grill in St. Louis (very good burgers and nice service) told us to visit the Green Mill in Chicago. One evening we did this. It was about 20 to 30 minutes away from downtown by Subway. We found the bar without any trouble. We'd liked to enter but then we were refused because we didn't have our passports with us. We took the photopraph as a proof and returned to downtown.

Back in St. Louis we printed this picture and gave it John. He had that much pleasure, we didn't have to pay anything this evening. Thank you John.

After some nice days in Chicago we returned to St. Louis to resume work at Ageia. Some days later Otto the guy that lend us his car, asked us if we are content with the car. We said yes. Most of the time he was abroad therefore he didn't know what we were doing with his car. We spoke to him some minutes and then he said that the car is ok but maybe not for a bigger journey for example to Chicago. We looked to each other,smiled and said ok....
Thank you again Otto for lending us your car, even for the trip to Chicago.

Baseball At Bush Stadium

2006-05-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

What is an america trip with out visiting a baseball game. You're right: nothing.
We went to a game with John. Bevore the game started there was a Beatles revival band playing some sound.

The reason was that the original Beatles were playing at the Bush station exactly 40 years earlyer.

Well, then the game began. It was really difficult to follow the action because we as unknowing europeans in one of the holiest things that the americans know... that is not easy. But with John we had an expert next to us and he did as much efford as he could to explain us the rules of this amazing game. Of course the St. Louis Cardinals won that game.

Some days bevore we left St. Louis to return to good old Switzerland one of the employees of Ageia, Lou Bahrmasel gave us tickets for another baseball game. This time we went there together with Lou Rohan and his wife, Scott, John and ... ahm we forgot his name, sorry.

It was really nice too on this day.

By the way, let us make a little side note. We think that americans become very devoted if they drank a couple of beers. On the first picture John is hit on Xander and on the second there is an american which we met some months earlier in the famous "Hofbräuhaus" in Munich. Don't you think that these pictures are almost identical? Must be something genatical.

The Big Storm

2006-05-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

There were a lot of chinese people working for Ageia for some months while we were in St. Louis. In August 2005 most of them left USA. Therefore they gave a nice party at the Chase Park Plaza. Everything was alright but suddenly all hell breaked loose. It was a big summer storm. Xander couldn't even hold him self standing.

We tried to make a film. On this film you can see the palm pots going down. This was kind of funny.

But later when we went back home we saw what the storm did harm. The whole West-Pine Avenue was full of leaves and branches. But not only the streets were full of them.

Let's Watch Tennis

2006-05-21T13:57:00.000-07:00

Every year there are team tennis matches at Dwight Davis Memorial Tennis Center in Forest Park. This event is called St. Louis Aces.
John is a tennis fan hence it's not surprising that we went to watch a match. We were there two times but the first time the weather was bad that means it rained the whole day. For this macht John gave us VIP tickets, so food and drinks were included. Sadly there was no game on this day but we ate and drank as much as we could. By the way, the two girls that served the drinking were very nice.... After the drink orgy we went back home through the rain.

The second time we were at Dwight Davis Memorial Tennis Center the weather was good. We went along with John and James. (John took this picture).

This was the first live tennis match we've ever seen. The ambiance was great. This time we've had no VIP tickets so we went for some hot dogs. They were really cheap and Xander ate zillions of them.

One of the female players was called Russell (the woman on the left). Everytime she had to return a serve she was stretching her boody in a manner that was...

...special.
But there was someone who liked this very much... to bad we don't remember who it was... :-)

John was one of the loudest people in the station. See the video as a proof.

After the match we asked him why he was screaming all the time and his answer was: "I was supposed to be loud."

Both days, the one with and the one without tennis were a pleasure for as. So again, thank you John.

Nice Cars

2006-05-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

We as Europeans are always impressed or even anxious about the huge cars that are driving through the States. Some of them are as big as some tractors in Europe. But there are american cars which would never get a licence to be driven in switzerland. Below we posted some of the funniest cars we saw during our stay in the USA. The pictures with bad quality were made by a cell phone. Sometimes we didn't have our camera with us therefore the cell was used.

Most of all we like the automobile with the damaged rear.

But the pimped Hummer is well too.

By the way, this picture we took in Chigago which is a great City, but we have an own blog entry from our chicago trip as you might have seen.

The car with the... let's say big woman is not very funny. There is another story with this shot. We were at Schnucks to do some purchasing. Then we saw this woman. She took some kind of wheelchair to drive through the shop. Obviously she was used to do this. This looked very strange to us but this wasn't the clou of the story. After she finished all her stuff at Schnucks she drove out of the shop and crashed in to column of the building....intentionally! We couldn't believe one's eyes.

The picture with the vintage car is realy nice because one can really see the motion in this photograph if you have a look on the ground.

Here some other cars:

At The City Museum

2006-05-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

When we asked someone what place we should have seen during our stay in St. Louis many people told us to go to the City Museum. So one warm evening we went there. We didn't have any idea what was expecting us. First we thaught that it would be a usual museum with some kind of modern art to watch at. But we were surprised when we entered the door and saw scaffolds for climbing or slides.

Ok, let's explore...

The whole building was stuffed with curious things like tubes, tree trunks and other things.

We did many things and found many ways to go from one place to another without takeing the same path.

Some rooms were amazing with the special lighting. We also took some pictures with flash. With this bright light the dreamland was destroyed for a short moment. We were surprised by looking at the pictures when we returned back home after this very funny trip. But here we show only some nice shots from this great place.

Thank You And Goodbye

2006-05-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Well, the reason why we went to the United States was definitively the internship at Ageia. There we had a great time and we learnd verry much. The whole surrounding was perfect, our mentor John, all the other persons we worked with and of course our workplace.

Our job was it to make a test framework for testing the daly work of Ageia automatically.
We had a PhysX processor in our PC long time before the public release. That was cool.

The framework we made there wasn't finished but you could have done some very nice things with it. We are wondering what's happen to this 'Smoketest'.

On our last day we brought some donuts with us. That was a good idea. Many of the employees became friends for example Dave and Lou.

Twice a week we went up early in the morning to do some sports. Therefore we met Dave and Lou at Forest Park for run. Sometimes it was so hot that someone (who?) got spots in his view.

There are some of the pictures we made as souvenir for us.

It was such a great time in St. Louis. We will never forget this time. So thanks to everyone that supported us especially to John Ratcliff (and his family).

He aided us to do our job and even more important he showed us some parts of the wonderful american way of life.
So thank you John, thank you everyone.