Ann Arbor - Day 2, April 25, 2010

The rain came down last night while we were sleeping.  Big water drops would clank on the metal air conditioner shell jutting outside the window, but fortunately I was tired enough to ignore it.  The weather forecast called for rain again today, but it ended up cloudy with a very slight drizzle every once in a while, thank goodness.  Today was a later start than yesterday as the only limiter was to be at Zingerman's before 11am so Ada could get cinnamon french toast.  We got up at 10am and headed to the deli.  The walk was about a mile and a half into an area known as Kerrytown.  I was expecting a huge line out the door at Zingerman's, but fortunately there was only one party ahead of us at the ordering station.  It would have taken me some time to figure out how to order food there and not look like an idiot had Ada not been around as a guide.  There were two buildings; one looked like a restaurant, with tables, sweets shop and coffee brewed/served inside, and next door was the deli/gourmet shop.  I would've thought to go into the restaurant and order, but no, you go to the deli, and someone is there to take your order on a 3- or 4-part custom printed form, repeats the order for verification, then s/he rips off a part and puts in the order behind the counter and tells you to take the rest of the form to the cashier, which is in an adjacent room.  You wait in line there, and the cashier rips your form apart, gives you your copy, and takes your money.  It was rather tight in that room as merchandise was also being sold on shelves; I felt like if I didn't take care, my shoulder/purse/butt would knock over expensive glass jars of gourmet eats.  The orders were also coming out of a door near the cashier; I didn't know where to stand as I was in the way of servers taking food to the building with the tables and drinks, and in the way of customers browsing among the Zingerman goods.  After paying, we went to the adjacent building to select a table.  I thought popular Chinese restaurants in San Francisco packed their tables the closest, but Zingerman's may take the cake.

So what did we order?  Ada ordered a breakfast platter (eggs/sausage/toast) and an order of cinnamon french toast.  Though I love to eat breakfast foods, I had to order a sandwich, because it's a famous deli!  I got an order of #11 (JJ's), pastrami and swiss.  Yum!  I knew it would be huge, so I planned to eat half and take the other half with me for dinner on my flight back.  The meat was very tender and not fatty at all.  Bread was good too.  I tried a piece of the cinnamon toast and it was really tasty, especially because I could tell how much melted butter was on it, along with a thick layer of cinnamon sugar.  You can't go wrong with butter, cinnamon and sugar!  I washed everything down with a glass of iced green tea (without the ice).  It's serve-yourself with unlimited refills.  By the time we were done, there was a line out the door.  Very lucky to have avoided the queue.

We headed back to campus and went to the Museum of Art.  A very nice collection.  My favorite was on the second level, Charity.  I stared at it for so long, amazed at how realistic the flesh tones were on the babies, down to the tips of their little fingers.  Then it was off to Hill Auditorium, where we enjoyed a concert by the Life Sciences Orchestra.  All the members are involved in the university's medical and life sciences division, whether undergrads, grads, or even faculty.  It's wonderful that a student could pursue an education in the life sciences and also continue their passion with orchestra.  Three pieces were performed - a modern one called "Voyage" by John Corigliano, followed by Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Opus 73 "Emperor", Movement 1, then Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Opus 64.  The auditorium is supposed to be a "monument to perfect acoustics", that the furthest seat from the stage could hear a pin drop. Sounded pretty good to me, though I wasn't seated way in the back.

We had just enough time to head back to Ada's apartment and share one of the cupcakes I bought the day before.  The Michigan Bumpy looks kind of strange, like a cupcake that suffered from a bad case of hives.  It's a chocolate cupcake, topped with white buttercream "bumps", dipped in chocolate ganache and drizzled with white chocolate.  It looked strange but I decided to buy it because it was a popular selection.  It was sooooo good.  The chocolate cake was moist and rich, not tooth-achingly sweet.  The frosting was sweet but it matched the cake flavor perfectly.  It actually felt refreshing to eat it; I wasn't dying for a glass of water.  Ada and I were speechless besides the occasional "mmmmmm".  Then it was time to go.  Thanks Ada, for planning such a great itinerary on short notice, for a trip that was only 24 hours long!

I made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, as I wasn't sure how bad it'd be to fly out of Detroit.  It started raining right when I was pulling into the Alamo car return, perfect timing!  I'm glad there wasn't any rain when we were out and about.  At the airport, there was no line to print out my boarding pass, and I was able to jump into a shorter security line for first class passengers.  I had an hour to spare before boarding and I remembered I passed a Lufthansa Senator/Business Lounge when I arrived the day before.  As a 1K member, you are also considered a "Star Alliance Gold" member, and Star Alliance lounges will allow Star Alliance Gold members to partake in their lounge for free, as long as you have a boarding pass on any Star Alliance partner.  The nice part about this is that it doesn't have to be an international ticket!  The United Red Carpet Club lounges only let us 1K's in for free if we have an international ticket, else you have to purchase a Club membership.  But Lufthansa will let you in, very strange.  I stroll into Lufthansa's lounge and show my ticket and 1K membership card.  The matron writes down my flight number and boarding time, and directs me to the lounge on my left, telling me that it will close in 30 minutes.  No wonder it was pretty empty.  There was also a lounge on my right, maybe that was the "Business Lounge".  The lounge I entered (Senator Lounge) was pretty nice, with a decent spread of food and drink, with leather chairs to relax in.  I wasn't interested in eating any more calories since I pigged out in the last 24 hours, so I skipped most of the food and just had a snack of tomatoes and cucumbers and a glass of apple juice.  You could have a whole meal there if you wanted:  cold salads, cheese and crackers, hummus, warm pasta, packages of Sun Chips and breadsticks, dessert tarts.  Since I was there 30 minutes before closing, I'm sure there were selections that were gone (fruit perhaps?), but what was left was still better than what you get at some United lounges.  There was a coffee machine, apple and orange juices, bottled water, wine, liquor you can help yourself to, and a refrigerator filled with soft drinks and beer.  I didn't visit the restroom, though I should have to see if they had any toiletries and shower facilities.  At 6:30pm, we got kicked out of the lounge and I waited the remaining 30 minutes near the gate.  I noticed a strangely named food establishment.  It's like a bad English translation...cheeburger?  And repeating it twice too.  That's very Asian, hehe.

I would be riding a CRJ-700 jet again, but this time for over 3 hours to Denver, and in bulkhead seat 1A, meaning no underseat storage.  I was worried that the passengers in 1B and 1C would take up all the overhead compartment space, and even if that wasn't the case, that my weekend bag wouldn't fit and that my cupcakes and sandwiches would get smashed.  But all was well and I was able to use the overhead bin space, though the lady in 1C tried to smash her laptop bag into the compartment and I was worried for my food.  She gave up and used row 2's compartment since no one used it.

The legroom in 1A is very good, especially for tall people.  I definitely prefer 2A though.  I like having my underseat storage and since I'm not super tall, I still have leg room too.  Since the flight was over a certain amount of miles, food was offered in the first class cabin, but because the jet does not have a kitchen, the offering was a "snack box".  I asked the flight attendant what was in it, and she mentioned chips and cookies.  I decided to forgo the snackbox as I had the leftover sandwich from brunch, which would be magnitudes tastier.  The other five people opted for the snack box.  I wonder if they were thinking I was crazy not to take advantage of free food.  I didn't need to eat it, and I didn't want to take it home either.  I couldn't take a good picture of the snack box as I was unwilling to get near the cockpit door nor point a camera at someone's tray table, so a glimpse of the galley is all you get.

The jet doesn't have any entertainment (no movies or music), but I always travel with my iPhone, iPod, and a battery pack.  If my mind is active, I'll play games on my iPhone, but I usually relax to music using my noise-blocking in-ear headphones.  One time I was flying, I forgot to bring my headphones and suffered...the sound of the airplane engines drains you, but unfortunately not enough to make you go to sleep.  For me, it feels a lot better to block out the noise and focus on more pleasant sounds.  Fortunately I had a pair of earplugs with me that time I forgot my headphones, and it helped a bit, but I'd always hear the noise ever so slightly and my mind would focus on it.  If flying isn't relaxing for you (not counting the fact that you're 33,000 feet above the earth and the plane could fall out of the sky), try some noise-blocking headphones/earphones or even earplugs if it works for you.  I think that is why the Bose QuietComfort headphones are so popular, though pricey.  I got my pair of cheapo Creative headphones from eBay for $9.95 and they work great! :)

After landing in Denver, my gate wasn't too far away and the plane was a 757.  I was sitting next to a guy who was wearing flip flops.  He'd take off his flip flops and put his bare feet on the back of the armrests of the seat in front of him like an ottoman.  This is why you don't want to touch anything if you can help it.  I've seen people put snot-filled tissues into the seat pocket in front (us Chinese people joke that the person is folding won-tons) or curl their bare toes into the pocket.  Yuck.  I'm glad that at least his feet didn't stink.

No meal service on a 9:35pm flight, but first class gets a "premium snack mix" (no picture, but I don't think you care, right?).  I land in Sacramento and decide to walk back to the parking garage, which was a good choice as I didn't see any buses for a while.  I get back home, having to wake up in 5 hours to go to work.  Oh well, work does pay for these trips.  Looking forward to the next big outing...Maui for Memorial Day week, followed by a week in Hong Kong plus Shanghai for the World Expo!  (I know, I know, Hawaii again!?!?!?!  Don't I get bonus points for the World Expo?)