Friday, January 20, 2012

Hotel review - Hilton Moorea, French Ploynesia

 

Five stars out of five

 

This has got to be my favorite Hilton property. It is a resort with bungalows instead of normal hotel rooms, nestled in a lagoon on the north side of Moorea – a small island just off of Tahiti in French Polynesia. Extremely nice rooms, even if you do not splurge for the overwater bungalows. And the staff is fantastic – always happy to help with anything you need.

 

We pre-arranged transport to the hotel from the ferry dock. The hotels are not allowed to run their own shuttles, but they are allowed to arrange transportation for you through the local taxi companies. This cost about half the price of a regular taxi, however, there were plenty of taxis available when the ferry arrived, so we could have taken one of those if we did not have the shuttle waiting.

 

Another advantage of arranging transport through the hotel was that they knew when we were coming. As a result, the check-in process was amazingly smooth. The room was even ready early, so we could head straight over and freshen up – very nice since our flight arrived in Papeete at 6:00am.

 

While overwater bungalows are available, they cost a little more than our budget would support, so we ended up on land. That was not a bad thing, however, since we were upgraded to a suite – essentially two bungalow rooms together. This gave us two full baths, a full-sized living room area and a huge bedroom. The on-shore bungalows also come standard with a private balcony and small pool.

 

The hotel tries to be environmentally friendly – they make extensive use of solar panels for hot water and power. They also have a switch, triggered by your hotel key, that turns off almost all power when you leave the room (and take your key). Frequent travelers should note that they do abide by their stated policy of only taking towels left in the tubs (as opposed to many hotels where they take everything even if you rehang the towels). The towels were not always replaced immediately, but we never ran out. We received 2 complimentary bottles of water each night we were there, even though the hotel says that it will only provide bottled water on arrival.

 

The hotel has a full range of amenities, including:

·         2 restaurants (1 for breakfast, 1 for lunch; both serve dinner) plus 2 bars which also serve food

·         A large swimming pool

·         Free kayaking and snorkeling equipment

·         Drinkable water (not common on Moorea)

·         2 American-style power outlets in each bungalow (no need for adapters)

·         An activities desk that has a set of pre-selected activities available for purchase and a concierge that will help arrange pretty much anything else

·         Weekdays at 4:00, by the pool, there is a short, complementary demonstration of a specific aspect of Tahitian culture – ranging from husking coconuts to creating a lei.

 

The local lagoon has some decent, if not world-class snorkeling and is shallow enough that beginners can feel comfortable in the area.  We saw puffer fish, tangs, angels, gar, and many others – as well as a lot of urchins. There is also a public beach about 1 km from the hotel that has even better snorkeling Though we didn't see any, there are also stonefish  and other creatures that can ruin your day in this part of the South Pacific, so water-goers should watch where they step and be careful to only look, not touch (and if you are walking in the water, shuffle your feet so you will nudge fish not step on them).  

 

Something to watch for: black-tipped reef sharks congregate around the crepe restaurant (on the pier) after dark. It is magical watching their sleek bodies swim through the lights. Definitely worth staying up for.

 

The restaurants are expensive, as one would expect. Breakfast is served as a buffet and has a nice selection of hot and cold items, however it will run you about 3.500 PF (approximately 37 USD) per person if it is not included in your room package. For dinner, the main courses begin at approximately 2750 PF each with drinks ranging from 450 – 1300 PF (soda to cocktail).  There is a special Polynesian dinner buffet and show on Saturdays (7000 PF / person) which is expensive but definitely worth the money – the buffet has a huge selection of seafood items and the show contains some interesting components that are atypical of “normal” Polynesian shows.  (It should be noted that the price of the dinner buffet does not include any beverages.).

 


Hotel review - The Cardinal Hotel in Palo Alto

2 stars out of 5 (do not recommend)  

 

I stayed in this hotel as part of a group business trip to Stanford in Dec 2011.

 

The hotel is well located, just off of University Ave in Palo Alto, easily within walking distance to Stanford and close to a number of good restaurants and coffee shops.

 

The Cardinal Hotel is a boutique hotel stuck in the 1920s, when it was originally built.

 

This means that the hotel has a beautiful sweeping lobby that welcomes people into the building and is perfect for meeting friends. There is also a single elevator servicing the hotel, with an old-style double door (you have to manually slide the outer door open yourself when the elevator appears). While the elevator is quaint and adds atmosphere, it is slightly inconvenient if you are trying to maneuver large bags into the small entrance. Unfortunately, this hotel has more problems than advantages. My major concerns:

  • Some of the rooms have a shared bathroom. Further, they don’t tell you in advance whether you will get one of these rooms. If you are looking for a dorm room or a budget hotel, that is ok, but for those of us who expect privacy given the prices this is totally unacceptable.  As a business traveler, I have never stayed in a hotel that expects me to share a bathroom.
  • The windows are single pane windows that do absolutely nothing to block either sound or outside temperatures. You can clearly hear every conversation or vehicle on the street below, which can interfere with a good night’s sleep. Given the hotel is at the corner of two fairly busy intersections, this is a major problem if you actually have to get up in the morning.
  • There is a single source of heat in the rooms (and no cooling) – a water radiator. While I don’t really care whether the heat is from air or water, I am concerned that there is no thermostat associated with the radiator. That means that you have to get up in the middle of the night to manually turn the heat on and off to adjust the temperature within the room. Unacceptable.
  • There is no parking. None. At all. There is a public lot a half a block away and street parking a couple of blocks away, but the hotel has absolutely no parking associated with it. When I asked about this, I was told, “We are downtown.” Well, having stayed in hotels in downtown San Francisco, Washington DC, San Jose, Seattle, and many other cities, this is an excuse not a reason. For whatever cause, the hotel has chosen not to develop any parking or provide a valet service for their guests. Unacceptable.
  • The hotel uses keys instead of card locks. While this is not, in and of itself, a problem, the fact that the doors do not close – much less lock – behind you is a significant security and fire concern. It has been so long since I have been in a hotel that does not have this basic security feature, I thought it was code. Apparently not. Combine that with the fact that other than a single, extremely old deadbolt, there is no way to secure the door from the inside and you have a place that you want to avoid if you are security conscious.

 

Other minor inconveniences:

  • The rooms are small. Not horribly small, but having to shoehorn yourself into a small room, with a double bed, is not what I would expect for a decent business-oriented room. For example, there is a single small shelf in the bathroom that is not sufficient to hold all standard toiletries, and  if you sit at the desk, you back into the bed.
  • The internet does not work reliably. Some members of our party had significant problems maintaining a connection when trying to email moderate sized files. This was ultimately resolved by using a different network connection at a different business..  
  • The hotel staff appeared hurried and disengaged when we tried to obtain information. It is almost as if they felt they have better things to do than answer customer questions. They also don’t have a concierge available at any time during the day to help address questions / concerns.

 

In my mind, any one of my serious concerns is reason enough to not stay here – unless you are trying to save money (although the hotel is not particularly inexpensive)-  and I would strongly encourage people to consider alternate accommodations.

 

Sunday, January 15, 2012

City Escapes Photography Newsletter - Jan 2012

CITY ESCAPES

Nature Photography, LLC

 

 

Newsletter

January, 2012

 

 

 

 

Exposure Compensation: Keeping Your Whites White and Your Blacks Black

 

No, we’re not talking about laundry here.  We’re talking about keeping the snow white in those pictures of your fun ski trip, and the neighbor’s black cat truly black in those spooky photos you intend to scare your superstitious friend with.  Let’s face it: many of us have lots of pictures where both the snow and the black cat ended up looking gray and muddy. The most frustrating part was that we had no idea why the images weren’t turning out properly, or how to fix the problem.  It is worth noting that this discussion is relevant to any extremely light or dark objects, for example white clouds or dark brown bison, not just white snow and black cats.  For the sake of simplicity, however, we will continue with the examples of the snow and the cat throughout the explanation. 

 

The solution begins with understanding a little about your camera.  A camera’s sensor does not “see” in the same way that our eyes see.  We can look at a field of white snow and still see white, while a camera will look at a field of white snow and see gray.  This is because a camera will turn the average color tone of everything it sees to a medium shade (known in the photography world as 18% gray).  Thus, if the average tone is light, like snow, the camera will darken it to reach a medium tone, while if the average is dark, such as a black cat, the camera will lighten it.  This does not simply occur with white or black tones, either; bright yellow can be turned to a dull, muddy yellow, while deep blue can be morphed into a lackluster blue-gray, etc.  Fortunately this is an easy problem to fix, assuming that you have the proper adjustments available to you on your camera. 

 

The first thing you have to do is understand what part of the scene your camera “meters” (measures light).  While there are many different variations, generally cameras will meter one of three portions of the scene: 1) the entire frame; 2) a small segment of the frame, usually in the center; or 3) a point or “spot” in the frame.  This matters because it is the portion of the frame that the camera meters that will determine how the photograph is exposed.  For example, imagine you want to photograph that black cat lying on an orange rug, and the cat takes up half or less of the frame.  If the camera is set to meter the entire frame, your photograph will likely come out properly exposed, as the camera is metering both the rug and the cat – an overall average tone.  If the camera is spot metering only the cat’s black face, an overall dark tone, the image is likely to be underexposed, resulting in a gray, not black cat.  Read your owner’s manual to understand your camera’s default meter settings and how to change them, if that option is available. 

 

Once you know which parts of the frame your camera meters, you can proceed to change how the image is exposed.  The basic principle is the same as for a dreary sky: to lighten a gray, add light; to darken it, decrease light.  In other words, to return the gray snow to white, increase the exposure; to darken the gray cat to black, decrease exposure.  Many digital cameras now have a nifty setting that allows you to do this quickly and easily: exposure compensation.  This allows you to increase or decrease exposures with the turn of a dial or through a few menu selections.  Usually the adjustments are in increments of 1/3 of a stop, though depending upon your camera, you may be able to adjust this as well.  Each full stop increase allows for twice the light to be recorded, while each full stop decrease halves the light recorded.  To return snow to white, start by increasing the exposure between 1 and 1.3 stops, then adjust as necessary to obtain the correct color while still retaining detail in the snow.  To darken the cat to black, try decreasing the exposure by 2/3 stop.  Again, adjust as necessary to obtain the correct shade while retaining detail. 

 

On many if not most digital cameras, it is difficult to tell on the small screens whether the detail has been retained or not, so bracketing the exposure is always a good idea.  Bracketing refers to taking a series of photographs of the same scene with different exposures: one at the presumed correct exposure and one or more on either side of that exposure.  This series of images greatly increases your chances of nailing the exposure.  In quickly changing scenes or with moving subjects, bracketing is not always possible, though many higher-end cameras allow for automatic bracketing in a rapid succession of images.  In situations where bracketing is not viable, preparation (or experience) is important.  Before the action starts, use the view screen to ensure that you are as close as possible to the proper exposure and if feasible, review the newest images periodically to make adjustments.  (If you know how to use histograms, they can come in handy here.  If you have no idea what I’m talking about, that’s okay, too.  Photographers were nailing exposures long before the histogram came along.)  It is not uncommon for me to change my exposure compensation three or more times while photographing the same animal to adjust for lighting changes (clouds moving overhead, for instance) or the animal moving from one background to another (from bright yellow grass to a muddy river bed, or from the shadows into a brightly lit snowfield).  Just don’t forget to return the exposure compensation back to zero when you are done, or you might have an under- or overexposed surprise the next time you are deemed the official photographer for the family get-together.

 

Happy playing!

 

 

Our Annual Donation to The Nature Conservancy

 

As part of our year-end administrative duties, every January we make a donation to The Nature Conservancy equal to one percent of the previous year’s gross sales.  We have been proud to make this donation every year since our inception.  We strongly believe in the preservation of the world’s wild places and the protection of its most vulnerable species; we very much want these species and their incredible habitats to be around in the future for our nieces and nephews to enjoy.  We are extremely grateful for those in the past, such as those who created the National Park Service, whose foresight led to our own ability to enjoy a variety of spectacular places now.  How awful would it be to have a strip mall on the rim of the Grand Canyon, or a fast food restaurant right next to Old Faithful?  I shudder at the thought!  The Nature Conservancy, which is not associated with the National Park Service but shares its vision of protecting significant natural habitats, operates worldwide to create wildlife corridors, easements, and otherwise protected areas so that these important, and often stunning, places will remain healthy and viable for many years to come.

 

We want to thank all of our wonderful clientele for joining us in supporting those organizations that focus on good environmental stewardship.  With every purchase you make, you can rest easy knowing that not only do you have a wonderful print or set of greeting cards to enjoy, but you have also helped to protect these beautiful places.  Hats off to you!

 

 

 

January’s Fun Facts

 

January 21st is National Squirrel Appreciation Day.  Really -- we’re not pulling your leg.  So in honor of that underappreciated celebration, this month we offer some tidbits about squirrels.

 

-      The word “squirrel” is from the Greek word Skiouros, meaning “shadow tail.”

-      There are between 200 and 365 species of squirrels (depending upon who is delineating the classifications). These include marmots, groundhogs, chipmunks, and prairie dogs.

-      Due to the position of a squirrel’s eyes on the sides of its head, it cannot see directly in front of its nose.  Thus, feeding a squirrel may result in an unintentional bite.

-      Squirrels can run at speeds up to 12 miles per hour.

-      Australia has no squirrels.

-      The African Pygmy squirrel, at 2.5 inches long not including the tail, is the smallest squirrel, while the Ratufa is the largest at 3 feet.

-      In Olney, Illinois, squirrels have the right-of-way on all streets and sidewalks.  Harming a squirrel or otherwise violating Olney’s “squirrel protection laws” can result in a $750 fine – per offense.

-      The largest concentration of squirrels in the United States is in, of all places, Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., across from the White House.  (So many jokes, so little space…)

 

 

 

If you have any questions, or suggestions for future newsletters, please email us at: relationships@cityescapesphotography.com

 

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