World tour – part 2 (Kansas City, Missouri)

Kansas City.

Kansas City? Yes, Kansas City! The main reason we went there was D2WC, the Designer/Developer/Mobile Workflow conference. Kai had been there before and was surprised how nice it actually was. So when he was invited back to speak again this year, and when it turned out to fit nicely around the IA Konferenz in Germany, I had to go with him.

And I was surprised too – Kansas City isn’t bad at all. It’s lacking a bit of character, but for spending a couple of relaxing days it’s quite suitable. It is called the City of Fountains for a reason, has a nice shopping complex and has a few other things you can do as a tourist.

My personal highlights were:

the Hallmark Visitors Centre
a bus tour into town (I should have sensed that his would become an adventure when the concierge at the hotel asked me if I had ever used public transport before, and informed me that it wasn’t easy)
the Cheesecake Factory (they had Snickers bar chunks cheesecake!)
the variety of really bizarre fountains all over the place
the Coca Cola Freestyle machine (a proprietary beverage dispenser with more than 100 drinks options and a great UI, see video below)