Now down to the promised personal statistics: Walked an average of 11km (7 miles) a day (left: Sunday / Monday / Tuesday - Schritte = Steps, Strecke = Distance). Also swam close to 5km and all in all lost about 0.5 kg, which means that with all the exercise I must have invested also heavily in food and beverages :-)

Ate steak on Sunday at Harry Caray Restaurant, as always with 3 close friends, a mix of appetizers on Monday and Airline food on Tuesday. Breakfast is always a problem for me in Chicago, as I am a rather frugal person and am not willing to spend US $25 or more for a buffet style breakfast. However, a Cappuccino and a Muffin at a Starbucks (or similar) is also almost US $10.


Which brings me to the incredible cost of staying in Chicago for Europeans (and probably everyone else outside the USA) these days. The exchange ratio to the EURO is very unfavorable (I purchased an iPad without checking the price in Germany beforehand and now had to find out that it would have been cheaper there), the state/federal/city tax has increased to almost 10% and the restaurant prices are very hefty. But then again, it is a beautiful town, you meet a lot of people and you generally have a very good time. And, the exchange ratio has been in our favor before in the recent past.

Lets talk about the vendor booth size / setup and general impressions.

Winner in size this year (probably for the last 50 years): GE, with a size of 28 x 125 MFS (MFS = Michael Friebe Steps - I personally walked every booth mentioned. 1 MFS is probably around 3 feet or 0.9m).

Runner-Ups: PHILIPS with 28x105 MFS and SIEMENS with 28x96 MFS.

Winner of the best booth setup and design (remember, that this is a subjective and personal report): PHILIPS, with a colorful, innovative setup

Runner-Ups: SIEMENS, which is a little to bright for me, but came with a clean and easy structure, but with possible improvements on the location and placement of the meeting rooms. GE, which is always a little too packed for me, but they had a pathway in the middle of the booth that made it easy to "navigate and look". Why they had to use such a thick carpet for that ... I do not know. I really liked TOSHIBA this year because of their clear corporate design and good layout (by the way 28 x 75 MFS plus 18 x 24 MFS for VITAL IMAGES).

Further booth comments (all numbers in MFS): HOLOGIC 28 x 60, much smaller and less prominent than last year, but quite a nice look that may have been a little too dark though. HITACHI 28 x 60, very open and inviting design. CARESTREAM 28 x 60 + 3x7, which was a little too bright for me and also too confusing in their product offerings. SAMSUNG 17 x 48, which must be a lot smaller than last year. AGFA 18 x 44, FUJI 28 x 44 + 4 x 7, and the GERMAN PAVILLION 18 x 25.

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