Call of the North (5): Copenhagen

Lonely Planet – Scandinavian Europe is one of the best investments made so far. It has almost everything I am anticipating of needing. An even better investment (as it was free) was the map taken from the hostel (Danhostel city center, for the record). It contains a 3 hours walking tour, nicely marked with main…

Call of the North (3): Berlin, a city ALIVE

Architecture is not the thing that knocked me out in Berlin. Probably the most historically battered big metropolis of the Western World is a relatively chaotic mix of styles, mostly modern and… construction site-ish, with oasis of old buildings in-between. What makes Berlin special though can hardly be captured in pictures. It is in the…

Hechingen

I heard about Hechingen from Ms. S and Mr. N, our hosts in München, who described it as an insider tip – the most famous Hohenzollern castle is at Sigmaringen, but this one, at Hechingen, is a hidden gem. And when I saw it from far away it reminded me of a book with germanic…

Stuttgart

Since i was already at the airport, i thought of taking a quick look at the city. Asked Jane to take me to the centre, some parking closeby. And I emerged on the surface directly in the Schillerplatz, lively on a Sunday fresh fruit market. The big church on the left turned out to be…

Ottobeuren & Stein am Rhein

Ottobeuren is a village in middle-of-nowhere-Bavaria. Jane found it only after we got an insider tip from our hosts in München, a while ago. Last week we checked it out again. It’s all about the monastery. Looks quite impressive from the outside but the bafflement comes inside, in both its height, width and detail. Some…

Ulm & Augsburg

On the way from Stuttgart to München we stopped in Ulm. I knew there’s something about the church (Münster) in Ulm, but didn’t quite know what it was. On a first impression, it is tall, very tall. Wikipedia told us that it actually has the highest church tower in the world. (!). This one: Satisfied,…

Summer night wakeup call

Euro2008 is over for the Romanian soccer team. After a brilliantly executed tactical (albeit sinfully boring) goalless draw against world championship runner-up France and a sensational 1-1 against world champion Italy, after one of the most thrilling games in the competition, they lamentably failed to beat a relaxed Dutch squad to qualify to the quarterfinals.…

EuRoMania

Euro2008 (soccer, for the ones who don’t know on what world they live in :P) is in full swing this month. Romania has survived a hard-fought game against World Champion runners-up France, 0-0. For a neutral person, quite a boring game, but from an “involved” perspective it was amazing, especially for the ones in the…

A week in Romania

Starting point of the journey was Paris, surrounded by rape fields, yellow checkerboxes visible at take-off After takeoff I fell asleep; when waking up to have a look outside, bang! Austrian Alps, probably in Tirol. Global warming, huh? Arrived in Bucharest, but idn’t spend much time – took off immediately to the mountains, where I…

Rhapsody in Red

Took BM out for a ride yesterday – just wanted to eat somewhere out on a terrace in the sun and read. I arrived at the pizzeria in my village just to find out it is closing on Sundays at 2pm, so I went up a hill to eat and look at the lake. Peaceful.The…

Sechselaeuten

Sechselaeuten is a traditional guild holiday in Zurich. Monday was free, and I took the opportunity to go check out the guild parade. Quite impressive, plenty of people attending, colorful costumes, good mood. More details about the holiday here. My photographic insights below. http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf And a small movie depicting a full guild parade: children, fanfare,…

Zooh

On Sunday I went to the Zooh. Haven’t been maybe in 20 years. Find it depressing. However, this one was a pleasant surprise. Beyond the privilege to see some exotic animals I would probably otherwise never see alive, I was impressed by the research they are doing to improve the life of both zoo and…

Stockholm (3)

Not much left to say, about the last day. The City Hall was among the last unchecked on the “must see” list, so we did. A “serious” looking building of red brick, not much looks from a distance, but interesting at a closer look. Unfortunately we didn’t have time for a visit, to see where…

Stockholm (2)

The next morning, sun was shining, while temperature stayed around -3 C. Turns out last night’s light train was painted in blue and the central street was more crowded during the day but not everywhere Some of the narrow streets of cobbled stone were VERY narrow, while colofrul passages kept their charm. As did colorful…

Stockholm (1)

The city is spread on several islands. A quick look, before landing Arrived around 7pm at the hotel, and went immediately out to „get the pulse”. To reach the old town, had to cross a bridge. To the right, parts of the city + full moon, To the left, a part of older town below…