Posts filed under 'Travel'
Just stopped by the Royal Library in Copenhagen, in search for some resources, namely a Hebrew Bible and some lexica. I got more than I hoped for; they have the stuttgartensia, Koehler Baumgartner and a number of other reference works I recognize from Newbold – and also some pretty nice facilities 
However, I must say, the Newbold library actually quite well competes with the theology section in the diamond – which is no small feat.
Ok, sitting in the researcher’s study area now; need to get serious…
december 16th, 2008
So, yesterday, the Danish airline company Sterling went bankrupt. This was not totally unexpected, seeing as the ownership is Icelandic, but it still sucks when you’ve got tickets with them for going home in the Christmas break and coming back again in January.
This will probably give me a loss of about 60 pounds, but it could’ve been a lot worse. Especially since I was originally supposed to be in Copenhagen this week, coming home on a Sterling flight Sunday…
Funny thing is that today and yesterday, I received bank transfers (ok, technically not bank transfers, but returns on my credit-card) from Sterling giving me back the remaining taxes and fees on the tickets for this week, so it appears they can still disperse money (I had requested this before the bankruptcy though)
Long live Sterling. It shall be exciting to see whether we will face a time of increased competition as new competitors try and move in on the gap Sterling leaves behind (as suggested by one veteran in the industry), or whether SAS will be benefited by a near-monopoly situation on some of the routes. As it turns out though, Norwegian is already moving into the market, so things tend to point in the former direction. Hoping for cheaper plane-tickets in the coming season 
(and perhaps slightly more realistically priced tickets so we won’t have to endure another fall)
P.S. Hope I’m not breaking copyright with the image. However, if I was, who would there be to sue me anyways? :p
oktober 30th, 2008
Returning from Denmark last Monday, I had a short stop at London Waterloo, where I had the pleasure of paying 30p to use the bathroom, and there have an encounter with the so-called Dyson Airblade.
As I was drying my hands in it, I read something like ‘The Dyson Airblade uses up to 83% less energy than conventional warm air hand dryers…’ Smart. Apparently, it also burns your hands; or at least, that’s how it felt. Ok, I’m exaggerating a bit, but I could feel the evening and the next day that part of my hand had been exposed to a too high temperature.
This is how it works: Air flows horizontally like a ‘blade’ (hence the name), and beneath is a hollow space, so effectively, you dry your hands by moving them up and down, allowing the ‘air-blade’ to dry them. This worked fine. Until I thought ‘let’s try this again’, and suddenly my hand got pulled to the side of the ‘blade’ (where the air is coming out). A piece of advice when using the air-blade: Keep your hands firmly in the middle
oktober 25th, 2008
Before the weekend, I had the pleasure of travelling out from Gatwick airport. This is rapidly becoming my favourite airport in the London area. Not only is it easy to get to from Bracknell, but it has one truly amazing feature: The Café Est.
Here you get excellent Italian food with a great view over the runway. When you step into the café – which is really a restaurant – you suddenly loose the cheap feeling you usually get from airport places, but still retain the air travel goodness feeling.
My two favourites are the pizza with Goat’s cheese and various vegetables (for an amazing £8 at an airport), and the penne funghi. The last-mentioned is served in two sizes: Main course and starter. As it turns out, both times I’ve tried the starter size, I’ve had more than enough to eat. Have a look at my half-eaten plate:
Yes, this is the starter-size. Not only does it feature an amazing white wine cream sauce with aspargus and wild mushrooms (not only ‘champignon’, but real exciting mushroom-sorts), but it is served with (if you wish) gracious amounts of parmigiano on top, as well as freshly ground pepper. All for the price of a little over £5. This place is truly a find, and remain one of the reasons for which I treasure Gatwick airport so much.
oktober 22nd, 2008
Apparently, then, in Heathrow, they do have taps with quite hot water in it. Only, they are not labeled. Ouch! (okay, this was a bit overstated, but the water was definitely borderline hot)
(relating to the former post ‘Health and Safety‘)
august 26th, 2008
Saturday evening, we booked tickets for a classical concert in the Vienna State Opera (Staatsoper) with the Vienna Mozart Orchestra. Sadly, Marit had to remain at the hotel and take care of the sleeping Benjamin, so we were 2 people short. As it turned out, we got seated on the second row, even though we had not booked seats in this category, so that was quite nice
The building itself is an experience. Somehow, I had the feeling I had seen it in some movies, but I have a suspicion that I was really thinking of a larger place somewhere in eastern Europe.
The greatest experience, however, was the music. The first 15-20 minutes I could not even make myself take a picture, as I just wanted to listen to the music. It struck me that this should not be something you capture for having a special memory, but rather the only way you enjoy classical music – live. It really is a totally different (and much nicer) sound experience, and you catch nuances of the famous works that you have not noticed before.
The Vienna Mozart Orchestra played extremely well, and both the classical costumes as well as the musical qualities contributed to making it a fantastic experience. The preferred mode of play seemed to be a somewhat understated, but still very nuanced sound, lying just beneath the real breakthrough of an audial (if that’s even a word) climax. It made me wonder if they could actually play with full strength or if the orchestra was simply too small, but in their very final extra-performance where they offered us “An der schönen blauen Donau” and “Radetsky March”, they seemed to be of the opinion that while Mozart apparently cannot be played in full strength, Strauss can
Along the concert, I was wondering if their somewhat understated interpretations were not purposeful and thus would have awarded them 9 out of 10 points, but clearly I was mistaken, so in my mind, they now have gotten full marks for playing in a very controlled just-below-breakthrough mode all through the classical works of Mozart.
In the end, a great evening. And so much more fun to listen to the works of Mozart than visiting his house. This is where Mozart truly comes alive!
august 25th, 2008
Just had the pleasure of spending the weekend in Vienna with my family. All in all, it was a good experience.
The food experiences were quite good, featuring amongst others an amazing Italian restaurant, the oldest restaurant of Vienna, serving very good traditional Austrian food, and of course Apfelstrudel with ice-cream and cream, served in the local zoo.
Of the not-so-good things can be mentioned the house of Mozart (the building in which he grew up), which was just disastrously boring, after having paid an entrance fee of 7,5 euros. Also, don’t ever bring kids in there – the children doesn’t like it, and apparently, neither does the museum attendants… After we left there, we found this meticulously bear in a shopping-windows close by, and wondered if he had a sudden accident caused by boredom
However, the pros far outweighed the cons. An excellent breakfast buffet every morning at the hotel, an excellent concert experience (to be told of further in a separate post) and even free wireless Internet at the Vienna Airport! (This makes you wonder what your airport taxes go towards in other countries…)
This was the only picture I could find where everyone in the family is at least partly visible, so here you go:
The background is that of the Stephansdom which is a quite grand and majestic church building.
august 25th, 2008
So, this week, I went to England for a wedding. It was really nice
In the UK, however, they have a term called Health and Safety. I wonder if that’s what made them put up the following sign at the Gatwick airport restrooms (which are not called restrooms at all in the UK, but, hmm, bathrooms, I think):
If it doesn’t show clearly, it’s a sink with a sign over it saying “warning: very hot water”. This made me pause a few seconds. Very hot water. Doesn’t sound nice. I was halfways expecting to be injured, but instead, it turned out to be a very pleasant maybe around 40 C water temperature.
Thank you, Health and Safety
juli 6th, 2008
Sunday was a very traumatic day for the teddy-bear whose name I have been instructed not to blog. Had he not been ruthlessly abandoned in the room, he would have seen her face in the back of the car, slowly fading away into the horizon…
But this bear is determined. So he decided to pack, commandeer an airplane and go after her.
Not long after, he was sitting at the airport, having his boarding pass ready, carefully packing his liquids for security.
Once in the departure lounge, he decided to rest a bit.
Then, for a much needed breakfast – ‘healthy breakfast’ with a freshly squeezed orange juice and a nice decaf espresso
Before he could get onto the plane, the bear had to sit and wait a bit…
Then, finally in the plane. He did get a bit anxious over flying the ‘new’ Axis Airlines, having booked a ticket with Sterling, but shrugged it off.
Ah, finally, home. No, wait, what is this – this is not … Ah, well, he does seem to enjoy himself.
Bear sitting at the computer, pondering when he will be able to escape, and pursue his rightful owner…
maj 21st, 2008
