tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231950302011-07-29T01:08:25.436+02:00A Virginia yankee in the land of Queen BJaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.comBlogger3071100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-68789333609418834522010-03-01T21:57:00.003+01:002010-03-01T22:37:14.882+01:00

During my time in europe, I have had the chance to drive to drive a variety cars: Audi, BMW, Volvo, Land Rover, Seat, Fiat, VW, Mercedes, Opel, Alfa Romeo, just to name a few. But there is one group of cars that fill me with dread when I pick their keys up at the rental counter: french cars. Renault, Peugeot, Citroen, I've driven them all. Of them, Peugeot tends to be the most normal, but in

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-84725659386679164002010-02-14T22:39:00.002+01:002010-03-01T23:24:42.697+01:00

On a recent Friday afternoon, a friend who was unexpectedly in town for the weekend called me up and asked if I wanted to do something crazy that weekend, like go to Oslo. Being the seasoned adventurer, I of course said yes, but didn't expect the reply to be, "how about tonight?" Six hours later, hotel booked, car booked, bag packed, tour book in hand, I was on a flight to Oslo.Despite being

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-81461834010631833992010-01-09T20:43:00.001+01:002010-03-01T21:56:16.232+01:00

I have been more than a little tardy in getting around to posting updates on my latest adventures. Busy may be true, but is no excuse. First up is Ottawa. This was also the first outing for my new camera. It is definitely an adjustment from the old and will take several photo outings to get completely used to.After Christmas and New Year's, I and a few others took a trip up to Ottawa for a

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-71695768142710429822009-10-25T19:56:00.002+01:002009-10-25T20:13:52.588+01:00

Back in April, during my trip to Italy, I got a parking ticket during in one of the towns I visited. (I'm not going to argue whether it was right or not, suffice to say that I believe it wasn't). When I got home, I saw that the ticket could only be paid by a transfer from an Italian bank account, so I had no way of paying the ticket. So, I went to see some of the Italians at work to see if I

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-26898128106409898182009-10-18T18:22:00.002+02:002009-10-25T18:47:41.248+01:00

Flew down to Munich to spend a week seeing parts of Bavaria and Austria with the parents. The plan was to see a lot of scenery before the weather started getting colder. This did not quite work out. What happened was the snowiest October in 35 years and eight consecutive days of rain or snow. Yuck. That meant we had to scramble as best as possible to find alternative indoor activities.In

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-2703874623826640002009-10-05T19:16:00.002+02:002009-10-05T19:43:08.892+02:00

This edition of the blog is being published while riding on the Thalys at close to 300km/h. I've done this mostly for novelty value, but you have to admit that it is pretty cool. Below you can see my location and velocity. Also, as you will see later, this is the first entry to include fully geotagged, gps-ified pictures. I picked up a GPS logger that allows me to tag all my pictures with

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-80966866748545535032009-08-30T23:06:00.002+02:002009-08-30T23:22:26.928+02:00

Today was the last day of the Iceland adventure. The plan was to spend the day exploring the Reykjanes peninsula (the area around Keflavik), which I did, seeing the lakes and hot springs. From Reykjanes From ReykjanesBut, the pull of Reykjavik was too strong, and so I went back for a few hours in the afternoon. I saw the museum about the earliest settlers to Reykjavik and the Solfar, a must-do

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-74153399885774202992009-08-29T22:44:00.002+02:002009-08-30T23:01:44.172+02:00

This was another longish day with a number of places to see. First, I started off by seeing an reconstructed house from the early days of Iceland. It was quite interesting to see, but the doorways and passageways were very low and I banged my head a number of times. From Thjorsardalur & LandmannalaugarAfter that, I visited a small valley with a number of waterfalls and streams. It was a bit

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-23232927268547149282009-08-28T00:46:00.001+02:002009-08-30T01:04:30.654+02:00

After a week of hard touring, I decided to take a less ambitious day and see some of the sights around the south of Iceland. From SudurlandOne of the most famous sights is at Vik, where there is a black sand beach, cliffs, and rocks standing in the water. From SudurlandJust around the other side from Vik, is the famous rock with the hole in it. From Sudurland Out on the rock, it was so windy

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-90681887086727365882009-08-27T00:28:00.002+02:002009-08-30T00:45:52.486+02:00

This day was devoted almost entirely to glaciers. The Vatnajokull glacier is the biggest glacier in Europe, and has many arms that are easily accessible. I have seen many glaciers before, but the sheer scale of those in Iceland seem to dwarf those I have seen elsewhere. This tries to give some idea of the vastness of it. From VatnajokullGetting right up close to the glaciers often requires

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-22852220821708329562009-08-26T00:50:00.011+02:002009-08-29T01:07:16.122+02:00

There was not much of a plan for this day as it was mainly a transit day to get me from the parks from the last two days near Akureyri, down to the glaciers that are the next big objective. Iceland is not a small island. During my planning for this trip, I became even more aware of that fact. Now that I am actually here, I am acutely aware of it. Even having allowed for extra travel time, the

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-79284763152694907622009-08-25T00:23:00.002+02:002009-08-29T00:50:41.748+02:00

After Myvatn, the next day was spent visiting Jokulsargljufur National Park. That is the one and only time I will be spelling that in the post. The park is composed of a gorge, a series of waterfalls, and unusual lava and erosion formations. If my guidebook is to be believed, the entire place was created in about three days as the result of a massive flood following an eruption. That's a lot

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-86433623858932727712009-08-24T00:25:00.001+02:002009-08-27T00:36:20.498+02:00

From Akureyri, I took a day trip to Myvatn, a lake and area of interesting volcanic formations scattered around the lake. From MyvatnAlong the way, I made a quick stop at Godafoss. From MyvatnThe forecast was for rain, and it rained very hard all the way to Myvatn, but fortunately it stopped once I arrived. First, I walked through Dimmuborgir, which is an area of cones or columns of lava. From

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-60688483995811793532009-08-23T00:12:00.002+02:002009-08-27T00:20:12.417+02:00

After Reykjavik, the next stop was the second biggest city, Akureyri, in the far north of the country. To get there, I took a different route than most would take. I took the Kjolur route through the barren interior highlands. From KjolurIt is the shortest route, but most people don't take it because it is a very rough dirt road. The first half or more of the route was much rougher than I had

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-24565383229346159772009-08-22T10:44:00.001+02:002009-08-26T10:54:46.595+02:00

The first full day in Iceland was spent doing the main tourist sites that everyone sees when they visit Iceland: Gullfoss, Geysir, and Thingvellir. To make things more interesting, I took a scenic route to Gullfoss using a 4x4 road. From Golden Circle That took considerably longer than planned because of the bumpiness driving for miles through lava fields. It also involved a couple of stream

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-18700653824626601142009-08-21T10:35:00.000+02:002009-08-26T10:44:25.481+02:00

Arrived in Reykjavik this afternoon and picked up my ride for this trip. The Defender is a strange vehicle. It is probably the worst thing I have ever driven, and the badness of it makes it a riot. Examples: when you close the back door, it sounds like it's going to rattle apart; when you open the air vents, you can look through them and see the road ahead; despite being a big vehicle, the

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-30323903448833695552009-08-01T23:26:00.001+02:002009-08-06T23:37:59.258+02:00

The last day of hiking was also the last day in Zermatt, and also the last day of the trip. Before starting my hike, I took the cable car up to the top of the the Klein Matterhorn. It is very high up, so high that stairs are hard and people are skiing in August. From Zermatt The views are amazing, so I stayed for a while just soaking it all in. From ZermattAfter that, I took the cable car

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-77517621068444876822009-07-31T22:56:00.001+02:002009-08-06T23:15:12.113+02:00

For the second day of hiking I decided to hike up to Gornergrat and take the train back down to town. On paper this should have been an easier hike than the previous one, but that was before I decided to get a little too clever.The first part of hike climbed up onto a bit of a plateau, after which it mostly levelled off for a while. From Zermatt Again, I chose not to take the direct route, and

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-59391448898190235232009-07-30T22:42:00.001+02:002009-08-06T22:54:56.535+02:00

The goal for the entire time in Zermatt was to do some nice day hikes followed by an afternoon nap before dinner. In other words, no rushing, just some relaxing time getting out and seeing nature. I definitely succeeded.The first day I hiked up to the top of the Rothorn and took the cable car back down. The views along the way were excellent, with nice views of the Matterhorn especially. From

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-33446093157732396482009-07-29T22:31:00.000+02:002009-08-06T22:41:56.330+02:00

After Chamonix, it was off to Zermatt for a few days. I took a day to drive there and stopped at few places along the way. First was in Grands Montets, where I took the cable car up the mountain for a view. From Chamonix to ZermattFrom there, it was into Switzerland, where I stopped at a few impressive dams along the way. From Chamonix to Zermatt From Chamonix to ZermattI've since realized

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-31672669779091515602009-07-28T20:53:00.002+02:002009-07-30T21:04:24.882+02:00

After leaving Grenoble, I headed to Chamonix. You hear about Chamonix quite a lot, so I figured I ought to check it out while I was in the area. The town itself did not inspire me very much, but the scenery surrounding is certainly quite good. I took the cable car up the Aiguille du Midi, From Chamonix which is right next to Mont Blanc, and brings you about 1000m below it. The cable car to

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-2323793845285151062009-07-27T23:17:00.002+02:002009-07-27T23:31:08.715+02:00

Today was a transition day between Grenoble and Chamonix, so there wasn't too much actual alps involved during the day. But, it gives me a place to put a few small things together.Grenoble is a nice little city, not too big, and with convenient transportation links to most of the french alps (hence why I was staying there). Grenoble has it's own cable car, a little five car bubble thing that

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-5018453951593086442009-07-26T22:56:00.003+02:002009-07-27T23:17:12.934+02:00

So far on this trip, everyday has gone pretty much to plan. This day, did not. I only got through about half of what I planned to see (which in retrospect was probably too ambitious an amount). The reason is that I was driving along and saw this From Vanoise National Park a big fort right alongside the road. And I looked up and saw this From Vanoise National Park Another fort above it (and

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-7360206371030080452009-07-25T22:26:00.002+02:002009-07-27T22:53:59.815+02:00

After the Tour de France, it was time to spend some time in the mountains. The first full day was spent driving to a number of places in and around the Ecrins National Park. The day started off at L'Alpe d'Huez. The drive up to the top was filled (even more so than most mountain roads) with cyclists. They had their work cut out for them. Once at the top, I found some nice lakes to walk

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-74947924772894220792009-07-24T21:37:00.002+02:002009-07-24T22:44:35.550+02:00

While going to the Tour de France wasn't originally on my plan for this trip, once I found out that it would be passing nearby, I decided I couldn't pass up the opportunity to say that I had seen it. Not knowing what to expect in terms of crowds or closed roads, I found an obscure spot along the route that could be reached by a long series of backroads that probably few people would know about.

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-90957715478345280012009-07-23T23:06:00.003+02:002009-07-23T23:24:12.799+02:00

After leaving the Loire, I took an overnight stop in Beaune on the way to Grenoble. This allowed me to get off the autoroute for a bit and to see some more sites. Beaune itself is a nice little town and seems to be a bit of a hub for the wine industry. It has more wine shops per squre inch than any place I have seen It also has a very interesting old hospital.From BurgundyVisited Vezelay,

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-10726904878821432532009-07-22T22:40:00.003+02:002009-07-22T23:04:27.917+02:00

Seeing the castles of the Loire was one of the things I had been wanting to do since coming to Europe. It is one of the most famous collecitons of castles anywhere. The few days in the Loire were spent going to as many castles as could be seen in a day. There are a lot of castles there, a lot of castles were seen, a lot more were not seen. The surrounding scenery itself is not all the

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-1074187877044955422009-07-22T22:34:00.002+02:002009-07-22T22:38:50.914+02:00

The start of my two week trip to France and Switzerland was to spend a few days seeing all of the castles of the Loire. The trip doesn't have a catchy name like some of my trips. I'm lazy I guess.On the drive down, I left early in the morning so that I would have enough time to stop at the Le Mans museum and still make it to the hotel in time for dinner. Just before reaching Paris, the traffic

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-86183979452691516172009-07-12T22:08:00.002+02:002009-07-22T22:15:27.349+02:00

I finally got around to going to the car musuem in Brussels this weekend. It was quite large, but also housed in what could have been a train station. The result was that while it was quite airy, the lighting was not good; it was quite dark in most places. They had an interesting selection of carsFrom Autoworldbut they were all just sitting next to each other without much space in between.

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-31609252655931357192009-06-20T22:00:00.002+02:002009-07-22T22:06:30.762+02:00

Yeah yeah, I know this is late, but I faked the date on the post, so that makes it ok.I was asked on short notice to take a business trip to Ankara for a day. Unfortunately, I already had plans for the weekend following that, so I didn't have a chance to take any extra time while in Turkey. Getting to Ankara was a rush. My flight from Amsterdam was late, so I had to run from the international

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-7712570492475294022009-06-01T15:11:00.000+02:002009-06-08T15:30:44.122+02:00

The next two days of the long weekend were spent in Prague. Prague is a very compact and beautiful city, but also a very confusing city to get around. My maps were consistently missing streets and intersections. That, combined with the way the streets there tend to weave and meander meant that getting off course was a frequent occurence. The first day was spent almost entirely doing Prague

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-1511876498486899612009-05-30T15:02:00.002+02:002009-06-08T15:11:51.360+02:00

It is hard to believe that after three years in Europe, I had yet to visit Prague. So, since it was a three day weekend, I decided there was not excuse to delay any longer. The weather, however, was not quite what I would have hoped for. In rare contrast to The Hague, which was sunny and warm, the Czech Republic was cool and rainy the whole weekend. The first day was the rainiest, and I

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-43470451725947809682009-05-09T22:58:00.001+02:002009-05-10T23:09:11.012+02:00

From Bloemfontein, it was off to Cathedral Peak for a couple relaxing days of hiking in the Drakensberg mountains.From DrakensbergThe hotel was way out at the end of the road at the base of the mountains, really nice setting.From DrakensbergThe hotel also included all you can eat buffets for all the meals. To my surprise, all the food was excellent. The one strange thing, though, was that they

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-43274844599284463462009-05-05T22:36:00.001+02:002009-05-10T22:55:09.437+02:00

After Oudtshoorn, it was off into the Karoo. On the way out of town I stopped at Cango Wildlife Ranch to see the cheetahs and other animals.From Cango Wildlife RanchFrom there, I drove on to Graaff-Reinet.From KarooThe town itself is a well-preserved and nice town.From KarooI stopped off at the Valley of Desolation on the way into townFrom Karooand at the Camdeboo National Park to see some

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-52825980519937953232009-05-02T22:19:00.000+02:002009-05-10T22:36:03.786+02:00

After the wine country it was off to a few days in the little karoo. The weather was a little better for the drive and so I was able to see more of the countryside. Stopped along the way at the karoo botanical gardens, but there wasn't too much to see; I think it was too late in the year.From Little KarooBy the end of the day, I had made it to my hotel in Oudtshoorn, ostrich capital of the

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-8674404864423694392009-04-30T23:56:00.002+02:002009-05-01T00:04:01.559+02:00

Spent the last few days staying in the wine country. Most people who come out here stay in Stellenbosch, and everyone says you have to go to Stellenbosch when you are in SA. Just so that I could be a little different, I decided to stay in a smaller town, Franschhoek, a little ways away.From Cape WinelandsI think it was a really good decision. The town is very nice, friendly, and with lots of

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-34417536560040216592009-04-29T23:07:00.003+02:002009-04-29T23:15:10.745+02:00

Leaving Cape Town, I worked my way down the Cape Peninsula to the Cape of Good Hope. This was complicated by South African road construction habits, which they seem to have inherited from the dutch. This means that even though there may only be one road along the coast, they don't think twice about closing it for a month. No alternating flows here. Still, I managed to see a few interesting

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-8527906267025344482009-04-29T22:50:00.002+02:002009-04-29T23:00:16.463+02:00

Day 1 was just arriving into Cape Town. The weather was terrible and I got soaked just loading the luggage into the rental car. Aside from the slums and driving on the other side of the road, South Africa seems a lot like the US so far. The slums take a little getting used to (and there's no avoiding them, they are right next to the airport), but it seems a little surreal whizzing past them a

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-56874125753112066202009-04-20T00:18:00.002+02:002009-04-20T00:27:52.708+02:00

Well, it is that time of year again, when sun starts to come back out and the rain stops for a little. That means it's time to go to Keukenhof and see the tulips. This year was probably the best conditions of any of the times I have been. Things were definitely at or near the peak of the peak. Despite the good conditions, I tried to be too creative in my pictures and so they did not come out

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-71777079748329802762009-04-14T22:28:00.002+02:002009-04-18T22:51:12.793+02:00

For the last day of the trip, I decided to go without a real plan and instead drive through the countryside in whichever direction looked interesting and avoid the main roads until it was time to head for the airport. This was well worthwhile and very relaxing.One of the nicer places I stopped was Castiglion Fiorentino. It was one of the places that had been on my list, but I had dropped it

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-36092667413807473692009-04-13T22:19:00.000+02:002009-04-18T22:28:53.655+02:00

Next up were the cities of San Gimignano and Siena. Despite both being filled with tourists, somehow San Gimignano managed to feel less touristy than Siena, which surprised me. San Gimignano is famous for its towers, several of the houses or buildings have tall towers.From San Gimignanowith a nice view from the top.From San GimignanoThe frescoes in the church were an unexpected surprise for me.

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-59254894320317860152009-04-12T21:56:00.002+02:002009-04-18T22:10:32.247+02:00

Strictly speaking, neither of these two places are in Tuscany, but I can't change the name of the series just for one day.The main purpose of this day was to drive to Maranello, drive past the Ferrari factory and go to the Ferrari museum. The museum was not nearly as large as the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart, but neither is Ferrari as big nor been around as long. For the automotive minded,

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-86972361257326487362009-04-11T21:45:00.000+02:002009-04-18T21:54:38.172+02:00

After Florence, the next stop was Pisa. This turned into the day when nothing went right. First, I stopped in the morning at a small, little town that seemed deserted. However, the one inhabitant was the guy who writes the parking tickets. I thought the sign said parking was free, I guess my italian isn't perfect. When I arrived in Pisa, there was a group of guys hanging around the parking

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-41525548935774459342009-04-10T21:25:00.003+02:002009-04-18T21:45:21.611+02:00

This year for Easter, I decided to go to Tuscany. First up was Florence, home of the ponte vecchio.From FlorenceIt is a nice city, and very compact to walk around. On the downside, I didn't think its gelato was particularly special. I got to see alot of museums including the Uffizi. Naturally, I saw the statue of David, but was not overly impressed with it. I thought his hands were

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-66899579220183321792009-04-04T13:01:00.002+02:002009-04-18T13:14:25.593+02:00

I managed to be in DC this year in time for the peak of the cherry blossoms, so I went into the city with a friend to take pictures of them. The last time I went to see the cherry blossoms, I managed to get a lot of nice pictures. This time, however, I am not too impressed by the pictures. I blame it on the fact that it was very, very windy. Waves were splashing over the walls of the tidal

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-5897310351604978032009-03-27T21:51:00.003+01:002009-04-17T22:14:26.521+02:00

Another abysmally late posting...Recently, I had the chance to go possibly the oddest meeting I have ever attended. It took place at a disused nuclear power plant just across the border into Germany that had been converted into an all inclusive holiday resort. The meeting room was the control room with dials on the wall, and the cooling tower had been turned into a climbing wall and painted

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-9935927688146727822009-02-02T22:04:00.002+01:002009-04-16T22:12:34.495+02:00

Ok, so I admit, I am slightly late in getting this posted. Hopefully I can get things more up to date in the near future.So, in February I had a trip to Colorado Springs for work, and had a spare day to kill. Since it was sunny and warm (really, it was close to 70), I decided to go check out Great Sand Dunes NP. It was a nice drive through the mountains to get here, and the sand dunes were, as

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-50623694829454585822008-12-26T04:10:00.004+01:002008-12-26T04:25:33.115+01:00

One of the many irritations of life in Holland that I have yet to write about is pizza. Over the past few months I've had to work very late on many nights and have gotten to learn a lot about the state of pizza here. When we work really late, we order pizza for dinner because it's easy to eat, almost everyone likes it, and it's easy to order a bunch of. There are two main pizza chains in the

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-6655709142517743562008-12-20T03:23:00.002+01:002008-12-26T03:34:55.071+01:00

When I came to Europe, there were two slightly strange things on the list of things I wanted to do. One was the Great Scandinavian Road Trip (which I did), and the other was a tour through several of the Christmas markets in Germany. As you'll recall, for the last two years I've visited the market in Aachen. I went there again this year, but due to schedules, I had to go by myself. It was

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-6718788339713857712008-12-14T03:34:00.002+01:002008-12-26T04:09:54.316+01:00

During the fall, it seemed like I was not doing as good a job doing weekend trips as I would have liked. So, I decided to take a day off and have a 3 day weekend in Berlin. Berlin has tons of good museums and I was nowhere close to having seen them all. When I got to the airport, I went to my gate and waited for the flight to board. Just before boarding was supposed to start, I noticed that

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-84771196657366562502008-11-10T23:00:00.004+01:002008-11-22T16:16:15.064+01:00

The next few days involved driving around outside Budapest. First to a former royal palace.From Outside BudapestThen to some picturesque towns around the Danube.From Outside BudapestIt was good to be able to get out of the city and see how the countryside looks and the rest of the people live. And it was nice to see some good fall colors for a change. I didn't really know what to expect when I

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-6138496063715994762008-11-08T22:35:00.003+01:002008-11-20T23:09:28.994+01:00

Having had a recent three day weekend ruined by work, I decided to take a three day weekend trip to Hungary to make it up to myself.Budapest is, of course, not one city but two. Buda, the old city, and Pest, the larger newer city across the river. My hotel for this trip was right in the middle of the walled area of Buda, and it was beautiful. Because it was off season, I had a huge room with

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-27485272199087683042008-11-03T16:17:00.002+01:002008-11-03T16:46:51.053+01:00

Since the weather on Sunday was supposed to be nice and sunny, I decided to drive down to Brussels for the day. As you may have guess from the title, the sunny weather didn't last until I made it there. Still, it was good to walk around in a different city. I got fries and a waffle, of course. The only bad thing about the day was that my language skills completely failed me. I'd try to say

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-58401701983627417692008-10-10T21:26:00.001+02:002008-10-20T21:45:08.767+02:00

After DC, I had to stop in El Paso for another meeting. I always like going to El Paso, not so much for the city itself but because it is so close to New Mexico. Fortunately, I had a spare day before my flight back to Europe. I looked at the map and tried to figure out where I wanted to go. My criteria was someplace to get me out in the desert (easy) and someplace pretty close (2.5hrs tops).

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-45406074800399292002008-10-07T21:09:00.001+02:002008-10-20T21:26:43.845+02:00

With a spare day in DC before my meeting, I met up with a friend and went out for a day of picture taking. It's really good to go out with another photographer for the sole purpose of taking pictures. You don't have to worry about whether you're going to have time to see everything, and you can watch each others' technique and maybe learn something. This time the venue was the Kenilworth Park

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-87755089704678204502008-10-06T21:02:00.001+02:002008-10-20T21:08:59.053+02:00

While I was back in the US, I took advantage of a beautiful fall weekend to do some hiking with friends, this time the Raven Rocks trail section of the Appalachian Trail, near Bluemont. We set off with our fearless navigator and her trusty cell phone for the 3.5mi out and back hike, and managed to complete the hike without getting lost. The trail was not too difficult, there were some climbs,

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-67930615422101514422008-09-25T02:55:00.002+02:002008-09-29T03:04:15.415+02:00

Well, I came back from europe last week to spend a week on the beach in the Outer Banks. Normally this would be a good idea, but this time it left a little to be desired. I liked that it was much less crowded than during the height of the summer, but didn't like the unique opening hours that places kept. For instance, you're apparently not allowed to play miniature golf in North Carolina on

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-36947147780790284642008-09-14T01:28:00.002+02:002008-09-24T02:02:58.147+02:00

After the crowds of Honolulu, I was hoping to find blissful solitude in Kauai. Shortly outside of the main town of Lihue, I ran into a traffic jam that lasted most of the way to my hotel. While known as the most rural and laid back of the islands, it is certainly not undiscovered, and so has its fair share of traffic as well. Still, the towns feel small and cozy and there is no shortage of

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-59896600349703663962008-09-11T01:10:00.002+02:002008-09-24T01:28:13.646+02:00

I was lucky enough to get selected by work to present at a conference in Hawaii. Of course, this involved three flights totaling about 24 hours of flying time and shifting 12 time zones. Surprisingly, I held up pretty well and only suffered from minor jet lag. The conference was in Honolulu, and the hotel was right on the beach in Waikiki.From HonoluluThe hotel did not impress me, but it was

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-31429938124559508892008-07-25T22:26:00.002+02:002008-07-25T23:30:35.228+02:00

...Or at least the end aside from the drive home through Germany.The last day of the trip started in Kalmar with a visit to the castle there. The castle seemed well preserved and, unlike the other castles during this trip, you could actually go out and walk along the walls.From there it was on to Lund, where I had planned to visit the open air museum. Unfortunately, the parking system in the

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-56492707741945432562008-07-23T22:57:00.002+02:002008-07-23T23:11:27.002+02:00

Today started off with the Swedish royal residence at Drottningholm. The palace was a lot like Versailles in its appearance and layout. It was larger and more lavish than the palace in Stockholm. The drawback was that since it is the actual residence of the King, much of it was closed off, even on the grounds.From there it was to Skokloster, another palace. This one was smaller, but almost

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-6577834701148124652008-07-22T20:31:00.003+02:002008-07-22T21:04:45.444+02:00

Today was the first day in Sweden. The ferry arrived later than I had expected and then it took an hour to get out of the port because of the customs checks on all the cars in front of me. The arrival into Stockholm was nice; you sail for a couple hours through a zillion little islands dotted with weekend homes.The first stop was the Vassa musuem since it was between the ferry terminal and the

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-61671519343198809712008-07-22T20:18:00.003+02:002008-07-22T20:31:28.332+02:00

This was the last day in Finlamd. Because I had to catch the ferry to Stockholm from Helsinki, instead of from Turku as originally planned, I had only a short amount of time to see Turku. The castle was quite good, the best I've seen during the trip so far.Next was the ferry ride to Stockholm, all 17 hours of it. These are not ferries like the little ferries that take your car across a river.

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-9860414226329816812008-07-20T20:25:00.002+02:002008-07-20T20:34:00.703+02:00

Today was spent touring around Helsinki. At first, I thought I'd try out the free city-bikes that are scattered around the city. First, they are hideous looking to the point you would be embarrassed to be seen on one. Second, the one I tried had a broken seat that made it unrideable. So I chose to walk all day instead. Truth be told, I didn't see anyone using the free bikes all day.Helsinki

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-10964977179967335502008-07-19T22:29:00.002+02:002008-07-19T22:42:48.716+02:00

It's true, well sort of. My hotel in Helsinki is a converted prision (though it's actually well located and quite nice inside). Today was a long drive to see a castle in Savonlinna, the fortified city of Hamina, and Porvoo. The castle was nice, though you could only go into a few rooms for some reason. Hamina was interesting, but not something you could really take a picture of except from

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-58984648187619517752008-07-18T19:37:00.002+02:002008-07-18T19:57:51.467+02:00

Today was a lot of driving through nearly identical looking woods. See a theme here? The first stop was at the zoo in Ranua. It was a pretty good zoo that walked you through the forest past a variety of animals such as bears and deer of different kinds.Finally, a moose picture. It had to come from the zoo and Mr. Moose was too lazy to even stand up.From there it was to Petajavesi to see the

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-58467613371537140812008-07-17T21:37:00.002+02:002008-07-18T19:50:33.246+02:00

Today started off by visiting a park. The park was supposed to contain various displays relating to Sami culture. Mostly it contained mosquitoes. I think the repellent was working, but there were so many of them that they couldn't help but land on me. I didn't stay long.From there I entered Finland. This is what Finland looks like (at least what I've seen so far)There were also plenty of

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-20144355398069695852008-07-16T19:50:00.002+02:002008-07-16T20:25:49.226+02:00

Today started out heading north and ended heading south, thus marking the figurative halfway point of the trip. In the morning, I drove from Alta up to Nordkapp, the most northerly point of europe.The scenery leading there was much more of what I imagined the north of Norway to be like, few trees, rocky hills, water, little traffic,and reindeer.From there I, obviously, turned south. The next

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-39546441345825804712008-07-15T21:48:00.003+02:002008-07-15T22:15:34.700+02:00

Today was a long drive from Harstad to Tromso and then to Alta. The drive to Tromso was mostly rainy, so there wasn't much to report from that. The two main attractions were the Arctic cathedral, which was a bit of a disappointment, and the cable car, which provided a good view over the area. From there, I took a couple of ferries and more driving to get to Alta. Along the way I finally saw a

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-14113986081976839452008-07-14T21:46:00.002+02:002008-07-14T22:20:00.872+02:00

After taking a long ferry from Bodo, today was spent touring the Lofoten islands. The weather was very overcast, in fact, hardly any of the mountiains were visible because of the low ceilings. The islands themselves look like some sort of secret fantasty island. They just jut out of the water and are extremely tall, steep, and jagged, with patches of vegetation covering them. Hugging the

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-65344577795070687692008-07-13T21:13:00.002+02:002008-07-13T21:24:12.520+02:00

Today was mostly another transfer between places day. There was a brief (too brief) stop at the Svartisen glacier, which I could only see off in the distance because I had to catch the next ferry otherwise I;d be stuck there for 3 hours. The highlight of the day, and half the purpose of the whole trip, was driving across the Arctic Circle. Now, I know I've been north of the circle before, but

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-52608627165111841942008-07-12T19:44:00.002+02:002008-07-12T19:53:54.320+02:00

Today was mostly a get from one place to another day starting from Trondheim and going to Bronnoysund. There were a few interesting minor fjords and valleys along the way, but the view was largely blocked by trees. The main sight of the day was Torghatten rock. A famous mountain in Norway with a hole in the middle of itand a decent view of the area.Not many photos today, but they can be found

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-52414293692245795592008-07-11T22:59:00.003+02:002008-07-11T23:39:05.892+02:00

Today was a pretty easy day with a lot of driving. I started by taking ferry along a fjord and then driving over another mountain pass.Along the way there were some nice rapids rushing through a narrow gorge.After that, it was many, many ferries until reaching Trondheim. Trondheim is a difficult city to give an opinion on. There are some wonderful old buildings and wooden harbor area like in

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-27755860757144554572008-07-10T23:23:00.002+02:002008-07-10T23:41:19.806+02:00

Today was a pretty easy day aided by good weather. It started by visiting the glaciers just outside Fjaerland. I'm sure that at some point they were proper glaciers, but today they were just piles of ice at the bottom of a cliff with the real glacier somewhere up above.Next stop was the Briksdalbreen glacier. There's a little bit of a hike involved to get to it, but it's a more proper

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-42811897237453456922008-07-09T23:03:00.002+02:002008-07-10T00:30:33.541+02:00

Today started out by finishing off a few museums in Bergen that closed before I could get to them yesterday. They gave a good idea of what Bergen used to look like and what life would have been like in the Hanseatic times.From there I went to Stalheim, because I heard there was a decent view there.The next stop was Hopperstad stave church, but a couple of things surprised me about the drive

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-79081677549674058882008-07-08T22:30:00.003+02:002008-07-08T23:45:55.769+02:00

Today I learned an important lesson, that the still mineral water and the fizzy mineral water don't come in blue and red bottles like they do in many other parts of europe. The result was that when I went to refill my sports bottle from a new large bottle I'd bought, it sprayed me with water after having rattled around in the back of the car for a while. I also learned that fizzy mineral water

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-63153503594147006982008-07-07T23:23:00.002+02:002008-07-07T23:49:49.651+02:00

Today started with what was billed as an easy hike up to Preikestolen rock outside Stavanger.This turned out to be more of a 4hour halfday hike than a quick walk up and down. Up at the top, the view was beautiful and you could see quite a distance. It was also one of the windiest places I've been. I had to lean into the wind just to stand. It had been raining on and off so on the way back

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-54615069618638542882008-07-06T23:19:00.002+02:002008-07-06T23:52:50.982+02:00

Yes, my trip starts from Day 0 instead of 1. That's because the preliminary day was fully spent just getting me to Norway to begin the rest of the trip. The drive to Hirtshals, Denmark (way at the very tip top) was very long, with lots of traffic. More traffic than I had expected, but I left early enough to make it to the ferry terminal in plenty of time. The ferry was quite nice with a big

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-87494233524054293122008-06-21T12:47:00.002+02:002008-06-21T13:05:11.069+02:00

This week I got to go to Bodø, Norway for a work meeting. Bodø is just north of the arctic circle, and this was both my first trip to Norway, and my first time being above the arctic circle. The scenery there is incredible, it looks like something from a fantasy novel with green valleys and jagged mountains jutting up from the sea. I had a little time outside of work to do some site seeing in

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-79570364643584566342008-05-11T23:13:00.001+02:002008-06-03T23:39:30.096+02:00

One of the things I have done every year since I've been here and have really enjoyed doing is going to see the flowers at the Keukenhof in the spring. This year I didn't get there until late in the season, so it wasn't as spectacular as it was in previous years, but it was still really good. The flowers inside the pavilions were especially good. There's not a whole lot to be said about it

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-90864605778648636562008-05-04T23:55:00.000+02:002008-06-03T00:05:51.762+02:00

The main objective of the last day in Ireland was to drive from Galway back down to Cork whence my plane was departing. Along the way I stopped at a number of places. The first was Clonmacnoise, highly recommended in the guidebook and one of the most famous abbeys in Ireland. That said, I was underwhelmed. The crosses in the museum were very good, but the building itself was unexciting. The

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-67376691640867137532008-05-03T23:33:00.000+02:002008-06-02T23:37:02.480+02:00

This day was spent driving around the area of Connemara National Park. The scenery here is very different from that in the rest of Ireland and reminds me a lot of Scotland.On the way back to the hotel, I stopped at the Ross Errilly abbey. It was a fairly large abbey ruin, and like most sites in Ireland, has been turned into a cemetery for some reason.The rest of the pics are here.

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-86452213722033104262008-05-02T22:07:00.000+02:002008-06-02T23:18:43.101+02:00

This was meant to be the easy, lazy day of the trip. Instead, it turned out to be very tiring, but rewarding. It started off by taking the ferry to Inishmore in the Aran islands. The plan was to get a bike and do a lazy lap around the island for the day. Well, first I set off in a direction with a vague map of the island and figured out there wasn't a road going all the way around the island.

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-3191394605266052472008-05-01T21:33:00.002+02:002008-06-02T22:01:16.805+02:00

Day 6 was Limerick and Co. Clare. Limerick isn't the most glamorous city, it just happened to be right where I needed to spend a night. I saw the castle, then left town for Bunratty. In Bunratty there is a castle (the usual one tower irish kind) and an open-air museum with lots of reconstructed houses and buildings showing life in Ireland in earlier times.From there I went into Co. Clare to

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-64514966445676505242008-04-30T21:11:00.002+02:002008-06-02T21:33:38.968+02:00

Day 5 started with a drive around the Dingle peninsula and then driving up to Limerick. Dingle is a very remote place that looks a bit like the Ring of Beara, but with even more types of scenery to be seen.Publish Postb.google.com/wanderingjax/DinglePeninsula/photo#5203333161288517938">Finally, there was a stop at Lough Gur. There are a bunch of tombs, and circles, and other neolithic

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-64279180309522683132008-04-29T20:52:00.002+02:002008-06-02T21:11:19.966+02:00

Day 4 in Ireland was spent in Killarney National Park. It started with a morning hike up the Gap of Dunloe. This is another place the guidebooks warn you about. The books say the road isn't for cars, that there are pony & traps bumper to bumper on it, and only fools walk it. Well, along my hike up to the top of the pass and back, I saw several cars, only two traps, and plenty of walkers, lots

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-12234577652422930582008-04-28T14:11:00.003+02:002008-06-02T20:52:42.230+02:00

Day 3 was spent driving the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Beara. People I talked to and my guidebooks all told me how bad the Ring of Kerry would be. They said it would be a tiny little road, that you could only go one way around it because otherwise the buses would run you off the road, and that you'd be stuck behind buses creeping along the entire day. For me at least, none of that was true.

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-21450661148717658392008-04-27T13:51:00.001+02:002008-05-24T14:05:59.257+02:00

Day 2 was spent driving the coast from Cork to Killarney. The main sites were Charles Fort in Kinsale, Drombeg stone circle, and Mizen Head. Charles Fort was quite large and interesting, with a good view of the harbor. The weather was a bit foggy, but that added to the character I think.From there to the stone circle was my first real introduction to the profoundly small roads that make up

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-65597521628833849202008-04-26T13:30:00.002+02:002008-05-24T13:51:30.707+02:00

Yes, this is posted quite late, but I am quite slow...Day 1 of the Irish adventure was mainly an easy day to adjust to driving on the wrong side of the road, and irish roads in general. I have to say that by the end of the trip, I found driving on the left quite easy and even a little easier than driving on the right. Maybe this was because using the left hand to shift kept the more dominate

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-15739836099628057002008-04-20T23:07:00.002+02:002008-05-10T23:21:31.184+02:00

Believe it or not, after all my time in New Mexico, I just now finally got around to seeing White Sands. I didn't really know what to expect (other than lots of white sand). I thought it was really fascinating. Out of the normal desert you just hit this abrupt wall of perfectly white sand. At first there's some plants scattered in it, but eventually, it's just sand. Sand as far as you can

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-39284095095099569012008-04-10T22:25:00.002+02:002008-05-10T22:47:48.499+02:00

Regular readers will no doubt notice that this post has been back-dated a month. Yes, I have been that bad lately. Between work, being away for work and just being away, I've fallen dreadfully behind in updating the blog. Hopefully I can fix most of that this weekend.So, way back when, I had a weeklong meeting in Heidelberg. It's a city I've been to many times before, and one that I quite

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-34123411737163699972008-03-27T21:14:00.003+01:002008-03-28T00:24:04.655+01:00

For my annual "Get out of Holland for Easter" trip, I decided to go to Dresden. I chose Dresden, because the weather forecast there was just as bad as the rest of europe, I hadn't been there before, and I couldn't afford the airfare to Sicily.I spent the first night in Wittenberg. The reason for that choice was so I could see the door (or successor to the door) where Martin Luther nailed his

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-4705715153775570302008-02-18T20:21:00.002+01:002008-03-27T21:10:10.622+01:00

First off, this post is really really late. Last month, I really needed to get out of the office and the weather for the weekend looked good, so I convinced my officemate to come along to Germany for the weekend. The first stop was Mainz, a really nice small city and home to the Gutenberg bible, which was the point of the visit. The next stop was an old monastery not far away.As we neared it,

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-53926441231305037922008-02-09T19:31:00.000+01:002008-02-18T19:37:55.294+01:00

This weekend was the first really nice weather in a long, long time. It was still cold, but the bright sunshine made it feel warm and the whole world went out to the beach to enjoy it. I took the opportunity to take pictures of a very amusing collection of statues that are located just off the beach. I'm glad that someone (in this case the sculpture musuem) put the effort into creating some

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-9205841001590783812008-02-03T19:29:00.001+01:002008-02-18T19:31:23.821+01:00

My weekend in Madrid started off, strangely enough, in Brussels. This was by far the best part of the trip, walking around Grand Place, having waffles, and having a few belgian beers with friends.Madrid, though, is fast on its way to becoming one of my least favourite cities. Unluckily for me, this is compounded by the weather. They say the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain; but this

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-58698441235478595032008-01-27T12:54:00.000+01:002008-01-27T13:08:31.586+01:00

This week I had to may a quick overnight trip to Toledo. I can say that Iberia is not one of my favorite airlines after I learned that they charge for water on 2.5 hour flights. Not providing water irked me a little. Toledo seemed nice, though I didn't actually get to see much of the city. It's set up on top of hills and has a several large historic buildings. My meeting was held in what

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-30951232593870642102008-01-02T17:09:00.000+01:002008-01-02T17:33:43.562+01:00

It's true, he did. He said the souvenirs are way over priced and to watch out for rip offs, and that even he gets bad prices even though he's Thai.The final (and longest) stop of the trip was Phuket, for a bit of time at the beach. The weather was just as hot and even more humid, but at least there was the water to cool you down. Phuket would barely exist if it weren't for tourism, so the

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-39244930877750337362008-01-02T16:47:00.000+01:002008-01-02T17:09:02.832+01:00

After Bangkok, the next stop was the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya, about 80km from Bangkok. Instead of trying to figure out how to get there and what to do with our bags, we instead hired the hotel car for the day. This meant we had a very nice air conditioned car, a safe place to keep our luggage, someone to drive us to all the various temples and sights in Ayutthaya, and an easy way of

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-3687040186779207612008-01-02T15:58:00.000+01:002008-01-02T16:47:50.167+01:00

Bangkok is bigger (or at least feels it) and more chaotic than Singapore, and much harder to get around. The metro doesn't really go where most of the tourist attractions are, and the taxis and tuk-tuks seem to be run by scam artists. Mostly I relied on the hotel car to take me around. The Thai people themselves are very warm and friendly, but there is a group of them that try to make a buck

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23195030.post-332168070882214542008-01-02T15:23:00.000+01:002008-01-02T15:57:52.612+01:00

Now that I'm back from the Christmas vacation, it's time to report on the goings on. When I left Holland for the 12 hour flight to Singapore, it was in the midst of the 3rd straight day of freezing fog. You could barely see anywhere, and everything was slowly accumulating a hard crust of ice. Had the sun been out, it might have looked pretty, but without any light, it was just miserable. The

Jaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00089630438833476095noreply@blogger.com0