Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
The peso uruguayo (UYU), usually written as $ or $U , is Uruguay’s official currency. The present peso was introduced on March 1st, 1993, replacing the nuevo peso at a rate of 1 peso uruguayo for 1,000 nuevos pesos. It is divided into 100 centésimos, although centésimo coins are no longer commonly used.
Continue reading “Peso Uruguayo”
The NH Montevideo Columbia is a city hotel in Montevideo, Uruguay, offering accommodation in the historic centre. It is particularly well suited to visitors who want to combine sightseeing with easy access to the waterfront, rather than stay in a secluded resort.
Continue reading “NH Columbia”
Aeropuerto Internacional de Carrasco, officially General Cesáreo L. Berisso International Airport, is Uruguay’s principal international airport and the main gateway to Montevideo. It serves the capital and its metropolitan area, although the terminal itself lies in Ciudad de la Costa, in the department of Canelones, roughly 20 kilometres east of central Montevideo. Its airport code is MVD, and it handles the country’s principal international air connections.
Continue reading “Aeropuerto Internacional de Carrasco”
The Kronsberg is Hannover’s highest natural elevation: a long ridge rather than a conventional mountain. It lies on the south-eastern edge of the city, roughly nine kilometres from the centre, between the Hannover exhibition grounds and the Bockmerholz woodland. The ridge is formed mainly of limestone marl and reaches about 106 metres above sea level in its natural state; an artificial summit mound raises the highest viewpoint to roughly 118 metres.
Continue reading “Highest mountain”
The river Garte is a small, approximately 23-kilometre-long tributary of the Leine in Südniedersachsen. Its name gives the Gartetal – literally the Garte valley – its identity, and the river is one of the defining features of the landscape around Gleichen, east and south-east of Göttingen. It rises near Weißenborn, close to the Thüringen border, and flows westwards before reaching the Leine south of Göttingen, near the area east of Rosdorf.
Continue reading “Garte”
The Steinhuder Meer is a shallow lake in Niedersachsen, north-west of Hannover, and the largest inland lake in the region. Covering roughly 30–32 square kilometres, it forms the centrepiece of the Naturpark Steinhuder Meer, a landscape of reed beds, marshes, moorland, meadows and woodland. Despite its name, Meer means ‚sea‘ here, reflecting its broad open horizon and long-standing maritime character rather than salt water.
Continue reading “Steinhuder Meer”
After completing three Mammutmarsch events earlier this year – in Leipzig, Hamburg and Nürnberg – I was already familiar with the particular mixture of endurance, organisation and camaraderie that defines the series. Those walks had been useful preparation for climbing the Brocken later in the year, but the Nachtmammut Ruhrgebiet offered an entirely different experience: this was the only genuine night walk among the events I had attended.
Continue reading “Nachtwanderung”
The Tetraeder at Bottrop is a striking steel sculpture and viewing platform that has become the town’s most recognisable landmark. Officially called the ‘Haldenereignis Emscherblick‘, it takes the form of a giant tetrahedron: a three‑sided pyramid made from steel tubes and cast nodes, resting on four concrete pillars. Its geometric silhouette seems to float above the summit of an artificial hill, giving the structure an almost weightless appearance despite its industrial materials.
Continue reading “Tetraeder”
A Taxiteller is a substantial German takeaway dish, usually consisting of chips topped or served alongside currywurst, a portion of gyros, tzatziki, onions and often mayonnaise. Recipes vary from one snack bar to another: some replace the gyros with döner meat, while others add extra sauces or salad. It is best understood as a generous combination of familiar Imbiss favourites rather than a strictly standardised recipe.
Continue reading “Taxiteller”
Zeche Zollverein in Essen was once one of the world’s largest and most advanced hard-coal mines. Together with its enormous coking plant, it formed a highly efficient industrial complex where coal was extracted, processed and converted into coke for the steel industry. Its striking winding tower, steel framework and red-brick buildings make it an outstanding example of modern industrial architecture.
Continue reading “Zollverein”