Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
I came to Ingolstadt, Germany to watch a soccer match – but as always I also explored the city and found a middle-sized and nice city center. Ingolstadt has 133.000 inhabitants and is the #5 city within the federal state of Bavaria. The city was first named in 806 CE and became a state fortress in 1537 – the results can still be seen on the city map. Continue reading “Down in Oberbayern”
After working as an exhibitor for the University of Göttingen on the CeBIT fair for a whole week I was through with fairs and exhibitions. I wasn’t interested in visiting them anymore. But new jobs bring new necessities: nowadays I’m an annual guest to the E-World fair in Essen, Germany – the get-together of the German Energy business. Continue reading “Energy business”
The city of Lübeck, Germany is a very old town that became rich by trading goods. The old city center which looks like an island and is surrounded by arms of the river Trave became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1987. Famous is also a small town belonging to Lübeck: Travemünde. It is a well-known beach with a very high and ugly hotel complex directly at the shore.
Northern Italy is always a wonderful place to be, but it is especially great during the time of Santa Lucia, when the towns are enlighted and the falling snow mixes with the fragrance of mulled wine. In Verona there is a huge christmas market on the Piazza Brà (including a giant metal shooting star leading out of the Arena) and a traditional German christmas market at the Piazza dei Signori. Maybe it is the best time of the year to pass by and enjoy a prolongued weekend at this share of the country.
Continue reading “Northern Italy at the time of Santa Lucia”
The Albergo Torcolo in Verona, Italy is a hotel I returned to multiple times during the last years. It is a very small and narrow hotel with old-style furniture – nothing really special one would say. But there are two reasons why I always love to be there; the first is the very friendly family running the hotel. You immediatly feel at home and it is possible to switch between Italian, English and German in just one sentence at the reception.
One of the most beautiful railway tracks I can imagine is the “Brennerbahn” (Ferrovia del Brennero) crossing the Alps from Germany via Austria to Italy. It dates back to 1864 and has a maximum inclination of 25%. While the train goes in slopes through the mountains you can sit back and enjoy wonderful views. Especially in winter time the fir trees loaded with snow look great.
Autumn is road trip time! And after looking on a map of Poland there was only one spot left, I haven’t visited in the past: Kraków. And as I have not been to Praha during the last 15 years I decided to cross the entire Czech Republic with stops in Praha and Brno and to drive over the border to Kraków. The most important reason indeed was, that I had not visited a concentration camp before – something that felt odd as I was even travelling to Jerusalem, Israel to learn more about the Shoa.
After two gorgeous trips to Brazil and Israel this year I had only time for a short trip to Spain. The main reason to choose this destination was, that I had merely seen Barcelona so far – but nothing of the rest of this wonderful country. While I was in New York last year, I saw a reproduction of the Mezquita and decided to visit the original; at this point in time not knowing anything about the history of Andalucía.
What comes to your mind when you think about Sevilla, Spain? Maybe bullfighting, the traditional Spanish “sports” you won’t support. Or the “Giralda”, the tower of Sevillas cathedral? I must admit, I haven’t had Sevilla on the list of places to see. Even if it will never be my most favorite city, it is a nice place stretched along river Guadalquivir.
Córdoba is wonderful city in Andalucía, Spain. It dates back to the year 167 BCE and was once one of the largest cities in the world – during the 10th century under Islamic rule – and this time frame still influences the city today. Moorish architecture can still be seen in the main sights but also within normal residential buildings.