Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
Gdańsk (Danzig) is a beautiful bead close to the Baltic, on the far northern east of Poland, only 160 km away from Kaliningrad (Königsberg). It has a wonderful old city center with small streets and narrow houses, fantastic gates (like the Brama Zielona) and churches. And lots of history to discover!
Continue reading “Like a fairy-tale”
Toruń (Thorn) is a beautiful small town in the center of the northern half of Poland. It is one of the partner towns of my home town, Göttingen. I arrived here by car from Berlin on my way to Gdańsk in Pomorskie (Pomerania, Pommern). The city, located at the river Wisła, is well known for its old city center consisting of a lot of buildings in Brick Gothic style.
Continue reading “Toruń overnight”
I didn’t know much about Ljubljana (Laibach, Emona), the capital city of Slovenia. It came onto my list when I was driving at night with a bus to Zagreb, Croatia. While looking through the windows at the dark but enlighted city I thought it would be a good stop for a weekend in the future.
Continue reading “A beautiful small capital”
When I was young I never had the wish to go to the United States. I grew up with presidents like George Bush sr. and jr. at the Oval Office. And even Bill Clinton didn’t make it better for me, having all those military operations of the U.S. and the numerous CIA interventions in South American in mind. But after Barack Obama came into the White House, I thought I should change my mind.
Continue reading “As seen on TV”
What I really found odd about New York is that people always seem to live at a neighborhood according to their origin. At first it is nice to have Little Italy where you can walk from pizzaria to pizzaria (and of course also from ice cream parlor to ice cream parlor) or to have China Town which you would visit to get some good Chinese food.
Something I’ve so far only seen in New York is this vast amount of food carts, selling soft drinks and hotdogs. You can find them in front of every major sight and they are mostly run by veterans, proudly showing their rank and unit. But this is not only about a coke and junk food – some carts really have the product range of a normal eatery.
Using credit cards in New York City is really common. You can pay nearly everywhere by card, only if you want to buy some food from a food cart on the street it would be very useful to have some money in your pocket. The best way to get George Washington into your wallet is to use your credit card at one of the ubiquitously available Atomatic Teller Machines (ATMs).
Travelling throughout the city that never sleeps is pretty easy – because it has one of the best subway systems in the world. You just need a network map (Google is your best friend) and a city map – pick the next metro station close to your destination and find a path through the jungle.
Normally I try to travel to nearby countries by train. But this time I chose to go by long-distance bus the first time of my life. I went to the Hackerbrücke in München, the bus terminal of the Bavarian capital. I took an IC Bus from Deutsche Bahn that was not really comfy and I didn’t get too much sleep. But therefore I arrived in the early morning at the bus terminal of Zagreb (Agram) and could immediatly start to explore the capital city of Croatia.
Continue reading “Non-touristy, uncommon, incomparable”