Category Archives: Travel

NYC Day 1 – No Sleep ’til Brooklyn

The last couple of days went by so quickly and it was time for our holidays, a trip to New York.

We arrived 2 hours in advance for the check in at Hamburg airport, but the queue was already long so we were the last ones who checked in. The staff couldn’t find our reservations and it was getting hectic. We rushed through the fast lane to get to the boarding counter when J. all of a sudden realized he had forgotten his netbook on top of his luggage at the check in. So we kept the boarding service staff busy in order to check out if it was possible to get uit back. We had given up hope of ever seeing it again and the plane was almost ready for take off when a security guy came in, with the netbook in his hands!

The next 9 hours of flying where uneventfully which wasn’t really a loss. As I had claimed importing food into the USA of course the custom officials at Newark wanted to see our luggage.  I always bring some gluten free food wherever I travel to be in stock before I find out where to buy it.

We took the Airtrain, switched to New Jersey Transit, arrived at Penn. Station, bought the weekly metro pass and took the A train to Brooklyn. It was an express though and we realized this one wouldn’t stop at Lafayette Ave. so we simply asked the people in the train. Two of them weren’t NY citizens either but had a map, then a lady with two small children advised us to switch trains at Jay Street and take the C train for 2 stops.

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We got out at Lafayette as expected and found ourselves in a Spike Lee movie-ish scenery: in front of a building with a big graffiti for the memorial of Biggy Smalls aka Notorious B.I.G., a pizza corner shop (NOT RAYS PIZZA!) and some hiphop guys crossing the street.

lafayette3After taking some picures and gaining back orientation we found our apartment pretty easily. Our landlord gave us some hints for exploring Brooklyn and we found an even better way to use trains to Manhattan at Atlantic-Pacific Station just around the corner of our house.

Later on we went out to take a walk in our new neighbourhood Fort Greene, did some shopping and had an excellent dinner in an Ethiopian Restaurant nearby. By the time we got home we had been on our feet for almost 24 hours.

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Off to Sight-Seeing

After an enjoyable night with an excellent meal and drinks amongst friends we started not too early on Saturday for our ultimate sightseeing trip in Copenhagen.

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We went through the city, visited the city hall, passed the court and went down the main shopping street Stromgarde with many well preserved beautiful old houses.

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At Amalienborg we could see from the flying flag that the Queen was home. Guards Continue reading →

Danish Everyday Design

The first thing I noticed upon arrival at Copenhagen was the literally excellent design of the airport hall, very bright, a bit like a nave on the way to the exit.

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Our hotel was beautifully designed too, the Clarion Collection Mayfair in Vesterbro – advertised as an elegant English-style with Asian influence decoration – could match up with our expectations.

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Lobby, Rooms and dining area were well designed and a pleasure to stay in. Even the lamp in the dining area was of noticeable design and with great attention to detail.

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Travel Equipment

When I was at the airport for a flight to Denmark the other weekend, I saw a new vending machine that caught my attention.

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“Forgot Camera?” asked the advertisement on the vending machine just to make sure no one would overlook this wasn’t meant for hungry and thirsty travellers that passed the security check.

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And indeed, a lot of travellers equipment was stored inside – cameras, mass storage devices, mp3 players, batteries – with all the smartphones and tablets people use these days, I wonder if those goods sell well…

Monsieur Chat

A couple of days before, I saw a graffiti at a wall right next to the busstation I am usually waiting at. To be more precise, it was one of these modern artworks made of paper, easily and safely prepared by the artist at home and quickly stuck on a wall. Times have changed apparently, as I see these kind of graffities more and more these days. Definitely a safer way to go but unfortunately they don’t last as long as their sprayed counterparts.

I looked at the cat smirking towards the street and got reminded of graffities I noticed about 10 years ago during a holiday trip to Paris.

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Then, the other day, I saw the same cat on another wall. Continue reading →