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Welcome to my travel log! You will find here a lot more than in the travel reports, stripped from political correctness. Enjoy! 
Sep 29, 2009 02:00 PM Lake Como (IT) - on my way now
This trip has at least four lake destinations for me. The main one will be Lezzeno, closely followed by Varenna and Fiumelatte, and of course Bellagio, which links Lezzeno side with the Varenna side. I will be staying at the Hotel Aurora in Lezzeno, but will definitely venture to the old part of Varenna for the ice-cream. I will be busy with wedding arrangements, but a side trip or two to places where I have not been would be in order for sure. Also, I have plans to visit one of Italy's best restaurants in the vicinity, which is in the mountains.
Ryanair should live up to its reputation for punctuality, so I could grab the car from Hertz and reach Lezzeno by midnight. Well, we will see.
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Sep 28, 2009 02:00 PM Lake Como (IT) - I am coming again
The time has finally come for Como again. My first time at the lake was about a year ago. I am excited to see the trees turning again. The weather forecast is promising. With plenty of sunshine and temperatures over 20C, I could hardly ask for more.
My trip has a purpose, though. I am attending a wedding of my friends. I am a little nervous, as I will be reading in the church, have to agree music with the band and will take pictures. But that is not until Friday. So the entire Wednesday night, Thursday and then Saturday and Sunday morning is going to be free, or free-ish. This time, I will have a car, so maybe I will go somewhere new and unexplored. I already have something planned for Saturday.
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Sep 12, 2009 02:00 PM Stockholm (SE) - actually rather small
For some reason, I thought that Stockholm was going to be huge and visiting it over the weekend was going to be mission impossible. But it turned out that the city was compact. Well, all those sights that ought to be visited were concentrated in a relatively small area, all accessible by foot or a short boat ride.
The old town, concentrated on the Gamla Stan island, and a few nearby islets (Helgeandsholmen, Riddarholmen, Skeppsholmen, Kastellholmen), retained its auntenticity by keeping to the cobble stones, avoiding modern structures, and fixing discrete nighttime lighting in the old lanterns. The Stortorget, an old square complete with medieval merchant houses, and the old Börsen (Stock Exchange), the Västerlånggatan, Stora Nygatan, Järntorget, Köpmantorget, Köpmangatan, and Österlånggatan pedestrianised lanes and squares were great for wandering, eating, drinking, and shopping. Stora Nygatan, pedestrianised cobblestone alley had a number of cosy cafes, bars and restaurants.
I also liked the eastern side of Gamla Stan, the Skeppsbrokajen, a paved waterfront were various vessels moored, few bars offered drinks and a view of the tall ship Vandrarhem af Chapman, and the dramatic northern ramparts of the Södermalm could be admired.
The obvious sight in the royal city was obviously the Royal Palace. It was built in the 1600s and has over 600 rooms. Its form was simple and the building was regularly square. Still, it was imposing and vast, and it dominated the Gamla Stan island. It housed, typically, the Crown Jewels. I managed to catch part of the Changing of the Guard, and was surprised to see that the guards were all female, most of whom were rather developed in years. Also I was shocked that the Royal Family had to spend so much on so many oversized uniforms!
Stockholm's Stadshuset (City Hall) on Kungsholmen island, was not only a matchless landmark, with its massive square tower, but a lovely spot by the water, where the Nobel Prize is awarded on an annual basis, except the Nobel Peace Prize of course. As it is handed out personally by Norway's monarch at their palace in Oslo.
On Riddarholmen island, the Riddarholmskyrkan was the church where the graves of Sweden's monarchs had been placed for over 500 years. The Stadshuset was best photographed from the western shores of the island.
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Sep 11, 2009 02:00 PM Stockholm (SE) - bright, sunny, cloudy, rainy
When I got the Ryanair ticket to the so called Stockholm Skavsta airport, which in fact is over 100km from Stockholm, and found out that the coach to the city would take 1h 20 minutes, I realised that this was not going to be convenient at all. The coach was €10 one way, and waited 40 minutes for the air passengers before departing. It was such a waste of time, considering that I landed at 21:20 and it was going to take until midnight to reach my hotel. However, considering that I paid just £5 for the flight, I should hardly be complaining. Of course, I could find a couple of more inconveniences, like the metro blue line did not operate from the Central Terminal in the city, so I had to change the lines, and then the train did not even stop at my station at all, so I was forced to continue to the next station and ended up taking a taxi, which set me back SEK110! Yet, I will keep quiet and will look on the bright side of life.
The capital of Sweden retained much from its Medieval and Renaissance past. The collection of different styles in architecture wonderfully married one to another in this refreshing Scandinavian way made a great impact on me. Brightly painted facades of centuries old buildings, narrow lanes, cobblestone squares, and this fresh, sea-scented air almost hypnotised me.
But one thing shocked me. Right by the impressive and imposing royal palace/castle, a colony of blue plastic toilets stood, ruining what might have been the city's most attractive sight. But they were there for a purpose. It was the city annual half-marathon run. So thousands of runners arrived from 40 or so nations to break their sweat and raise their heartbeat. Oh, and their time taken, too.
At the time, when they finished, weather changed dramatically, and the grey heavy clouds that kept gathering all afternoon, eventually produced some light rain, which washed the pavements and cobblestone alleys, which reflected the lanterns which were switched on for the night.
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Sep 10, 2009 02:00 PM Stockholm (SE) - my first visit
This is my first visit to Stockholm. I have been to Sweden on a number of occasions, but it has been almost 20 years since I travelled there last. Not counting an odd stop of an emergency landing en route from Gdansk to Copenhagen one cold and snowy winter evening.
I am staying for the weekend. I do not have a specified plan. The idea is to just have a look around, relax, take some pictures. Simply explore what the reputedly chocolate-box style capital of Sweden has got to offer. Weather forecasts looks really promising, so I hope this to be a nice, sunny weekend, full of new discoveries.
All thanks to Ryanair's £10 all inclusive return fare from London Stansted to Stockholm Skavsta. Both airports located long distance from the cities, transfer between which is at least twice as expensive than the promotional flight tickets... Oh, well. We can definitely enjoy low fares air travel, if only this was also possible on British rail, and Swedish coaches...
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Sep 08, 2009 02:00 PM Travellers - beware!
As I mentioned a few translation issues from my trip to Indochina a few years back, this appears to be a news piece that lands in newspapers every now and again. This is what I read today, onthe magic date of 09/09/09:
Notices about women being diseases, people being ordered to play with the opposite sex in public or told to take advantage of the chambermaid have left English-speaking travellers confused.
Signs at the airline ticket office in Copenhagen told visitors that the airline will take their bags and send them in all directions.
Some British tourists arrived in a hotel in Budapest to find a sign saying that the lift was being fixed for the day and during that time the management regretfully informed visitors that their stay would be unbearable.
Another sign in a Zurich hotel lobby stated that because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose.
In Yugoslavia, the flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid and in Japan visitors are invited to take advantage of the staff.
And in Rome, the notice in launderettes' windows promises that if women leave their clothes they can spend the whole afternoon having a good time. Similarly, in Bangkok men are asked to drop their trousers for the best results.
Ladies with nuts are served special cocktails in Tokyo, and in Norway ladies are requested not to have children at the bar. If their children are left unattended, they will be sold to the circus, whereas in Austria, children left unattended will be sold as slaves.
Chris Brown, managing director of sunshine.co.uk, the online travel agent who compiled the translations said: “English speakers are among the most heavily travelled people in the world and so it’s no wonder touristy places try to appeal to them by translating signs and menus.
“However, the problems come when these translations are completely inaccurate. The above examples are just a bit of fun and aren’t likely to offend anyone, other than chambermaids, but when menu translations wind up saying ‘delicious roasted hepatitis’, companies are bound to lose lots of business!”
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Sep 05, 2009 02:00 PM Sandefjord (NO) - in Granholmen
Sunday was an easy day. Lazy morning and in the house, and a few preparation for going back home. But I also took a walk to Granholmen, which is housing a very popular summer camping ground, right by the fjord. There are no sandy beaches there, but a few flat rocks work well as an alternative. People normally bring their caravans for the summer months and stay in them. Even if they lived just few miles away in the neighbouring towns or villages. But of course there are many that travel great distances to spend their summer in this popular spot.
I think for the first time, I saw a small colony of pink jelly fish. They were swimming close to the shore twisting and bending their bodies in their typical slow motion. They were incredible and very bright pink...
The sky was so clear and weather was fantastic. It was so easy to notice the difference between the clarity of the air in London and in Granholmen.
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Sep 04, 2009 02:00 PM Sandefjord (NO) - it has not changed that much
Since my last visit to Sandefjord, probably 5 years ago, the city has not changed much. The Hvaltorget shopping centre has been enlarged and a few new appartments have been built, but apart from that the centre looked the same as I last saw it. Even the shops and cafes are still in the same spots.
In the suburbs, however, near Grandholmen, there have been noticeable differences. A few new houses have been built, many right by the fjord, close to the water. And a few have been changed, mainly repainted or slightly altered.
The concert of the men choir, which celebrated its 20th birthday was great. They guys recruited a few other performers to enrich the show with surprising elements. One of them was a world record line walker, who was also studying opera and was singing beautifully. The other were acrobats, who jumped in the air making loops and twisting their bodies impressively. And a very nice young lady supporting the choir with some solo vocals.
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Sep 03, 2009 02:00 PM Sandefjord (NO) - it has been a while
I must have been to Sandefjord about six or seven times in the last 20 years. Not that often. But then it has been a good number of years, since I last time visited the town. And my friends there. And thanks to Ryanair's £10 all inclusive return fare, I am on my way there today.
If all goes well, I will attend a rather flamboyant concert of Sandefjord's famous male choir, and will take some updated pictures. I am really wondering how much the town has changed since my last visit.
Should I manage to take notes, I might write a report about this great little place of Vestfold, Norway. Who knows...
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Sep 02, 2009 02:00 PM The Chengdu album is now complete.
Hello All,
I just would like to announce that my photo album about Chengdu is now complete. There will not be any significant addition to it. At least they are not planned at the moment. The album, hopefully, depicts the different faces of this great Sichuan capital. There are pandas, of course; parks with people dancing, teahouses and temples; there are ugly high-rise residential towers; pockets of traditional architecture; and a lovely compound, where China beloved poet, Du Fu, lived and wrote his work.
There might be a spin off album (suggested by Gloria) with shots of the pandas...
Best regards,
Krys
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