Amidst the fog

First of all, I must write it, I cannot keep it to myself. I have just seen "Star Wars Episode III: Sith's revenge" and I am totally shocked for the tragic destiny of Anakin Skywalker. What a sad end!

Now, coming back to the title of this post, on Saturday I spent most of the day in Marburg, a cosy university city just 90 kilometres north of Frankfurt. It has a very nice and well preserved historic centre, where I would highlight the town hall overall. In any case, as in most German cities, one is never sure whether these buildings are really coming from the Middle Age or whether they were rebuilt after the Second World War.I am not sure, but it seems that Saint Elizabeth was coming also from Marburg. At least, she has a cathedral with her name, she is present in the symbol of the town and everybody seems to look for her protection. According to what I read, she was a former Queen of Hessen in the Middle Ages, coming from Hungary. It is not much and I am not even sure about its accuracy, but I could not get more information. In any case, her cathedral is quite nice (not the best cathedral ever, to that group belong Vienna's, Strasbourg's and Cologne's, amongst others), with a very remarkable higher chore.

After having wandered from its city centre, I must admit that Marburg is the dirtiest German city I have visited this year. I think it is due to its university population, but it is really remarkable. It is the only city where I have signs inviting inhabitants to use the dustbins and lots of graffitis in historic buildings. Nevertheless, even the dirtiest German city is far much cleaner than the cleanest Spanish city, believe me (and I would better not compare it with Guadajara, my home town).


Marburg welcomed me with a intense fog, which did not allow me to see it as I was approaching with the train. When I was getting to the top part of the city through its narrow streets, where the castle remains, I could get some amazing pictures of the roofs arising amidst the fog. The castle itself is not especially beautiful, but the views from the gardens at its side are really the best that Marburg can offer to the tourist.

In conclusion, Marburg is not a top destination and it does not have any world-class attraction, but it can guarantee a very nice day for any person interested in getting lost in its narrow streets.

Wer kommnt dran?

In letzten Tagen haben manche Banken finanzielle Schwierigkeiten gehabt. Unter Anderem denke ich an Bear Stearns, Northern Rock, Merill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, HBOS, oder AIG. Heute möchte ich etwas über sie schreiben.

Bear Stearns war der erste Opfer im Frühling. Sie war die fünfte Bank in Wall Street und es wurde gesagt, dass sie zu viel und zu schnell grosser werden wollte und das könnte nicht geschafft werden ohne ein Preis zu bezahlen.

Northern Rock war eine Bank aus Newcastle, in Nord England. Mit ihrem Fallen hat man für erste Mal Reihen von Kunden gesehen. Die Regierung musste es verstaatlichen, nachdem das FSA (Financial Services Authority) mit ihrem coolen Namen nichts Besonderes entdeckt hatte.

Merill Lynch hat sich dafür entscheidet, verkauft zu werden statt verschwinden, wie Lehman Brothers. Jetzt gehört sie zu Bank Of America (BOA) und man wird sehen, wie sie in seinen neuen Leben benimmt.

Nach 150 Jahren konnte Lehman Brothers die "Subprime" nicht überleben und sie hat verschwunden mit der Hilfe des Feds. Man dürfte hier die Frage stellen: warum konnte Lehman Brothers fallen und andere nicht?

HBOS sollte ein Partner finden bevor sie auch verschwunden wurde. Sie war erfolgreich und hat überlebt aber mit einem höhen Preis: jetzt gehört sie zu Lloyds TSB.

AIG war eine Versicherungsfirma, sehr gross und erforlgreich, aber die niemand kontrollieren hat. Sie hatte Verträge mit riesem Risiko und deshalb hat sie so viel Geld verdient, aber was passierte vor einige Tagen? Sie sollte um regierungsfreundliche Hilfe bitten.

Was die amerikanische Regierung gemacht hat, konnte als Sozialismus definiert werden. Aber das ist nicht richtig, weil bei Sozialismus die Banken gehören immer zum Staat, nicht nur wenn sie Schwierigkeiten bekämpfen. Nein, das ist viel ungerechter mit den Bürgern und ich würde es als "Schlaukopf gehen" bennenen. Die Regierung werde nur die uneinbringliche Krediten bekommen, ohne Kosten für die Banken, die die Krise provoziert haben.

Zuallerletzt möchte ich ein Artikel von Paul Krugman (auf Englisch) empfehlen: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/22/opinion/edkrugman.php

Der Titel beschreibt genau in drei Wörte die Rolle der amerikanischen Regierung.

Where the Moselle meets the Rhine

Yes, I was in that place on Saturday and let me tell you that its name is Koblenz. It is quite a beautiful town, but before getting into details, I must pay back a debt I have.

When I went to the Romantic Rhine (about two weeks ago), the batteries of my camera got empty just in the worst moment, in front of the Loreley rock and therefore I had to upload a picture from Internet in my blog. However, on Saturday, the train to Koblenz took me through the Romantic Rhine and I could take a picture of the Loreley. I know it is not the best picture ever, but the train was moving at around 120 km/h and I think you get the idea that it was something kind of personnal.

Going back to Koblenz, I must say it is a strange city. When wandering through the city centre, I could not notice many tourists and it seemed quite a nice city to me. But, just when I was approaching the Deutsche Ecke (the triangle where the Moselle gets into the Rhine), crowds of tourists appear, from thousands of buses from unknown cities in Germany (at least, unknown for me). Then, again, I walked for five minutes away from it, and the city was again with no traces of tourists. I have started to build a theory, according to which the Deutsche Eck is like a magnet for tourists.

The best views of the city are those from the Fortress Ehrenbreitstein, as the picture above shows. I recommend going there on foot, after having crossed the river Rhine in a ferry, probably unchanged from the sixties (it is like a time travel, believe me). Although a bit tiring, it is quite nice to walk uphill for a while, far from the hordes of tourists. The fortress claims to have been conquered only once and after assessing its size and its position, I think that people who conquered it were really heroes, since it seems totally impregnable.

I must admit that the Deutsche Ecke is really breathtaking, the statue is huge and the sensation is that of being in a ship, let's say Titanic, in the front part of it. But there are other amazing spots in Koblenz. For example, the one in this picture is just five minutes away from the Deutsche Ecke and I find it really, really beautiful.

In general terms, Koblenz is quite an interesting town, with a pleasant atmosphere, two huge rivers (you know the fascination for rivers that is growing inside me since I moved to Germany) and some amazing spots. And to get there, the train must go along the Romantic Rhine, in what is a wonderful trip just itself.

United 93

Il y a quelques jours j'ai regardé à la télévision le film "United 93", sur ce que s'est passé dans le quattrième avion du 11 Septembre. C'est un film tourné avec beaucoup de realité, avec des acteurs inconnus, mais qui transmet tout l'horreur et le drame vécus dans l'avion.

On ne réussi pas à comprendre pourquoi ces personnes ont dû mourir, parce qu'ils n'ont pas fait rien, ils étaient des innocentes dans le lieu trompé le jour trompé. Ces dernières appels à ses familles et leur contre-attaque vraiment touchent le coeur du spectateur (au moins, ils ont touché mon coeur). On sait comment le film finit mais on ne peut pas éviter avoir un petit espoir.

On doit réfléchir aussi sur les terroristes. Quel tête malade pouvaient justifier cette action? Quel Dieu pouvaient réserver pour leur le paradis? À mon avis, ces hommes représentent la méchanceté absolue, ils seulement cherchent faire des dommages, sans penser à des innocents ou à des raisons pour fair ça. Comment nous avons arrivé ici?

Mais, sette ans plus tard, on doit se demander, qu'est-ce qu'a changé aprés le 11. septembre. Pas beaucoup, pour dire la verité. Et ce qu'a changé non a amélioré rien...

Stuttgart bajo la lluvia

Ayer sábado había decidido ir a pasar el día a Stuttgart, aunque las previsiones de lluvia me hacían temer que no fuera tan buena idea, al fin y al cabo. Stuttgart es la capital de Baden-Württermberg y cuna de las marcas automovilísticas Mercedes Benz y Porsche. Pero además, es una ciudad con muchas zonas verdes y muy "habitable", con una ordenación urbana muy cuidada.Dadas las perspectivas para el día, decidí empezar mi jornada turística por el Museo Mercedes, pensando que me podría tener entretenido dos horas. Me equivoqué, me estuve casi tres horas y eso que lo dejé deprisa y corriendo, porque no me daba tiempo a ver nada más en la ciudad (comí una salchicha ya en la estación cuando esperaba a mi tren de vuelta a Francfort). Me tuve que contentar con un breve paseo por el centro y las panorámicas desde la plataforma panorámica (Aussichtplatform) que hay en la estación, que recomiendo a todo visitante de esta ciudad. La colección de pinturas de la Staatsgallerie, el zoo Wilhelma, la torre de comunicaciones y el museo Porsche tendrán que esperar mejor ocasión.

En el Museo Mercedes hice muchísimas fotos a coches antiguos, a deportivos clásicos de los años cincuenta, a coches de competición,... A casi todo lo que tenía cuatro ruedas. En realidad es un museo muy completo y didáctico, donde se aprecia la evolución del automóvil en apenas cien años. Además, subí en un simulador de carreras, que me decepcionó un poco, pero solo un poco. Algo a destacar es que el último Mercedes campeón del mundo de Formula 1 que tienen expuesto es el de... Hakkinen, je, je, je. Verdaderamente es un museo que merece la pena visitar. De hecho, seguramente sea el museo más visitado de Stuttgart, y eso que no tiene ninguna obra de arte en su interior.De todos los automóviles que vi allí, me llamó poderosamente la atención el camión de la fotografía de abajo. Sí, lo habéis reconocido: es el mismo camión de "En busca del arca perdida", el mismo en el que Indiana Jones se cuelga de la estrella y de las dos barras a los lados. La pena es que lo tienen en blanco en el museo, lo que rompe un poco con la magia del momento (alguien debería sugerir que explotasen este filón un poco mejor, la verdad). Temo que esta es la foto más destacada de mi incursión en el Museo Mercedes Benz...

Raindrops keep falling on my head

Last week I was in a business trip back to London, one of my favourites cities in the world. I was looking forward to it, since it was bringing some light to me, after the end of the holidays and the return to the daily routine. As the title of the post suggests, I had some rain too.The trip has quite a strange start. While waiting in the main lounge of Frankfurt Airport, I watched more Boeing 747 landing and departing than in all my life together. Then, once in the plane, I had to change my seat, because it was taken by a small and naughty kid (about two years old), who was travelling by plane for the first time in his life and who ended up vomiting the snack served by British Airways.

The important conclusion is, all in all, that I arrived safe and on time. However, the underground had a delay of 15 minutes, what meant that I was late for work. So, I had to rush up a little bit and I was walking from Blackfriars towards Saint Paul's eating a sandwich with one hand and cleaning my jacket with the other, walking amidst groups of tourists fascinated by what they were watching, thus, walking extremely slowly. That was a bit stressing, to tell you the truth, and the first time I missed the food I have here in Frankfurt.

On my first night, I could hardly sleep because I was placed in a room too close to the main pipe of the hotel, making a constant noise all night long. It was not so comfortable and immediately I asked for a new room.

So far, the negative points. Among the positive points, I must mention the new possibility of travelling in London in boats (Thames Clippers), quite cheap and really, really convenient when playing the tourist. Sometimes timetables are not respected, but even there you can make friends (while queueing for an hour, I met a group of Spaniards from Manresa, crazy about basketball as I am). I also recommend walking under the Thames in the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, which was opened in 1912. One does not have the feeling of being under litres and litres of water and it is worth, at least, a visit (and it is free).

Once in Greenwich, going to the Observatory was just the next thing to do, without any discussion. I went to the Meridian and I must admit I did not have the slightest idea that Greenwich Observatory has so amazing views of the town and such a wonderful group of historic buildings. It is not just the picture every tourist must take, there are more things beyond. Nevertheless, you will not see them in this post, as the only picture is that of the Meridian, je, je, je.

The new Terminal 5 of Heathrow Airport also deserves a mention here, as it is so full of shops that boarding gates can hardly be noted, believe me, I am not exaggerating at all: never in my life have I seen so many shops in an airport.

In conclusion, I had amazing days in London (even when working as well), I met amazing people there and I am so much looking forward to my next trip to London in October... Wait for me, please!!!!!!

Walking through the Rhine

Last Saturday I went with a work colleague to the area known as "Romantic Rhine", just between the cities of Bingen and Koblenz, in Germany. Inside this are, you can find the "Loreley", a rock in the Rhin which became famous after a poem by Heinrich Heine. All this site has been declared as World Heritage by UNESCO. It covers around 70 kilometres where river Rhine runs among hills, castles and vinyards in a lovely (and romantic, as claim the touristic brochures) background.

Our trip started with a slight disappoinment, as we missed a train connection and we arrived at Bingen, an hour later than expected and after a short visit to Bad Kreuznach's train station. We visited the city centre of Bingen, a town which is just when river Nahe meets Rhine (and there is a Spanish hotel in front of it all!). As we soon realized, there was some kind of Garden Fair that Saturday in Bingen and the whole city was crowded with aged people, running crazily through the different sections of the fair. It seems that German aged people are crazy about gardens, that is the only explanation I can find to what I watched in Bingen.

Afterwards, we walked about ten kilometres, visiting two castles. It was a very nice walk, with nice weather and views. I was also struck by the amount of ships and cargos running up and down the river, it was like a highway! From the two castles that we aimed at visiting, I can state that castle Rheinstein is worth a visit. By the way, I would like to mention that it is owned by an opera singer, who bought and restored it.

But, just at the end of this walk, and when we are waiting for the train to the Loreley and the most breathtaking part of our trip, I realized that the batteries of my photo camera were "kaputt", what meant that I could not take any other picture. As an evidence of my incompetence on this issue, I have uploaded in the blog a picture which was not obviously taken by me.
As you might see, the Loreley is not a big thing itself. But it has turned out to be a major attraction thanks to the legend according to which sailors heard women singing and lost control of their ships. This legend was, some centuries later, written by Heinrich Heine in a poem (which, needless to say, not many people have read). What I truly think is that were the meandres of Rhine the real problem, not any female sensual voice singing in the middle of the night.

In any case, whatever it is, let me recommend you a visit to this area, if possible with the batteries of your camera charged and ready for a tough day of work.