Nice day - nice day in Baden-Baden

Baden-Baden is one of the towns in Germany with the funniest name: it could be translated into English as something similar to "bathing-bathing". But, beyond that, it is a very famous holiday resort for wealthy Europeans, who go there to mainly enjoy their spas and waste their money in the casino. Among them, Russians seem to have a weakness for Baden-Baden and, therefore, names are also found very often in cirilic characters.Arriving there with public transportation is not easy. The train station is not in the city centre and it is necessary to take a bus during 20 minutes. Once arrived to Leopoldplatz, there are several possible ways of knowing the city: one can go North towards the spas and bathing houses, one can go south towards the famous Lichtentaler Allee or one can go northwest to the Neues Schloss. As it is a city oriented towards rich tourists, it is easy to find nice (and expensive) shops all around the city centre.
In the latter case, after climbing some stairs, the first impression of the castle is a bit disappointing: it is currently under reformation and it cannot be visited. What is more, apparently, the castle is being converted into a five-stars hotel... Anyway, the surroundings, though, are impressive, with a very nice park, which extends itself along a valley, which ends in a nice statue of an angel.

Lichtentaler Allee is undoubtedly the most famous part of Baden-Baden. It is a promenade of more than 3 kilometres, where there a hotels on one side, just after crossing the river via a private bridge. Needless to say, these hotels do not enter into the definition of "low cost" at all. There is also a quite impressive rosegarden, but, at this time of the year, no roses were to be seen. On the other side of the promenade, there are public buildings, such as museums or theatres.

Weather was quite nice so I could enjoy most of the green areas of Baden-Baden. However, as we are in spring, it also meant that I was suffering because of my allergy, but, when put both things on a balance, I think that the positive impression of Baden-Baden defeats the effects of the allergy: it is definitively a place where I would like to come back.

24 hours in Basel

My most recent business trip took me, together with a colleague, to Basel, in Switzerland, close to the border with France and Germany. I had already been once in Basel, but just for a few hours, when I was doing a course of French in Strasbourg. In this case, I took the train, as then I was free to carry any amount of liquid and I do not need to get naked before entering the train. Morever, the trip is really nice and comfortable.Our train was leaving with some delay but we were lucky enough to be able to catch the previous train to Basel, which was also delayed; what meant that finally we only had a delay of ten minutes. Upon arrival to the station, we took a tram to our hotel. This is one of the most remarkable characteristics of Basel: it has a dense and extremely good network of trams.

When we arrived at the hotel, we were surprised by the fact that the restaurant was closing in 30 minutes (it was merely 20:30), so we had to hurry up for getting some food. That dinner showed me two other characteristics of Basel: there is not much movement after 21:00 and prices are extremely high there.

The next day, after our meeting, we had time to walk a little bit through the city centre. During that walk, we arrived to a small square with a fountain in it, where we found two ducks (see picture to the left): how the hell did those ducks find that fountain? Anyway, leaving aside questions with no answer, Basel has some very cosy streets but I somehow find the city a bit dirty for Swiss standards. One can also feel the wealth surrounding everything.

To sum up, after my second and short stay there, I could say that Basel, situated in the corner between Switzerland, France and Germany, seems to be a very nice city to live, despite its high prices (most probably wages are also high) and some quietness at nights.

Absolute Zerstörung

Das Erdbeben in Japan lezter Freitag hat uns wiedermal gezeigt, wie mächtig die Natur ist, im Vergleich mit Menschen. Dank, dass Japan schon fertig für ein Erdbeben war, sind die materielle Schäden nicht so enorm gewesen. Es war schrecklich zu sehen, wie Wolkenkratzer durch unendlichen Sekunden getanzt haben. Unglücklicherweise sind so viele Leben verloren...

Das Tsunami kurz danach war meine Meinung nach den Ausdruck der absolute Zerstörung: eine Wand von Wasser, die alles geschluckt hat. Die Mehrheit der Schäden in Japan wird davon hervorgerufen (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709850). Das Video von Sundais Flughafen hält wirklich den Atem auch an (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12714713). Ich wünsche, sie die einzige Bilder der Zerstörung wären...
Es ist auch bemerkenswert, wie die Japaner in Mitte der Tragödie benommen haben. Sie sind gewöhnt an Erdbeben, aber sie haben kurz schon bemerkt, dass es jetzt ganz Anders war. Viele haben für Jahren das grosse Erdbeben gewartet. Deshalb hatten sie alle ein Rucksack zu Hause mit Lebensmittel, falls das grosse Erdbeben passiert. Nach der Tragödie und während der Fukushima Atomkraft Japan wiedermal bedroht zeigen sie kein Panik und kein gewaltige Verhalten: sie sind wirklich ein Beispiel für alle der Menschheit.

Es lebe Japan!

24 horas en París, versión 2.0

La semana pasada estuve de viaje de trabajo en París, inaugurando la temporada de viajes de trabajo de 2011, después del obligado parón invernal. Al igual que en mi visita de septiembre (http://antsanch.blogspot.com/2010/09/24-horas-en-paris.html), en las 24 horas escasas que estuve en París apenas me dio tiempo a hacer algo que no fuera trabajar.

Llegué en tren desde Fráncfort, bastante tarde y cansado después de cuatro horas de viaje, que se acaban haciendo algo pesadas. De ahí, cogí un taxi al hotel y luego rápidamente a buscar un sitio para cenar, porque la cena del TGV francés fue bastante austera. Intenté ir al mismo sitio en le que estuve en septiembre, pero el restaurante ha, literalmente, dejado de existir. Después de cenar, vuelta al hotel (sin acercarnos ni siquiera a ver la Torre Eiffel) y a dormir.

A la mañana siguiente, camino de la primera reunión, pasé andando junto al Arco del Triunfo. Siempre me pregunto cómo es posible que el tráfico se auto-regule en esa glorieta de tantos brazos de manera que no haya un accidente cada cinco minutos. Es una de las grandes preguntas sin respuesta de la Humanidad...

Ese día comí en un restaurante muy bueno junto a la Bolsa, para, posteriormente, tener la segunda visita del día. De ahí, un corto trayecto en taxi a la estación de tren, entre un tráfico realmente caótico y agobiante. A la hora de coger el tren, me encontré con una pequeña sorpresa, porque el tren no iba directamente a Colonia como pensaba, sino que daba un pequeño rodeo por Bruselas y Lieja (¡!). Así que esa tarde-noche, en tres horas, estuve en tres países diferentes: Francia, Bélgica y Alemania.

En el tren de Colonia a Fráncfort, me monté directamente detrás del conductor, para tratar de tener la misma visión que el conductor, pero era de noche y apenas se veían las vías. A llegada a Fráncfort, ya bien entrada la noche, cogí un taxi y llegué, por fin a casa (también contento de dejar atrás la zona de la estación de tren de Fráncfort y a todos aquellos que por allí moran).

Espero que el siguiente viaje de trabajo, a Basilea en una semana, dé para algo más. Veremos.

Three overtimes in London

Last weekend, I found the excuse of an NBA game of the regular season (New Jersey Nets against Toronto Raptors, not the two most exciting teams in the world, but...) to visit London again. I also found an extremely nice price for the hotel in Canary Wharf, which is quite close to O2, where the game was played. I had never been in Canary Wharf and I must admit I like the area a lot (not my favourite in London, but definitively in the Top5), although sometimes I find it a bit artificial, almost like a man-made Venice.Our ticket for the O2 sent us to the second highest row in the arena. Nevertheless, the game could be followed without big problems (see picture above). For the same price of the ticket, we enjoyed three overtimes, which is something good, although during the third overtime I just wanted the game to be over, no matter which team was winning (I was supporting Toronto Raptors because of the Spaniard, José Manuel Calderón, there). The poor strategy displayed by Toronto Raptors in the final seconds also frustrated me.

Generally speaking, I did enjoy the game a lot: there was uncertainty in the result until the last second and there was not a single minute of break in the four hours we stayed there. On the other side, that was NBA basketball, what means that defences, team spirit and strategy do not play a big role there. The video below shows one of the few elaborated games there: with six seconds left and three points behind, New Jersey Nets made this wonder to go to the third overtime (or the second, I do not remember it exactly).



Most of the people in O2 really enjoyed the evening without thinking too much about strategy or defensive plays. I think NBA cannot succeed in countries with a strong culture in basketball (such as Spain or Italy), but it can work out perfectly well in countries, like the UK or Germany, where basketball is not so deeply rooted in the public.

Beyond that, I enjoyed London a lot, as usual and despite its stupidly high prices for everything. This time I had time to visit Tower of London, London Bridge, Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus,... All was perfect except the underground train to Heathrow Airport, which was moving too much and turned my stomach into a washing machine (with some pain the night after).

Forth time in Heidelberg

Last Sunday, I visited Heidelberg for the forth time, since I came first to Frankfurt. The trip with the train is rather short (around 50 minutes) and cheap, and the city itself is really beautiful and quiet (just the opposite as Frankfurt). It is certainly difficult to find any better alternative for a quiet day in a nice place around Frankfurt.
Heidelberg is a city with an important university (see the library above) and, at the same time, with an important NATO military base (no picture of it, though). The latter implies that there is an important proportion of the population of American origin and it is common to hear some American English while wandering through the streets.

As main change compared with my last time there (in November 2008), the works on the bridge over River Neckar seem to be over, although apparently nothing has changed. I remember that the original idea was to restore the wooden cover of the bridge, but at the present moment the works are over and the bridge has no wooden cover. What is already there is the monkey at one end of the bridge, where I always take a picture of myself.

There are three places in the city from which to get breathtaking views: the tower of the cathedral, the castle and the Philosophenweg. I prefer the latter, although it is quite hard to go uphill from the city centre, climbing via the Schlangenweg. The picture below tries to capture the beautiful view from there (although the more natural views, that one get as one walks, are when walking from Bismarckplatz towards the Schlangenweb).However, in my forth visits to Heidelberg, the weather has not helped at all. First with my parents in June 2008, I had heavy rain; then with Alex and Miriam in July 2008, it was incredibly hot (we ate three ice-creams each trying to refresh ourselves a little bit); and in November 2008, with Sonia and Rosana, it was extremely cold (-5º C). This time, Andrea and I had hailstone for fifteen minutes. Thus, if I like Heidelberg under these extreme weather conditions, I cannot imagine how it would be with nice weather.