Around the blue Danube, episode II

The second stage of our trip around the blue Danube took us to Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire. It was not my first time in Vienna, a city which I have visited in several occasions, but this time I found something different (and maybe not very positive) in the city.

The impression of our two days in Vienna was determined by the heat we had to suffer there. We had temperatures of 35º C, with no place to go. It is a bit disappointing to see how unprepared Vienna is for such weather conditions. It was hard to find a place with air conditioning, including cafés and public transport. I know that these are not usual temperatures for Vienna, but with the global warming somebody should be thinking about it.


I also wanted to take my parents to the circle tramway around the Ring and, to my surprise, this line has been surpressed and now the two lines (1 and 2) cover three quarters of the Ring, but one has to change tram in some place or the other. It is also a pity that the Town Hall (or whoever) has decided this, as this circle tram line was one of the best things in Europe.

To mention the last negative events, we visited the Town Hall (impressive with its gothic spires) the day after the Gay Parade (or something similar), so the area around the Town Hall looked and smelled like rubbish. The visit to the cathedral left us with the view of a very dirty façade and the smell of horses which are parked around it.

Needless to say, not everything is negative in Vienna. The palaces and the atmosphere of the city are simply wonderful. This time we enjoyed a lot the parks, which in former times were just the gardens of the Imperial Palace. Not only Schönnbrunn has remarkable gardens, but also Stadtpark is a wonderful place where to sit and enjoy an island of happiness in the city (but not on the grass, as the guards will quickly kick you out of there). The Karlskirche is simply wonderful, as the Hofburg and the Burgtheater. I specially liked a statue in Hofburg (see above), where somebody is ready to hit another person: it may have thousands of interpretations...

All in all, despite some negative experiences which may be highlighted too much in this post: Vienna is still a wonderful place to visit (but try to avoid it when it is too hot).

Around the blue Danube, episode I

We spent last weekend in Bratislava and Vienna, two of the cities which are visited by the Danube in its trip of 2800 kilometres to the Black Sea. It has been a strange trip, where we have suffered extreme heat, especially in Vienna, and some minor inconveniences or anecdotes.

To catch our flight, we had to wake up at 5:45am, an hour which cannot be appropriate according to the Human Rights Declaration. If it is not explicitly mentioned there, I can tell you that at least it is in the spirit of the text not to allow this to happen.

We started in Bratislava, where we spent one very nice day, which started with a visit to the castle in Devin. This castle, around 10 kilometres from the city centre, stands on a rock, overlooking the rivers Morava and Danube. In this occasion, due to the rains of the previous days, both rivers had quite brown water (not blue like in the walzer), even with some wood from time to time. In same areas, it was possible to see the Danube slightly overflooded.

Then, we continued the visit in the historical centre of Bratislava, which is dominated by the castle. The old town in Bratislava is free of cars, so it is really easy and convenient for a short walk. In the evening, we decided to go closer to the river, to the commercial center Eurovea, where we could also take impressive pictures of the Danube.

We decided then to stay for dinner and we chose a Czech restaurant. Going to a Czech restaurant in Slovakia sounds a bit weird and I think that it was our destiny not to have a good experience. In the end, after 45 minutes waiting, we had to leave because the waiter had forgotten us and did not have the courage to tell us the truth.

One very interesting aspect of Bratislava is to observe how much the city looks like a Western city in some areas. Twenty years after its collapse, the trace of communism has disappared in some big areas of the city and, for sure, in the mind of the inhabitants. I guess that in some rural areas the situation may be different, but, at least, in the capital city, one does not have the impression of being in a former city under communist rule.

The two days in Vienna will come in the next post, where I will talk about African temperatures and a crazy Persian taxi-driver, among other things.

El "no rescate"

En la terminología europea, un "non-paper" es un documento que formalmente no existe pero que trata temas de mucha importancia. Una terminología similar parece haber sido adoptada por nuestra clase política, ya que parece referirse a los 100.000 millones de euros que los bancos españoles van a recibir de nuestros socios europeos como un "no rescate". Básicamente, este dinero servirá para que el sistema bancario español no colapse, así que si esto no es un rescate...

La verdad es que haber llegado hasta esta situación me produce una gran tristeza. Uno piensa en qué hemos hecho como país para llegar a esto y han sido una serie de decisiones y de tendencias cortoplacistas que han puesto al país al borde del colapso. No basta con echar la culpa solo a los bancos (y a las cajas), pues esto, aparte de fácil, cubriría solo parte del problema. La cultura del esfuerzo con la que nuestros padres pusieron al país en la primera línea europea ha desaparecido por completo. Aún así, y gracias al dinero barato que nos trajo la entrada en el euro, España pasó de ser un país de emigrantes a recibir millones de emigrantes de otros países sin cualificar.

Pero en algún momento perdimos el norte como país y llegamos a un punto en el que las empresas constructoras definían la vida del país: ellas presionaban a los políticos para acometer obras faraónicas (como un Palacio de Exposiciones a cargo del afamado arquitecto X), cogiendo el dinero prestado de la caja de ahorros de turno, que para algo estaba bajo control político. Pero tampoco sirve buscar culpables ahora, una vez que el mal está hecho.

Lo que parece meridianamente claro es que los años del boom de la construcción no van a volver. Ya podemos despedirnos de esos sueldos de 2500 € para trabajadores sin cualificar, de esos aviones a Punta Cana llenos, de los coches alemanes para todos, de esa demanda de jamones de pata negra,... Pero no solo de estos lujos, también nos tendremos que ir despidiendo de algunas infraestructuras mal entendidas que no sirven para nada (adiós a la autopista de peaje Madrid-Tudela) y de muchos avances sociales, que, sencillamente, no podemos permitirnos como país. Nuestro sistema sanitario es la envidia de nuestros vecinos europeos y, lamentablemente, no se sostiene. El sistema educativo no es la envidia de nadie, pero también debe sufrir reformas y recortes (no me puedo creer que se pueda tener una beca universitaria suspendiendo varias asignaturas, es que no me lo puedo creer).

Espero que no todos los recortes se centren en el así llamado "gasto social", sino que también se ataquen algunas ineficiencias, como, por ejemplo, tener más aeropuertos (vacíos) que Alemania, tener más televisiones autonómicas per cápita que nadie en el mundo, no tolerar que el alcalde de Yebes (Guadalajara) gane más que el Presidente del Gobierno y un largo etcétera. Porque, somos un país muy trabajador y luchador, pero una de las grandes diferencias con Alemania reside en la eficiencia en el gasto: en España desperdiciamos el dinero en gastos inútiles que no aportan nada.

En fin, de peores plazas hemos salido, aunque habrá que ver si como país nos merecemos el enorme crédito que nos ha dado Europa. Ahora la pelota está en nuestro tejado.

Giovanni e non-cosí-giovanni

Oggi vorrei scrivere un po' su pallacanestro, ma non su quello che è successo nella prima partita della finale della Lega di Pallacanestro Spagnola (ACB), tra il Real Madrid e il Barcelona. Non ho ancora digerito il tiro de tre punti di Marcelinho Huertas e sicuramente avrò bisogno di alcuni giorni di più per farlo.

Non, oggi andrò meglio alla NBA ed scriverò sulle quattro squadre che hanno giocato le finale dell'Est (Miami Heat e Boston Celtics) e dell'Ovest (San Antonio Spurs e Oklahoma City Thunder). Qua si hanno trovato in parallelo due squadre con giocatori giovanni ed talentosi (Miami Heat e Oklahoma City Thunder) con due squadre veterane, dove i megliori anni sembrano passati, ma con molto cuore.

Nell'Ovest, San Antonio ha vinto le prime due partite a Oklahoma City Thunder, ma poi hanno perso quattro partite ed adesso sono in vacanze. Sembra que Tim Duncan, Tony Parker e Manu Ginóbili (tutti con più di 30 anni) hanno finito le sue energie nella settimana più importante della stagione. Hanno giocato un pallacanestro perfetto nei Play-Off, ma questi giovanni (Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Serge Ibaka) gli hanno fatto cadere in ginocchio. Una stagione NBA è molto, molto lunga, amici di San Antonio.

Nell'Est, Boston Celtics ha vinto tre partite contro Miami Heat, dopo aver perso le prime due partite chiaramente. Lebron James e Dwane Wade sono due giocatori straordinari ma non bastano per fare una squadra e non possono fare niente contro l'orgoglio verde dei Boston Celtics. Kevin Garnett sta giocando queste partite come un ragazzo di 25 anni (ed ne ha 36). Tutti i giocatori di Boston Celtics mostrano una intensità ed una fame di vittoria che i ragazzi di Miami non riuscono a battere. Boston Celtics hanno ancora una opportunità per andare in finale (se Lebron James vuole), dove aspettano Oklahoma City Thunder.

Qua due esempi di comme due squadre di veterani, ma con molto orgoglio e bon pallacanestro, hanno fatto fronte a due squadre pieni di giovanni stelle. Forse stia diventando vecchio, ma adesso il mio cuore è con i veterani: San Antonio Spurs e Boston Celtics.

A courageous Slovak

When we hear something about the Prague Spring of 1968, we immediately think about the courage of the Czech population to launch a series of reform in the communist regime of that time. However, this is a partially wrong view of the reality, since the man behind the reforms was the Slovak Alexander Dubcek (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Dub%C4%8Dek).

He was elected Chairman of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and he soon decided to carry out a series of reforms to make the communist regime more human and bearable for the population. These reforms were, needless to say, not welcomed by the Soviet Union, which soon sent its army (tanks included) to Prague, to finish the reforms. The main leaders of the country, Dubcek amongst them, were secretly taken by plane to Moscow and forced to sign a document taking back the reforms. After that, he virtually disappeared from the public domain, until his strange death in a car accident in 1992.

One must not underestimate the merit of the actions by Alexander Dubcek. Before him, there were other leaders in the communist party of Czechoslovakia, who did exactly what was mandated from Moscow. After him, there were other leaders who exactly did what Moscow mandated them, with no question from their side. Maybe they were also opposed to the ideas coming from Moscow, but they did not have the courage to bring them to life. It was Dubcek who first tried to make the regime more human and light, calling not for a violent revolution, but for democratic reforms. Faced with the brutal invassion of the Soviet Union, he called the citizens not to fight, as he understood clearly that this was a lost battle.

With this post, I just want to praise the courage of Alexander Dubcek, who did not hesitate to do what his heart was telling him was the right thing to do. I also want to give some credit to him as Slovak, since it seems that in the Prague Spring was a mere Czech event.