Archive for the ‘Travelling’ Category
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
The welcoming image I found at Helsinki's airport. Don't forget to read the caption 
I arrived today to Helsinki, where I’ll be attending and giving a small presentation at the EuroCHRIE 2009 Conference which has “experience in the hospitality and tourism industry” as it’s theme this year. Why am I presenting you say? Well, I’ll be talking about part of what I did during my graduation project and introducing the hospitality industry to Panoremo.
I’ll be posting a bit more about the conference in the coming days.
Unfortunately my hotel room (although very nice, pretty and cozy) does not have a very nice view… in fact all I see is the building on the other side of the street. So I can’t really publish any pics of Helsinki right now, but I did find the picture you see here at the airport which I thought was hilarious.
In case you missed the caption it reads:
“Finns are good at for example driving fast, skiing fast, ice-hockey and curling but we’re pretty good at creating new sports too. Judge yourself: Eukonkanto: Wife Carrying competition through an obstacle course. Saappaanheitto: Throwing a rubber boot. Kannykanheitto: Throwing an old mobile phone. Suopotkupallo: Football on a swamp.”
…I think I’m gonna have a bit of fun in this place 
TAGS: Europe, Fun, Helsinki
Friday, September 18th, 2009
The Hartmannitas... Sofia and Maya Hartmann
After a few days visiting my two very cute nieces in France, watching and rediscovering the beauty of Sesame Street with the oldest one (she’s barely 2), not understanding half of what she says to me (she speaks half french and half spanish), having trouble making her go to bed every single night and having her wake me up in the mornings asking me to get out of bed to play with her… I’m all mushy for her, her sister, and anything that has to do with their little world.
So this time I decided to post this very beautiful video that I came across: Andrea Bocelli sings Elmo to sleep! as cute as it gets and it just reminds me of my little Sofia 
TAGS: Found on the net, Fun, Videos
Sunday, July 20th, 2008
After about 6 years of my sister’s family living in Canada, I finally decided that I had to go up there for a visit, and of course, being the intelligent person that I am (or trying to convince people of such) I decided to avoid the cold Canadian winter by scheduling my visit for the warmer summer months… and warm it was!
I’m not much of a fan of hot weathers, and this was no exception. Damn it was hot. Luckily my sister’s place is equipped with a kick ass airco that kept me nice and cold.
Anyways, it was a very nice trip (more…)
TAGS: Americas, Canada, Photos, Summer
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008
Winter time! Time to visit Sofia, her mom and her dad…
And while at it, take a trip to the Swiss Alps for a couple of days. Extreme cold (as in snow topped mountains) is not exactly the environment which I would enojy the most, but funnily enough, I really had a lot of fun on this trip.
Sofia’s parents were a bit harsh and took her along on one of her first (of many more to come I’m sure) Alpine adventures. And me, well… I just tagged along, complaning about how cold it (more…)
TAGS: Europe, Photos, Switzerland
Monday, November 12th, 2007
I dont know if it looked disgusting, weird, ugly, or what… but I found an icon that I assumed was representing a pregnant woman on the floor of the preferential parking space at a local supermarket in Athens, and I couldnt resist the impulse to take a picture of it and save it for posterity.
Enjoy!
TAGS: Athens, Fun, Greece
Saturday, September 1st, 2007
Well, there’s not much to say besides the fact that Evula and I had a TERRIFIC time in Colombia. We visited a whole bunch of places which I hadn’t seen in over 15 years, so that was pretty nice… to go back and re-visit my own country before I continue going around visiting other people’s countries (not that I’m gonna stop doing that).
Anyway, we went around half the country, travelling mostly by bus to really get a good impression of what the landscapes were all about (something you don’t get to do too well while travelling by plane).
We fell in love with the fincas in Armenia, Quindio (the coffee growing farms in the coffee producing region of Colombia), we passed by Medellin during the annual Flower Festival, we visited (more…)
TAGS: Americas, Bogota, Colombia, Photos, Summer
Saturday, May 26th, 2007
Once again, and trying to repeat the luck from last year when we got tickets to the UEFA Cup Final (which this year was going to be played in Athens) I applied to them via the uefa website. I was going to be in Athens anyway visiting my Evula, so it would have been a perfect cherry on top of the cake for my trip.
Unfortunately, UEFA did not find me worthy of a ticket this time, and I had to watch the game on TV, in Athens, but nevertheless on TV…
I was so close, I could smell the pitch… ARGHHHHHH!
TAGS: Athens, Football, Greece, Sports
Wednesday, August 16th, 2006
Ya llevamos una semana de vuelta en Delft después de nuestro periplo por Europa central. Holanda nos recibio con un “esplendido” clima repleto de lluvias, chubascos, grises nubes y viento en cantidades…. SUPER rico, sobre todo comparándolo con el clima del que disfrutamos en Grecia.
Pero bueno, empecemos por donde toca… por el principio!
Salimos de Delft el 7 de julio con rumbo a Bratislava (Eslovaquia). Vale la pena mencionar que el pronostico del tiempo antes de irnos decia que nos iba a llover y relampaguear toda la semana… y ya se van a dar cuenta en las fotos y los videos de la cantidad de nubes que vimos.
Muy bonito el centro de Bratislava. Muy bien cuidadito y se nota que es la joya turisitca de la ciudad y del pais en general. Cafes y restaurantes por doquier, a precios que comparados con Holanda eran una ganga. El resto de la ciudad por el contrario… (more…)
TAGS: Austria, Europe, Greece, Photos, Poland, Slovakia, Summer
Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006
OK, back in NL again… I could have stayed for ever eating zouvlakis, baklavas and lambchops, but unfortunately it was time to come back home (I did miss my own bed though).
As any good tourist, we did a bit of the standard tour of the city (ancient ruins, agora, Plaka, olympic infrastructure…) and we even had a bit of time left to have a weekend off in Serifos, one of the famous Cyclades islands. It was a fantastic trip since it wasnt in the middle of the summer and the greeks where enjoying their easter vacations (for which most of them left the city in search of their tiny villages). So we were able to enjoy an empty Athens without chaotic traffic jams and japanese tourists flooding the Acropolis and fucking up the pictures I wanted to make.
So yes, as always, a LOOOOOT of pictures where made to record my ‘historic’ return to Athens after 10 years, so if you are one of those few interested in what ever happens in my oh so boring life, you are welcome to check out a few of the pics below.
ohhhh…. and above you can find a pic of some of our luggage on the way back! we had to borrow an extra suitcase to be able to pack all the food that Evi’s mom had in stock for us to bring. I’m not joking, it was a whole suitcase full of Olive oil, feta cheese, pistachios, almonds, dried tomatoes, baklavas, ouzo, pepper… you name it!.
And to think that we forgot to bring the olives…
TAGS: Athens, Europe, Greece, Photos
Monday, April 24th, 2006
Oh yes, my first few days in Athens… I ate like a pig, drank some ouzo right next to the Acropolis, slept like a baby and ate like a pig again to start the cycle all over.
Yes, Athens is indeed heaven on earth for those of us who enjoy good food, good drinks, beautiful sights, and of course, a little bit of chaos to remind us that we are on Earth and not heaven… but close enough.
The coming days I’ll be visiting the best of Athens. The classical historical one,with the Acropolis as it’s mayor atraction, as well as the modern Athens (specialy remade for the 2004 Olympics) with the new Olympic stadium and the whole olympic infrastructure… but first, a bit of Ouzo and some Zouvlaki.
TAGS: Athens, Europe, Greece
Friday, January 6th, 2006
Estubimos en el Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Barcelona (Macba), y aunque habia un par de exhibiciones bastante divertidas (sobre todo las de fotografia y video), tambien tenian un par que se salian de todos los parametros de lo que a mi gusto puede ser llamado arte.
La exposicion de Gunter Brus, un aleman MUUUUY llevado, me dejo boquiabierto… pero por la cantidad de cosas estupidas y aparentemente sin sentido que se hacen en nombre del arte:
Un performance en el que el tipo, vestido tan solo con una especie de pañal, gritaba, se contorcionaba, se orinaba en si mismo y se hacia cortadas con una cuchilla en la pierna, terminaba de manera ‘artistica’ al cortarse el pañal con unas tijeras para luego vaciar lo poco que le quedaba en la vejiga al orinar en un vaso y tomarselo como quien se toma muy naturalmente un vaso con agua… ARTE????
Por otro lado, encontramos un salon completamente blanco con algunos textos pintados en la pared, que nos parecio bastante divertido por su simplicidad y nos animo a tomarnos un par de fotos para hacer nuestra propia version de arte contemporaneo:
TAGS: Barcelona, Europe, Spain
Friday, December 30th, 2005
No se puede venir a Barcelona sin ver la obra de Gaudi, asi que ya se hizo la tarea de ir a la Sagrada Familia, a la Pedrera y a Parc Guell. Y para la posteridad, pues aqui un par de foticos que demuestran que efectivamente estubimos aqui.
AHHH!!!! y estubimos en un show de Flamenco!
TAGS: Barcelona, Europe, Spain
Tuesday, December 27th, 2005
Ahhh this has been a fantastic vacation so far. One week of almost non-stop partying with my friends, went to the stadium to see Barça playing (with Ronaldinho, World player of the year), and now that Evi arrived, this will be combined with tourism during the day.
To all those of you who still believe in christmas, a very Merry (belated) Christmas!
TAGS: Barcelona, Europe, Spain
Sunday, December 18th, 2005
I’m off tomorrow afternoon (monday 19th) to the beautiful city of Gaudi… Barcelona!!!
X-mas vacations are finally here, and I’ll be spending my time in Spain. A couple of days in Barcelona, the beautiful city renowned for Antoni Gaudi, the Sagrada Familia, Calatraba’s work for the ’92 Olympics… and lately of course, for Ronaldinho and his FC Barcelona kicking everyone’s ass.
And after christmas, a little visit to the south, to spend some time in Cordoba and Sevilla and see what the Andalucians have to offer…
Soooo… since I wont be thinking of getting near to a PC in the coming days, and for those of you who think you might deserve season’s greetings from me, feel free to read the lines below:
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
May you enjoy 2006 as much as 2005 (…and if 2005 sucked for you, then hopefully you’ll get a better year ahead)
See you all in 2006!
TAGS: Barcelona, Europe, Spain
