29 October 2011 - Autoworld Brussels

I had a meeting in Brussels this past Friday so when I learned one of my peeps working in London and a colleague were planning on spending a weekend in Brussels, it wasn't a difficult decision to decided to stay a bit longer (on my own dime, of course). They didn't arrive until around noon on Saturday, so I wandered about a bit on Saturday morning, including one of my favorite places from previous visits - Cinquantenaire Park. The last time I was in the park, I had kind of stumbled across it, I believe. Didn't know much about it and most assuredly did not have an "app" for the city. So as I was wandering about, I decided to see if there was anything about the park that I should know.

Well, there was a very significant change from the last time I had visited - Autoworld. Oh, now just stop!! And stop indeed I did, particularly since I was quite certain that my chick friends would not be interested in automobile goodness.

The museum itself is in a building that looks a bit like a rounded hangar but with a glass and iron structure overhead, giving it the feel of a greenhouse. There is amusing signage out front (though I suppose it is not meant to be amusing) indicating parking for "Oldtimers" (I can only assume that they mean the cars, not their drivers.) Inside, there was a ticket counter, albeit not with great controls to prevent people from entering or for validating their tickets and/or counting the number of visitors. There were no audio guides.

Inside, there were two levels. The first was relatively well marked, both in terms of flow and of the models of the vehicles. This level generally contained cars up until around the time of World War II. There was also a small separate section with carriages and other horse-drawn means of transport. I would say that the general focus was on European-produced vehicles and I learned quite a bit about brands that have faded or disappeared through the years. I also learned a few new tidbits that perhaps if I were a better automotive enthusiast I would have known, including:

• Vespa produced not only scooters but also a vehicle targeted toward women that included Brigitte Bardot in the marketing of the vehicles.
• Rolls Royce vehicles were initially produced just as an engine and chassis and then individuals would hire coachmakers to "pimp them out" (pretty sure they didn't use that term back then) with the driver/passenger cabin.
• The museum included an old 1920s Ford that was, in the manner described above, pimped out as a camper by a Belgian coachmaker. I guess this was the beginning of the european mobile home camping phenomena?
• Ferdinand Porsche (yes, THAT Porsche) designed the Volkswagen Beetle.
• The British monarchy relied on Daimler, not Rolls Royce, for its vehicles until the early 50s.
• Apparently the Swiss were involved in cars, given the 1935 Hispano-Suiza on display. Who knew?

The second floor was just a bit odd and erased some of the positive thoughts I had had of the first floor - essentially either a new or underfunded museum but moving in the right direction. Because this was a giant open space with two levels, one could see signs indicating the decades from 1960-2000. The other side was a bit of a mystery. When I got up to the second floor, it took on the character of a large garage where car afficionados liked to keep cars or where a bunch of guys (sorry ladies) who love cars decided they should open a museum. Many more private collection cars, fewer signs regarding progeny or significance of the vehicles.

Live plants significantly in need of watering. Empty spaces. And a sort of cafe in the making. Generally disappointing, other than the surprise appearance among high-end or sporty vehicles of the lowly AMC Pacer. My grandfather had one of these "fishbowls-on-wheels" and, of course, it was immortalized in the movie, "Wayne's World."

Overall, for €6, I would go again. And then demand more Audi vehicles. ;-)

22 October 2011 - Ringeltaube

In my question to find the perfect cabriolet, a colleague of mine volunteered to let me driver her Boxster S. We met at my apartment, which of course is in the middle of the city, and we were trying to figure out where to drive so that I could let the car stretch its legs, so to speak. She suggested we go to the airport. Well, you know how I love going to airports (especially a major Lufthansa hub), but I have never thought of doing so when I am not flying somewhere. But she said something about access to some store that was nearby, so off we went.

(Yes, the Boxster S was lovely. It's a very nice size, not as many blind spots as an Audi TT roadster with the roof up, more than spunky enough (think just the plain Boxster would be fine), more cargo space than the 911 and it really is cute. Good chick sportscar.)

We arrived at the store that is not at all well-marked. You'd have to know it was there to end up there. In fact, I'm not quite sure I could find it again if I tried. A smallish white wooden building with no apparent windows and only very small signs. But oh, the treasure trove that waited inside.

Apparently, the store is a sort of "company store" for Lufthansa. Be still my heart. There were a few pilots inside and, well, what chick doesn't like a handsome man in a uniform, especially a Lufthansa uniform! The store seemed to be something like a cross between what I think one of the US military PX stores must be like (never been....) and a duty free catalog brought to life. There were things for children, luggage, airplane models (including one of Air Force One!), a Lufthansa flight attendant action figure (yes, I was so tempted to buy her for travels with Sarah Palin), kitchen goods, fragrance and cosmetics, some clothing (mostly for men) and a really large display of high-quality wine, other alcohol and chocolates that were ridiculously low-priced.

Fascinating place. Don't think I'll ever get to go again since I don't have the employee card to get in, but worst case, I could try to find it and scope out good looking pilots. ;-)

Oh, Lufthansa....

16 October 2011 - Buchmesse

The Frankfurt Book Fair (Buchmesse) is one of the large events here each year and is a big deal (both locally and internationally) in much the same way as the International Auto Show. I remember when I was apartment hunting here and the relocation consultant and I were driving by the Messe (the convention center) she mentioned both of these events and I was wondering what in the world a book fair was. Though its importance was reinforced later when I read John Irving's book, "A Widow for One Year" (which I highly recommend).

As history, you might find it interesting to know that it dates back to the 15th century. Why the 15th century and why Frankfurt? Well, apparently Gutenberg's movable type was invented not far from here. It grew, though political and other reasons, Leipzig was the center in the 18th century. Nevertheless, after World War II, the book far resumed in Frankfurt and has been here ever since.

So I headed there today, the last of the two days that it is open to the general public, to check it out. I looked at their website in advance (wwww.buchmesse.de) and was a bit mystified by the whole thing. I downloaded the free app, hoping that might provide some insight, but it was also not so helpful. I guess if you have to ask what the book fair is all about, it might not be designed for you. But nevertheless, I went. And noted on the website that the ticket included free public transportation, which from my location is a €4,80 value and convenient as I can pick up the right Straßenbahn (street car/tram) on my own block and it takes me right there.

The book fair was only slightly smaller in scale (in terms of number of buildings) than the International Auto Show, and the individual exhibits were certainly much smaller. Essentially, each publisher had an exhibit and there are an awful lot more publishers than there are automobile manufacturers, as you can imagine. Many of them looked like small bookstores - a wall with some shelves and books on them. In most of them (but I don't think all), you can purchase the books that are on display. Apparently this was frustrating in previous years as you could see an interesting book, but would then have to write down the title and try to figure out how/where to buy it later. However, for those of us prone to read our books as eBooks, this remains a bit of a challenge.

The very noticeable thing about this fair versus the auto show, however, was that nearly every booth also had comfortable chairs or chairs and tables where readers could just sit down and read books. It was also relatively quiet. Like a combination between the Library of Congress and a gigantic bookstore with cafe. The majority of the exhibits were related to German language books, so I whizzed through them. I did, however, take a bit of time in the Tourism section to see the largest selection of Marco Polo travel guides (my favorite!) I have ever seen (and confirmed that there is not a travel guide to Bergen, Norway, which would have made that trip even better). There were also areas where they had presentations and interviews and an area (in the Audi building built specifically for the 2011 International Auto Show, I must note) where they discussed new media.

There were three buildings specifically for international publishers. One of the three was for countries where English is the native tongue - and Israel. This was also the only building that I visited where there was security and bag searches at the entrance. Terrorism at a book fair? Really? But I guess you can never be too safe. After, knowledge IS a dangerous thing. I have to say, though, that I was really disappointed in many of the American publishers, though. It was just before 14:30 when I arrived, and they were already in tear-down mode. Penguin and Simon & Schuster had already stopped selling books though you could still browse, but Random House had literally closed its gate. If I were an author who were being promoted there, I would be a little peeved that they were closed/closing a full 3 hours before the end of the event.

Overall, a very interesting experience. But I still have no idea why there were so many young people dressed in costume and roaming about outside. At first, I thought maybe it was like a Harry Potter thing where people dress up in costumes to meet their favorite SciFi authors or something, but they were quite wide-ranging. Odd.... As far as I know there isn't an early Halloween here that might explain this, either.

15 October 2011 - Another (not quite) typical Saturday in Frankfurt

("We're not gonna take it" by Twisted Sister)

Today started like any other day - an anim

al nosing me awake followed by a quick look at email, Words with Friends and the Financial Times on my iPhone. In addition to a fascinating piece in the FT of a lunch interview with Mitsuko Uchida (who knew German was her second language?) which I highly recommend reading, there was mention that the Occupy Wall Street movement / protest / demonstration or whatever it is called was spreading beyond the United States and there were planned "occupy" events in financial centers around the world today. Including one certain city that happens to be home to both Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and a certain European Central Bank. That's right - potential unrest was coming to Frankfurt! Soooo exciting!!

Of course the article didn't give specifics on where the action was going to be in each of the cities and it wasn't as if it was announced in the papers either and I'm not all that plugged into that type of social media (which likely would have required a greater command of the German language than I have), but Frankfurt's not that big of a town, so I just started walking towards the city center.

Along the way, I happened across two interesting things. The first is the flea market along the Main River that happens monthly, I believe. I have never seen anything there that I want to buy (usually a lot of old junk and strange clothes), but I enjoy wandering through it and doing some people-watching of vendors and shoppers. And I am quite enamored with the little booth that sells fresh waffles with powdered sugar. So tasty on a sunny, crisp autumn today as today was. (Would have been perfect football weather, but if I start thinking about that I am going to get distracted by thoughts of my Badgers - which would then distract me thinking about the honey badger video on YouTube.)

The other interesting

thing was on the other side of the Main - demolition of a building or series of buildings. I haven't seen an active building rip-down in Germany, so it was fascinating to watch. I was particularly surprised that A) they were working on a Saturday and B) they had not taken the doors out of the elevators before they began demolition. Seemed odd. Anyway, I was not the only one fascinated by this scene of destruction

(though most of the others ogling this were little boys tagging along with their dads).

Given recent coverage of and conflict over the Eurozone, I thought that the European Central Bank would be a good place to start looking for the demonstration. There were a few police officers around, but otherwise quite typical of a Saturday morning (other than the odd guy walking his ferret). Hmmm.... I was thinking of heading to the Deutsche Börse building when I heard drums in the distance and noticed the drummers and people wielding banners approaching. So I followed them and found a large group forming near the Zeil area. I wandered around taking some pictures of some of the signs I saw and just trying to take in the mood.

I admit that I wasn't quite sure what I expected to find, so what I saw didn't overly excite or disappoint. Generally, everyone seemed to be in good spirits, rather than full of anger. There were homemade signs (both of the on-a-stick and sandwich varieties) in both English and in German as well as more professional-looking printed banners from organizations. While most focused on the financial crisis (both in terms of bankers as well as the Eurozone), there were also people there protesting Stuttgart 21 (the new train station) as well

as nuclear energy, for example. I wandered around for about 10 minutes and then noticed that the crowd was starting to move. So I followed along, on what became a rambling walk (calling it a "march" would lend more of a sense of a unity and common purpose than may have been the case) to the European Central Bank. You can see a bit of difference between the first and second pictures, even though not even an hour separated the two.

I have never been involved in a protest of any kind, and would only say that I observed this one. But I would have expected it to be louder. While there were some drummers, as noted earlier, for the most part the only noise were some peoples with whistles, a few with noisemakers and the regular hum of people talking. I expected more chanting or something. Then wondered if it was difficult to get people to chant along in unison in German because the words are so long? The only chant I really heard was near the end where the chant was in English, which I captured a bit of in this very homemade iPhone video (and in which you can see a fascinating U.S. flag where the states have been replaced with corporate logos, which I think is actually interesting commentary sheerly from the perspectives of the Citizens United decision that allows corporations essentially unlimited campaign donations).

Once everyone was gathered around the ECB, some speeches began. It was a very homegrown type of event. There was a little station wagon that was serving as the "headquarters" of sorts, with two large speakers mounted on top and a small stage behind it with a microphone. There seemed to be a youngish guy organizing things and there were a few people with prepared speeches, none of which I recognized but, again, I'm not a member of this dissident community, so....

While of course my understanding of the speeches was limited both by the poor audio quality, loud audience and my limited German, it seemed like they were discussing topics much more broad than those that seem to be the focus of the U.S. Occupy Wall Street efforts. Not surprisingly, there was a lot of discussion about the Eurozone and questions over why Germany was essentially underwriting weaker countries rather than paying attention to domestic issues. But there were also mentions of the US and I don't think they were entirely positive - more that the US bankers and housing crisis had forced this on the rest of us around the world. There were also mentions of the Arab Spring, which I'm pretty sure was not a focus in the U.S. All in all, though fascinating to watch and to see the reactions of the crowd to the message. I should note that it was an interesting cross-section of the population - certainly a lot of young people, but also more people in their 50s and beyond than I might have expected and hardly any children.

Once they turned over the microphone to anyone who wanted to speak, I lost interest and wandered back home. Fortunately or unfortunately, nothing interesting happened on the way home. But I am glad I made the trip to find some well-controlled and respectful unrest in Frankfurt.

BMW Welt - München, Deutschland

Those of you who have been following this blog from the early days know that I, well, had a brief fling with Bonnie shortly after I moved to Germany. We had some communication issues (who doesn't?) but we came to a certain understanding and she was instrumental in helping me get settled. She had a pleasant personality, a nice body, kept me safe and warm, was loyal to a fault and I will always have a special place in my heart for her. But like far too many good things, it came to an end. And one day she just left and went back to BMW Leasing without so much as an electronic security system chirp or headlight wink.

I relived some of our time together this past weekend when I went to BMW Welt (BMW World) in Munich. It is, if I haven't already mentioned it, one of my goals to visit the museums of the major German auto manufacturers before I am sent back to the US. So far, I have been to Audi, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz. So all that remains after the BMW visit is Porsche. Since I consider Opel to kind of be like GM in drag, I haven't searched to see whether they have a museum.

BMW Welt is a huge complex, including the BMW Tower (think of four cylinders joined kind of like a four-leaf clover of an office building), the BMW Welt visitor center (in which the current models are on display), BMW Museum (self-explanatory) and a production plant. I believe that, like Audi and probably the others, you can also pick up your vehicle somewhere here and there will be special VIP treatment when you meet your Bonnie (you should BE so lucky! she's mine!! do you hear me?! MINE!!) for the first time.

The BMW Welt visitor center is, architecturally, a very interesting building. Its rather swoopy design reminds me a bit of the Audi building that was specially constructed this year for the International Auto Show in Frankfurt, but augmented by an additional double/inverted cone thing that I didn't quite understand from a structural or design perspective. There are two levels of underground parking, which was convenient, but not free (it's free at Audi, in case you're wondering....). It really is an impressive structure, though, and the first floor is like a very high-end showroom for the cars with a restaurant, a lounge area and, of course, a shop. What I found most interesting in the shop, though, is what is pictured here - in addition to the BMW merchandise, there was a Mini store on the second floor - and an Apple shop. Hmmm.... Maybe this checked off the "something for everyone" qualities they were looking for in their

merchandise?

The visitor center is connected via (uncovered) bridge to the BMW Museum, which isn't much to look at from the outside. Inside, though, it is more interesting. Throughout most of the museum are opaque white/glass walls that somehow remind me of an Apple store (not to be confused with the second story of the visitor center gift shop)

and periodically images (some moving, some still) are projected on them, often with accompanying sound effects.

The flow of the museum seemed a bit awkward to me. There were often rooms where you walked in, looked about, but then had to retrace your steps to get back out, rather than another open walkway to the next item. And in some of these rooms, there was only material on one wall, so it's not as if you could see something different on the way out. The various exhibits also didn't seem to fit together - for example, they weren't in chronological or other apparent order and the motorcycle coverage was mixed in among the cars. It was more like a collection of disparate rooms - here are some motorcycles, here are some M-series vehicles, here are some of our old ads, here are some concept cars, have you seen our motorcycles with sidecars for racing? Overall, particularly as compared to the Mercedes-Benz (my favorite) and Audi museums (the Volkswagen museum was pitiful), I was very disappointed. And I didn't come out of it feeling like I was an idiot for not having a BMW (or maybe that's because my separation from Bonnie is still so raw?).

That said, here are my favorite features:

• View from the rear. A kind of artwork made out of the model numbers as you would see them from the back of a badged vehicle.
• An exhibit of enginesthroughout the years. Headphones were hanging from the ceiling and you could pull them down and hear the engine sounds from the respective engines revving and going through your head in stereo.
• 
  
• The infamous bubble car. I had not seen one in person before, but I particularly enjoyed their display of pictures of people taken with their bubble cars on vacation, in snowstorms, etc. Seems kind of like a pre-curser to the Mini.

All in all, not a bad experience for €6 plus parking fees if you love cars or BMWs and are in Munich.

And Hudson - I never said I loved Bonnie. You are my one and only. Until you leave me for Audi Leasing....

Visiting the Doctor - Part 4

With each visit to the doctor, I continue to be intrigued. This last visit (or, as is usually the case, series of visits) was no exception.

I am an office worker. I have pale white skin. This is something I have gotten used to. In fact, I think I have been pale all my life, with the exception of the year that I was 13 and worked on the Grounds crew and developed a most amazing farmer's tan. But being pale doesn't bother me, particularly as I have no desire to either just hang out in the sun for the purpose of being fried or the skin cancer that likely comes with such fried skin.

Since I am pale, I know that I will quickly fry, so I am of the habit of using the strongest sun protection available, usually SPF 50. So while in Spain on vacation, I slathered this stuff on. I even re-applied. And did a post-sun treatment with some aloe vera stuff afterwards to take the heat out, cool, etc. And while I may have forgotten the tops of my ears the first day of golf, everything else was fine.

Until Friday night. Suddenly, the skin on my arms and legs that had been exposed to the skin (and thank goodness not my face) started, well, going rogue. I won't describe this in detail for the faint of heart, but think bad, itchy eczema that was hot to the touch with swelling that had my knuckles looking like little dimples. Hmmm.... It got worse and worse with my skin just pulling tight and the heat radiating through me. So, nutshell, not such good times. So I knew that on Monday morning I had to go to the doctor's office.

There are, as I may have mentioned before, kind of open office hours each day so you can just show up without an appointment and they slot you in when they can. I was there bright and early at 8:00 AM. Turns out the open season doesn't start until 8:30. Fine. I had some books on my iPhone to read. Around 8:40, I was up. I went into the doctor's office and presented an arm.

Doctor: What's that?

SIP (to herself): Isn't that what you're supposed to tell me?

SIP (out loud): My skin is apparently have a negative reaction to something. This is the case only in areas touched by the sun, but note that the none of the affected skin is actually burned. And this is despite the application of SPF50 sun cream.

He was clearly confused on what to do. So he called in another doctor who also said, "What's that?" Hmmm. Two for two.... Not so good.

There was some fast and furious German back and forth between them during which they apparently agreed that they should give me a combination of some drugs, some cream (and at the highest level, which appeared to freak them out, but which I was thinking was probably something you could buy over-the-counter in the US) and an injection to immediately halt the inflammation. Fine. So the doctor wrote a prescription for all of this -- and some vitamins. He keeps trying to prescribe vitamins for me and I keep throwing out those prescriptions as I have my own US multivitamin stash (you can't buy a multivitamin over the counter here, which I think is nuts). I have to wonder if he's getting a kickback of some kind for this, but I digress.

So I went back out into the waiting area to wait for my name to be called again for my injection. About 40 minutes later I heard it, but it wasn't for the injection. Nope. It was for a THIRD doctor to look at my arms. I now officially felt like a circus freak. Which is saying a lot, because as Preuscher, one grows up feeling "special and unique" (aka strange). And then I was sent back to the waiting area for more good times waiting for my name to be called.

It wasn't until nearly 12:00 that my name was called. I was getting a bit peeved, because during all this time I could've gone to the Apotheke that was around the corner (or every corner, if you're in Frankfurt) and already had some drugs streaming through my blood. Anyway, it was my time. And I should've anticipated this by now, but I am a creature of habit - they first took blood and then gave me not an injection but an intravenous drip. Grrrr.....! Of course their plans only become clear after I have already been separated from both my BlackBerry and my iPhone, so I was alone with my thoughts, the IV and concerns that there was going to be an air bubbled in the IV when it was done and I was going to die. But, clearly, I survived.

I didn't see any different on Tuesday in any way. I was not pleased.

I saw a difference on Wednesday morning, though. I had, overnight, swollen to the point that my face was nearing Campbell Soup kid roundness and I nearly had cankles. I was not pleased. So I went back to the doctor's office. More waiting. When the doctor saw me, he asked what had happened. Um, again, I'm thinking this should be his call.... I indicated I suspected it might be because of whatever combination of drugs and "injections" he had given me. Hmmm.... "I didn't anticipate this. Okay, we'll give you another injection....."

Geez. But these were actual injections. Plural. Two of 'em. And I was told to just sit still and not move. Okay..... And then I was released. By which time, either through having been moving or whatever was injected, I looked a bit more presentable, but now felt like a truck had run over me. Nice....

Things were actually a bit better on Thursday. The swelling was going down and my hands now looked like they were a nicely cured leather rather than something from a horror movie. And then, of course, I was supposed to go in for a check-up on Friday where he pronounced me on the mend. I said that was all well and good, but what in the world had happened on Wednesday and how was I supposed to prevent this from happening again? Uhhh.... Wednesday wasn't anticipated and, um, going forward, you should stay out of the sun and not use the same sun cream. Would that be the same sun cream that was fine for 5 days and protected me from being burned? Grrrr..... So it remains a mystery. But this was the least satisfying of my visits to the doctor here so far. I miss my Chicago doc terribly. Though there's something to be said about the drama of temporarily being a circus attraction!

Bergen, Norway

[Anything by Edvard Grieg, who was born in Bergen]

This past weekend was a three-day weekend due to the German Reunification Day, so I decided to head out exploring. Over the past

few months, I have read a few books by Jo Nesbo, a Norwegian author. While they are set in Oslo, there is mention of and some scenes in Bergen. So when Lufthansa announced another one of its one million seats for EUR 99 in Europe and included among the options was a direct flight from Frankfurt to Bergen (BGO for those who like to know airport codes), it seemed like fate! Well, except for the fact that the sale only applied to travel in November or something. They wanted quite a bit more for the long weekend that was quickly approaching, so I decided to think about it a bit more.

In the meantime, plans at work changed and I needed to be in Dusseldorf immediately before the planned trip including a dinner late the night before the trip, so I wasn't sure how much time that would allow for getting back to Frankfurt, re-packing, catching the flight to Bergen and then wandering around. Out of curiosity, I checked to see if Lufthansa might also fly directly from Dusseldorf (yes, your guess of DUS as the airport code is correct). No. BUT, if you fly from DUS to BGO via FRA (taking the exact same flights I had priced out earlier), it would be EUR 300 less expensive. Bizarre, no? So I booked the flight.

This did, however, require some careful planning as it related to packing. As you are no doubt aware, when you check a bag, they check the bag through to your final destination (unless you're flying to the US, where you have to do that ridiculous bag reclaim and re-check process). I, of course, had no intention of returning to Dusseldorf, but was planning on blowing off the last leg of the flight and just going home when I was in Frankfurt. Which, of course, would also not please the airline, but you can't really tell them that in advance. For example, an open jaw ticket of, essentially, DUS-BGO-FRA would have cost an arm and a leg as they would generally be priced as separate one-way tickets. So it was imperative that I be able to pack both my work attire and everything I would need for the vacation in a rollaboard to avoid having to check my bag.

As a brief aside, I am generally opposed to checking bags as I don't like having to wait at the baggage carousel, especially if a flight is already delayed, for example, or if I have meetings I need to get to relatively quickly. I have softened on this slightly, though, will living here in Germany and being treated to the pleasant experience of Lufthansa's efficient baggage operations. As the comedienne Pam Ann (HIGHLY recommend checking her out on YouTube) noted (albeit likely with a bit of profanity), "I LOVE Lufthansa. They're so efficient that the bags are on the carousel before the flight has even landed! It's almost true. And, especially when there are connections involved, as on the DUS-FRA-BGO trip and there is a possibility of an apron position and having to schlep your bag on and off a bus and up the stairs to the aircraft, checking bags strikes me as a good thing. (I should also note, the entire time I have been over here, Lufthansa has not failed to have my bags arrive on the same flight as me. As detailed in the Spain blog, though, I cannot say the same of Iberia....)

So I made it without incident to Bergen, where even at the airport freedom was waiting for me (there was a 7-Eleven - you do remember their jingle right?). I decided even before we landed and I was looking out the windows, that I would love Bergen. It was just so beautiful and the fjords so majestic. And I'm pleased to say that my first impression did not change over the course of the trip. I arrived at my hotel, dropped my bags (too early for

rooms to be available) and headed to the Tourist Information center to buy the Bergen

Card that would provide discounted or free admission to many of the museums and other attractions as well as public transportation. I love those cards. The weather forecast had called for rain most of the weekend except for Friday and Saturday morning, so I decided to wander around the city on Friday and then do more of the indoor things on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. I saw the famous fish market,

some parks, some churches, the lake and fountain by the art museum and some random other things before heading back to the hotel to check in.

There was, alas, no Starwood property in the city or even a Hilton or Intercontinental. There were some Radissons, some hotels from the Thon chain (which I'd never heard of) by based on my non-scientific study of the US and German firm's hotel web sites and their descriptions of the hotels, cross-checked with the VisitBergen website, I had chosen the First Hotel Marin (part of the First hotel chain, which I had also not heard of). It was not the most expensive nor certainly the least, offered free WiFi, had a fitness center and was located on the harbor by the fish market.

The location was indeed convenient but the hotel itself left a bit to be desired. Very basic room that, despite the cool weather outside, was wretchedly hot and cooled only by opening the windows which let in a lot of street noise of revelers at night during the weekend. I had paid extra for a harbor view, but that consisted not of a real full-on view, but a glimpse if you craned your neck out the window which otherwise looked directly across the street at another building where I saw on Monday morning a dentist's office with various victims. The floorplan was also very bizarre with few signs directing you to how to get to your particular room number. You might think, for example, if you are on the third floor, you would take the elevator to the third floor and find your room there. Not so much. You have to find the "right" elevator to go to your version of the third floor. Odd. Once in the room, there was a really old and small TV, which was fine as I didn't intend to watch that anyway. No surprise, then, that there was not a dock for an iPod. But the documentation that is usually available to tell you all about the hotel was significantly lacking. For example, where's the alphabetical list of all the features of the hotel, indicating the number to call for room service (which was very limited) or, more importantly, where the fitness center was located. Never found it. And while there was free WiFi, each code lasted only 24 hours, so you had to go get a little sticker each day from the front desk. Overall, it was basic but okay, albeit overpriced.

Saturday morning dawned bright and not quite rainy, so I hustled to the tourist office to buy a ticket for the four-hour boat tour of the fjords, which I had been told by others was not to be missed. "The boat service ends at the end of September." The day before. Doh! On the plus side, though, starting on 1 October, with the Bergen Card tickets were free (versus discounted as during the high tourist season) to the funicular - a kind of train/tram that climbs up the side of the mountain at an angle. So I headed up. Really beautiful views from the top and still a nice, bright day. I ended up sitting on a picnic table in the sun writing in my journal for well over an hour and just watching people go by and enjoying the fantastic view. There were also some trails at the top, so I wandered around on them for a while, including a brief walk around a small lake. It was really quite pretty and some families had packed picnic

lunches and were grilling at the BBQ pits (somehow I'm guessing the Norwegians have a better term for this) while the little kids were wading into the shallow lake and others threw in sticks that dogs raced into the lake to fetch and return. All this with a backdrop of trees turning to brilliant colors. I finally got back on the trail and headed back to the funicular. On the path, I started to hear some yelling or chanting. Confusing. Then saw a bunch of guys in white headed my way. Martial arts practice in the forest? Nope. They were all dark-skinned and seemed to be in something of a happy mood. An older guy at the back told me (in English, thankfully) that they were celebrating thanksgiving. Not sure if it was a cultural or religious tradition but nevertheless an interesting surprise in the middle of the woods.

There is a university in Bergen, which perhaps explains all the young people in the city. On Saturday near the university, there was some sort of outdoor concert series. I'm not sure what it was all about, but I listened to a few songs by a band of three women playing electric guitar and signing and a drummer (also female). The lyrics were in English but they spoke quite animatedly between songs in Norwegian. They weren't always in tune, but I liked the music and if they had been selling CDs, I would have bought one. No information on the bands, so I couldn't even try to see if they had a website. After their set was done, though, there was some kind of headbanger band, so I continued on my way. Sometimes I feel really old....

One of my highlights of the trip was the Bergen Kunstmuseum, an art museum spread across several buildings. I learned a lot about Norwegian artists that I had heard of before but didn't really know their background. I also hadn't been in tune with the different approaches of the Dusseldorf and Dresden approaches (nor had I considered Germany a hotbed of artistic teaching before - I associate it more with the sciences and engineering). For example, JC (Johan Christian) Dahl was from Bergen but ended up spending much of his adult life in Dresden where he taught and was part of the Dresden approach, I suppose. But I was surprised to see a Norwegian artist famous for his renderings of Norwegian landscapes painting scenes of places I had seen in Dresden. The collection also housed a lot of works by Munch and other Norwegians.

My favorite, though, was the special exhibit they had for Nikolai Astrup. I was not familiar with him before this exhibit, but really liked his work, not just the paintings, but also some of the woodblocks he did. A nice feature of the exhibit was that they had a special app for the exhibit that you could download for free. But unfortunately I do not have roaming features for my iPhone, so I thought I was out of luck. No, they had apparently thought of that, too. Free WiFi at the exhibit! The app had a built in code reader that when you scanned in the codes next to the descriptions of the work it would automatically pull up a small picture of the work and provide more information about the work. You could also select the work as a favorite. Only one teeny, tiny problem - the app's descriptions were only in Norwegian, so I wasn't able to get the full benefit of the additional information. But for a good time and to see some nice photos of his work, check out the free app!

Before I went to Bergen, I had downloaded a different app for my iPhone that was written by journalists working for the local newspaper. It didn't have the basic tourist information (e.g. taxis, tipping, banking, hotels), just information on the places that they recommended, which I found very useful. So, for example, the food critic wrote about restaurants, the style editor wrote on shopping, culture editor on museums and concerts, etc. They also had a section on "local legends," "wild walks," "rainy days" and "romance." Really nicely done. So I visited a few places they had recommended. Here are a few of those highlights that I saw:

• Nama Sushi & Noodles - This happened to be directly across from my hotel (you know, next to the dentist's office....) While, like most things in Norway, it was rather expensive, I had the best tuna sashimi that I have ever had (yes, even better than Japan) - fresh Norwegian fish perhaps even from the fish market out front. Yum!


• Nordnes Sjobad - At the side of the sea is a nice pool area. But the cool part is that there is a ladder next to it that leads down into the sea itself and one can swim in a cordoned off area of the sea and even sit/lounge/sunbathe on a little floating deck out there. The app indicates that some locals swim here every day, rain or shine. That's gotta be cold....


• Bryggen - This is a series of old buildings that were directly around my hotel. Very cute and apparently icons of Bergen, as they are even featured on the manhole (personhole?) covers throughout the city.


• Lepramuseet - The leprosy museum. It was strangely fascinating. I had no idea Bergen had served as an international leper capital in the mid-late 1800s. Every time I think of leprosy, I think about the story of Naaman in the Bible (you know, the guy Elisha told to go wash seven times in the dirty River Jordan?) and tend to think of it as something from the distant past, but not so. I did find it odd, though, that this was one of the items listed in the "Romance" section of the app.


• Dromedar Kaffebar - Their chili coffee was recommended and it was delightful. Basically a shot of espresso mixed with steamed milk that was at a frothiness and quantity somewhere between a cappuccino and cafe au lait. I'm not sure how they infuse it with chili, but perhaps it was mixed into the ground espresso beans? Tasty. What was also interesting is that this cafe is located on a pedestrian-only shopping area and hanging on wires strung above the street were hundreds of pink bras. It took me a while to realize there hadn't been a giant party here, but it was related to the Susan Komen Race for the Cure for breast cancer.


• Hjertholm - A traditional Norwegian retailer that sells Scandinavian arts and crafts. Now, that may not sound like something I would be interested in ("crafty" has not generally been associated with me other than in terms of being sneaky like a crafty fox, perhaps), but they had some really interesting glass and ceramic work. And if I didn't have the limitation of my carry-on luggage, I would have bought one of the incredibly thick, soft woolen blankets they had.


• Bybanen - This is the new light rail that Bergen has. The app recommended taking it out to the end of the line to Nesttun where there was a nice shopping street. They neglected to note that the shopping street closed at apparently 16:00 or so, about a half hour before I arrived. Doh!


• One thing that wasn't noted in the app was the number of Mexican restaurants. I spotted at least three and tried one of them. But who knew?!

I decided to take the Flybussen to the airport. It was only NOK 95, whereas I had paid 315 for a taxi to my hotel, and it was only supposed to take about 10 minutes longer than the taxi. AND there was free WiFi! They also had an interesting feature in that certain seats had baby seats built into the back. So you would flip a seat forward, flip down the seat, and then the baby would be facing the mother sitting in the row behind. Pretty cool. So what's not to like about the Flybussen? Well, I only had one other issue - another passenger who apparently had no situational awareness. There is a small luggage rack above the seats (suitcases in the hold in the bottom portion of the bus) where this guy had put a ballistic nylon briefcase of sorts. When we arrived, he yanked this bag out, not realizing I was directly behind him. The bag hit me squarely in the forehead and kept going, creating a sort of rug-burn on my forehead directly between my eyes. He was somewhat apologetic, but after I saw I was bleeding, I thought a bit more concern would have been in order. So for the last week I have had this nice red streak which can't easily be covered by makeup and which people keep staring at. Nice. So that is a little memory of Bergen that has allowed me to keep reliving the weekend.

Roldan, Spain

["Rollin', rollin', rollin'...." (or whatever the official title is to the Rawhide theme song)]

I took an entire week of vacation this summer, which is quite unusual for me (particularly as it did not involve a trip to the United States, which automatically tacks on a couple of days just for travel). I wasn't sure how it would go as I am generally not very good at relaxing, but I really did need some time off. And I needed (really needed) to work on my golf game. So I decided to head to Spain with a friend. Roldan, Spain, in particular, as a friend-of-the-friend had just bought an apartment/condo in a new development centered around a brand new Jack Nicklaus course. What's not to like? Well, more on that later.

One generally flies into Alicante, Spain and then drives an hour or so to get to Roldan. Fine. Only one small (and really quite unbelievable) problem - Lufthansa does not fly there directly from Frankfurt. Horrors! So I decided to dust off my OneWorld membership and fly on Iberia, which involved connecting through Madrid.

Um, let me just say that Iberia was not as, um, punctual as is Lufthansa. I'm not sure if it was special for our flight or if this is a regular occurrence. I had about an hour to make the connection and I had been through Madrid before and it didn't seem like a large airport (again, compared to ORD or FRA or MUC), so it seemed doable. Orrrr.....not.... We were delayed for some unknown reason (they didn't share this information wtih us - or at least not in English or German), so we landed 10 minutes prior to departure. Not so good. So I was hustling through a interminably (no pun intended) long terminal, thinking I had no chance of catching the flight since the doors on a Lufthansa flight would already be closed by this time, I was pretty sure. But no worries - when I got to the gate, they hadn't even STARTED boarding. Whew! We boarded about 30 minutes later and were equally delayed in our arrival to Alicante, but no big deal.

At baggage claim, I was shocked and delighted to see that my bag had made the connection. But I couldn't even find the area where bulky luggage items would be unloaded. Turns out they are put on the regular belt with everything else. Which belt had now stopped with no sign of my clubs. Doh! So I filed a baggage claim, they gave me an internet site and a phone number where I could check the status and off I went.

Shortly after this, I realized that the phone number didn't work. (Yes, I had added the country code.) I kept getting some odd message in Spanish that even I could hear said something to the effective of "number cannot be used." I thought maybe it was like when you call a toll-free number in the US from outside the country and they announce that it's not free outside the US and international charges would apply. But for those circumstances, you just wait and the call (usually) finally goes through. Not so here. I decided I would just wait until we got to the condo and then try the web site for information.

But first we had to find the darn place. The GPS we were using could not find the location where I was supposed to go, assumably because the place was new and the streets weren't in the GPS yet. Hmmmm.... We looked at the materials from condo owner that described the property for more information on how to get there. Nothing. So we tried using our respective (notoriously poor and slow) BlackBerry web browser to find out more information. Nada. Hmmmm.... Well, how big could Roldan be? We could at least point the GPS there and then perhaps it would be obvious. Or....not.... Even with a stop to ask for directions at a gas station. The place seemed to be the best-kept secret around! And then, in the distance, there was a cluster of white buildings near the edge of the hills that looked like it they might possibly be like the white buildings pictured in the materials from friend-of-the-friend. And that's how we finally found the place.

The development was huge, though a couple skeleton structures suggested that perhaps the complex had been developed around the time of the economic crisis and there was perhaps not enough funding to continue. This would also be supported by the lack of any general retail area, such as the "town square - coming soon" that apparently was traveling an awfully long way to get there if the signs were any indication. (It actually reminded me of the Metra Market that was "coming soon" across the street from the condo I bought in Chicago but only materialized over 5 years later after I had already moved to Germany.) The names of the streets that were athletes also was perhaps slightly dated as it still contained Lance Armstrong Way, though I don't know if he was cleared of those charges ultimately. Noticeably, though, there were virtually no cars around. Maybe that's because the summer was over (it was early September), but still....

So, after a quick tour of the place and a review of the materials that had been provided, the gap between expectations and reality became quite clear. A few examples....

Brochure: Air conditioning pre-installed

Reality: Duct work, perhaps, but no functionality. It was over 30 degrees Celsius (in Fahrenheit - "hot" or "too hot to not have A/C") each day I was there.

Brochure: Pool

Reality: Pool with two park benches. No lounge chairs. No shade umbrellas.

Brochure: Flat screen TV

Reality: Did not work

And a few other highlights:

• They were treating for insects two nights, so you couldn't leave windows open. Recall, 30 degrees, no A/C.
• No telephone, no WiFi.
• Maximum of 1 "bar" of cellular coverage while inside
• Apartment was missing a few basics (e.g. salt and pepper (not to be confused with Salt 'n' Pepa), oven mits, baking sheet (imagine trying to bake a frozen pizza without these last two items), dish towels, item for washing dishes, coffee filters, toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags/trash bin -- and the list goes on. In a nutshell, camping in an indoor structure with less airflow than if you were truly camping.

I tried to take a few (okay, a LOT) of deep breaths. It didn't really help. What I really wanted to even try to relax was a place where I could prop up my feet and read a book in the cool/shade. This did not exist.

What quickly became clear, though, was that my idea to use the internet to check the status of my golf clubs was not going to work. So I did what any evil partner would do - begged a peep to help me. Using BlackBerry Messenger, I asked a trusted peep if she was online and, fortunately/unfortunately (since it was a Sunday) she was. I asked her to check the Iberia website and see if there were any other communication means other than the phone number that didn't work or the web site. As it turns out, they had a text message option. So with a text message in a specific format with the lost baggage claim number, I was finally able to contact them. Which didn't necessarily mean that the bags got there in time, but there was contact. Of course, the best part was when someone called me (over 48 hours after my flight had landed in Alicante) saying they could not find the address I had given them on their GPS. Yeah.... But you"re Spanish-speaking! In the end, I had to go to the security guard-shack at the entrance to the development, give them the phone and have them tell this guy where I was really located. Good times.

After I got used to the camping mode, the week got a bit better. Well, that and the very enjoyable golf every day on the course that had only been in operation since January. Really nice. But the true highlight was, on the last day there, when driving back to the complex, I came across a shepherd leading his sheep across the road right in front of the development. Awesome.