We’re doing a last-minute trip to Northwest England — never been there before. We’re flying into and out of Manchester, but crashing with family of a friend in Liverpool, flying back on Sunday night.
How should we spend Saturday and Sunday?
Manchester / Liverpool?
March 11th, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: England • Liverpool • Manchester • travel
Dear Mr. KLM*
March 11th, 2010 by SarahTags: cheapness • rant • travel
So Cliff got this nugget of preciousness in his e-mail today (click on it to make it readable):
Isn’t it cute how they photoshopped the seats that they’re touting out of the picture entirely? I especially like the lady by the “window” who looks like she’s snoozing in a comfy armchair. Why bother with pesky realities like a 1.5° recline or armrests? We got fares to peddle!
Wow, KLM. Just wow. I knew that the balkanization of the economy cabin was coming (and KLM isn’t the only offender on this score, UNITED), but I thought it was going to be isolated to exit rows. Spreading the upcharge fever to the bulkhead rows as well is really slimy. I’ve only flown KLM a couple of times and, in terms of service while in flight and in the airport, I have no complaints. But their frequent flier program is atrociously structured, they are rarely the most competitively priced option (and they don’t appear to offer any extra comfort, amenities or reliability to justify the higher price) and now they’re pulling this stunt?
It’s still economy. I still need a shoehorn (butthorn?) to get in and out of the seats, whether in the center row or a bulkhead row. I may very well pay a little more for bulkhead seating now, if only to avoid your planes.
*Thanks Ian - this cracked me up so much that I just had to give a shout out!
Never the same crap twice
March 7th, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: poopoo humor • Regensburg • shopping
So, following Jentry’s lead, we hit up the German version of T.J. Maxx which just opened up last weekend on Kassiansplatz (which is mostly just Neupfarrplatz’s appendix). Sarah and I spotted this less-than-tasteful arrangement of assorted letters in the housewares department yesterday. I don’t think we would have actually arranged them into that position ourselves, but we’re also not too mature to have a chuckle.
Oh, and Jentry’s right about two things:
1.
The Kasse and Schlange setup causes more than a bit of a faff. We witnessed it ourselves, even in a low-traffic situation. Didn’t see the indicator lights she mentioned, but witnessed the confusion 2 and half working registers cause when there’s not a clear line for customers to stand in. One shopper almost managed to out-flank us, but we squeezed her out at the last second as the half-open cash register operator waved us over, signaling his readiness to take our money.
2.
The housewares (and hardware odds and ends) section is a bit lacking by comparison, but the offers they had were better than good and I am most likely going to have to fight the urge to pop in and browse on weekend shopping trips.
Four-year Renovation Project on Regensburg’s Steinerne Brücke
March 4th, 2010 by SarahTags: Germany • Old Stuff • Regensburg
Regensburg’s most recognizable secular landmark (according to me, anyways) is getting a built-on detour for Fußgänger (pedestrians) and Radfahrer (cyclists…sounds so much more intent than “bikers,” doesn’t it?). We’d been watching some construction activity on the North (our) side of the bridge for a few weeks, but only became really interested when they started to erect a structure in parallel to the bridge. That finally inspired us to try and figure out “what that should” (Was soll das!?). We got the scoop from our favorite local news source, TVA. Admittedly, we’ve cut ourselves off from local news a bit of late.
Turns out it’s going to be a big ol’ project to renovate it in four phases. And this is only the first phase. On the one hand, I’m just glad they’re not isolating Stadtamhof residents even further by completely closing the Steinerne to foot/bike traffic, given that the Protzenweiher Brücke is still closed to car traffic following its barge-collision meltdown several years ago (and it looks like they’re building a new foot/bike bridge in parallel to the existing wooden workaround). And don’t forget that what used to be our Netto is still at least the better part of a year away from being a usable grocery store again.
On the other hand, I wonder if such a project really can only be carried out in such a manner, and whether that is really in the spirit of Denkmalschutz and whether emergency vehicle traffic (Notarzt, Krankenwagen, Polizei) will finally also have to be re-routed around the Steinerne Brücke. Of course, if this renovation project will allow taxis and buses to use the bridge, then maybe it’s worth it. I’m sure we’d use the bus more if the three or four lines which used to stop at our Netto would become viable options again.
Anyone got more scoop?
Lufthansa Sale Alert!
March 3rd, 2010 by SarahTags: cheapness • travel
Just got an e-mail from Lufthansa this morning that they’re doing a 48-hour Fall & Winter fare sale. There are some good looking prices for travel from Germany to North & South America, Asia and Africa. Departures from 15 October, 2010, to 31 January, 2011, and returns from 17 October, 2010, to 28 February, 2011, are valid. Blackout dates do apply - 16 December, 2010 to 8 January, 2011 - sorry, Christmas travelers. You must purchase by midnight, 5 March and if you can plan this far in advance, it looks like a nice deal - up to 30% off.
Blast from the past, potentially
March 2nd, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: bomb • WW2
Check this out: a UXB got some people at work a couple hours off work today. (Not me, though. I got to continue working normally.)
This is the second time since Fall 2009 that leftovers from WW2 have had a direct impact on me. Another time, my train from Nürnberg to Regensburg had to be re-routed because of a bomb dug up at a construction site near the railway. Has it ever happened to you?
Beware the Ides of March
February 26th, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: culture • history • language
Yeah, I know. We’ve still got a couple weeks ahead of us on that topic.
But a colleague of mine plans to return to Germany / Regensburg / the office on that day after a big long business trip around several of our company’s Asian locations. When asked, he said he’d return on March 15th, which you and I know as the Ides of March.
I said
Whoa. Be careful.
He said
Uh…why?
I said
March 15th! On that day Julius Caesar was murdered!
He said
Cliff, what are you talking about?
I said, with disbelief
Um, “Et tu, Brute?” and all that?
His eyes told me he had no idea what I was talking about.
I said
OK, March 15th is pretty famous as a bad luck day because Kaiser Julius got stabbed in the back by people he trusted on that day.
He said
Wow, Cliff, you know a lot about history.
He walked off and I stood there, shaking my head. This is country of Asterix and Obelix. This is the country whose Gymnasien made me sit through 4th-year Latin classroom instruction, reading Pliny the Elder and tales of Roman conquest and exploration throughout Gaul and Brittania (uh…18 years ago…maybe things have changed since then). This is Shakespeare’s spiritual Heimat (as far as they are concerned). This is the country of Roman baths and where people know what Q.E.D. stands for.
But the Ides of March — or even the significance of March 15th — is a mystery? But that reminds me of a similar incident a few months ago: another guy in our same office is getting married on May 8th.
I say
Congratulations! May 8th, May 8th, May 8th, why does that sound familiar to me?
*ponder*ponder*ponder*
Oh right, ‘L’ — I guess you’re capitulating, huh?
L says
Uh, what?
So then I told him about V-E Day, and how Russians celebrate it on May 9th, and all I got were those polite nods and grunts you receive when the conversation has lost its relevance and can we please just go back to looking at our computer screens?
CNN blurbs
February 25th, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: cnn • feedreaders
CNN has got to do a better job of sorting out the titles and descriptions on their feeds.
Faschinating!
February 16th, 2010 by cliff1976Tags: Fasching • Nuernberg • parade
While it seems the rest of Germany gets their Fasching on Rosenmontag or Faschingsdienstag on, the big deal for Nürnberg was apparently Sunday (we headed home to Regensburg that afternoon, so we’re not sure if it got any goofier on Monday or Tuesday). Here are some shots of from the parade. It was freezing, but the kitsch was still fun.
Oldest Bratwurst Kitchen in the World? Regensburger Historische Wurstküche, are you going to take that lying down???
The Ugly is just a mask
Angels, Demons, Monks
Hello, Nurse!
Candy in Flight