Category Archives: Cities

Berlin’s the best …

Berlin

… that shouldn’t surprise you much.

Though I have to say that it took me some time to get used to all the people, traffic and noise after a few months in Copenhagen. Also the difference in the number of cyclists is quite a change.

But anyways, we had a great time, also due to all the nice people that had time for us!

 

Thanks to my parents, we had a very nice dinner in the rotating restaurant on top of the TV Tower, enjoying the view onto the city while eating (and chatting). Of course we also had Berlin style Döner Kebap and Bratwurst during the days. A Sunday walk in the Tierpark (thanks and greetz to K+M+L+M) and a spontaneous trip to Hamburg (thanks and greetz to L+M) on the way home rounded off the (again slightly full, though still fun) programme.

Also I managed to get my famous (but damaged) DLR cup replaced (thanks to the C.P.).

Sailing

Copenhagen, Sailing

The sailing season has started … at least for me it did on Troels’ boat yesterday afternoon.

We just went out for a little cruise passing the old Tuborg harbour and Hellerup beach. The weather was quite nice and I had my sea-sick pills, so everything was good ;)

Copenhagen under water

Copenhagen

Last weekend we experienced an interplay of various weather conditions of the finest kind. While having visitors over the weekend we spend some time sun bathing at the beaches in the north of Sealand, but also witnessed the worst rain storm I have ever seen in Europe.

We had more than 40 mm of rain per hour for at least two hours … the city was completely drowned in water.

 

We have seen cars floating in ponds that filled up under bridges and thousands of basements got flooded quite badly. Also our institute suffered quite a lot, with some of the lecture halls flooded and some walls pushed inside in the server hall.

Fortunately our basement was spared …

As that was not bad enough, we had yet another heavy rain fall on Sunday … not quite as bad, but still it added up quite a bit …

Sankt Hans aften

Copenhagen

Yesterday we spent the evening celebrating “Sankt Hans aften”. The Danish way of celebrating midsummer, or the longest day in the year.

Typically they light up some large bonfire and sing the traditional midsummer hymn. Yesterday we also had a gospel choir and a funk band playing some tune by the harbour .
The old tradition of burning witched to send them to Bloksbjerg (Brocken in Germany) came a bit short though ;)

More Athens

Athens

After the workshop ended on Friday I had some more time to explore the city and its sights.
I walked more than 15 kilometers on Friday and only slightly less on Saturday … man my feet hurt now!
In general there are many nice things to see in Athens, though the city itself is not too beautiful. A lot of houses are semi-modern and in non-optimal conditions, though on average the inner city look slightly better (as usual).
I had some very nice dishes in various non-central places in town, typically as the only-non greek in the place.
And of course I saw almost all the ancient temples, markets and places along with the according museums …
If you ever considered to visit Athens and you are still a student, you should do it as long as you still have your student ID.
You and up paying half or nothing (if from within the EU). That aside, the prices for adults are still within reason!