Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
Vauxhall Vivaros and their gearboxes
Leave a comment
My delightful Vauxhall Vivaro has – since I bought it last July – had a reluctant 2nd gear. On Friday this reluctance became obstinance. It ceased to be co-operative. Moreover, it had equally convinced 4th and 6th to join the club.
A quick look on the internet demonstrates that this is not an uncommon problem with these vehicles. Maybe I should have stuck with the Transit and not listened to the salesman? Oh well. It looks like my wallet will need to be opened pretty widely to compensate for this poor engineering.
See new post from 24 July, 2012.
Cigarettes in the German spring
This is certainly turning out to be quite a thread for me. Whenever I pass through Laim station in Munich, I must view the latest episode in the smoking young people for Pall Mall. The latest has a spring theme. Same old toxic sticks. But now we can smoke them on the green pastures of the Alps.
Cigarette advertising revisited
So, what is new on the German cigarette advertising front? Only three weeks ago (see post 23 Jan 2012) I reported on advertising for Pall Mall 
cigarettes in Munich involving beautiful young people being poisoned. This time, on the exact same advertising hoarding, I found Lucky Strike brand demonstrating its environmental credentials. (Both brands incidentally are owned by the same American and British producers.) Again, notwithstanding that these products are toxic and cause known chronic diseases, Lucky Strike’s marketing people seem to think that packing them in recycled or sustainably sourced cardboard without aluminium foil is a worth shouting about.
Cigarette advertising
Travel is great for contrasts. In many respects Germany, for example, is a highly regulated country. It is very difficult to do some things that normally I take for granted in the UK. Online mobile phone top-ups are a case in point; likewise trying to get mail sent to an address that one is not officially registered at. It is very frustrating.
With that in mind, I still find it very strange that the Germans still allow cigarette advertising. This one for Pall Mall can be found on all railway stations in Munich and maybe elsewhere. It depicts a group of beautiful young people in the Alps (presumably skiing) killing themselves with cigarettes.
Car parking
This is a new thread. Since getting a van, I am conscious about headroom, particularly in multi-storey garages (park houses). It really is a problem. My van is 1.9 metres.
Gatwick Airport south terminal short stay. Two things to say here. Headroom is 1.95 metres. The van fits okay. Recently, the entry has been modified to make the 90 degree turns easier. Well done Gatwick.
Hull St. Stephens. Enquiries tell me that it is 2.5m
Hull Premier Inn – now visited. The undercover car park has a 2m restriction, but there is an un-covered car park with no restrictions.
I can recommend the Kingstown hotel, about 2 miles further east down Hedon Road. Comfortable with free wi-fi and no headroom restrictions.
Any contributions welcome. To be continued…
Left Luggage facilities – Köln Hauptbahnhof
Originally posted: 9 September 2010
Germany is a little different. In München traditional left luggage lockers are abundant and reasonably priced. In Köln, the left luggage facility (pictured) costs 2 Euros 50 for up to 2 hours and 5 Euros for up to 24 hours. One places the case in the hole at the bottom, the door closes and luggage is taken to some underground storage area. One retrieves one’s case by inserting a card and waiting. So, it takes a fraction of the time to deposit a case and costs up to 1/3 of the price.
Please note, there are new facilities at Köln. Please see update
Berlin: Railway station and airport
The building of Hauptbahnhof in Berlin was a real prestige project. The glass building over four floors that emerged is impressive to say the least. But it suffers from that most irritating of modern construction diseases, shopping mallism. Instead of left luggage, there are places to buy stuff. Actually, the shortage of left luggage space is excused on the grounds of security as the station is in the proximity to the Bundestag and the Kanzlerresidenz. (There are a few lockers located adjaceent to the parking area, and a staffed facility on the main concourse – but when I visited, the queue was very long). Contrast with Köln Hauptbahnhof, posted 6 November 2011.
Travel advice: if you have cases that you want to leave, go somewhere else. I’m not sure if the other stations – Ostbahnhof, Friedrichstrasse or Alexanderplatz – have left luggage facilities. Watch this space.
As for Shoenefeld Airport, it is a real disaster. Very few seats, plenty of shops, though few places to buy a drink and sit down and relax prior to departure. If you are travelling easyJet, the ground staff are very strict with the one bag policy. Expect to be surcharged if you can’t get your manbag inside your case and it still fit into the measuring frame that they have.
The entry to the gates is appalling. Dank corridors take passengers to passport control causing confusion and long queues. Maybe worth taking Lufthansa from Tegel.
Düsseldorf
Munich is always expensive at this time of the year. It is – or was – Oktoberfest. The British seem to love it. Consequently, air fares to Munich are prohibitively expensive.
We searched this year for an alternative German city. easyJet offers Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf and Dortmund. We chose Düsseldorf because the air fares were very cheap – as were some of the hotels. Indeed, we stayed at one of the Lindner conference hotels in the Niederkassel district of the city. There are a few branded hotels parked in the middle of a technology park; though well connected by tram. Good value at the weekend.
The city is not the most attractive, but the beer is good. The local speciality is Uerige served in small glasses.
Fortunately. It is rather strong and drinkable. Be careful. The system by which it is served is, apparently, the following: when standing at the bar and seeming being ignored, point one’s finger at the bar and hey presto, Herr Ober appears and sells.
The Rhine is always fascinating as a working river. The barges negotiating its bends and the idiot skijeters negotiating the waves they generate provide some entertainment. The weather was sublime this weekend, so spending plenty of time by the river was a must.
Breakfast we recommend Bastions (Bastionstraβe). A big basket of different breads with butter, Marmelade and Honig is a must. The coffee is okay.
Towards the south side of the Rhine is the Medienhafen. It is home to the region’s media and still under development. Frank Gehry came a few years ago to build three of his signature blocks (pictures to come when I get them processed).
The airport, also, is interesting. It is pretty modern and clearly aspirant. One is transported from the terminal to the railway station on the Skytrain. This is clearly modelled on the famous Wuppertal transit system. The carriages are suspended from a track – for want of a better word. There is no driver. An interesting experience. The picture is taken from inside the Skytrain looking at the track.
New Vivaro
The beloved white Escort van had to leave the road. I have replaced it with a beautiful 5 year old Vauxhall Vivaro. Here it is. Travel just got easier and fun.
Moscow
Metro
Moscow is cold. A very strange place to live, but a good many people do. The train from the airport (once they have let you in) run fine. They are extremely wide. They appear like a tardis, if such a thing existed. Their exterior has a functional form; there is no attempt at styling. The Metro on the other hand, is all about style, though not the trains, but rather the stations. These are fabulous galleries tracing the changing aspirations of the state from the interwar years and beyond. Andrew Graham Dixon, again, has done a programme all about the country’s art, and the metro features heavily.
Red Square
I did the tourist bit – Red Square, the Kremlin and even a mini-bus tour taking in such sights as the residences of Mikhail Gorbachev and the current incumbent, Dmitry Medvedev. The highlights included visits to the two Tretyakov galleries – one pre and one post-war. Extraordinary places. The art is sensational and, again, Andrew Graham Dixon can help with the translation, so-to-speak.
Be informed 