As you may have gathered from previous posts, I’m a webcam fan. It’s nice to be able to see live snapshots of life from cities all around the world from the convenience of my iPhone. Most of the webcams I visit regularly are of Swiss scenes (as you may have guessed). One such scene is of Barfüsserplatz in Basel. Normally a reasonably quiet market square with constant visits from green and yellow trams, last weekend when I dropped by, things were looking a little different.
After a few minutes of research, I managed to find out that this was the second event in the Coop Beachtour, a series of seven Beach Volleyball meets. Courts are set up for around four days before being dismantled and moved on. Three days later, normality had returned.
The next event takes place 11-14 June in Locarno before heading on to Geneva, Zug, Winterthur and Bern. Visit the website for more information.
Spain Places Saturday 2nd May 2009
Later this year, I’ll be adding another country to the list of countries I’ve visited. In fact, I’ll be adding two countries, but this article is only about one of them. I already know a fair bit about Scotland. Technically, I live in the same country as the Scottish (The UK) so give or take an undecipherable accent here and sheep-stomach-based main course there, I’m not expecting to be challenged too much on the Scottish culture and identity front. This article then is about the other country I’m visiting. Spain. I can’t help but have my vision of what Spain will be like to be influenced by the Club 18-30 TV programmes that graced the tube in the late nineties and early noughties. These shows were fly-on-the-wall docusoaps which documented the Spain that I think I know. My preconceptions can be summarised as follows;
Brits Everywhere
According to ‘Club Med’, I should expect there to be several thousand noisy, anti-social and fat British holiday-makers with their noisy, anti-social and fat children in tow. I should expect these people to wear very little clothing despite the fact they really ought to. I should also expect them to drink vast quantities of lager and make idiots of themselves.
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Podcast Saturday 2nd May 2009
In this short, third edition of the podcast, I clumsily explain what you can look forward to later in the year from the programme, but not before we take a ride on the tube from Kings Cross St Pancras to Euston.
If you have no idea what a podcast is, don’t worry! This video will tell you everything you need to know to get started.
If you do know what you’re doing and you want to crack on, the address you need to subscribe to is below. Or, if you find it more convenient, subscribe via iTunes. Either way, I hope you enjoy this third edition and that you stay subscribed for future editions.
Cut & paste this into your podcast application:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/HereToGenevaPodcast
I’d love to hear what you think of the podcast. Send me an email, or message me on Facebook or on Twitter.
Places Saturday 11th April 2009
My Saturday mornings are normally my laziest. I slouch in front of the tv, trying in vain to find something good to watch. Then, having found only news and the Coronation Street Omnibus, I catch up with my news feeds on my phone. Having done that, I try to find something else on my phone to keep me occupied. My first port of call is normally a webcam App (WorldView Live). Do you remember when webcams were cool? Everyone had to have one and everyone marvelled at how fantastic the Internet was in allowing us to see live and grainy images from around the world. Well, I’m still there. I still love webcams.
Last Saturday, having been through my usual Saturday morning routine, I went into WorldView Live to see what was going on. Bern was holding it’s usual Saturday market, skiers were still queuing for the lifts at the resorts, everything seemed normal. Except in Brugge that is. Something different was going down.
I quickly discovered that I was watching the start of the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders), an annual UCI ProTour road cycling race. You can see the cyclists waiting at the start at the bottom left of the image. On next image refresh, the race had started and the team cars wee in pursuit.
Although I was only seeing the event in still frames, it was rather exciting. I have a lot of favourite webcam locations, but only very rarely is something interesting actually happening. in the next image, the crowds had been allowed from behind the barriers.
25 minutes later, the crowds had all but vanished and tidy-up was in full swing.
This isn’t the first time the Brugge webcam has been featured on this blog. In December 2007, I managed to capture my mum and sister in the same market square.
Travel Tips Tuesday 3rd March 2009
So, the tickets are booked, you’ve done whatever you need to do with the liquids in your hand luggage and you’ve made sure your passport hasn’t expired. You’re ready! You’re ready to fly for the first time. Oh, god! You’re going in an airplane! You’re going to be several thousand feet up in the air in a metal tube! What have you done? Fear not! Here are my top tips for first time flyers. These tips were originally posted on 28 October 2007 with my account of my first time in a plane. Once you’ve read these tips, you might find it useful to hear how I coped with my first time in the air.
- Don’t panic! It really isn’t that big a deal. As you read this, there are thousands of people up in the air on routine flights.
- Sit by the wing. I’ve read in various places that in the event of turbulence, it’s the most stable part of the aircraft.
- You are very likely to hit turbulence. It’s not that scary. I actually found it rather exciting. Keep your seat-belt on at all times regardless of what other people are doing.
- If something happens that worries you, look around at other people to see how they’re reacting. If they’re behaving normally, all is well.
- Listen to and read all of the safety advice.
- Sit by the window. Even if you don’t think you will now, I can guarantee you will want to look out of the window. The views are amazing, whether it’s a cloudy day or not.
- Take an iPod with you. If you really are terrified, at least you’ll be able to zone out with your favourite music, tv show or film.
- People told me the worst part about flying is the take off and landing. For me, the takeoff was exhilarating and the landing, while bumpy, was pretty non-eventful.
- Banking is fun. Looking out of the window almost straight down to the ground is wicked!
- I discovered to my horror that the lights get switched off inside the plane on night-time landings. They do this so that your eyes become accustomed to the darkness, so that in the event of an emergency, escaping is easier. Conversely, you will be instructed by cabin staff to make sure the window blinds are up for landings. This is so that in the unlikely event something unfortunate occurs, emergency crews can see inside. Anyway, expect the lights to be switched off on night-time landings. It’s normal.
- Chew gum. The descent when coming back home was AWFUL! I wasn’t chewing gum and I felt my head was going to explode. I almost lost my hearing completely and was in absolute agony. Don’t let this happen to you.
- Enjoy it! Doing new things makes life interesting. It gives you stuff to talk about and experiences to share with others.
I hope these tips help you with your first time in the air. If you have questions about flying or if you have further tips you think people might find useful, use the comment box below to get in touch.
In the first part of my non-skier’s guide to the mountains, I talked about hiking as an option for those who can’t or won’t pony up the dough for skiing or snowboarding. Hiking is a great way to experience the beauty of the mountains. Arguably, it’s actually much easier to appreciate the mountains on foot then it is having experience gear strapped to your feet. Having admired the peaks though, what about something a little more exciting? On my recent trip to the Berner Oberland region of Switzerland, I gave sledging a try. Before hiring my sledge, I thought of sledging as a kids activity. Indeed, I felt a bit silly being introduced to my brand new wooden sledge and being shown how to steer it. It didn’t take long though to realise that I needn’t have been embarrassed. Sledging in Switzerland has a long history and is enjoyed by kids and adults alike. In fact, I was to discover at my peril that certain sections of the numerous dedicated sledge runs were practically for adults only.
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I’ll let you into a secret. Not many people realise this, but you can experience the majesty, excitement and general brilliance of the mountains without specialist knowledge and without spending a fortune on expensive equipment. I’m not a skier, so on a recent trip to the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland, I went in search of alternative excursions. I should probably point out now that I’m in no way an expert on Winter activities, particularly those done in difficult conditions. Seek out professional advice if you’re unsure.
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What a week it’s been! This is the 7th day that we’ve had snow on the ground after the worst series of snow storms the UK has seen for nearly 20 years. Schools have been shut most of the week, millions have been bunking off work and on Monday, London ground to a complete halt, making headlines around the world. Shops have been closing at lunchtimes or not opening at all while bus and train services have been cancelled.
While many have had their lives seriously disrupted by the wintry conditions, life for me has been reasonably normal. Unlike some, I’ve been into work on time, every day. I normally get to and from work by bus or car, but this week I’ve mostly walked. As a result, I’ve walked 15.96miles (25.69km) more than I would have done normally. Work has been a bit of nightmare what with staff shortages. I work in the office of a major retailer, but I’ve spent most of the week on the shop floor covering for people who couldn’t get in. On Friday, there was so few of us, we had to close our biggest floor and run the smaller ground floor only. It was very eerie standing alone in the middle of a darkened shop floor at one of the peak trading periods of the week.
Right now, the snow’s slowly thawing, although it’s too slow for it to vanish completely before the next weather systems sweep in over the next few days, potentially delivering another 20cm of snow to most of the country. I’m really enjoying living in snowy conditions, so bring it on!
Podcast Saturday 31st January 2009
It’s all snow and mountains in the second edition of the Here To Geneva podcast. In the programme, I go hiking in deep snow and at high altitude and go sledging down the famous Bob Run. There’s also a bit of Swiss folk music to bind everything together.
At 12m17s, there’s an undescribed soundscape of a French family singing as the funicular between Mürren and Allmendhubel sets off. Otherwise, everything else is either described or self-explanatory. If though you’d like clarification on anything, drop me a comment.
If you have no idea what a podcast is, don’t worry! This video will tell you everything you need to know to get started.
If you do know what you’re doing and you want to crack on, the address you need to subscribe to is below. Or, if you find it more convenient, subscribe via iTunes. Either way, I hope you enjoy this second edition and that you stay subscribed for future editions.
Cut & paste this into your podcast application:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/HereToGenevaPodcast
I’d love to hear what you think of the podcast. Send me an email, or message me on Facebook or on Twitter.
Yesterday, I came back from another trip to Switzerland. Over the course of the next few weeks, you’ll be hearing all about my trip, through write-ups here on the blog, on Flickr, and via the medium of audio in the second edition of the HTG podcast. If you haven’t already done so, keep up to date by subscribing to the blog. While I wade knee-deep through 400 photos, amuse yourself briefly with the photo above, captured by my sister from a webcam. Right there in the centre foreground is me looking cool and casual in my sunglasses. I’m at Kleine Scheidegg, a mere 6762ft up. I’d walked 7km to get there. This snap is especially poignant, as shortly after this was captured, I lost those sunglasses. *sniff*
