Tag Archives: Travel

Sometimes you get served a plate of food that just makes you go “Wow”

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“Pinces de crabe” A plate of crab claws.

I have a fondness for crab. It was something we had occasionally as a treat when we were kids. There was a sort of ritual to the family pulling it apart and attacking the legs with nutcrackers to get the favourite meat. And the the Belgians and Luxembourgers love it too, good seafood is a popular part of the diet, almost every town and market has a fishmonger.

So when we were treating ourselves to a meal at a nice fish restaurant in Luxembourg a couple of weeks ago i was tempted by the idea of a plate of crab claws with salad as a nice summer dish. I was expecting a couple of the big ones claws and the a battle with the small claws, maybe with a little greenery and some mayonnaise on the side?

Then the plate turned up.

Brasserie Guillaume Luxembourg

Thank you Brasserie Guillaume, which I can report also has a very good fish counter and excellent carpaccio. Not the cheapest place in town but an excellent treat.

www.brasserieguillaume.lu

 

 

And the world didn’t end – more cycling lessons from Germany

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Shared use bridge over Rhine CologneHaving a chat DomplatzShared use DomplatzKoln Germany

I have just had to kill an hour between trains in Cologne.

As it is a lovely day I wandered outside the Hauptbahnhof to the Cathedral Square (Domplatz), up onto the pedestrian cyclist bridge over the Rhine and looked back at the leafy path car free route along the river bank.

Disgrace. Unacceptable. Impossible. Out of control. Can’t be done. What do they think they are doing?

Cyclist on bridge over Rhine CologneDomplatz cyclist and pedestriansRhine bank cycle access KolnCyclists Domplatz Koln CologneRiverside cycling Cologne KolnGermany cycling

Yes hundreds of cyclists and pedestrians are inhabiting the same space. Politely. Without conflict. Without the world coming to an end. And its official – this is a major corridor across the river for all users.

Young ruffians on BMX bikes. Lycra louts. Parents setting a bad example. Old and young; male and female.

Oh, and you know what – that bridge rail isn’t specially raised to stop the lemmings with pedals throwing themselves off. So that bridge will have to be closed off immediately. The signs industry can celebrate as hundreds of “Cyclist Dismount” signs are ordered and the economy is saved.

Enough cynicism Englishman. Just because you come from a country that is frequently clueless about creating great cycling places doesn’t mean you have to infect the whole of Europe!

In fact it is a wonderful sight as the quiet German cycling revolution continues. Personally I am convinced that the large areas of car free permeable city and town centres that people actually want to walk and cycle in are as big a contributor to the growth in cycling here as many other measures. I must get round to posting the photos I took in Leipzig recently that showed just the same pattern as I have seen throughout the country.

In fact the more time I spend around Germany’s cycling stories the more I do not despair for the future of the human race. To my long suffering cycle campaigning friends in Britain can I just offer a suggestion that there is far more to creating a cycling culture than going Dutch, and there are fantastic examples right here.

PS Some things are however crimes against nature. I have saved them to last, to avoid upsetting the sensitive among you.

Segway Tour Cologne

Schönbrunn Palace, summer palace of the Hapsburgs

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Gardens Schonbrun Vienna Schonbrun Palace Vienna

If you read this blog regularly you might anticipate that all I did in Vienna on my is cycle, think about cycling, talk about cycling – and eat.

Not true! It is a pretty special city of course in its own right with an extraordinary heritage of the various versions of the Austrian empires. However I have always been so busy with the cycling blog posts I hardly get round to publishing the tourist photos.

Time rectify the balance a bit.

On the day after Velo-city my wife and I made our way out to Schönbrunn, summer palace of the Hapsburgs in the Vienna suburbs. According to Wikipedia it is the most visited attraction in Vienna, I went there last year as well and thoroughly enjoyed it so I was keen to go again which is quite unusual for me.The audio tour and other materials give a good feeling of the various royals who lived there and wrap them up with the history of this enormous empire at its peak. Inside it is just extraordinary opulence, outside it is all about scale.Gloriette Schonbrun Vienna

This time it was hot and sticky so the gardens and courtyards were blazing but the gardens looked great. No photography allowed inside so this post is just a short gallery of the outside including the views across the gardens to Maria Theresa’s Gloriette looking down on us and the more secluded spaces like the orange garden.

Oranges at Schonbrun Orangerie Schonbrun

Bratislava Old Town charms us

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View over the Danube from Bratislava Castle

Bratislava old town

The missing posts before I started blogging about Velo-city and our summer holiday were the two days we spent en route in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia.

We were there for the annual general meeting of ECF, my employers, when we bring our members together for a couple of days to do the formalities of running an international association, but also to catch up with old friends from the cycle campaigning world.

Bratislava was selected because we wanted to be in proximity to Vienna so many people could travel on the following week, but to give us a chance to meet in a different environment with a different community.

The meeting itself fulfilled all those expectations but a residing memory will be the number of people who said “Wow, Bratislava, I never knew”

The old town and the castle that overlooks it have been charmingly restored to provide a historic and largely car free environment that are a delight to wander. Bratislava Square

Much of the restoration is quite recent, friends from neighbouring countries were as surprised by the centre as us first timers, reporting that even twenty years ago Bratislava was dark, dirty and industrial. Outside the centre are apparently some of the communist era’s largest housing estates and old industrial centres but as a tourist in the centre one would never know.

The castle overlooks the city and has a great panoramic view over the Danube. It was a hot walk up to the top, especially the staggered staircase but once up there the view over the river and the red roofs of the old town was great, especially from the lovely terrace café.Bratislavský hrad Slovakia Roofs of Bratislava old town

June 2013, Slovakia

The warm weather was also particularly welcome because lets face it we have had a truly awful winter and spring. Time to take a bowl of one of the local delicacies, sheep’s cheese with pasta, and chill out.Slovakia

I have been told so many times by cycle tourists that they get so fixed on the riding that they forget to stop and actually appreciate the towns and cities they ride through. I can imagine that riding the Danube cycle route (part of Eurovelo 6) one could just forget to turn into the old city set just back from the waterside in Bratislava or avoid climbing the hill to the castle.

That would be a huge mistake. And it would be unfair to our hosts, the Ekopolis Foundation (Nadácia Ekopolis, known also as the Slovak Environmental Partnership) and Slovenský Cykloklub who certainly showed us a new destination to enjoy. Bratislavský hrad SlovakiaSlovakiaBratislava Old Town Marks Gate

17 days in Slovakia and Austria – lots to catch up on

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Austria, Salzkammergut, Upper Austria
Salzburg AustriaTomorrow the nine hour train journey from Salzburg to Brussels will mark the transition from holiday back to reality. The hotel wi-fi has enabled me to download the dreaded emails and the Salzburg weather has turned foul in celebration.

If I count all the photos and stories that are bubbling round in my brain I could be posting for two months but I am sure some of it will fade, sometimes an idea that just seemed right at the time turns to mush when confronted with a keyboard.

However stand by for a sequence which will include the unexpectedly delightful Bratislava old town, deep immersion into the cycling frenzy of Velo-city Vienna and then a week’s relaxation by the beautiful Attersee in the Upper Austria (Oberosterreich) region. It is part of a great tourism area marketed as the Salzkammergut and thoroughly recommended.

A great time, loads of cycle chat and some lovely images to share. Now I just need another holiday to write it all up!

Well that was good!

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TaiwanWonderful Taiwanese hospitality today with the family of Hsin-wen Chang, head of the Bike-Friendly Environment Planning Studio project at Chung Hua University in Hsin Chu, about 100km from Taipei. She is not only a great enthusiast for cycling but a really welcome host – what more can one say!

First a tasting of Taiwanese tea with full ceremony and then an ever expanding meal at a favourite restaurant. Plenty of dishes I have never seen or tasted before washed down with more tea and rice wine.

A great way to relax after the intensity of the Taipei Cycle Show. More to come on tea, food and cycling in Taipei when I get back and sort all the photos and stories.

Meal in Hsin Chu, Taiwan

Taking tea, Taiwan style

Is this the finest railway station in the world?

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It’s been a bit of UK week. Speaking about UK cycling at a public enquiry by video link on Monday, then the slightly odd feeling of being a returning visitor to London on a lovely spring day yesterday. Only six months away, but it did feel strange.

I’ve got a couple of posts that will come from both those experiences but first a travel thought.

So many visitors that arrive in London by Eurostar train just head for the underground (the Tube) so they leave their arrival station without ever stepping outside. Because I walk and cycle I always get to take in the wonderful Victorian buildings of St Pancras station which I regard as the finest railway station I know, an opinion apparently shared by travel writer Simon Calder who apparently called the redeveloped terminus  “the world’s most wonderful railway station”.St Pancras Station London

Yesterday the low afternoon sun picked out the gothic detailing almost perfectly. I have never stayed at the Renaissance Hotel which took over the refurbished Midland Grand Hotel in the main frontage but one day I am going to treat myself. However even if you are just visiting London don’t dash off to the West End or the City without appreciating London St. Pancras.

For the history of this great station the Wikipedia entry is here

The Danube always makes a huge impression on me

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Margit Bridge

Even  though I am stepping out on a cold misty morning today the Danube never fails to excite me.

Partly it is the huge size, partly I can look down river and catch a first glimpse of the buildings of Budapest along the banks. But it has always done this whenever I have come to it on trips.

But also I think about this amazing corridor that links so many capital cities and countries, running from Germany to the Black Sea. How much human history has been seen along these waters. Something of the exotic perhaps? As a Brit we are often far removed and sadly uneducated about much European history, but when I get the Danube I always feel I should know more.

It is a long standing ambition to cycle the eastern section. Today I will have to content myself with this first view and some cycling along its great cycle paths later.

When you open the shutters in an Italian hotel room it is essential that…

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Hotel Siena

….the sky is blue, the rooftops are red and the street is bustling with noise.

Welcome to Verona, city of Romeo and Juliet.

More from the weekend at the EICA bike show to come later.