Piknic Electronik
It’s an institution on Sundays, on Île Ste. Helene in the middle of the St. Laurent river. Piknic Electronik, a Montreal outdoor party tradition with DJs playing house, techno music and other genres. It is held in Park Jean Drapeau from May through to September, right underneath a massive modern art metal sculpture, with a view […] Read More
Golden Gate
It turns out, not only San Francisco has a Golden Gate. Istanbul does, too. I wanted to make a walk along and on top of the city walls, the part that has been reconstructed… so I headed to the train station and hopped on a train in this direction (more on that adventure later) and […] Read More
That day
When I was a kid, I read this book with stories from the children in Hiroshima who survived the explosion, at least long enough to tell their story. Where they were on what they simply called ‘that day’, what they did when they saw that bright light, when they flew through the air, when they […] Read More
Sky high
Another trip up into the skies, this time on top of the Tokyo Sky Tree. Openend in 2012, it is the second tallest structure in the world, after the Burj Khalifa, coming in at 634 meters. It became necessary, as the Tokyo Tower, surrounded by numerous high buildings, could no longer transmit a full terrestrial […] Read More
Tokyo by night
Got a bit lost between the metro and the trains, and instead of going downtown Tokyo I decided I’ll pay a visit to the Tokyo Tower. Constructed in 1958, it’s reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower, even higher than its French counterpart with 333 meters. But somehow it looks smaller. Maybe because there are buildings around […] Read More
Christchurch
In the late afternoon I drove into the city center of Christchurch. Sure, I heard and read about the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes that killed 185 people… However I was totally unprepared to what was waiting for me. I had not expected to see a city that devastated. I imagined buildings standing, damaged, cracked, maybe […] Read More
Shaky grounds
My neighborhood is called Mount Victoria, after the highest peak in the city. I wanted to hike up there to get that famed 360 degree view over the city and the harbor, luckily a bus line went half way up – the rest of it was tough enough. On top, I was reward with a […] Read More
Tassie
Hobart, to be precise. I arrived in the afternoon in my hotel. I figured, this time no Airbnb. I’m only staying for four nights, and the places on Airbnb seemed to be not so central, or private cottages somewhere far out. My hotel, the Welcome Stranger Hotel in the center of town, is a funny […] Read More
Montevideo in the sun
This is the result from the afternoon walk through sunny Montevideo, pretty much the same places as yesterday, just with blue skies. The buildings in the centre are impressive, even in their run-down state. It wouldn’t need much to polish it up just a bit, without turning it into a fake Disneyland. However, it all […] Read More