New York Boston Chinatown bus

Patrick New York, Travel

Getting to Boston from New York was pretty easy with the Fung Wah bus, one of a handful that depart from Manhattan’s Chinatown. Costing only $15 each way, we boarded a comfortable large bus each way. We had read about the smaller shuttle buses, the small, uncomfortable ones you’d imagine you might hire for a short trip or see frequently at airports and such and fortunately we didn’t get any of them in their fleet.

fungwah

The ride itself was pretty smooth despite heavy snow falling on our way back. Total travel time was just over four hours to Boston but obviously subject to whatever traffic lies between the two cities.

With the measly price that they charge, it’s a bargain that makes you wonder why you might pay for anything else.

Back in New York

Patrick New York, Travel

After spending my first Christmas in London, I find myself back in New York visiting family and friends. Christmas ended up the same as what one would be at home with plenty of movies, food and family, which this year we ended up skype-ing in via webcam. Our virtual family gathering was great fun and made me realist how I don’t really miss the hear or humidity at this time of year in Australia.

Having done most tourist attractions in New York, this year my sister and I had a trip planned to visit Boston. I can’t wait for that because I had so many great memories of the city when I visited it, now, seven years ago.

A long weekend in Barcelona

Patrick Travel

In an endeavour to escape the bitter cold of England, I’d booked to travel to Barcelona a couple of weekends ago with my mate Nikhil. Unfortunately we didn’t escape the cold as we’d expected with temperatures on par with the near zero degrees but at least we had perfectly blue skies for almost the entire weekend. We stayed in a small hotel just one street away from the main tourist drag, La Ramblas, full of touts and tourist traps. They even had an excessive number of questionable ladies of the night, who were, frankly, rather direct in their approach with people walking up and down the street. Other than that, everything else made me think that Barcelona is a wonderfully liveable city.

Barcelona

Barcelona has plenty of sights to see if you’re visiting for the weekend, with plenty of amazing Gaudi buildings sprawled throughout the city, and his influence still affecting many designs today. I think we managed to visit pretty much all of the buildings, at least from the outside, since each cost at least €8 to walk around inside and would have cost us over fifty quid each time. Casa Milà is an amazing building, full of rounded edges and strange looking balconies. Fortunately they also have a free museum at the bottom that allows you small glimpses of the interior of one of Gaudi’s buildings. We also visited the, never to be finished for another hundred years, Sagrada Familia, an impressive gothic church, the outdoor area with a great view of the city Park Guell, and the George and the Dragon tribute Casa Batlló. I also made a special trip out to see Barcelona’s version of the Gherkin, the Torre Agbar that appeared much more luminescent though is also not as tall.

Building

Food is a huge part of the Spanish lifestyle and with plenty of cafes, bars and restaurants to whittle the time away it was almost too hard to choose which ones to go to. Unfortunately one of the things that I couldn’t quite get used to was the siesta period that means that all of these places shut from early afternoon to about 8 in the evening when they start to reopen. On one evening, to avoid freezing in the cold outside, we even stopped at an Irish bar until we thought some of the restaurants would be open again. I’d highly recommend people visit the La Boqueria market, off a side street from La Ramblas, where all the locals go to buy all their local produce and plenty of quick, cheap and amazing quality lunchtime foods.

Ham

On the Saturday night we went out to battle the only rain that we had for the entire weekend, to watch the Barcelona vs Madrid football match. We had hoped to find a bar full of local supporters to watch the game with plenty of places with TV screens but all we could find was a whole heap of other foreigners trying to do the same. Fortunately it was a great match with with the first goal of the evening falling in the last ten minutes against Madrid, shortly followed by the finishing second goal that stirred everyone in the audience to celebrate.

Beach at Night

I got a good sense walking around the city that Barcelona has a wonderful life and work balance. I’d definitely like to return (though this time in the summer) and just relax into the Spanish lifestyle, complete with siesta and all. Find the photos from the weekend here.

Christmas Markets in Frankfurt

Patrick Travel

The combination of commuting a fairly long distance for work, and several weekends away means that I haven’t had a chance to catch up on the blog. Fortunately the weekends away have all been put to good use, and that means anything not related to work. Three weekends ago now, I ended up in Frankfurt for a long weekend. The combination of cheap flights with Ryanair, and an offer to stay at my mate, Martin’s place meant that there was little reason not to go.

Euro

Frankfurt is home to the “financial capital” of Europe, and is also the place where I believe the Euro is minted. Like most financial cities, it’s chock full of commuters, since why would bankers want to live in the city where they work when they can afford many other places to live? This means that strangely enough, when I got there Thursday evening, it seemed much busier than the rest of the weekend. I’d have to recommend anyone flying for the weekend to avoid flying Ryanair to Frankfurt. Firstly, they fly in the inappropriately named Frankfurt-Hahn airport that is actually in Hahn, and is two hours away from Frankfurt. Of course, there is a bus (which is additional) but it only departs every hour. Fortunately I wasn’t so much so in a rush.

Frankfurt

I don’t know what it is, but I really enjoyed my time in Frankfurt. Despite the terrible weather where it seemed to rain more on than off, the area really seemed very liveable to me, and I think I really liked the thought of that. I wandered around many different parts, and even stopped in one of the many museums they had all around. I think the museum was one of modern art that had a exhibition showcasing the works of Takashi Murakami. Some of the works were amazing, with large statues built out of his drawings to be more than lifesize simply breathtaking, whilst a number of others slightly odd and definitely much more risque (NSFW). Funnily it wasn’t at all hard to remember that I was in Germany with so many attendants all over the place making it impossible to take any pictures. One even shouted at me in German as I leant forward to take a closer look at some figurines behind glass. I’m guessing she was saying to not touch it, but for that particular display, I couldn’t see how I would have been able to.

bbq

Of course, one of the great things about visiting Germany at this time of year is all the Christmas markets, crammed with loads of tourists and locals buying Christmas decorations and memorabilia and tucking into all the grilled sausages, fried potato mixtures and the must have Gluwein (mulled wine), perfect when surrounded by tons of people in the cold and needing just that little bit extra to keep you warm.

Kerstin and Martin

I have to thank my wonderful host, Martin for letting me crash at his awesome pad – something you’d never ever be able to afford in, or around London and its great location made it easy to get in and out of Frankfurt, and had an ever better night in Mainz with his girlfriend, Kerstin, at the much larger Christmas markets practicing what little German I knew and just enjoying the overall Christmas spirit. Check out the rest of the photos from the weekend here.

I like jumping in ice puddles

Patrick Travel, UK Life

… was the quote in the guest book when Wes and I went hiking around Loch Muick. This weekend, I went to visit both Wes and Stacey who’d moved to Aberdeen about six months ago, some good friends from back home in Australia. I’d spent all of about two hours in Aberdeen before, on a previous trip to the Speyside region, though this time I was looking forward to just hanging out, and seeing the local countryside for a bit of a winter walk.

Everyone I’d talked to about going hiking in north Scotland at this of year thought I was mad given the combination of short hours of sunlight, and the cold and wet weather conditions making it all the more difficult. I had come prepared though with thermals, over trousers and new hiking boots and we certainly needed it. Luckily we had absolutely amazing weather for pretty much most of the weekend, with blazing blue skies full of sunshine (at least when the sun was up) and the only chill coming from the winds.

Wes had Friday off so we planned out our hike Thursday night, looking for one that would take around four hours as we had to account for the small number of sunlight hours. We settled for a lakeside hike instead of a peak, as Loch Muick was something that he was yet to do and I was happy to see a loch (i.e. lake) in great weather. It also helped that it was within reasonable driving distance. We stopped in Ballater on the way to grab some sandwiches for lunch, and with a backpack full of supplies we started out on the trek.

Bitterly cold doesn’t really begin to describe the first parts of our walk with a strong gust flowing over the loch that continually cut into our face. Despite the many layers we both wore, it still proved to be a shock to the system. The wind eventually died down by the time that we hit the lakeside, and we got to enjoy the amazing scenery. We managed to see some amazing scenery including some awesome frozen puddles, a gushing waterfall, some deer, and what we think was black grouse (it was a black bird with a red beak that looked like the combination between a duck and a chicken). Somehow we also ended up chasing a pheasant on our drive back, and randomly passed a peacock that happened to sit in someone’s backyard. Exhausted, we had a dinner at the Potarch Hotel, carpeted with far too much tartan, but at least had a very warming fireplace to sit by and enjoy dinner.

Stacey joined us on Saturday, and we all celebrated the news of her passing her recent exam that she’d been studying for quite a number of months. We had a lovely day, heading out to places like Stonehaven (which I still can’t pronounce as the locals do), seeing a frosty beach (what the?), and the lovely Dunnottar Castle, that sits alongside the coast on what looks like a donut shaped island. We also ended up having a great dinner at Cafe 52 (with fairly poor service) though a cosy room that fitted us perfectly.

I had a wonderful weekend, and I have to thank Wes and Stacey for being such wonderful hosts, sharing their wonderful lifestyle with me, and giving me a great local tour of the surrounding area. Find the rest of the photos from the weekend here.

Day tripping in Manchester

Patrick Travel, UK Life

Since I was in the area for Agile North, I took another day off work to hang around in Manchester because my last visit had been less than an afternoon, and I did want to test if there was really any truth to the, “It’s grim up north” comments you hear about all the time. I arrived fairly late on a Thursday evening, shattered from the full on conference day, and ended up on a slow train between Preston (where the conference was) and Manchester.

Unfortunately I didn’t really get much of an impression of what Preston was like – it seemed to be a large University town, and since most people seemed to be travelling in from around the area, instead of from the area, I figure there wasn’t too many IT opportunities around. Anyway, back to Manchester.

I stopped at the Manchester Oxford (Street) train, one of four major train stations in Manchester as it was closer to the hotel I stayed at than any of the other ones. As I found out on Friday, all of the stations aren’t actually too far away from each other, and that Manchester itself is extremely pedestrian-friendly. I grabbed a bite to eat at a non memorable Thai restaurant, before walking around the area and turning in for the night. I noticed several places around town setting up for the Christmas markets, and a gigantic, very rounded Santa perched next to, what I think was, their Town Hall.

Waking up the next morning, I skipped the breakfast since I had dinner so late and proceeded to walk around town. Most people were on their way to work, and it was once again nice to have a day off when everyone else seemed to be a terrible (not quite London pace) rush to get to their office place. Like many English cities, Manchester has it’s fair share of cobblestoned roads that admittedly make it a bit of challenge to walk fast, particularly when they’re covered with a slick from the continuous light drizzle.

I stopped at Katsouris Delicatessen (113 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 2BQ) hoping that they would make some great coffee, and they certainly disappoint. That latte kept me going all the way to lunchtime as I walked around. I love the fact that the space invaders also managed to hit up Manchester on their visit to England. Although I enjoyed seeing all that there was to see in Manchester, it definitely had a bit more of a homely feel, and I can understand why people might enjoy living up there.

My highlight of the day was making it out to SportsCity, where I had prebooked a ticket to do the Manchester City Experience, or basically a guided tour around the Manchester City Football Club grounds. As you can see from the picture above, we got to get up very close to all different parts of the stadium, including the different suite rooms they have available, the press room, the home city changing rooms, and the tunnel all the football players come running out of.

I think it definitely helped that our tour guide was an obviously fanatical fan, and recounted many of his own stories about events that happened in the stadium, turning the tour into something much more interesting. I didn’t realise how many different places football stadiums had for watching (with the above, very comfy chairs reserved for the more exclusive suite room season ticket holders). It also helped that there were only three of us on the tour, and so we had plenty of opportunities to ask our own questions and just take in the whole atmosphere. I loved the way they had the sun lamps blasting yellow light down on to the pitch, the fact that we were standing right next to where all the players would come running on, and I can understand the thrill that footballers must experience running into a roaring crowd.

I really wanted to spend a weekend in Manchester and the surrounding area, but due to prior commitments ended up having to return late on Friday. Fortunately I had prebooked an advance first class ticket on Trainline, that made the very long journey home less unpleasant.

Torino Salone de Gusto 2008

Patrick Food, Travel

Last weekend, I ended up in Turin, Italy with a couple of friends to visit the Slow Food Festival (Salone De Gusto). Appropriately located in Italy, the birthplace of the slow food movement, the festival represents all of the movement’s values and a showcase of many local (and not so local) ingredients and products.

Turin
The city reminds me a lot of what I remember of Milan. Between all the cross roads, the tall ceilings and just as tall windows, to the small amounts of graffiti. I do remember seeing distinctly less scooters around though that probably has more to do with the phenomenal Fiat presence in town and the fact that Turin simply has less people. Outfitted with plenty of piazzas to sit and lounge around, Turin seemed like a nice place. We didn’t really see many of the attractions that Turin had on offer, other than the outside of several buildings since most of the day we spent at the festival grounds.

Getting into the middle of town was pretty simple with a €5.50 bus ticket getting us into town in about an hour. On the way back, we decided to book a taxi (approximately €40) as it was easier than trying to find the bus in the morning.

The Festival
As far as food festivals go, Salone De Gusto has got to be on the largest that I’ve seen. Hundreds, if not, thousands of stalls and exhibits line a large exhibition ground and even in the two days we didn’t really cover all of it in great detail. The festival is split into different areas all focusing on different ideas. One part, all paid for, additional workshops offer people an extended experience either learning about a particular food, region or cooking technique with a local guide. Another area represents all the foods that the Slow Food movement protects, introducing unique and special regional foods whose unique attributes make it difficult to mass produce, and at the same time make it all that more appealing.

We spent a lot of our time in the maze of stalls where many different regions offered their wares for purchase and sampling, even including international representation from many other countries including England, France, Austria, Sweden and Norway. To give you idea of what sort of things they offered, some of the sections they labelled included Fruit, Vegetable and Spice Lane, Cheese Lane, Cured Meat Lane, Oil and Condiments Lane, Meat Lane, Fish Lane and Sweets and Spirits Lane. Of course, there was a special tent for beer (and wine) where small samples started for about €2 per glass.

Other than finding out about interesting ingredients and even more interesting ways of using them, the best part about this area had to be samples that a lot of the stalls gave out and I can easily say that I’ve probably never eaten so much cheese, meat and bread with olive oil (alongside many other small bites) in one day. We all enjoyed contrasting the sharp, salty harder cheeses with the softer cheeses from different regions, the subtle spices and saltiness of one cured meat to another. Many places also offer a small selection of tables to sit down and have a small meal (for an additional price of course) or small tapas like plates for a few euros.

Running over four days, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had one million people visit over the entire duration of the festival. Combined with the amazing experiences and the rare opportunity to see so experience so many different flavours in such a short time, it’s no wonder there just seemed to be a constant stream of people wherever you went.

The lifestyle
I have to say it’s hard to dislike the Italian way of life – after all it means having decent coffee available at all hours of the day, a cappuccino at breakfast, an espresso after lunch at a bar, or maybe while sitting in a piazza and another one to finish off a meal. It also helps that many cafes front onto a pedestrian square where you can sit, have a chat and watch the world go by. In the evenings, it means having a aperitif at a bar, nibbling on a few bites and a glass (or two) of wine before heading out to a dinner with lots of conversations.

Places I’d recommend
We were lucky that Luca had a friend who’d recommended a number of different places to eat before arriving, and with his handy Italian mobile rang up early to book these more popular restaurants. Of the two that we booked in advance (the others ended up already fully booked), the first had to be my favourite. Named Trattoria Dai Saletta, it’s a bit more of a homely restaurant complete with chequered tablecloth and a casual, bustling dining atmosphere. They even had a course specifically for the Salone de Gusto with wine and Castelmagno cheese sponsored by Asti. We started with a sampling trio of pasta with the best being the ravioli stuffed with truffle and the soft gnocchi in a creamy Castelmagno cheese sauce and followed up with a course that involved meat (I had a very soft veal served with a hazelnut butter sauce). We finished this meal off with a few glasses of their house dessert wine, served from a small glass keg they brought around from table to table. Time flew by so quickly that we ended up as the last people in the restaurant.

Lavazza 10 San Tommaso

Home of the original Lavazza coffee house, this is a must visit for any coffee or foodie aficionado since they offer more than just great coffee and pastries, also offering the unique creation instrumented by Catalan chef Ferran Adria (of Il Bulli fame) named “espesso” (no, that’s not a typo). The espesso range of drinks are mainly foam based creations to provide a very different texture to coffee.

The Details

Trattoria Dai Saletta found at Via Belfior 37, 10125 Torino, and contactable on 011.688.78.67

Lavazza 10 San Tommaso found at San Tommaso, 10, 10122 Torino, and contactable on 011.534201 or see their website: http://www.santommaso10.com/

Check out the photos from the weekend here.