First - prices. A decent hotel - not swanky - about $200/night, with air conditioning. The breakfast though, was excellent. Yes, a buffet, as mentioned, but chock full of soft boiled eggs, yogurt, good bread, fresh fruit, cold cuts, butter, block cheese, and infused water. Incidentally, courtesy of grandparents growing up who were from the Baltics, I was in heaven, especially after I managed to get my hands on smoked salmon and pickled herring. Your mileage likely varies - but even the more n…
All posts in Europe
If you're looking at stats on the worlds happiest cities in terms of pollution, healthcare, etc., including a number of metrics that skew towards massive central control, and at or near the top you'll find Copenhagen, in Denmark. While not all of Denmark is on islands, a lot of it, including Copenhagen itself, is, and the city is within easy view and shot of Sweden, with a bridge connecting the two. The bridge is the one which kicks off a scandinavian series of that name, later redone as a Briti…
A second general observation before I get into some more specific stuff, but Europe came across as a bit schizophrenic. Yes, on the one hand, if you read the official news reports and proclomations of government, if you watch how England cowers before rape gangs and vans of peace, how Merkel invites in the world, and how the Swedish government treats those who might be radicalized by noticing the problems that bringing in third worlders hath wrought, you'd think they're all cosmopolitan and coul…
It's been an interesting few weeks. I'm not going going to take a short bit of time spent overseas as a massive insight, but a) I grew up speaking several foreign languages, b) I've had a number of friends from overseas, and c) spent most of my time there with family and friends who live there - so this also isn't simply "redneck opines on things he doesn't understand" either. This will also turn out to be a bit of a series. Several thoughts off the bat. First,…
The iconic image of the terrorist attack in 2016 in Nice, France is the one above of the little girl's dead body, her doll next to her, covered. And yes, it is a terrorist attack. Perhaps those in charge realize that naming these things "truck attacks", or pretending there's not a cultural commonality to a disporportionate number of them, as the tenor of the reporting has changed with the latest incident [https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/11/gunshots-in-center-of-french-city-strasbourg-leave-at-lea…