Category: Observations

Hotel Technology

In Madrid we are staying in a four star business hotel but over the weekend so the rates are pretty low (80 euro a night). It has hard-wired ethernet but none of our devices can use it. The wireless is 10 euro a day, the typical pattern, the No-Tell Motel has free wireless but the fancy hotels charge for it.

The interesting thing is that it has phones by the toilet. I’m not sure when that was big but I imagine very few business travelers use the room phone these days.

Our hotel in Girona was also a four star hotel and it had phones in the bathroom as well as Sony entertainment system in the room that seemed like it was from the 1990s. No iPod connection. I guess you have to be careful about technology as it can become outdated so quickly.

Differences in ideas of personal responsibility

Post by Wynette the day after we got back: This blog has some stunning photos of Spain: Photos from Spain by Mike Randolph

This photo from his blog, posted on March 17, 2012, has the following caption:

Definitely not in Kansas anymore: A pathway along the Noguera Ribagorzana river, which separates Aragon and Catalunya in northern Spain, has no guardrails and no wire banister to hang on to. A single small sign at the trailhead tells hikers to watch their step, highlighting the difference between between Spain and places like the United States when it comes to ideas of personal responsibility.

Reminded me of the scary stairs down to the water that we saw, our photos posted April 12 and 17  with comment that I’m pretty sure in the States they’d be railed off and marked “Danger”.

I just realized, I don’t remember seeing a single sign with the word Peligrosa (Dangerous), but did see a number of things that would have been marked as such in the States.

Strictly Forbidden

We took the bus from Girona to the remote, coastal town of Cadaques. The bus has some strict rules:

No smoking, I am behind that 100%. No ice cream, okay, it drips and gets the seats and floor sticky. No hamburgers, okay, lots of saturated fats. But no lollypops! That is going too far. Off the bus, Lolita.

And don’t worry, we were in the second seat and not the first seat reserved for the old guy with the cane.

Bathroom Fixture Tour, continued

Post by Charlie: Some of you may think that I am obsessed with bathroom fixtures. Well so be it. Here is our sink in Girona. Still square but sloped for better draining and with a slider for hotel goodies on one side.

And you fellow bathroom fixture fans should check out our sink in Sorrento from last year’s Italy blog, linked to in a previous post.

Electric candles

Am I the only one fascinated by the concept of electric candles? I have never seen them in the US. As you know in Catholic churches (and maybe other ones too, I don’t know) you have places where you can light candles to remember people or whatever. They have these little candles and matches to light them. In Italy and here in Spain you don’t see real candles much, just the electric kind. In Italy there was a switch on each candle as I remember. Here in Spain you just drop your money in and some electric bulb lights up. They have them in front of the side chapels in large churches. I noticed that on some lots of “candles” (lights) were lit and some not so many. this was for some unpopular saint I guess.

Fashion report

We often see new fashions in our trips to Europe that we see a year or two later in the US. But maybe it is Albuquerque and the fashions are happening at the same time in New York, probably so. Anyway for those of you not living in New York, or Europe, we have been seeing a new fashion: women wearing short-shorts, often colorful, and knee-length soft leather boots. A good fashion for young women because only a young woman could pull it off without looking ridiculous.

Looking like a tourist

Post by Charlie: Of course, anyone can tell we are tourists, our unstylish American clothes to start with and on from there. Still sometimes it feels funny to be standing around looking at a map. I got an app for my iPod Touch called CityMaps2Go for $2 you get access to thousands of maps from all over the world. You can download the ones you want and access them offline. We have one of Toledo. So I can stand around looking at my map but look to all the world like some guy checking out his phone, as people do for hours at a time. Plus the kindle app has eight guide books downloaded to it.

Of course, if I had a real smart phone I would have all that integrated but that is too 21st century for me, and there are no monthly charges for this. I was thinking of getting a GPS attachment for my Touch but decided against it, maybe next time.

Speaking of phones, we have a limited sample but it seems like there is less use of phones at meals here, definitely some but less. I haven’t seen any cases of two people sitting at dinner and both staring at their phones. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it just indicates that we have entered a new era in interpersonal relations and I wonder a lot exactly where it will all lead. Some communication requires a lot of “wasted” time around it before you get to the really good communication. With a phone there there is no need to put up with any “wasted” time because there is always something else you could be doing.

WWTGBSVSWMTD

Post by Charlie: I got some more money from the cash machine today. When I went to Europe in 1969 I remember signing dozens of $10 traveler’s checks before going. Now you just get cash from the machine. We have a Capital One ATM card which does not have foreign transaction fees.

So I start the transaction and ask for 200 euro and then it tells me what that is in dollars and asks me if I want to do the transaction in euros or dollars. Hmm. Normally in situations like this I use the WWTGBSVSWMTD (what would the giant blood-sucking vampire squid want me to do) principle and just do the opposite. But the vampire squid is crafty, it doesn’t indicate which choice it wants me to make, equal screen space is given to both choices. I think the answer is in euros so the conversion is done back at Capital One instead of paying fees here but it is hard to tell for sure.

This is a new question this trip. I did a credit card transaction and they asked me the same question. A new method for the banks to squeeze more fees out of us no doubt. I guess I need to google this.