Out And About.

[mongers]

Planning on doing a few day trips by train next month, nothing adventurous, furthest is Hastings, a massive 125miles away which takes 4+ hours with three changes of train. 

Including 3+ hours waiting for the next change of trains? 

 

Not impossible, recently on a train to Wales and I got just one station along the line (30km away) and then no train moved through the Bristol area for about 6-7 hours.

And I complained when I had to wait for 4 hours in the middle of nowhere in Spain (Medina del Campo) to get a train to the Portuguese border. 

 
Well you had the scenery to look at, I doubt Westbury in wiltshire could compete with your locale.

[Duque de Bragança]

Planning on doing a few day trips by train next month, nothing adventurous, furthest is Hastings, a massive 125miles away which takes 4+ hours with three changes of train. 

Including 3+ hours waiting for the next change of trains? 

 

Not impossible, recently on a train to Wales and I got just one station along the line (30km away) and then no train moved through the Bristol area for about 6-7 hours.

And I complained when I had to wait for 4 hours in the middle of nowhere in Spain (Medina del Campo) to get a train to the Portuguese border. 

 
Well you had the scenery to look at, I doubt Westbury in wiltshire could compete with your locale.

That part of the meseta is not exactly scenic.  Still a couple of stops before Zamora ™Crossroads of the World™.
Plus, the – old – station is the city centre, and the only somewhat cool (literaly) place. Hitting the streets around noon is bad idea unless getting sunburnt is the plan.
The new station, for the high-speed train links (goodbye network effect), is 4 km away so 1 hour on foot, possibly more, luggage depending.

[garbon]

A couple random observations from my time in Porto.

1) The international departures lounge has a functional Street Fighter II arcade.



2) My brain is going to have to erase the information I learned about how to successfully update one's metro card to a new destination.

• Select recharge card
• Put card in reader
• Select change title
• Select zone
• Select add title
• Select number of titles
• Select invoice without tax payer ID
• Select pay with card
• Insert card
• Enter okay on key pad
• Enter pin on key pad
• Remove credit card
• Take travel card and receipt

[Syt]

I'm having the week off - since my cleaning company was coming today I decided to take the opportunity to got to Schönbrunn to get an annual ticket for the zoo (it's priced so if you go only three times you make your money back ... which says more about the price of the day ticket (EUR 29) than anything else.

It's been probably over 10 years since I last went, and it was nice. Quite a few changes, and some construction going on. Also, good way to get in 15,000 steps. Middle of the week, but still quite busy. First, many tourists. Chinese couple, Japanese couples, heard a family speaking Greek, another Hebrew, plus lots others. Also, loads of school and kindergarten classes (which I tried to stay clear of ). Also classes from abroad - some Hungarian school class, Polish teens, plus others whose language I couldn't ID.

Didn't see all animals - some were hiding (most big cats, the polar bears, the wolves), and some were just a bit crowded. Still took my time to just stop and watch instead of rushing from animal to animal.

Went to Schönbrunn parks afterwards - didn't feel like walking up to the Gloriette today, but the view would have been nice. I like the gardens, because if you stay away from the main paths it tends to be rather quiet and relaxing between the coifed hedgerows.







They have a small museum exhibit about the Austrian expedition that to Franz-Josef-Land. In 1874, one of the commanders, Wayprecht, was struggling to motivate his crew. He wrote down his situation in a note and put it into a bottle and threw it over board. The bottle was discovered by Soviet scientists in 1978 and sent to Austria in 1980. This is the letter.


"When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"


Me, too, rhinos. Me, too.




Persian Onagers. I think I'll go with catapults and trebuchets, tbh.


Trying out my phone's 10x zoom. It goes up to 100x with AI support, but I can't hold it still enough.


Capybaras. The best of all animals.


One of the most dangerous creatures in the world.


Racist panda making chinaman eyes and mocking chopsticks.


Schönbrunn gardens. Tried to increase draw distances, but the trees in the foreground stayed low poly detail.








I guess the Habsburg liked some kind and sensitive person contents?
EDIT: I see Jake's auto-replace is still in place

[Maladict]

Very nice, Syt

[mongers]

Yes, thanks Syt and has partially inspired me to plan a zoo visit .

[Syt]

Yeah, it was really an enjoyable day out. And I took well over 100 photos and a few videos, though the ones of aquariums and terrariums didn't turn out great due to lighting.

[HVC]

A couple random observations from my time in Porto.

1) The international departures lounge has a functional Street Fighter II arcade.



2) My brain is going to have to erase the information I learned about how to successfully update one's metro card to a new destination.

• Select recharge card
• Put card in reader
• Select change title
• Select zone
• Select add title
• Select number of titles
• Select invoice without tax payer ID
• Select pay with card
• Insert card
• Enter okay on key pad
• Enter pin on key pad
• Remove credit card
• Take travel card and receipt

Besides the transit how did you like porto?

[garbon]

Besides the transit how did you like porto?

I liked it. I've only ever been to Lisbon before (3 times!) so it was a nice change of pace. Really pretty urban views and a bit of that vibe of crumbling buildings that somehow still look cool (while I'd consider them horrors in the US/UK). Good food at great prices. Got my fill of some really interesting churches (averaged 2-3 per day). I saw plenty of the pilgrims (many Americans) for the Camino and recalled my sister doing that though she isn't religious. I was also there wwhen all the FC Porto fans celebrating on Saturday.

I did have some lame issues with my hotel which I'll sort out via online reviews and the complaints book but that's pretty minor in the scheme of things.

Only sights I didn't like was the day we went over to Vila Nova de Gaia. It felt on river level like a shitty UK beach town / SF Fisherman's wharf or with odd things like WOW Porto that felt like a vacant convention centre.

I'm not sure though that I quite get how people in advance told me that they 'loved' Porto or told my husband 'they'd move there in a heartbeat'. It was a good trip but I think in the future, I'd explore some of the other regions of Portugal rather than go back to Porto bar as a pitstop on a longer itinerary.

[HVC]

Yeah, Porto is either a love it or just kind of like it situation. Some people really like the aesthetic and "roughness" of it. I didn't really like the ruins/dilapidation aspect of it. But apparently in the last few years it's gotten/getting better as foreign money is moving in more (guess Lisbon got too expensive ) . Aesthetically it's getting better, but I guess for locals there's the catch the they might get priced out.

One part I really liked is that it's much better for day trips. You have Guimaraes, Braga, and Aveiro real close by, for example. Plus Matosinhos if you like seafood and shitty beaches With Lisbon there's really only Sintra, but that's only the castle and nothing else to see. Plus Cascais if you want to people watch rich foreigners playing at being expats.

Also, if you're doing trips in the future Nazare is cool. Lost a lot of the old charm (old women in traditional clothes) as the old people die off, but it's still nice, and has good views. Plus it's where my moms side of the family comes from.


*edit* close by NA standards, I guess. You tell some Europeans an hour is close and they look at you weird

[garbon]

Thanks for the suggestion with Nazare.

Yeah we did end up going to Matosinhos on our last day, nothing remarkable but nice to have cocktails in the sun. We'd looked at Braga but with Bom Jesus as the draw, looked liked we'd really have needed a car. (Actually we looked at Guimaraes and Averio too but given it was Sunday, did Serralves and then Matosinhos instead).

I went to Sintra with family on my 3rd trip to Lisbon. It is also where I interviewed via phone a person who turned out to be a terrible hire.