Tokyo (東京)

When in Tokyo, I was amazed by the cleanliness and the perfect shape of the city!! Everything is so neat, new, organised... but... of course, either you fit in the Japanese standards... either you are out!

THE ONLY ONES THAT CAN FIT IN THE JAPANESE STANDARDS ARE THE JAPANESE!! So... all the others, we are OUT!!!

Pffff... just one word to describe them: JA-PA-NESE!! Forget it...

Anyone that can speak Japanese AND ENGLISH that can explain me how to take the subway!!!???


Anyone that can direct me in this HORRIBLY MESSY subway corridor!!!???

Yokohama (横浜) - The Hikawamaru

While in Yokohama I had the opportunity to visit the Hikawamaru. In 1930, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), launched 3 new cargo-passenger ships – the Hikawamaru, Hiye-maru and Heian-maru – on the Yokohama-Seattle route. The Hikawamaru was the first of these ships, completed at the Mitsubishi Yokohama Dockyard on April 25 1930, and departing on its maiden voyage to Seattle on May 13 1930.

The Hikawamaru was built at a cost of 6.5 million yen (equivalent to over 12,000 million yen today). In the records of its many pre-war voyages are the names of the comedian Charlie Chaplin in 1932 and Japanese Prince Chichibu (¡¡TIO GUARRO EL CHICHINABO ESTE!!) and his wife on their return to Japan from Canada (following a visit to the U.K.) in 1937. Post-war voyages carried young students including Fulbright exchange students between Japan and the U.S., and Takarazuka Kageki Troupe also performed on board as they were heading on tour to the U.S. and Canada in 1959.

The Hikawamaru was retired in 1960. During its long period of service before and after the war, the Hikawamaru made 238 crossings through the rough waters of the North Pacific and carried 25,000 passengers. The Hikawamaru has been viewing the green harbor of Yokohama since 1961, the year that Yokohama celebrated the 100th anniversary of the opening of its port.

This is me... ¡Hola!


The commander's room:


The High-Tech command post:


The navigator:


These Japanese always think about everybody, even the non-Japanese speakers...
THANK YOU DEAR OPEN-MINDED AND THOUGHTFUL NATION!!! ...


Economy:


Business:

First:


Just like in the planes!
Little note: I ALWAYS FLY ECONOMY...!!! :-(

Yokohama (横浜)

One fine day, I found myself in Yokohama, the second biggest city in Japan after Tokyo and the biggest sea port in the country. It has a density of 8,050 hab./km²...

From my room, I could see this big wheel and Japan's tallest building: the Mintato Mirai tower.




This is the view of the city from the port:


And this is the funniest monument I have seen, made with containers! (Watch-out the guy with his mobile... soooo Japanses!)


This is the name of one of the subway stations... "¡¡BECHAMEL CHICHI!!" lol

Belgrade - Beograd - Београд (Serbia)

On one day, I asked the hotel to find me a private driver to take me on a tour event if the weather was horrible, cold and extremely foggy!

After breakfast, I went to the hotel lobby and found this guy that looked more like a tramp than like a driver! --> long beard, dirty fingernails, broken clothes, old shoes... But finally he ended-up speaking Spanish, French, English and Serbian! He took me to great places and provided interesting explanations. So I visited several monasteries and the city of NoviSad by the rims of the Danube! Serbia is a poor but beautiful country!









During the day, we talked a lot about wine and I told him how fond I was of wine. So at the end of the day, he took me to a quiet village, stopped the car, asked me to get out, locked it and asked me to wait. I asked him what we were doing there, in front of a small house with a rusty metallic gateway.

I replied "It's a surprise"... UHU! I must admit that I was quite scared and the barking dogs on the street were not helping. After he knocked at the metallic door, an old strange man opened the door. The driver asked me to get in the house's backyard... I was really starting to be scared! After going through a dirty walkway full of oil and brown liquids spilled on the floor and after being approached by two dogs (one with a broken tail), we ended-up in a strange garage full of bottles of wine. The driver had taken me to a guy's cellar that was making his own "BERMET" (spicy wine)!!!
WHAT A GREAT SURPRISE!
I came back home with 9 bottles of spicy Serbian wine... MIAM!

Belgrade - Beograd - Београд (Serbia)

WOW! I can't tell you how surprised and happy I was one day. As I was walking along the street, I saw on the wall (behind a guy) a picture of a man that looked like Bryan Adams. I stepped closer to the wall and I saw that it was indeed a poster advertising Bryan Adams' concert in Belgrade on that same night! So I rushed to the nearest ticket sales office and went to see Bryan Adams in Belgrade! YES!!! Great concert and amazing ambiance!


Also, walking on the streets, I ended-up in front of the Instituto Cervantes... I didn't even know that there was one in Belgrade!


Finally, I saw on a building this picture of Slobodan Milosevic...
WHAT THE HELL!!!???

Belgrade - Beograd - Београд (Serbia)

While there, I passed in front of the University where there were many students protesting. It was really funny coz they were complaining against the American foreign policies and they were playing very loudly Ramstein's "We don't live in Amerika" song! Great students!

Here is a picture of the University... beautiful building!

Belgrade - Beograd - Београд (Serbia)

Yuhu!

For few days I went to Belgrade! mmm... in November... so unfortunately I had a quite bad weather and extremely foggy! And I don't know why, all the city was FULLY BOOKED! So extremely complicated to find a hotel to stay at... so I had to stay in the most expensive hotel in town! (NICE!)

The city has very nice buildings and Serbians are friendly! The problem is that they have all these old Russian cars that are soooo smelly... PUAJK!!

Well... here are some pics about the buildings you can find in Beograd!

Beatiful Conférération Helvétique (Switzerland)

A funny Swiss car:

A X'Mas market:

Time for bratwurst!!

Beatiful Conférération Helvétique (Switzerland)

My globe trotting drove me to a town that is very close to France and to the German border: BASEL.

As the rest of Switzerland, the city is absolutely clean, cute, pleasant and charming. The city developed along the Rhine river and its centre is set on a hill. The architecture is colouful and pretty.