If you are ever in Florence...

...go to Osteria de Pazzi, at Via dei Lavatoi, 3 R.

Much is said about Bistecca Fiorentina but honestly, I did not find much to it. It was simple steak.

However, I had this steak at Osteria de Pazzi, that was out of this world! Cannot remember the name for the life of me, but everything looked great.

If I find the card from the other restaurant where I had a memorable pork cutlet, I will post it.

Bal Harbour - Beware when driving through

Driving through Collins Avenue, in Bal Harbour, is very pleasant to me. I do enjoy the broad boulevard, beautiful trees and open spaces and gardens of that particular borough. The lights at night make it even more pleasant. However, if you are a visitor to Florida, or even a local, beware.

There is a traffic law in Florida, which I consider a good one, that calls for drivers to reduce the speeds of their cars when approaching a parked emergency vehicle with lights on. This is meant to protect the emergency workers, such as policemen, paramedics and firemen, as well as the people they are attending to.

As I say, it is a good law, when emergency vehicles are actually serving the public in an emergency.
However, the local police likes to place on the southbound lane two police cars with lights on, which are not attending to any emergency. An officer might stop your car way before it even approaches the emergency vehicles, flagging you with a flashlight. Guess what? They will tell you that you are supposed to reduce the speed upon approaching/ passing an emergency vehicle, and give you a hefty $106.00 ticket. This has happened to me.


There are two things wrong with the scenario. First of all, it seems clear that the law calls for the vehicle to reduce its speed upon approach and passing of the emergency vehicle. If you are a couple of blocks away from the police car you are not yet approaching the emergency vehicle. The violation would take place if the driver passed the emergency vehicle without slowing the speed, not way before reaching the police car. The driver must be given the opportunity to violate the law, before being stopped and given a ticket.

The second wrong scenario is that this law exists to protect emergency personnel and victims, in actual emergency situations, not to make revenue for the city. Placing two emergency vehicles which are basically doing nothing, but giving tickets, erroneously amounts to a light version of an immoral sting operation.
I suppose out-of-towners end up getting most tickets, and I really have no idea whether these ever get paid. Locals mostly dispute these in local Traffic Clinics.

I do believe that with the current real estate market debacle this type of practice might be even more pervasive. Thousands upon thousands of real estate properties are going on the auction block, foreclosed, and who knows whether real estate taxes are being paid on time. I guess they are not. As these constitute the brunt of taxes collected by local communities, there will be strong revenue shortfalls across the board, most specially in South Florida, where real estate speculation ran rampant in the last few years. Thus the need to make up for the revenue shortfall somewhere...

Cargo in Portland

I had always heard that the Pacific Northwest is an enclave of communists and activist left wingers in general. I am neither, in fact, I don't believe I fit any particular political label, so I don't mean this with any disrespect for anybody's political proclivities.

Thus I was not surprised to find a shop in the Pearl district Portland, Oregon called Cargo. The shop is a communist emporium, containing a vast variety of red paraphernalia, that will make a follower of Mao or Che Guevara cry and go on a shopping binge.

I found the place interesting due to the paradox of it all. The communist always took pride on being very pragmatic about consumption in general and being anti-religion. However, Cargo is stocked up with tons of useless goods, that seem to defy the communist consumption view and seem more fitting with capitalist merchandising and McDonald's giveaways, and it has an aura of religious temple, in which the main saints are the Maos and Lenins of this world.

I guess the joke is on somebody, I am not sure who!

Key Largo

The good thing about living in Florida is that there are tons of interesting short trips you can take, to diverse locales. I had always had a fascination for the Florida keys, so I had to visit Key Largo, having visited Key West a few years ago.

If you are a beach person only, don't come, you will be disappointed. The beaches in the keys are not that great, I guess they have been eroded away and destroyed by development. If you like the sea and nature, by all means, this is a nice place.

We stayed at a Ramada almost at the end of Key Largo. We booked the place for a couple nights on Hotels.com at $140.00. The rate was not bad. We were slightly shocked when we booked an extra night for $109.00, though. So much for the cheapest guarantee made by the website! The hotel itself was not a five star stretch by any margin, but the rooms were nice, with all amenities, and very clean. The swimming pool was small, but nice, plus they have a jacuzzi. I guess we will leave that for winter, though...

There are plenty of activities in the nearby keys, such as Islamorada. Tons of snorkeling and diving offerings. Make sure you book the best for your level of sea comfort.

There is a nice wild bird sanctuary nearby Islamorada, where pelicans walk beside you as if you are not there. Watch out, they might push you. If you are lucky you might get to feed them.

The Theater of the Sea is a must to visit. Beautiful surroundings, good shows and nice animals.
However, plan on arriving before 3 PM, as they will not sell you a ticket after that time. It would be nice if their ads said so. Also, the swimming with dolphin adventure has to be better planned.

Just don't think you are going to arrive there and one of 125 dolphins will be ready for you. Places are limited and will cost you $168.00 a pop. Don~t go there if you are allergic to cats!!!!
Make sure you visit Ballyhoos restaurant. The service is well meaning, but quite pitiftul and amateurish, the surroundings indifferent, but the fish is out of this world.

Delta's customer service is crummy too

Some days ago I wrote about a problem I had on an Alitalia flight going from Miami to Rome. It turned out this was a code sharing flight, I bought the three tickets on Delta, but the flight was operated by Alitalia.

Since Alitalia's response was less than adequate, I decided to write Delta.
Of course, no email was provided, just one of those web based forms. These are suspicious, if you ask me, because they barely ever work on my sites, or sometimes they work on and off. But
I got a receipt from Delta.

This was, in fact, the only thing I got from Delta.

It is nice and dandy to advertise to the world that you fly to places you really do not fly to - in essence, that is what code sharing is. So as an airline you reap the benefits of having an extensive network. However, with benefits come responsibilities. If Delta finds it suitable to call the Miami-Rome flight its own, the least it could do is respond to complaints about it.

No such luck.

So I guess I have to strike to airlines from my list of preferred suppliers, Alitalia AND Delta.

Miami Beach is a dangerous travel destination

Police statistics are sunny for MB. That is, if you consider robberies, murders and things of the sort.

The danger lies in something we, residents, are very much aware of.
If you come to MB and rent a car, you might be prone to a very bad experience. No, it is not car theft. It is theft of a different kind.

There are good many merchants that have parking lots in Miami Beach. These are mostly ungated, free access parking lots. Beware of them.

You will notice there are signs in all of these parking lots, warnings with the name of one or another towing company. These operators are supposed to protect the private property from non client abuse, in other words, people park in company "x"'s free parking lot, and go to company "y" to do business. You would think that if you go to do business in the company that owns the parking lot, nothing will happen to you. Think again, fast!

I just had a very bad experience with a towing company, and found out, from reading on the Internet and speaking to friends, that I am not alone. In fact, almost every local resident has a horror story involving these two companies. The two "accredited" towing truck operators apparently tow away many cars that are not violating any parking privileges every day.

I did not know this was a problem until it hit, me, and apparently, many others. For some reading on the matter seehttp://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2007/05/surprise_youve_been_towed.php http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/04/oh_the_endless_joys_of_being_t.phphttp://www.miaminewtimes.com/1998-09-03/news/parking-and-politics/7 http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2007/04/beach_towing_strikes_again.php

In other words, you are really playing games when you go to a CVS or Chase parking lot in Miami Beach, because a ruthless Towing operator might be looming around the corner, just expecting another sucker dish out as much as $225 for retrieving his car. And this can happen any time of the day or night, mind you, in South Beach, North Beach, anywhere within MB. Beware because another car, parked with a "permit" might be there as a bait.

The horror stories are so many on the Internet, that you would think, how come nothing gets done about it? Well, it seems that the City of MB makes $25 for every tow, which adds up to more than $300,000 a year from both operators, quite a nice piece of change. So what if a few thousand tourists and quite a few residents get taken, year in and out? The majority doesn't, so the party goes on, while these two towing company operators continue to get rich.
By the way, there is a towing bill of rights that requires two operators to accept two forms of payment. You probably guessed it - at least Beach only takes cash.

My advice to you - if you dream of coming to MB for vacation, do not rent a car. Sorry, Hertz, Budget and all car rental companies. If you must drive, go somewhere else, there are many other beach towns in Florida. If you do drive, there is a big chance these two towing companies will spoil your party.

Don't say nobody warned you.

Therein lies the institutionalized danger of Miami Beach.

New York Gastronomic memories

I suppose I am thinking more about food than I should, because I am trying to lose weight. This means I am eating less than normal of course. I have been thus far successful in my quest, however, thoughts about my favorite restaurants pop up here and there as a result of my undereating.

As I lived in New York for more than 20 years, of course most of memories are from the Big Apple. I was never a wealthy person (too bad) so it was very unlikely you would see me in the Russian Tea Room or Le Cirque. Moderately priced restaurants were, and remain, my thing.
The problem with this type of restaurant is that they do not last long. Places that easily extract more than $100 per client have a better chance of surviving in the long run, and are better investments for their owners, than simpler eateries. So I am writing this post about restaurants that are no longer around.

As I am Brazilian, I will start with my favorite Brazilian restaurant. The Brazilian Pavillion was the best Brazilian restaurant of the 80s, when run by Joaquin Gonzalez. Service was impeccable, and dishes such as Churrasco Oswaldo Aranha and Frango no Catupiry, memorable. Joaquin knew how to run a tight ship, and dining experiences there were consistently positive. Unfortunately, he did not repeat this with Brazil 2000, a restaurant he opened on the West Side, when he leased the Pavillion to another restaurateur. Brazil 2000 had its flaws, and some of the spark was gone. Then Joaquin decided to change cuisines, and opened an Italian restaurant mid-town. I never went there, I already had a large roster of Italian restaurants up my sleeve. Eventually he died, I believe in his early 60s.

Another Brazilian restaurant that was interesting was Brazil Brazil, in the Upper West Side, nearby the Museum of Natural History. For some reason, I vividly remember the sausage that was served as appetizer. The owners had run another place called Rio de Janeiro, on 57th Street, which did not last long. Brazil Brazil was somewhat on the expensive side for a Brazilian restaurant, with flashy decor, and did not last long.

On the other end of the spectrum, Cabana Carioca was not expensive. However, it seemed a bit run down, dirty even, and service was at best poor. The food was tasty, but the poorly kept, filthy bathroom made you wonder about what happened in the kitchen. This was one place I thought would never close, but close it did. My best memory from Cabana Carioca was that this was the place where I proposed to my wife, not that I really meant it to be that way.
Unfortunately, the place where we celebrated our marriage also closed, Arlecchino at Bleecker Street. The first time I ate there it was called Trattoria Villaggio, and it served the freshest tomato I have ever eaten. Then, it changed hands. The new owner, Cesare, was very lively, sometimes the caricature of an Italian, very flirty with the ladies and nice with the guys. He had a lot of charisma, and the food was consistently good. Eventually Cesare left, and the place lost some of its aura.


Another Italian place I liked was called Prego, on 6th Avenue and 56th Street. It served a pasta called orecchiete with escarole and sausage that was out of this world. I have not seen this at any other place. Again, as dishes were often priced less than 10 bucks, the restaurant obviously did not survive a lease renewal and it simply vanished.

Victors Cafe had a place in 71st Street. As I lived on the West Side for a while, I ate at that Cuban restaurant quite a few times - good vaca frita. The waiters were a bit nasty, but the food was consistently good, so it did not matter. They insisted on having a tenor singing from table to table, which was a bit annoying.

I believe the best, classiest Chinese restaurant I have been to in New York was called Peking Duck, on the West Side. I don't eat duck, because it is my favorite animal. However, every dish Peking Duck served was delectable, and light. The owner was a very classy lady, and service was better than average, especially for a Chinese restaurant.

On the East Side, there was a Chinese place called Hunan Park (there are probably hundreds of places with similar names...) located on Second Avenue and I believe, 76th Street. It had a peculiarity - it served free white wine with every meal, with refills! But the one thing that made the trip worthwhile was a dish called Chicken Star, which I have not found any place else.
I like Greek food, and we used to go to a place called Plaka, on Bleecker Street. The food was good, and the ambience very Greek. The owner used to have long arguments with his friends, and suddenly shift into a laughing mode. Very bipolar. The place was gone before the 90's, but later I found out that real good Greek food can be found in Astoria, not Manhattan.

There was a Mediterranean cuisine place called Cafe Ovo, on third Avenue, that served a wonderful brunch on Sundays. I liked to go there after church. They always had dishes with lentils, which I love. It did not last long...

Belgium, the land of comic books

You might have heard that Belgium is the land of comic books. It is indeed the one country in the world where comic books are still popular, perhaps only Japan can rival it. There are tons of current artists, making comic books of all sorts, for children, adolescents, adults.
Such love for comic books can be felt all over town, in the souvenir shops especially. If Tintin ran for president in Belgium, he would probably win! There is so much Tintin merchandise to put Disney to shame.

Comic books are not to be found in newspaper stands, which, by the way, are few in Brussels. They are really books, with hard binding and all. Serious stuff.
Since I like comic books, I had to visit at least one of the comic book emporiums. I visited two.
Before you get to excited, thinking you will find reissues of old American comic books, slow down. You will find mostly (90%, I would say) Belgian goodies, some Disney, some Japanese material. No Little Nemo in Slumberland, Captain America stuff there. At least I didn't find it, and I did look.
I did find French Michel Vaillant books, and bought this one, that seemed to have an interesting story.

Additionally, most material is in French and Dutch. There are small English language sections. For the record, I also bought some Tintin material, including a book that tells how each Tintin album was created.

Alitalia from Miami to Rome

A lot of people like to travel in the destination country's airline when going overseas. The idea is to start absorbing the atmosphere even before you get there.

We took an Alitalia flight from Miami to Rome a couple of weeks ago. We actually bought a Delta ticket, but the flight was operated by Alitalia.

I will not bother you with the details of the over 6 hours of departure delay. This is a matter for another post, for there is a promise of compensation that I hope, will materialize.

From the get go, I knew I was entering an old plane. It was a 767. The lay out was old, with small space in the overhead luggage compartments, and side video screens. The seats were awful, and looked very tatty.

The staff on board was OK, but the food was not very good. So much for absorbing atmopshere before flying! Italy has wonderful food just about anywhere you go, Alitalia does not.

The advantage of flying non-stop was, of course, decimated by the long delay. In fact, we stayed for hours on end at the Miami airport, refusing to go back home. I worked a bit, so I did not waste time, but this essentially killed a whole afternoon in Rome. By the time we got to the hotel, it was over 4 PM.

Supposedly the delay was due to lack of equipment. I thought that perhaps the old 767 was a substitute plane. Much to my disappointment, this was the same plane on the way back.

Too bad that Alitalia, that has ten Boeing 777, and newer Airbuses on its fleet, decided that Miami is a subpar market, worthy of old planes.

Incidentally, the food on the way back was no better, in fact, it was worse than on the way to Italy. The seats appeared worse than before too, in fact, people were walking up and down the aisles, because they were so uncomfortable.

Thus, unless you are flying the Magnifica class, I cannot really recommend this Alitalia-Delta flight. I am, of course, assuming Magnifica is any better. Go American, you are certainly better off.

Thank God the trip was otherwise wonderful.

Hotel Bodoni, Florence

When I hear the word "cozy" attached to a description of a hotel, I normally cringe. Normally it is an euphemism for dump.

Well, the Hotel Bodoni, in Florence (Via dei Martiri del Popolo) is really a cozy hotel, in the best possible definition of the term and I recommend it. Good price, too.

First, the location is great. Walking distance to just about everywhere. Great restaurants, shops, sightseeing. There is a supermarket right across the street, a bank as well, plus a post office nearby - not that anybody uses such things these days. Warning - stamps are awfully expensive in Italy, so you may as well not mail anything. If you are happening to go to Belgium, do there, at half the price.

The hotel occupies the last two floors of an apartment building. It has a small elevator. The staff is very accommodating and most speak English. The decor is old, but again, cozy.

There is a dining room where they serve a very good breakfast buffet which includes, among other things, a machine that dispenses fresh squeezed orange juice. They also serve cheese, hard boiled egg, fresh and canned fruit, yogurt, ham, and baked products.

The rooms are not large, but again, this is Europe. We had a splendid view of Firenze from our window, and were greeted by birds every morning, in addition to a church bell. It really made you feel like you were there.

The furnishings were sufficient, nothing was broken, and the bathroom was good. For once, the toilet did not stink (a recurring problem in a number of European cities), and the shower was good. There was air conditioning in the room.

Plus, they kept the place really clean. Let me emphasize it, C-L-E-A-N.

Surely there are better hotels in Florence, but I doubt there is another one that gives as much bang for the buck.

Hotels in Curitiba

For family reasons had to stay several weeks in Curitiba, Brazil, in the months of September and October of 2008. I stayed in three different hotels, and would like to share my opinion of them.

Initially, I must say that Curitiba is a hospitable city, and I was treated well in all three hotels. In fact, in most cases the hotel staff did everything possible to accommodate my requests, and the friendliness and warmth prevailed in interactions with caregivers.

I stayed at the Raddison Hotel in Batel, Confiance at the Centre and the Holiday Inn Express Batel (which is now called Tulip Inn).

The Raddison is the most expensive of the three, and certainly the most imposing. It has a nice restaurant, even a heated pool and fitness center. However, it had the most defects. For example, inconsistency in services. Supposedly, they give a complimentary copy of the newspaper for guests every day, but it was a Russian roulette. Some days they delivered the newspaper, in others they did not. Same with complimentary water, which was lacking one night. The first night I stayed at the hotel, they woke me up at 5 A.M., something I had not requested. Two days later, they put a final bill under the door, and my checkout occurred more than ten days later. The hotel's business center was a joke. There were three computers in the small cubicle. One was not working, but the one worked was not connected to the printer. The third computer was identified by the clerk as his own private use, and he refused to download Adobe Reader so I could print an important document. He said the situation would be normalized in only seven days, so I gave up on the ludicrous business center. The last night I was there, the TV hardly worked, with severe interference. On the positive side, servers at breakfast were very helpful, the food was good, the Internet worked smoothly, the rooms are large, well kept and well-appointed and completely soundproof. Detail - do not make long local calls using the phone away. A half an hour call, even within Curitiba, cost me a trifle 60 reais!

The staff at the Confiance was really helpful, but the hotel is not that great. The room was tiny for Brazilian standards. The frigo-bar poorly supplied, the TV is located in a weird arrangement, and it took a while for the Internet work. Often the Internet wi-fi was not working due to weak signal. The breakfast was reasonable, but the hotel is certainly expensive for 140 dollars.

By far the Holiday Inn Batel (now Tulip Inn) was the best option. Cheapest of the three, it had an excellent business center that I could use without problems, attentive staff, excellent breakfast, large rooms, consistent service. The only problem is a noisy bar next to the hotel, which runs until the wee hours. I return to this hotel last without problems (in fact I did, in 2009). The other two, I would think twice.

Land of contrasts

Paris is indeed a land of contrasts.

Last year I stayed at a hotel called Derby, that I thought, had the smallest elevator in the planet. I was wrong, the Flor de Rivoli hotel, where I stayed last week, must win the prize. It was a bit more than a glorified dumb waiter with lots of vertical space.

On the other hand, the elevator at the subway station at Abesse must rank amongst the largest elevators. It seemed to have room for 100 people, I kid you not!

On the other hand, the land known for perfumes, must have the smelliest subway system in the planet. It surely beats New York, something I thought impossible. The smell of urine can be overwhelming at times, however, the system is so well planned and fast that you tend to forget the attack on your nostrils.

I hate to say this, but Brazil has become awfully expensive

I am originally from Brazil, so I obviously want the country to thrive, it is nature.

But I have to be honest. Brazil has become one expensive travel destination. In Sao Paulo, not only are restaurants and hotels extremely expensive, but so are cabs. Going up and about can easily cost you 100 bucks a day, if not more. Relatively short hauls cost 30, 40 reais, about 20 US$.

As for the restaurants...Sure, they are good. In fact, Sao Paulo is known as one of the best gastronomic cities of the world, boasting the 7th ranked restaurant of the world, D.O.M.. This is obviously not an eatery I frequent, so let us not even go there.

Getting a single pizza, a few drinks (beer and soft drinks) and sausage bread cost a whopping 106 reais at Margarita, in the Jardins section of the city. Dishes at a restaurant called Fidel (not Cuban, just in case you are wondering), started at 38 reais, and a few cost 60+. It was a good place, however, not gastronomic level. Worse it, an all you can eat sushi at Melo Alves street charged a whopping 240 reais for four people, and the quality was not that good either. A good churrascaria will also clean your wallet.

I don't drink wine, so I have no idea how much that costs. I imagine an arm and a leg.

I do not stay at hotels when I stay, so I cannot tell you the prices. But I reckon you can hardly get anything good for less than 200 dollars.

Shopping is not inexpensive as well. Sure, you might still find good shoe and clothing deals in no-mall stores, but these are stores that tourists are unlikely to visit. As the price of tickets is also high, you have one very expensive destination. People from other cities also report high prices, although not as high as Sao Paulo's.

The situation is likely to get much worse around the World Cup in 2014. If you want to go to Brazil then, get a second mortgage! 

Sanibel and Captiva Island

Ok. I am a Miami Beach resident, and have been to the best Caribbean beaches. Thus, convincing me a place is a knockout beach place is not that easy.

I recently went to Naples, for a short trip, and decided to take a little drive to Sanibel and Captiva Islands, to check it out.

To be honest, it was a major disappointment. I simply did not "get" the place. Sure there is a lot of vegetation, which is nice, but the beaches I saw were far from great. The supposed abundance of shells reminds me of the story of a dolphin called Jo-Jo, said to appear often to visitors to Turks and Caicos in the early 90's. Needless to say, in 11 days I saw no trace of Jo-Jo or any dolphin, as I found the shell abundance in these islands to be hogwash. There were as many shells in Naples and Marco Island.

We got to eat at a place in Captiva, nothing out of this world. Honestly, I do not see much of a reason returning to this place.

As for Marco Island and Naples, I enjoyed both. Maybe I am too much of an urban enthusiast, who knows! I stayed at the Hiltons in both Marco Island and Naples, and enjoyed both. The one in Marco Island is a resort, fully equipped. I found the seafood buffet overpriced and not as tasty though, the low point of the stay. The breakfast buffet was excellent. There are excellent restaurants in both Marco Island and Naples, so do not bother eating at the hotel. Sorry, Paris!   

The only suggestion I would make to both properties is to offer a fully stocked frigobar. Finding an empty fridge was a disappointment.

Reproduced from http://legaltranslationsystems.com/blog/blog3.php

What is up with the Argentinean restaurants in Amsterdam?

It does not take a very perspicacious mind to notice there is a large number of Argentinean restaurants in Amsterdam. In fact, there are multitudes of them. I have not been to Buenos Aires, or Argentina, for that matter, but the number of Argentinean eateries could be comparable to the native land, I suppose. I live in an Argentine enclave in Miami Beach, and there not as many Argentine places here!

I struck conversation with an Italian hot dog vendor in the city, who told me something interesting. He said none of the Argentinean restaurants were owned by real Argentines, rather, he said they were owned and run by Egyptians. He went on to say other politically incorrect things, that I would rather not put on record.

Then I began to look closer and in fact, the waiters all looked more Egyptian than Argentinean. Plus, one of the restaurants could not even spell Argentina, spelled it Argantina a few times on a board and window. Very unlikely to be done by a proud platino. 

Humor me, I know this is not a scientific research piece, I am aware my sampling is poor. I did not go into every single restaurant and ask for the staff's passports, but the few I looked at, looked more like they came from Cairo than Buenos Aires to me.

Ok, so the restaurants are run by Egyptians. That still does not answer why there are so many Argentinean eateries in the city. Why such popularity? And given such popularity, why no Argentines own and run the places to begin with. I have not found the answers there, or on the Internet.

Maybe somebody can research this and get a PhD from Yale.

Amsterdam and the bikes

Amsterdam is a must. However, be prepared, the Dutch are not very endearing. Sure, every once in a while you might come across someone who will smile, but that is not their trademark. Don't think they will be extremely appreciative off tourists, although they will be very polite.

Except on a bicycle. Getting run over by a car or bus or tram in Amsterdam is unlikely. However, getting run over by a bicycle is a great possibility. There are tons of bicycles in this mostly flat city, and the cyclists do not seem to care much for pedestrians. They always have the right of way, so take a lot of care when crossing the street.

I have never seem so many bikes in one place as in a bicycle parking lot. For sure, there must have been thousands of them. How exactly could people tell where their bikes were (a bike is a bike is a bike, they all look alike), is beyond me.

It must be said, though, that in spite of a meat and potato diet, the Dutch are basically very trim, thanks to bike use.  

Eurolines

When you get to be 50, you begin to seek comfort, and try to stay away from adventures. But quite frankly, with airline seats and space between them so short these days, at least for us, forced economy class fans, comfort seems to be a thing of the past. If you want to travel further than your couch, better get used to cramped quarters and a certain level of discomfort.

I wanted to travel by bus within Europe, which would be a new experience to me. My wife was a little hesitant about the whole deal, but I was sufficiently enthusiastic to convince her. I like buses and bus travel, call me nuts. And the price charged by Eurolines for a ticket between Brussels and Amsterdam was unbelievable, 17 Euros. Yes, the price of a regular dish at a moderately priced restaurant in most of Europe.

The Eurolines quarters at Gare du Nord were not enticing. They had that 70's Times Square feeling, if you know what I mean, by far the worst place I visited in Belgium. But we went ahead with my pet project.

The trip was good. The bus left and arrived on time, was comfortable enough, made a stop along the way, where we had some French fries (I guess, Dutch fries) and bought some drinks, where I tried my recalcitrant Dutch and visited the bathroom. The bus had no bathroom, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on your situation. Lots of beautiful scenery on the way, tons of cows, sheep and ducks. We could thus see some of the Belgian and Dutch countryside, away from the train lines. Plus, got to visit two cities that were not on our plans, Breda and Utretch. Well not really visit, we just passed by to drop passengers, but we could at least see something other than Amsterdam.

Eurolines prices are really cheap, unbelievably so. You could visit most European capitals on much less than a 1000 Euros, in fact, they offer package deals for 1, 2 weeks and a month.

I am not sure that I would travel from Brussels to Russia at this stage in my life, but honestly, for shorter hauls Eurolines is a very good, safe, and inexpensive bet.
http://www.eurolines.com/

Crabhouse, North Bay Village

Had the opportunity to eat there the other day.

The food is good, tasty, but service indifferent, a no-no for a slightly expensive restaurant.

They had no wine glasses for my friends, who had to drink their white wine out of champagne flutes. The place was far from full.

Additionally, the clams served were old. They did, however, bring fresher shellfish. But this should not have happened at a restaurant specializing in sea food.

Crabhouse or craphouse?

Bedford Hotel, Brussels Belgium

As far as hotels go, the Bedford Hotel in Brussels was by far the best during my recent trip to Europe.
While the photos and reviews of the other hotels gave a false impression they were better, the opposite happened with the Bedford. It was indeed much better than I thought.

First of all, location. It is very near Grand Place, walking distance in fact. The street where it is located, Rue du Midi, has tons of nice shops selling collectibles and books. There are stores selling drinks and food nearby the hotel until late, plus it is near a subway stop. In the Grand Place area there are literally hundreds of restaurants catering to all tastes and pockets.

The first room we got was not large, but it had a nice view. All amenities were good, there were additional pillows in the room, plus a nicely equipped (and modern) bathroom. There was a safe in the room as well.

The hotel was kept very clean, and so did the rest of the hotel.

The breakfast was simply superb. Different types of bread, eggs, bacon, juices, hot drinks of all types, cereals, yogurt, fruit, fruit salads, you name it, they had it. All included in the relatively low room rate.

The front desk folks were very friendly and accommodating. I had no problem leaving a piece of luggage for a week, while we went to other cities, and wake up calls were made as promised.

The lobby is much nicer than it looks, stately even, and apparently it even has a gym.

I would highly recommend this hotel for anyone traveling to Brussels. Indeed a great value.

Hong Kong

It feels like it was eons ago when I traveled to Hong Kong. In fact it was, 1983, as a matter of fact, but by what people tell me the place remains as vibrant as ever.

I was there on business, and could not do much sightseeing. We had to stay in the room and wait for phone calls that never came. Life is much more difficult without cell phones.

We had to change hotels four times, because it was very close to the ASTA convention that was taking place in Seoul that year. Upon arrival, we stayed at the Regent, which was indeed regal. The hotel used Daimler limousines to pick up guests at the airport, only rivaled by the Peninsula, which employed a fleet of Rolls Royces.

Whereas the Peninsula was more traditional, the Regent was stunningly new. Plenty of open spaces, flawless service and large rooms. I soon understood why oriental hotels were rated so highly.

At one point it seemed as if we might have to go to the People’s Republic of China. Mind you, this was 27 years ago, and things were different. China was much less friendly to westerners back then. How the world changes. Now people go to China as if they are going to the Bahamas.

The city setting is beautiful, for some reason, it reminds me of Rio de Janeiro, with plenty of mountains surrounding the water. The airport at the time was built fairly close to the city, so landing and take off was a bit scary.

The travel was decided on the last minute, in fact we bought tickets at the airport. Again, how times have changed! We actually got a bargain price from Pan Am. If it were today, we might have to pay as much as four times an economy ticket from any airline. Last minute travel is indeed punished these days.

A funny thing happened inside the plane. I was traveling as an interpreter for a gentlemen that spoke no English, so I needed to stay with him at all times. It so happens that Pan Am had sold my seat to somebody else, so they offered me a place in first class. I had to decline, and let the person who was occupying my seat travel like a king, because the flight attendant could not offer us both upgrades (my client and I). Adding insult to injury, there was a kid crying behind me all the way from San Francisco to Okinawa (the plane had to make a fuel stop). Oh, well, such is life.

Impressions from Paris – The Hotel

I am glad I had no illusions about the hotel I booked for my stay in Paris in 2009. For it was by far the lowest point of the trip.

I was foretold. The site on which I booked the hotel basically warned, in reviews, the good and bad points of the hotel. Among other things, I was told about the stained carpets, lack of bathroom door in the shower and the air conditioning woes. The reality is, I was not about to pay 500 euros for a top hotel, even in Paris. So I booked this least expensive property.
The obvious advantage was the privileged location of the hotel, which supposedly had a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower, the city’s business card.

Well, after an excellent flight and a delicious arrival, from the outside the Derby Eiffel Hotel did not seem bad. I thought the comments had been made by spoiled Americans, who liked over-sized Las Vegas rooms equipped with jacuzzi – and want to pay only 50 bucks for it. The reception area was simple and I could not see the restaurant were they supposedly served breakfast – incidentally, not included in the room charge. Interestingly, I noticed that although we paid US$160 a night, the stated cost was 160 Euros, so I felt foxy.

That is, until I got to the elevator. I am no expert on elevators, but as I’m 50 and lived in two mega-cities in the world, New York and Sao Paulo, I have been in many elevators in my half century, ranging from the supersonic cars of the late World Trade Center to those horrifying pantographic door lifts in some buildings in downtown Sao Paulo, which resemble a prison cell. To say the Derby’s elevator was tiny would be the hyperbole of hyperboles. It barely existed. The biggest joke was the warning sign, claiming that the vehicle had a capacity for four passengers. That would apply only if they were babies pygmies, I suppose. I practically had to stack the bags, and squeeze to get in. To be fair, it reached the fourth floor with no problems.

The room was also tiny, and, surprise!!!, looked larger in the site’s photos. The furniture was practically stacked one on top of the other. On the wall, a lamp hanging by the wires indicated a certain maintenance neglect, to say the least. The safe and TV remote control did not work. But at least there were two extra pillows in the small closet, and an ill-equipped, albeit effective, mini-bar.

I had already been warned about the lack of shower door in the bathroom by one of the site’s reviewers, but in reality, this was the best surprise in the room. It had obviously been recently renovated, and everything worked smoothly. Simply clashed with the rest of the room.

The promised view of the Eiffel Tower was real, and best of all, despite the check-in at 2pm, they let us into the room at 11 when we arrived. The hotel staff was very nice and accomodating. The only problem at the reception was a Belgian drunk who parked there at night, and insisted I was not Brazilian, but Danish and almost had a fight with me on that account. Plus he called me Euro trash when I said I liked car racing. He deserved a beating, that one, but I’m not a fighter.

The bed was good, we were not visited by any visible wildlife and out of the Derby Hotel, Paris is simply wonderful.