Holiday Inn Istanbul City

Located 50 m from tram station Çapa Şehremini (line Zeytinburnu-Kapatas), the hotel has good connection with old city. The room was nice and stay was comfortable.

I do not know if this happens only on Ramadan, but at 3 o'clock in the night, a man with a drum was walking in neighborhood to wake up the people for the morning prayer. At 4 o'clock the prayers are heard from the nearby mosque. It was not disturbing from my side, but is better to ask for a room with windows to hotel inner yard.

The booking should be done on hotel web site: at reception the same room will cost you triple!

Staff are eager to help, but, sometime, they are missing basic tourists' information: for example they didn't know what a hop-on hop-off bus can be.

Hotel shuttle from airport is very expensive (60 euro one way), as you can find more convenient one (for example, 20 euro from www.istanbulairportminicab.com).

Hot

It's hot summer in Paderborn: 33 degrees! Heat and summer vacation soften everything: traffic is rare with few cars, bicyclists and pedestrians. (Police has also nothing to do so they give fines to cyclists for going on the wrong direction on the sidewalk tracks.) Construction is in full swing: a small shop disappeared to give way to new apartments. So far only an excavator is doing the demolition work, helped by the man with the hose spraying water not to raise dust. (In the evening clouds gathered to cool the air with a little rain.)

It's snowing in Paderborn!

Stop at Voyage

A small room, in a very friendly environment, not so far from Zenkov's Cathedral, is what you need in a business trip.

The departure was at 5:00 in the morning. Not like in other hotel, the staff asked me if I want something for an early breakfast. And so, at 4:30, a big hot sandwich and a black coffee were delivered in my room.

An address to remember: Hotel Voyage, Furmanov Street 97a, 050000 Almaty, www.voyage-hotel.kz. (It is a hotel where you cannot lose the time: the carpet in elevator is with the day name on it :-) .)

It's snow time in Almaty!

Today's words

The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of good people! - Napoleon

Happy 2013!

Bad experience at Holiday Inn Almaty

It looks not like a Holiday Inn Hotel! The towels were probable 5 year old (they were clean, so no complain about this), the windows are not closing properly and the level of noise from street was a little disturbing, decoration pillows need cleaning, despite vacuuming carpet looks dirty (probable needs heavy cleaning for dust accumulated during years). At reception, there are no tourist information about Almaty and vicinity.

When I did the check out I had an "interesting" discussion as they asked for payment for one more night. Finally, after counting in calendar the number of nights, the reception guy look into a folder and without explanation he close the subject.

Despite the fact that I confirmed the transfer to airport in advance, I waited for 30 min. for taxi to come.

Due to flight schedule my stay was like from 1st 2:00AM to 2nd 2:00AM. I do not agree but , OK, I understand that, in this case, I have to pay for 2 nights.  But I paid also for 2 breakfasts, and the staff had no courtesy to ask if I want some snacks or coffee for travel.

Almaty

 Watched by the Trans-Ili Alatau Mountains, Almaty (Alma-Ata from the time the Soviet Union and a former capital) lives like any crowded big city. Cut by wide boulevards (that make up almost a perfect grid) the city has nothing spectacular. The noisy traffic (you hear horns almost at every step) fills the autumn air with a disturbing exhaust gas smell. As European, you make a discordant note with the Asian pedestrians hurrying to their destinations.

Top German superstitions

[from Top 10 German superstitions]

Toasting with water - Never, ever say "cheers," or "Prost," with water in Germany. Not even for a joke. Especially not for a joke. You are literally wishing death on all your drinking buddies. It means you really want your friends to die. Is that what you want? Because that's what it means.

Knocking on the Stammtisch - When greeting your German drinking buddies, instead of waving, you should knock on the table. According to legend, this is because the Stammtisch, the regulars' table in the tavern, was traditionally made of oak. Since the devil is unable to touch oak, considered a holy tree, knocking on it proved you weren't the devil. It always makes for a nicer evening if your friends don't consider you a disguised demon.

Gift knives - Giving knives as a gift means that you are wishing someone and everyone in their household injury and death. If they've already got plenty of forks and spoons, and you really can't think of any present that's not cutlery, you're supposed to give them a knife token. This superstition comes from an ancient deal that gone wrong a knife smith once made with the devil, which ended with the devil cursing all his work.

Lucky coin - If the cutlery shop has sold out, and you've seriously run out of gift ideas, why not give someone a nice, shiny new leather wallet? But don't forget to put a penny in! This ensures that the recipient will never be poor.

Bread and salt for a new home - The traditional gift at a housewarming party is bread and salt. It will make sure that your new hosts will never be hungry in their new home. Especially if they like salty bread.

But are all this pure German superstition? How many do you recognize for your country?