Barcelona

Here I am, in Barcelona. I arrived at the new terminal T1.

Montreux

Here I am at the “Eden Palace au Lac” in a balcony in a nice suit in the fifth floor facing the lake.
Nuria is working while I relax here listening to the economist with my iPhone.

Shared Notebooks with Evernote. Finally

Popular web, desktop, and mobile note taking app Evernote has finally added the one feature that power users have wanted for ages: shared notebooks. The update allows you to share your notebooks with the world or select individuals, and grant write/edit access to your notes and notebooks.

It’s not a revolutionary update, but the new sharing functionality for notebooks is certainly a welcome change given that previously you could only publish notebooks to the web for manually sharing a view- only version.

Evernote sharing is made available through a new sharing tab on the web and in the desktop clients. This will open the sharing settings menu, where you can adjust settings for each of your notebooks, and view quick links for currently shared notebooks. From here you can opt to share notebooks with the world, or share with individuals via email. When sharing with individuals, you can now specify if these recipients can just view the notebook, or can actually add and edit content.

There are a few caveats to shared notebooks, however, given that Evernote is trying to push their premium accounts. So as a free user, you can share with the world (that feature already existed) and view or edit notebooks shared with you, but you won’t be able to take advantage of the new share with individuals feature. Only premium users can invite collaborators to edit notebooks. Also keep in mind that shared notebooks can only be modified on the web, and currently there’s no way to track who’s making edits.

Watch the video below for a quick demo:

(from mashable)

Sennheiser MM50ip

 I ordered my new set of earphones at internet.ch. If I buy in Switzerland I always compare prices in Switzerland with toppreise.

I had the same model without the mic manufactured by creative. I was really happy as the quality sound is superbe with no distortion at all.

In addition to this they isolate very well from the noise outside, so I decided to go and buy the model for the iPhone. 

It has been a week now since I have them and I am very happy. Same sound quality, and it is cool that you can use the little button to stop the music or with double click to go to next one. 

The only complain is the mic. Looks like it is worse than the one you get with the earphones that come originally with the iPhone. The person at the other side of the line often complains that cannot hear me properly.

In the overall I am very happy. I am addicted to music, podcasts and audiobooks, that I listen to everyday, plus during office hours I plug them into my macbook pro and I listen somafm all day. A cool feature is that in a mac, you plug them in the headphones jack, but the mic will work if you are chatting in skype for instance. Very cool. Very mac.

Last day in New Zealand

Here we are, in Christchurch airport waiting to board. I am now on the iPhone. Looks like we get 15 min of free wifi here.
We woke up again in the jail backpackers and this time we had proper breakfast: the sausages that we still had and the beans ;)
We finished the bread and the orange juice and we checked out. We left everything in the car and walled downtown. Again we did not use the car a lot today. We visited the botanic gardens, walked around the park and then around 2.30 we had lunch in a sort of fast food japanesse. Very nice sushi. After that we went back to the jail where the car was parked. We cleaned it up (just the mess inside) and we put the gps to guide us to jucy, where we left it. It was a sad moment. All these Km together. Finally 6.989 Km. Woooow.
No problems at all with jucy. All smooth. They even reinboursed us the 5 dollars that we paid extra to have a clean car and the car was dirty…
They drove us to the airport and here we are. We take the flight to Auckland and then 12 hours to Hong Kong.

Scenic drive with Dylan

Today we had booked a tour with Dylan. He came at ten and took 10 of us in his van for a great 4.5 hours. We visited most of San Francisco, the golden gate, and the highlights: muir woods, with the amazing redwood trees with 120 m high and some more than 1000 years! One would say that we were on a fantasy film and that little men would come from the forest. So let me try to remember all I heard from Dylan from the beginning. We started in our neighborhood which is called Tenderloin and is where most homeless and drug addicts hang around because of the drug dispensers where apparently anyone with a special card prescribed by your doctor "to help you sleep" which costs 100 USD could go and get very cheap marihuana. We passed soma district where according to dani, the guy who transmits SOMA FM is based, then we headed to Mission district where the city was born as Yerba Buena thanks to Spanish missionaries who settled there because it was the only flat area around, and at that time the main living was farming. We continued through the Castro -  or gay area – with fancy restaurants, bars, shops and plenty of rainbow flags. We took a picture below the 4.20 clock at the most famous crossing: Haight Ashbury, and we passed by the house where Janice Joplin lived for a while and others who created the hippie movement. We took again another picture at Alamo Square with the 7 sisters (Victorian houses that survived the 8.1 1906 earthquake). Down in the Richmond we were told that most blue collar workers lived there. Then up to Twin Peaks and its magnificent views, just before passing the Golden Gate Bridge with about 1600 suicides attempts, and only 45 or some of them survived. If the fall does not kill you the chilled waters (10 Celsius) or the currents would do. We entered Marin county which is the most expensive in USA, and then we see why: Sausalito and one of the best views in the world.

And after 10 minutes of driving we reached Muir woods where we walked for an hour between these impressive trees. You can breath in the calm and quietness of the wood, really inspiring and so close to the city.

These giants have the best conditions to grow so tall, the fog and a river underneath. We learned that in 1945 the UN organized a meeting there to instill the peace that the woods provide into the delegates mind. Do not think that it accomplished that, but I think this place would make an excellent work retreat.

On the way back we passed by the most expensive district in SFO: Pacific Heights with massive houses which can cost  up to 30 millions USD. Then Marina district or Yuppi area which is not the place to be when the big earthquake strikes.

Back to the hotel area, we stop at a very nice and expensive place for a tea (earl grey) and a coffee and then caught a bus to the Golden Gate Park. Dani lost his orientation and for the first 15 minutes we were walking in circles, but then I asked for a map, which I got for free thanks to my beaten up dog face and the fact that it was raining cats and dogs. By that time dani has resolved to use his very much loved GPS who took 10 minutes to position itself, the poor thing was unsure that the quantity of rain was right for SFO. We felt like " Singing in the rain" but without singing. Dylan had told us that it rains 30 days per year, so boy we hit it hard. The park was fab, but a couple of times we had to go backwards because the area was flooded and although our shoes are waterproof, our trousers not.

Alcatraz

This morning, after the pancakes (we are now experts) we went out under the rain towards powell street and then to market street to catch the classical F tram. I took a photo from the inside. It was raining a lot. It was one with everything in Italian. From Milan. We stopped at pier 33 where the ferry to Alcatraz departs. Welcomed by ranger John, we watched a 30 min video about the history of the island. Armed with audio sets we entered into the inmates cells and learned how they lived and tried to escape. I do not know in 1934 when the prison opened but today it was wet, windy and cold. The good news is that it stopped raining and the sun is finally shining. Just then we went outside to take a look of the fantastic view over San Francisco.

I must say that the audio tour was very good. It was included with the ticket. It shows you around the prison and explains stories of how people tried escaping from it. Very interesting. It makes you feel like going back home to watch the movies again.

Well, after a while going up and down the island we took the ferry back to pier 33. We waked towards pier 39 and we stoped for lunch at Hard Rock cafe. It has been a while since the last time I had food in one Hard Rock. I guess it was probably in Barcelona. Anyway. I have a salad and Nuria a burger. While we wait I start writting this post.

Cable Car museum, China Town and SFMOMA

We started the day again after 12 hours sleep. Today was our second day with pancakes, the result was much better. See the photo. We managed to cook nice pancakes. Once we finished our macro pancakes, all day walking under the rain. Yes, it has been raining all day non-stop. We should be paid by north face, millet, merrell for testing all their gear.

Anyway, first we visited the cable car museum.

It is incredible how they can manage all 4 lines of cable cars from that building. An engineering achievement. I really enjoyed it.

Nuria had more difficulties understanding how the cables were distributed on the huge wheels that separate them into the 4 different lines. We just manage to leave before the horde of Japanese filled the museum up. Then we continued under the pouring flood waters direction China town,

with a stop over at Grace Cathedral, impressive cathedral, inspired by Notre Dame but given the 1906 devastating earthquake, made of concrete. In Chinatown, we first had a jasmin tea in a typical Chinese crappy place (with no tourists) and then lunch also at the least touristy place we could find. Nuria made a mistake in the order, as she thought that the fantastics vegetables she had in a chinese restaurant in Geneva were called Chinese brocoli, so with absolutely no doubts and great grandeur at being able to recognise something she ordered the green things she has in her hands, big mistake… but we ate them all. The noodles were very tasty and the din sum very nice also.

After spending the rest of the morning around Chinatown, we headed to SFMOMA where we are now. I am staring at a Rothko and resting while I found that there is wifi.

And after the Moma, we went to Yerba Buena Gardens, beautiful place, with a commemoration fountain to Martin Luther King, another commercial center and a very nice tea lounge, just to escape again from the rain. Dani wanted a coke, but guess what, only tea, my paradise!!!

I had a white strong tea according to the nice waiter, true that it was not sweat, but the water in Bilbao is stronger. Dani had a chilled drink made of green tea with a terrible appearance and even worst taste, but he said he liked very much, must be the rain that is affecting his taste…

Crab crab

We are at Fisherman’s wharf, and even if we have not yet digested the pancakes, we could not miss having seefood lunch. Now the weather is not that good. It rains 10 min per hour.
The way here was nice. We saw where the cable cart turns using a rotating platform, we tried the Ghirarselli peanut butter chocolate mmmm and later on we might go to alcatraz.
Now we are enjoying white chardonnay from San Francisco bay with seafood at Fisherman’s Grotto, with a lovely view over Golden Gate and the wharf.
Nuria is winning the battle against the grilled garlic crab, soaking her fingers every 30 seconds in the sauce while saying mmmmm.

Goood morning San Francico

After more than 12 hours we woke up on this St. Valentine day and went downstairs for breakfast. At the USA hostel San Francisco we have free pancakes in the mornings (you have to cook them yourself though). See the monster pancakes we cooked… I was ashamed of not being able to finish them…
Later on with all our waterproof equipment (there is a weather red alert on the bay area with strong storms and winds) we went out direction to Powell street towards fisherman’s wharf, and surprise, sunny.

Flying

Writing with the iPhone again. We are in the plane. It’s a jumbo 400, and the flight will be more than 10 hours. Now I just finished lunch and the movie I was watching: burn after reading. I must recognize that virgin atlantic is prety good. Good service and hi-tech on demand multimedia systems. Nevertheless arriving at SFO around midday local time and after two days waking up early we will be completely exhausted.

Beth

Beth took the day off to fight her highs-phobia in St paul’s cathedral followed by a great burger with south African wine. Then a bit of history on Elizabethean, Georgian architecture during a short walk to Tatem Modern. Another walk under the rain and back to our hotel which ended up being quite good quality, though the shower had no pression and the temperature was at 28 degrees maximum, but very much appreciated after the snowny weather first in Gva and then during the afternoon in London.

Nuria stayed in the hotel with pain in her knee as she did not see 3 steps when she opened a door in the laberintic hotel. Dani went to Paddington to meet Leonardo and have another beer.

Snow storm in Geneva

We are in the easyjet flight to Gatwick. It should have taken off 35 min ago but… snow storm…so we are in the process of icing crock. I have already disconnected the phone so I will probably publish it from London.
After nearly one hour we took off. It was curious to take off with a layer of a sticky gel in the middle of a white piste full of trucks fighting against the snow. We finally made it though.
Now try to sleep a bit and once we land in Gatwick I will look for a hot spot.

Day 1 – Geneva London

Thursday, day 1
It is 5:40am and we are enjoying a muffin a cheese cake, coffee and tea at Geneva airport. We woke up at 4:20 and hurried to ITC where we left the car and walked to the station.

Amsterdam

This is Rupa & Harsh house in Amsterdam