Ziggo

Ziggo!Gisteren las ik een verhaal over onder andere Ziggo op de blog van Cesar. Grappig om te lezen en ik kan me nog goed herinneren dat ik bij mezelf dacht dat ik gelukkig hier ver weg in Spanje geen last meer heb van die (voorheen-)Casema rompslomp. Ik heb immers al een paar jaar geleden mijn abo opgezegd.

Maar wat blijkt bij het controleren van mijn bankrekening. Ziggo heeft de afgelopen maanden lekker geld van mijn rekening lopen incasseren! Het moet g&tv#rd$mm% niet veel gekker worden.

Ik had nog nooit van deze toko gehoord en blijkbaar pakken ze al twee maanden mijn geld. En waarom? Alleen ziggo weet het denk ik, dus ik heb ze maar eventjes om opheldering gevraagd. Via mail, dat wel, dus ik wat wel weer van het kastje naar de muur gestuurd worden totdat ik via een brief bewijs dat ik helemaal niet meer in NL woon. Foeter!

Egypt

Egypt!We finally booked our holiday. We both have three weeks off from the 19th of September till the 12th of October. The first week we’ll go and visit Egypt. The other two weeks are still without plan… we’ll see what we’ll do.

Our itinerary for Egypt is posted below. It is a babelfish translation of the Spanish page with the holiday outline, so there will be some errors, but the main idea should be clear.

Basically the plan involves four days on a cruise across the Nile. Visit some places and slowly get used to the tremendous heat and the bugs (although bugs are a part of everyday life in Spain), and afterwards we have three days in the capital. We are planning on a trip to Abu Simbel, a nice village and we’re considering an evening out dining and enjoying a belly-dance. Just one month more to prepare ourselves and then were going to experience Egypt. I’m already looking forward to it.

Day 1 MADRID – LUXOR
Monday

Presentation in the airport 2 hours before the exit of the special flight. Invoicing in the counter of the company that corresponds and exit with Luxor destiny. Arrival and procedure of the visa in the airport (34 € by person to pay directly). Transfer to the motor-ship of category selected by the client to initiate the cruise by the Nile. Accomodation in the staterooms. Lodging on board.

Day 2 LUXOR – ESNA
Tuesday

Breakfast and visits of the Necrópolis de Tebas, visiting the famous Valley of the Kings, the temple of medinet Habu de Rameses III, the temple of Hatshepsut and the Colossuses of Memnon, that kept the entrance to the funeral temple from King Amenophis III, visit of the Temples of Karnak and Luxor that form the monumental but important set of Egypt. After the visit, return to the motor-ship. Lunch and to the estimated time beginning of the passage. Dinner and lodging on board.

Day 3 ESNA – EDFU – KOM OMBO
Wednesday

Breakfast and arrival to Edfu, we will visit in caleche the Temple of Edfu, the God of head of Hawk Horus, who this considered the best one conserved of Egypt, besides being the second greatest one of the country. Of return to the boat, – we will sail by late, we will visit the temple dedicated to the Gods Haroeris, of head of sparrowhawk and Sobek, God with crocodile head. Said temples it consists of double entrances, door and altar; in Kom Ombo, also we will be able to contemplate the Nilometro, used by old the Egyptians to measure the level of waters of the river. Boarding in the motor-ship and lunch. To the estimated time, the passage will be started again towards Aswan. Dinner and night on board.

Day 4 ASWAN
Thursday

Breakfast in the boat. The city of Aswan, is about 900 kilometers of the city of Cairo; located the Tropic of Cancer in the heat of. Visit of the high prey, an incredible engineer installation that retains waters of the Nile river, creating the Nasser lake, later, visits of the red granite quarry, where is the famous Unfinished Obelisk, of 41 meters of height, and where we will be able to observe the ingenious procedure used by old the Egyptians for the extraction of the granite blocks. Return to the motor-ship to take the lunch. In the evening, a stroll by the river will be realized in the typical boats of fishermen met like “falucas”. Return to the motor-ship. Dinner and lodging on board.

Day 5 ASWAN – Cairo
Friday

Breakfast and visits optional the impressive temple of Abu Simbel (in airplane or by highway), carved in the western cliff of the desert by Rameses II in century XII before Christ, with dedicated statues the God Amon Ra of 20 meters of height; and the temple of Nefertari, dedicated to the Hathor goddess; after the visit, return to take the airplane to Cairo. Arrival to the airport of Cairo and transfer to the hotel of the selected category. Lodging.

Day 6 Cairo
Saturday

Breakfast in the hotel. Optional visit to the museum of Egyptian Art. In the evening, the visit from noon will be realized to the esplanade of Pyramids of Gizeh, magnificent monumental set considered one of the seven wonders of the old world that correspond to Pharaohs Keops, Kefren and Micerinos as well as enigmatic of human head and the body of lion. Lodging.

Day 7 Cairo
Sunday

Breakfast in the hotel and free day at the disposal of the clients. We can realise some of the facultative visits that to us our representatives will propose like for example: complete day to visit monuments and the library of Alexandria, Memphis and Sakara, the Citadel of Saladino, the Mosques of sultanes Hassan and Rifai or the Bazaar of Khan the Khalili. (Optional Excursions). Lodging in the hotel.

Day 8 Cairo – MADRID
Monday

Breakfast and collection in the hotel to the been suitable hour. Transfer to the international airport of Cairo to embark in special flight with destiny Barcelona or Madrid. Steps of invoicing and boarding.

Spanair

Afgelopen weekend was het even paniek in het ziekenhuis hier op Gran Canaria. Alles werd in de hoogste staat van paraatheid gebracht, en de noodvoorzieningen werden klaargezet. De reden: een vliegtuig van spanair was onderweg met problemen aan een motor. Het vliegveeld van Las Palmas was in alarmstatus oranje, en ook het dichtbij zijnde ziekenhuis werd in paraatheid gebracht. Gelukkig liep het met een sisser af en wist het vliegtuig zonder problemen te landen.

Vandaag was het echter wel raak.. Een vliegtuig vol Duitse touristen en Spanjaarden van Spanair van Madrid naar Las Palmas stortte net na de start neer. Van de 175 mensen aan boord zijn er voor zover bekend nu al 150 dood. Of het ongeluk een relatie heeft met de problemen van afgelopen weekend zullen we waarschijnlijk nooit weten. Ai.

Fuerteventura

Fuerteventura!Some time ago we went on a little trip to Fuerteventura, a nearby island. The island was the absolute paradise for beach lovers. Gigantic white beaches and an ocean so clear! Together with some nice sunshine. In addition to the beaches the island does not have a lot to offer. There are lots of goats and you can eat some nice goat meat prepared in a traditional manner and there are some fishermen, but the most important parts of the island are the sun, the ocean and the beaches.

Backwards in the plane!The trip on the airplane was very nice. There are small airplanes flying between the islands without jets but with old fashioned propellers.

From the airport we had to walk over the runway to our little plane and on the return trip we entered the airplane as one of the first passengers (thanks to my Dutch desire to arrive on time). This time we took our seats in front of the plane, which had two seats facing backwards, Yes, it was my first time flying backwards. The experience was not so special as I had imagined, and I only noticed a strange sensation during the landing which pushed me into my seat, but it was nice to be in the perfect spot for chatting with the stewardess. ;)

Here are some pictures of our weekend in Fuerteventura!

DatePad – German Language Pack

DatePad 2.4DatePad combines the power of a calendar with the ease of a text editor. DatePad is a simple and easy multi-purpose application which can be used in a surprisingly large number of ways.

DatePad 2.4 is now available in the German language! Download the zipfile with the german language pack and extract the files to the directory where DatePad is installed. After extracting the language pack files start DatePad and you will be able to select Deutsch in the File menu, under the Language option.

Many thanks to Thomas Kläger who provided this language pack. DatePad is now available in English (default), Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French and German.

Hamlet

Hamlet!Gisteren naar Hamlet geweest. Eindelijk een stukje cultuur met het beroemde ‘To be or not to be… that is the question’. Helaas was het allemaal in het Spaans (‘Ser o no ser, esta es la pregunta’), dus af en toe was ik de draad flink kwijt. Speciaal voor de maand van het theater en de dans is op het groot plein (Santa Catalina) in Las Palmas een flink podium met tribune gebouwd. Over twee weken gaan we naar Mana. Een dans en acrobatische show waar ik eerlijk gezegt meer naar uitkijk.