Driver's Guide To The Universe

So I am in Corfu, the Greek island I wanted to visit since I read Gerald Durrel's "My family and other animals". I think it is silly to imagine that a place will be the same as in a memories written by a man who was there in late 1930s, but it still retains some of the charm so lovingly described by the writer. The buildings are generally of a mixture of styles, kinda of a synergy between a V enetian palazzo and original Greek style, all in different hues of pink and orange and yellow with white buildings nestled somewhere in between. Almost all the buildings have a great deal of flowers, currently in full bloom in the beginning of the summer, yet untouched by tyhe summer heat. Violet and magenta splashes with dark blue and white make even the most paint-deficient house look like a charming country village, added to that, Corfu is a mountaneous island, so many houses with their tiny verandas, containing elderly people drinking strong coffee and smoking cigarettes and drowining in the bright colours provivded by numerous potted plants feels like a small little island one can enter just by descending down the steps from the main road. One point though, due to the curving mountaneous nature of the road, driving in Corfu takes two things: First - steel set of nerves as everyone stops where they want to and overtake where they want to (even if is on a turn that if not succeded will have the car taking the pluinge from the mountain toweards the sea) and Second - strong stomach, as the sudden sharp turns and speed changes can and will make you quezy.

Now, for the downside. I booked on the Internet for my hotel and thought I got a fairly reasonable deal. Well, the hotel room, once I managed to 'impress' upom the owner that I did in fact pay for the air-conditioning is large and the view in the hotel complex which is standing about 200 metres from the beach is quite pleasurable. What was not included on holidaycityeurope.com was the fact that it is a family-orientated resort with loads of 'cultural activities'. You know the ones where they teach you to greek dance and also include ping pong tables and communal activities, yeah, great for me, who actually wanted some peace and quiet. I mean this place reminded me of the holidays my folks and I took back in Soviet Union, with self-contained disco bars and playground for kids and everyone just 'had' to participate. Let just say, yours truly suffered when the frakking bar/disco would not put the volume down, so I only got to sleep after one am, sigh, if I was staying for longer, I would have checked out by now.

The plus side of the hotel, it is about 20km from Corfu Town, almost in a middle of the village of Moraitika with multitude of shops (yes, I did spend a lot of money on jewelery again, I am an addict, I admit) and a huge amount of souveneirs. I must say I handled myself well, since I usually I love buying souveneirs, and the great deal of  greek pottery and statuettes and other paraphinelia were very hard to resist.

Well, my Internet card is almost out, so I have to say Goodbye and will try to update when I get to Chania, Crete.

P.S. What is this with me being always settled with neigbours who like to get loud and intimiate at ungodly hours of the morning? I swear, it is like they know, I won't be compaining at the door as they are in the middle of their 'activities'. Yeesh, 4am people is the time to sleep, not to get all coy with each other and be loud enough to wake up half the hotel floor!

Well, since my camera driver is refusing to operate, I thought I'd post a few pictures from my cellphone.They are not of the greatest quality (my cell only has a 1Megapixel camera), but it gives a few insights into the Copenhagen.

One of the main shopping streets is Strøget, it is really just a long narrowish street lined with all manner of shops and pubs, designed for tourists and shopaholics.All manner of boutiques line the street, this one's name however, intrigued me.



The store is actually quite cool, still, the name is ironic.
The next pic is a bit blurry, but the Shopping quarter is also home to quite a few street performers. I managed to capture a contortionist /juggler from England, as he was showing his new tricks. Here he is trying to juggle heavy crystal balls, unfortunately, I could not capture the moment properly when he was going through a squash racket. I am aware he looks like a stick figure, but he was really really thin.




As people probably know, one of the biggest companies in Denmark is a long established brewery called Carlsberg. Established in the 19th century, it has it's own museum and bar and shop for vistors. Since it is not far away from work, my colleagues and I took a short trip to buy some souveneirs. One of the more interesting features is the collection of different vehicles used to deliver beer. I'm not a car fanatic, but it was cool to see the different trucks through the decades.

This bakkie (pickup) was rather cute.

   And then I saw this cutie (reminded me of beigeonblue icons:)



This is an even older attachment to the trucks, probably early 20th century. The barrels of beer looked very enticing, making my companions wish they were full.

 Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to explore the proper museum, so the outside was the only thing we explored beside the nifty (yet expensive) souveneir shop. At least I have a nice key ring for my keys.

Final picture for this update, a room I called home for almost a week before I could move into my own apartment.



I specifically did not modify the pictures as I am aware that I managed to capture more of my surroundings then I thought.
Part 2 coming soon.