The infamous Borgia family comes from Xàtiva. Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI, 1492 – 1503) was born in the old town and every year since 2010 the city has organised a renaissance weekend which recreates Xàtiva at the time of … Continue reading
Most of the time, I will be visiting our building site on my own, over the next months. Ruth is still working, earning the money to pay for the house! So I will need to call home to discuss any … Continue reading
Air travel in Europe or the USA is an ordeal these days. You will probably have to show your ID multiple times during the check-in process for international flights, you will be asked whether you have left your luggage unattended … Continue reading
Back in 2001 the US National Transportation Safety Board published a report on the survival rates in air crashes (PDF, 800 KB). They are much better than you might think: Nearly 96 percent of the occupants involved in a Part … Continue reading
There is a new social mobile application on the block – waze.com. You can download the application onto your smartphone (Apple, Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian at the moment, Blackberry is coming shortly) and use the free software as an on-board … Continue reading
If like us, you have the feeling that flying with Ryanair is no longer the bargain it used to be, you could be right. The Sydney Morning Herald has just published a report showing Ryanair’s charges have increased by 700% … Continue reading
The Boston Globe often has fabulous pictures in its “The Big Picture” section. Their latest series is no exception – just take a look at these!
Next time we drive past Maastricht, we are going to take a look at Selexyz Dominicanen. There’s an article in the Guardian architecture section about this book shop in a converted church, and it looks spectacular. The architects were Merkx … Continue reading
When I read this in today’s Guardian, my first reaction was “but it’s not the 1st of April yet”. One the one hand data privacy experts in the EU has been fighting tooth and nail over the last years to … Continue reading
Slovakia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic all join the Schengen Zone tonight. That is the part of the EU where the member countries trust each other enough to abolish the visa- and border controls … Continue reading