Profil von ravn

This hostal came as a surprise to me, as I just had booked me in on pure chance. It is a wonderfully designed, clean place with individual rooms and a super-friendly staff. For 44 EUR a night incl. breakfast it was moderately priced.

One of the weirdest food experiences I had lately. Upon entering the well-designed restaurant you will be greeted by an Agent Smith, complete with headset. He will take your order and forward it into the kitchen.

Not sure which part of the matrix is failing, but on several occasions only half of it made it back to our table. The waiters were constantly making themselves more work than necessary, and the food combinations sound interesting but turn out to be just plain weird. My colleagues mentioned the food to be rather lukewarm, too.

On the other hand, the prices are suprisingly low for a place that tries to be classy.

A cozy little restaurant in the old town with a lounge-y atmosphere with a very good price/value ratio. The food is very international, delicate (both in quality and size) and done just right. With the menu effectively split between primos and secundos it becomes a good vegetarian choice too.

With the prices changing between 79 and 239 Euros during the week, it certainly isn't cheap. But if you are looking for a bit of splurge, the Fira palace is definitely a nice place to stay. Large beds, huge rooms, separate bathroom toilet and shower, and lots of tiny useless extras (like the TV sound system playing in the bathroom when you don't want to miss the game). There's a decent spa in the basement.

In the upper floors you should be able to receive the free wifi from the city of Barcelona, otherwise it's a free half hour per day.

The hotel is located within walking distance from Plaça Espanya and even closser to the Fira.

A vegetarian take-out-or-stay that appeals to people who eat with consideration. Unfortunately, this is not reflected by the offer: If, for example, your client orders a soy milk shake, that is either because he is lactose intolerant, vegan, or health conscious. In neither case is it a smart choice to mix it with ice cream in addition of fresh fruit. High prices and small sizes do the rest.

About the worst banking experience I have had in my life.

Not because of the people, which are really nice. But the inflexibility and the fees of this bank are outright ridiculous.

Now I could manage to accept that, while you do not have the magic Norwegian personal number, you are not to be trusted with a VISA card, or telephone and Internet banking.

So I got a regular bank account. Something you would want to use to receive, withdraw and transfer money. Receiving is surprisingly easy and free.

To send money, I have to take one hour off at work to reach it. In my case, that alone a loss of about 250 NOK. That is despite the fact that the bank is within walking distance, because the bank does not have forms or teller machines for transferring money out of office hours or without queueing. You have to wait in a queue, which makes up most of that hour. Finally, upon having brought forward your request, you are subject to the service charge of 75 NOK for hassling someone at the counter with your meek requests.

That is (for those Europeans out there) a fixed cost of 42 EUR for what is maybe the most basic financial transaction. For something that, even without phone or internet banking, I can get for free, no delays, 24/7, in my European bank.

Surprisingly, for withdrawing money there are ATMs. They have office hours. After the office hours of the bank, you pay a service charge to use the ATMs, because apparently they are operated by small nisse dwarfs chained to their innards which have to be paid overtime for drawing your bills.

I rarely had a heftier srslywtf moment than upon realizing this. If you ever consider getting an account in Norway, wait until you have a P-number and you can subscribe to an online bank. Until then, international money transfers will be cheaper and more flexible.

Netter preiswerter Asiate im Zentrum von Neubrandenburg, mit Blick auf die Konzertkirche. Nicht /nur/ die Standardchinamatrix auf der recht ausfuehrlichen Karte. Das Interieur ist ein halb/halb-Mix aus Fastfoodkette (der Tresen mit Speisekarte und der offenen Kueche im Hintergrund) und Chinarestaurant mit typischer Deko. Das Essen ist preiswert und schmeckt.

A friendly hotel in a new building, as the name suggests, right on Spalentor. Close to the university and hospital district, not far from the center. I stayed here because one can get a cheap room on request. I was positively surprised especially by small things: The whole hotel has been a non smoking hotel since this year. The hotel provides free bicycles, which are best suited to explore Basel. The bar offers according to weather Glace (ice) or hot drinks. The rooms were really spacious, but the room was letting noise in from other parts of the hotel. It did not bother me at all. If I would have to come back I would come back to this hotel.

Since I was allowed to stay only one night there, I allow myself not a too detailed opinion. But I admired the sense of business which charges 8 euro for an unguarded parking space behind the hotel. A friendly gesture even before the check-in. One thinks about it twice to stay here if one has not booked in advance.