十月德奥旅行流水账(3)

10月25日
本来今天打算去新天鹅堡的
结果遇到德国铁路罢工
不少线路的时间表都有变动
为了防止出现意外状况
今天还是在慕尼黑市内观光
买了一张公共交通一区的day ticket，5欧
去的是Nymphenburg宫和Siemens Forum

Nymphenburg门票8欧，包括Palace, Marstallmuseum and Porcelain Museum (展览皇家马车和在Nymphenburg烧制的瓷器) 以及Amalienburg (打猎时候休息的一个小建筑，洛可可风格，里面有个镜厅)
Nymphenburg Palace里面有Ludwig一世的Gallery of Beauties
画的是那个时期社会各阶层的美女
当然还是以上流社会为主
不过里面有个鞋匠的女儿
当时这个14岁的小姑娘在慕尼黑的一家玩具店工作
国王在她给王后送玩具的时候看到她
就让宫廷画师把她给画下来了
画中她穿着一件当时在上流社会颇为流行的服装
大概她一生中只有在画这张画的时候穿过这样的衣服吧
我在苏格兰爱丁堡的一家画廊看过相同的画像
不知道是复制品还是那家画廊当时租借了原作
宫殿里面按规定是不让拍照片的
这是网上找到的图片，鞋匠的女儿是把图片立起来以后右下角的那张

Siemens Forum里面有Siemens公司历年以来的发明
有些可以上手摆弄摆弄
这个是Pointer Telegraph

面板上白的那一圈是印着字母的按键

中心有指针，像钟表上那样按一定速率不停的从一个键跳到下一个键

如果发送方按住一个键，指针走到这个键的时候就会停下来

接受方相似装置上的指针也会停在相同的位置

达到传送消息的目的

十月德奥旅行流水账(2)

10月24日
早上起来，先到前台问问为什么Female Dorm里面会有男生
原来是Hostel里面的工作人员前一天晚上弄错了
那个房间根本就不是Female Dorm，-_-
换了个房间，床垫还是很差
Hostel里面的早餐就是面包片
有果酱或者黄油可以涂在上面
但只有面包片，外加茶或者咖啡
这家Hostel也就是位置不错，卫生间干净
其他方面都很寒酸

火车站里面有不少买吃的，三明治，Kebab等等
因为Hostel的早餐太贫乏了
就在火车站买了个热狗
否则玩一会肚子就要饿了

这天的计划是沿着Lonely Planet - Germany里面的一个walking tour把慕尼黑市中心的一些景点逛一遍

起点是Marienplatz
金顶的Mary Column

底座上是4个小孩在打怪
其中一个怪物长得像只公鸡
只是有条蛇尾巴

新的市厅Neus Rathaus，据说中午11点和12点的时候，正中那座塔上的木偶会表演节目

Neus Rathaus上面一个雕塑，又一只怪物

Alter Hof，Bavaria国王在搬到Residenz以前住的房子

Residenz，Bavaria国王的宫殿

宫殿里面的雕塑一尊，头上长了角的

不知名的房子一座，外部装饰挺漂亮

慕尼黑14世纪时期的南门

市场Viktualienmarkt

Maximilianeum，Bavaria议会

Anna教堂

晚上的晚饭是在火车站买的一个kebab，差不多3欧吧，味道不错
我一直以为kebab是烤肉串
结果火车站或者德奥的kebab类似于汉堡包
只不过里面夹得不是肉饼
而是大块土耳其烤肉上削下来的肉片

十月德奥旅行流水账(1)

本来是有人在Go2EU的论坛上找同游
行程是慕尼黑-萨尔茨堡-维也纳
我很感兴趣，就和那人约了同游
我买了机票，在Priceline上订了在萨尔茨堡和维也纳的住宿
结果那人说她去不了了
可机票和Priceline上订的住宿又不能退
所以我只好只身上路了
Priceline上的住宿两个人住的话很划算
但一个人住的话就有点贵了
为了平衡预算，在慕尼黑就住了青年旅馆

10月23日

下午的飞机飞到慕尼黑
坐S1(或者S8)线轻轨到慕尼黑火车站(Hauptbahnhof)
飞机场在慕尼黑公共交通系统的四区
火车站在一区，所以轻轨票价是8.8欧(2.2欧/区）
上车之前要把车票插到一个与板砖形状类似个头略大的蓝色装置里面盖个戳
这个装置有的时候被安在了比较不起眼的位置，得多处看看
如果没盖戳，可能有票也算逃票，被发现了一样罚钱
到了火车站，青年旅馆就在火车站旁边，名叫Jaeger's Hostel
位置不错，从火车站几步路就到
我订的是Female Dorm，20欧一晚
不提供浴巾，只好跟他们买了一条，6欧
床垫的质量很差，人往上一坐，就深深的陷了进去
躺在上头，能清楚地感觉到里面的一圈圈弹簧，硌得背疼
搞得我翻来覆去的想找到个舒服点的位置睡
我刚到的时候，这房间里面没人，只有行李
半夜我被床垫硌得睡不着的时候，其他人回来了
听声音居然有男生，Orz，这算什么Female Dorm啊

My Pictures

Pic1.jpg


Pic2.jpg

甲骨文 (4)

Pot

壶 （壺）

甲骨文 (3)

Educate, Education

教

On the left, a kid (at the bottom) is learning the 'x' marks (on the top, representing some written words). On the right, a hand is holding a ruler. (It was not uncommon in the old time for a teacher to hit the kid's hands with a ruler if the kid made any mistake.)

甲骨文 (2)

Arrive

至

An arrow hits the target (from the top)

甲骨文 (ancient script on tortoise shells or bones) (1)

Reference for the series about the ancient scripts on tortoise shells or bones: http://arts.nthu.edu.tw/NewWww/Exhibition/1994-11-14/fonts/index.html

Tortoise
龟





Elefant
象

My Wish List (2)

A workgroup email archiving system: We can define a group by adding the emails of all the teame members. The system then records each email exchanged between any member (s) in the group, sometimes with a subject filter. For example, if A, B and C work on a project D as a team, we can define a group by adding their emails. The system records every email exchanged among A, B and C that has a subject involving project D and publishes the record to a webpage accessible by all the team members. In this way, every team member is kept in the loop. We then don't need to rely on each member to CC other members each time they send emails.

My Wish List (1)

A website where ordinary people can express what kind of new products or services they need and then everyone can vote on the ideas. This may be useful for firms to develop new products or services better serving the needs of customers. In nowadays, we have a lot of advertisement. Companies keep telling you what they can do for you. But we are lack of a proactive way for consumers to tell companies what they want. (Like a buzz work? How about 'reverse advertisement'? :P) Actually, if some companies already have some products or services that meets consumers' needes listed in the website, they can response by adding comments, actually a more effective way to advertise. Hopefully we will see such kind of websits in the near future.

Morning sky

picture taken with my cell phone

What a stupid design!

OK, this is the sink in my bathroom. There are 2 faucets, one for hot water, the other for cold water. Can you think of anything wrong with it?

Well, hot water is too hot, and cold water is too cold, to wash hands or face. How do you get water with intermedia temperature? Pour the water into the basin. Comparing to the sink with single faucet and two controls (like the one in my kitchen), this design definitely wastes some materials and it also wastes water. If you want to wash hands with warm water, you have to fill the basin with certain amount of water, which is usually more than the amount that is really needed for washing hands. The same goes if you want to wash face.

And this is a very popular design for bathroom in Ireland. Most of the sinks I have seen so far are using this design. Who comes up with such a stupid design?!

Banking in Ireland

There is no debit card with Visa/Mastercard logo in Ireland. What they have is a Laser card, which can be used to withdraw cash from ATMs in the Cirrus network. The number on Laser card has 19 digits. Since it doesn't has a Visa/Master logo, its online use is very limited.

The relocation agent who helped me settle down in Ireland told me the Irish people 'prefer' to use a debit card to pay for daily expenses such as grocery because it's 'real money', not a loan in the form of a credit card. Yeah, it's real money, especially when someone steals your card and withdraws cash after he/she sees your PIN over your shoulders when you make payments.

This is even true for credit cards issued in Ireland, because they ask you to key in your PIN instead of asking you to sign a piece of paper. They are saying 'you are not supposed to sign anything anymore'. OK, which is harder for the thief who steals your card, to duplicate your signiture or to key in your PIN which they can see over your shoulders?

I was told it's not easy to open a bank account here in Ireland. I could open an account simply because my company has a deal with Bank of Ireland. What I got is a checking account, called current account in Ireland, with no free checks given. To get a savings account? Wait until 'you have a current account with us for at least three months'.

Online banking? You have to phone them first to set up the online banking account. They will mail you a 6-digit user ID number plus 6-digit password number. You don't have the option to change the user ID number to a username, which would be much easier to remember. Online payment? 'To "Add a beneficiary" account please call 1890 365 200'.

Bank branches business time is as follows: Monday - Friday 10am to 4pm with the exception of Thusday 10am to 5pm. So if you want to do something in the bank branch, you will have to take your time off from work.

There is no reloadable prepaid Visa/Mastercard card, which would be useful to send money to China.

There may be a lot of hedge funds operating in Ireland. But it's still a long way to go for she to have an advanced personal banking business.