Monday, September 15, 2014

Taipei 2014


Four day work trip to Taipei but got a decent amount of sightseeing in at night. Very warm, 96F and humid. Not bad in the morning but high heat very early in the day. Decent flights on UA SFO-TPE. Taxi to the hotel and Uber back ($52). Great stay at the W Taipei including excellent buffet style breakfasts and a highly respectable Tuesday night American-style BBQ with a number of other Taiwanese/Chinese/Japanese dishes to go along.

Very nice people wherever we went, but one recurring question: Why on earth does a city with such hot weather specialize in hot beef noodle soup?

The soup was indeed good but not much food variety in local dishes other than soup, dumplings, pork buns, and the occasional vegetable. Many Japanese restaurants around the area of our hotel but we never sought one out for some reason. The Rahoe Night Market had some nice food including great steamed pork buns and a whole crispy pig (weekends only). Ling Tong Fung had great noodle soup and sides for around $8 per person for 5 of us. Good dumplings at Din Tai Fung, but a bit cliched and touristy. Still worth the trip at least once. The fried pork was good there if you have tired of soup and dumplings.





World-class cocktails at Alchemy, which is a great speakeasy vibe upstairs and opposite a more normal bar. Couple decent western beers at Beer and Cheese Social House with your average US/Aussie/Canadian traveler crowd.





More photos and the exchange rate was around 30.0 Taiwan New Dollars per 1 USD.

EU - May 2014

Fondue in Zürich
A bit belated in this one, but a quick hitting trip to BRU, FRA, Bonn, Zürich, and Paris. Generally busy with work efforts but a few notes follow. Great weather for this trip. Very sunny and warm other than 30 min of rain one day in Paris. Almost too warm in Zürich at 85F. Warm hotel, particularly for Dave on the top floor of an older but nice building down the street. Very good trip overall.

Liked flying Virgin Atlantic SFO-LHR, then into BRU and out of ORY on BA. Only minus was the transfer to BA at LHR T5 which was an absolute mess, even with a fast track security pass. Many people, not signed well, lots of lines, a lot of walking. Able to get an Uber at BRU and CDG on the way in which was nice. Train'd in to FRA and ZRH. Took Uber from central Zürich to ZRH ($90) and Opera to ORY ($70). Good to see their service expanding.

Stayed at the Hotel Amigo in BRU (meh), Le Meridien Statpark in FRA (nice, small gym), the Sheraton Zürich (just ok), and W Opera Paris (excellent).

L'Avant Comptoir

Notable food at Atschel (ordering the pig shoulder "Schäufelchen, mariniert mit Bratkartoffelnund gemischtem Salat" next time) and beer and sausage at Dauth Schneider in Frankfurt. Enjoyed the Summergarden at Bauschaenzli and the excellent if touristy cheese fondue at Le Dezaley (with a couple bottles of acidic white Epesses „Terre à boire“, Louis Bovard) in Zurich. Very disappointed with our concierge's recommendation of Le Petit Marius for seafood in Paris. Very expensive. Not very good. Oysters and belon were served almost warm even though they were on ice. Not great texture on those or the crab. Small portion of lump crab meat. Would not return. Much better food at excellent prices standing at the bar of L'Avant Comptoir around 5:30. Excellent oysters, charcutiere, tortilla, wine, and service. Meh again at Le Boeuf Sur Le Toit in Paris and the moules frites I had in Brussels. Neither that impressive.

The Tower!


More Photos  Around $1.38 for €1, and $1 for 0.97 CHF.