欧州自転車レース追っかけ日記

3I/Atlas. What is it?
I love it. I'm intrigued by Anunnaki mythology and its derived stories like "Stargate (1994)" or "Prometheus (2012)". I believe these movies are loosely or tightly based on this Anunnaki mythology.

We had Oumuamua years ago and observed it with great interest. Now we have 3I/Atlas in our Solar System and we are curious.

In Japanese: 日本語でどうぞ [3I/Atlas. What is it?]の続きを読む

テーマ:日記 - ジャンル:日記

1. 2025/11/03(月) 00:39:20|
2. Diary
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I am alive and well. [I am alive and well after all]の続きを読む

テーマ:軍事・安全保障・国防・戦争 - ジャンル:政治・経済

1. 2025/10/23(木) 20:04:45|
2. Diary
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I am leaving soon

I'm leaving tomorrow morning. This is the last entry before I don't know when I will update this.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Before leaving]の続きを読む

テーマ:海外旅行 - ジャンル:旅行

1. 2025/06/05(木) 20:37:52|
2. Camping in Europe
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Last fine tuning my imminent trip
I'm busy doing the last fine tuning my immiment Scandinavian trip. There are things to be done just in time.

The first major border crossing is done by a ferry ride between Hirtshals (Denmark) and Larvik (Norway). The crossing border between Luxembourg, Deutschland (Germany) and Denmark won't count as they are within so-called Schengen Treaty areas.

The ferry ride has been booked. I have to get the boarding pass (according to the confirmation e-mail) at the terminal. The second international (but still within EU zone Finland - Sweden) ferry ride has not been booked. I can do it now but I want to wait a bit. If the Norway itinerary goes well and I feel confident of the Finland itinerary, I will book the ride.

This second big ferry ride (Finland - Sweden) did give some headache. I was thinking of riding the ferry between Turku - Stockholm leaving at 20:55 and arriving at 06:30 (10 hours and 35 mins). It will be perfect as I have a full day ahead in Stockholm. I can park my car nearby "Park & Ride" parking before 09:00 so that I only pay 60 Krone until 18:00. This is a commuter special parking deal.

I tried many times to get the quote from "Direct Ferries" (ferry booking portal site) site but my inquiry failed every time. I wondered why. In the end, I sought the site of Viking Line (ferry operator) and made the inquiry to get the quote. It was €233.50 (the price may change as the boarding day approaches).

The same route (Turku - Stockholm Viking Line) costs only €82.5 if I take another ferry (08:45 - 18:55 - 11 hours and 10 mins). Considering the fact the the crew on board the red eye ferry deserve a special pay, the price is too much for me.

I sought an alternative and found one. There is a ride from Helsinki to Stockholm from the same operator (18:10 - 10:00 / 16 hours 50 mins) at around €151. It is not too bad because I don't have to drive to Turku from Helsinki (180 km 2 hours). The only down side is it arrives too late so I won't qualify the commuter's special parking deal and I have to pay 20 Krone per hour. If I could find a spot in the "Park & Ride" parking, I would have to pay for around 80 to 100 Krone for my Stockholm excursion.

I'm supposed to be (not yet booked the ride but) on Viking Cinderella (boat's name). I was expecting to be seated in a big room with a lot of comfortable chairs. According to the PDF file illustrating the boat (or ship), there are numerous small cabins and bigger cabins and seemingly big rooms. I think I'm supposed to go in one of those big rooms. Cabins are for those who pay extra for beds, I guess.

The starboard side big rooms are named S** but port side rooms are named B**. What do these P and B stand for? I'm on that boat for more than 16 hours so those damn chairs should be comfortable. I don't care much about the level of comfort. I have to prepare some food for me and Hannah before this long ride.

Starboard (right when facing forward)
Port (left when facing forward)

So I may leave Stockholm, say around 15:00, in the afternoon and what happens? I'm looking at a long drive of over 600 km in distance ahead of me to Malmö (on the edge of Sweden at the foot of the bridge between Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark).

My itinial plan was to leave Stockholm around noon to get to somewhere where I can check in a camping site for the night. I thought I could arrive at Copenhagen before noon the next day.

This newly found ferry ride should change things. I think I have to change the schedule for the next day. Instead of stopping and finding a camping site, I should drive all night only to stop for a light short sleep in the car seat to get to Malmö by the next morning.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Only two days left until I leave for Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden]の続きを読む

テーマ:海外旅行 - ジャンル:旅行

1. 2025/06/04(水) 12:09:15|
2. Camping in Europe
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Will it satisfy me or will it meet my need?
I was scanning though the online brochure of LIDL supermarket for this week and found this item. This week ALDI and LIDL both start selling summer vacation items.

One of them got my attention. This pop-up tent interested me. I have been using this kind of pop-up tent for many years. They all came from Decathlon sporting goods chain store. My current tent is my third one. I switched from my second to third not because the second one broke or I was unhappy with it but because it was too big when folded. It did not go inside the trunk of my Mazda MX-5. My third and current one can go in if I force it in.

So why did this one get my attention? The inner side of the tent looked dark (black) and I found "UV protection" in the description.



UV protection, I think, means that the tent has a layer of fabric that is likely to reflect the sun ray from outside. It would help the temperature inside the tent stay lower than normal tents under the sun during summer.

Please remember that this week I am leaving for my Scandinavian trip and it is June. Yes, the sun won't go down in the upper area of Norway and Finland. There is no night there!

My current tent has no such protection and it gets pretty hot inside under the sun and it won't help me sleep tight at night unless I wear an eye mask at this time of the year.

If this UV protection layer is as good as I hope, I can sleep well under the white night's light. The price is low. The only concern for me is the folding size.

I will drive to one of LIDL stores in the morning to see it and probably get it. The item is on sale starting this Wednesday.

Postscript
My French knowledge is primitive and later I checked the word ASSOMBRI and now I know that it means dark. So the other line of description clearly says that the interior of the tent is darkened, which is exactly what I wanted.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ

[Preparing for the trip]の続きを読む

テーマ:海外旅行 - ジャンル:旅行

1. 2025/06/02(月) 12:26:33|
2. Camping in Europe
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