Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

Athens, Greece – April 2011 photos

I just realized, 9 months later, that I’ve forgotten to publish my Athens photos. I posted everything from Corfu but somehow totally forgot about the Athens pics and no, it’s not because it’s a lame city, but perhaps there wasn’t as much to photograph as I found on Corfu. I found poppies and bees and dogs and turtles – always something. In all honesty, it’s not a city I feel must experience again. If I some day get a proposal to go there again for some reason, then of course yes, but I would prefer to explore it with someone local just to really figure out which are the best places to go to (= where are the best restaurants?).

But there’s something missing. And it’s not the food – deux points to that part of the trip. I could take just a culinary trip to Athens and try all the fancy restaurants and eat juicy lamb and delicious souvlaki and fill my glasses with Mythos + Ouzo and pour it down my throat. It’s not the shopping either, there’s a lot to choose from and it’s easy to navigate around the shopping districts there. Maybe it’s the lack of sea. I took a bus to Glyfada, which is an upscale suburb with beaches, however in April there’s not much to see yet. Spotted some luxury car dealers from the bus window though, haha (I always find the most important things to lay my eyes on).

Acropolis wasn’t quite what I expected, only the “Under Construction” signs were missing from that area (they should of course be gone by now, this was in April 2011). You often find it in “Important landmarks you need to see in Europe” lists, I don’t copy that because it’s nothing special, but now I’ve seen it once and I feel no need to go there again. I suppose I prefer beautiful islands over big cities after all.

Corfu is still my favorite destination in Greece so far, no can do. I want to see more Greek islands! :-)

National Garden of Athens, GreeceNational Garden of Athens, Greece
The Acropolis - Athens, GreeceThe Acropolis - Athens, Greece
Poppies near the Acropolis - Athens, GreecePoppies near the Acropolis - Athens, Greece
Sunset over Athens, GreeceSunset over Athens, Greece
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National Garden of Athens, GreeceNational Garden of Athens, Greece
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Street protesters in Athens, Greece - April 2011Street protesters in Athens, Greece - April 2011
The Acropolis - Athens, GreeceThe Acropolis - Athens, Greece
Hellenic Parliament - Athens, GreeceHellenic Parliament - Athens, Greece
Temple of Hephaestus (Hephaisteion) - Athens, GreeceTemple of Hephaestus (Hephaisteion) - Athens, Greece
Street protesters in Athens, Greece - April 2011Street protesters in Athens, Greece - April 2011
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Vintage car in Athens, GreeceVintage car in Athens, Greece
View over Athens, Greece from The AcropolisView over Athens, Greece from The Acropolis
National Garden of Athens, GreeceNational Garden of Athens, Greece
Poppies near the Acropolis - Athens, GreecePoppies near the Acropolis - Athens, Greece
Dog near The Acropolis - Athens, GreeceDog near The Acropolis - Athens, Greece
Temple of Hephaestus (Hephaisteion) - Athens, GreeceTemple of Hephaestus (Hephaisteion) - Athens, Greece
Restaurant street in Athens, GreeceRestaurant street in Athens, Greece
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Athens_KingJason_View2Athens_KingJason_View2
Athens_KingJason_View3Athens_KingJason_View3
Athens_KingJason_View4Athens_KingJason_View4


These photos are available for non-commercial use if you give credit to the photographer with link.

DDG6MYN25RJP

Nokia World 2011 – last photos from London

I should have learned from the Hong Kong trip that with Nokia it’s busy ;-) So I don’t have a huge amount of photos from the two last days, but here are a few. I have a post waiting to be published with more thoughts about Nokia and the Lumia, but I need a podcast link to it and that podcast will hopefully be online tomorrow.

What did I do during my 4 days in London? I didn’t overeat this time (!!), got very little sleep, walked 3 km at 3 AM in high heels after a night in the London gay bar Green Carnation (Nokia booked it for the afterparty)… what more could you ask for. And you know what? I once again met some of the most amazing people ever and my Nokia family grew with several new people. And quoting one of my tweets from Thursday morning, “What’s a good night out? You come home with your bag filled with business cards, but 0 dating requests! Fantastic!”. So you never know what future might have in store for you, it was anyway a blessing to connect with all those people, and it was superb to learn so much from them.

I imagined that my movie star career both began AND ended in Hong Kong, but they seated me in front of the cameras twice in London. Yet I haven’t found the material anywhere online and hopefully they won’t publish everything, thank you God… I have the problem that I might talk first, then think. Or I might first speak with my heart and afterwards realize I perhaps could have used the brains as well, haha (it’s called excitement…).

Anyway, my photos and two video clips by Nokia. They have footage of Clinton dancing in the London Eye, THAT I LOOK FORWARD TOO – when will it be online?! You should have seen it, he’s the funniest guy ever ♥

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Nokia World 2011 – I’m going to London!

I scored myself a trip to London next week to Nokia World (October 26-27). I have no idea why I am this lucky, but it’s an amazing opportunity to discover, connect with people and of course share the moment with persons who can’t join us there.

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Noticed a few slightly bitter comments on Twitter (just a couple, otherwise the response has been super positive and I want to thank all the people who took their time to congratulate me). I suppose there could be more obvious choices when choosing a winner for something like this, because I’m still no technology blogger and I do not have several thousands of followers on Twitter or anything like that. On the other hand I feel that I have some truly amazing followers (quantity does not always matter, it’s quality!) because they do not only read, they also interact with me. That’s why I enjoy the social media so much, it’s giving back.

When Nokia (WOMWorld) sent me an invite to Hong Kong I had no idea why me from all the fans they have. But I personally think a good social media strategy is to have a few safe choices, and a few wild cards so to say. Safe choices would be persons with a huge community support behind them (perhaps here quantity is highly valued, because you want to reach as many people as possible with your message), and also the right target audience ready. If you take four very successful technology bloggers from four different parts of the world, you know you will reach the right audience through them and get the discussion going. When you have done that, you should start thinking how can I reach those that are not yet involved in our community. You reach them through people who might not be that involved in the topic, people that write about completely different things and perhaps can offer a different point of view to the whole subject. I didn’t do any hardcore analysis of the new Symbian Belle phones in Hong Kong, because I obviously would not know what I’m talking about. I leave those posts to the tech pros. I chose to just share the experience instead. Hopefully as a team of six bloggers we delivered a little bit of everything, and a little bit for everyone.

So as an example, if you blog about fashion, you will have readers that want to read about fashion. If you then suddenly write about a new smartphone you got, you might get your readers interested in something new that they usually do not have a high interest for. And the community will grow with new members & supporters.

I got my first PC when I was six years old, I designed my first website when I was around 10 years old (loved Expage and Geocities), and because Windows has been in my life for 17 years now I have to admit that when I hear Nokia + Windows, I’m interested. When I see a smartphone deliver better video quality than many camcorders on the market, Nokia wins my support. And I don’t even need to be a technology blogger to say this, that’s the point. Just because I don’t write about it doesn’t mean that I’m not interested.

Splitscreen: A Love Story from JW Griffiths on Vimeo.
Shot entirely on the Nokia N8 mobile phone. Winner of the Nokia Shorts competition 2011.

So next week I’ll take you with me on an experience to Nokia World 2011. If you want to read detailed posts about phones, applications etc then my friend Clinton Jeff will be there and because I witnessed his dedication for what he does in Hong Kong, I know he will deliver this time as well. I will continue doing what I do best – asking stupid questions, learning new technology related words, and taking a lot of photos so you can be part of the experience with me, online. That’s another way of being involved in a Nokia experience!

Nokia N8 Edit from Lmvisual on Vimeo.
The video was entirely shot on a Nokia N8 phone in 720p at 25 frames per second.
 

Best restaurant(s) in Corfu, Greece

I forgot to share the best restaurant tip ever. So if you’re visiting Corfu, Greece (of course if you are, you will be staying in Villa Piedra, because it’s so beautiful ;-) ), then you have to try this restaurant. It’s located on a tiny street and no way you will find it unless you know where it is. It’s called Gianitsis (in English) and in the area of Kastania, so it’s approx. 5 km from Kerkyra centre and 4.6 km from the airport. I don’t have any exact street address for it, but if I remember correctly there was a small grocery store on the same street.


View Larger Map – A is Kerkyra centre, B the area of the restaurant, and C Villa Piedra

I got the tip from the owner of Villa Piedra while we stayed there, he said if you want to eat an amazing lamb dish then go there. We went, and no words can describe how good it is. It was the best lamb I’ve ever had, anywhere in the world. As you can see from the photos, it’s not a five star luxurious restaurant if we go by looks (I personally do not care about restaurant exterior or interior, just has to be clean, but some people might not even try something if it doesn’t look “right” – don’t be fooled!). But if you value tasty food and to experience a local treat, then try it if you can!

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Speaking of food, there’s another great place in Corfu that serve pitas, souvlakis etc for prices starting at 2,20€ per dish. You seriously got a big delicious pita or souvlaki for 2,20€ and I think we were there almost every day, haha. That was low season (April 2011), so prices might go up a little during the high season… but still a super affordable AND good place to eat. It’s on the Kerkyras-Lefkimmis street… I don’t have the number and have to check also the name for you and update it later.


View Larger Map – A is Kerkyra centre, B the area of the restaurant, and C Villa Piedra

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