Antwerp, Belgium

Finally it’s here, the first day of my road trip. After doubting for a long time I decided my first city to visit is going to be Antwerp. Why? Well, I don’t know. I could go to Paris in a few hours, though it would be a shame to miss the beautiful Belgium in my trip.

So this morning I took the Thalys from Amsterdam Centraal to Antwerp. I’ve always wanted to travel with the beautiful red Thalys. Fortunately the distance wasn’t that long so I arrived in Antwerp late in the morning. After arriving at the station, which is also a worthy sight, I took the tram to the ‘Grote Markt’ this is the main square of the city. It’s absolutely a must visit when you are visiting Antwerp, and most main sights are on walking distance from this square. On the square you can see the big city hall, which is actually on the world heritage list of UNESCO. Besides that you can see several 16^th-century guild houses, familiar to the ones in Amsterdam.

After seeing the ‘Grote Markt’ I decide to lunch at one of the over-priced restaurants and the borders of the square. While eating I still can’t take my eyes of the beautiful city hall, I just can’t wait till I can take one of the free guided tours that they offer. Though because it is quite crowed I decide to take one later on the day.

I took a look at my guide and they gave me the advice to visit the ‘Royal Museum of Fine arts’ because of the paintings of the Belgian and Dutch masters from the 16^th century. Though this is also something that I can do in my home country so I decide to take another look at my guide. It says that Antwerp was once the silver capital of the world and that they even got their own Silver museum nowadays. Ok, on first look it doesn’t really excite me, though why not take a change, who knows it might be a lot of fun. The museum lies a bit in the outskirts of Antwerp so I have to take the bus. After visiting the museum I wouldn’t say that it is going to be my high light of Antwerp, but I had certainly quite some fun to see all those beautiful silver objects.

After a look on my watch I realize that the afternoon is ending and that I still need to take a guided tour in the city hall. Thankfully the public transportation in Antwerp is good, so I’m in no time in front of the hall. I decided to keep it simple for one more day and I take the Dutch tour, my native language. There were only a few people taking the tour which gave us the opportunity to ask several questions, and surprisingly enough the guide had an answer for all of them, like every guide should. After all the guide determines if the guide is successful for the visitors.

Because of all the fun I’m having I almost forget that I haven’t booked accommodation for tonight. Thankfully I got my laptop with me so I can check some nice and cheap places in the city center. Though I’m a bit doubting if I will sleep in a hotel or hostel, but I decide to sleep in a cheap hotel just to start my trip with a bit of luxury. Of course there are no cheap hotels in the city center of Antwerp, so I end up a bit north in the ‘Best Western Hotel Docklands’ where I will eat my dinner.

In the evening I decide to stay on my hotel room and just watch a film on the television. While watching I can’t stop thinking about tomorrow, will I stay or will I go? I decide to leave Antwerp and go to Paris. Ok, I agree that this is not really original though what is a road trip without spending a few days in the romantic city of Paris?

Are you interested in the city of Antwerp? Here are some books I recommend. Please click on the picture for more information.

Graffiti op treinen moet niet altijd illegaal zijn. Dat bewijzen Thalys en 4 bekende graffiti kunstenaars in een nieuwe promostunt voor de trein met verbinding Parijs-Keulen.

SEAK (Cologne), Jonone (Paris), Sozyone (Brussels), and Zedz (Amsterdam) painted four cars of the European king train today at “Gare du Nord” in Paris. They had 3 hours and 15 minutes to finish the painting, that’s the new time the new Thalys needs from Paris to Cologne.

Enkele foto’s zie je hier beneden. Al de rest kan je op de website van FatCap zien.

http://www.fatcap.com/graffiti-on-the-thalys/

FIRST TICKETS GO ON SALE AND THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS
featuring four leading European graffiti artists painting a unique fresco on a Thalys train in 3 hours 15 minutes!

In 3 months time, on 13 December, Thalys will be ‘speeding up’ – and bringing Amsterdam and Cologne to within 3 hours 15 minutes journey time from Paris. To start the countdown and celebrate the first high-speed tickets going on sale, Thalys has given carte blanche to four of the leading exponents of European graffiti.

More pics and info after the bump!

This includes an incomparable line-up: Jonone 156, a Parisian artist originally from New York who now exhibits at the top galleries, including the current Fondation Cartier Né dans la rue (Born in the street) exhibition until 29 November 2009, Paris; Seak, a German artist whose strange and colourful paintings echo urban expressionism; Sozyone Million Gonzalez, a Belgian artist, and unrivalled designer and colour expert; Zedz, representing the Dutch scene, who draws his inspiration from the convergence between graffiti, design and architecture.

Their challenge : to go as fast as Thalys and meet the deadline of 3 hrs15, the time that it will soon take to get to Cologne or Amsterdam from Paris.

The artistic brief : to express their city and the energy that it radiates, to celebrate the new connections between the 4 cities and look at the meaning of the major changes that will happen in our territories and in our urban and multicultural societies as a result.

- source thalys.com

MAD! Thalys, the European company providing TGV trains between Paris, Bruxelles and Amsterdam, decides to customize one of the trains, inviting SozyOne (Bruxelles), Jonone (Paris), Zedz (Amsterdam) y Seak (Cologne). (from UpperPlayground)

http://upperplayground.com/wordpress/?p=22162

Primeiro nascimento num trem de alta velocidade entre Paris e Bruxelas

Uma menina nasceu nesta segunda-feira a bordo de um trem de alta velocidade pela primeira vez desde a criação, em 1996, da rota entre Paris e Bruxelas, anunciou a companhia ferroviária.
Dois médicos e duas enfermeiras que se encontravam a bordo responderam ao chamado do chefe do trem pelo sistema de som para ajudar a parturiente, que sentiu os primeiros alertas quando o trem já estavam a 300 km/h.

O bebê nasceu sem problemas na chegada do trem à estação de Bruxelas, onde era esperado por um grupo de bombeiros e médicos de emergência.

A mãe, que devia seguir para Colônia (Alemanha) acompanhada de seus dois filhos de 2 e 3 anos, foi hospitalizada com o bebê em Bruxelas por precaução.

Ambos estão bem de saúde, afirma ainda a companhia, que não precisou a idade ou a nacionalidade da mãe.

Como presente de nascimento, o diretor-geral da rota Thalys de alta velocidade, Olivier Poitrenaud, ofereceu à recém-nascida um “passe vitalicio” para usar o transporte.

fonte último segundo

Pas de nouvelles, bonne nouvelle ?

There was a time when British Airways spent more on ticketing than it did on jet fuel.  Those were the days when all tickets were booked though travel agents and fuel costs $20 a barrel.

That now seems almost comically historic:  everyone now books online and oil is again pushing $70.  I was reminded of that bygone age last week when I went to pickup a handful of Thalys tickets for a trip to Amsterdam.

After booking online, I was directed to pickup my tickets from a scruffy, humid, Rail Europe shop in an obscure shopping arcade in Brussels.  I took my place at the back of a slow moving queue and waited, and waited, just for the honour of picking up the tickets that I had already booked and paid for.

The sales assistants clearly wanted to be somewhere else (don’t you love Belgian customer service?) and so did I.  Waiting in the queue I had plenty of time to ruminate that there had to be a better way to book, reserve the right seats and collect your international train tickets.  If you had to design an inefficient, inconvenient, high-cost way to deliver tickets, this would be it.  The majority of tickets still have to be posted to customers or collected in person.

This past year I’ve spent a fair bit of time trudging around the Alps. Each time I plan a trip from Brussels to Geneva I always think that I really ought to take the train.

Each time I try to book tickets online. And each time I get to the same stage before giving up; frustrated by an antiquated, complicated and ultimately fruitless booking system.  When you book flights, you’re normally faced with a simple choice of economy or business (you choose business, of course) and a flexible or fixed ticket (could go either way).

When you try to book an international rail ticket, you’re faced with a seemingly endless choice of incompatible ticket types.  The website returns a plethora of choices: Opti-way, Hi-Life, Confort 1, Freedom, Premier, Confort 2.  The names are designed to confuse.  Then you discover that it’s too late for tickets to be posted to you. Or that this particular website doesn’t serve customers in your country.

In the end, pushed for time, I inevitably resort to the simple and painless airline booking systems.  No tickets. No queuing. No hassle.

International rail travel needs an easyJet-style revolution in electronic ticketing.  Booking should be simple and painless for the customer. And it shouldn’t cost the company more in bureaucracy than it spends on fuel.

]]> http://bieresetchicons.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/petit-voyage-aux-pays-bas/ Sat, 01 Aug 2009 07:40:48 +0000 piccalilli circus http://bieresetchicons.wordpress.com/2009/08/01/petit-voyage-aux-pays-bas/

Et bien me voilà de retour des Pays-Bas après 4 jours de vacances dépaysantes au pays du Gouda et des moulins !

A mon tour maintenant de vous faire voyager à travers cette expérience. Je décomposerai ce récit en plusieurs parties thématiques afin de mieux vous expliquer en détail ce que l’on peut trouver à 3 heures en voiture de Lille et plus ou moins le même temps en Thalys.

Premier aspect de ce voyage le coût du voyage. Contrairement à la France, les autouroutes en Belgique et aux Pays Bas sont gratuites, donc pas de péages super chers à passer. La seule exception a été trouvée peu après Anvers où il nous fallait payer 5 euros pour passer sous la mer …

Oui sous la mer vous avec bien lu … En effet, comme son nom l’indique, les Pays Bas est bien une contrée basse car un quart du pays se trouve en dessous du niveau de la mer. La première fois que je suis passé sous ce tunnel, j’ai aperçu le mât d’un bâteau, le bout de sa voile dépassait à peine du paysage, j’ai cru un instant rentrer dans un bateau et partir vers la Finlande ou un autre pays nordique accessible uniquement par la mer !

Une fois ce tunnel passé, l’altitude négative se fait sentir. Les champs qui sont entourés par la Mer du Nord paraissent plus hauts que la route empruntée. La campagne hollandaise est plate et à perte de vue. Un vrai dépaysement. J’aurai l’occasion de vous montrer quelques photos de cette campagne lors des prochains posts.

Après un bref passage sur un air de repos Texaco, direction Amsterdam pour vivre la première journée de ces vacances bien méritées

Dans le post précédent, je parlais d’une astuce qui permet de voyager vers l’étranger avec des chèques vacances. En effet la SNCF accepte ces chèques uniquement pour les destinations intra France. Ci dessous mon expérience pour réserver un train la veille d’un week end de 4 jours.

Hier à la gare de Montparnasse, je réserve un billet Paris-Marseille qui fait le même prix que Paris-Dusseldorf. A la caisse, je demande bien un 100% remboursable et échangeable pour 280,10€ en 1ère classe (allez 0,10€ de ma poche). Changement de guichet, chouette y a une guichet uniquement pour les remboursements juste une personne devant moi. Annulation pour un changement de destination, l’agent me dit :”c’est possible mais ce qui me pose problème ,c’est le mode de paiement en chèque vacance. Je vais essayer”. Et OUI, ça passe. Pour la somme de 280€, il me rend 0,10€ en monnaie.

Finalement, les agents de la SNCF essaient de décourager les remboursements en faisant croire que les dossiers prennent 2 mois pour des bons d’achat.

The best travel deals for the remainder of 2009 will be cruises and all inclusive resorts. Rail travel remains competitive and consumers who enjoy rail travel will benefit from great pricing on Canada and European rail vacations.

Overall: Great travels deals are available

Great travel deals are available for cruises, resorts, and rail vacation packages.   Given that there was a significant reduction in travel over the last twelve months; leisure travel operators are slashing prices to attract customers.  Bundled travel deals are still the best because they offer additional discounted airfare and/or hotel stays. Expect an increasing number of hotels, rental car companies and tour operators to offer discounts on their base rates.  A few week ago, I asked several vendors at a travel fair about their current rates, most indicated that they had rolled back prices to 2006/2007 rates.  This should be welcomed news for budget travelers who can find a cornucopia of deals at this time.

 Also; consumers can find good travel deals for air travel. While rates have not declined to the Fall 2001 bonanza levels, if you book well in advance or on special days (savvy travel agents know about special days), you can get a really good price. In fact, London, Paris and Dublin have become more affordable, with British Airways and Air France offering great deals. Toronto and Montreal Canadian are excellent options for week-end getaways close to home.

All Inclusive Resorts: Mexico on Sale

Mexico is on sale for the remainder of this year.  In order to compete with the significant reduced prices of the resorts in Cancun, Cozumel and Iztapa, Sandals and SuperClubs are offering 30-65% off specials.  Not to be outdone, GoGo Worldwide Vacations is offering special pricing on their Worldwide Collection which includes China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan & South Korea to its existing destinations: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Cook Island, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Oman, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Bali. Collette Vacations is offering free air travel to Europe, China or the Canadian Rockies. Apple Vacations is offering saving up to 70% on fall deals. It is important to note that consumer interested in GoGo Worldwide Vacations and Apple Vacations should contact a travel agent.

Cruises: Always a great deal

Cruising is, and will remain the best travel deal for the remainder of the year. Whether you are a budget, premium or luxury traveler, there is a cruise for you at an affordable price. Pick the destination you have always dreamed about: Alaska, the Caribbean, Europe, Hawaii, Mexico, or South America – is within your grasp. As always, flexibility about your desired itinerary, and dates, will help you save. Cruises are available at a rate of $65 per person per day or less. So get out there! You deserve a cruise. It’s good for you, it’s affordable and you’ve earned it.

 Rail: Focus on Canada and Europe

Rail Vacations offers unique travel experiences, with breathtaking views, great interaction with locals and a rich learning environment.  Here are the highlights of two rail vacations:

EuroStarIceThalys

Rail Europe

Rail Europe consists of ten high speed trains. They are Eurostar, Thalys, TGV, Eurostar Italia, Lyria, AVE, Inter-City Express (ICE), Cisalpino, Artesia, and Talgo.

Eurostar- Travels through the Chunnel and connects you to major cities in under two and a half hours.  For example, you can travel from:

• London to Brussels in 1 hour 51 minutes
• London to Lille in 1 hour 20 minutes
• London to Disneyland Paris in 2 hours 15 minutes

Thalys – The Thalys train provides direct links to 17 cities including Paris, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany in over 50 round-trips a day. It can even take you from Paris to Brussels in less than ninety minutes.

The TGV – The TGV is your choice when traveling to France, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium.

Lyria – Gives you a spectacular view from the rolling French countryside to the majestic Swiss Alps.

Artesia – This high-speed train takes you from the best of France to the best of Italy by day or night, via connecting city pairs of Paris and Rome, Dijon and Milan, Chambrey and Florence and 13 others.

Talgo – Talgo passes through brilliant coastal landscapes moving you from one port city to another in stress-free comfort, such as Montpellier, Narbonne and Perpignan in France, and Barcelona, Alicante, Cartegena, and Valencia in Spain.

Canada Rail Vacations   

Canadian Rockies vacation gives you the most beautiful destinations in Western Canada. These Canadian railway holidays getaways can be from three nights and four days to eleven nights and twelve days.  Your choice for the short railway holidays includes, Vancouver to Banff, Vancouver to Jasper, Vancouver to Calgary, and Whistler to Jasper. On the longer trips you can combine the Inside Passage with the majestic Canadian Rockies and the Rocky Mountaineer, via Ferry, Motor coach, Rail and Helicopter.

Theo Alleyne is a Leisure Travel Professional with Cruise & Rail Travel LLC, http://www.cruiserail.com a travel agency that specializes in Cruises, Rail Vacations and All-Inclusive Resorts.   He has more than 13 years of experience personalizing worldwide cruises, rail and all inclusive resort vacations. He is a certified cruise, rail and resort specialist. Theo enjoys discussing travel with consumers. He can be reached at Theo.cruiserail@gmail.com or by calling (877) 846-8785.

J’étais ce week-end aux Pays-Bas où j’ai passé quelques jours pour affaires. Sur le chemin du retour il s’est produit quelque chose de curieux. J’étais dans le Thalys et j’ai senti mon estomac violemment tiraillé par la faim aux alentours de 21h. J’ai donc logiquement décidé de me diriger vers le bar. Quel ne fut pas mon agacement de devoir patienter 5 grosses minutes à la caisse avant que quelqu’un ne me serve, la préposée aux sandwichs ne daignant pas mettre fin à sa conversation téléphonique.

Je n’ai pu m’empêcher d’aller la voir et de retenir un furieux :

This is not a method!

Jacques Chirac hante souvent mes voyages à l’étranger. Dès que je pars dans un pays non-francophone je repense à son intervention de 1996 à Jérusalem.

Pour moi il représente l’image que les étrangers ont du Français : un peu rude avec un accent qui sent bon le fromage. A l’étranger, en bon ambassadeur de mon pays, c’est terrible mais j’ai l’impression d’être Jacques Chirac. Il est dans mon dos. Je sens les serveurs redouter ma fureur lorsque je passe à la caisse. Jacques Chirac est avec moi partout où je vais.

A l’aller déjà j’avais lu dans le Parisien le récit d’un diner entre lui et Michel Rocard. L’article relatait quelques extraits d’une discussion à batons-rompus où les deux anciens camarades de l’ENA avait pu échanger leurs vues sur Sarkozy et François Hollande. Si on sait bien que Cohn-Bendit prend toujours un petit verre de blanc avec Bayrou après un bon débat chez Arlette Chabot, la proximité affichée entre ces deux grand-pères de la politique française me dérangeait un peu.

Je m’agaçais d’ailleurs du retour en grâce de Jacques Chirac. Lui qui avait battu tous les records d’impopularité revenait sacrément fort dans le coeur des Français. Son récent écart repris partout dans les médias n’est qu’un exemple de plus de sa capacité à réaliser des come back inespérés.

Celui qui a certes toujours été considéré comme un bon vivant grâce à son amour pour le salon de l’agriculture, n’apparaissait désormais plus comme le président escroc mais comme l’homme pris sur le fait. Il devenait le vieux tonton cochon que chaque fille a connu et détesté. (celui qui fait un sourire en tentant de glisser sa main sous la jupe) Il devenait le membre de la famille. Il devenait moi tyrannisé par sa femme. C’était un miroir. Il nous ressemblait. Et quand on se rapproche de sa caricature on devient plus facile à être accaparé.

C’est pour cette raison que j’aimerais malgré tout revenir sur quelques petites choses afin qu’on n’oublie pas. Je n’aurais pas non plus envie qu’un jour on puisse dire de Domenech qu’il n’était pas si mal sur le banc de l’équipe de France. Alors je rappelle que…

Jacques Chirac c’est avant tout des HLM.

Jacques Chirac c’est le bruit, mais c’est aussi l’odeur.

Jacques Chirac c’est Gérald Dahan qui fait rire la salle sans rien dire pendant 1min48.

Jacques Chirac c’est tout de même Stéphane Collaro.

Jacques Chirac c’est les crottes de cet animal.

Jacques Chirac c’est le mec qui a eu le culot de nous dire de manger des pommes.

Jacques Chirac c’est le mec qui nous a servi des champignons à la place.
(à moi qui revenait d’Amsterdam)

Quand je suis revenu dans mon wagon, le sandwich dégueulasse à 5 euros le jambon et sa fine tranche de fromage en main, j’ai découvert deux enfants assis à ma place en train… de faire des trucs d’enfants.

Leur mère leur ordonna en Hollandais de revenir à leur place afin de me rendre le siège pour lequel j’avais payé. J’étais gêné. A un moment, qu’est-ce que je pouvais dire d’autre que :

No, no! Stop! Let them do!

crédit photo : Getty Images

Como habéis podido notar,  he vuelto, después de haberme tomado un sabático forzado de un poco todo lo que no fuera vital.

Efectivamente, mis palpitantes actividades de estas últimas semanas han consistido en: dormir, comer y beber, satisfacer unas necesidades fisiológicas, ducharse y volver a dormir.

Es decir, tres semanas al ritmo de un recién nacido, pero sin los llantos ni pañales. Y una semana de convalecencia en el pueblo, comiendo bien, paseando por la playa y haciéndome mimar por la familia.

Al pueblo, suelo ir en tren, como ya expliqué aquí.

Como siempre atravieso Bélgica, me acuerdo de ti cada vez, Maco.

De hecho, te dedico esta foto.

Lieja vista desde el tren

Y tendrías que ver el peaso estación que están montando en Lieja, que te sientes como Jonás en la ballena. Si, si.

Gracias a un centrismo forzado de la red ferroviaria gala, el viaje de Colonia al pueblo no puede hacerse sin una parada obligatoria, a saber: París.

Como París está hecha como está, es decir deliciosamente anticuada, toca apañárselas para cambiar de estación entre el Thalys del este y el TGV del oeste. Y no hay a mi conocimiento ningún medio de transporte cómodo para un viajero con maletas, que no sea un taxi.

Thalys y TGV. Vistos así parecen estar al lado el uno del otro, pero en realidad, ¡no no! Hay que cambiar de estación entre el primero y el segundo.

El metro parisino, ya no lo cojo cuando ando con maletas, desde que he decidido que no haría levantadora de pesos como carrera profesional.

El que haya cogido la línea 4 en Montparnasse del metro a la estación de tren me entenderá.

Para los demás, os cuento el panorama.

10 escalones para arriba, 10 metros en plano, 10 escalones para abajo, 10 metros en plano, 10 escalones para arriba, etc, sobre lo que parece ser unos dos kilómetros de pasillos, pero puede que sean más. Ni un ascensor para subir a la estación, ni siquiera una pobre escalera mecánica, nada.

Además de surrealistamente inútil y frustrante – pero, ¿no hubiera sido más simple para todos hacer el recorrido en llano? ¿Tenía el alcalde un cuñado que trabaja en escaleras? – es un dolor para unos brazos normalmente poco solicitados para transportar cargas pesadas.

Paris, templo de la modernidad

 

 

Así que no, para cruzar París con una maleta, prefiero ir en taxi.

No debo se la única en pensar eso ya que casi siempre he sido la única pringada que he visto ir en metro con una maleta en París.

Esto lo solía hacer cuando era joven, fuerte y demasiado pobre como para tener otra opción de viaje. Además, debía dar pena, porque en general aparecía algún joven de los suburbios para ofrecerse, cual caballero, a llevarme la maleta en las escaleras.

Debo ser minoría en pensar esto, pero la bondad de los parisinos siempre me ha parecido infinita.

Sin embargo, ahora soy vieja, soy consciente que ningún veinteañero suburbano se va a apiadar de mi, así que, mejor voy en taxi.

Por desgracia, los taxistas parisinos ya no son los que eran: los nuevos no se saben todas las calles y navegan a todas partes con el GPS, este magnífico artilugio que lleva al impotente conductor directo a todos los atascos. Me diréis que en Madrid los taxistas tampoco se saben todas las calles. Si, pero la diferencia es que antes, el taxista parisino estaba obligado a aprendérselas todas. Formaba parte de su formación. Pero debe ser que ahora ya no. Y la diferencia se nota.

Cosa que me fastidia, porque significa que mi truco con los taxistas parisinos se acabó.

Para que os pueda contar mi ahora-obsoleto sistema, os tengo primero que confesar un oscuro secreto mío, del cual no estoy orgullosa, pero ahí va, por el bien de la comprensión del relato.

Antes, gente, era racista en taxistas parisinos.

Muy racista.

Racista de taxistas, en alguna forma.

Efectivamente, sólo cogía taxis con conductores negros.

Lo sé, está mal pensar así. Mi escasa experiencia a lo largo de los años me dio que, de media, eran más rápidos, más eficaces, más baratos – pues si, si el viaje es más rápido, automáticamente el precio es menor – y más amables. O eso era mi teoría por lo menos.

Mi taxista ideal tendría esta pinta

Al final pagaba lo mismo ya que la diferencia se la daba de propina, pero llegaba feliz, relajada y con tiempo que matar.

Pero esto se acabó, gente. Ahora los nuevos taxistas, sean del color que sean, navegan con el GPS, el método más seguro de chuparse todos los atascos provocados por la multitud de conductores que también van con el navegador puesto, acabando por coger exactamente el mismo camino.

Aún así, los 20 minutos de atravesarse París por 15€ me siguen pareciendo un chollo, sobre todo que se ve todo el centro que es muy bello, como podrá testificar el rubio que se quedó boquiabierta mientras estábamos cruzando el Louvre de par en par.

Además, los taxistas me siguen pareciendo muy amables.

Pero yo soy un bicho raro de provincia a quien le parece que todos son amables en París. Un poco miedosos, un poco estresados – pero quién no lo está en una ciudad grande – pero amables no obstante.

Parisinos en el metro. Algo paranoicos, pero amables.

 

 

 

 

 

En la próxima entrada, a Gabacha se le quita la narcolepsia, y con su muy sufrido rubio, llegan al pueblo.

AMBIENTE DE SIMULAÇÃO DAS TRANSFORMAÇÕES GEOMÉTRICAS EM COMPUTAÇÃO GRÁFICA

Elzo Brito dos Santos Filho^¹, Luiz Andrade Rodrigues Júnior², Thalys de Aguiar Gomes³, Anderson dos Santos de Santana⁴, Vicente Machado Júnior⁵

^1,2,3,4,5Universidade Nove de Julho – Depto. de Ciências Exatas – Ciência da Computação

elzo_brito@hotmail.com

Palavras Chave: Simulação, Computação Gráfica, transformações geométricas

1. Introdução

A computação gráfica tem sido, ao longo dos últimos anos, objeto de grandes investimentos e estudos, sendo também utilizados nas mais diversas áreas, aplicações e até mesmo na Psicologia, nas indústrias de jogos, filmes, animações e simulações.

Boa parte dessas aplicações utiliza os modelos matemáticos de transformações geométricas, compreendendo os conceitos de translação, rotação, escalonamento, cisalhamento e reflexão.

Apesar da sua larga utilização a abstração em sala de aula não é uma tarefa das mais fáceis.

É possível verificar que, na disciplina de computação gráfica, existe uma deficiência na abstração das transformações geométricas, exigindo um alto grau de abstração por parte dos alunos que estudam ou utilizam tais conceitos, uma vez que a abstração é baseada em coordenadas cartesianas, no plano ou no espaço, necessitando de cálculos específicos para sua realização.

Devido a essa grande dificuldade de abstração na disciplina de computação gráfica, um ambiente de simulação pode facilitar o aprendizado, auxiliando o aluno e professor, uma vez que, poderá utilizar essa ferramenta para auxiliar a explicação e apresentação desses conceitos.

Já para o aluno, a abstração pode tornar-se mais fácil, pois a apresentação dos modelos sendo transformados tende a ser proveitosa.

Segundo (SILVA FILHO) os Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais do ensino da geometria possibilita ao aprendiz desenvolver um tipo de pensamento particular para compreender, descrever e representar, de forma organizada, o mundo em que vive.

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo descrever, modelar e implementar um ambiente de simulação para visualização e análise de figuras ou formas geométricas que sofrerão alterações relativas ao seu estado inicial.

2. Metodologia

Na primeira etapa foi realizado o estudo de todas as transformações geométricas, compreendendo a rotação e translação.

Depois de compreendidos todos os modelos matemáticos referentes às transformações estudadas, foi desenvolvida a modelagem do sistema e posteriormente foi construído um ambiente de simulação utilizando a linguagem de programação Java.

2.1 As transformações geométricas

O ambiente de simulação proposto compreende a execução das transformações geométricas de translação e rotação, conforme a seguir:

2.1.1 Translação

Translação é uma transformação geométrico para mover (transladar) um objeto dado um determinado ponto.

O modelo de translação é representado pelas equações matriciais:

No espaço	Eq. 1
No plano	Eq. 2

Uma translação é aplicada em um objeto reposicionando-o ao longo de uma linha continua de uma coordenada pra outra, nos transladamos um objeto bidimensional pela adição de pontos de translação tx e ty nas coordenadas originais (x,y) para que um ponto se mova para uma nova posição (x’,y’)

Fig.1 – Exemplo de translação do ponto P

Eq. 3

Nos podemos expressar a equação de translação como uma simples matriz usando as colunas vetores para representar as coordenadas de ponto e translação vetorial, representada na

2.1.2 Rotação

Rotação é uma transformação geométrica usada para rotacionar um objeto em um determinado ponto.

O modelo de rotação é descrito pelas seguintes equações matriciais:

Em torno de [sentido horário]	Eq. 4
Em torno de Y [sentido anti-horário]	Eq. 5

Fig. 2

Na figura 2 a rotação de um ponto em torno de cada eixo de coordenada é dada em sentido horário. As transformações usadas para rotacionar um objeto tridimensional são as mais complicadas, a forma mais simples de rotacionar um ponto usa três transformações:

· Translada o ponto para o ponto de origem do plano cartesiano

· Faz a rotação do ponto

· Translada o ponto para a posição original

3. AffineTransform

A classe AffineTransform implementa a transformação afim, definida na documentação java developement kit (JDK) como:

Esta classe representa uma transformação afim 2D realizando um mapeamento linear entre dois sistemas de coordenadas 2D preservando a linearidade e o paralelismo das linhas.

Transformação afim pode ser construída usando seqüências de translações, escalonamento, rotações, inversões e distorções.

Segundo Miranda(pg 129-2006), a classe Affine é uma maneira genérica de calcular novas coordenadas de um ponto após a sua transformação.

Exemplo:

Para girar uma imagem em um ângulo de valor ang em torno do seu eixo a classe Affine utiliza o seguinte método (ângulos são especificados em radianos):

double angulo = Math.toRadians(ang);

A variável angulo do tipo double (ponto flutuante de dupla precisão) recebe o resultado do método estático toRadians, pertencente a classe Math (classe encontrada na API Java) , que recebe como argumento a variável “ang” que representa os graus para realizar a rotação.

double x = imagem.getWidth()/2.0;

A variável x do tipo double recebe a metade do resultado do método getWidth(). O método getWidth() é utilizado para capturar a quantidade de pixels referenciando a coordenada x de um sistema cartesiano.

double y = imagem.getHeight()/2.0;

A variável y do tipo double recebe a metade do resultado do método getHeight(). O método getHeight() é utilizado para capturar a quantidade de pixels referentes a coordenada y de um sistema cartesiano.

AffineTransform retorno =AffineTransform.getRotateInstance (angulo, x, y);

A variável retorno do tipo AffineTransform recebe o resultado do método getRotateInstance() pertencente a classe AffineTransform que recebe os argumentos x, y (coordenadas) e o ângulo para a realização da rotação.

4. O Simulador UniDraw 0.1 Beta

No programa UniDraw v0.1 desenvolvemos um ambiente de transformações geométricas onde aqui apresentamos a rotação, ao abrir o programa provavelmente ele vai apresentar o seguinte mostrado na figura 1.

Fig. 3

Isso acontece por que ele não esta encontrando a imagem no endereço apontado pelo arquivo resurces.properties você deve alterar o arquivo abrindo o UniDraw.jar com algum descompactado (exemplo Winrar) e alterar o caminho para alguma imagem no existente no seu computador com barra invertida e com extensão da imagem, demonstrado na figura 4.

Fig. 4

Após alterar para um caminho valido. O programa irá iniciar normalmente, demonstrado na figura 5.

Fig. 5

Ao clicar no botão Rotação aparecerá uma caixa de texto (mostrado na figura 6) para que o aluno/professor digite o ângulo que a imagem será rotacionada.

Fig. 6

Você deve entrar com números positivos ou negativos.

Fig. 7 – Exemplo de inserção de dados

Caso o usuário digite um número inválido aparecerá uma mensagem avisando que o número não é valido, como está demonstrado na figura 8

Fig. 8

Ele retornara novamente para a entrada de dados, entrando com um numero valido positivo ou negativo, ele rotacionará a imagem para a direção desejada. Rodando 10º a direita:

Fig. 9 – Exemplo de rotação a 10°

10º a esquerda

Fig. 10 – Exemplo de rotação a -10°

Rotacionando -180º ele ficaram assim:

Fig. 11 – Exemplo de rotação a -180°

Rotacionando -90º e 90º:

Fig. 12 – Exemplo de rotação a -90° ou 90°

Conclusão

Concluímos que usando o software UniDraw como um ambiente de simulações de transformações geométricas para ministrar disciplina de Computação Gráfica, os alunos conseguiram ter um melhor aproveitamento da matéria, pois como utilizam de muitos métodos matemáticos muitas vezes alguns alunos não conseguem ter uma boa abstração e entendimento da matéria, e com um ambiente ele visualizara de forma funcional cada uma dessas transformações.

Referências

Almeida Eliana S. de, Herrera Julian D, Silva Filho1 Luiz Josué, Almeida Hyggo Oliveira -Um Ambiente Integrado para auxílio ao Ensino de Ciência da Computação – Departamento de Tecnologia da Informação – Universidade Federal de Alagoas(UFAL) Caixa Postal 15.064 – 91.501-970 – Maceió – AL – Brasil

Minghim Rosane, Nakano Anderson Luis, Leitão da Cunha Ícaro Lins – Transformações Geométricas 2D e 3D – Seminário para a Disciplina SCE 5799 – Computação Gráfica

Rafael C. Gonzales, Richard E. Woods; tradução Roberto Marcondes Cesar Junior, Luciano da fontoura Costa – processamento de imagens digitais – São Paulo; Edgar Blücher, 2000.

MIRANDA, JOSE IGUELMAR – processamento de imagens digitais: pratica usando Java – Campinas Embrapa Informática Agropecuária 2006

SILVA FILHO, Luiz Josué da ; ALMEIDA, Eliana S. ; BRAGA, Julian Diego H. ; ALMEIDA, Hyggo Oliveira de ; COSTA, Evandro de Barros ; VIEIRA, Bruno Lopes ; MELO, Marcelo Damasceno de . Um Ambiente Integrado para auxílio ao Ensino de Ciência da Computação. Colabor@, v. 2, n. 8, 2004.

“Frequent flyers on the left, first time travelers on the right, everyone else in the center” bellowed the TSA Agent. Every day in airports around the world similar words are spoken. Passengers are herded along, sorted and examined”. Take off your belts, jackets and shoes… laptops must be in a separate tray…travel documents and ID must be in your hands”. Yes, this sounds familiar. What if you can avoid this hassle? What if you can travel in comfort from place to place without being scanned? How about being able to leave your seat and take a stroll without other passengers wondering, “what is he /she up to?”. Don’t you wish you could ask the handsome man next to you when he and his friends are going without him thinking you are a stalker? Absolutely, we all would, and I know how you can. Let us introduce to Travel by Rail.

ArtBrussels (ici) s’est tenu fin avril (du 24 au 27), à Bruxelles comme on s’en doute. Bien qu’il s’agisse d’une foire d’art contemporain, et non d’une exposition photo, de nombreuses galeries exposaient de la photo. Avant d’aborder un parcours photo sur la foire, quelques informations pratiques.

La ville est desservie par le Thalys (TGV) depuis la gare du Nord à Paris en 1h20. Le jour de ma visite, il y avait aussi l’ancêtre du Thalys en gare.

Bruxelles est une ville agréable, de taille humaine, et les gens n’y courent pas partout comme des fous contrairement à Paris.  On y parle le français sans problème et, le plus souvent, sans accent très prononcé. On peut s’y déplacer en métro ou en tram. Les trams sont lents et il est difficile de savoir où l’on se trouve lors des arrêts : circuler en métro est donc plus simple mais attention à la confusion car certains terminus (comme Simonis) ont des noms qui se ressemblent, plusieurs lignes passent dans la même station et, cerise sur le gâteau, le métro est construit en boucle ce qui fait qu’un métro peut changer de numéro en cours de route. Un ticket pour la journée coûte 4 euros et il faut composter son billet dans le métro, comme à Paris,  contrairement au billet de train qui ne composte pas (si vous demandez au contrôleur, il y a des chances qu’il vous charrie un peu).

Le site des transports en communs de Bruxelles  (le STIB) est bien fait et se trouve ici.

La gare TGV de Bruxelles s’appelle Bruxelles-Midi (car elle au midi, i.e. au sud, de Bruxelles). Vous pouvez y faire des courses dans une supérette GB (Carrefour), je pense notamment  à des barres de céréales et à une bouteille d’eau, indispensables en promenade. Cela vous évitera de partir chargé depuis Paris.

Pour se rendre à ArtBrussels, depuis la gare, il suffit de prendre le métro direction la station Heyzel (où se trouve le stade du même nom). Si vous avez un PDA ou un smartphone, munissez-vous du logiciel Métro (ici) et de la carte des transports de Bruxelles ; cet outil est indispensable aussi ailleurs, comme à Paris. La station est à deux pas de l’Atomium et de parcs arborés ; la visite de l’Atomium  coûte 9 euros, ce qui m’a paru excessif, j’ai donc gardé mes sous.

L’exposition se trouve en face de la sortie du Métro et l’entrée coûte 15 euros (on peut payer par carte). Vous serez également tamponné sur la main.

Sur le site, vous trouverez des toilettes gratuites et propres. Vous  trouverez aussi de quoi vous restaurer : je n’ai trouvé que des sandwiches (et les fameuses gaufres dont je me régale à chaque promenade à Bruxelles) mais il semble qu’une restauration plus classique existe.

La foire est très grande et il faut compter 4 à 6 heures de visite, surtout si vous discutez un peu et revenez voir plusieurs fois un stand. Sur la foire, l’anglais est conseillé car même si la plupart des galéristes sont polyglottes et se débrouillent en français, il y a des exceptions.

Et pour finir, il y a deux adresses gourmandes à ne pas rater : Dandoy (biscuits et gauffres, ici) que j’ai testé personnellement et Wittamer (chocolats et macarons, ici) que je n’ai pas testé mais qui est recommandé par tout le monde

Like I said in my last post I came back from Paris yesterday =D I had the greatest time. ‘Almost’ everything went well, but because we went with 13 people we sometimes didn’t know where we all went =P hahaha. That caused some irritations at times, but besides that it was all good XD I’ll tell it in days to make sure I don’t forget anything hahaha ^^

Day 1

We all met at the airport Schiphol. From there the train was going to Paris. We went with the Thalys ^^ That was quite cool =D anyway, it took the train like 4 hours to get there, so that wasn’t too bad. I played some games and listened to some music. The time went quite fast really. We arrived in Paris 10 minutes later. We were lost right away haha, because we didn’t know where to go yet and we also had no tickets for the subway yet. It took us all 30 minutes I think to get it all right, after that it all went quite easy and we went in the hotel in no time. The hotel looked good and it was all clean and cool. It was like 7 pm when we went out to look for a nice place where we could have dinner. We found an Italian Restaurant =P The food was good so we had a good time. After that we went to see the Moulin Rouge. We walked down that street where we saw A LOT of sex shops. Not that I haven’t seen them before -_-’ but ok… We walked to Montmartre to see the Sacre Coeur and also Place Du Tetre where we could see people painting beautiful stuff, but because it was kinda late there were not a lot of people. We stayed there for some time and went back to the hotel again. We came there around 12 and we decided to go to sleep because we had to get breakfast around 9 am. My cousin and I talked and bit and before we knew it… it was 04.30 am and we were like…WTF?!? hahaha. The next day when having breakfast I felt I was going to fall asleep.

 Day 2

The next day we went to see the Arc de Triomphe. We also walked by a lot of stores, but they were all closed because it was Labor Day. We went to see the eiffeltower after. Nobody wanted to wait for tickets. But my cousins and I wanted to ‘climb’ the Eiffeltower, so we waited for like 1 hour to get 3 tickets =P we stayed on the Eiffeltower for like 1 hour and then went back to our family again. I took some awesome pictures when I was up there ^^ I could see whole Paris. We had a date with the Hunchback, so we went to the Notre Dam. It was quite funny. Because of Labor Day there was an ambulance near the Notre Dam and the people from the ambulance where selling flowers ^^ It was kinda busy there so I couldn’t take a picture of it =( We also went inside the Notre Dam. It was quite nice and there was a woman singing different songs. It was nice ^^ That night we had dinner at a tiny restaurent. The waiter didn’t know much english, so it was kinda tough to ask him things. Some things went wrong and the food wasn’t great either. Back at the hotel I took the nicest bath ever =P after that I went to bed because I was exhausted XD

Day 3

This day we went to see Napoleon’s Tomb. So we went to Hotel Des Invalides. It was pretty impressive how big the place was. We got some tickets and entered the place where we could see the tomb. It was HUGE. I’m wondering if he’s really in there though hahaha. And maybe there is only 1 tomb instead of 7 hahaha ^^ This day we also wen to see the Louvre. We didn’t go inside thouhg, because we figured that it would take us too long to see it ALL. Instead of that we went to la Fayette. A big warehouse. I didn’t buy anything though. My brother, my cousin and I went to the top of that building. It has an awesome view ^^ Later that night we went to the Italian restaurant again and had dinner over there. After dinner (almost) everybody wanted to go back to the hotel. A few of us wanted to get something to drink somewhere though. So 5 of us went to look for a nice place. We walked for like 2 hours, but never sat down for a drink somehwere hahaha. We went back to the hotel and had something to drink over there.

Day 4

This was our last day in Paris and we wanted to see a few more things. We went back to Place du Tetre and there I bought an awesome silver ring. Made by Calvin Klein ^^ we walked around a bit got something to eat and went back to the hotel to get our luggage. Back in the train I fell asleep =P only for 1 hour though. a few hours later I was back home again. It was nice to be back again =D

I put some of the 500 pictures I took online. There are no pictures of my and my family though.
Click –> Here <– to go to the online album…

Au Revoir x