Pencil doing the heavy lifting

Due to renovation work and many other things that are happening I didn't find time to share much on the blog lately.

But I want to say that it's not just me with a busy schedule. I am starting to think that my pencils are a little bit workaholics...

To the point that there is no more lead, just wood on wood action :)

We need to take some time for recharging and sharpening up

The hunt for german fountain pens in a german airport

I had a layover in Germany and thought I should make good use of the time there. I started by visiting the terminals, going at every gate, trying the different sits and escalators. After the tour was complete I looked for a a souvenir, something to bring back home.. So naturally I started looking for stationary stuff.

Being in Germany I hoped to find some good deals from the German brands like Faber Castell or Lamy.

First found was the Lamy Safari. It was in a generic shop that also sells magazines, books, pillows for travel and gummy bears.

The price was not bad but it definitely wasn't a deal. Also I am not really a fan of the Lamy grip section so I continued my search.

Not to my surprise I spent quite a time wondering through the airport to find a better supplied store.

By luck I found the Fabriano Boutique

This is a dedicated stationary store, and it had more options but not much more. The windows were very tastefully decorated, Lamy Safari and some notebooks being the stars of the show.

I expected the inside of the store to have much more diversity when it comes to pencils and fountain pens. The majority of the products were Lamy Safari and it's wide range of colors and a few Faber Castell pens and ball points.

In the end I chose to bring as souvenir some chocolate, as I didn't found any deals on the German pens.

Great decor idea pencil and some artificial flowers

This was quite a nice surprise, to see that a restaurant has opted for pencil sets to create great looking decor. Some pencils, some artificial flowers/feathers, bright colors and you are done.

I realize that it might involve some elbow grease DYI. But a glue gun or some other kind of glue would help to do such decor in no time,it does look very good, simple and fresh.

It was a even nicer surprise as I ended up randomly at this restaurant after a great day road trip.

Very dramatic scene close to the mountains having their peaks covered with snow while the city is covered in fog and drama.

Holiday pencils

I just came back from a short but nice vacation, with good weather and great views. On this vacation, I took with me a fairly small notebook where I had info and sites worth seeing, planning notes and stuff.

I had all the information on my phone but I wanted to have a bit of redundancy in case I ran out of battery.  It wasn't the case but it's still nice to have it and maybe take some notes or make quick jots.

For this trip I took the Koh I Noor Notebook mechanical pencil because it is very small, travel safe as you can retract the writing lead completely, it has a built-in sharpener in the lead advance button, it has a body made out of metal and it looks really cool and retro.

I really like the size of the mechanical pencil for travel and everyday carry, not so much for proper writing due to it being too thin to have a comfortable grip. the looks are just a bonus.

You can take a look at the blog post about this pencil I have posted in 2019.

I enjoy traveling and I like walking up and down the streets of a city, getting in touch with the city atmosphere, enjoying the architecture, and all the stuff that is happening all around, and occasionally if the time permits I really enjoy time spent in museums.

This was a trip rather close to my home town, but it had a lot of surprises. On the first night out in the city enjoying site-seeing good food and beer, I stumble upon an open-air Jose Carreras concert. In the following days, I spent the time between beers, sightseeing, aquapark, and two museums.

The first museum visited (on the second day) was an art and science museum. In the science part of the museum between artifacts, skeletons, and all kinds of interesting relics, I found a section where the sketches, a notebook, and a pencil of a local historian were added to the gallery, showing his work and contribution to the exhibit.

Interestingly enough the pencil used was as a red Koh I Noor, 2 mm clutch mechanical pencil. I found it to be very cool, as I was traveling with a Koh I Noor.

The next day I visited a second museum which was a more eclectic collection of exhibits. Its main point focused on the history of the local fortress, the life of the nobles in medieval times, world war, graphic, photo, and art exhibitions, history of the church in the area, life under communism, and a few more.

The museum mostly made use of the beautiful fortress buildings to attract crowds and used all sorts of recreations to depict life from the past. It was a bummer for me, and  I would say its audience would be families with small children which probably would enjoy the pictures, figurines, armors, and so on.

The most interesting parts for me were the ruins of old buildings and tombs which were under the fortress, dug up, preserved, and presented very nicely, and a poster gallery. I really enjoy old posters and these ones are mostly collections of communist period work safety posters. I was fascinated to find out that the painter Toulouse-Lautrec is the father of the poster.

In continuation of the communist posters, there was a room representing the communist period in Romania, with pictures of the leader, common household objects and between them, there were a few stationary objects for students.

So if you wonder what would a student's bag includes, here are a few samples.

You can see in the image a wooden pencil box, a few hooded nib fountain pens and some sharpeners, the "Student" ink, below that is another hooded nib fountain pen and a dip pen and in the left a used bottle of permanent ink.

If you are curious about communist household objects used in Romania click on the images below.

Related articles:

If you would like to see more about Koh I Noor click you can use the following links or the Koh I Noor label in the right panel:

Koh-I-Noor shop in Prague

Koh-I-Noor Notebook

Koh-I-Noor Versatil 70s

Koh-I-Noor 5340 5,6 mm lead holder

or about my old Chinese fountain pen that I used in the primary school

Small notebook

Trip to Prague, Koh-I-Noor shop hunt

I went on a trip to Prague and of course, I had to go hunting for Koh-I-Noor shops. 

As beautiful as Prague is, the weather was not the best, not even close. Around 1 - 3 degrees Celsius and constant rain. I wondered on the streets, but because of the weather and the limited time available, I only got to visit 2 Koh-I-Noor shops. One of the shops I had visited on a previous trip in Prague (link).

What I really like is that Koh-I-Noor knows how to promote themselves and associate the stationary brand to Czech and to Prague. I would say they are very proud of their tradition and that is great. Going to a Koh-I-Noor shop in Prague should be on everyone's tour. In the end, these shops are landmarks just like a church, a bridge...

  The first Koh-I-Noor shop visited was in the old town, in center. I was a mix of of pencils and souvenirs, so I don't think it's owned by Koh-I-Noor. Also, it was kind of a tourist trap as everything inside seemed a bit overpriced. On Google maps you will find this shop under the name Koh-I-Noor Pencils.

 

The second shop was the one I have visited on my previous trip. A very large shop dedicated exclusively to the Koh-I-Noor products (Koh-I-Noor Hardmuth as). It is located in the vicinity of Prague Castle. This shop had a smaller selection of clutch and mechanical pencils and it was more oriented to the artists. But I still managed to find some very interesting products, and not to mention the prices were better.

I really like the decor Koh-I-Noor uses in the shops. It has a feeling of traditional, classy, and very friendly. Also, they address a very wide range of customers. From kids to artists and everything in between.

Preview Koh-I-Noor hunt

This little bag contains the souvenirs which I brought back from my visit to Prague. This and a bag with a few boxes of chocolate that I forgot at the airport. 

The good part about the times we live in is, when someone spots an unattended bag in an airport, the security gets alerted immediately.

The story in a few lines: I went through the security check, just to realize that I am one bag short. I went back to see if I can find it on the bench I waited before. Of course, the bag wasn't there anymore I so I just went through security a second time. While going through the second security check I heard my name through the airport's loudspeakers. The bag was waiting for me at the gate. I got the chocolate back and a nice story to go with it.
If the bag would have been full of beer instead of chocolate I don't think I would've been so lucky :)

Nature trip

This was a short vacation that recently ended.

It was nice enough that i considered it was worth sharing some pictures, even though there are no pencils here :)

I actually had a small notebook and the Koh I Noor notebook with me, but I was mesmerized by the beauty of the surrounding to take a picture of that as well.

I usually take a pencil and a notebook with me in a zip lock bag. Not that would be necessary as lead doesn't wear off with water. I use the pencil and notebook for route preparation, and during the hike to take notes. I try to rely as little as possible on the phone/gps.

 The waterfall is created by the water coming out of a cave at the top of the cliff, which was part of the visit as well. I must say it was worth it.
But the most use on this trip was not seen by the Koh I Noor pencil or by my trusty Opinel. Besides my camera, of course, the most used item was my newly purchased whistle fox 40.

On the track to the cave and waterfall, around 2 km hike from the main road, we encountered a wild hog and besides clapping and talking loudly I used the whistle to make some extra noise. But no success, it didn't want to move from there. It's a bit of a sad story as we later found out when arrived at our destination that it was probably hit by the train during the night.

Bic participates in Tour de France

 It was very nice to find out that BIC the well-known stationary producer is part of the Tour de France since 1952 as a sponsor.

Then and now

A Tour de France Opinel or two

After this special tour, and the stages in Savignon I just had to buy a new Opinel knife. On the last day of the Tour, I made a visit to Decathlon and got the t
raditional No7 Opinel with a Carbone blade.
First thoughts about the new Opinel are similar to the ones I had with the No8 I already own. Even though back then I didn't think I would buy a second one, here I am.

The first impression is a bit discouraging, it is hard to open the blade and rotate the locking ring. But now I know it's limitations and what is good for, and I am not as harsh with it. It is a 100 year design so it is normal to have some limitations. So with the confidence gathered from the previous Opinel, I started tinkering with it and broke it, as I didn't take notice that Opinel had changed the design of the locking ring. Now it only locks clockwise and the new ring has a slot in which it turns.

                             

The nice part about the Carbone is that the blade came very sharp out of the package, while the stainless needed a lot of sharpening.
Even though the blade is shorter with only one centimeter the feel in hand is totally different. The knife is not only shorter but thinner. It is more suitable as an EDC knife and I like this size 7 a lot.
If you plan on doing food preparation I will still carry the number 8 as it is more versatile.

So I have 2 memories from this Tour, 1 damaged no 7 Opinel and a second no 7 Opinel that I didn't destroy yet. But for 7 $, or 6.3 € is not a tragedy.