[EuroPython] Voting proposals

[Magnus Lyckå]

At 13:39 2003-08-13 +0100, Tim Couper wrote:
>  So can we have a clear statement of the proposals on
>which voting is to happen? I feel clear on
>Charleroi's strengths and weaknesses, but I'm unclear
>as to the details of the G'berg facilities &
>accommodation offerings, costs, etc to help the
>decision.

Can you be more specific about your questions? It's not
easy to write a short text that will make you as familiar
with an unknown location as with a place you've visited
before...

Concerning costs, Jacob seems confident that he can do
something cheaper and better than CEME, but I understand
that people want something more substancial than a
statement like that. On one hand I understand that they
might want to have the freedom to maybe set a slightly
higher price than last year if they feel that they could
provide something significantly more attractive that way,
but on the other hand, a promise about not having higher
prices than last year (assuming a certain amount of
attendants) could maybe settle any uncertainty about this
issue, if we can't get actual prices from Chalmers.

As an old student at Chalmers, I can say that all rooms
at Chalmers (provided we don't sit in the underground
tunnels ;^) are much better than the smaller rooms at CEME,
concerning acoustics, ventilation, ability to view the
speaker from rear etc. The large lecture halls don't look so
different from the CEME auditorium but I never had problems
hearing the lecturers, and there were no microphones or
loudspeakers around, so the acoustics must be better. This
is probably the best technical university in Sweden, and
it's in good shape. See http://www.chalmers.se/

Of course, being there as a student and as a conference
visitor isn't quite the same. We were certainly not waited
on by the lecture halls! :) I don't know at all how the
coffee and lunch etc arrangements will work. (I know there
are a lot of pizzerias close by though, and pizza is cheap
in Sweden. :)

Being a first rate technical university, there are obviously
good internet connections etc. There is also a fine computer
society -- CD <http://www.cd.chalmers.se/> and as far as I
understand it could be possible to run sprints there. Considering
that several Strakt employees have member web pages at CD, I
don't assume that will be a problem...


Everything you need is within walking distance of the conference
location: the 20/30 EURO accomodations, the centre of the city,
the Liseberg amusement park, restaurants, shops, hotels. As I've
mentioned before, there are plenty of things to see in Göteborg,
so please book in a few more days than the conference. Besides a
great amusement park http://www.liseberg.se/ (for those who enjoy
roller coasters) and a world famous concert hall http://www.gso.se/ ,
it can offer:
  the finest collection of Nordic art,
     http://www.konstmuseum.goteborg.se/english/indeng.html
  the national science dicovery centre,
     http://www.universeum.se/
  the East Indiaman Göteborg (a newly built replica of a ship
  that sank 200 years ago),
     http://www.soic.se/
  the archipelago
     http://www.goteborg.com/templates/articel.asp?id=4079
  and many other things from jazz clubs to parks...

Göteborg used to be one of the world's foremost ship building
cities, and it's still the industrial hub of Scandinavia.
The shipyards have been replaced by the automotive industry
with Volvo and Saab and a lot of smaller hitech companies
around them, as well as various other companies like Saab
Ericsson Space (satellite electronics and antennas etc),
Hasselblad (the cameras used by the Apollo astronauts),
Ericsson (mainly military stuff here), Astra Zeneca (they
actually use Python) etc.

Chalmers is on a hill, and if you don't like to walk uphill
to get there, there are plenty of buses and trams to help you.
Taxis are fairly expensive, but rarely needed.

Concerning lodging, the 20/30 EURO (single/double) lodging
is in a student hostel, partly empty for the summer holidays.
In general, there are lots of conferences in Göteborg, but
not in the summer, so hotel prices are much lower then than
otherwise. There is the full range from youth hostels, via
a four-masted barque (Viking) to Hotel Gothia Towers or
Hotel Lorensberg, where the rock stars stay. Looking briefly
at hotels in Göteborg on the web, I find lots of hotels both
below and above the Charleroi prices, a few fairly close to
Chalmers, but I think Jacob and Laura knows this better. I
have family there, so I never stay at hotels... I would guess
that it's simple for the arrangers to negotiate reasonable
prices in the summer if the student hostel doesn't suit
everybody. (Come there in September or April, and the prices
will be at a completely different level...)

Other factors:

Almost everybody between ages 12-70 or so speak English well.
This means no problems with communication in buses, shops,
restaurants or in the streets. In general, people in Göteborg
are friendly and outgoing. (That sounds like a cliché, but
having lived both there and in other parts of Sweden, I clearly
notice the difference, and it's not just me, most swedes seem
to agree that it's a cosy place--at least in the summer.)

Buses and trams pass by Chalmers, and there are direct lines
to most relevant locations I can think of right now. The whole
city is one ticket zone, which means that for the same price as
going one stop, you can actually get on a boat and cross the
river, or even travel out to the south archipelago.

In general prices in Sweden aren't as high as they used to
be (and we aren't as rich as we used to be). Beer and wine in
bars and restaurants is more expensive than in Belgium, but in
general, people now come from neighbouring countries to Sweden
for shopping and as tourists, since lots of things are cheaper
here. To avoid too expensive beer, look here: :)
http://www2.aos.se/etc/barsbors/gbg.asp
The cheapest beer (at John L's Pub) just happen to be in the
Chalmers campus! Lucky us! There is also a nice night club on
campus, so we don't have to go far to relax...

Strakt actually has a restaurant guide on their site (www.strakt.com)
but it's missing important things like the veggie restaurants,
odd places like Garlic (where they even have garlic ice cream) and
a lot of other nice places.


--
Magnus Lycka (It's really Lyck&aring;), magnus at thinkware.se
Thinkware AB, Sweden, www.thinkware.se
I code Python ~ The Agile Programming Language