Reviews by arx

I prefer OpenStreetMap, the open map data, to commercial offerings such as Google or (yikes!) Apple Maps - because of its open spirit, because anyone can contribute and improve the map, because you don’t get tracked about your every move and also simply because in many places in Europe OpenStreetMap these days has actually better, more accurate data.

However, OpenStreetMap is just a database - they provide a website to browse the map (openstreetmap.org), but no navigation apps or other tools when you are on the go. However, OpenStreetMap doesn’t need to, because – as the data is freely available – everyone can build navigation apps on top of the data source.

This is where Magic Earth comes into play: It uses OpenStreetMap data and I use their iPhone app almost daily:

• It provides frequent map updates: OpenStreetMap receives updates from contributors every second, but it will take a while for that to feed into your favorite navigation app, with Magic Earth providing sufficiently frequent updates in my opinion.

• It provides offline maps for free: you can download as many maps as you like (and you have storage space for) to your device, meaning you can use them offline when there is no cellphone reception, you are roaming abroad or you just want to save on bandwidth. And, contrary to some other offline maps, it also supports searching for addresses or points-of-interests (POI) while you are offline.

• It provides beautiful maps (3D views etc.) and a useful selection of POIs (restaurants etc.) which makes it easy to find your way around even if you’re not using the navigation mode.

• It implements a very good routing algorithm, providing different choices of shortest, fastest etc. routes and can take into account traffic conditions in many regions of the world.

• It’s navigation mode provides very clear indications and also supports lane indications (if the lanes have been mapped in OpenStreetMap, which unfortunately is not yet the case everywhere but is improving) and max speed warnings.

• It is free.

For me, Magic Earth is the best navigation app on iOS, beating competitors such as Maps.me (which I also like), primarily due to its superior navigation features, POI (points-of-interest) selection and just general usability. The latter, of course, is very subjective and your tastes may vary – but since Magic Earth is free, you might just as well give it a try and delete it again if you don’t like it!

We had dinner here on our way to Parc National du Mont Orford, finding this restaurant by accident, and we have seldomly been so lucky: We already knew we were in for a treat based on how busy the restaurant was, and we were not disappointed: Far from the ubiquitous burgers, Pinocchio presents a varied menu of dishes, and all of which we tasted were excellent!

The portions are reasonable, which means that you might be disappointed if you are into huge portions. However, this also means that you will have room for a dessert, which is a huge upside: definitely try the “Mi-Cuit” if you are a chocolate lover, or the “Pudding Chômeur” if you are more the maple fan.

Babbel is my favorite app to learn a foreign language (French, in my case) and I use their website and iOS app for learning.

While I started out with Duolingo (which, contrary to Babbel, is free), in my experience Duolingo will become pretty repetitive quite soon and you will reach the end of their learning ladder without really speaking the language all that well. Babbel includes a ton of content for learning French, which starts with the basics but moves on to very advanced vocabulary – I’m still not all the way through it! I also prefer that they actually have human-made dialogues (some of them are actually quite nice mini-stories) and actually explain the grammar to you (not only by trail-and-error translation exercises but by actually explaining the concepts behind it).

Thanks to Babbel, I feel far more confident speaking French these days. I would argue that none of these apps can replace human interaction, especially to train your speaking skills, so you might still want to invest in a French teacher, but they are a good way to get started and for low-friction learning when you’re waiting for a bus etc.

What I would prefer is for Babbel to include more gamification like Duolingo does - you can argue that it is a bit sad to need such artificial encouragement to stay on it, but I will admit that Duolingo’s “streaks” and points really do motivated me to keep going, while Babbel requires more self-discipline. If they would include these features, they would get five stars from me.

This afghan restaurant is one of our two favorite restaurants in the city! It’s Afghan dishes (best to be shared with your group) are wonderfully delicious, the staff is very friendly and in the summer you can also sit outside. To be honest, I’m getting hungry by just thinking about their wonderful, wonderful food while writing this review.

It’s also “apportez votre vin”[1], which means that the final bill will end up even more modest than you might expect from only looking at the (anyways very reasonably priced) food on the menu.

[1]: “Bring your own wine”, or BYOB, which means they do not sell alcohol but you can bring your own bottle of wine and they will open it for you with no charge.

We have tried the Rideau Rouge the first time during Poutine Week, trying their (awesome!) poutine creation. We passed the Rideau Rouge a couple of times on Avenue Cartier before, but it’s downstairs entrance has never really motivated us to actually go there (it has a bit of a red-light look from the outside, which I guess is intentional but not in any way representative). Now we know that we have missed out all the time!

The Rideau Rouge is a unique combination, in that it looks and feels just like your run-of-the-mill American bar (in a good, laid-back way), but at the same time offers an unexpectedly diverse and delicious selection of food. They delight by adopting their food to the occasion: for Super Bowl, you will find typically American bar food, while two weeks later for Valentine’s Day, they will present an almost “haute cuisine” romantic dinner menu.

If you find yourself in the area, give that downstairs entrance a try!

I was in Bordeaux a couple of weeks last year and was thus looking for a co-working space during the day. What can I say - I discovered Le Buro des Possibles and fell immediately in love with this cozy café and co-working place in the middle of the old town!

Le Buro des Possibles has a small coffee area and a separate area that is dedicated for co-working, where you can rent a place by the hour (or about 20 EUR for the whole day). This includes a seat plus free coffee, tea, water, delicious cakes (dangerous!) and a very fast and reliable wifi connection (they change the password every week, which increases security and ensures that it is really reserved for the co-working customers).

For lunch, they offer the choice between usually two to three vegetarian options, which you can add to your co-working bill. They are not the largest portions, which can sometimes be a pity as they are always very delicious, but that probably compensates for your cake consumption (see above). ;)

If you are looking for a coworking space in Bordeaux, I can whole-heartedly recommend Le Buro des Possibles, and when I come back to Bordeaux I will definitely start working there again!