At the end of our holiday, last week, we had two nights with heavy rain and thunderstorms. Secretly, I had hoped for that to happen, because I wanted to try out my new camera (and toys)!

This is the result:

We arrived home from our two-week holiday in Champoussin, Switzerland, yesterday evening.

Why are holidays always too short?

Champoussin is a little village near Val-d’Illiez within the skiing area of Portes du Soleil.

We didn’t do any skiing of course, but for walking the area is very nice as well. We made some beautiful tours of three to four hours, almost every day. The weather was perfect, except for the first two days, and sometimes even a bit too warm.

The two (and-a-half) of us stayed in a luxurious 6-person appartment with two bathrooms, three toilets and three bedrooms! We had a magnificent view on the Dents du Midi, which we enjoyed from our balcony during breakfast and dinner (and in-between):

In the past months I have been doing a course in photography. It was very nice and I learnt a lot – and made a lot of pictures! A hundred to a hundred and fifty a week! And we could only show 3 or 4 of those!

Well, anyway, because I haven’t been using my weblog very much in the past year, I decided that I would start a photoblog. So, the first picture is coming up right now, and hopefully, I can give you regular updates with new (or old) pictures.

All pictures made by me, of course, and with my Canon Powershot A620 digital camera, unless otherwise stated.

Yesterday we returned from our summer holiday. We’ve been to France, camping most of the time. We started just south of Calais, where we stayed for two nights. My brother and sister-in-law were over from Bristol for a long weekend, so we met them there. After that, we drove on to a small village south of Clermont-Ferrand. We did some walking thereabouts, amongst others to the summit of the Puy de Dome.
Because the weather wasn’t great, we went further south after five days, to the Gorges du Tarn in the Cevennes. There we did a lot of walking (and climbing!) on the steep slopes of the gorges. But we also visited a castle (Chateau de Peyrelade), caves (Grotte d’Argilan), Le Chaos de Montpellier le Vieux and we went canoeing on the river Tarn one day. Oh, and of course we went to see the famous Viaduc de Millau.

In the last week of our holiday we moved even further south and east, to the other side of the Cevennes. We stayed there with Irene’s French “parents”, in a very large house, in a very small and very old village. We did one easy walk here, but it was just too hot! The rest of the week we just enjoyed the beautiful surroundings, the nice old villages and the great weather.
And, unfortunately, all good things come to an end, so yesterday was our last day. We left around 9 in the morning and arrived home at about 10.30 in the evening! Tomorrow, it’s back to work!

Viaduc de Millau

Gorges du Tarn

Le Vase de Sèvres, in the Gorges du Tarn

P.S. These are some of the pictures we took with our new camera. After three weeks of intensive use, we can say we are very pleased with it. The camera is easy to use, yet versatile. And the photos are of very high quality.

Yesterday, a couple of friends and I went to the TT in Assen for the MotoGP. It was the first time for me, and WOW, what an event! Almost a hundred thousand people, and a lot of them on motorbike… I never saw so many motorcycles at one time.

The weather was great, and the races were nice, with a spectacular ending of the MotoGP.

After the finish of the MotoGP, even before the last of the races, most people left, resulting in thousands and thousands of motorcyclists trying to leave at the same time. It took us about an hour – in the burning sun – just to get off the parking lot and onto the highway!

And then the thousands of people who stand along the highway. Some of them have even taken chairs with them, some barbecues, and even 100 kilometers from Assen, the highway overpasses are still filled with people watching and waving at the bikers – you’d almost feel like an Olympic champion!

Update: The official sponsor of the TT is A-Style, as can naturally be seen everywhere along the track, on the tickets, or on the poster, for example. Check out their logo! Who, in his right mind, would ever want to come up with a logo like that?!?

Yesterday we went to the musical “The Lion King” in the Circustheater in Scheveningen.

Wow, what a spectacular show that is! It already starts with a fantastic opening scene. But also the live music is overwhelming, the costumes are amazing, and the decors are beautiful.

Well, I could tell you more, but you should really just go and see it. But you’ve got to be quick, because the show stops August 27.

Yesterday evening, we went to the theater (“Het Arsenaal” in Vlissingen) to see Boom Chicago.

I don’t know if you know them, or have heard about them, but they are (obviously) a theater group. They do improvisation theater. We had seen them once before, a year or two ago, so we knew what to expect. If you don’t, maybe you have seen De Lama’s on Dutch television…? That’s more or less similiar to Boom Chicago.

The group consists of a couple of Americans who live in the Netherlands; it’s very funny to hear “foreigners” characterising “us”, the Dutch people, our habits, et cetera. But they’re very good at it! :-)

Some improvisation examples from the show: people in the audience yell out some professions and the names of some famous people, and they make a sketch of “Sean Connery as a flying doctor”, or “ET as a bank robber”.
Or they ask the audience for a couple of one-liners from movies. Two of the actors, who were back stage during that time, then have to do a scene in which they randomly get these lines and have to integrate these into the scene.
And yes, on stage it is much more funny than if you read it here…

Anyway, if you want to know more about them, or see some example videos, have a look at boomchicago.nl.
Have fun! And go and see them some time, if you can.

We went away for the weekend, to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Bristol, UK. It had been more than a year since we were there last time. Luckily they come to the Netherlands more often than we go there! :-)

We had a lovely, relaxed couple of days. On Saturday, we visited Tintern Abbey and made a walk in the surrounding area. On Sunday, we just strolled around through town. Unfortunately, I was a bit sick both days, but that didn’t stop me from walking.

All in all, we had a nice weekend, some time to read a book, chat with each other, and relax.

On the “professional” level: my first month as a software engineer has come and gone. And I’m allowed to stay! I’m very pleased with the job, so far, it’s nice, it’s interesting, and it’s challenging. And with a bit of luck, before long, I will be able to do most of it from home!

This morning we returned from our skiing trip to France.

We stayed in Hotel Aujon in Flaine, in the Grand Massif.

We had a very nice week, although the first few days we had a lot of snow. Because of that, a lot of pistes and lifts were closed. As the weather got better, more pistes were opened, and by the end of the week, we had skied most of the 265 kilometers of piste.

Nice detail about the village of Flaine: the site was not discovered until 1959! In 1968 the resort was officially opened.

During our honeymoon, I finished the next two parts of the Hitchhiker’s Guide: “So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish”, and “Young Zaphod Plays It Safe”.

As you will understand, I didn’t have the opportunity there and then to write that on my weblog… I do now, but in the mean time, I also finished (yesterday evening) the last part: “Mostly Harmless”.

You will have to wait for the quotes, though. I haven’t had the time yet…

Update: I almost forgot. I was reading the latest Natuurwetenschap & Techniek and there was an article about The Hitchhiker’s Guide and about a new book, called “The Science of The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy”, by Michael Hanlon.

BTW, the article is also available online.