silence...

There is a silence on my blog because I am quite busy with all the things around me. Just came back from the holidays in cote d'azur (France)... words to describe a lot of sun, a lot of food and a lot of wine. Places visited and recommended St.Tropez, De Gorges du Verdon, Le Dramont, Tourtour (the village in the haven), Grasse and for those who like and have money to spend on expensive shopping, Cannes.

Already almost forgot about the free time and the leisure. As from Monday I officially started new position ... a lot to learn but is already FUN, let's hope it stays this way. Now I am taking care that Europa will have all the GOODS made in China.

Pictures posted on the FB but for those still resistant to global, social connectivity see for yourself and plan visit to this part of France!

Gracia

Already two weeks passed since I came back from Barcelona. Of course, I want to write all about it, how wonderful the city is and that I will be an often guest there in the future to learn much more about it. For now something about Gracia, the neighborhood which I discover thanks to my girlfriend leaving already quite some time in Barcelona.

Gracia was originally its own village set apart from the rest of the Barcelona. The time passed, old city has grown and Gracia became the part of it but the atmosphere of the village stayed. Small shops, trendy boutiques, cozy restaurants, bars and cafés, little squares… color, laughter and relaxed feeling around. So little time … to enjoy properly.

“Lucky” 13…

I am talking here about the number of people creating ski-snowboard group visiting the Krimml, in Austria anno domini 2011. I could describe the holidays in three words we came, we saw, we conquered … again! For those that would like to enjoy many km of different difficulty slopes, I recommend ZILLERTALARENA.

Even though we went there for the second time in the row (2010), we have not been bored or disappointed. 2 days of sun with 3 days of snow has given both the skiers and snowboarders the perfect conditions to enjoy. Beside the accidents that happened we had simply great time!

M: had got a quite a headache after smashing the side line wooden pole in to two halves, luckily wearing a helmet. “The best 120euro spend” he said afterwards.
D: hit the ground with her ribs loosing air and getting quite some pain. She spend 2 last days in the apartment i/o with the group.
E: being too optimistic with the slalom and trying to break the record, he almost broke a leg. No leg broken but the knee injury will lead probably to the surgery and revalidation afterwards ;(

For all people still going on the winter holidays BE CAREFULL and ENJOY!!!!!

Let it snow …

The week holidays in Ardennes was in general WHITE. I have not seen so much snow for a long time and I hope not to see it for the next 50 years, okay maybe during the skiing holidays but that's a different story. This time we have visited other part of Ardennes then two years ago. We have chosen the area close to Malmedy with our house in Libomont booked via www.dogsincluded.nl. Very nice place and the region with enormous possibilities to walk, unfortunately not that many in the winter time. We have tried our best and visited Château de Reinhardstein, Nature Centre of Botrange and the dam in Eupen. There, the walking paths were quite well prepared but everywhere else after half hour of walk we simply had to give up. The snow was far to deep.

Affected by the weather conditions we have searched for the alternatives and discovered a Jacques Chocolate fabric (without Willy Wonka) and the local brewery BRASSERIE DE BELLEVAUX. Both the chocolate and the beer very tasty ;)) maybe even a bit to good.

All and all, with all above, a lot of wine, beer and wonderful bakery “just around the corner” we had great time, White Christmas and a lot of snow fun.

Long weekend …

Finally I took all the courage together and decided to drive to Poland. For the first time I was driving alone (with P. as my navigator, kook, entertainment center and Fuyo as my … dog). A. was a bit freaking out, reminding me to drive safe, rest, be careful, make enough stops, do not crazy and many, many other warnings. We left at 6:15 after good night sleep, full of energy and bags with food and drinks. We reach my mum place (834km further) at 15:15 without any problems, with 2 stops to relax and one for the petrol… I do not know how does it work but without A. next to me I am much more relaxed and have been not that tired after the whole trip ;).

Poland is still the same. My family busy with work, from morning to evening, most of them 7 days a week and happy that there is a work and business is rolling. When I come back to NL, I am being “home” sick for 2-3 days and thinking how nice it would be to have all my closest family here. After this few days when becoming busy with the “usual stuff”, my “homesickness” is gone with the wind and it’s good again.

The way back to NL was far from nice. We had the traffic jam before, in and behind Hamburg.
It seemed that all German nation went for the long weekend to the sea side and on Sunday everyone wanted to go back home. Scheisse stau!!!! Anyway, it took us 12,5 hours to reach Voorburg … I was so tired that I could not fall asleep. It was definitely a long weekend.

Krimml 2010 (Austria)

First you plan, then you wait, later you go, then you come back and after one or two weeks you don’t even feel that you were gone.
It was one week of great fun, more than 1000km from home, 13 people, a beautiful chalet with a fridge than 2 people can fit in, almost endless amount of beautiful slopes and good weather for most of the time. Just week before D day we need to buy the winter tires, prepare the car and install the ski box ….. One “old” member of our group could not go and since he has always the biggest car, we had to organize two other instead.
The trip there was good planed by A&S, maps has been printed out, stops for lunch and dinner fixed, TomToms set and ready… off we go…first crossing, everyone goes direction Utrecht , we direction Breda, of course why not… shit, shit, shit will we meet them eventually? Highway almost empty , speed within allowed, small misunderstanding with TomTom in Eindhoven but still we reach the first meeting point two hours before the rest. Apparently the A3 was full of traffic and unexpected events. Rest of the trip went ok, snow and darkness was a bit freaky especially when you go up the mountains and the way is one big turn festival. We managed to pick up the key, find our “Herders hut”, unpack the car and prepare some thee before the rest reach the place.
Sunday, first day of skiing … I love it, Armin, Tiesto, Above and Beyond on my iPod, sliding down, finding the best way and try not to break anything… A. had less luck though. First day he was injured and could not snowboard until end of the holidays. Bummer but next year we will go there again… Zillertal Arena with Zell am Ziller, Gerlos, Königsleiten, Gerlosplatte has in total 166km of slops (10 km black, 114 km red , 42 km blue). There is a lot toexplore especially when you start the day early in the morning and be outside at 9 ‘clock, when the lifts are just open and the slopes are fresh prepared. The party can begin… still 11 months to go…

Toscana part 2 – Books

Before we even went on holidays I have decided that I am going to read and rest. I did not want to have holidays like we had before: busy busy, busy … RELAX that was my motto. Every afternoon I was taking one hour nap and reading for a while…

“Afgunst” by Saskia Noort – Is a very short thriller about love, power, jalousie, sex life and dominant behavior. People say, typical Saskia story … so decided to read more of her in the future.

“People of the book” by Geraldine Brooks – The story has been inspired by the existing, mysterious codex known as the Sarajevo Haggadah. The book takes you from Nazi sacking of Sarajevo through Vienna, an inquisition era in Venice and Spain where the whole story actually begins. Written in such a perfect way that you cannot put he book down without knowing who, what and why…

“The wooden sea” by Jonathan Carroll – The book is crazy and mysterious as all books of Carroll. The tale of the Police Chief Frannie McCabe and the small Crane's View city begins as ordinary story but quickly changes in to unexplained, puzzling chain of happenings.

“Mijn leven als een hond” by Martin Bril – These are very nice and funny short stories about the animals and the every day life. It is kind of Blog on paper …

2 weeks, 4 books …still, I need quite a lot of free time and holidays to finish all my books standing and waiting to be read … some times I hear them whispering “take me, I have such a beautiful and interesting story to tell…”

Toscana part 1 – Places

I was thinking what would be the best way to describe our Holiday in Toscana.
Still not sure but I will try, since 3 weeks passed and no word on my blog about this beautiful province in Italy.

This part will be about the places we have visited from our idyllic apartment which was in the middle of quiet hills, fields of grains and olives trees. Good for rest, reading and sleeping …a bit difficult for visiting the cities…but we did anyway: Volttera, Pisa, San Gimignano, Siena and in the Chianti region Greve, Radda, Castellina, Panzano and Montefioralle.

Voltera: our grocery shopping city, 24 km from the apartment but more than 30 minutes of drive. This city is known as Etruscan center and Alabaster craft. Voltera is small, cozy city with a lot of restaurants, small streets, the beautiful old roman theatre, squares and park perfect for the hanging around, read books or just sit and observe the life around.


San Gimignano: The Manhattan of the Toscana. In the old days the cities had 72 towers, now there are 15 left but still they make a wonderful sight. The main streets (no cars allowed) are filed with the wine shops, restaurants, boutiques, squares, markets and unfortunately tourists. The best time to visit the city is the morning. We were there in the afternoon because we have planned to walk around San Gimignano first. It was tough, because of the weather (full sun) and walking up the hills. Even thought we have made few stops to rest and give Fuyo water we were tired and deserved a big Ice cream at the end.

Montefioralle: It was the last city on our list of the Chianti region to visit. We started with Castellina where we bought some wine, went to Radda, and had real Italian lunch in Panzano. We didn’t want to miss the capital of the Chianti region, Greve, but actually we should. When we head for Montefioralle we were lucky that we did not pass it, so small is this village. There is one street making the circle, stairs going up to the church and parking lot situated 30% degree up. Tricky…. What an atmosphere, a paradise for taking the pictures, try different angles and settings…


Pisa and Siena were also nice but this you will find on every forum or website about Toscana.

Flaine...

With more than one hour delay we left for the winter holidays. 10 hours drive and we reached Flaine located in the Haute Savoie region of the French Alps (Grand Massive Area). 267 km of slopes ware waiting for us. They were just right for every one: green, blue, red and black. Quite funny was the fact that some slopes have been named after the Devils, chilling!!! There was Lucifer, Belzebuth, Faust and Mephisto which become our favorite one.

The weather was quite heavy on us, a lot of snow and only one day of sun and almost blue sky but we have been skiing no matter what and warming up with the hot chocolate at Ed’s place.

Our house was just perfect, much better than the last year. Big sleeping rooms for 2 persons with the bathroom, big sitting room with the open kitchen, balconies, the storage room for equipment and the sauna… just perfect place for 12 people to relax and do not step on each other toes.

The House:
My muscles were hurting few days but hey, this was a week of sport and great time!

As usual we have increased our vocabulary with the couple of new words:

HUPPETEE: there we go
PRUTSER: somebody that is quite unhandy, not clever and does silly stuff (so, all of us)
MAKE AN ANJO: loose the way, direction
DE GROTE DALMUTI: number one game of this winter ;)

Now just wait one year for the next….

Almost on the way …

… if the driver wakes up on time. Everything is ready standing by the door, two trainings bags, ski shoes, snowboard shoes and two hand bags with the necessary to survive 11 hours trip.

Where is the driver, where is the driver…

The first snow in Limbourg …

When we have planed our weekend in Belgium we did not expect that the weather will be like this. Snow, that’s what we got when arrived in to the small village Limbourg. We just entered the house at … number 1, took the luggage up in bedroom when started to snow…”Grate” we though, hoping that the next day we will be able to reach the start points of some walking routes.

The house was exactly like on the pictures: the kitchen and the sitting room down stairs, the bedroom, bathroom and the toiled up. Small, cozy, clean and just perfect for three of us. It was situated just in front of the church with the tower bell informing us what time it was by one bell every half hour and number of bells at whole. Despite the bell, we were sleeping very good…

Limbourg is a small city near Verviers in the province Liège. The old part is located on top of a hill which is surrounded by the river Vesdre. Old houses made from stone briks, small streets, little castle and city walls remembering the time that the people inside needed to be defended from the enemy. The surrounding is mainly hilly fields and the forests. A lot of places to make nice, long walks.

On Saturday we have visited dam on Lac de la Gileppe. We did not have idea that something like this exists in the neighborhood. Thanks to the “guide” we found in the house (in French) we figured that it was only few kilometers away, so we packed Fuyo, the gloves and the scarf and we went…we have a good walk, took some pictures, beautiful place and so quiet that you could almost hear the snowflakes falling.

On Sunday, just before w left we went to Solwaster, the tiny village in Ardennes to have a walk in National Park Hautes Fagnes Eifel. Stunning nature, the hills, the stream with the freezing water, and trees heavy from the snow…

Hard to go home when there is so much to see and three of us enjoy the time…but now is time to plan the next trip…so many places to choose from.

The last hours of my holiday…

Sunday, dark and cold outside but at home warm and the dinner is ready…
This is the last day of my official holiday this year… I went home, to Poland. I should rather say to my mum, because since couple of years it feels that going back to the Netherlands is going home…

As usual for me it was busy time and one big attempt to divide time between those members of my family that I would like to visit. It did not help that in the weekend the time has been turn backwards and I gained one hour extra…

The usual things that I am doing while in Poland are: shopping for cosmetics and food which I like and cannot get in NL, shopping for presents and shopping for books (this time I have bought pretty nice collection). In general, I would also go to the hairdresser and the beauty center but because I was doing the unusual things (later in the story) simply I did not have enough time to do so…

The unusual what I did was “the back in time trip” to Borowiec, the place where my grandmother lives and place of my childhood holidays. Peace and quite that the perfect words to describe the place. There are four houses, four sheds and the hunter’s castle. The road ends there and there is a big forest around, nothing more and nothing less. The first grocery shop is 4 km away and there is no bus or other transportation going to this place… what you can hear there is rustle of the trees, the birds singing, the barking of the dogs…and your own thoughts. I loved it and next year want to go for the whole week, just to walk, read, work in the garden, make the jam-jars, pick the mushrooms and rest from the everyday hectic and busy life…


The hunter’s castle...

Back to basics…

Road to the end of the world…

Paris, Paris...

My short visit to this city, this time with my mum, has been full of sight seeing, walking, talking, enjoying good food, coffee and the weather. First day we have already seen half of the city, Eiffel Tower in the morning (too long queue to go up, waste of time), in the evening (30 min. is acceptable to wait…but why did we choose the wing “with the stairs only”)…, Arc of Triumph, Champs Elysées, Nespesso Café and many other places that will stay not only in my memory but also on my hard disc.

Les 4Vallées (Verbier, Nendaz, Veysonnaz, Thyon) and the white adventure...

One week has passed faster that I thought it will. We left Voorburg on Saturday morning and yesterday, also Saturday, we came back. 6 days we have been skiing, laughing and enjoying the free time. I said “we” because there were 10 other people beside A. and me. We have rented a chalet in Nendaz, five bedrooms, two bathrooms, one big open kitchen, sauna, and a balcony with the spectacular view on the mountains. First day we have rented all equipment (next year I will definitely have my own ski shoes…) and we went by the gondola lift from Nendaz up the mountains. It was strange to put the ski on after two years of break. I was a bit nervous and insecure but only for the while. It is like riding a bicycle, once you learned, you will never forget. I must admit this time I had super skiing buddies. I have enjoyed their company the whole week long and not only in Nendaz. Since the sun was shining like crazy and the snow started to melt, at least on the lower parts, we have decided to change location by going to Thyon. So the next day after 20 min car ride, we came to the place that I know so well ;))). The snow condition was super and here we have been skiing the rest of the week, from 10:00 until the last gondola was leaving to Veysonnaz at 16:30. A. was practicing snowboard in the “kindrewijk” but only at first, later he joined us at “Trabanta”. I had so much fun; we have been eating breakfast together, teasing each other, cooking dinners (Tom Yam Soup in the middle of Switzerland, that’s unique), skiing, having lunch and laughing our heads of… Luckily, during that week I have not encountered any serious injury. I fell once at the ski lift hurting my shoulder a bit (the worse than the pain was embarrassment, more than 50 people were looking). I can definitely say that I had excellent winter holidays, so the next year…what, what, what, what…what the next year? We will do it again ….