Posts Tagged holiday
Courchevel, France
Posted by Thomas in What to do when in... on March 9th, 2009
Over the top in Courchevel
The white fluff!
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on April 4th, 2006
Finally the family got around to some real holidays. It’s been about six months since we last took some time off to reflect on the half-year passed (correction : just to relax, switch off the brain and enjoy each other’s company).
We took to the mighty alps, Savoie - France to be more precise, some 900Km south-east of Brussels, our usual dwelling. A short trip by American standards, but yours-truly not being American it was considered a whole expedition for these young parents. The trip besides being a holiday also provided a good “road worthiness” test case for two things: the new car and the latest addition to our family, namely Clara.
Driving 900Km with a baby strapped in like a fighter jet pilot not being the thing to do and all we took our time getting there of course. That being said, Clara was a good sport. She happily toyed with the stethoscope and other assorted items we had been mindful to provide her with for their entertainment value. Occasionally she would call to our attention when toys got tangled, the pacifier had been flung somewhere unreachable or the driver needed enhance the velocity of travel.
after an uneventful overnight stay in Nancy (I don’t recommend it for its entertainment value) we arrived in “Les Menuires” around midday on Saturday. The drive up the mountain provided us with some stunning panoramas going from the green valleys to the snow-covered mountaintops. I’ll spare you the details of checking in, unloading the ridiculous amount of kit we packed and getting set up comfortably in our room. Let me only say that the hotel, “l’Ours Blanc” was a delight, perfectly suited for a family vacation.
Our home for the next week was thus the ski domain of “Les 3 Vallees“. We made arrangements for a morning day care so Maya and I could do “our own thing” in the morning and play with Clara in the afternoons. This turned out to be a perfect arrangement for us all.
The late season skiing turned out to be a perfect choice. The snow was about 2m at the top and about half a meter at the bottom of the slopes. The weather was not too cool under the clouds and when the sun came out is was just delightful. Maya and I both took some classes to get the rust out of our technique which turned out to be a very good thing. I learned some new tricks on the board e.g. “doing flats” and working on my so-far unsuccessful 360. Maya re-built some of her confidence but was quickly on to other things - the pool.
The afternoons being laid away for the little one we took her out for sled-rides. After what must have been the initial shock of seeing all the ground covered in some white fluff she took to it quite rapidly. I suspect most of her enjoyment came not from the ride itself as much as seeing her parents trying to keep a sprint up in full winter gear down the mountain as we pulled the sled behind us.
Being young parents also has some considerable effects on the “apres-ski” entertainment. This is where the hotel absolutely shone. Their lounge and open fireplace turned out to be the perfect place for Clara to socialize with just about anyone who would look at her. Being a very energetic kid she scooted around the place till she dropped of fatigue. With a number of other young kids around this gave us plenty of opportunity to socialize.
After a week of fun it was about time for us to turn homeward, back north, to the by then dreary prospect of Belgian weather and the mountain of work awaiting us at our jobs. The last bright spot of this trip was to be the overnight stay in “Nuits St. Georges” a small town in Bourgogne amidst the vineyards. This was no innocent choice to be sure, the wine cellar of yours truly was running a little low so this provided an opportunity to stock up on some of the best wine France has to offer. The overnight stay was great. By some stroke of luck (a power-outage in the whole wing dedicated to the cheap rooms actually) we ended up with a very nice hotel room.
Now the trip’s over, we are left with what will surely be fond memories (captured in a few shapshots here) and a nice tan. I can’t wait till the next holiday! Thank god that’s only 8 weeks away!
Looong holiday
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on August 22nd, 2005
I’ve been on an extended holiday since the first of Aug. Only starting my new job on the 1st of Sept. A whole month off is too long in normal times but this is different I guess.
Anyways we’ve gone to the south of France - Cucuron, the Luberon, Aix en Provence, Lanson, the usual suspects. On the way back up we’ve stopped in Auvergne and the Loire area. Wonderful. Pix will be up soon.
Photos de Noel
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on January 24th, 2004
On a encore ajouté quelques photos de Noel sur le site.
Si vous voulez une photo haute resolution voyez les feuilles de contact (resolution 1024*768):
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Happy new year
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on January 6th, 2004
So we’re all back at work after a nice break. For my part I’m still struggling with the withdrawal from the nice white slopes and view from the chalet in Chateau d’Oex, Switzerland.
As usual, the pictures are up for you to view. Enjoy.
Christmass cards
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on December 2nd, 2003
Every couple of years Maya and I have come up with a fancy X-mass or new year’s card. This year we just don’t know. There’s only a few weeks left till the cards should be going out and we haven’t been able to find a single fitting theme. It’s certainly not for a lack of ideas though, there’s a lot to commemorate this year.
If you’ve got some ideas you’d like to share let me know.
Oslo pics - about time
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on July 31st, 2003
I finally got around to uploading the pics from our weekend in Oslo. There’s probably no good excuse but here’s mine.
The pictures were awefull. Light conditions were crap. I had to correct everything and did a terrible job of it. Repeatedly.
Midnight sun
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on July 7th, 2003
Wifie and I spent the weekend in Oslo, Norway. This was the first time for her so we did a bit of the usual sight seeing - Frogner park, Akershus Slott & Festning, the Holmenkollen Ski Jump and the pleasure port. We were fortunate enough to stay at a freind’s parent’s house a little outside the city overlooking the Oslo fjord providing ample photo-ops and the chance to go fishing.
Frogner park (or rather Vigeland Park), which contains about 150 works by the Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland is probably the most outstanding feature of the city. Beautifully crafted statues out of granite and bronze culminate at the centre of the park into a huge monolith of contorted bodies. The pillar looks rather phallic and the statues encircling it have a certain sexual tention to them although the overall theme has more to do with obscure themes of Darwinian and evolutionary theory and the life itself. There is also an unmistakeable influence of Rodin’s intimate treatment of the relationship between man and woman.
Weather permitting, the Holmenkollen Ski Jump is worth a visit. It was part of the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympic Games for one but the main reason for going up there is the view you get of the city from the top of the jump. If you’ve got a problem with heights this is defenitly not for you though.
The downtown area is rather small, as you would expect of a city of 600K inhabitants. If you’re at the train station you can walk up the main commercial street heading towards the King’s palace. If you’re not in a hurry you can muse around the King’s gardens or otherwise you can take a left after the parlaiment and head down to the port. Once down by the port the Akershus Slott & Festning is but a short walk. In the summer they have medieval revivals and there’s a small museum which we did not get a chance to explore. The port iself is quite nice, especially on the side of the pleasure boats where the boardwalk is peppered with restaurants and stores.
Olso, as most of the Nordic countries from my experience, is rather expensive. It’s not unusual to pay 8 bucks a beer. No wonder then that we did not go for the nighlife. Instead we stayed on the dock by the house and fished while drinking some beers and relaxed. Since the sun only sets about 10:30 and it stays light untill past midnight this is a perfectly enjoyable activity, especially if you manage to catch some fish, which we did.
So we spent a wonderful weekend away from home again. Thanks Mass and family!
The pics will be up as soon. For more information on Oslo check out the ever-helpful Lonely Planet.
Barcelona Pics
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on June 28th, 2003
Finally the pics are up. As said earlier I’ve decided to overhaul the interface of the photo gallery which is the cause for the delay. I wanted the pics of Barcelona to be the first to have the advantages of the new interface.
There’s more space for the photograph being displayed. The rest of the clutter on the page has been kept to a strict minimum. As there’s a lot of pictures in some cases I’ve also added pagination. This ensures each page has a reasonable size in terms of KB and ensures scrolling for a picture is not needed. I hope you like it.
Holiday Blues
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on June 23rd, 2003
Just got back from the second leg of my holidays - the part which came after being pulled back into the office for 2 days, thus interruping my blank stare at the countryside. Anyway, Barcelona is a really cool city, especially if you like architecture, late night dinner and hot weather, at least 2 of which I do. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out which one I’m less keen on. Over the course of the 3 days there I’ve taken some 90 odd pictures so it will take me a while to put them online. At the same time I’m tweaking the interface of the photo side of the site - wait and see - which is the second reason for the delay.
Meantime I’ve found this little thing in my mail this afternoon. Cute…
