Saturday, April 7, 2012

Visiting Salzburg

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The view from our hotel room early morning. It was grey and cloudy.

We went to Salzburg today. On our way to the train station we stopped by the Zeller see. It was beautiful, even with the clouds.

There was hardly any wind which makes the water very still. A few birds said hello to us.

Us.

We met my colleague Ernst at the station and then took the train to Salzburg. It's a nice ride with great views. Quite different from the Dutch fields with cows don't you think?

Tree just before the Mirabell palace gardens.

Part of the Mirabell palace hardens.

Walking towards the inner city you can see the Hohensalzburg castle.

Walking over the pedestrian bridge we noticed hundreds of locks hanging on the fence. Apparently it's trendy to leave a lock somewhere these days. I had never heard about it before but it's been going on for a while now. I must not be very trendy I guess...

The house where Mozart was born. It's mostly very yellow.

We also visited the Salzburg cathedral. Pretty big place. The place is free of any lead-glass which makes it brighter inside than in your usual old church building.

There's a very funky grave.

We also visited the (Hohen)Salzburg castle but first things first: Food! We had chips with sausages. Ernst was quite happy and so were Marjolein and me.

Tree in the castle's centre square. It must've seen a lot during its life.

The castle was constantly expanding so doorways and interiors were changing a lot as you walked through the building.

Cool art in one of the rooms.

The castle around the year 1100.

The castle in present times.

We took a guided audio tour to the "torture chamber" which was only called that way because there were torture instruments hanging on the wall. They'd never been used however because the castle never was a court and therefore was never allowed to actually use them on prisoners. The room was used as a small prison at some point though but the only "famous" prisoner the castle ever had was put somewhere else.

So all in all the whole thing felt a bit fake which was a pity.

This is another house where a famous person was born. Not many people know this though.

It's the house where Christian Doppler was born. He became famous for the so called "Doppler effect".

We ended a very nice and relaxing day with dinner in Salzburg and then went home where we had a few drinks in the hotel. We sat there a bit with my colleague Ira's sister...

... and Ira and Ernst. Then it got too smokey and we left.

In Austria you are still allowed to smoke in hotels. The rooms are often non-smoking but the lobbies aren't which sucks. Next time I'm gonna ask for a non-smoking hotel.

Friday, April 6, 2012

The arrival

Driving through the Alps, almost there.

Unfortunately Marjolein got quite sick on the train and had to stay in bed until late arvo. We missed the one and only skiing class we had planned. Better luck next time :-)

Instead we walked around town a bit and made some pictures (click to enlarge):

Alps.

Zoomed in Alps.

Marjolein photographing little sparrows.

Suddenly it got busy at the train station. Locomotive pushing people.

Locomotive pulling cargo.

Swan.

Easter bunnies.

This is the old town's church; the tower.

Side entrance.

The rear.

Door.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

The departure

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Together with about 410 colleagues and family or friends I got ready to board the bus to drive us to Central Station where the train to Zell am see (Austria) would be picking us up. ChipSoft is taking us all there to celebrate the 25th anniversary.

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The platform turning orange.

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I met Marjolein at the station.

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Our "roomies" Sabien and Ernst. They're both colleagues of mine and they are sister and brother. Nice folks :-)

The train journey will be 14 hours...

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Ready!

Tomorrow Marjolein and I will be joining about 410 other colleagues and partners or friends on a trip to Zell am see in Austria. The company is taking us and a passport and this wrist band are the minimum requirements. The passport to get in to the country and the wristband to get drinks and food.

I'm ready!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The flowers

Driving to Haarlem by train you follow a small canal. It gets ridiculously close to the road...

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Flowers in Marjolein's neighbourhood.

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More flowers in Marjolein's neighbourhood.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Moving office

I moved office at work. Can't be in the same room with silence-extremist people. Pity, coz I liked sitting opposite my colleague Alex. Now I'm sitting across from Tanja in a room for two. She only works 3 days a week so 2 days in a week it's a room for just me. It will be quiet which I don't really like but at least I won't have to deal with people who are missing the word "compromise" from their vocabulary.

I took the big-ass plant with me as well. Nobody else cared for it so I consider it mine. It's doing great these days. Making lots of new leaves. It looks very healthy. I often get visited by consultants, I can now keep a chair for them which I like a lot.

The view from my seat. I'm happy here.

I left work a bit later and just missed the ferry. I sat in the sun a bit.

At home I started a little plant project from last year's seeds. I cut toilet paper rolls and filled them with dirt.

I put seeds in the dirt and poured some water over. Now we wait and see if there's anything going to happen...