The Alps and the Dolomites

Early morning we left the hotel after a nice breakfast.

The sun was rising and rays of sunshine burst out from behind the clouds.

Short tunnels appeared. Hills started turning in to little mountains.

And the bridges got higher and longer...

After a while the Alps showed. Exciting :-)

And toll booths appeared as well. That was a bit less exciting...

This turned in to quite a nice drive! Can you spot the Dutchy?

Is that.... snow?

There were castles, too.

And more snowy mountains.

When we cleared the Brenner pass we entered the Dolomites. I'd never seen them and I found it to be quite a special mountain range. Pretty spectacular it was. They are not like normal pointy mountains.  Its sides are often almost vertical as if they were pushed up from the ground.

And late afternoon we found our camping. We asked for some distance between our tents and we did get some distance. About half a metre or so ;-)

I got my own personal card. It's like a camping passport except that this is really, really, REALLY useless...

I did my first camping dishes and I liked it. I did many more after this one. I'm ready for this! :-)

Italy, here we come! / Bye bye diet! Hello Wiener schnitzel!

Late morning, or was it early afternoon? Anyway, we took off to Italy for a little holiday at Lago di Garda. However, one of the light bulbs of our car karked it and we couldn't get it out. So we went to the dealership, feeling a bit dumb... However, the guy behind the counter couldn't do it either and a mechanic had to be called in and he had to remove the air cleaner to get to the light. Apparently the clamp had broken or got misformed and that's why it wouldn't come out the easy way. So he got that fixed in 15 minutes. As an extra service he checked the oil as well which was good because there was none! He poured in just over a litre. I'm glad he checked!

So after a delay of a few hours we finally hit the road around 14:30. Yeehaw!

Simone drove the car and I ended up reading the map as our navigation gave up after about an hour or so. No worries.

We drove for hours and hours, deep in to Germany.

Around 20:00 we finally stopped for dinner. Dinner with a view.

Bye bye diet! Hello Wiener schnitzel!

That went down incredibly well. After a bit of a rest we drove off again to spend the night in a hotel in a village I can't even remember to be honest...

The protein diet, day 22. The last day, for now!

Breakfast du jour. Milk, yoghurt with fruit and a protein drink. Breakfast of champions ;-)

I have lost 8,5 kilos. Tomorrow my holiday starts and I'll be back to normal food. Let's hope my weight won't go up again too much...

Finally the removal of the Citybox remains has started. More than four years after the whole storage building was destroyed by a fire.

I left work mid-day and they had made some progress.

I left work early to do more packing for my holiday tomorrow.

I could use the extra time to do things just a bit more relaxed.

In the evening I organised the annual ChipSoft squash tournament. 36 people joined in the end.

About 24 of us had a lovely dinner first.

The tournament went very well and everybody seemed to have enjoyed themselves a lot. I did as well!

The protein diet, day 21.

Breakfast. I have lost 8.5 kilos now and I'm close to a hundred Kg... Awesome :-)

On my way in to town I spotted these birds fixing their nest. With 7 babies I think they needed to expand ;-)

I had to pickup my passport. Have to get their early to line up otherwise it might take an hour before you're next up...

Everything went smooth and I was on the ferry just after 9.

I bought this greek salad for lunch. It was delish!

I also had normal crackers with cheese. I have to let my body get used to normal food again...

The day flew past. Simone and her little boy drove by to drop off some diet stuff. It was lovely to see them. Her boy makes me laugh and seeing Simone smile makes me happy.

I overstocked on veggies a bit and since I had to either finish them or throw them in the bin, I thought I'd just eat them, I also had a pepper steak left. Then there was still veggies left so I also made vegetable soup. I'm a bit full now ;-)

The protein diet, day 20.

My folks gave me this rubber boat to take to Italy on vacation. Very nice!

A certain crucial part is missing though and I can't pump it up... Bit of a downer :-/

The protein diet, day 19.

I cancelled my car's registration today as I can't get it ready in time for the bi-annual checkup that is required to be allowed on the roads. Bit crap but I'll get there.

In the evening Simone and I went to het sister's place for dinner with all her family. I had a very nice time chatting, eating and playing football with her little boy.

Diet-wise I tried to behave and not eat too much or too fatty. I think I did OK...

The protein diet, day 18.

Easter morning and I was once again up early taking the bus home this time.

There was a "funny"person on the bus. She kept pulling a scarf over her face...

I spotted this view close to Central Station from the bus and instead of taking the connecting tram to my house I decided I'd go for a walk through town. It was lovely and quiet, hardly any people on the street, mainly cleaners, hookers and the occasional lost tourist...

I walked on to the Zeedijk which houses a large chinese community.

Zeedijk. Totally abandoned.

Gable stone.

Pigeon.

Canal. Can't remember which one.

There's a fun fair in Dam square.

More canal.

The Wester-church.

I tried on the Tshirt I bought in Adelaide just before I left. I have lost 8 kilos now (in just over 2 weeks) and it finally fits. I like how I look. Such a difference from when I started losing weight in Australia...

Simone came to my place today. The weather was real nice so we went for a walk in to town. We slipped in to the "Begijnenhofje". I always like to go in and enjoy the silence there. A very friendly tourist offered to make this photo of us when she saw me trying to make a duo-selfie. It turned out well. I have a lovely girl friend don't you think? ;-)
Then we walked to Rembrandtplein and sat at L'Opera's terrace, in the hot sun, where we had coffee and diet coke. The treat of the day was 1 little chocolate Easter-egg. We're not allowed that from our diet but hey...

I cooked us dinner. It was a lot of veg and steak. Quite nice.