Day trips, fun events
Kayaking in Amsterdam Noord (September 4th 2005)
After roasting myself in Vondelpark I gave Janne a call to meet for a bite and... two hrs later I was kayaking in the middle of the Netherlands with windmills, horses and worried cows looking down on me and my red u-boat.
Apparently kayaking is more of an upper-body exercise than arm work. It makes sense, as the back muscles are stronger than the arms. it was good exercise and I think I kind of got a hang of it.
Uitje at the Kroller-Muller Museum (Sept 15th 2005)
Here are some pics from the little outing at the K-M museum. REally a nice place to go and spend a day. Big park around a superb museum (way better than the Van Gogh in A'dam, by the way).
Here is a portrait of Mme. Kroller-Muller...
And here is one of the many works by Van Gogh featured at the museum...
Following are a few pics of the park surrounding the Museum. There are several paths corresponding to different expositions of sculptures...
And how about this one.... A big bad frog?
... or a couple making love?....
Minimalist geometry at his best...
A doomed treasure hunt with defective GPS devices and forest guards all conjuring against us. The incessant downpouring lead most of us to the safe harbour of the park cafe way before the end.
By the way, those white, free bycicles are the most unstable things I've ever ridden!
Annemike Petrignani's graduation (Nijmegen 29/10/05)
First of all her public... keep into account that the graduation ceremony was at 10:30 (AM!!) in Nijmegen... we were all sleepy by the time we got there, but Annemike woke us up with an excellent talk (was it in Dutch? I can't remember..)
Then the master of ceremonies...
Then, her boss, of course... Wim Van Der Sande
And here is Annemieke...
CONGRATULATIONS Annemike! All the best!!
Go-Karting in Amsterdam Sloterdijk (October 18th 2005)
This was our last outing while Annemike was stil in town and it was more fun than it should be legally allowed!
We went to the "Race Planet" in Sloterdijk, Amsterdam, where, if one pays, they'll let you race even with a Porsche !!
For the curious, racing is indeed very tiring (see the sweat on the writer's T-shirt) and after the race we all had sore arms (and as I write, I feel also some bruises here and there).
The next photo, as ugly as it is, is reporting part of the track we raced on. As you can see we were getting down a slope to a fast turn. Peak speed is 65 km/hr, the acceleration seems to depend quite a bit on the driver's own mass :)
Noordwijk with Anna and Michiel (November 20th 2005)
On this Sunday I took the train and went to visit my friends Anna and Michiel in Leiden. We didn't really visit Leiden as we headed right away west on the coast nearby.
The beach is long and wide and it's delimited by a chain of high dunes covered by tall grass that swings in the wind. It made me think a bit of such shores as the one by Dunkirk and in Normandi (which I haven't visited yet, but I imagine like this).
As we got there the sun seemed to be slowly going down. A red sky was covering Den Haag (or was it Rotterdam?)
Apparently here they take their lawns very seriously and require only the best manure for their grass... and nothing else ;)
Although one can always find a well-intentioned volunteer i guess...
... and on this note...thanks for the beautiful day and delicious dinner guys!!
;)
Ringberg Max Plank Meeting Dec 3rd 2005
The Max Plank owns a castle about 65 km south of Munich where they organize meetings and workshops. The Ringberg workshop on coherent control is organized once every two years and it's rather exclusive in that it's an invitation-only meeting.
The castle is not very old. The duke had the construction start in about 1910 and the castle was never really finished under his "supervision". Soon money problems brought the project to a stand still and the duke had to find a way to get rid of that expensive structure. To know mrore about the castle, click here.
Here is the picture of the entrance of the castle during a snow storm.
The first day there wasn't much snow. Here you can see the lake from the windows of the tower used for the meetings (basically from the conference room).
And here is the same view the next day...
Soon I hope I'll have the group picture with all the 60-something participants.
For now I have a map of the area with Munchen, the airport and Schloss Ringberg (down in red).
And here is the big picture with all the participants (there should be 62 of us...)
Can you find me? And how about Jennifer and Peter? :)
Sugar Factory (Amsterdam Dec. 19th 2005)
On a sleepy Monday night the village that never sleeps offered this fun night of music at the Sugar Factory (Leidse Plein).
A great come back of the multi-elements bands from the 40s, the New Cool Collective
Cool Latin/Acid-Jazz to listen and dance to!
Too bad someone (not me!) was sleepy.... ;)
Barcelona (May 2006)
At the end of May I flew to Barcelona for my first visit of this southern city.
The weather was incredibly beautiful... even too much so if possible.
One of the things I liked the best was Gaudi's "sagrada familia".
Here is a picture of this famous cathedral that has been under cnstruction for something like a century now.
Walking inside the cathedral one really feels what it may have been like to see one of the famous cathedrals like Notre Dame or Saint Peter or the Dom in Koeln while they were being built. Watching the workers move big blocks of rock had a taste of centuries ago.
Finally, here I am, on top of one of the towers. Notice the expression of veiled discomfort while I grasp the rock around me for a mild sense of safety. A panic attack would ensue only minutes after the picture was taken :)
Gotan Project concert @ Paradiso, Amsterdam (May 20th 2006)
My cheap nature almost took over and made me miss this great, great concert. I owe Sarah one for this one. I got to stand and dance just two meters away from the musicians. What a treat!
Here are some pictures from that night.
The groote zaal of the paradiso reminds me a little of these science fiction movies a la "Dunes" where the hero is made fight against some big guy in a cage while the mob goes wild watching from several balconies all around.
Philippe Cohen Solal (Parisian) gives his best at the piano.
All in white, the elegant crew of the GP bids farewell among a standing ovation.
Trip to Italy.. my personal "Grand Tour" (July/Aug 2006)
This year I decided to finally fill a huge gap of mine, I finally had to visit Umbria! On the way though, I thought that a few days on a small island, swimming and sunbathing could also help my well being :)
So, anyway, here are some pictures...
Isola del Giglio, Toscana
How about a dive in that sea now??
Well, my dad didn't have to ask permission... and he didn't wait!
Here we are on a boat. In the photo, my dad and Age.
We spent most of the time on a boat or on some small beach.. or in the water.
Did I mention I even got sunburnt?
Cinque terre, Liguria
The area of "le cinque terre" (five lands literally or five villages actually) was always known in Italy for its beauty, but fairly recently it really boomed on the international tourism scene. I was there for a day only as it is quite close to my hometown and I had the feeling that I was the only Italian there not working... a bit like visiting the Uffizi in florence in August :)
Siena, Toscana
Fellow travelers, Age and Petrie in the famous Piazza del Campo, Siena.
Perugia, Umbria
Perugia really is a cute little city. This is the entrance to the "Palazzo ducale". There must have been 38C when I took this shot!
Spoleto, Umbria
Spoleto is a nice little town in Umbria. It's famous (at least within Italy) for its festival of the arts (theater, painting, sculpture...).
This is an ancient waterline built by the romans. If you look well, you may see some people (like tiny ants on that bridge).
Orvieto, Umbria
Orvieto is known in Italy for the facade of its cathedral and a special well, called pozzo di San Patrizio. Guess which one is portraied in the next pic?
Paolo Conte at the Koninklijk Theater Carré in Amsterdam (Feb. 2007)
In early November 2006 my friend Massimiliano sent me an email from Muenster: "Paolo Conte's coming to Amsterdam in February!!". Within half an hour we had bought the last 3 tickets. Amazing!
I had missed him in Chicago, Paris and already in Amsterdam 2 years earlier. I couldn't believe my luck this time!
His music has accompanied me through some pretty hard times and I was keeping it in a little corner of my heart, not listening to it much anymore, as you store a precious piece of porcelain away for fear of breaking it in your every-day hustle and bustle.
I arrived to the theater with Massimiliano and his girlfriend Angela with some mild enthusiasm. I had had a pretty heavy day at work. I went to seat down (separate from my friends) and started feeling imaptient. I couldn't resist any longer.
Finally the lights went down and the band entered. A few seconds later, Paolo Conte walked in and went to sit down at his piano.
His first song was "sparring partner". Suddenly something happened. This song brought back so many memories of ex-girlfriends, of months, years spent under incredible stress, in a dark lab... lost years that will never come back.
I started to cry, big sobs, I couldn't stop... every song was like a stab in my soul, in places that I had tried to hide or forget about.
Anyway, here are some pictures of this evening. My only regret with these pictures is that I didn't ask anybody to take a picture of me with Massimiliano and Angela. Nonetheless, once again we know that we've shared something important.
Roel's birthday (October 5th 2008)
Lunch, live music and dancing at Roel's house on the Prinsengracht.
My dad was also there, but left after the music and before lunch.
Clockwise: Me, Roel, Josephine, Nell, Matias (guest from BsAs) and Sebastian.
After roasting myself in Vondelpark I gave Janne a call to meet for a bite and... two hrs later I was kayaking in the middle of the Netherlands with windmills, horses and worried cows looking down on me and my red u-boat.
Apparently kayaking is more of an upper-body exercise than arm work. It makes sense, as the back muscles are stronger than the arms. it was good exercise and I think I kind of got a hang of it.
Uitje at the Kroller-Muller Museum (Sept 15th 2005)
Here are some pics from the little outing at the K-M museum. REally a nice place to go and spend a day. Big park around a superb museum (way better than the Van Gogh in A'dam, by the way).
Here is a portrait of Mme. Kroller-Muller...
And here is one of the many works by Van Gogh featured at the museum...
Following are a few pics of the park surrounding the Museum. There are several paths corresponding to different expositions of sculptures...
And how about this one.... A big bad frog?
... or a couple making love?....
Minimalist geometry at his best...
A doomed treasure hunt with defective GPS devices and forest guards all conjuring against us. The incessant downpouring lead most of us to the safe harbour of the park cafe way before the end.
By the way, those white, free bycicles are the most unstable things I've ever ridden!
Annemike Petrignani's graduation (Nijmegen 29/10/05)
First of all her public... keep into account that the graduation ceremony was at 10:30 (AM!!) in Nijmegen... we were all sleepy by the time we got there, but Annemike woke us up with an excellent talk (was it in Dutch? I can't remember..)
Then the master of ceremonies...
Then, her boss, of course... Wim Van Der Sande
And here is Annemieke...
CONGRATULATIONS Annemike! All the best!!
Go-Karting in Amsterdam Sloterdijk (October 18th 2005)
This was our last outing while Annemike was stil in town and it was more fun than it should be legally allowed!
We went to the "Race Planet" in Sloterdijk, Amsterdam, where, if one pays, they'll let you race even with a Porsche !!
For the curious, racing is indeed very tiring (see the sweat on the writer's T-shirt) and after the race we all had sore arms (and as I write, I feel also some bruises here and there).
The next photo, as ugly as it is, is reporting part of the track we raced on. As you can see we were getting down a slope to a fast turn. Peak speed is 65 km/hr, the acceleration seems to depend quite a bit on the driver's own mass :)
Noordwijk with Anna and Michiel (November 20th 2005)
On this Sunday I took the train and went to visit my friends Anna and Michiel in Leiden. We didn't really visit Leiden as we headed right away west on the coast nearby.
The beach is long and wide and it's delimited by a chain of high dunes covered by tall grass that swings in the wind. It made me think a bit of such shores as the one by Dunkirk and in Normandi (which I haven't visited yet, but I imagine like this).
As we got there the sun seemed to be slowly going down. A red sky was covering Den Haag (or was it Rotterdam?)
Apparently here they take their lawns very seriously and require only the best manure for their grass... and nothing else ;)
Although one can always find a well-intentioned volunteer i guess...
... and on this note...thanks for the beautiful day and delicious dinner guys!!
;)
Ringberg Max Plank Meeting Dec 3rd 2005
The Max Plank owns a castle about 65 km south of Munich where they organize meetings and workshops. The Ringberg workshop on coherent control is organized once every two years and it's rather exclusive in that it's an invitation-only meeting.
The castle is not very old. The duke had the construction start in about 1910 and the castle was never really finished under his "supervision". Soon money problems brought the project to a stand still and the duke had to find a way to get rid of that expensive structure. To know mrore about the castle, click here.
Here is the picture of the entrance of the castle during a snow storm.
The first day there wasn't much snow. Here you can see the lake from the windows of the tower used for the meetings (basically from the conference room).
And here is the same view the next day...
Soon I hope I'll have the group picture with all the 60-something participants.
For now I have a map of the area with Munchen, the airport and Schloss Ringberg (down in red).
And here is the big picture with all the participants (there should be 62 of us...)
Can you find me? And how about Jennifer and Peter? :)
Sugar Factory (Amsterdam Dec. 19th 2005)
On a sleepy Monday night the village that never sleeps offered this fun night of music at the Sugar Factory (Leidse Plein).
A great come back of the multi-elements bands from the 40s, the New Cool Collective
Cool Latin/Acid-Jazz to listen and dance to!
Too bad someone (not me!) was sleepy.... ;)
Barcelona (May 2006)
At the end of May I flew to Barcelona for my first visit of this southern city.
The weather was incredibly beautiful... even too much so if possible.
One of the things I liked the best was Gaudi's "sagrada familia".
Here is a picture of this famous cathedral that has been under cnstruction for something like a century now.
Walking inside the cathedral one really feels what it may have been like to see one of the famous cathedrals like Notre Dame or Saint Peter or the Dom in Koeln while they were being built. Watching the workers move big blocks of rock had a taste of centuries ago.
Finally, here I am, on top of one of the towers. Notice the expression of veiled discomfort while I grasp the rock around me for a mild sense of safety. A panic attack would ensue only minutes after the picture was taken :)
Gotan Project concert @ Paradiso, Amsterdam (May 20th 2006)
My cheap nature almost took over and made me miss this great, great concert. I owe Sarah one for this one. I got to stand and dance just two meters away from the musicians. What a treat!
Here are some pictures from that night.
The groote zaal of the paradiso reminds me a little of these science fiction movies a la "Dunes" where the hero is made fight against some big guy in a cage while the mob goes wild watching from several balconies all around.
Philippe Cohen Solal (Parisian) gives his best at the piano.
All in white, the elegant crew of the GP bids farewell among a standing ovation.
Trip to Italy.. my personal "Grand Tour" (July/Aug 2006)
This year I decided to finally fill a huge gap of mine, I finally had to visit Umbria! On the way though, I thought that a few days on a small island, swimming and sunbathing could also help my well being :)
So, anyway, here are some pictures...
Isola del Giglio, Toscana
How about a dive in that sea now??
Well, my dad didn't have to ask permission... and he didn't wait!
Here we are on a boat. In the photo, my dad and Age.
We spent most of the time on a boat or on some small beach.. or in the water.
Did I mention I even got sunburnt?
Cinque terre, Liguria
The area of "le cinque terre" (five lands literally or five villages actually) was always known in Italy for its beauty, but fairly recently it really boomed on the international tourism scene. I was there for a day only as it is quite close to my hometown and I had the feeling that I was the only Italian there not working... a bit like visiting the Uffizi in florence in August :)
Siena, Toscana
Fellow travelers, Age and Petrie in the famous Piazza del Campo, Siena.
Perugia, Umbria
Perugia really is a cute little city. This is the entrance to the "Palazzo ducale". There must have been 38C when I took this shot!
Spoleto, Umbria
Spoleto is a nice little town in Umbria. It's famous (at least within Italy) for its festival of the arts (theater, painting, sculpture...).
This is an ancient waterline built by the romans. If you look well, you may see some people (like tiny ants on that bridge).
Orvieto, Umbria
Orvieto is known in Italy for the facade of its cathedral and a special well, called pozzo di San Patrizio. Guess which one is portraied in the next pic?
Paolo Conte at the Koninklijk Theater Carré in Amsterdam (Feb. 2007)
In early November 2006 my friend Massimiliano sent me an email from Muenster: "Paolo Conte's coming to Amsterdam in February!!". Within half an hour we had bought the last 3 tickets. Amazing!
I had missed him in Chicago, Paris and already in Amsterdam 2 years earlier. I couldn't believe my luck this time!
His music has accompanied me through some pretty hard times and I was keeping it in a little corner of my heart, not listening to it much anymore, as you store a precious piece of porcelain away for fear of breaking it in your every-day hustle and bustle.
I arrived to the theater with Massimiliano and his girlfriend Angela with some mild enthusiasm. I had had a pretty heavy day at work. I went to seat down (separate from my friends) and started feeling imaptient. I couldn't resist any longer.
Finally the lights went down and the band entered. A few seconds later, Paolo Conte walked in and went to sit down at his piano.
His first song was "sparring partner". Suddenly something happened. This song brought back so many memories of ex-girlfriends, of months, years spent under incredible stress, in a dark lab... lost years that will never come back.
I started to cry, big sobs, I couldn't stop... every song was like a stab in my soul, in places that I had tried to hide or forget about.
Anyway, here are some pictures of this evening. My only regret with these pictures is that I didn't ask anybody to take a picture of me with Massimiliano and Angela. Nonetheless, once again we know that we've shared something important.
Roel's birthday (October 5th 2008)
Lunch, live music and dancing at Roel's house on the Prinsengracht.
My dad was also there, but left after the music and before lunch.
Clockwise: Me, Roel, Josephine, Nell, Matias (guest from BsAs) and Sebastian.
