Sunday, July 31, 2011

Brielle Blues

Every last Sunday in July the Brielle Blues Festival takes place. This year was no exception and moreover they celebrate their 20th anniversary.

Lunch before visiting the Festival
Every Blues Festival needs some tuned Harleys





What is the shortest way to route a multi core cable to the FOH? You are correct, right through the channel

Here we can see the high HSE standards in the Netherlands...

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Bath

After three weeks of lovely Dutch Summer (it only stops to rain to enable the next thunderstorm to commence) I was that bored of the weather that some of my synapses connected the wrong way in my brain. I kicked myself off the couch and made preparations for this sunday´s excursion: The Thermal Bath in Barendrecht (http://www.thermenbarendrecht.nl). Normally I´m not that spa guy, but when it´s  getting time again to fire up the flat heating in July, something is definitely wrong.
I was astonished about myself but I really enjoyed the later afternoon, sweating in different saunas,  reading relaxed some of my audio magazines and sipping Latte macchiatos meanwhile. The Bath is small and intimate, capable of about 200 guests, but they do everything right. It´s equipped with two indoor and two outdoor saunas at different temperatures and humidities, a steam bath, tepidarium, infrared room, cold and hot showers, ice bath and so on. Basically they have everything but separate clothing rooms. The rest area could easily be confounded with a Jazz Bar and the included restaurant (the only area where you have to wear a bath robe) is excellent.
Unfortunately I cannot post any pictures. I made them the proposal it would be a perfect ad, but they refused vehement (I´m still working on my belly, what could be a good reason ;-) ).

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Weekend in Vienna

Every two months i´m traveling home to Vienna to meet Mrs. N and some of my friends (fortunately the company pays the bill). This time on the agenda: Friday´s lunch with Mrs. N (another Mrs. N) and her lovely four months old son an Mr.U; in the evening an "everybody has a baby or is at least pregnant" party, followed by a farewell party later on for Mrs. A, who will leave in a few weeks the country to visit Burkina Faso. On Saturday we had to join a lovely Schweinsbraten (see below picture) with Stöcklkraut for lunch. In the  evening we were present at the Rathausplatz (Film Festival). We spent the last day in Vienna to go for urban climbing opposite the Flex Club. No good idea when your fingers are not used to it any more...













Sunday, July 10, 2011

Musical Freedom with the Netherlands

It´s Sunday, temperatures raising to 24° Celsius, nearly no wind. There couldn´t be a better day for a cycling trip. The destination was rather easy to find: Scheveningen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheveningen), the biggest seaside resort of the Netherlands and magnetic for all those who want to enjoy a relaxed day at the beach. Distance from Brielle: 50km on nicely routed cycle tracks one way. We started at 11:30 and the first stop was Rozenburg, where we took the ferry across the Nieuwe Waterweg to Maassluis. Then we headed towards Hoek van Holland, turning north direction Den Haag. After our arrival in Scheveningen we directly moved to the Whoosah Beach Club (www.whoosah.nl), spending more than four hours listening to dubby Tech House and burning our skin. What a compensation for friday night´s disappointment in Rotterdam! At the very end I made peace with the dutch DJs and music consciously of the fact that somebody just has to search for the adequate venue.










Rotterdam at night

Last friday´s evening Mr. K sent me over some links to bars and clubs in Rotterdam. Spontaneously we decided to check out two of them, got into the car at about 22:30 and arrived at the Rotown (www.rotown.nl) shortly after 23:00 (no more parking fees). After we quenched our thirsts we asked somebody where to go after in case you wanted to hear some faster Club music. They recommended the Perron (www.perron.nl) (this was also the second club we had spoted in the www). Eight Euro admission is a fair call. Unfortunately the best Trance Music is coming from the Netherlands (Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, DJ Tiesto, the list is long), and i think they honor it wherever and whenever they can. Consequently, what was a recommendation for Techno, emerged to smurfy hard Trance. A nice experience for an hour or two, but then its enough. When i´ll travel home to Vienna the upcoming weekend i´ll definetly visit the Elektro Gönner for listening to some nice beats.







Saturday, July 2, 2011

Company Harbour Boat Trip

The Site Management surprisingly arranged a boat trip through the outer harbour of Rotterdam, including dinner and drinks. The vessel landed directly in front of our plant, very comfy. And once more i had to discover how amazing and impressing the area is, although i live here now for more than four months. One of the breathtaking things is the so called Maeslantkering, an enormous storm surge barrier (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maeslantkering, http://www.keringhuis.nl), featured also in the below photo set.