Hacking At Random

Posted on 13 August, 2009 by Matthias Scheler

Despite almost getting flushed away by rain during What The Hack Silke and I went on another camping event, the Hacking At Random. We arrived in Holland by car ferry early in the morning and drove to the campsite. When we got there we discovered that it was already quite full and it would be hard to find a spot for our somewhat spacious tent. Fortunately we found a suitable location on a small hill:

tent

We hope this spot will also keep our tent dry in case of rain. Talking about rain: so far the weather is much nicer (fingers crossed and touch wood) than during What The Hack … probably because Silke and I are better prepared.

After setting up the tent and fetching all our stuff (too much as usual) from the car in the external car park we finally had time to roam through the camp. During our walk we met some old friends, bought the obligatory t-shirts, browsed the display of the book shop and finally had a nice dinner.

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Movie of the Week: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Posted on 9 July, 2009 by Matthias Scheler

As Silke and I both really enjoyed the first two Ice Age movies we were looking forward to watch the third part as well. Thanks to recent upgrades to two cinemas in Cambridge we would even be able to watch the 3D version of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

The movie was just what he had hoped for: hilarious cartoon characters, breakneck action and a lot of humour presented in dizzying 3D. We had a really good time watching the film.

I’m only wondering how much of the fun will be lost when the 2D version is released on DVD or Blu-Ray …

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Cuty Lilies

Posted on 31 May, 2009 by Matthias Scheler

Paris is always worth a visit. There are countless museums, impressive buildings and grandiose parks. And if you need a break after all the sightseeing there is always a restaurant nearby where you can get excellent food.

Silke and I dedicated our recent trip to the art of Claude Monet. We started by visiting the Musée de l’Orangerie which reopened in 2006 after seven years of renovation. Here we could finally see Monet’s magnificent paintings of the Water Lilies. For Silke a dream came true. While she had already seen other smaller paintings of the Water Lilies before she really wanted to see the eight tremendous canvases in the Musée de l’Orangerie.

Water Lilies

The next day we went on a trip to Giverny a picturesque village in the Normandy. Claude Monet moved to a country estate in Giverny in 1883 and bought it in 1890. With the help of his family he planted a beautiful garden on the property. Monet spent most of his remaining life there and made his home world famous by painting the water lilies in his water garden. Silke and I were curios to see what the garden looked like which inspired Monet that much. When we got there we began to understand.

Pond in Monet's Watergarden in Giverny

You can really feel the ambiance and tranquility that his garden has. And it would be even better if it wasn’t full of tourists. 😐

What else did Silke and I do in Paris? We visited several parks, walked along boulevards, went shopping at Fauchon, Betjeman and Barton and the Galeries Lafayette and enjoyed a lot of very good food. But there are still so many places in Paris that we want to see.

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