Switzerland - July

Walking into ZermattWe arrived in Zermatt 2 hours after leaving Chamonix, we checked into our hostel and had dinner. After dinner we went for a walk around town before retreating to the pub as rain developed. The showers hung around the next day but we were still keen to get out and walk so we chose a low altitude loop of the valley. It was a good combination of forest, grassland and mountain chalets so we were never far from a hot cup of coffee.

Monta Rosa Peak and the Gornergletscher

The next day we went off on our most ambitious walk from the gornergrat railway station across the Gornergletscher to the Monta Rosa hut and back down to Zermatt village. The bad weather cleared early in the morning and we had awesome clear skies.

Crossing the Gornergletscher

We dropped steadily down to the glacier and began to cross it. It was fascinating with crevasses, deep blue pools and massive rocks, after an hour on the ice we clambered up the valley side to the Monta Rosa hut. At the hut we sat back in the sunshine enjoying a cold beer, lunch and the spectacular glacial scenery all around.

Lunch at the Monta Rosa Hut

The old man springing over the crevasses
Views of the Matterhorn heading back down to Zermatt

After lunch we headed back the way we came as far as the train station, after that we continued on down to the Zermatt Village enjoying great views of the Matterhorn. We got back into town at 7pm, 10hrs after we started walking. After dinner we went back into town for a couple of beers to celebrate our last night in Zermatt.

The next day we packed up, got back into the car and headed over to Milan. It was a good drive as we went up over the Simplon pass and then down past lake Maggiore in Italy where we stopped for lunch and a swim. We then drove on to Milan to return the rental car and have our final night. On Sunday dad took the train down to Florence for the first of his conferences. It was a great trip, we saw lots of cool stuff and got some awesome hiking in.

France - July

Glacier des BossonsAfter our short but action packed weekend in Denmark we headed down to the alps for the main part of our holiday. We flew into Milan, picked up our rental car and drove to Chamonix. We checked into our hostel and went for a quick walk up to Glacier des Bossons.

Mt Blanc across the valley from Brévent The next day we set out on our first major walk, we started at the top of the Flegere and headed off towards the Brévent enjoying the great views across to Mt Blanc. We stopped at the top and were dissapointed to find the restaurant closed so we continued down along the ridge and were stoked to another small chalet perched on the mountain side which served cold beer and hot meals. After a great meal we headed back down the steep mountain to the valley 1500m below and back to the Hostel.

One of the many mountain side chalets
Fondau in Chamonix
That evening we went for a fondau in Chamonix, a good local dish. We sat under cover due to the thunder storms coming in and out of the valley.

Lac Blu with Aiguille de Midi in the back ground

The next day we took the Legendary Aiguille de Midi cable car up to the spectacular height of 3800m, 2800m above the valley floor. We then took the next cable car across the Vallee Blanche to Italy with amazing glacial views all around. We then headed back down to Lac Blue for lunch and a swim before jumping in the car and driving to Zermatt in Switzerland.

Denmark - June

Dinner in Copenhagen Dad arrived in the Copenhagen the weekend after the Scotland trip, I picked him up and we went back to Ella's apartment where we stayed. That evening Dad, Ella and I went out for dinner with Niels, Linda, Bror and Bjork at a Italian restaurant in town.

My birthday presents from Bror and Bjork

Linda and Bjork enjoying the meal

I was given my birthday presents a few days earlier by Bjork and Bror =) Dad had not seen Niels and Linda for 7 years so there was a lot of catching up to do. The next day I took dad for a quick tour of Copenhagen before heading over to Odense for the weekend. We were treated to even more good festivities at both Bjarne and Lene's and Mormor's.

Scotland - June 08

Picking up Stig from Sarah and Shays houseAfter 7 years down under it was Dads turn to visit Europe again. Ella and I flew in to Manchester friday morning and met Dad and Linda to the Airport where we picked up the rental car and headed to Sarah and Shays. We had a cup of tea and a good but brief catch up them before heading up to Arrachor in Scotland for the weekend where we were to attend the Burden family re union.

The Arrachor Hotel from the Cobler

We drove for 5 hours up to Arrachor on the west coast 1 hour north of Glasgow. We had no problems except bad coffee at the motorway service stations and the rush hour traffic in Glasgow. We got up early the next morning, ate our bacon and eggs breakfast before Stig, Ella and I headed up the Cobler to check out the famous peak.

Grandad's bridge - still looking good

The rocky peak of the Cobler

The eye of the Needle
Looking back down to Arrachor

It was a good 5 hour return walk allowing for an hour at the top to climb the three summits, there was a lot of rock scrambling involved so was pretty cool. We ate lunch and then headed back down in time to catch the reunion party at one of the local cafes.

Uncle John and Dad
The reunion was great, we were around 80 people, very different people of all ages and from all over the world. It was funny to talk to the people and think that we all came from my grandparents.

Some of the rellies back at the Arrachor hotel
Arrachor in the morning sun

On the Sunday we drove over to Loch Fyne for a fine lunch at the famous sea food restaurant. We then went to the Glengoyne distillery for a Scotch tour before taking Stig to Glasgow airport to catch his plane back to the US. Linda, Dad, Ella and I stayed another night in Arrachor before heading back down to Manchester. It was a great trip and fun to meet up with Linda, Dad and Stig on the other side of the world.

Paris - Oct 07

Moulin Rouge at PigalleMy treat for October was a long weekend in Paris with my brother Stig and good friend Juline. I left work early on Friday afternoon and flew down to Paris arriving 7:30pm. Took the train into our hotel in Montmartre, just 200m from Pigalle and Moulin Rouge. Stig came in on a train from Nantes that evening and we met in the hotel before heading out for dinner. After dinner we walked around the neighbourhood and it did not take long for us to realize we were in the heart of Paris's red light district. We found a bar and had a few drinks before heading back to the hotel in the small hours.

Street band playing on IIe St LouisWe got up early Sat morning, got our running shoes on and headed out the door. We ran a pretty cool route which included Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, the river Seine, the Louvre and back through Marais to Montmartre. We had a quick breakfast and headed in to see Notre Dame and Chapelle before taking the boat down the Seine to the Eiffel Tower.

A long way down We took the stairs up the first third of the tower which was a good challenge, from there you can only take the elevator.. bummer! The view from the top was awesome, even on the hazy day we were up there.

As an engineer it was cool to see it from our angle, it is a very light and intricate structure. Very impressive to think it was calculated with the primitive techniques available in the 1800's.

A flash chocolate shop on Champs Elysees

After the Eiffel tower we went to check out some wine shops at Madeleine, got a few bottles and some glasses. We then went back to the Eiffel tower to check out the lights at night, was cool. We then walked to Champs Ellysees to visit Juline who was working in that evening at 'The drugstore' selling expensive wine and cigars. We then headed back to a restaurant over near Chateau d'Eau for dinner at a brilliant seafood restaurant.

The River Seine The next day we went to check out Hotel des Invalides which is the french war museum. We are both war geeks so it was pretty cool, we also checked out Napoleons Tomb. We then headed back to the hotel to meet Juline before heading out to dinner.

The corner shop from the famous film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain We met up with Juline and then headed up to the Sacré Coeur to check out the great views over the lights of Paris by night. There was lots of people up there and some pretty good live music. On the way back down Juline took us past the the corner shop from the famous film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain before finding a restaurant.

Dinner with Juline and Stig

We found a nice little restaurant and enjoyed the food and wine. Stig had a great time grilling Juline about being french but she took it very well (I had given her plenty of warning)! After dinner I drove back to stay with Juline in Saint Leu la Forêt whilst Stig flew back to the states Monday morning.

Juline's house in Saint Leu la ForêtSaint Leu la Forêt is a cute little town 40min from Paris. Unfortunately the weather on Monday did not come to the party, we had planned on going to Chateau Versailles but it rained the whole day. So we compensated by enjoying a good three course lunch at one of the cafes in town.

The first course of three The back of Juline's classic french house Dinner with the lovely JulineJuline had a evening class at Uni so she dropped me in at the Arc de Triomphe where I bummed around for a couple of hours until she was finished. We walked down to Place de la Concorde and took a ride on the large Ferris wheel before heading in to the Latin Quarter for dinner. We walked around and found another cosy little restaurant where we got another primo dinner.

I flew back to Copenhagen Tuesday morning and was sad to leave after an awesome long weekend with great company. Paris is a vibrant and interesting town with lots of life, I will certainly be back!

Lillegrund Transformer Platform May 07

Lillegrund Transformer platformThe first transformer platform I worked on as an engineer in denmark was finished in June 07 and sailed out to its place in the Lillegrund Offshore Windmill Park off the sea between Denmark and Sweeden.

Lillegrund in Aalborg harbour on the floating craneLillgrund is a windmill park consisting of 48 large 2,3MW turbines with a rotor diameter of 92.4m. The park which lies just 7km off the Swedish coast has a total output of 100MW. The water depth is pretty shallow at 9m and the foundations for windmills and the transformer platform are a concrete mass type.

Being lowered onto its preinstalled foundation pedestal
Our job was to design a platform for the park to house the large 200 ton, 138 kV/33 kV transformer and all the other control equiptment for the park. All the electic cables from different windmills are collected at the platform and the voltage increased before the power is sent into the national grid via under sea cables. The platform is approx 18m in diameter and 30m high so it is not small but it looks it next to that massive crane. By the time I joined ISC in January 07 the majority of the design had been done, but since then we have designed 2 other platforms.

USA - California, Apr 07

Cruising Long Beach

My Easter treat was a trip to Long Beach to visit Kat my lovely girlfriend who I met in Venice in August 06. I took a few days off work and headed over to California for 12 action packed days. Kats apartment is just a short distance from the beach and downtown so on the first day we jumped on the bikes and headed out on a mission.

The classic RMS Queen Mary docked at Long Beach

We stopped in Kats favorite coffee shop for breakfast before heading on to the Aquarium. We got great views of the RMS Queen Mary a large ocean liner built by the White Star Line in the 30's. They were the same company who built the Titanic and you can see the similarities. The boat is a bit of a legend because it served as an allied troop carrier during WW2 and ferried thousands of troops from Australia/New Zealand and US/Canada to Europe. It was hunted my many Nazi U Boats but proved too fast for them. We finished our bike tour at a great little Mexican resturant which had awesome Tacos. It was happy hour and the Tacos were only 1 dollar each.. Yep we ate a few!

Kats treat, a Gondola tour of the Long Beach canals

I was totally suprised when we got back to the apartment and found out that Kat was going to take me out on an authentic Venetian gondola complete with an opera singing gondolier. As we met in Venice but never got round to doing it there it was the perfect idea. We sat eating bread cheese and drinking wine. Every time we passed under a bridge the gondolier stopped and burst into song, was great. He sang in Italian, German and English!

Brunch Party, my nephew Nicholas making sure Angus was not missing out

The first weekend was very festive, Kat had planned parties both sat night and sunday brunch. I met a good number of Kats friends and family, they were very freindly and welcoming. My brother Stig, sister in law, Joko and two nephews Nicholas and Criffer (Christopher) who also live in LA made it to both parties so that was great. Kats rabbit Angus was pretty tired after the parties as he was busy entertaining kids most of the time.. well he surely did not go hungry!

Huntington Beach

The brunch finished late in the afternoon and we felt like some fresh air and relaxation so we headed down to Huntington Beach in Orange county to catch the sunset.

We were not the only ones with that idea

It got pretty chilly as the sun lost its strength but definately worth hanging out for. After the sunset we headed into a Mexican resturant for dinner, it was a majic evening.. The next day we went for a walk, or prehaps I should say a hike.. It was great, I got nice and sunburned and we saw a 1.5m snake crossing the track too which made it exciting. The day after Kat had to work, I spent the morning surfing with one of Kats mates Qzar and the afternoon interviewing with an engineering company.

At the Angels Baseball Game We had a cool day at the baseball with Kats mum and aunt who are both big Angels fans. I did not have much of a clue about baseball so it was a learning experience. Luckily we were sat in the shade as it could have been pretty tough in the sun. After the game we went out for dinner at another mexican resturant.... yes there is a bit of a theme developing. Some of the best mexican in the world is found in California so it has to be done! We went home and packed our bags for our next adventure, a ski trip to mammoth.


The crew, Stig, Joko, Kat and I on the chair lift

Kat and I left early the next morning as Mammoth is a 600km drive north east of LA. Unfortunately it also mean travelling through LA during rush hour so we decided to leave at 6am to beat the traffic and avoid any delays. We got to mammoth around lunchtime and went for a nice walk around Lake Convict. We also stopped at some natural hot pools but unfortuately they were small and full of naked blokes so we thought better of it. Stig, Joko and the boys arrived that night and we got ready for an early start up the mountain.

Criffer learning the snow plough

It was Nic and Criffers first proper ski trip so they spent the first day in Ski school on the learner slopes. This was good as it gave the grown ups (and semi grown ups) the day to ski together, and ski we did.. We skiied most parts on the mountain which is pretty massive and even got a couple of runs in the half pipe.

The boys picked it up really quickly and by the end of the second day they were skiing the blue, intermediate runs.

Coronas for Lunch - Nice!
Feeling the effects of a big day followed by a couple of Beers
Everyone was pretty tired after a couple of big days and it showed. Our condo was great and it had a good sized spa which we used every day.

Snow balls fights on the way up to Panarama Dome Get him! You suck stig!!
On the last day at mammoth we went for a walk up Panorama Dome which would be pretty gentle apart from the fact that every few steps we sunk a meter into the snow. We had some awesome snowball fights on the way.. No one was spared!!

We were taken back by both the views and gusty winds at the top

After the walk we jumped back in the cars and headed home to LA only stopping only for lunch and a milkshake along the way. It was a great holiday and it was very sad to fly back home again the next day.

Joshua trees on the way back to LA