Dolomites

Imagine an ellipse that starts in Switzerland, goes through Germany, Austria, then Italy and back to Switzerland. That is what we had in mind when we planned this vacation.

A two hour drive let us to the castle that was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria and nearly bankrupted the German state of Bavaria. Luckily they finished building it and now it is one of those points of interest that attracts a lot of people filling the states coffers. Trust me, we had to stand in line to get over the Marienbrücke to climb up to see it from its most beautiful side. I do believe that since it inspired Disney's castle, one needs to to see it at least once in a lifetime. This would be a good time to check it off the list.

Our next stop was scheduled to be in Innsbruck where in 1964 and in 1976 the Olympic Games took place. Why did we pick Innsbruck? Because we needed a place to stay between Germany and the Dolomites and as a bonus we visited the Swarovski museum. I was impressed with the different exhibits that are incredible and so diverse.

Driving over the Brenner pass we ended up in South Tirol, the Italian mountain region where they still speak German. We stayed in a mountain resort town called Badia at the Rosa Alpina Hotel & Spa where we enjoyed an excellent dinner.

We planned a hike around the most famous place in the Dolomites, Tre Cime de Lavaredo. We did read that one should be early at the park because of the limited parking at the Rifugio Auronzo. Guess what, we were later than we expected and police closed the park due and we were force to park our car at Lago Antorno. From there it was a 2.5 hour hike up to the Rifugio, where the actual hike around the "Drei Zinnen" started. We decided to go for and we were absolutely floored by what nature had to offer. After a total of 7 hours we returned back to the car, tired but very satisfied.

We changed the location and stayed at the Miramonti Boutique Hotel from were you look down to Merano. The rooms were incredible with a view of the mountains and so was the infinity pool.

Are we done yet? No, not yet, the circle has to be finished first. From Merano we went back to Switzerland, guided by the GPS, which let us over the Passo dello Stelvio (Stilfser Joch Pass) a very winding pass with more hair needle turns that I have ever experienced. It's the second highest pass in the Alps at 9045 ft, only 43 ft lower than the highest. It was tough driving it by car, but my congratulations go to all the bicyclist that rode up that pass.

Back in Switzerland we stayed in Graubünden with family and enjoyed a typical Swiss hotel in Ardez. They offered free apples, which was wonderful. If you ever vacation in this region I highly recommend a local specialty called the "Bündner Nusstorte", a nut tart with caramel and walnut.

Hawaii and Kauai

We were looking for adventures on a Hawaiian island and we found what we were looking for on Kauai.
It all started when we were still at O'Hare and we found out that our plane had a mechanical defect and that we would miss our connection from LA to Kauai. After spending numerous hours on the phone we ended up spending the night in LA and so that we could take the first plane to Kauai next morning. This also meant that we would miss our planned helicopter ride, which would have been one of the highlights of this trip. Luckily, we were able to book it on another day that turned out to be way better than originally planned.
The coolest part of this helicopter ride was that the chopper had no doors and one could take photos with no reflection. It was absolutely amazing and I would recommend it to anyone who has no fear of height. The down-wash was incredible and it almost ripped the camera out of my hand the first time and the strap around my wrist saved the day. This way of seeing the island allowed us to explore locations that otherwise would not be accessible, such as the estate of the Robinson family.

Then we went tubing through irrigation flumes and tunnels dug in the 1870s. Ok, I agree that it was not very adventures, but it was very relaxing and one saw the island from a different angle.
After that went zip-lining with Koloa Zipline. This was our first zipline and I admit that it was a lot of fun. Our very professional guides told us so many interesting stories about nature, the former economy and movies that have been shot here on the island.
Hiking the Napali coast was more strenuous than I expected. Even though, it was nice and dry weather the hiking path was sometimes very slippery and somewhat challenging with our Merrells. The view along the coast was stunning.

Who would expect a mini grand canyon on an island. Well, that is what Waimea canyon is and a drive through this natural wonder is a pleasure and provides many lookout opportunities.

On Wednesday, we flew over to the Big Island were we met up with friends to enjoy more of the island's pleasures. Again, we took a helicopter tour, this time with doors and saw some unique places, such as the lava field.

A couple of weeks prior to our arrival the Kilauea volcano was erupting and entering the ocean at Kamokuna. We were not lucky enough to see the spout, but flying over the volcano was still very memorable.

Of course there are so many other things to discover here on the Hawaiian islands that we will be back another time.

Symbol Text

Did you ever wonder what your name would look like when spelled out using symbols from the periodic table?

Well I did (geek alert) and I couldn't find an appropriate application, so I decided to write a second UWA (Universal Windows App) that runs on almost any participant of the Windows 10 eco system.

Symbol Text Screenshot

You can download SymbolText from the Microsoft Store.

The app translates text into symbols from the periodic table. Example: “Fun” translates into “Fluorine, Uranium, Nitrogen”. The tiles generated contain the atomic number, the atomic weight and the name of the element.  It’s fun and it’s educational. This entertaining application uses fictional elements to cover the entire alphabet.

The resulting translation can be saved as a hi-resolution image (.png) with individual tiles being 800x800 or it can be directly send via email as long as the Mail is setup in "Default Programs".

The image can be used to create cups, T-shirts and other custom merchandise from online stores such as Zazzle etc.

Tuscany

What would be more relaxing than renting a farmhouse in Tuscany and exploring the wineries that put Italy on the culinary map?

That is exactly what we did with another couple who enjoys good wines even more than we do.

Our temporary Residence in Tuscany

This farmhouse was recently renovated and is part of the Castelfalfi Luxury Resort. The villa is on a golf course, which has its challenges due to the hills, lakes, streams and sand traps.
Castelfalfi itself is a very small medieval  town on top of a hill and offers stores, restaurants and a small grocery store that sells local specialties starting with cheese and salami tartufo, my favorite and also local wines.

Not having been there yet, we visited Pisa, which to our surprise was pretty cool and not too crowded. Maybe it has something to do with it being the off season.

Cathedral in Pisa

From our temporary home we took day trips and visited many of the hilltop towns that make Tuscany so charming. The distances are not to be underestimated due to the winding roads that go left, right, up, down and left and right again in an endless pattern.

We explored Livorno, Bolgheri, San Gimignano, Greve and Lucca, where we had our own private tour guide. He did a fantastic job and gave us a glimpse of the rich history and culture that formed Lucca.

Lucca

On one of these trips we got lost in Colle di Val d'Elsa where we discovered Arnolfo, and enjoyed a truly exciting dining experience, which one would only expect in a large metropolis like New York but not in the middle of Tuscany.

In Volterra we enjoyed the local art of carving Alabaster and in Montalcino we tasted Brunello, what else. And we didn't regret it at all.



Casanova di Neri

Cheers!

Japan

According to Wikipedia, Japan is the land of the rising sun. A Google search reveals that the sun rises in the East. How come we had to travel west-bound to fly from Chicago to Tokyo?

Japan has a very interesting history. Please check out this video for a brief and very funny overview.

We decided to visit Tokyo and Kyoto. The two cities that couldn't be further apart from each other. One is a mega city with about 35 million people living and working there. It seems we saw each and everyone of them. They all navigated trains and other "obstacles" with ease.



Tokyo by Night

Kyoto is rich in tradition and made us feel warm and calm. We were fortunate enough to be able to stay at a ryokan with an Onsen, which is a traditional Japanese guesthouse with a hot spring. For novices like us, the this guide was very enlightening. 

Instead of valet parking your car, our shoes were valeted when we arrived, since everyone leaves there shoes outside the guesthouse. When we went for a walk late at night, our shoes were ready for us. Don't ask me how they knew which shoes belong to which guest ... without a ticket.

 Most people have seen torii gates, a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of a shrine. One of the probably most photographed torii in the US is found at Epcot. However, there is no comparison what Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto has to offer. There are a vermillion torii gates that eventually lead to the shrine. A wonderful experience to walk all the way around. Tip: get up early in the morning and you won't see that many people, if you want to take a nice shot.

Torii Gates at Fushimi Inari Shrine

On the other side, wait until late afternoon to visit the golden temple so that you can fully appreciate the colors of this magnificent structure when the sunlight creates a reflection in the pond.

Kinkaku-ji

Despite (or maybe because) of the dense population in Japan, it was our experience that they are very friendly, kind and absolutely organized. There are so many other sites that we didn't see, I doubt that this will remain the only time we go there.

A Universal Windows Application

Ever since I attended the Build 2015 conference last spring I was tempted to write a new Universal Windows Application, which runs on a potential huge number of devices that are all part of a humongous eco system supported by Windows 10.

I don't always watch movies on my PC, but when I do, I use DarkScreen!

Here was my problem: My setup consists of a desktop with 2 rather large screens. When I watch a movie on one of the screens the second screen still shows the desktop and is very distracting. This app runs in full screen mode and blacks out the second screen or any other screen for that matter. The screen turns completely dark after a period of no activity on the DarkScreen window.

DarkScreen screenshot

 

Publishing the application to the Windows store was a very easy process and after about 12 hours the application was available for download to all users.

It was very unfortunate that Microsoft decided to unpublish the application, after a while of inactivity. 

Napa Valley

One hears a lot about wine from Napa. We had the opportunity to join another couple to Napa Valley to enjoy life the way it was intended. Eating, enjoying good wines and good company. From sparkling wine over crisp Chardonnay to a red wine with a finish of blackberries we enjoyed every sip.

Ripe Grapes

Now we are back home and we have all these wonderful memories that make a typical day in the office seem to be almost pleasant again.