work outing

today was our work outing. in all my years of working, it's only the 3rd one that's ever been offered, and the 2nd one i participated in. at 8.45 this morning, about 45 of us boarded a bus bound for a day of fun in the nearby canton (county).

we started by visiting some amazing caves. i've seen quite a few caves around the world, and they were certainly very nice. lots of stalactites, stalagmites and cute ponds. it was very nice. our guide was great, and we found out at the end that he was 86 years old! he'd been doing this since he retired 21 years ago... i could have spent another couple of hours in the minerals rooms - i love minerals - but unfortunately, we had a tight schedule and we were already late for lunch. after that, we got to see some bears, wolves and bisons in a nature park, before heading for a fort that had been built just before WWII in case the Germans decided to invade Switzerland. quite fitting, seen as it's D Day. it lasted about 2 hours and was very interesting (this time, our guide was a retired colonel). in fact, the whole day was loads of fun.

it was great to see people outside of work. we got to know more about each other and ask those questions that are perhaps not so easily asked in a professional environment. i mean, it's a bit awkward to go and ask my line manager what he studied at uni, for example. some people had also brought their kids, one of which especially, a little girl, took quite a liking to me. she was great. really. suddenly she was just holding my hand and basically didn't leave my side for the next 2 hours. very sweet. at some point, her mother got worried and explained that she sometimes did that. but i really didn't mind. it was actually really nice.