A Place in the Sun

In real life I'm a computer programmer, so one of the first things I did when I came into Second Life was seek out Dr Dobbs Journal's island and sign up for their Life 2.0 conference. Dr Dobbs is a programming magazine that's done some articles on Second Life and has really embraced the potential of Second Life and, I think, done an extremely good job at using that potential. They've done a couple of in-world conferences and on a weekly basis they do presentations and stuff related to computing and virtual worlds. I'll probably do a more detailed blog post on them later, but for now I want to show y'all the Winter Wonderland build that Sun Microsystems did.

So as part of this group, I was invited to a holiday party hosted by Dr Dobbs and Sun Microsystems. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend due to real life work, but decided to pop in after the fact and see the place.





Above is the invite to the party, I thought it was very well done though I wish they'd warned me how big it was, kinda startled me when it rezzed. The invite came complete with snow and music. Clicking on the invitation as instructed, I got a note card with information on the event and a bookmark, the slurl to which you will find below.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sun%20Microsystems%205/244/17/25





Above you see me at the landing zone on Sun Microsystems 5, one of the islands that Sun has in Second Life. It was a bit chilly, with a little nip in the air, but bearable....





Here is the sign which greets you at the landing point, clicking the sign gets you a note card with some instructions and a few goodies to keep you warm.

This is what the note said...

Welcome to the Mystical Woods

Please read the SL Client Optimization instructions to have the most enjoyable experience.

When you are ready to begin your journey, follow the lanterns along the wooded path, be careful not to stray off the path as there are wolves and bears about and it is easy to become lost.

Everyone at Sun Microsystems hopes you have a pleasent visit to the Mystical Woods and that your holiday is filled with much happiness and joy!

Points of interest:

The Lantern
The Wooded path of the Mystical Wood
The Woodsman's cottage
The Lake Keeper's cottage
The Frozen Lake - with ice skating
The Governor's home
The Marbled Bridge
The Ice Palace
The wish Tree





Here I am in front of one of the many lanterns which guide you along the way.

They give me of that old fashioned, nostalgic, mental picture of winters past.





A view of the pathway, the lanterns light as you approach, guiding you along.





I seem to have found some of the wildlife that lives in the woods. I guess they weren't scared of me.





No winter build would be complete without a place to ice skate (skates are provided if you don't have any)

This was a very nice little frozen pond for skating on, very much in keeping with the old fashioned feel of the build.

Watch out for the penguins........





An aerial view of the frozen pond, there is a little shack there to keep warm in if you're not skating.





This must be one of the cottages mentioned in the note card, perhaps the woodsmans cottage?





The Governors Home, a very beautiful place, just need to find a way to get it out into the real world so I can live in it.





I don't think the governor will mind if I take a quick look inside.........hmmm, a very cozy living room, fire in the fireplace, Christmas tree all decorated, perfect place to relax after a hard day of governing.





After trekking through the woods, I finally made it to the Ice Palace. This was where the party was held. The big tree you see just behind the fountain is the Wish Tree where you can place your Christmas wish in the form of a note card.





Back the way I came, the Marbled Bridge and a couple of really pretty ice sculptures.





A reindeer , I believe.....





And a Pegasus.........





Here we are at the entrance to the Ice Palace, there's a little writing table where you can make your wish for the wish tree (actually, the instructions for putting your wish up float above the table)

Click on the door to enter.....





Inside the Ice Palace, there is a fairly large area for dancing and individual dance balls all over. To the left side of the picture above, you can see one of several nooks where folks can go and sit.

Hmmmm, where's the door? How did I get in here? A word of caution, the door is kinda hidden on the inside with a picture of an outside view to camouflage it, in the picture above you can see what looks like a bunch of snow covered trees through an opening, that's the inside of the door you entered to come inside. Just click on it and the door will open and you can go out again.




Another angle, the Ice Palace is basically a big dome shaped structure with smaller areas connected to form the nooks.





As you can see, plenty of dance balls for you and your companion to use....





And there's even a bit of the ol' bubbly to drink......free of charge, of course........

I thought this was a very nice winter build from a visual aesthetic point of view, a nice little place to wander around in with that someone special.

Definitely worth the time to go check out.