Quick trip to Munich

From May 12 to May 14, my mother and I took a short trip to Munich to meet up with Cathy and Howard, as well as Paul and Chris. A couple of pictures below.

Queensday 2008

Queensday this year was quieter than previous years. Although we had reasonable weather, there were fewer people in town, or it seemed to be so at least. We still managed to have a good time. There was no traditional brunch over at Wim & Nick’s, so Jan, Thomas and I wandered around town for a bit, looking at the stuff on display on the freemarket. Not much interesting stuff, but I did manage to find a small coffee jug that my mother was looking for.

Afterwards we had a look on the Zeedijk, but the music was very loud, especially because it’s a fairly narrow street. So we went back to the Amstel, and took up our usual position in front of the Café Rouge (the former Monopole).

The pasta dinner on board Jonathan, after the music stopped outside, was – again – not as busy as other years, but we all enjoyed it.

The soldiers are busy building the stage for the Liberation Day concert (May 5). We’ll have the TV-crew here again, like other years. It looks to be nice weather (sunny and 20°C) over the weekend.

Some pictures.

The Ayor sails again

We had a slight mishap with the enigine of the Ayor: the braces that hold the startmotor in place, were worn through. Jan has manufactured a replacement, and now we can start the engine again. Last Sunday was this year’s first trip: Wim and Nick came along with Jan for the ride, but I was away at the Stetsons Saloon.

Ah-oh… Karneval!

We’ve just got back from another fun-filled Karneval in Cologne. It was not as busy as other years; maybe because it was the earliest in the year that Karneval could be, or maybe it’s getting all too expensive.
We did have a good time though. Weather was nice, except for Rosenmontag, when it rained on and off.
I’ll try to put some more pictures up soon; in the meantime here’s one of us (Niels, Timon, Jan, Frits) as teletubbies. Click the picture for the not-quite-safe-for-kids (anatomically correct!) enlargement.
Teletubbies!

And another year begins…

I’ve been busy today, clearing up the Christmas decorations. Not that we have that many, but it’s always more than you realise. And this year, instead of just shoving everything into a big box, I actually checked the fairylights. And then neatly stowed them in their original boxes.

You can see a couple of pictures of our traditional Christmas (well, day after Christmas for you Americans, Boxing Day for english visitors) dinner on this page.

Fairy lights

The Merry Christmas Bells

During the Christmas Saloon, organised by the Amsterdam Stetsons, we did a little act as the Mary Christmas Belles, which got mangled to the Merry Christmas Bells – oh well.
The Mary Christmas Belles are (from left to right on the stage): Hans, Simon & Timon.

The music is The lord of the dance (Ronald Hardiman), Man, I feel like a woman (Shania Twain) and Christmas is here (Bearforce 1).

pizzaboy: he delivers

Living in an A1-location like we do, we sometimes get requests to film on our houseboat. Sometimes we let them. This was the most recent effort. Rest assured, the special effects were just that: effects. And we don’t even have guineapigs…

To see what I’m talking about here, click the image.

aaargh

Our Dacha

We’ve got a garden. It’s a dutch thing, like an allotment, but not just for vegetables – it’s a place to relax and get away from the busy city. In Russia and the former DDR, it would be called a dacha. It’s about 20 minutes cycle ride from the Amstel.

On the map below you can see the complex. We’re some where in the middle there:

Larger map
Click the thumbnail below to see some pictures

Nearly over….

Today, we’re in Brighton, on our way home again from a short break in the South of England. Last week we were in Cornwall: beautiful countryside, nice quiet (gay!) campsite. And now we’re having one last day in Brighton, before we travel home again. More details and pictures when we get home.
enjoying the sun