The Suitcase Kids: January 2016

Friday, January 29, 2016

Veronica's Future Dorm...

We weren’t able to enter Veronica’s residence hall, but could at least take some photos.

Her flat consists of 12 individual en-suite rooms along with a shared kitchen. She’ll get a good stair workout on a daily basis since she’ll be living on the 3rd floor and there’s no elevator.

We now understand why the bunny is the unofficial UEA mascot after spotting a bunch of them across from the campus grocery store. We took the bus back into town and had a delicious Indian dinner. Veronica and I then went to see the National Theatre’s performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, which was fantastic; unfortunately, there were only two last minute tickets available for the sold-out show, so Jimmy couldn’t join us.

Walking A Bike Across Town...

Veronica was too nervous that she’d end up cycling on the wrong side of the road, so thought it much safer to walk her bike across town to drop it off on campus. Of course, we went with her.

We walked through the Royal Arcade, built in 1899, housing a mix of restaurants and shops.

Along our 3.5-mile route, we passed through many neighborhoods and a very large park. If we had more time, we would have stopped to play some footgolf, a golf game played with soccer balls.

Veronica was all smiles when we reached the campus. Our timing was perfect as there was an open day and we were able to get in to see a dorm room so we’d have a better idea of what supplies we’d need to buy for her room.

Arriving in Norwich...

We made it to Norwich quite early, so had to wait several hours before being able to drop off our stuff at the apartment we were renting for several nights. While Jimmy waited in a café with our bags, Veronica and I went in search of a cash machine and some ideas of what to do in Norwich between running errands.

Norwich Market has been in operation at the present site for over 900 years! It remains one of England’s largest markets.

A quick glance at the booths, however, didn’t inspire us much, so we ventured further where we discovered that there was a food fair in a park and a chocolate festival in a school. We returned to both after dropping off our luggage at the apartment and enjoyed some great vegetarian food while listening to a local band followed by some incredible vegan chocolate ice cream.

We didn’t have much time to explore the quaint shopping area, but it’s nice to know that we’ll have such a great city to wander around when we visit Veronica over the next few years.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Ferry to England...

On September 11, Veronica set off for the next chapter of her life...

...with her trusty bike and way too much luggage. Here she is waiting for the train at Voorschoten Station.

Unfortunately, since Ashlynn had just started school, she was unable to join us for the big move.

Jimmy and Veronica enjoyed a traditional herring when we arrived at Hoek van Holland to board the ferry.

Veronica actually had to cycle her bike up the car ramp while Jimmy and I took all the luggage up the pedestrian ramp.

After we dropped everything in our room, we went outside to enjoy some snacks and bubbly. We ran into one her classmates who was also making the move to England.

First Day of School...

Ashlynn and I returned from Tokyo on the first Sunday in September and she started school the very next day. Here she is on the first day of Year 11 (10th grade), the first time that she posed alone for a first day pic as up to this point Veronica was also always starting school on the same day.

The girls didn’t have much time to spend together between the time that Ashlynn returned home and Veronica was leaving home for university. For her farewell dinner, we went to Oudt Leyden, our favorite pannekoeken restaurant in Leiden.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Father-Daughter Trip to Switzerland...

In late August, Jimmy went to St. Gallen in Switzerland for another week of his Renewable Energy Executive course. This time he took Veronica along. There was nowhere to sit on the overnight train, so they ate dinner sitting in the bike storage train car.

They spent one night in Lucerne with Bill and Nina. While Jimmy went on an intense mountain biking outing with Bill and Nina...

...Veronica explored Lucerne on her own.

Later they had drinks along the lake before heading to St. Gallen. Veronica went to class one day with Jimmy, but otherwise just wandered around the lovely Swiss town.

More Urbex...

Here they are going into one of the big storage tanks at the power plant.

This was a nearby steel factory, It was massive!

After spotting some asbestos, they decided it was time to leave.

An Abandoned Cooling Tower...

After her return from California, Jimmy and Veronica set off for Charleroi, Belgium to visit an abandoned power plant. Seeing Jimmy cycling towards it helps to show the scope of the massive cooling tower.

According to an article in Slate, the plant was built in 1921 and closed in 2007 due to its high carbon dioxide emissions.

After some looting by metal scrappers, security guards were occasionally posted, but were fortunately absent the day of Jimmy and Veronica’s visit and they were able to walk straight in.

They went back at night to take some photos with a laser; it was creepy, but the result was cool.

Friday, January 22, 2016

Surprised by Friends...

Adelina set up a surprise dinner for Veronica that evening. She instructed Veronica to put on a nice dress and to meet her at Den Haag Centraal. From there they headed to The Penthouse, Holland’s highest restaurant on the 42nd floor of the The Hague Tower.