A Big Step Forward...

I felt quite honored to have witnessed the ceremony when Jimmy, representing the Defense Innovation Greenhouse (the non-profit that he started), and a General, representing the Dutch Ministry of Defense, signed a contract to work together on two projects.

The General is clearly excited about the partnership as he tweeted in English about it. Here’s hoping some other countries follow the Dutch lead.

Spotted in Amsterdam...

Perhaps I’m partial to the VW Beetle because it was my parents’ first car; I have no memories of being placed in a basket on the floor back in the days before children’s car seats, but I’m happy that I survived to tell the tale. 

I loved coming across The Beetle Sphere by Ichwan Noor, an Indonesian artist. He carved a spherical replica of the body out of polyurethane and cast it in aluminium, and then did a similar process for the interior. He added some original car parts to complete the illusion.

In this age of mobile devices, it was nice to see a bunch of folks reading magazines and books on a nice Saturday morning.

Although I didn’t find a dress for an upcoming wedding, I did really like the front window of this funky vintage shop.

While drinking a beer at an outdoor café in Amsterdam Noord, it was entertaining to watch a fashion shoot shot on a bridge. At one point, the photographer climbed up on the railing as well. 

Bikes in Amsterdam...

After seeing the new bike parking garage at Amsterdam Zuid Station being built, we went underground to check out the finished project. It sure was cool! 

While I wasn’t specifically taking photos of bikes in these mirror pics, there’s plenty of bikes in the shots.

If you look carefully at these two, you’ll see that they’re selfies.

We found this cool bike sculpture in one of the few indoor malls in Amsterdam.

German Hash-a-thon...

We got up early the next morning to drive to the German Hash-a-thon, which was taking place at a campground in Idstein, north of Wiesbaden. Unfortunately, we drove around in circles for nearly an hour before we actually found the small private campground. We arrived just in time for Pieter and me to head out on the first of the four 10K trails for the day. I didn’t bring my camera on trail and my phone was acting up, so there’s only this one photo.

Each trail was laid by a different German Hash kennel, who were each assigned a quadrant to lay their trail so that only the entrance to the camp would overlap between trails. I never intended to do all four trails, but after running the first 1.5, I just walked the rest and was glad I did as all four were really good trails with varied terrain.

The organizers had arranged with a local sports club to allow us to take showers, which was much appreciated. One of the ladies, who was dealing with having lyme disease herself, did lice checks; I didn’t have any, but she found three on Lisa. Thank goodness that we made it back to the camp before the skies opened up and that we had a giant tent to keep us dry as it poured for most of the night.

We had no running water or electricity at the campsite, just long-drop toilets. One of the girls dropped her cell phone into the toilet and asked for help to get it out. There was much discussion of methods, including her horribly sh*tty suggestion of finding someone small to hold by the ankles and lower into the toilet; needless to say, she gave us lots to laugh about. One of the guys did a full Macgyver stunt of tying a metal cup onto a flag pole and managed to rescue the phone. Most of us thought she’d just take the SIM out to put in a new phone, but she used the disinfectant that she found in the outhouse and declared it clean. Yuck!

I was happy that Melissa and Pieter decided to stay, but I was glad not to be in their tent with crying Norah.  Instead I was happy to be with Lisa and Nat in Simon’s massive and well-built tent as we stayed dry unlike some of the other campers. 

It was foggy in the morning, but dry and warm.

We hung out at the campsite until after lunch, helped Simon clean up and then hit the road back to Holland.

Wiesbaden Street Festival...

The following afternoon we headed back to Wiesbaden, but this time for a big street festival, one of the oldest street festivals in Germany. We arrived early so it wasn’t too busy yet. This lovely shaded part of the street was full of booths selling food and drinks. 

One of the specialties that I couldn’t resist trying was a drink made in a giant bowl. 

We saw some cute little ballerinas...

...and some American footballers and cheerleaders.

We enjoyed a glass of French champagne from this cute van and then some German sekt from a nearby winery kiosk.

There were a lot of really nice crafts booths situated around the old theatre in the background.

We did a quick walk around the historic center so I could see the Marktkirche, a beautiful Protestant church built in 1862.

I loved my dinner of potato latkes and apple sauce.

Norah couldn’t get enough walking practice. Clearly it paid off, because she skipped crawling entirely and was walking on her own by her first birthday just two months later. 

We stuck around long enough to dance to some of the bands. Pieter managed to get both Melissas home safely.

Hashing in Germany...

I was thrilled when Lisa offered to take me down to Germany for a long weekend so I could see Melissa and Pieter again, who I stayed with for the first two nights. That first evening we went to the Frankfurt Hash, which was in Wiesbaden. 

It was a great off-road trail through some scenic fields and hills with a fun circle afterwards.

More Spring Hashing...

The night of the big signing, Jimmy hared yet another hash—this time for the FILTH H3 in Hoofddorp.

Lucky for us, a hasher was along that worked in the area and he suggested a very cool place for the beer break: Jopenkerk Hoofddorp.

Not only was the beer good, but the decor in this converted old church was really cozy with carpeted stairs for seating in the bar. It’s also a restaurant with tables set up along the balconies.

 It’s always fun to see what kind of unusual art you’ll find on trail.

 That next Sunday, we were back in Amsterdam for another hash...

...and another chance for a photo with some cool art.

Prom Dress Silliness...

Unfortunately, this is the only photo I took on trail, much of which was through Vondelpark where we stopped for a beer break. In an effort to have maximum public exposure, we also ran through Museumplein. 

Over two years later, I received this cool shot taken on trail in Vondelpark from a friend.

We ended in Vondelpark, where William tried balancing on red heels which couldn’t have been so easy to do on grass.

William walked back with us to the train station. Along the way, we passed by a fountain...

...that quickly made William forget to act like a lady.

This “Dirt Bag” girl on the train asked to have her photo taken with Jimmy.

On the same day that we were dressed up, Veronica also put on a dress to take some self-portraits in Kew Gardens.

First AH3 Prom Dress Hash...

After seeing Ashlynn and Jimmy run past at the half-marathon, I headed to Amsterdam to co-hare Amsterdam’s first Prom Dress Hash with Andrea. 

We bought my lovely dress in Amsterdam on King’s Day and Jimmy’s in Leiden on a last minute trip to a charity shop. 

I was especially impressed that William made his own dress.

Steve clearly liked what he saw.

Nice to see little Spencer getting into the act.

We had a pretty good turn out, including a family of hashers visiting from Germany.