Partycrashing....

After dinner at Pink’s, we set off for the train station. First we took a detour as Opee wanted to stop back by that street party. Turned out that folks were no longer in the street, but rather dancing in a small garage complete with disco lights... 

…hash-appropriate decorations...

…and a one-man band. 

Everyone was super friendly and happy to share their celebration with us. 

Luckily it wasn’t wall-to-wall people, but it was still pretty irresponsible of us to party with strangers in a small enclosed space. Needless to say, Veronica wasn’t impressed as she was being extra diligent since she was in a play just two weeks later.  

Whether this sign was temporary or not, it seemed a fitting ending to our shenanigans. 
 

Carnaval Hash in Tilburg...

Luckily we had late checkout so we were able to dress nicely for an amazing champagne brunch at our hotel. We then changed into our tutus in preparation for the Carnaval Hash in Tilburg.

Along the way to the start we spotted some cool urban art. 

Opee live laid the runners’ trail while Pink took care of the walkers. While our group was small, the groups of partyers in the street weren’t small. The traditional parade was once again postponed.

Once we got out of the city center, it was much easier to find trail. 

Opee had originally planned to do our beer stop in the park, but couldn’t resist hanging out next to this festive group with loud music. 

Here is proof that my husband always takes care of me on trail, albeit without a shot of the porta-potty set up for a street party. In fact, he didn’t just get permission from the locals for me to use their loo, but they also provided us with a few shots of the local liqueur made especially for Carnaval. 

After our final beer stop by the main canal, we walked back to Pink’s together so I was able to catch this shot of Opee accepting a shot from a stranger. 
 

Hashing in Eindhoven...

The October Brabant H3 trail was in Eindhoven. Along the way to the hares’ house, we came across these giant bowling pins...

…a nice reflection of a church...

…and some urban art.

It was a beautiful fall day with bright blue skies for our beer stop in the park.

Opee and Waaah couldn’t resist climbing this big structure.

Pink borrowed a bike and enjoyed solving a bunch of the checks. I enjoyed finding this reflection of the beautiful fall leaves. 
 

Efteling...

The following day, we jumped in Bjarne’s car for the 1.5-hour drive to Efteling, a theme park—the Netherlands’ largest and one of the world’s oldest—outside of Tilburg that I had last visited in 2008. After injuring a rib the night before, the Vogel Rok, an indoor rollercoaster in the dark, was the biggest thrill ride that I could handle. 

There were limits on the number of visitors and social distancing protocol at all rides. Here we were waiting outside with white lines indicating where each group should stand; once inside, there was loads of plexiglass separating the switchback lines with white paint or tape designating where we should stand. 

We had never gone to one of the shows and were really impressed by the set of the show Ravelijn...

…the bird lady…

…and the sword work of the knights. Most impressive was the acrobatics done on horseback that I failed to capture.

Ashlynn has always loved mermaids, but seemed shocked by this topless mermaid. 
 

Carnaval in Tilburg...

After the circle and dinner back at Pink’s, a bunch of us put on our costumes and headed into the Carnaval madness before returning to Pink’s for a slumber party. 

Little did I know when I was laughing at this guy’s effort to be the Coronavirus that the Tilburg Carnaval celebrations actually ended up being ground zero for the virus in the Netherlands as one guy who attended Carnaval apparently brought it back from skiing in Italy. Luckily for our group, we all stayed healthy. 

While Jimmy and I were dressed alike, it was hard to see my costume since I wore a coat. He was happy to pose with this lovely mermaid. 

Here’s Jesus posing with Jesus.

Jessica, dressed as Jessie from Toy Story, was happy when she found Woody, her co-star and love interest.

We were all sad that the parade scheduled for the following day was postponed due to predicted high winds. To make matters worse, because Tilburg was hit hard by COVID-19, the parade ended up completely cancelled. It was raining when we woke up that morning, so after breakfast we just went home. 
 

Hashing in Tilburg...

On February 22, we headed to Tilburg for yet another Carnaval Hash and started our day once again by getting some culture. First we had lunch in a café in an old train car and then went to the incredible Lochal Library, which opened in 2019 in a building from 1932 built for the maintenance and repair of trains. 

This cool industrial place now houses 120,000 books, a digital lab and an exhibition space.

Sadly, somehow I managed to lose all the photos I took, but at least Jimmy had a few on his phone. Guess I have a good excuse to go back. 

Afterwards, we went to the Textile Museum, which photos are also missing, and the De Pont Museum, where these two photos were taken. 

Eventually we made it to Pink’s house, where the hash started. Considering this was my third time hashing from this same spot, I was very impressed with how different this trail was, which was set once again by Just the Tip. Here we are crossing the river on a ferry that operates by a hand-crank. 

Jimmy was sure to document that I even played along and went across these stumps.

Jesus found the perfect seat during our beer stop. Luckily the beer wasn’t stolen this year.