One of the great joys we had this summer was getting to tag along on last minute business trips with Jimmy. Just before school started we got to spend 10 days in England. It still feels strange to live where we can actually choose which method of transportation to take there. After much searching of airfares, we decided to go on a ferry instead. Of course, we didn't go on the ferry shown, which was in dry dock in Sweden, but it's owned by the same company. On the way over, we took the fast catamaran, which took 3.5 hours; it holds 1,500 people, but luckily was not that crowded. It was replaced on our return sail with a 6-hour slow boat, which holds 900 people and has 600 staterooms for its overnight journeys. Luckily, there was a movie and magic show to keep the girls happily entertained. Overall, it was a great way to travel, but a bit complicated to get to from London; next time we'd probably sail over and fly back.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Another Unexpected Trip...
One of the great joys we had this summer was getting to tag along on last minute business trips with Jimmy. Just before school started we got to spend 10 days in England. It still feels strange to live where we can actually choose which method of transportation to take there. After much searching of airfares, we decided to go on a ferry instead. Of course, we didn't go on the ferry shown, which was in dry dock in Sweden, but it's owned by the same company. On the way over, we took the fast catamaran, which took 3.5 hours; it holds 1,500 people, but luckily was not that crowded. It was replaced on our return sail with a 6-hour slow boat, which holds 900 people and has 600 staterooms for its overnight journeys. Luckily, there was a movie and magic show to keep the girls happily entertained. Overall, it was a great way to travel, but a bit complicated to get to from London; next time we'd probably sail over and fly back.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Valuable Lessons Learned in England...
* Do not break your husband's digital camera the night before leaving for vacation.
* Just because folks speak English doesn't mean you'll understand them. Ironically, since it had been 10 months since I'd been in an English-speaking country, it took me about 3 days to get used to the fact that people would actually understand me. However, when we ran into a hasher on a train, his accent was so thick that we only understood about half of what he said.
* Do not attempt to travel by train to/from London over the weekend, since that's a great time to do work on the tracks. After spending time on the British trains, we have a whole new appreciation of the efficiency of the Dutch trains.
* Do not bring your family toiletry kit on a business trip unless you're prepared to break the news to your wife that you've had to dump most of her toiletries because you've forgotten that you have them in your carry-on baggage when boarding a flight in England.
* Just because folks speak English doesn't mean you'll understand them. Ironically, since it had been 10 months since I'd been in an English-speaking country, it took me about 3 days to get used to the fact that people would actually understand me. However, when we ran into a hasher on a train, his accent was so thick that we only understood about half of what he said.
* Do not attempt to travel by train to/from London over the weekend, since that's a great time to do work on the tracks. After spending time on the British trains, we have a whole new appreciation of the efficiency of the Dutch trains.
* Do not bring your family toiletry kit on a business trip unless you're prepared to break the news to your wife that you've had to dump most of her toiletries because you've forgotten that you have them in your carry-on baggage when boarding a flight in England.
Another Birthday Celebration...
While overall my birthday wasn't as hip as Veronica's since we spent the evening at a kiddie movie, we still managed to do some cool things in the afternoon. Lucky for me, it's an official work holiday for Jimmy, so we had lots of time to goof around in Den Haag. We especially enjoyed the Wonder Rooms in the basement of the city art museum with hands-on activities in small rooms featuring music, architecture, furniture, fashion and undergarments, as you can see.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
The Latest Environmental News from Holland...
Silly me, I thought Greenpeace, whose worldwide headquarters is in Amsterdam, specialized in stopping the clubbing of defenseless seal pups and harpooning of whales. Apparently, they also are concerned with the environmental- friendliness of adult toys (sorry - didn't think it would be appropriate to include a photo). Research center TNO, which I was misled to believe specialized in defense research, examined 8 such toys for Greenpeace. It found 7 of the products contained very high concentrations of Phthalates, plasticisers which allegedly pose a risk to human health and the environment (for all you scientists, click here for the actual report). Apparently, 18% of the Dutch own adult toys and they purchase products worth $275 million annually. Greenpeace has assured these consumers that alternative materials are available so their favorite toys shouldn't disappear off the shelves. Click here to read more.
Friday, September 08, 2006
This Monkey Loved the Monkey Park...
What a great day we had with the Juge family at Apenheul, a monkey park in Apeldoorn. This park is unique because 4 of the environments allow the monkeys to roam free. While we always loved seeing the lemurs at the Duke Primate Center in Durham, it was so awesome to see them leaping around here in a giant open area. Ashlynn was worried that the gorillas might try to claim her as one of their long lost children, but they were in traditional enclosures and couldn't reach her.
Up Close with Monkeys...
Was shocked how close we could get to the Morrocan Macaques at Apenheul. Didn't need a telephoto lense since I was only about 10 feet away. They were the largest monkeys allowed to roam freely. The tiny spider monkeys were a blast to watch as over 100 of them played all around us. They moved so quickly that I had a tough time getting a good pic of them.
On-Line Dating for Dutch Orangutans...
Apenheul, the Dutch monkey park we visited, plans to set up a webcam to help its orangutans find potential mates in Indonesia. Sadly, 30 new apes are brought in daily into the Borneo rescue center because of habitat encroachment. Due to a lack of space, the apes are kept in small cages and have forgotten how to entertain themselves. The hope is that the traumatized Borneo apes will learn again how to play and will start to interact with the Dutch apes and perhaps even fall in love. Do you suppose the project will be considered a success if the apes start having cyber sex?