The Green Zone...

The girls were excited to be able to explore the public area known as the Green Zone at Cop26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference hosted in Glasgow.

They especially liked the virtual reality experience. 

Despite it now being owned by the giant multinational Unilever, they still thought it was cool to come across The Vegetarian Butcher, which was started in The Hague.

Not sure how the illusions fit in, but the photos are fun. 

As much as Ashlynn enjoyed it, she wasn’t thrilled about the greenwashing that she witnessed while bartending periphery conferences held by multinationals that preached sustainability while throwing big parties that wasted an incredible amount of food and expensive wine.   

Ashlynn invited Veronica and Brett to watch her when she DJed her first live set at the Subcity studio.

Halloween 2021...

If I hadn’t seen this photo...

…I would have assumed that Ashlynn was wearing a wig for her first Halloween party. But that was all her...

…except for the freckles and beauty marks next to her eyes.

For her other party, she covered up the red with a black wig. Lucky for her, the red washed out fairly easily, unlike when Veronica used temporary red dye. 

We skipped getting dressed up after a big storm hit just before The Hague H3’s run start. Luckily it was dry for trail, which we walked with the rest of the group. There were several stops along the way, with this one in front of a Shell gas station, which was definitely the strangest since we had to grab donuts off of a sign with our teeth. 

Another stop was a drinking game under this overpass, where I spotted these murals. 

 

Sisters Reunited in Glasgow...

At the end of October, Brett joined Veronica to head to Glasgow to stay with Ashlynn, the sisters’ first reunion since early August in California. 

Little did any of us know that it would be another four months before Jimmy and I got to see Ashlynn’s cute flat with our own eyes.

Of course, Ashlynn took them to some of her favorite restaurants...

...to her favorite park, Kelvingrove...

…and to her school, University of Glasgow. 

Since Ashlynn would be working that entire weekend, Veronica and Brett went further afield. One day they went to Edinburgh. Brett had done a semester abroad during undergrad, so was happy to show Veronica around. 

Another day, they went to Perth to meet David and Tamsin for a nice hike. 
 

Back to the UK...

Veronica was thrilled to head back to Exeter in mid-October to spend two weeks with Brett. They enjoyed a day trip to Bath, where they enjoyed lunch at Sally Lunn’s Bunn House...

…and a visit to the Roman Bath, both of which Sally and I enjoyed back in 2018.

Veronica was especially thrilled to go for a hike on the South West Coast Path and do some more wild swimming.

 

Delft After Dark...

After the rain stopped, we finally left The Copper Cat and made our way back across the city to the train station. Along the way we spotted this unusual sculpture...

…some interesting black and white urban art...

…and a colorful mosaic.

Not your usual angle of Delft Centraal, a very cool station. 
 

Cars and More Cars...

Definitely the coolest part of The Cable District was the area for TU Delft students devoted to developing hydrogen electric race cars through Forze Delft...

…and formula race cars through Formula Student Team Delft. TU Delft regularly wins global races for solar cars, so not a surprise that they’re working on lots of other kinds of cars. 

Clearly they aren’t sponsored by one of the major beer companies since they’re drinking beer from Lidl (a discount store like Aldi). 

Wonder where these teams will go when the big redevelopment of this complex is started.

In another area, we came across this unusual way to store old cars. 

 

Old Windows...

I took so many photos of windows in different parts of the complex that I figured it was worth a separate post. Here’s the main hallway with windows in the ceiling...

…and windows along a stairwell.

These windows were seen from a large courtyard...

…and these were along a large empty hall.

While I preferred taking photos of the broken windows...

…I couldn’t resist taking one of the view overlooking the neighbor’s lot storing giant cables.