Efteling
Each year we aim to visit the wonderful world of the Efteling. It’s just such good fun – great thrill rides, but more importantly great atmosphere. Until the next one!
A guided tour in the wonderful local brewery of Kraftbier. Singlehandedly, the brewer create a number of tasty beers in this small but cosy setting. His mom puts the corks on the bottles. 🙂
Second year as part of the jury for the popquiz held at the Bosuil venue in Weert. Great atmosphere with a healthy mix of cosiness in rivalry. The lack of ready trivia makes me a lousy competitor (trust me, we tried and were up for the booby prize), yet the jury role is always great fun. 🙂
With one of the biggest fun fairs in Europe, we always try to dive into the atmosphere for at least one day. Again this year the fun fair was bigger than ever, including the old and current train station area. Yet, I could find only little new attractions. Any fun fair innovation next year? Ah well, observing the people and enjoying seriously unhealthy food makes for a great day anyhow!
Back to the harbor of Tilburg for the festival of lights (Lichtjesfeest), though there were hardly any lights to be seen. There was no official organization outdoors, but the restaurants had organized some entertainment. Definitely no world-famous acts, and some were outright unendurable. The one point of light (pun intended) was ‘Koek & Trommel‘ at one of our favorite restaurants: Villa Pastorie. Henk Koekkoek together with Beewee Nederkoorn (on trommel / cajón) performed small little captious songs with appropriate self-mockery. No musical virtuoso, yet they bring a good smile to your face!
After our not particularly successful participation last year (understatement of the day), this year we returned the the popquiz in Weert as members of the jury. At a steady pace we checked the stream of incoming answers, which varied from amazingly good, to disastrous but hilarious. An enjoyable evening 😎
What a great idea of Marieke: a guided tour at the new beer brewery in Eindhoven for her birthday. You get to learn about the quite complex brewing process and you see the shiny kettles at work to brew the wonderful beers. Don’t ask me about all the details though: there was a decent tasting session afterwards 😎
A wonderful day at the ever greater themepark: Efteling. Every now and then a new attraction is introduced, for instance a wooden rollercoaster (hint: pick blue), or a mesmerizing fountain with light, music and pyrotechnics. This year, however, the highlight is Baron 1898: a thrill ride with a mineworkers theme, dropping you straight to the ground and into the mines (well, hypothetically, because the track just picks you up and throws you into some interesting turns and loopings). Besides the new ride, we of course got to enjoy the well-know attractions again, this time with longer opening hours. Well, also with long waiting times: zig / zag / zig / zag…. Fortunately we were with excellent company, and on top the great weather made for a fantastic day 😎
A wonderful day to get married: Ron and Tessa chose the exact same date as ours 🙂 Their wedding was solemnized in the top of an old church tower; a very cozy setting indeed. Their BBQ and party was in the picturesque town of Teuven, Belgium. An old primary school building, transformed into an artistic venue, allowed for dancing feet on diverging tunes (save to say) 😎
We had a great afternoon with Alessandro, Marieke and Jürgen – during spring this time, not the traditional Christmas market 😉 We took blankets, cleaned out the AH-to-go, and moved right to the Kronenburger park for a relaxing picknick in the sun. Alessandro even brought a disposable BBQ with sausages and Kölsch – awesome! We completed our cosy afternoon with a ‘gelato’ and waterside stroll. 😎
Cosy night out with Bart & Marieke in picturesque Amersfoort. Bart knew to pick the right spot for us: a special grill restaurant called ‘Hete Kolen’. Great appetizers and deserts as well! Afterward we enjoyed a quick beer in the city center amidst a typical Dutch ‘levenslied’ (tearjerker – literally haha) festival. Always good places to observe the crowd!
An photo trip evening in Den Bosch together with Bram. It is Christmas time, so there was a lot of photo opportunity – too bad we had to snap inbetween the rainshowers. Especially the area around the cathedral with Joris’ Christmas tree was picturesque. Great opportunity to try some of Bram’s amazing lenses 😀
This year we again had a great time in Cologne, visiting Alessandro, Melanie and Paolo, together with Marieke and Jürgen. What is better in December than the joy of Flammkuchen with Kölsch, Gluhwein, Bauern breakfast, and Reichard pie. If that is not enough food already, we also enjoyed a great Italian dinner together. Some traditions are easy to cling on to 😉
After a delay for Bram, stuck with 2 hyperactive kids in a traffic jam, we had a great dinner at Effenaar, and managed to see a large part of Glow this year. Again great even, but it’s getting harder to take some nice picture with so many people out in the streets.
First time participating in a popquiz, organized by Bonny and Edwin. Turns out we have a rather narrow taste of music, and knowledge accordingly 😉 Ended up with a consolation prize: a nice game to practice.
La Cubanita now in the old ‘Pakhuys’ in Tilburg. Great fun and tasteful wedding gift by Sander and Joyce.
Schitterende dag van Marieke en Jurgen. Eerst komen ze aangescheurd in hun Nissan Micra – volledig met namen op de motorkap. ‘s Avond een subliem diner in het design café van het klokgebouw. Daarna nog even de voetjes van de vloer – topfeest.
Excellent weekend in Cologne, visiting our dear friends Alessandro and Melanie to see their cute little Paolo. Really nice to see them all. We were treated to an excellent Italian dinner. Together with Marieke and Jürgen we did the full German experience: Christmas markets, Kölsch at Früh, Flammenkuche, Blutwurst, Käsekuche, Gluhwein; you name it. In addition, and a bit more refined, was the cultural experience at the Ludwig art museum 😉
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