Saturday, February 18, 2012

The whiskies

During my shopping round this morning I discovered gutted houses. Interesting sites for me!

Fascinating spaces like this. You don't get to seem in this state often.

Late afternoon I took the tram to the station. This little boy or girl was sitting next to me, very cute. It was only later that I found out there was another little black doggie traveling with this one :-)

First time I saw these at the escalators in the station... They tell people to stand still on the right so that people in a hurry can pass on the left.

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This is the big church in Alkmaar, where I went with Mic and Marjolein and 2 friends of her. There was a big whisky (tasting) festival going on...

This bagpiper sometimes stands on Dam square in Amsterdam.

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And then there was whisky. I don't think I've ever seen so much whisky ever before in my life.

Marjolein said hi to someone she knows on facebook, which was cool.

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I'm not a big fan of whisky. At the moment I want to give it a fair go and see if I can develop a taste for it but it's tough on my taste buds. Still, from a curiousity point of view I thought it was a very cool experience and I did get a reasonable good sense of what kinds are available:
- Kinds that burn off my taste buds within 1 second
- Kinds that burn off my taste buds within 5 seconds

Nah, seriously, I'm more for the "softer" ones where Marjolein loves the heavier stuff like the peaty whiskies.

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There were also other things to admire than whisky. Like this gigantic church organ. There is one exactly like it in the big church in Haarlem.

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Mic and Marjolein. Yeah, certain individuals got quite giggly after god knows how many whiskies tastings ;-)

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Me and my sunshine, Marjolein :-)

Friday, February 17, 2012

Bye bye ice...

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The ice in the canals is almost gone.

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Bye bye ice...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Old Crafty

I played a bit of WoW tonight and finally, after a few thousand fish, I have caught Old Crafty!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Paul's plants

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Nice skies going to work.

My colleague Paul is a bit concerned about his plants. I don't think they want to go back to his desk because at my desk they do not get harmed by balls being thrown around! (Because I'd kill everybody who harms my plants on purpose...)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

My valentine

I had a date with my valentine today so I needed a few flowers of course. I wasn't the only one needing flowers...

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My valentine with her flowers :-)

Monday, February 13, 2012

Farewell Dick.

Today was a sad day because we said farewell to our friend Dick de Leeuw. He died last week after a tough battle with cancer which he very unfortunately lost.

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A lot of people came to pay their last respects to him and to show support for his wife, Miriam. Kind words were spoken of this special person that he was.

Walking back to the car we passed Frosty the snowman. He was fighting his own battle with the weather.

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In Irish tradition there was a wake to celebrate Dick's life. We drove back to Mulligans with Mic, Mickey and Nantko.

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There was a very good session at the pub.

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Marjolein and Gerrit and lots of other friends and family.

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Dick's brother, Jan, in the top-left corner and Miriam just off the centre towards the right.

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Isaac and Siard.

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My sunshine and I.

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People just weren't leaving. It was a great gathering that Dick would've liked. I'm sure he was still hanging around with us and he must have enjoyed seeing us drink in his honour :-)

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And then we went to Wagamama for some dinner.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

The canals

Ah.. lazy Sunday. I got up slowly, went out to get croissants, had a shower and then set out to walk in to town to photograph the frozen canals. I took my old bread out to the birds.

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Today was likely to be the last day that people could be on the ice coz it will start melting tomorrow according to the weather forecasts. Everybody seemed to love the ice. Even pram-pushers....

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I loved this dog. She loved running over the ice.

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Prinsengracht.

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Westerkerk.

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Some people take their bicycle on the ice.

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I bought these games with the voucher that I got by selling my Magic the Gathering cards. I'm very happy to have my own copy of monopoly. Never played the other 2 games but people told me about them and they sounded cool!

I cooked Bobotie tonight.