Lots of snow

Five trains, one bus and 13 hours later, I just checked in at Hotel
Vieux-Valais in Verbier, Switzerland.

Here's lots of snow and it is beautiful in a very alpine way.

Now it's time for dinner!

Train to Switzerland

This morning, I started a long train journey to Verbier in
Switzerland. Together with a friend (Andrew), I will spend a week in
the Alps, paragliding. It is of course all work, and will end up being
the main story in next issue of Hypoxia. We will also try out some new
equipment, which will be fun.

Now, we are arriving to Arnhem, which is our last stop in the
Netherlands, so I better send this report.
We should reach Verbier tonight. After that, it is all up to the
weather.

Houseboats and more

Yesterday night, we stayed over in a houseboat. I am writing a story about houseboats right now, so I have to try a few out. This one was rather simple, but still cosy. While I was having a glass of wine in the living room, the ducks quacked away just outside the window.

Tonight we are staying at another houseboat, this time a real boat that has been rebuilt and renovated (the first one was more a floating house). And what a beauty it is! To make it even better, it is moored in one of my favourite parts of Amsterdam, at the Entrepotdok.

At lunch, I biked downtown to check out a sandwich bar I heard about from a friend. Broodje Bert turned out to be a real gem, a little corner place run by a Turkish family for nine years. They serve delicious hot and cold sandwiches, fried eggs and omelettes, and the prices are very reasonable.

Around the corner I discovered a very well stocked beer shop, the Cracked kettle. Jeff from Boston ended up staying a lot longer in Amsterdam than originally planned, and now owns and runs this enthusiast beer shop, full of excellent Belgian, Dutch and American beer (and quite a few other ones too).
I couldn’t help but buying a bottle from Netherlands maybe best brewery, Brouwerij De Molen.

Tournament party in the house

When we moved in here on Balistraat, I suggested to our neighbours that we should arrange a little tournament party in our staircase, going from home to home and nibble & drink, and get to know each other.
For many reasons, it didn’t happen until yesterday, but on the other hand it turned out to be a success. Everybody had prepared delicious food and we had a great time until late in the night.

Thank you Annemein & Thomas, Hyshil & Jan, Adrienne & Mathias, Sabine & Joost and Guido & Mike!

Long time no see

Today, I was in for a surprise. An old colleague and friend, Peter, that I have not seen for many years, was in town. We met for a drink at the stylish 1e klas pub at the railway station.

Before and after, I biked around in Amsterdam, taking some photos and enjoying the clear blue sky. This is such a beautiful city.

Design and smørrebrød

On the way home to Amsterdam, we stopped in Copenhagen for a day, visiting design stores and having a lovely smørrebrød-lunch at Café Halvvejen. CPH is such a lovely city.