It seems I'm perpetually behind on updating this damn thing, even though I've been sick pretty much since we got back. Other stuff got in the way again. More on that later... Anyway, blog! I made sure to include plenty of pictures for all you avid readers out there. ;)
Nearly a month ago we flew back to the Netherlands for what seemed like two weeks of non stop parties. Mostly because they were two weeks of non stop parties. The first was celebrating my mother in law's birthday right after we landed.
We went to pick up our rental car in Brussels
I was still in denial at this point.
Despite being on my black list of cars I wouldn't want to be found dead in, it actually handled more decently than expected. Driving with a paper bag on your head is pretty advanced stuff though, so I still wouldn't recommend it.
We got to my in-laws' place in time to take a refreshing shower and have a drink while catching up before we went to a fancy restaurant to celebrate. After being awake for 24 hours we were happy to have a few designated drivers. They tried to get a taxi for about two hours, but apparently, like many things, taxis are not a thing after 5pm in Belgium. The lack of sleep made for an interesting evening in terms of conversation, neither of us remembers much of what was said, but most of it sounded like laughter so that's probably a good thing.
Unwrapping gifts is also fun!
Much to everyone's surprise, old, deaf and blind Frits was still alive as well. Here he is happily sleeping in his favourite chair.
We spent the first night at their place, the next day we drove off to Venlo to see my family. My mom wanted to make a homecooked meal but, as tradition dictates, we overruled her and ordered shoarma. Because shoarma is awesome and impossible to find in New York City. (Yeah, I know about shawarma. Not nearly enough garlic sauce.) It was wonderful to see everyone again, and I think they were happy to see us too! Even Gila seemed to have almost completely overcome her fear of the big scary "Tante Annie!!"-man.
Almost.
Ringo fears nothing.
He did remember I owed him about 4 months worth of koppiekrauws, so I was put to work immediately..
The next day we had dinner with Bram's friends in Eindhoven, which was both delicious and gezellig! And apparently our visit was also a good excuse for them to get everyone back together for an evening, good times. :)
Bram got to read a book to Nina. Which looked way cuter than it should have ;-)
Nina was super interested in the story!
Well, for about a minute or two at least. After that Bram was still a perfectly good (and patient) jungle gym.
The following afternoon we drove to Amsterdam to spend the day with Patrick, who we hadn't seen in an even longer time. Time to catch up!
I never actually realized it before but driving through the Netherlands pretty much always looks like this at one point or another.
Being a damn obnoxious tourist again..
We took a stroll through the Vondelpark, Bram and Patrick quietly indulged my birdwatching outbursts, and then we ended up on a terrace to have a drink.
Bicycles everywhere! Another thing I nearly forgot.
The Vondelpark in Amsterdam has a healthy population of ringneck parakeets. They are not native, but a few of them escaped from somewhere and they apparently thrive in our climate. Very exotic!
Yeah, that's the name of the park. In case you missed it.
More canals!
Travelling all the way to Amsterdam just to see nothing but New York steakhouses and New York pizza places. Yay.
To Bram and Patrick's great relief and joy the Febo was still there. You can tell by the happy faces there are many fond memories here.
Fucking hipsters taking over the rest of the city. "Vyds", when pronounced, sounds like "fiets", which is a bicycle. It mostly sounds like I want to punch whoever came up with the name. It's a fixie, too.
Public Service Announcement from the neighborhood watch.
We didn't go to the memorial service at De Dam, instead we took the tram back to Patrick's house and ordered some good old fashioned Chinese-Indonesian food. After that we had to make our way back to the car that we parked a ways away. I forgot to check out when exiting the last tram, so whatever was left on my OV-chipkaart is now gone..
We had to get enough sleep for the next day, because the traditional annual Janssen family reunion was coming up. I had missed it for two years already (they lovingly hung a picture of me in the toilet, to make sure everyone still got to see me.) and this was going to be Bram's first run, so we were both giddy from all the anticipation, just for different reasons. ;) The party was at my cousin's house in America (yes, really), so we borrowed a couple of bikes and took the new bicycle highway to get there.
Directions; Go right here. Sit your ass down. They clearly have experience with hosting parties for this family.
By the time everyone had finished their first (or second) beer it was time to start the games!
Wurstfresser.
We had to wheelbarrow our teammates over a predetermined course as quickly as we could, we had a sausage holding contest that everyone wants to forget about and which shall not be mentioned again (people even got injured!), we had log-throwing contests, we had sausage-eating contests (pictured above) and we had to hammer nails into a big log as quickly as possible, so we got a pretty good taste of what life would have been like if the Germans had won. (I gotta say though, it could have been wurst) Unfortunately, my team didn't win, and neither did Bram's team, so there's no Janssen-cup in New York City this year. We will redeem ourselves at the next possible opportunity though!
I'll get you next time, Loes! NEXT TIME!
Psst, your German ancestry is showing. ;-)
"No time to explain! Jump in, we gotta go!"
Doggies! :D
My dad, deep in thought. "Should I go get another beer, or should I tell Petra to get me one?"
Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I can still hear them.
Ok, one more time. HOSSA!
As the day/evening progressed and my inhibitions faded, I decided to make good on the promise I made to the kids earlier that day. They were drawing on the terrace with chalk, and I challenged them to write dirty words. They threw that challenge right back in my face, the cheeky little buggers. I took it upon myself to set an example, then sat back and watched as events unfurled. It was glorious.
The ball is in your court, kids!
Illumi-nutty
I swear they didn't get these words from me!
"PIS! PIS! PIS! PIS!" -Sam
Bram is really showing them what's what here, damn..
Kids give a debriefing before going home..
We hung around the fire for a bit before going home too, but we wanted to get out before the ghost stories started..
"...And they say that to this day, dirty words are scribbled all across the yard!" O.O
The bike ride home seemed to take a while longer than the way there, for some strange reason... It also seemed much louder overall.
Of course, a Janssen-event never translates to pictures very well, you need sound for the full immersive experience (smell as well, but our technology is lagging behind). So I sat down and made this movie, it only took me 2 days.
We were pretty quiet the next morning, so we decided we needed some fresh air before heading off to our next date with Etan and Marijke in Venray. I also needed to run some errands in Venlo, so I dragged Bram along to assist me in hating the meanderthals that occupy the shopping streets. Ok, I did most of the hating. Jesus christ people, move faster or move aside!
Waor is de Jocus?
After surviving the afternoon of the living dead we drove to the lovely WIttsee just across the German border and had a refreshing stroll.
By now it was time to get our butts in the car and on the way to Venray, where we went to have dinner with Etan and Marijke, discussed Etan's latest CD (and new video!) and watched a lot of silly youtube clips afterwards. We were still laughing all the way home! I'm not entirely sure when exactly, but at some point during our stay in the Netherlands, this happened;
Hele emmel?
Bram ordered 6 Kilos of frikandel spices, because reasons. XD Anyway, May 7th was yet another busy day, because my dear parents were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary! They had been stressing and dragging around furniture for at least a week prior to the party, and eventually everything went perfectly smooth. I hope they had as much fun as we did!
What, two stickers?
Note to self; don't interrupt tech talk.
My grandma was also there, wearing her special "shawl from New York", despite the heat. You don't live for 95 years without being at least a little stubborn. ;-)
"Let me put it in terms even you can understand."
I share my birthday with this fruit cake ;-)
Mom and dad seemed to enjoy themselves, we tried not to make too much of a mess because instead of helping with the cleanup the next day we had yet another party planned. This time I got to meet most of Bram's extended family for the first time! Everyone was great, one of Bram's uncles had baked bread for everyone and we actually got a tour of an old windmill where another one of Bram's uncles was a volunteer. I had never seen the inside of a windmill before, and we got to see how stuff worked, with a thorough explanation of the mechanics, so that was immensely interesting!
Watch those fingers, Jasper!
Wood samples from all over the world.
When we got home that evening we had a little get together with a few tequilaboys, so naturally, there was tequila.
Man, these pictures are dark, let's try turning on the flash.
Well, I can see them much better now.
They just can't see anything anymore. Sorry!
Marly, Joël and I took Gila for a walk the next day, while Bram stayed home to regret the previous night. I had never been to the old Floriade location, which is now pretty derelict and used for music festivals and stuff like that. Marly and Joël showed me around while Gila chased an unsuspecting cat up a tree.
Not this one though. This is Billy. What a sweet boy :)
When we got back we had just enough time to get ready for the next party; Marly and Joël's celebratory wedding dinner! The sneaky bastards had eloped in Las Vegas a little while ago, so all of us had demanded a party, which was delivered promptly and abundantly. Joël's sister and I discussed some great ways to milk the elopement-guilt for years to come, so all in all it was a very fruitful evening.
Look at them, all happy. It's disgusting.
EW! GET A ROOM YOU TWO!
Seriously though, I love you guys, you're great together and you gave us an awesome additional family to harass love and appreciate! Ya did good kids, ya did good.
"Hey sis, see this bottle?"
"It's mine now, sucker!!!"
Here you see my mom and sisters mentally preparing for ungodly amounts of food.
Here you see Gila lamenting the mysterious and sudden disappearance of ungodly amounts of food.
With aching bellies (either from laughing or eating, or both) we drove back home, still managed to crawl up the stairs (they nearly collapsed under the weight) and roll into bed. Oof.
Ringo never let us forget the scratch-tax. My fingers were starting to hurt so Bram took over for a bit.
The next morning/afternoon we drove off to Belgium once again to meet up with Bram's parents, so we could see them one more time before flying back home. They had prepared a barbecue and also some wonderful white asparagus. Which, sadly, are also near impossible to find around these parts.
We took a slight detour to another beautiful national park, and took a short walk before driving the rest of the way to Belgium.
We then drove past a depressing looking carnival, so naturally, we had to stop so I could buy some wijnstokken. Bram tried to win me this totally legit looking thing but failed.
This and the carousel were the only rides. That makes this the worst carnival I've ever seen. The kids drawing crude penises (not pictured) on the sidewalk with shaving cream didn't help.
But my friends call me Boaty McBoatface.
We drove on and when we next got out of the car we were greeted by the smell of barbecue and the barking of dogs.
Guus is hoping for leftovers.
After another ungodly amount of food we said goodbye once more and got back in the car. Only one more day left!
"Hold up, I'm coming with you!"
Distraction scratch attack! Your escape plans have been foiled again..
Bram had found a pretty cool place to visit, so we spent our last day in Germany again. (Germany is pretty damn awesome these days)
Germany, according to some..
We ended up at Schloss Rheydt in Mönchengladbach, where we checked out the museum (we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, stupid Germans and their stupid rules..) and then walked through the gardens and around the castle grounds for a few hours.
Loads and loads of peacocks here.
All fighting for attention.
And showing off their plumage. Lovely plumage.
We came across a couple of Egyptian geese, beautiful birds!
And turtles!
I like turtles.
We sent a message back home to ask what everyone wanted from the snackbar and picked up dinner on our way back. After dinner we said goodbye to everyone again, got in the car and departed for Brussels. We had decided to leave a day early again, because Zaventem Airport is still in disarray after the March bombings. Good thing we left early, because we had to pass an armed checkpoint with the car, on our way to returning it. And one more security checkpoint after that. Military presence everywhere, police officers everywhere. Even getting from the hotel front doors to the check-in counter took 45 minutes. Although, to be fair, this was due to one of those popular Belgian strikes, so lots of flights were cancelled and lots of people had to suddenly be redirected to a hotel. Bram had booked a room in advance so when we finally got the key we fell asleep pretty much instantly. The next day the strikes were over and things had resumed normally. Well, as normally as possible, considering the circumstances. The departure hall was still closed, so a temporary system had been set up. We were lucky because they had just switched from checking EVERYONE's bags to doing random checks the week before. Lines were definitely not as crazy as when we arrived. Still had to climb lots of stairs though, I'm glad that was after we checked our luggage.
One of the tribute boards that had been put up. Touching to see.
We had a short stopover in Reykjavik (same on the way to NL)
Apparently this is a pretty common thing, I had no idea, it looks very cool though.
I was afraid the pilot had taken a wrong turn and we accidentally ended up on the moon. Turns out this is what Iceland looks like.
The flight back was pretty uneventful, just long.
First time I actually got to see the Manhattan skyline from an airplane, pretty sweet.
Back home, we tried to stay awake as long as possible, and gave up around 9 PM. The next morning we picked up Kitty who had been staying with Grant again. She looked great, didn't put up as much as a fight to get in her carrier as last time and seemed to have forgiven us for the abandonment pretty quickly this time. Of course, I got the mother of all head colds after being back 2 days, my sinuses are still inflamed, hopefully not for much longer..
"You shall pay attention only to me now."
Here is a video with some of the familiar and less familiar critters we encountered on our trip. Most of them were cute, I will leave it up to you to decide which ones.
