Holland Hotel De Zwaan Raalte

As you all probably know, I will go to New Zealand in January 2010. I am doing the study Architecture at Victoria University in Wellington and this means I will be there for at least 5 years.
Everything has been taken care of, and I'm pretty much just counting the ...

... huge mushrooms in our site which we couldnt resist and danced around them like baffoons! We took advantage of our downtime and cleaned out the van. Its amazing how much dirt and dust you collect after 2 months of living in a van! After a yummy but expensive meal at the only restaraunt within miles we went to bed while dreams of Amsterdam danced in our heads!

Renata left us in the centre of Hengelo around 9.30am. The main shopping area is pedestrianised, so it is nice to walk around. Dad's ghost walked round with us, nodding occasionally at some of the older buildings. I think he recognised the church but when I asked he just shrugged. "I was only four," he said.

During the war, the Dutch were starving. The cities, like Utrecht, fared worst, and many people travelled to ...

The cashew nuts were in a huff with me, after their earlier failure to give adequate directions. They folded their nutty arms and refused to tell me when to change motorways. I ended up back-tracking through a small village with no useful signposts, and some locals who waved every time we drove back past them looking for the way out. The cashew nuts smirked at me.

It was quite late by the time we got to Sander and Renata's farmhouse on the outskirts of Hengelo. It is a lovely ...

This is Zwolle, my new home. I wanted to share a few pictures of the town with you guys and show you how pretty it is. The city is beautiful- plenty of good architecture and flowers everywhere. I love the brickwork on some of these buildings.

... were all highlights. The artwork and decore were all amazing and this was truly an experience I will never forget. We then moved onto the royal gardens which were breathtaking and immense. Perfectly manicured lawns with stones scattered around in various patterns and shapes, a statue centrepiece with a fountain and solid gold fixtures and two giant globe statues with golden spouts pouring water from all of the different locations around the world that ...

Went to a smallish town called Arnhem to stay with some friends I met in Costa Rica. The town was the site of the last allied defeat of WWII, during the 'liberation' of Holland, that the film 'a bridge too far' was based on. I was there for a few days and spent it exploring the town and hanging out with Justin and Laura.

... with Henk & Sascha [02] Pr*fess*r L*nghair: In the Wee Wee H*urs [03] Dr. J*hn: Sweet H*me New Orleans [04] C*mments & C*nv**sati*n with Amst**dam musician Fay L*usley [05] Glen David Andrews: Reef** S*ng [06] L*uise B*gan: Shave 'Em Dry [07] F*rg*tten S*uls Brass Band: Funky Nuts [08] C*mments & C*nv**sati*n with Jaap Schut *f R*ck & Art Hall *f Fame/Dutch P*p Museum [09] J*hn Sinclair & Mark Ritsema: april in paris [10] Cl*sing C*mments & Outr* [11 ...

... together with rope to the side of the bridge, abandoned right over the middle of the canal. There was no-one to be seen around us and so I had to lean over and peer down into the water just in case I could glimpse any bodies.

Utrecht was much more alive. A lot of visitors milled about the cathedral, the low mist giving the tall church towers a ghostly presence, and the city’s distinctive sunken canals ...

Getting ready to leave in the morning hours to South Africa. It's been a very hard week and we're looking forward to see the family again. My grandfather is not doing so well. This trip will definitely be a different one than the ones we had before.