Hugo Jonker

And the winner is….

Or perhaps first let’s start with a description of the battle. On the one hand, weighing in at “a way to occupy part of an unplanned sunny day”, on the other “the planned trip full of ‘oh-my-gosh-you-gotta-see-this’-es and ‘ooh-let’s-go-there’s”. In the red corner, the fun-heavyweight-champion Efteling on a none-too-busy Sunday, packing a brand new ride and a record low number of breakdowns (noticed only one in the Fairytale Forest). Aaaaaaand in the blue corner, the Swedish furniture giant, the company who has given names to most things in your house, the place any family loves to hate to go on the most crowded days of the year: IKEA!!!

Driving to .nl for the Pentecost weekend went relatively quickly, only two small traffic jams on the way. We arrived perfectly on time at my brother’, and enjoyed a (very) nice dinner there, and a nice evening outside. The next day we had little plans, so we got up at our leisure, and then decided to check IKEA. I had been meaning to go there for a while, but not for anything specific. And Maren likes going to the IKEA. So the decision was easy. We quite quickly came across lazy chairs, which reminded me that I had this vague plan of having a nice, comfy chair to read in or relax in or whatever — something to occupy the gap between a desk chair and lying on the bed, basically. IKEA to the rescue with a fabulous Boliden chair (which, in my mind, trumps the Pello chair by a mile and the Poäng chair by a footstool). Moving on, I examined some possible kitchen furniture — still looking for something to put a subset of {pots, pans, cutlery, herbs, spices, food} in.  Maren came up with this fabulous and elegant suggestion for my kitchen woo’s: use a kitchen cabinet. Funnily enough, I had only considered approximations. Somehow the idea of purchasing one lose kitchen cabinet seemed a bit weird… but better and better as I considered it. After looking around the kitchens, we found one matching precisely the available dimensions. So we marked down a Faktum as well. We even managed to find a laundry bag. Just going to Ikea and looking for stuff that might be of use, having no prior plans, was a very relaxing way to stroll through Ikea and find all sorts of useful things. Plus, I have this amazing comfy chair, and this hip new kitchen cabinet (well, almost).

The next day we went to the Efteling. We arrived in the early morning, just in time to see the park officially being opened. First things first: Dreamflight was only queuing for  five minutes. Woohoo! We managed to check out all thrill rides save Monsieur Cannibal (if that can be called a thrill ride) and the Piraña (Maren doesn’t like getting wet). Oh, we also missed out on the Bob, basically because it was not worth the wait. The Flying Dutchman we did do, and it is a very ingenious ride: actually combining a boat system (like Fata Morgana) with an actual rollercoaster. Very clever combination. Also: way too short. Sorry, but there’s just not enough thrill. The Python is cooler, of course. But by the time you start to enjoy it, it’s over. I imagine that one can hold their breath for the entire rollercoaster section of the ride. While in the ride, mind you. And, it wouldn’t be that hard. Doing that in the Python might be possible, but it requires biting back some reflexes. Doing that in the Flying Dutchman would probably be easy. Aah well. Innovative, so check it once.
Fairytale forest was of course a highlight. As was Fata Morgana. All in all many impressions in a short amount, but somehow, for me, I don’t know… the cozy atmosphere seemed less. Maybe also partially due to the weather (insanely good), but it just didn’t have that normal homely feeling that I always enjoy. Well, have had my fill for the near future, that’s for sure.

So that makes it clear who, exactly, the winner is :)

As some of you might have hear, my boss, Sjouke Mauw, held his inaugural lecture on Tuesday, the 29th of April. A nice addition was that he gave it in the lecture hall in my building — as in, my home. For those of you wondering: SHAME ON YOU! This is like, so incredibly the first stop on the Tour de Maison here!! So if you don’t know of this, you’ve been way too long in visiting here!! ;-)

Anyway, having said that, slightly more serious now: the lecture was a success (if you ask me). Many former colleagues from the Netherlands came over for the event, which made it even more special. The room was almost filled to capacity — a neat feat considering there are over 100 seats in the house. I had the opportunity to be involved in some of the details, and it was my pleasure to do so. Of course, there was plenty of last-minute stress, but in the end, the lecture went without a hitch. The aftermath was even more fun — a chance to catch up with some of the attendees from far off as well as enjoy local company (of course).

My parents were amongst the attendees, and the next day the three of us went by car towards Switzerland. My parents had planned a short holiday, and I was visiting Zurich once again. Getting to Zurich proved to be easier than dropping me off at any convenient spot in Zurich — my estimate is we drove roughly 45 min in Zurich before I got out. Then again, that is rather subjective, and time crawls when you’re almost-but-not-quite-yet there.

Zurich was once again a great place to visit. Ania was amazingly agile with her two crutches, even climbing stairs. Well, she had to, seeing as she lives on the third floor of a building devoid of elevators. Still, at one point she pulled down the staircase to the attic and climbed that one too — I doubt I would have.

There was much talking (but that’s private :P), much movie (10 questions to the Dalai Lama; Fool’s Gold (brainless fun), The Hulk 200? (not as bad as I remembered by far), and … euh… another movie from dvd), much sunshine, much polish girls, a trip to the Bodensee, some Zouk dancing (fun!) and, finally, a visit to the Großmünster church. It was fun, and I look forward to my next visit.

That’s a nice status update, so now for some outlook. To keep it a bit terse and tense, only keywords :p
Efteling, baby-bras, baby-cellus, paper submission, wote, sailing?, ikea?