Queens Day + 5% Vol.

Add sun, couple drinks, friends and canal floats and you have the perfect Monday afternoon party in Amsterdam. A sample of the city:

Queensday

The Dutch party of the year started last night with a IESE BBQ at Jubin's place. From there we moved to Noordermarkt to battle large crowds to obtain even the smallest beer. Today, the actual Queen's Day, the city is filled with party boats and flea markets. A small impression:

Revan getting ready to go out, while stylist Rick is giving last minute tips.

Weekend In Switzerland

This weekend I was off to Switzerland. Among many things I visited Mount Säntis, the highest peak (2,463m/8,209 ft.) in the Alpstein massif. It offers spendid panoramic view of eastern Switzerland, including the Grisons, the Bernese Alps, the Vorarlberg mountains, Lake Constance, and even Lake Zurich.

Friday At The Airport

On Thursday the IESE Amsterdam crew met up at Cafe Loetje for a delicious steak and drinks, followed by a couple additional drinks. The next I decided to try my luck at Schiphol Airport duringt the busiest passenger day ever to be recorded. Luckily I had an edge, by chance I met up with Sophie, who had battled the long lines at customers and reserved a spot for me.

Only two weeks ago

The day you wake up and finally figure out you need a haircut because you look like a redneck and find pictures on your camera you thought were from last year, it's clear you need good night's sleep. Below a couple shots from the day at the beach with Michelle & crew, which is only two weeks ago.

Where in the world

Where was I? Perhaps like any normal working being, i have been extremely busy. Five major ORs since last post, friendly early rises, alcohol infused evenings, refreshing deadlines and more of the same. The highlights of the week included dinner with Fede, Jubin and Sophie on Thursday, dinner with Matt G. and his colleague at Harkema and the fact I bought the shapest kitchen knive ever.

So what is served this week? Couple days in Switzerland and Belgium, Queen's Day in Holland, IESE bbq on Sunday.

Palma

This weekend Michelle was in town; exchanging raining Palma for sunny Amsterdam. With all the recent fuzz about global warming, there are some postive points. Within 5 years, palm trees will be able to grow on Dutch soil. It will rain less in Holland. The Dutch beaches will become major tourist attractions while Costa Del Sol/Bravo will turn in to desert towns flooded with sand. Meanwhile, we enjoyed the beach at Bloemendaal and ate our icecreams!

Final Japan Post

The last post in the "Japan Series;" a collection of random images:

Freedom Park in Nagasaki


A view of Nagasaki from the Clover House


Meeting up with Junko in Tokyo


Museum piece in Takayama


View of Okawachiyama


Shinkansen!

More Shinkansen!


Ryokan in Miyajima


Himeji Castle


Himeji Castle II


Flat tire in Kyoto


Golden Pavilion in Kyoto


Almost home!

Japanese Gardens

Since my mom is originally trained as a landscape architect, plenty of Japanese gardens were visited. Below a small selection:

A Sunday In Tokyo

Last Sunday I spent some time walking around Shibuya and Harajuku; some images form the street!

Food!

I simply had to take a couple photos of some of the food and drinks!

Breakfast in Miyajima

Fish in Nagasaki


Sashimi in Kusatsu Onsen


Hoba Miso in Takayama!


Saki store!


Dinner fish


Making tea in the hotel room


Keiseki Dinner in full force

Concert Time: Public Enemy

Yeah booooooooooooooooooy... Last night I went to PE's concert at the Melkweg! Awesome show that was opened by Osdorp Posse, plenty of beers and cool crowd; what else do you want from one of the most influention rap formation?

Flavor Flav with an iconic clock around his neck

Nature

A second posting in this week's Japan serie; this time with nature as a topic.

A sulphur pool in Kusatsu Onsen

Even sulphur waterfalls existed in Kusatsu Onsen

Close to the original sulphur spring in Kusatsu Onsen

The mountains around Hakone

A sulphur pool around Hakone

A second sulphur pool around Hakone

The mountains around Lake Ashi

Yes, I even saw snow in Kusatsu Onsen!

Doing Good Doing Well..

I've already talked about Ricky Gervais in this blog, but this video is just a huge punch. We should see more often some of these examples of humour at humanitarian service, doing good and doing well. Just Great!

The Reason

One of the main reasons to make this trip to Japan was to experience the famous Japanese cherry blossom seasons. Notoriously difficult to predict the first blossoming, we did alright as far as timing was concern. The blossoming had just started at our first stop, Nagasaki, and was just over its peak at our last city two weeks later, Tokyo. Below you will find a couple blossom impressions.

Cherry Blossom

Yup, finally, for all you readers out there, I got back from vacationing in Japan. Mission accomplished as far as chasing the Cherry Blossom's around; starting in Nagasaki, all the way to Tokyo. Along the way a mini IESE reunion took place between Junko and I and several hikes up mountains. Of course many pictures will follow over the next few days!

Cherry Blossom in Ueno Park, Tokyo