NewCastle by minicruise

Last Wednesday my friend Ron and I went to NewCastle by boat.
We had won a minicruise by http://www.dfds.nl/.
Actually it's more time on the boat than in Newcastle: you leave at wednesdayevening by boat and arrive the next morning in NewCastle. Then one day in NewCastle and in the evening back by boat.

But it was fun. We saw some cathedrals, the stadium of NewCastle United, a monastery, Chinatown, some nice bridges, a castle tower etc etc.
Next Wednesday we will go again as we won another minicruise but now the luxury type with free breakfast and a bigger cabin included. More about that later

The photos:

New Castle visit

Unexpected Bronze medal

Some time ago Maaike had qualified herself for the championship Gymnastics for South-West Netherlands. Thats was already a surprise.
But now she suprised us even more by getting a bronze medal on the beam.
( I don't know the English word).
Most of her competitors fell a few times due to nerves and Maaike only fell once and managed to get a third place! We are very proud of her! Good girl!

Here is a slideshow of Maaike at various tournements:

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Dutch carnaval in action

Just a few films
Like the Dutch bob sled team : Cool Runnings

The family and friends watching the parade.

Dutch Carnaval, not like Rio but we try

When you think of Carnaval you think of Rio, Brasil.

But we Dutch also try to celebrate Carnaval although we have not such tropical temperatures.

As we live in the south of the Netherlands we cannot escape from the Carnaval every year.

One of the traditions of our carnaval is that we watch the yearly parade in the town.

Lots of music, bands, beautiful cars, happy people and lots of fun.

Although it is still winter and we had cold temperatures we still enjoyed ourselves with our friends and their children.