Our Year 2017

2017 has gone very quickly - it was a busy year with lots of travel, study for Doris and the kids. It had a real low with the death of Bernt's younger brother Ric but also highs.

But it started with a beautiful Australian summer where we had our K-mart pool setup in the back yard.

Pretty soon though I had to go to Portugal for work. We were installing our IFE (In-Flight Entertainment) system on a Boeing 767 from Euro Atlantic Airways - a charter company based in Lisbon. It was my first experience working on an actual aircraft installation and I really enjoyed it. It's always great seeing your product being used and getting this going on a real aircraft was special. Also I loved being in Portugal and really liked the Portugese people we worked with. It turns out that in many ways they're similar to the Dutch: both sea-faring countries with the associated broader world-view and we both have a big neighbour they don't always like. Lisbon is a gorgeous city also and I'd love to come back and see more of it and Portugal in general.

We had to postpone my return flight, and flying Emirates back from Amsterdam was the most convenient. So I got to spend a day in Amsterdam with Gerben, his daughter Charise and Anne Marie and her son Gijs. It was lovely having an impromptu visit like that, and we made the most of it!

Doris was finishing a year's course by a Canadian lady. The course was mostly online, but there was also an optional group visit to Uluru (the former Ayers Rock in Central Australia) in late March which Doris attended and loved. Then the final part was in April: a one-week intensive in Canada, just north of Toronto.

We'd been thinking about making this a family holiday, but it was going to be too expensive. However we then found some cheap tickets flying China Southern via Guangzhou - AU$900 per person return: amazing how relatively inexpensive flying has become. So we couldn't resist and gave the kids the opportunity to see North America. While Doris was at her course, me and the kids would go to Washington and New York.  The flight included a hotel stopover in Guangzhou on the way, which we all enjoyed except for Christopher: too busy, noisy and smelly!

The first week was spent in Toronto and Niagara Falls - one of the must-see destinations in the US. Regrettably it has become a big commercial circus (literally almost): it's changed heaps from when I first visited it in 1983.
But there were redeeming factors: such as the Hershey store. Annabelle had been wanting to get Hershey chocolate (courtesy of one of the YouTube vloggers she follows), but she hadn't expected a whole store of the stuff...!

We dropped Doris off at her course and the three of us flew from Toronto to Washington DC - visit that new president's domain. I was a bit disappointed by DC - again it had deteriorated from the beautiful, well maintained place I'd visited before. Especially around the National Mall it had deteriorated - have a look at the National Christmas tree...



Washington DC is well known for its museums and we enjoyed visiting the Spy Museum and of course the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Then we flew to New York City - one of my favourite cities in the world (after Paris and San Fransisco), and had a beautiful view of Manhattan from the plane. I was really looking forward to showing NY to the kids. It was the first place I landed in North America in 1983 and back then was completely blown away by it. However, it was interesting to notice how the kids reacted, both to New York and being in North America in general. They enjoyed it, but they definitely weren't as excited as I was, and I was about twice their age back then! I reckon it has to do with how they literally have the whole world at their fingertips, in living colour, with sound and virtual walk-thru's on their iPads... However, you can't have an ice cream on a virtual bench in Central Park, so being on a real one was still pretty special!

Christopher was ill one day but still willing to see Ground Zero that day and take the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty the Dutch way - ie free... 😉
It's just so hard to take its photo with your daughter when your daughter doesn't like being photographed...

The kids got a good experience of New York - the slow bus from La Guardia to Manhattan, the busy and dirty subway to our hotel (on 44th street), the hustle and bustle of nearby Times Square, that Annabelle loved but Christopher found too busy.
Christopher visited his favourite destination in any big city: the Lego Store at Rockefeller Centre, and Annabelle loved the huge selection and treats in the M&M store. Madame Tussaud on 42nd street was a must-see, and Annabelle's highlight were the burgers at Five Guys.
I was particularly impressed with the new developments around Ground Zero - the enormous, solemn pools where the foundations of the original World Trade Center towers 1 and 2 used to be, with the engraved names of the people that died in the collapses. The freedom tower (officially 'one world trade center') is very impressive, as are the enormous underground cavernous mall and walking areas.

- to be completed -

Skiing
AR Teeth
Soccer
Doris' Course
Work changes