Amsterdam, here I come!

Hubby had to go to Amsterdam for a conference, and I had the opportunity to join him for a few days, so I did!

That wednesday 31 October started sunny in Wabern, but Berne Airport was suffering from heavy fog: departure delayed! So instead of 11.10h departure, it was 12.50h when my plane took off. While waiting in the departure hall, an airport employee was noticed running around outside wearing pink butterfly wings, a pink skirt and striped tights??? And as you can see in the picture, the 70-seat plane was loaded with only 10 people....

"SKYWORK, your personal way to fly....."

from Berne Airport to Schiphol Airport

It was a short train ride from Schiphol Airport to Amsterdam Centraal Station, but then I couldn't find the tram that would give me a ride to the hotel. No wonder, it was blocking the Damrak as it was involved in a traffic accident just a few minutes ago. Nothing very serious, but traffic jam as a result. So I deceided to hike to my destination, not that much of a distance, but when you are pulling a suitcase over these cobble stones....

Hans & I had dinner at a lovely Indonesian restaurant: Sampurna. We were there very early for dinner, so in my pictures the place seems empty, I can assure you this place is full from 18:00h on until late!!! We had one of their lovely rijsttafels:

Sampurna Restaurant

We decided to replace the sate kambing (goat) with rendang (beef). It was all very spicy and delicious!

Oktober Snow two days later

And after just two days, it was pretty much all gone.......

left 28/10, right 30/10

Snow!

Overnight we just got our first snow of the season! It's not going to last here (we hope) but the mountains may have gotten a nice load too! Get the ski's out!

our backyard

frozen berries

at least 10cm of snow!!

Some new polymer clay pieces.......

I've made a couple of polymer clay covered perfume sprays lately, they were gifts and given away before I even thought about taking pictures of them. This pinky blue refillable purse perfume spray is the only one left and I made a few pictures today. You can pull out the inner glass vial, screw the top off and fill it with your favourite perfume. Put it back together again and voilà. It has a matching pen to go with it!

Home again......

Were home again, most of the laundry is done and were getting back to normal. I'm working on all the pictures I took in London, and I'm trying to update my blog as quick as I can. So keep coming back!

LONDON - Day 10 - More Museums & More Harrods

Today was our last day in London. We still had a full day in London as our flight was leaving at 18:30 h from London City Airport. And as we got kicked out the Science Museum yesterday (because it was closing time!), Nelson definately wanted to go back and see some more. This time, Hans and Naomi joined us.

Hans and the kids had lunch at Nando (chicken) and I got to visit Harrods and a GAP store right next to it.

We took a rather early tube train to London City Airport as we didn't want to get stuck with our suitcases in the middle of rush hour. So we were at the airport rather early and spent our last few pound sterling on coffee and tiramisu (yummie!) while waiting. Our flight was on time but fully booked, and this time we even got an iPad for entertainment on board! So we were back in Bern in no time!

and off they go! (the postcards)

they are still here and everywhere, the bright red Royal Mail mailboxes!

Pictures taken at the Science Museum, Flight Hall:

M.'s paradise 1

M.'s paradise 2

 Hawker XP831, a V/STOL fighter jet

panoramic view 1

panoramic view 2

After our visit to the Science Museum, we made one last stop at the Museum of Natural History:

Naomi made this picture of  H., N. and me in front of the Diplodocus dinosaur

gotcha!

And then it was really time to go home, we got our suitcases from the hotel and headed towards London City Airport:

I think this is Bank Station.....

DLR to LCA

our last ££ were spent on coffee and tiramisu at LCA

our Skywork plane (ready for) boarding

boarding completed and ready for take off
Bye bye London!

LONDON - Day 9 (2) - Natural History Museum & Science Museum

London has the most fantastic museums, and best of all, most of them are free! It's hard to make a choice, but we decided go to the Natural History Museum first, and after that, for the remainder of the day, the Science Museum which is located just behind the NHM.

So we saw a slice of a 1000 year old sequoia tree, and minerals, and minerals, and more minerals, and then dinosaurs, more dinosaurs, and even roaring dinosaurs, and mammals, and more mammals........

In the Science Museum we saw so many different things, the pictures will only give you a small impression of what we've seen!

Nelson @ NHM

Nelson & Meteor

Fluorescent Minerals

Nelson & Diplodocus

Nelson's Wishful Thinking

They actually DO sleepovers for kids at the museum!!
"snuggling down at midnight after the excitement in the shadow of our Central Hall Diplodocus skeleton for the night"

Nelson & the 1000 year old Giant Sequoia

the Giant Mammals Hall

And then we went to the Science Museum until we were kicked out because it was closing time:

Wells Cathedral Clock, still producing lots of noice!

I have a TON more pictures, but you better go look at the stuff in the museum yourself!!

LONDON - Day 9 (1) - Harrods

My Sony Xperia panoramic pictures are not of good quality but do give an impression of the beautiful Jugendstil Food Halls in Harrods:

At lunchtime these halls are filled with people!! I was here early in the morning....

Harrods Food Hall (fish?)

Harrods Food Hall (meat?)

tea everywhere

Harrods Food Hall (Fruits & Vegetables)

Sadly enough the panoramic pictures made with my Sony Xperia do not capture the "bling" and glamour in the Christmas Store in Harrods:

Nelson found a Harrods penny press, so here's another piece for his growing collection:

another penny!

Harrods Big Ben

mammaaaaaaa bitte................. (sorry Nelson!)