I woke up around 4.30 am this morning, awake and refreshed. That's 10.30 am Dutch time. Last night I went to bed really early so I got plenty of sleep.

I'm tempted to do some laundry but that would not be nice to our neighbors. I'll get in the office early today.

The books, cheese, chocolate and kroepoek all arrived in good shape. I was worried that I'd end up with mashed kroepoek but I transferred it safely.

Saturday morning we did some last minute shopping in Wieringerwerf and Middenmeer, and during the day I packed my luggage. Ettie and Gerben came over and we had a nice dinner together (with kroket).

This morning we woke up around 4.30 am and were at the airport well on time, around 6.30 am. I brought a lot of luggage. My parents and I had a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

Still sleepy on the plane, I read a little and soon I arrived in Heathrow. What a difference with the terminal in Munich last week, so alive and crowded with people! The flight from Heathrow to Raleigh/Durham took 9 hours. Longer than usual because we took a route more south to escape tropical storm Bill.

At the airport Belen and Esteban were waiting for me; a very nice welcome. They drove me home, lots to talk about, and at home I started unpacking.

Coffee at the airport.

Jaap and Mieke and a lot of luggage. Picture taken with my phone.

Wednesday evening my colleagues dropped me at Munich Airport (thanks guys).

Lufthansa, the national airline, has its own terminal and it's very spacious and luxurious. There were no lines for security (it looked like nobody was traveling) and there was free coffee and a selection of 8 free newspapers to chose from at the gate.

At the gate there was an electronic reader for the boarding pass; the first time I've seen that. The flight was one hour and 15 minutes and I arrived at Schiphol around 6:30 pm so I easily made it for the 7:10 pm train to Rotterdam. So at 8.00 pm Joost and Ankie picked me up in the Maas City.

This weekend Jaap, my father, celebrated his 60th birthday.

Saturday morning we prepared the caravan (travel trailer) and loaded it with the equipment, food and drinks we would need for the party. We picked up the cakes from and fresh bread and arrived the camping site in the Dijkgatsbos at 12.30 pm.

It took us about an hour to get ready. Ettie and I went to Wieringerwerf to pick up some red wine and the first guests soon started arriving.

Jaap really enjoyed the party and guests; a good way to celebrate a 60th birthday.

I talked with so many people which was great but there's never time enough! It was a wonderful party. I met Anouk for the first time, Rob and Kirsten's daughter, and she is a very happy and sweet baby (she smiled when she saw me, that of course is a good sign). Jerry and Marjolein brought a game with wooden sticks which was very well received.

Many people stayed overnight and we stayed around the fire until 2.00 am. The 'morning after' breakfast always has a nice atmosphere and we chatted over coffee. Some cleaning and packing and at 11.15 am we cleared the camp site. I ran back home with Tibor.

I have over 300 pictures on my computer and I hope to share them soon, but it's 9.00 pm and I have to get to bed. Over time I'll add more pictures.

Preparations.

Inside.

Outside.

Playing a game.

The pictures of Barcelona won't be ready for a while, so more on that later, but we had a very romantic stay here. After a great last dinner Thursday night, Friday morning Sasha and I went to the airport together. We had a last sandwich with chorizo sausage and after Sasha checked in for her flight to Bulgaria I left to the second terminal to go back to Amsterdam. I flew with Vueling, a Spanish low cost airline and they were quick and efficient.

Since Spain and the Netherlands are in the Schengen treaty there was no passport check after leaving the plane. I had only hand luggage so I quickly walked through the terminal and customs and made it exactly in time for the train to Amsterdam Sloterdijk. From there I had just a few minutes and made my connection to the train to Hoorn precisely on time.

Jaap picked me up in Hoorn and we got cake and marsh-mellows for the party and drove home. I went for a short run to shake off my travel tiredness a bit, and we had dinner the five of us; cauliflower with potatoes with a nice salad.

Flying with Vueling, which has a code share with Iberia, another Spanish airline.

The gate in Barcelona.

Dinner in Middenmeer together.

After seeing The Complete Rembrandt we went for a walk through the city. We had lunch in a side street of the Rokin, where we ultimately figured out the mystery of where the sandwiches came from (a nice broodje gezond).

We visited four bookstores that afternoon, which was wonderful. I bought a few books, including an Indonesian cookbook, but mainly it was great to browse and peek at the books. We also visited a Blokker, Xenos and Hema to look for some things for today's birthday party. I bought a Dutch pan about which I'll write more later. We had dinner in V&D, the same one where we were two years ago. In the evening we visited Oma Bosman, who wasn't well, in Beverwijk.

Monday morning Jaap, Mieke and I visited Amsterdam. We left Middenmeer at 10.00 am and in the morning we visited The Complete Rembrandt, a very original exhibition consisting of reproductions of all known paintings by Rembrandt.

So, no original paintings in this event in the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam, only life size digital copies made from the archives of the Rembrandt Foundation, an organization that researches works by Rembrandt to assess authenticity for museums.

It was extremely interesting to see all these reproductions next to each other. For example, there was a chronological list of 7 self portraits of Rembrandt, from early age until his last known self portrait. It would be absolutely impossible to get these works, which are in collections all over the world, together for an exhibition. This is the great added value of this exhibition: to see these works together and next to each other.

Two reproductions of works that were stolen from a museum in Boston in 1990 were also on display. The Foundation had high resolution photographs made before the theft.

Of special interest is also the largest work that Rembrandt ever made -- a work that was later cut in pieces and only of which only 1, large piece exists. Much larger than the Nachtwacht, this work was meant for the new Stadhuis in Amsterdam but was rejected by the customer. A sketch of the work exists, and the exhibition has a digital reproduction of this sketch on the size of the final result.

Entrance of the Beurs van Berlage. I'd never been inside.

Self portraits of Rembrandt.

The Abduction of Ganymede.

We had a wonderful time in Barcelona together. What a great city!

Sasha's plane just left, to Zurich and then Sofia, and I'm departing in an hour. I'm pretty tired after a short night (we got our table in a great tapas restaurant just before midnight) but we had a very romantic stay.

For those of you who haven't been there yet: we can highly recommend Barcelona.

From Schiphol I'll take the train to Sloterdijk/Hoorn and in Middenmeer I'll meet Ettie and my parents to prepare for tomorrow's party in the Dijkgatsbos.