Magical Bachelorette

Ahoy, readers!  This past weekend was a good mix of work and play for me.  It began on Friday with another college day for students looking to study in the US.  This time, the event was in Amsterdam, which meant I could just head up for the evening and return home at night.  Once again, the students were very enthusiastic and fun to chat with.  Actually meeting with people face-to-face reminds me of how much I miss doing that on a regular basis at work.

On Saturday, I was part of an all-day bachelorette party extravaganza for my friend Sam who is getting married this weekend.  The day began with me finding my inner child at the biggest theme park in the Netherlands.  De Efteling is a theme park along the lines of Disney, with a magical, ethereal feel to it.  I actually haven't been to Disney World since I was a kid, so this was a fun day.  

Here's the entrance to the park, followed by a pic of Sam in the awful wedding dress we made her start the day in.

I think she took this dreadful thing off immediately after this photo.

With a large group of women, things tend to move a little slowly, so we didn't get to see all of the park, but we did ride a few coasters, have a nice lunch, and just enjoy ourselves in general.

Champagne toast! We smuggled it in.

Sam working on the "Dirty Quiz".

The food was actually good - I had a goat cheese salad, at a theme park.

One of the rides that started inside and then ended up in the pond next to it.  Well, in a boat in the pond.  There was no swimming involved.

View from the boat.

Said boat.

And a very nice group shot.

After De Efteling we headed back to Eindhoven for dinner.  The garlic steak I had was so good.  Following dinner, we met up with the boys from Sam's fiance's bachelor party for drinks on the market square.  All in all, a great day filled with great people.

This coming weekend, I promise Todd and I will actually be spending time together, just in case any of you were worried.