Saturday, September 29, 2007

Here are some pictures from the 2007 edition of the Tinbergen Institute's Introduction Day. Our destination: the Hoge-Veluwe national park and the Kröller-Müller Museum.

It was my third TI Introduction Day, and in my opinion the best one. The museum is really something. It's located in the middle of the park and consists of the private collection Helene Kröller-Müller donated to the Dutch state upon her death in 1939. Just to give an idea, there are over 100 works from Vincent van Gogh. There is also an impressive statue garden outside. According to our very capable and enthusiastic guide, part of the idea is to make the connection between art and nature, between the physical and the spiritual world. The museum's website is www.kmm.nl . I highly recommend paying a visit if you're in the area.

After a few hours in the museum, we biked around the park. It was my first time on a tandem bicycle but happily there were no major problems. The park is famous for its free white bicycles that everyone can use, but somewhat surprisingly we rented blue ones. We saw the large old hunting huis and also some surprising beautiful scrub-like land. Finally, we had dinner in Utrecht.















Thursday, September 27, 2007

Anna and I were in Montreal from late August to early September and we had a fantastic time. It was especially great to see my family and so many friends who I hadn't seen in a while - it had been more then a year since I'd last been back to Montreal, and some friends I hadn't seen since longer than that. I was glad and relieved to submit my masters thesis just before leaving Amsterdam and to have a few weeks of vacation. I was also very happy to be able to show Anna around my hometown.

Here are a bunch of I took during the trip:

Nice of so many people to stop by good old Trenholme Avenue!



Unfortunately, fallen ill ...


Chris' birthday

The Atwater market ...
and Salvation Army

Comparing bagels: a close call, but victory for St Viateur

A great dinner with Matt, Amelie, Mark and Erika. So tell me again, which couple at the table is not engaged? Thanks to Andrew Soulis for taking the photo!!!
Could not avoid the St Eli ...

... or the national capital
Camping at Lac MacShane
A bit chilly, but at least no dangerous animals

Back in Montreal East, with Nunzio
Excellent!
Victory, though not yet assured, was in sight

Off to the 50th anniversary high school reunion
A bbq on Trenholme avenue, just like the good old days
The biodome was fantastic, but noone has explained to me why I found some information in Dutch



My father's birthday
Last night in town, time for some fantastic sushi on rue Bernard

Last but definitely not least, it was really great to see Joan and Norman on our last day