Travelog for: Ceryni

Yesterday evening we had lasagne for dinner. This is us around the dish

Tonight we watched television. There was a football match on TV. It's a very important match between Italy and the Netherlands in the European Championship. None of us are usually in favour of the Netherlands, but since we're here, we'll try our best


Our host's boyfriend said we should drink beer while watching soccer. We looked at the bottle and we decided against it.

This bucket of ice cream looked much more attractive than that bottle of beer!

The Dutch team won from Italy with 3-0! Everyone is really excited here! Except for my host, because she hates soccer. But everyone on the streets is yelling and shouting and singing, and cars are honking. I'm quite excited the match ended this way!

My host had her second exam today. It was about English Morphology, whatever that may be As long as my host knew what it was about. Mira and I got to come with her this time. On the way back from the university to the railwaystation we took these pictures. This is me in front of the statue of Rembrandt. He was a famous painter who was born in Leiden.

And this is an image of him.

Here I am in front of a Dutch windmill and a bridge. The windmill is still in use, though not right now

My host says she always loves this view. It's so Dutch with these boats and the houses around it. I thought it was very pretty.

This is a car where you can buy fish during the daytime. It was closed now. My hosts always walks past it very quickly, because it smells like fish and she doesn't like that.

Okay, let me explain why the next picture is here and why you don't see anything. This is a busstation. Usually there are many buses over here, all day long. But now the bus drivers are on a strike. They have been on a strike for a couple of weeks now. First they would still drive during rush hour, but since last week they don't drive at all. My host doesn't really mind, because she hardly ever uses the bus, but many people are dependent on them and for them it's very inconvenient. Imagine all the people living in the smaller villages where they don't have the train! I hope they'll reach a solution soon.

And here's the proof I actually was in Leiden

Here I am on the train.

This picture turned out to be a bit artistic. At least you can see a bit of the interior of the train and the speed the train is going by.

This is the picture my host wanted to take: me in front of Dutch grassland.

Today a new TV arrived! He's a little dog and his name is Moony! He is just in time for our trip to London, so he's a very lucky guy!

Here's our group picture. Well, tomorrow we're going to pack and then on Monday we'll be flying to England! How exciting!

Today is the big day! We're travelling to London, England! This plane is not the one we were flying with, but it is a nice Dutch plane here at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam.

The flight went very smoothly. There were no delays and no turbulence. The plane was very full and it was impossible for my host to take any pictures. So this is where we arrived: London, England!

We were pretty early at the hotel, like 12 in the afternoon, so my hosts decided to go for a walk through the city. We went to the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the Big Ben and the London Eye.





After that we walked to Buckingham Palace.




That was all we had seen the first day. My hosts were both very tired from the trip and from walking around, so they went back to the hotel early.

On Tuesday we first went for a walk through the park in the Kensington Gardens. There we met this squirrel. He wasn't what you would call shy or anything.

On the other side of the park was the Royal Albert Hall. This is me in front of the statue in front of the hall.



My host saw this bus coming by with this lovely advertisement. Isn't it impressive?

We went to Piccadilly Circus by Underground. Here's the proof



This is just a random spot in London.

After that we walked to Trafalgar Square. This is the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square. We didn't go in there today, but we did so on Saturday, allthough we weren't allowed to take any pictures in there.

Here I am on Trafalgar Square.


This is quite an exceptional building in London.

Here I am in front of the Tower Bridge. Lovely picture, right?

That was all we saw on the second day of our trip to London

This day we went to the Tower of London. This is me in front of the building where they keep the crown jewels.

Today we went to the British Museum.

There were many interesting statues there.

My host said she just loved these Greek statues. They were very impressive.


This isn't Greek, I know, but Egyptian, but still very interesting to see it for real.

The architecture of this building is also very special.

On Thursday we only visited Westminster Abbey, but we weren't allowed to take any pictures there, so there's just this picture of the Big Ben of that day.

On Friday we went to the Tate Britain museum. Again, we weren't allowed to take any pictures there, so there's just this picture.

In the afternoon we went to the Museum of London. This is me outside the museum. I know it says 'Useum of London', but the 'M' is just hidden behind the tree

After our visit to this museum we walked to St. Paul's Cathedral. It was really close by. We didn't go in though, so we only took these pictures from the outside.



When we came home (in the hotel) that afternoon my host wanted to take pictures of the hotel room, and of course we wanted to be on these pictures. This is us in the bathroom.

The bathtub was really big and comfortable, but the dogs didn't want to join us.

Our host Charda found this British bear in a souvenirshop and she decided to adopt him. He was all right, a bit posh maybe.

Our last group picture in England!

On Saturday we flew back home to the Netherlands, to our host's home that is of course. The plane on this next picture isn't our plane, because we were inside ours, but it was of the same airline.

And this is the view from the airplane while in the air. Cool huh, all those clouds.

So now we're back in the Netherlands. As you can see, we had a great time in England!

Okay, here's a really short update. All of us have arrived safely in the Netherlands today. We had a great week in London and we have seen quite a few famous landmarks. Our host says she'll update the pictures within a few days, but that might take a while, because there are so many
Here's all of us in the hotel room. We'll talk later!

Today we had a typical Dutch meal: andijviestamppot with bacon and cheese. It looks good, doesn't it? 

Today was a day of goodbyes. First we said goodbye to Mira.


After we put her in an envelope, we said goodbye to both Sylphide and Trafalgar.



And here's our last group picture together.

Now they're off to their new hosts!

Today our host came home with an envelope with foreign stamps on it. Well, that can either be tea via Postcrossing or a new Toy Voyager! And yes, it was a new TV. She is called Bellatrix and came all the way from the United States. She looks like a friendly lady to me.

This is all of us together. We look like a happy bunch, now don't we?

Today our host went to the animal shelter to do volunteer-work. Unfortunately she couldn't take any pictures in there, but she did take some pictures on the way to the shelter and on the way home. This is me on the tram. And yes, it was raining pretty hard outside at this time.

My host thought this was a very pretty sight with the trees

And this is a Dutch postbox. My host send a couple of cards for Postcrossing. But still, not me yet

We had a really relaxed Sunday today. What do you think of this breakfast? I thought it looked really good and it tasted a lot better than the croissants we had for breakfast in the hotel in London

Tonight wasn't so relaxed though. This is the pile of laundry our host Charda had to fold. She asked for our help, and after that breakfast of this morning, of course we were willing to help!

We tried to help with folding one of Charda's shirts.


To achieve this fold took us fifteen minutes, so Charda decided to fold the shirts herself. She did give us a task we were better at:

And with a bit of teamwork:

We managed to fold them all!

Oh and mum, I really hope Germany is going to win tonight 

We begged and pleaded with our host because we wanted to see the football game. And so she put us all in front of the TV (as in television, not ToyVoyager). But what a strange game this is. Why is this Spanish guy sitting on the grass? I thought they were supposed to run around after a ball?

Hmm, this is more like it. I wonder who's going to win. The Welpies keep saying: "The Dutch! The Dutch!" I don't have the heart to tell them they are no longer in the tournament.

Update 11 pm: Sorry mom, Spain won! I think it was still a great game.

Because we wanted to see a bit more of the Netherlands, we went to its capital today! We went to Amsterdam! This is me in front of the Queen's Palace. Well, one of them anyway.

This is the New Church:

This is a monument in remembrance of the victims of WWII:

Madame Tussaud:

Look, a really wet pigeon on the Dam Square. That's quite funny, since there's no water in sight.

When walking through a big city, you need to eat of course! So here we are, sharing a cheese-snack and a drink (Dubbelfris):

Here I am in front of the Munttoren:

Do you see these nice flowers behind me? They're fake The flowermarket is on the other side of these buildings and looks a bit like the image on the building.

Here is a church. I have no idea what it is called. My host said she couldn't find the name.

These are just some boats in front of the Central Station in Amsterdam.

And the famous bikes in Holland

A view at the water behind Amsterdam Central Station.

The last group picture on the train before heading back to The Hague and Leidschendam.