Finally, I have all our photos from Disneyland Resort Paris online… we stayed there for 3 days and 3 nights and I had 800+ photos!! I know …just a little too many! I tried to make a selection but still there are quite many, You can have a look at them here
I didn’t really have time to cool down from Disneyland, when I got back I heard that I would leave for Aruba and Curacao on Oct. 30th so only 2 weeks later! It was even faster than that, my ticket was booked only a week in advance!
From Thursday night until Sunday I stayed with Eric and Petrina on Sero Biento, you have already read about that in my previous post. Petrina used to be my friend and co-worker when I lived in The Hague in the early ‘90s. Last year, in October 2007 she moved to Aruba… and now I got the chance to see where she lives now!! I was really excited that I had the opportunity to combine the business trip with the fact that I could see her place!! Well, if you look for something affordable to stay at, Sero Biento is definitely worth looking at!
On Friday we had a drive around the island, to see the most important spots. We drove past the low rise and high rise (where most hotels are), the Aruban trademark California Lighthouse, coffee at the Paddock and lunch at Moomba’s. In the afternoon we headed back home and relaxed a little and I did some work on the computer… I was so thrilled to have the wireless internet on my EEE-pc, it worked fab!
On Saturday Petrina and I went into ‘town’, the town of Oranjestad and had a look at the stores there. We had lunch and headed back home again for some e-mail checking (it was a work trip after all), a little rest and getting ready for dinner!
Sunday afternoon we did a tour of the national park of Aruba. The road is bumpy but the scenery is fantastic! We toured a bit more of the island, had a stop at Baby Beach for a cheeseburger and a swim… I found this photo of Baby Beach on the internet:
Later that Sunday I moved to the ‘business hotel’. It was the Renaissance Resort and Casino where I had this great suite with seaview! The location was the most important, in the center of Oranjestad, where most of my business meetings were. Work started from the following morning, on Thursday I took and early flight with Insel Air. I booked the 7.15 flight but it wasn’t there so the flight was moved to 8.00 am. It only takes half an hour and there I was on Curacao!
I was very well taken care of by our partner college/company that day, we had a short drive to the office but in the mean time I got to see some of the highlights. When I get back there I will definitely try to see more! I spent the day at the University of the Dutch Carribbean. I flew back to Aruba around 5.00 pm and was back at the hotel around 6.00 pm.
My last night! Petrina and I went out for a meal at Casa Tua, it was quiet but the pasta was really good! After that we had a drink (yes the first cocktail of the week!) at the poolbar of the hotel. We chatted with a lady from Chicago (I was surprised she didn’t even once mention Obama).
Friday again, my day to travel home. Luckily I still had the whole day and Petrina had the day off work too. We had planned to do some last shopping (my favorite shop is Del Sol in the pink building) and go to the hotel’s private island. Ok, it's all fake but it’s beautiful :), here are some of my pics.
We stayed there for lunch and a swim, and then it was time for me to take my luggage to the airport. Easier to take it beforehand so I didn’t have to worry about it later. We dropped my luggage off, went back to Sero Biento to pick up Eric and tried to get a bite at Havana but the kitchen was already closed. We ended up at the Dutch Pancake House (yes, they tasted as good as in Holland!) at the Seaport Market. And then it was really time to say goodbye!
I had a good trip with KLM back to Amsterdam and was very happy to see all my (3) men at the airport. I tried to deny my jetlag and it worked quite ok.
The next day we all went to the Ouwehand Zoo where we were supposed to meet Petra and some other friends. We met all the other friends but apparently our route didn’t match with Petra’s because we ended up without meeting eachother… oh well, a next time!
A busy working week was ahead of my (again) but today is Saturday and one of the main events of the year in Holland was today… the arrival of St. Nicholas. We watched it on TV. Next week we will see the arrival of the good man in Cothen.
That was all for today, I hope you enjoyed the long story…. without any word about scrapbooking or layouts… I have plenty of pics but just no time! Hopefully time will change that soon too!
So I dropped the boys off at school (where all the teachers were welcoming the kids singing Christmas Carols) and picked up my mom. A little over an hour later we arrived at the parking lot behind the 
