July 25, 2002 - The Hague, Portugal, Leaving Europe

It is our last 15 minutes in the office and I have time to do a quick update on our very envious situation.  We have decided not to renew our contracts and instead go on a round the world backpacking trip!!  To start things off right, we are leaving for Portugal early tomorrow morning to spend four days vacationing then we will be returning to The Hague to catch our flight back to Toronto then onwards to the big Olson reunion.  But, as usual, we both have that happy/sad feeling of leaving our friends and familiar surroundings and moving on to something new.  We can say that we took advantage of our short time in Europe and explored a great number of interesting places and met some special people.

Time up!  Many more updates to follow as we begin our big journey.....

Kris

July 1, 2002 - Budapest, Kazakhstan

Happy Canada Day to all you Canucks out there!!!

Ana and I are on the last day of our long weekend trip in Budapest, Hungary on the way back from Kazakhstan.  Ana was working there for almost a month, and me almost three weeks so we are happy to have a few days off before returning to the Hague.

The time in Kazakhstan was actually quite pleasant.  We had a few nice meals out in the town but most of the time we hung around the office and hotel complex.  One Sunday we did take off a half day to visit two of the museums in town (Atyrau) which were very interesting.  We also went for some nice walks along the banks of the Ural river which runs through the city to the Caspian Sea.  One of the key things the Caspian Sea is known for is the sturgeon which produce the world's best caviar.  I actually managed to find the fish store so I picked up a few tins of it before we left.  I believe we'll be having a little caviar party tonight in The Hague with James and Carmen so we'll finally get a chance to sample some of the stuff.  To purchase it outside of the region is extremely expensive (up to $400/can) so I suspect we will not make caviar eating a habit!

Back to the present.  Budapest has been a lovely city to visit.  We arrived on Friday afternoon, relaxed for a couple hours, then went out to the opera!  The Danube Symphony Orchestra was playing with four opera singers, who rotated through various snippets of famous operas and it was absolutely splendid!  The voices of those singers have to be heard live to be believed.

We spend much of the rest of the time exploring the city on foot.  There are hundreds of beautiful buildings and interesting monuments to see.  The Danube river flows through the city and on Sunday afternoon we went to a boat cafe on the river to watch the Germany/Brazil final of the World Cup.  We were happy to see Brazil win, but the only problem was that we had drawn Germany as one of our teams at the sweepstakes we had at the office so a German win would have pocketed us 150 euros!!  Oh well.

Our trip to Canada is approaching very fast, in fact we only have around three weeks left of work before we leave!  We'll be happy to catch up with all of you again!

See you soon,

Kris

June 2, 2002 - Paris and Barcelona

Another Sunday night...we are absolutely exhausted after a very busy few weeks.  Our visitors have now come and gone, but left us with some wonderful memories and stories!  Grandma and Grandpa Gustafson were here with Lynn visiting for a week and we all went away for a weekend to Paris which was very nice.  The rest of the time they spent exploring various locations around the Netherlands and the Hague.  They walked some pretty serious kilometers while they were here and seemed to enjoy the exercise.

Curt and Carrie arrived just after the first guests left so we off again on a weekend trip - this time to Barcelona, Spain.  We all got a good dose of sunshine and Spanish culture including some nice seafood meals and a long, long session at a great tapas bar which we nearly cleared out.  Toddy joined us for that one as well so we had a nice chance to catch up.

I'm afraid the eyes are getting droopy...so this will have to be a short one for now!

Kris

May 5, 2002 - Scheveningen, Canada's East Coast, England, Norway

It is a windy and rainy Sunday in Scheveningen.  Our friend Carmen Demelo arrived last week to work on our project!  So we had a big movie night here at our place last night and Carmen stayed over.  We just finished a big breakfast and are planning on spending the day doing lots of nothing.

We had a trip back to Canada during Easter which was great.  We spent half the time in Brantford and the other half on a vacation through the east coast of Canada where we finally got to see the provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.   We flew first to Moncton then picked up a rental car and started driving.  Since we were there before the beginning of the tourist season, things were very quiet, including the bed and breakfasts we stayed at - often we were the only ones there.

Since returning, we have been quite busy at work, but have also had some weekends away.  We caught up with Steve, Abby, Mike, and Toddy on a recent trip to Cambridge in England.  It was a very tranquilo weekend and a great chance to catch up with some good friends we haven't seen for a while.  I also had the pleasure of a ride in Stevie's sports car!

Last weekend we did a KLM "click and go" to Bergen, Norway!  The weather was not superb, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.  I bought myself a brand new Norwegian sweater to replace the one which seems to have found a new home with my brother...

Ana and I are looking forward to a very busy month.  Grandma, Grandpa, and Lynn arrive next Sunday, which also happens to be my 30th birthday!  They will be staying with us here until May 23rd when they depart for Sweden to visit our cousins Birgit and Stig.  On May 24th, Curtis and Carrie arrive and will be here with us for a week.  We are taking them on a "surprise" weekend trip....destination unknown to them, but which is sure to be a blast!  Unfortunately Ana and I have to work during the week but I'm sure our visitors will enjoy exploring the Netherlands on their own while we are slaving away!

Of course, the next big event coming up will be the Olson Family Reunion this summer!  We are counting the days...

Take care,

Kris

March 22, 2002 - Brussels, Belgium and Atyrau, Bautino, Kazakhstan

Hello everyone,

Can you believe it is almost Easter??? Things here in The Hague have been great. We have been busy traveling and working and are looking forward to our upcoming trip to Canada.

In the last 2 weekends we have been to Brussels, Belgium and Atyrau, Kazakhstan. Both places on the opposite ends of the spectrum.

We hadn't planned to go to Brussels, but a we thought why not. Brussels is a 2 hour trip on train, from where we live, so it was a easy place to get to. Well.... we loved it!! It is a very typical European city with lots of little cobblestone streets and restaurants and cafes for miles and miles. They also have a very impressive square with gold covered buildings and a most impressive city hall.  We enjoyed a great evening out with our friends James and Lisa and kids Cassandra and Ainsley.  We especially liked a great jazz bar we found which featured a live band and a good crowd.  Chocolate, waffles and beer were the staples of the weekend.  We plan to return to Belgium soon to explore Bruges.

Well now Kazakhstan....it was quite an experience.  We went there on a business trip as our company's other office is located there.  From there they support the rigs that are drilling for oil in the Caspian Sea.  So we left Friday and spent most of the day traveling to Atyrau (where the main office is).  Saturday morning we had to travel to another town called Bautino where the materials base is.   So another 1 hour plane ride and 2 hour drive got us to Bautino. The drive was extremely dull as the place looks like a lunar landscape - no trees and everything covered in dust. Apparently nothing grows because of the salt content in the earth but we suspect that all the nuclear testing the Russians did in Kazakhstan doesn't help either.

The hotel room we had was fantastic...with a kitchen and VCR and even movies. It was a busy trip but ended up being a better a place then we had anticipated.

So that is the latest.  We are now gearing up for a hard work week and then our Easter trip to Canada.  The plan is to spend the first 4 days with my mom and dad and then leave for Moncton for an east coast Canada holiday.

I hope everyone has a great Easter....and we'll write more soon.

Ana

March 6, 2002 - Athens, Greece

It's been a while since I've contributed to the journal so I suppose this better be a good one.  As Kris has said we are well settled into The Hague.  We are really enjoying our apartment, even though we seem to spend very little time here.  One of our goals for this year is to see Europe and we have already accomplished a little of that goal.  Our friend Nancy from work has got us hooked onto this "last minute" area on the KLM Airlines site called "Click and Go".  So every Thursday at 1:00 pm they publish cheap flights for going away that coming weekend.  So at promptly 1:01 pm Kris and I logged on and Athens, Greece was at the top of the list.  To be quite honest, we had never really thought about going to Greece.  There are many other spots on out list, but it was cheap and available....so off to Athens we went.

We really didn't know much about Greece, but after a little surfing on the web we found there were plenty  of things to see in Athens, such as historic monuments and the old city.  So we arrived late on Friday night, took a bus to the city centre then got ripped off by a taxi driver before reaching the hotel and checking in for a good night sleep.

The morning brought sun and warm weather, which we have been craving since our departure from the Caribbean.  So we spent the morning climbing Acropolis, which was beautiful, but as expected full of tourists.  We also went to the Temple of Zeus and saw from a distance Attica.  By that point we had reach our threshold of touristy spots so we headed to Plaka (the Old Town) for lunch.  We found a cozy spot and proceeded to get our suntan/burns back as we ate.  We spent the rest of the afternoon moving from outdoor cafe to outdoor cafe contemplating how to spend the rest of the weekend.

We both agreed that we would enjoy seeing more than just the city, so we thought we would inquire about a boat tour or country tour.  Much to our delight there was a boat tour the following day which stopped at 3 of the Greek islands.  So we spent our Sunday in Poros, Hydra and Aegina.  They were all quite beautiful, although Hydra was the nicest.  On board we met a couple from Lisbon, Portugal and I had some nice conversations with them, as Kris tried to fill in the blanks with his broken Portuguese (which is improving dramatically, I must say).  Soon the cruise was over and we came to the quick realization that work was only hours away.  But we loved it and now are considering doing this "Click and Go" thing more often.  The weeks are flying by and we are enjoying every moment.  Even the work is challenging and rewarding....10 hour days don't even bother us anymore.

So I guess that is all the news for now.  We'll update you on our future travels to Atyrau, Kazakhstan in a week and our Easter trip to the Borges Residence and the east coast of Canada.  

Much love,

Ana

February 17, 2002 - The Hague and Apeldorn, Netherlands

Greetings to all from Den Haag!

We are settled into our apartment which is a two bedroom unit with a beautiful view overlooking Scheveningen beach.  In fact, the view is quite similar to the view from our apartment in Puerto Rico.  The only difference being that the temperature is about 20 degrees lower...

It is great to be living in Europe.  We took a trip to Paris last weekend, which was a very easy 3.5 hour train ride from here.  Saw a few of the tourist spots such as Arc du Triumph, Notre Dame, La Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.  We also did some shopping, much to Ana's delight.

The weekend before that we met our Danish friends Martin, Marianne, and their little boy Benjamin in a Dutch town called Apeldorn.  They were visiting their friends Roy and Anka, who are absolutely wonderful people.  They invited us to stay with them so we all had a very nice weekend together.  I was surprised to find that another Danish friend named Lars was visiting as well and I hadn't seen him for a long time.  Roy and Anka have a beautiful home and treated us just like family so we really enjoyed the weekend.  Little Benjamin is growing fast and already trying to steal the old man's beer!

More news soon,

Kris