Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Lucky the Elephant Has an Adventure

On December 15 it was a grey and rainy day, so when our owner was getting ready to go outside Sullivan and Gilbert were not so sure if they wanted to brave the rain. They decided to have a lazy day. Lucky the Elephant however went along.


It turned out there was a family dinner, and Lucky got to meet Candy the pug!


And Candy introduced Lucky to more fun animals.


There was even a platypus.


Lucky was very glad he'd come along. The other animals who attended the dinner were fun to hang out with.


The platypus even had cool sunglasses!


Lucky got to sit on top of one of the tallest animals so he could look around the restaurant.


It was a very enjoyable evening hanging out and talking with so many new friends.


Lucky even got to taste a Gin-Tonic


And 'bitterballen' in all kinds of yummy flavors.


Posing for a picture.


And he got petted by our owner's niece.


The owl had sunglasses as well, because the owl thought it was a bit too bright at the restaurant. Lucky didn't think so, but Lucky isn't an owl of course,


A last Gin-Tonic before going back to Groningen.
Lucky had a really great evening.

Monday, December 23, 2019

Gilbert: Fun at Tuinland

The week after Sinterklaas we went to Tuinland for a Christmas tree. Sullivan told me it's tradition to take fun and/or silly pictures at Tuinland among the Christmas displays.






















We found an owl that we took with us as a birthday present for someone, but first we had fun together at Tuinland















After visiting Tuinland we went into town to shop for new Christmas ornaments and for books. I found a book that I thought would be perfect for Sullivan,


The A-Church had beautiful lighting.


We had dinner in town as well. I got sweet potato fries.


And this is the Christmas ornament I bought!
Isn't it cool!?

Gilbert: Fun on the Bus













Sunday, December 22, 2019

Gilbert: Another Boat Trip and More

The year is almost gone, and here I'm still catching up about adventures in October! I'll do my best to succeed in catching up and update more quickly after I do.


On Thursday of the family visit we went on a short trip to Emmen.
I got to see a Hunebed (dolmen)


On our way back we saw this lake and the beautiful setting sun.


In the evening we went out for dinner at a Thai restaurant.
I got to try duck with pineapple.


On Friday we went to Rotterdam to meet up with even more family.


And we went on another boat trip!
We toured the sea port of Rotterdam, it was so cool and beautiful.


The lower building you see in between those towers was the office of the Holland America line. Here people would book their tickets to travel from The Netherlands to the United States. These days it's a restaurant.


That white green building is a vent from the car tunnel that runs under the river. Seems a bit scary to me to drive there, but hundreds of peop;e if not thousands do so every day. The tower thing in the background is the Euromast, a famous lookout tower.



It was cloudy, but dry with a bit of sun. That made for gorgeous sights and pictures.


Can you spot the windmill?






There were lots of these small yellow and black boats in the river. I was told they are water taxis. Looks like fun. The big ship in this picture is retired from traveling and is now a hotel and restaurant.


After the boat trip we went for a walk. I saw this old tram!


This statue was saved from being bombed to pieces in WWII because they had just moved it from the city center to the harbor before the start of the war.


We sat at the square for awhile before making our way toward the restaurant where we would eat a very Dutch meal.

It turned out to be beans with bacon bits, so you can bet I didn't eat it, because my owner and I don't like beans and let's not even talk about those bacon bits. Luckily we could order something else.


After dinner we took a short walk towards the river.


Beautiful by day, and beautiful by night.


We then went to a cafe for drinks and spending time with family and friends. It was a really fun day and evening!