Brief note from the Air Canada lounge at Heathrow [amended and appended on Wednesday back in the office]. What a wonderful trip! Chronologically (backwards), I rented a bike yesterday and pedalled 20km north to Edam, a lovely city with a very beautiful church. I managed to catch an organ recital, which was very nice and Bach-y, had an ice cream, and then belted it back to Amsterdam against the wind. (Windmills turning quickly all around.) The Dutch countryside turns out to have canals everywhere so that I imagine there are very few places inaccessible by water. Houseboats, too. It was a beautiful day, but I had no had or sunscreen so consequently am feeling somewhat burnt today. [Peeling today. Yuck.]

Saturday Ivy and I spent the day touring museums & walking the city streets with Katherine Hill. We had a wonderful time: the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh museum are both packed with wonderful artwork, and Katherine introduced us to pannekoeken, familiar pancakes but with unfamiliar (and wonderful!) fillings. (I had bacon and apple in mine and the ladies had cheese and apple.) We ended the day with a fine Malaysian meal near the railway station, and a visit to the Alto jazz club in the Leidseplein area. Ivy and I stayed for three sets by a wonderful local group, and inhaled way too much (only tobacco, though; despite Amsterdam's reputation the drugs are not omnipresent).

What else? I stayed in a fabulous bed & breakfast for the weekend, the Ambassade. It was rather too expensive, mind you... Still, great location, massive breakfast buffet in a wonderful setting overlooking the canal.

The course: great fun, but I didn't know as much about web servers as I should have to be an instructor, so I had to do a lot of cramming. Teaching it is a very good way to learn the material! The students were from all over, with varying experiences, and I think everybody got a lot out of the experience.

All in all, a wonderful trip and a great break from the project work back in Toronto. Nice to get home to see the cat and my friends, of course.

I'm still thinking about the Flexleave thing. I might take six months off work, but I'll have to work out what to do with my time. Suggestions? Also, I would have to figure out what to do with the apartment... Hmmm...
posted by Tom at 10:05 AM | link |