Guus Bosman

Petra and Raoul gave me a ride to Antwerp yesterday. We first picked up Barbara, and we saw their new house. Then we drove to Antwerp. The road was blocked near Breda, so it took longer than we expected but it was cosy in the car. We had lunch and coffee at McDonalds.

Around 15:30 o'clock we arrived in the hotel. The hotel had a remarkably bad parking place but the hotel itself was beautiful. After checking in we walked to the bar which we knew was somewhere near the Grote Markt. It took a while -- we got lost. The meeting place was The Pelgrom, a Middle Age-like decorated bar, in a cellar. It was very stylish, and lit only by candlelight. There was a separate room for Chess, and when we arrived most collegue's where there already. A lot of people brought their partner, so it was quite full; there were around 100 people.


There was of course a lot of nice beer. Erik and I tried "Poorterbier", in a stone bottle. We stayed a couple of hours there. It was great fun, both to drink beer with colleague's, and to meet many partners of colleague’s.

Dinner was in another location; we walked to there with the whole group. Again we had some difficulties making our way, but we found it soon enough. The place was called The Stage and it was close to the hotel where Sasha and I stayed in August.

The Stage is a combination of a restaurant and a theater. There was a life-show during the whole evening, with magicians, dancers, singers, all in beautiful costumes. It wasn't the best theater or restaurant ever, but I found it very entertaining and we had a lot of fun.



The program there was over around 1:00 o'clock, and with 15 people we went to a pub nearby. We talked, danced and drank beer.


I was sharing a room with Joris, a colleague, and after we got back in the hotel we chatted a while and went to bed around 4:30 o'clock.


This morning the alarm went at 10:15, to make sure that we wouldn't miss breakfast. A lot of coffee and a good, solid breakfast were quite welcome.


Gijs and Martha gave me a ride back to Haarlem (thanks!), I was home around 1:00 o'clock. In the afternoon I had a nap. I didn't do a lot more today, except for some reading and two homework assignments for tomorrow.