Judith goes USA (or Scotland): Wouldn't you like to be a teacher too?

At this school, anyway...

Dad works for ROC, a vocational college, who organize an outing every year. As I understand it, they have been doing the same thing a few years now, which is to take all (6000!) employees, spouses and children/grandchildren to the Efteling... So I got to come too!!! (sorry , I was a bit excited)

Me and Pardoes

To those of you who are not familiar with the Efteling, here's a short history:

Starting before 1952 as a recreational and sports area, it opens in that year as a sort of permanent carnival for families with children under 12.

There is a steam-driven carousel and a 'floating' pagoda which gives you a view of the entire park in just one ride.

The steam train goes around the old park, with stations North, West, South and East. I remember this being one of the attractions with a long long queue...

The fairytale forest is one of the highlights for the little ones, and everyone will recognize something from bedtime stories. Here is Little Red Riding Hood about to get into trouble at her grandma's...

Eventually, bigger and more exciting rides found their way into the park, starting with the Python, with its corkscrew turns one of the most scary rides, once upon a time. One of the newest is the Flying Dutchman, which was great!

Later on, I got to accompany a 6-yr old, because his grandparents didn't dare to go on Joris en de Draak, vaguely based on the legend of St George and the Dragon. Unfortunately we had a few small children in our ride, so our combined weight made us (Fire) slightly slower than the other ride (Water). It was amazing anyway!

The ice ring was reserved for the ROC-visitors and it was set up with Koek en Zopie (cookies and... well, hot drinks) and Stampot en Rookworst was there for the taking. So was the hot wine, hot chocolate and hot coffees.