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Saturday, January 29, 2011
Pisa? Why are we in Pisa?
Well, we are on a bus currently heading to Genova from Pisa. When we were on final approach to Genova Airport, we were waved off about 20 seconds before landing. Wheels were down, flaps were down but no luck. So because of the weather, which was light snow, we had to land in Pisa. After standing around for some time with hardly any updates from Alitalia, they finally had busses for us to board about an hour after we landed. More updates as I can.
Hello Everyone
Hello from the lobby of the IBIS Hotel. I only have a few minutes to write here. Unfortunately this week has been much more hectic and busy then I EVER anticipated. This has meant that this blog wasn't updated as often as I had hoped to update it.
Anyway, we are waiting to board the bus that will take us to the airport. See you all tonight.
Anyway, we are waiting to board the bus that will take us to the airport. See you all tonight.
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Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday Pics
ISG at Den Haag Train Station
Waiting for the Train to Amsterdam
Clowning Around
Posing for the Camera
Outside the Central Train Station in Amsterdam
On the Canal Cruise
Old Harbor of Amsterdam
Mme. Micheli & Pietro on Canal Cruise
Nemo Science Center designed by famous Genovese Architect Renzo Piano
Federico & Fredo on Cruise
Houses on the Canal
One of many, many houseboats on the Canals
This one can actually move though
Local Canal Residents Waving to us tourists
The Heineken Brewery
ISG at the famous I amsterdam sign
Em in the M
The Van Gogh Museum
Waiting in line at the Van Gogh
Cesare in line
The best waiter in all Amsterdam
Waiting for the Train to Amsterdam
Clowning Around
Posing for the Camera
Outside the Central Train Station in Amsterdam
On the Canal Cruise
Old Harbor of Amsterdam
Mme. Micheli & Pietro on Canal Cruise
Nemo Science Center designed by famous Genovese Architect Renzo Piano
Federico & Fredo on Cruise
Houses on the Canal
One of many, many houseboats on the Canals
This one can actually move though
Local Canal Residents Waving to us tourists
The Heineken Brewery
ISG at the famous I amsterdam sign
Em in the M
The Van Gogh Museum
Waiting in line at the Van Gogh
Cesare in line
The best waiter in all Amsterdam
Studying Sunday night before Opening DaySunday - Day 2
On Sunday, we got up a bit late, since we all felt that we needed to recharge our batteries somewhat after the long day of travel on Saturday. So, we slept in until 8:30am and went down to the Hotel’s Breakfast Buffet. And, I must say the put on a pretty good Buffet! Fruit, Coffee, Fruit-Juices, Scrambled Eggs, Hard-Boiled Eggs, Bacon, Sausages, Waffles, Yogurt, Cereals, Pastries, Breads, and Cold Cuts of meat and cheese. Our boys pretty much inhaled everything they saw and it was interesting seeing some of them eat so much.
After a filling breakfast, we walked to the train-station which is only about 15 min away and boarded a train to Amsterdam to spend the day and see the sights. Dutch trains are pretty comfortable I have to say. The only thing that they could use is some overhead racks where you can store your smaller bags during your trip. Of course, they are also spot on in regards to being on time!
In Amsterdam, we arrived at the main train station and walked out to see the city sprawled out in front of us. Luckily the Dutch are very used to the tourists in Amsterdam, and they had multiple companies offering tours of the city via Canal Boat set up right outside the station. So, in about 15 minutes after arriving we were on a Canal Boat seeing the sites.
Our tour took us to the main harbor, behind the train station, and through some of the many myriad canals that ring the city of Amsterdam. We all got to see some incredible sights including some old Dutch Galleons and other ocean going trading ships from the days of sail. We saw a couple of windmills, went through the Canal District where houses are only 6 meters wide and saw numerous houseboats. It appears that a lot of people live right on the canal in boats. Mind you, many of these boats don't look very mobile, but every now and then, you see one that looks like the owner can just sail away any day. We also got a history lesson on Amsterdam and the story behind all the canals during the cruise.
After the cruise, which took us to the southern part of downtown Amsterdam, we visited the Van Gogh Museum. There are an impressive number of his paintings and etches in the permanent collection of the museum. Luca was really disappointed though, when he discovered that his favorite Van Gogh, "The Bedroom" (1888) was not on site. He asked one of the security guards to discover to his horror that it was on loan to Japan for the year. Despite that, we had a pretty good time. A few souvenirs were purchased and a few hundreds of millions of dollars worth of paintings were critiqued by our students!
We then headed to lunch, hoping to hit the Hard Rock Cafe which is nearby, but the wait to get in was too long. So, the group split up, and my portion went to a Asian Fusion restaurant named Wamagama or something like that. Maria vouched for it, she had eaten in another of their restaurants in Dubai. We ordered some pretty incredible food, but I think most people thought the curry dishes were the best. And for some reason, our waiter who was from Australia was quite popular amongst some of the girls.
Hmmmmmm.....
After a great lunch, we headed off on a walking tour of Amsterdam. We trekked away towards the central portion of Amsterdam. We walked through some incredibly lovely residential districts that were right on some of the canals. The houses are so incredibly neat and tidy with their brick facades, steeply pitched roofs and large picture windows. We had a little excitement when we saw some bicycle police arrest a guy who appeared to have stolen something from two other gentlemen when we got closer to the center square. We walked through the Chinatown area of Amsterdam, had a chance to do a little shopping, and saw Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum, which was just closing as we got there.
Once at the station, we found out that Deniz had left her phone back in Wamagama restaurant on the other side of the city. So, Deniz & I with a couple of others got to take a quick taxi ride back to the restaurant to get her phone, before driving back to the station to catch our evening train back to Den Haag.
Trust me, more then 1 of our kids fell asleep on the train on the way back!
Once back at the hotel, we had to have a pretty long meeting, as this was the night before the opening of the conference. We handed out badges, went over rules, talked about expectations and procedures and generally did the final check to make sure everything was A-OK. We finally got to bed right after 11PM anxious to head to the show the following morning.
After a filling breakfast, we walked to the train-station which is only about 15 min away and boarded a train to Amsterdam to spend the day and see the sights. Dutch trains are pretty comfortable I have to say. The only thing that they could use is some overhead racks where you can store your smaller bags during your trip. Of course, they are also spot on in regards to being on time!
In Amsterdam, we arrived at the main train station and walked out to see the city sprawled out in front of us. Luckily the Dutch are very used to the tourists in Amsterdam, and they had multiple companies offering tours of the city via Canal Boat set up right outside the station. So, in about 15 minutes after arriving we were on a Canal Boat seeing the sites.
Our tour took us to the main harbor, behind the train station, and through some of the many myriad canals that ring the city of Amsterdam. We all got to see some incredible sights including some old Dutch Galleons and other ocean going trading ships from the days of sail. We saw a couple of windmills, went through the Canal District where houses are only 6 meters wide and saw numerous houseboats. It appears that a lot of people live right on the canal in boats. Mind you, many of these boats don't look very mobile, but every now and then, you see one that looks like the owner can just sail away any day. We also got a history lesson on Amsterdam and the story behind all the canals during the cruise.
After the cruise, which took us to the southern part of downtown Amsterdam, we visited the Van Gogh Museum. There are an impressive number of his paintings and etches in the permanent collection of the museum. Luca was really disappointed though, when he discovered that his favorite Van Gogh, "The Bedroom" (1888) was not on site. He asked one of the security guards to discover to his horror that it was on loan to Japan for the year. Despite that, we had a pretty good time. A few souvenirs were purchased and a few hundreds of millions of dollars worth of paintings were critiqued by our students!
We then headed to lunch, hoping to hit the Hard Rock Cafe which is nearby, but the wait to get in was too long. So, the group split up, and my portion went to a Asian Fusion restaurant named Wamagama or something like that. Maria vouched for it, she had eaten in another of their restaurants in Dubai. We ordered some pretty incredible food, but I think most people thought the curry dishes were the best. And for some reason, our waiter who was from Australia was quite popular amongst some of the girls.
Hmmmmmm.....
After a great lunch, we headed off on a walking tour of Amsterdam. We trekked away towards the central portion of Amsterdam. We walked through some incredibly lovely residential districts that were right on some of the canals. The houses are so incredibly neat and tidy with their brick facades, steeply pitched roofs and large picture windows. We had a little excitement when we saw some bicycle police arrest a guy who appeared to have stolen something from two other gentlemen when we got closer to the center square. We walked through the Chinatown area of Amsterdam, had a chance to do a little shopping, and saw Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum, which was just closing as we got there.
Once at the station, we found out that Deniz had left her phone back in Wamagama restaurant on the other side of the city. So, Deniz & I with a couple of others got to take a quick taxi ride back to the restaurant to get her phone, before driving back to the station to catch our evening train back to Den Haag.
Trust me, more then 1 of our kids fell asleep on the train on the way back!
Once back at the hotel, we had to have a pretty long meeting, as this was the night before the opening of the conference. We handed out badges, went over rules, talked about expectations and procedures and generally did the final check to make sure everything was A-OK. We finally got to bed right after 11PM anxious to head to the show the following morning.
Monday, January 24, 2011
1st Day Pics Saturday
Here are some pics from Saturday.
Francesco, Pietro and Fredo at Genoa Airport.
Leaving Genoa Behind
(Yes I know it's blurry, but the flight was rough)
Rome to Amsterdam Ellen & Emma were behind me.
Maria contemplating. We don't know what exactly but she's contemplating.
Arrival in Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.
Collecting Luggage at Schipol. We're not sure why Maria is embarrassed.
Rachel's arrival in Den Haag.
Group shot exploring the area around our hotel.
Den Haag has a Chinatown!
Looks like eveyone is enjoying themselves.
Dinner at restaurant next to hotel on Saturday night.
Ellen is nuts in case you didn't know.
Fredo.
More scenes from dinner.
Luca and Francesa shooting pool.
Francesco, Pietro and Fredo at Genoa Airport.
Leaving Genoa Behind(Yes I know it's blurry, but the flight was rough)
Rome to Amsterdam Ellen & Emma were behind me.
Maria contemplating. We don't know what exactly but she's contemplating.
Arrival in Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.
Collecting Luggage at Schipol. We're not sure why Maria is embarrassed.
Rachel's arrival in Den Haag.
Group shot exploring the area around our hotel.
Den Haag has a Chinatown!
Looks like eveyone is enjoying themselves.
Dinner at restaurant next to hotel on Saturday night.
Ellen is nuts in case you didn't know.
Fredo.
More scenes from dinner.
Luca and Francesa shooting pool.Saturday is in the books
Ok, lets catch our readers up on whats been happening. Currently I’m writing this during a break in the action on our 1st day at THIMUN. We’ve been so busy it’s been harder then I thought it would be to update the blog. So, anyway, here goes.
Saturday was a pretty long day for everyone. From what I gather we all woke up around 5am or earlier to make sure we were at the airport at 6am. We got thru check-in and security relatively ok, but they did have to hold the plane for a few minutes but no worries. Once we took off, we encountered some strong winds coming down from the hills/mountains around Genoa, so the plane was rocking a little bit, but the pilots came online and said it was no problem.
We flew down the coast towards Rome and we landed pretty much right on time. The descent was interesting because there was 100% cloud cover probably until we got to 500-700 meters or so. Only then did the clouds break up so that we could see the ground. When we got off the plane, we had to walk about 20 meters to the gate next door and we immediately started boarding that plane. Despite the fast time between planes, Alitalia managed to get all our luggage going to the right plane, and when we landed in Amsterdam everyone had their luggage.
Once in Amsterdam, we had to get train tickets down to Den Haag in the Netherlands. That was easy to do.
I guess I should mention at this point that I (Mr. Z) had to stay at the airport and wait for Rachel M to arrive on another flight. There was a paperwork screw-up and the flight authorities wouldn’t let her fly down with us. Luckily the situation was resolved, and Rachel was able to secure another flight to Amsterdam. Unfortunately her flight didn’t come in until 1630 approximately, so it meant that I had to wait at the airport to accompany her. So I spent about 4 hours waiting at Starbucks and Burger King. Overall, not such a bad thing really.
When Rachel arrived, we got on a train to travel to Den Haag, which is about 30 – 45 minutes away. I will admit we got a little lost trying to find the hotel, but I secured a taxi and everything turned out ok, once our team was reunited.
That evening we went out to a local eatery right around the corner from the hotel we’re staying at. The food was pretty fair and the boys got a chance to shoot some pool at the tables that were right next to us. After that, it was back to the hotel and everyone crashed. It had been a pretty long day overall.
.
Saturday was a pretty long day for everyone. From what I gather we all woke up around 5am or earlier to make sure we were at the airport at 6am. We got thru check-in and security relatively ok, but they did have to hold the plane for a few minutes but no worries. Once we took off, we encountered some strong winds coming down from the hills/mountains around Genoa, so the plane was rocking a little bit, but the pilots came online and said it was no problem.
We flew down the coast towards Rome and we landed pretty much right on time. The descent was interesting because there was 100% cloud cover probably until we got to 500-700 meters or so. Only then did the clouds break up so that we could see the ground. When we got off the plane, we had to walk about 20 meters to the gate next door and we immediately started boarding that plane. Despite the fast time between planes, Alitalia managed to get all our luggage going to the right plane, and when we landed in Amsterdam everyone had their luggage.
Once in Amsterdam, we had to get train tickets down to Den Haag in the Netherlands. That was easy to do.
I guess I should mention at this point that I (Mr. Z) had to stay at the airport and wait for Rachel M to arrive on another flight. There was a paperwork screw-up and the flight authorities wouldn’t let her fly down with us. Luckily the situation was resolved, and Rachel was able to secure another flight to Amsterdam. Unfortunately her flight didn’t come in until 1630 approximately, so it meant that I had to wait at the airport to accompany her. So I spent about 4 hours waiting at Starbucks and Burger King. Overall, not such a bad thing really.
When Rachel arrived, we got on a train to travel to Den Haag, which is about 30 – 45 minutes away. I will admit we got a little lost trying to find the hotel, but I secured a taxi and everything turned out ok, once our team was reunited.
That evening we went out to a local eatery right around the corner from the hotel we’re staying at. The food was pretty fair and the boys got a chance to shoot some pool at the tables that were right next to us. After that, it was back to the hotel and everyone crashed. It had been a pretty long day overall.
.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
And we are off...
Well, it's been a loooong day. But, after all is said and done, we've had a successful start on our journey to The Hague Model United Nations (THIMUN).
We all arrived at the Genoa Airport this morning, and it was a great scene as the kids were dropped off, and all the parents wished them good-bye and good luck.
Right now, we're all in Den Haag and we're settled into our rooms. Like I said it's been a loooong day and I'm absolutely shattered, so I'm gonna cut this short tonight. Let me get some rest and I'll do a bit of an update tomorrow with a bunch of great pics from the first day.
Talk to everyone later.
We all arrived at the Genoa Airport this morning, and it was a great scene as the kids were dropped off, and all the parents wished them good-bye and good luck.
Right now, we're all in Den Haag and we're settled into our rooms. Like I said it's been a loooong day and I'm absolutely shattered, so I'm gonna cut this short tonight. Let me get some rest and I'll do a bit of an update tomorrow with a bunch of great pics from the first day.
Talk to everyone later.
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