Just back from the w/e and shall start the tale from the beginning of
Frankie Anderson's and my visit.
A 4am wakeup call to get to Stansted(London) for 5am- 2 hours before the
flight and so had time for a breakfast. At 9am we landed at Amsterdam
and after what seemed miles we arrived at the railway end of Schipol.
The train left at approx 10am and the journey took 2½ hours, so
sandwiches for lunch with water as no buffet car.
The countryside was as expected very flat, but interesting to see the
different crops being grown and the drainage dykes.
The hotel was fine and we found that it was very full with other
lacemakers many of whom we knew.
The walk down to the Oosterport took between 10-15 mins. which was long
enough for us to get soaked in a downpour as we returned from registration.
The Congress was held in a lovely building which fulfilled all the
expections. Light, airy, places to sit and natter over coffee etc
either in the large entrance hall, restaurant or out in a courtyard.
The lower floor had suppliers, OIDFA, Dutch and Japanese stands with a
Withof special display.
On the upper floor were more suppliers, the national displays, the bag
competition and lace exhibits from Dutch designers were on the
walls,suspended from the ceiling etc. In all the display rooms the
lighting was excellent and the 'sexy bra and panties' were fabulous.
Alas I haven't got the figure to volunteer to model them!
I went on the bus tour of the town. It is a very open city, many
delightful new estates having been built outside the ring road with
plenty of space for gardens, ponds, lakes and so on. A large new
hospital, university having 40,00 students! So on and so forth.
Constantly one was bumping into old friends or making new ones. It is
a wonder any of us had voices left by Sunday afternoon.
The lecture hall was large and there was no problem seeing the screen.
This was also the venue for the Congress opening, assembly, a concert
on the Saturday evening by a local choir in folk costume and the closing
ceremony. At this the Japanese members showed slides of places,
costumes etc in their introduction for the 2010 Congress to be held in
Kobi and the OIDFA flag was placed in their safe keeping until then.
It is impossible to describe the atmosphere, surfice to say that it was
a wonderful occasion. Alas I will not make Japan, but in 2012 the
Congress will be Caen, Normandy just a hop across the water and we
won't have to get up so early.
The journey back again meant long waits at the airport. However we
were luckier than those on earlier trains as there was failure of
electric power which caused some holdups for those travelling into Brussels.
Now to start saving for 2012.
Sheila in a very wet Sawbridgeworth which unfortunately will migrate to
N.Holland
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