Oahu Hawaii Majestic Circle Island Tour

 With E Noa Tours, Pieter had booked us a Majestic Circle Island Tour 120 miles round.

That was on December 3, 1998.

With 18 people in a mini bus.

Oahu with the capital Honolulu

Earlier we already did tour the USS ARIZONA, see post below.

Waimea Valley

North Shore & surfing beaches

Waikiki Trolley Tours

This is the one we did:

Inside Diamond Head Crater

Hanauma Bay

Blowhole and Sandy Beach

Makapuu Lookout

Windward Oahu Coastline

Pali Lookout

Byodo–In Temple

Sunset Beach/North Shore Surfing Beaches

Waimea Valley

Pineapple Fields

~

The Diamond Head Crater, our first stop was not impressive, but that is because we both know far bigger craters from Indonesia!

Hanauma Bay

Hanauma Bay, often called the BEST beach in the USA

Hanauma Bay view, a coral reef

Pali Lookout at 2,000 feet or 609 meter.

Wind gusts at 90 miles per hour or hurricane power as it doubles on this height!

Holding onto my video camera and The Bridge saddlebag...

Nu'uanu Pali Lookout

Nu'uanu Pali Lookout with botanical garden below

Byodu–In Temple

North Shore Lookout at Laie Point

Lava once streamed through the hole behind me, to the right of my face. 

A volcanic eruption and this is left over from that.

Sharp lava formations churn the waves and emphasize the power of the Pacific Ocean.

Laie Point is also where we both saw the Cliff Jumps!

We do have a video tape, but as often mentioned, all in Dutch for Mom & Dad...

From there we got onto a special bus for driving through Waimea Valley, a tropical paradise.

We also went to the Macademia nut outlet and bought us half a pound.

Our final stop was the Dole pineapple plantation.

We also watched on December 6 from our balcony STREET BIKERS UNITED HAWAII

On December 4, we both walked in 45 minutes to the Ala Moana shopping center to Neiman Marcus where we dined at the Mariposa restaurant on the 3rd level, with fabulous view, see above photo.

View to the right.

We went back to our hotel by bus.

We were home again on December 8.

Fond memories of Oahu Hawaii

We only had been there once before, upon returning home from our consulting work in Australia, see link to post below...

Related links:

Our Vacation at Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa | previous post by me

Pearl Harbor Hawaii | previous post by me

OAHU – GRAND CIRCLE ISLAND, ONE DAY TOUR | good YouTube video of the above

Working & Socializing with Staff from Melbourne Mushrooms | previous post by me as we entered the USA in Honolulu, Hawaii coming back from consulting work in Australia.

Driving to Macon for Picking up Pieter's new Lenses

 Why not drive again the next day, after just returning from the long Florida trip?

Pieter's 2nd pair of eye glasses were ready to be picked up, so we went there right after breakfast.

Getting it DONE and out of the way.

Pieter is happy and holding his eye glass case in his hand, wearing his leather patched (shoulders and elbows) Burberry sweater.

Only for the special lenses we had to pay twice US $ 520.00 as they are not covered by insurance...

But no doubt Pieter needed a spare set, as he cannot wear his treasured 23k gold pair when being in the garden.

Still holding up very well and we bought them in Indonesia in Yogyakarta at the moment of the Asian monetary crisis. For once, it worked positive for us, otherwise we could never have afforded them.

Pieter also still enjoys his Italian The Bridge purse. A very handy format also.

And I also love our Infiniti QX50 that we got us on April 28, 2021.

So glad we did that, as since there has been a long wait on any cars, even second hand.

So grateful to Vision Eye Group in Macon where I got my eye surgeries done a year earlier.

Pieter got helped here when he had his eye injured: Pieter Cleaned our Front Door Lights and HURT his Eye ←click link.

Very short Relive video of 1:38 minute.

The Silver Bond Pin was awarded to Mrs. Vedder-Peer

Husband Pieter's Mom was the first secretary of the local association and she received a federal award.

This was on Thursday, November 20 in 1986.

Mr. Hermkens of the Federal Board, pinning on the federal silver award for Mrs. Vedder, the first secretary of the local association.

Mrs. Vedder's personal copy that she mailed to the USA...

April 1987... quite a while later!

Queen Juliana with Prince Bernhard on the cover of

LIFE'S

WINDOW

Department Horst 'Lambertus-Norbertus'

On Thursday November 20 of 1986, the 25th anniversary of this department got celebrated.

The festivity started with a eucharistic celebration, with the theme of supporting each other. 

During the party meeting, Mr. Hermkens did pin on the gold and silver awards.

On Saturday November 22, a reception took place that enjoyed a lot of interest from all groups and associations of the population of Horst. The mayor then opened the exhibition 'Elderly and their hobbies'.

Festive celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Catholic Association for the Elderly.

This was in the local newspaper and Pieter's Mom mailed it to us, inside her not yet dried up handwritten airmail letter... hence the ink marks.

Did you notice that my 91-year old Mother-in-law was wearing a hair net?

Popular at that time, especially during windy weather, instead of having to use hairspray.

Eco friendly but that is all gone now...

This was exactly three years + 1 day before her death on November 21, 1989 when we were living and working in Italy.

A timely honor...!

Saying our goodbye to Pieter's Mom...

Too bad, she closed her eyes and we had these developed back in the USA, no way of going back and doing it over!

Pieter having said farewell to his Mom on November 7, before departing back to Georgia/USA...

This was our 9th trip back to The Netherlands on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

We went to Regensburg before, for attending the German Mushroom Conference.

Me, after our goodbye. Standing in front of this newly built Elderly Home.

Wearing my favorite boots, also gifted one time by our Italian mushroom friends.

Pieter standing near the entrance/exit with a new gift, his 'The Bridge' fine Italian leather bag.

Our Italian mushroom friends gifted Pieter a nice blue Burberry shirt and this leather bag on November 3, for some advice during our barely three days being in Italy before flying back to Düsseldorf, Germany.

~

We had also driven in our Fiat Uno rental car, all the way to Regensburg in Germany for the German Mushroom Conference and from there by car to Bordeaux in France, see links below.

There was very little time for being with family but we tried our best.

21 September 2014 SLUITING BERKELE HEEM←click link

It is so sad that the entire building is GONE and new apartments have been built on this spot.

Government policies have changed and elderly have to stay at home, or being cared for by their children; called 'informal care'...

Unie Katholieke Bond van Ouderen - Catholic Union of the Elderly existed from 1958-2006

Sector: Charity and social work

Times have changed!

Related links:

Lecture by Pieter and Stay at UNESCO site Regensburg during German Mushroom Conference | previous post by me

From Regensburg, Germany to Bordeaux in France and Marl Cave Mushroom Growing | previous post by me

HELP ME FIND INDONESIAN ABOEL HASAN AS'ARIE & WIFE RITA

 

Rita with one of her twin girls with me at the then Hyatt Aryaduta, Jakarta...

This was the name and situation on September 11, 1991

At the Borobudur in Yogyakarta

Rita with the twin girls Lola and Loly (3) and son Lauren who was 5 at that time and husband Aboel.

~

On April 27, 1991 we met Rita and all three cute and talented, singing and dancing children at the Yogyakarta airport.

We had a long wait and delay for our departure to Jakarta, due to President Suharto who was coming for the opening of part of the restored Prambanan temple.

Finally we are boarding and upon arrival in Jakarta, Pieter discovered that he had left his The Bridge bag in the seat of the waiting room in Yogyakarta...!

Excerpt from Pieter's diary:

At such a moment you would like to be all sorts of things at once, almighty, you would also like to sink into the ground and you should be a little less sloppy and... None of it helps. We get a lot of help from Rita, which is especially important when calling Yogya and making it clear to the people there what it is about. Minutes seem like hours, but the redemptive word comes; the bag has been found and is safe in the office of Bouraq Airlines with Mr. Ulun. 

However, they refuse to give it to anyone (due to the amount of cash inside!), we will have to pick it up in person. Is there another flight on this chaotic day? With Rita's help, I get an open ticket for Rupiah 199,700 (Rita paid Rupiah 50,000) and run to the plane... leaving Mariette behind.

In Yogya, Ulun already knew who I was and the manager was proud that his people had handled this so well. They happened to have a Pieter Ve(rmeulen) on their passenger list so they had not thought about the simultaneously departing Garuda flight. And of course we in Jakarta did not inform Bouraq Airlines!

The flight back is packed but with an additional payment of Rupiah 25,000 and some help from the Bouraq manager I manage to be on board in the nick of time. 

It's a good feeling to have the bag next to you again complete with a full Rupiah 8,000,000! We got all our travel expenses paid out in cash...

Mariette in the meantime had already arranged everything in Jakarta, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines cancelled, arranged for the Garuda flight from 21:00. She typed a neat thank you note on her portable wordprocessor for the helpful Garuda staff. Yes, speaking Bahasa Indonesia was VERY fruitful that afternoon!!!

At least 25 times we tried to call Rita, no success as the line is constantly busy or gets broken off.

Called my Parents to inform them about our later arrival due to a much later flight...

And so we flew from Jakarta to Abu Dhabi, with its fairytale airport (mosaic mushroom). We even found Mariette's favorite eye makeup but turned out later, that the wrong one was inside that Yves Saint Laurent box... of course; how could it be otherwise on this fateful April 27...!

On our way to Rome and then Amsterdam...

Pieter celebrated his Birthday on the 29th in The Netherlands with family and we flew back to Atlanta, USA on May 4.

Rita's brother came with her and her kids to the Aryaduta Hotel where we handed her the money back and a Makkum tile... This was on September 11 of 1991.

For our earlier work period in Indonesia, Rita was in Medina... so we could not meet her.

Rita with the twin girls Lola and Loly (3) and her sisters...

We were so happy to see each other again!

Rita was such a wonderful woman, very firm and helpful for us to obtain for Pieter a ticket...

Would so LOVE to find her via Internet as we lost contact.

Through the robberies in Wonosobo, her letters with address got lost...

ANY HELP will be appreciated!

Related post:

{HELP ME FIND ITALIAN ARTIST M. SOTGIU mother of Luigi Tramarollo} | successfully!

Our Fabulous Vienna Stay with Strauss Concert by Vienna Hofburg Orchestra

On Saturday, September 28 of 1996, upon arrival from Budapest at our Wienerwald hotel, we opted for the optional Strauss Concert by the Vienna Hofburg Orchestra.

A photographer took this photo with us in the center with my black La Perla body under Escada suit...

This was the program but it is all in German...

On Sunday morning right after breakfast we were being transported to the center of Vienna, by bus.

Each of us (those that signed up for this optional tour...) received a lunch bag.

It was me, peaking insight of my bag and I started laughing hilarious at the discovery of a banana with blobs of white gooey stuff on it and a STILL HOT BOILED EGG (the culprit of the molten piece of white chocolate...!).

So our tour guide handled very quick after seeing my drawn-out attributes.

Ladies and gentlemen would you please remove the egg out of your bag, because it is still HOT...

What a hilarious morning with lots of laughter.

Turned out they had a new boy in the kitchen; actually his FIRST day and this happened...

With the sun out, Vienna is lovely with all its terraces.

We teamed up that day with four people from the province of Zeeland, The Netherlands.

We laughed a lot!

The individually wrapped sandwich in our lunch bag proved to be very good!

We enjoyed the many terraces and also a tour of the Opera House.

Such fun statues with empty seat so husband Pieter joined them!

An umbrella can be turned into a weapon – IF needed but this statue did not react to my hand...

Traveling with my favorite The Bridge saddlebag purse.

Pause to give our laugh wrinkles a break!

Pausing with a coffee on one of many terraces...

An American from Limburg and a Dutch woman from Zeeland; two Southern Provinces of The Netherlands...

Such a lovely sunny day!

My Burberry umbrella took care of good weather and my Burberry blazer was only partly being used.

Pieter stepped back to give an overview.

Such a lovely Sunny Sunday!

Still got my Escada jeans skirt...

On Monday we went by bus into the city again. 

Me, touching home on a large globe in Prater, Vienna's large Public Park.

On our way home on October 1, lunch with view on the River Danube

From afar...

That's where we had lunch... I'm standing in the center with back towards you.

We stayed for our final night at the Queens hotel in Nürnberg, Germany.

Our final day, October 2nd.

Lunch in Drolshagen, Germany

Lunch, and so ended a wonderful 12–day bus tour from the South of The Netherlands through Germany to Prague  – Budapest – Vienna and back via Germany to Limburg...

Passing through The Netherlands; Germany; Czech Republic; Slovakia; Hungary; Austria; Germany and back into The Netherlands. Of course we flew transatlantic for doing this!

Related links:

My First Trip to Prague with Pieter | previous post by me

My 2nd Trip with Husband Pieter to Budapest in FREE Hungary | post about the Budapest segment