Hi there!

My name is Judith and I live in the Netherlands. My little Flat Friend had a great time in Finland, so Sulo was ofcourse very welcome here at my place.

I only have a few months of studying left before I will be a teacher in primary school. Because of that, I am pretty busy. But… Sulo doesn’t have to be bored while I study!

Here he is in his bed, which can also be used to slide of the stairs:)

 

 

 

Besides sliding of the stairs, Sulo enjoyed reading a special book that I gave to him.

 

It’s a  fairytailbook with fairytails in it that you can see in the Efteling, one of the Netherlands themeparks. The Efteling is one of the oldest still opened themeparks in the world: it was officially opened on may the 31st in 1952 with the Fairytail Forest.

And we went there on 19-04-2014 because it was Judith’s birthday!

Sulo loved the Fairytail Forest!

 

Here he is reading the story of Sleeping Beauty.

 

And here he is watching Sleeping Beauty. Sleeping Beauty’s castle has been part of the Fairytale Forest since 1952. Then in 1953, Sleeping Beauty, the cook and his assistant as well as one of the guards were added to the attraction.

The designer Anton Pieck was one of the most important people in the Efteling-history. Postcards with drawings of Anton Pieck are loved by a lot of postcrossers.

Sulo loved to see the drawings (that he saw earlier in the book) come to life in the park!

 

Here he is reading Little Red Riding Hood….

….and here he is watching her red wooden shoes in real life!

A wooden statue of Little Red Riding Hood was added to the Fairytale Forest in 1953. She was crouched down picking flowers with the wolf lurking just a few metres away! Then in 1960, grandmother’s house was built with the wolf in grandma’s bed and Little Red Riding Hood standing at the door.

 

 

This is Sulo with Holle Bolle Gijs. Holle Bolle Gijs is a figure from a rhyme from 1850.  It tells the story about someone named Gijs that could keep on eating and eating. But he is mostly known as a trashcan in the Efteling. He keeps on calling ‘Papier, hier’ (paper, here) until someone puts trash into his mouth which is immediatly sucked into his belly. He than stops to say thank you or burp, etc.  There are 12 different ‘Gijzen’ in the Efteling. This is Sulo with the carriage Gijs, but there is also a Baby-Gijs, Grandpa, Sailor etc.

This is the story of Holle Bolle Gijs or Big Mouth:

There was once a king who liked to meet his ministers once a week. One day they discovered a big problem. Everyone had enough cupboards, tables and  chairs, sand the carpenters had run out of work. The fishermen had run out of work too because their boats were leaking and to top it all of, there seemed to be rubbish lying about everywhere in the land. “Get the carpenters to make new boats,” said one minister, “and the carpenters will have work”. “What a good idea,” said the king. “But what should we do about the rubbish?” 
Meanwhile, down in the king’s kitchen, there was another problem. The cook’s assistant, Big Mouth, couldn’t stop eating. He had eaten the royal larder bare and the cook was at his wits end. He went to the ministers to ask what to do. “Can you help me?” the cook asked the ministers, “Big Mouth won’t stop eating.” “Outside the city lives a magician,” said one of the ministers. “We will ask him to make a potion and you shal give it to Big Mouth.” So the next day when the potion was ready, Big Mouth took a sip. “That’s disgusting,” said Big Mouth. “Has it worked then?” asked the cook. The potion smelled so bad that it would put anyone off their food. “Well I still feel hungry” Big Mouth replied. “……for paper!” he said. That gave the ministers a new idea and not long after that, the king named Big Mouth Royal Paper Gobbler and wherever he went, he would call out “Paper here, paper here” and now there is now more rubbish anywhere in the land.

Sulo was a bit scared of the big mouth of Holle Bolle Gijs, so he didn’t want to go on pictures with any of the other ones.

We also went to Laafland. That’s to home to a special group of people – the Laafs. All over Laafland you can see the Laafs go about their daily business. Here we are outside the bakery, where the bakers are busy baking their bread, but oh dear… watch out! There’s one hanging onto the windmill’s sail!

 

The People of Laaf moved to the Efteling in 1990 and were invented by Ton van Veen. The Monorail takes visitors on over and across Laafland. The 450 metres of rail take you past all of the sights in this quaint little place.

 

Unfortunately, Sulo was too small for a lot of attractions:

 

But not for Carnival Festival!

In Carnival Festival, you will be taken on a journey past 15 different countries and 270 different dolls at a speed of  1.8 km/h. The ride is 240 metres long and takes 8 minutes.

 

Here he is in the Dutch part of Carnival Festival!

Another attraction Sulo enjoyed was the Polka Marina.

Polka Marina has been part of the adventure realm ´Ruigrijk since 1984. The carrousel has a diameter of 18 metres and is also referred to as the “Cog mill” because the boats used in the attraction are known as cogs. The Polka Marina has 23 of these cogs.

What a fun day this was!

——————–

——-  Week 2

 

24-04-2014

When I go to work, Sulo feels like he is in the Efteling all over again.

It starts with entering the door, which is painted beautifully. The first time Sulo tried to enter the small painted door:) It would have been a almost perfect size for him:)

 

He really wanted to take some pictures with some of the statues, so here they he is with the ones that have been recently painted:

26-04-2014

One day after work, I stopped at a Mill that we pass everytime on the way to, and back from work. Sulo wanted to take a picture with it, because it is one of the symbols of The Netherlands.

 

 

We also passed some cows that were really interested in Sulo.

 

 

Back home, Sulo kept barking at a pair of wooden shoes. Then I understood what he wanted: another picture with one of the symbols of the Netherlands:)

 

On my way to my boyfriend, we passed another Mill. When you look closely, you can see the date when it was build on it.

 

I think Sulo’s time is almost over here, we will continue to have fun while waiting for the new address.