For the Soccer World Cup in Germany this month, Dutch grocer Albert Heijn has started an immensely popular ‘wuppie’ campaign; for every €15 spent at the grocery store you get a small red, white, blue or orange wuppie, a small woolly ball with two eyes, feet and antennas. Each wuppie comes with a saving stamp, and with three stamps and an additional €2.49 you can buy a large wuppie. Albert Heijn had 700,000 so-called ‘mega wuppies’ made in China, but most of those have already sold. Now customers are fighting for the last remaining mega wuppies. One wuppie has already sold online for €100 and there have been reports of wuppies being stolen from cars! More »

Unsurprisingly, Disney announced today that it’s free online broadcasts of ABC shows, including Desperate Housewives and Lost, were a big hit. The shows were watched more than 11 million times online in the first month of the test, and an online exit survey showed that 87 percent of respondents could recall the advertisers that sponsored the episodes they watched. A retooled version of the free site, with more shows and features, will be launched in the fall. Unfortunately the free site is only available to Internet users in the United States, but there are easy ways around this.

On June 30^th the Dutch government will decide on a new road connection between Amsterdam, Schiphol airport and Almere. It is Transport Minister Peijs’ preferred option for beating the congestion in the area. Many are against this plan, as the new tunnel and highway will go very close near the oldest nature reserve of the Netherlands, the Naardermeer. More »

Today we had a practice dive in the Oostvoornse Meer, here in the Netherlands. It is the same place where we finished our PADI Open Water course last year. We hadn’t dived since Hurghada in September 2005, except for Nemo 33 in Brussels two weeks ago. More »

Last weekend we drove down to Brittany in France and visited some nice places; we canoed in Brière nature park, saw prehistoric megaliths in Carnac, walked along the coast in Amorique nature park, and visited the medieval town of Guérande. Here is a short report of our road trip, along with some photos. More »

A Great White Pelican has been living in the Dutch provice of Friesland, where it was first spotted at the beginning of May. The wild bird probably became lost or disoriented during the spring migration from Africa, possibly due to inexperience. Pelicans winter in East Africa and spend the summers in the Balkans. The birds normally fly via Israel, when they float over thermal streams to conserve energy. While soaring the bird may have been knocked off course and not noticed something was wrong. More »

Here is the second part of my favorite things to do in the beautiful state of Colorado. This article features Rocky Mountain National Park, Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, the Durango to Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, the Million Dollar Highway and Ouray. The photos are from our roadtrip in 2004. More »

Today we had an excursion with Natuurmonumenten at Zwanenwater, an area of dunes along the coast with two large lakes. Normally, visitors are only allowed to go to the first of two lakes, but with two rangers we had a 5-hour / 20 km walk around the second lake, through the dunes, marshes, woodland and heathland. We saw many birds including eight Spoonbill. More »

Back in November, I asked here if Google could please add map details outside the US and UK on Google Maps, and from this week it has finally happened: most of Europe’s street maps are now available. In addition, Google Maps received a huge satellite update. More »

A new National Park was opened in the Netherlands today; De Alde Feanen lies in the heart of the province of Friesland. It has been a nature reserve for many years; with today’s ceremony it became the 20th National Park in the country. More »