1

This League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The chef, the actor and the cat

2

Why?

I have been there countless times. I know my way around LA

and the San Francisco area better than around Rotterdam or

Brabant. So why go there again?

Well, there is Keith. And Allan and Squirt of course. Keith has

miraculously recovered from 5 months of chemotherapy.

And Allan has been, for the moment not distracted by a wife,

the focal point of Keith’s support group. With Squirt as a

happy friend and Peter plus Megan as loyal assistants.

And of course there are nostalgic reasons. You get those when

you grow older. Daughter Natascha went to Marymount in LA,

mate Stanley has been at Stanford forever, LA has been a trans-

fer point for many of the ‘around the world’ trips we made, LA

airport was convenient for our trips to Costa Rica where I

owned a place. And the conventions of NAVA were often held

in California, that is how it all started. Etc, etc...

And there are: the climate, the beautiful beaches, the deserts,

the mountains and the people. And the golf courses of course.

And places where one can try to jump off mountain tops with a

parachute. And there is the California Clinic for Spinal Injuries

where they treat you when the jump did not go as planned. Ah,

happy memories… And there was Mary. She had translated im-

portant legal documents for Keith. So he invited her for Christ-

mas, and she said yes.

And then there was the alternative:

stay in Holland for WINTER IN EUROPE….

Southern California again Dec 2009 — Jan 2010

3

So we did the

cowardly

thing. Almost

a month of

blue sky and

sunsets in-

stead of snow.

With a flight

endlessly de-

layed because

the day before

someone had

tried to blow

up a plane

bound for De-

troit.

A plane also

starting out of

Amsterdam,

which made

the security

people some-

what para-

noid…

Which took

some time.

The beaches

4

But we got there and found Venice Beach again,

hot enough to go naked. The climate

5

With a guy trying to teach his

dog to drink from a glass.

The people

6

OK, there was some rain. The only rainy day,

literally the ONLY RAINY DAY, was Mike’s

birthday—one day before the end of 2009.

Keith had arranged a match on the beautiful

Calabasas Country Club. We nearly drowned,

but still had dinner afterwards.

7

And a great din-

ner it was, after

all that rain.

With a small

group of people

from all over the

world.

Most of them

happily living

near LA.

GENGHIS COHEN This interesting restaurant,

with two of the Founding

Fathers, Allan and Keith.

8

NETHERLANDS

MEXICO

With lots of the famous No

Name Duck and other

goodies. No time for pic-

tures when the plates were

full.

Mary, the only one with

sufficient command of the

Spanish language to enter-

tain Dona Mama Maria.

United Natios

9

IRAN

USA MEXICO

POLAND

USA

GERMANY

UNITED KINGDOM

10

View from the house

While we were

busy enjoying our

golf, ALLAN

looked after his

house and the

liquor cabinet.

Not an easy task

for a former res-

taurateur, we ad-

mired him for it...

After a week in LA we were invited by Allan to visit

very sunny Palm Springs to play some golf. We

stayed at his house where he could hide hordes of

girlfriends but where he lives alone.

Shy, if you want to believe that...

11

PALM SPRINGS—the colony. Green fairways in the desert.

12

Not quite like Holland in winter, and always mountains in the background.

13

With palm trees up front and snow on the top of the mountains in the back

14

T

A

H

Q

U

I

T

Z

C

R

E

E

K

G

O

L

F

727 WAW The registration number of our

little rental really described

how we felt about this friendly

golf course in Palm Springs

where we played a few times.

15

And when they saw Mary, all

the ducks left the water...

16

After Palm Springs we moved North. A slow start, and in the afternoon we reached the Pacific at Pismo beach. Why not stay

here for a night? This is their own description:

Location. With A Meditteranean Climate And Complex Geography, The Cliffs Is Where Travelers Are Exposed To 315 Days Of

Sunshine Per Year And Many Of The Golden State's Most Rewarding Ocean Views. This Luxury Property Is Perched On A Cliff

150 Feet Above The Pacific, Only One Mile North Of Pismo Beach And 10 Miles From Historic Downtown San Luis Obispo.

Apart from their weird use of capital letters, starting every word, why not stay the night there?

17

Hotel The Cliff—room 509

18

Beautiful sunset indeed, but after two days we really had to get to

Stanford, to meet old pal Stanley. He is a well known anesthesiolo-

gist in his own right, Professor Emeritus at Stanford Medical

Faculty. But the last time we met he foremost was the proud father

of Ben Samuels, winner (with the band She'Koyokh) of the Inter-

national Jewish Music Festival 2008 -- in Amsterdam.

A lot of good things happen in Amsterdam..!

19

Somehow, maybe because of all the

wine, Stan’s nice and certainly not shy

wife Leslie managed to escaped the

camera.

We’ll have to come back to Stanford to

rectify that.

Until then, last year’s memories from

the restaurant and old brown bar in the

Red Light district of Amsterdam will

have to do.

In a local restaurant in Palo Alto

20

The next morning, after a brief visit to the breakfast counter and an even shorter visit to our

local bank we drove to Monterey to do the 17 mile drive. This is a must in the area.

It clearly shows what can be done in splendid isolation with an unholy amount of money.

Beautiful, interesting but on this trip somewhat colder than LA and Palm Springs. But we

bravely soldiered on.

Deer in your back garden

21

We also undertook this

trip North to buy Am-

sterdamse pickled on-

ions (Amsterdamse

uitjes), as a result of a

solemn promise made

months before.

Because of the ‘Boston

Bomber’ we could not

bring them from Hol-

land. So we finally got

them in San Jose... Of course, there are golf courses on 17 mile drive.

22

On the same 17 mile drive, on the beach road to Pebble Beach Country

club, are the seals and their unholy stench. Hard to understand why these

gracious animals have such awful body odor.

23

Right as we saw it, left as in

the promotional pictures.

But either way: beautiful!

Here you stand...

to hit to here. Spyglass Hill Golf Course, Ranked number

eleven on "America's 100 Greatest Public

Courses" list by Golf Digest for 2009/2010.

24

Leaving Carmel the weather turned nasty. Not cold, no rain, but regretfully

zero visibility. I love this road, but on this day there was nothing to be seen...

25

The road runs below this cliff, along the beach. There the view was ‘pie

soup”, so we had to navigate ‘blind’. More than five hours for about 100

miles. A pity, but I have done this road before—and maybe next time again.

26

But in Pismo Beach the

next morning everything

was bright and shiny

again. We decided to

stay for the night in

Pismo, because we liked

it so much going North.

A room at the Cliff,

breakfast at Spyglass

Inn, worn but friendly

and again: the view.

27

And while we were in Pismo, granddaughter Floortje had

her birthday. In very cold Bussum friends and relatives cele-

brated, with a song, the 8th anniversary of the happy day

she was born.

We could only send her a photo and a promise for a present.

Kus Floortje!

28

And while Floortje Femer had her birthday with her friends,

we continued South. And met some ‘children’ of the kind

Mary likes...

29

Northern elephant seals are found in the coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of Alaska

down to Baja California. Foraging migrations by males and females are made separately, two times

yearly. Males journey north to the Aleutian Islands and the Gulf of Alaska. Females don't travel as far

north, but instead migrate further west to more open ocean. The total linear distances migrated by

these animals each year has been recorded at 21,000 km. Seals can be seen on shore most often from

December through March. See:

(http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Mirounga_angustirostris.html)

30

Silly name:

Mirounga an-

gustirostris —

Northern ele-

phant seal, but

fierce animals

they are.

This one got the

idea that some

young upstarts

were getting

way too close to

his herd and he

told them!

I also think that he may also have commented on Mary’s fash-

ion savvy.

Bright yellow on his black beach... I ask you!

31

Everybody ran for his life when SealBoss got upset,

Well running? It is a hasty shuffle, mainly sliding on their fat belly.

But they made very sure to get out of his way. He might just trample

over and kill you. He must have really earned his battle scars.

32

Keith and his ‘dirty old man’ act. Did

not need much rehearsing, he said.

And so we got back to Woodland Hills.

Where Keith, Allan, Peter, Megan, Squirt

and Maddy still happily live together.

Soon to be joined by Oscar..!

33

Because Lord Greystoke loves to argue...

...it sometimes is easier to give him two shirts, and let him argue with himself.

That I believe is intelligent design!

34

But we kept playing golf till the end.

Balboa/Encino—a lovely public course.

Where Greystoke beat us all, shot 79 in

his old age. Not cricket however, you

are supposed to let your guests win..!

35

Greenfees for most of us under 20 euro per round, that

puts most European courses to shame. With added

wildlife: a coyote trying to catch a squirrel.

36

And that was it. Last day before the flight home. No pictures of the farewell dinner. Freezing temperatures at Schiphol Airport Amsterdam.

It was a great trip: thanks everyone. See you soon again,

Europe next time? How about South Africa? We’ll talk...