Absolutely!

I wish I had the transportation to take me to France...
https://youtu.be/OeAfI7GxUQQ

I'm on vacation!

So, first day of vacation, I baked a lemon cake and finished the prototype of my chandelier project.
Two weeks ago I was elated to find 13 Dead End Drive (German edition) at the local second-hand shop. This game was never published in The Netherlands and I'd been dying to have it as a Cluedo fan. There aren't many games where you actually get to kill your opponents.

13 Dead End Drive has been described as a cross between Cluedo and Mouse Trap. The unimaginably wealthy Aunt Agatha has died, without any living relatives. Her 12 closest friends, employees and cat have gathered at her house to see who will inherit the vast fortune... but there are strange things afoot in the home and there are less and less potential heirs left...

Each player is dealt 3 to 4 heirs in secret, and must keep these secret throughout the game. A stack of cards with the characters shows who is the favourite heir at that moment. If the character manages to flee the house while (s)he/cat is the favourite heir, the player owning that character wins. A player can also win if the inspector arrives at the door when his character is the favourite heir.

Or, by being the last character alive. There are several fun ways of disposing the game's cast with actual working traps: flip them down the stairs, let the bookshelf ladder collapse while they're climbing it, drop a statue on them, cast them into the fireplace or, my favourite, drop a chandelier on them.

And the chandelier, that's where the issue is.

The game chandelier drops 20 cm - it is therefore pretty likely it'll not survive the murderous mayhem.

The game has become a cult classic, thanks to the violence, the surprisingly interesting gameplay although marketed at 9 and up, the violence, the astonishing artwork, the violence, the elaborate set-up, the violence... Copies of the game sell for 20 to 50 dollars - depending on whether the chandelier is still in one piece.

The chandelier in my copy works and is still intact (although missing decals), but I've noticed that this won't last long. There appear to be some weaker spots in the plastic, and the bulk mass at the bottom is held up by a little thin bit of plastic, if you have bad luck the chandelier flips 180 degrees during its fall and there goes an inreplaceable piece of plastic.

So I am making a chandelier to use instead of the original one. It has to look good enough to be fun, and soft enough to not cause damage to board or pieces.Today I finished a very nice looking prototype.

Here's a review of the game showing all the traps at work:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=13+dead+end+drive+&iax=videos&...

Picture of chandelier coming up...

Went to the local open-air museum, now again known as Prehistorisch Dorp. When I was a kid there were three replicas built of iron age homes that were found in the region. Back then entry was free so we went there a couple of times - at 15 minutes cycling from my house it was quite convenient. But I hadn't been there since my elementary school years.

A lot has changed since then - a medieval section was added and they charge 9 euros now, but I decided to go anyway.

I had to reserve a time slot and couldn't spend more than 3 hours there. In fact after 90 minutes I'd seen and done pretty much anything and couldn't stretch it much longer than 2.5 hours. And in this short time I shot 195 photos. And one film that didn't get saved.
Prehistorisch Dorp has 25 reconstructions and is with that a lot smaller than the Archeon. There's a stone age hunter's camp, a Bronze/Iron age long shed, work shed, small home, pug sty, sheep farm, loam pit, grave hill and holy oak, there's a Roman era (50BC to 500 AD) lookout tower, work shed, cow farm, Roman work shed, and herbal garden. There's a Framks era (500-1500) dwelling, archery course and arena (= patch of grass), a late Middle Ages crafts home, blacksmith and medieval celebration market. And of the 80 Years War (1568-1648) there's an inn, marketplace, chapel, pottery house, and entrance.

Image here:
https://www.deviantart.com/bonnzai/art/PreHistorisch-Dorp-Mi...

Their website is here. I already noticed their German was noticeably not done by native German speakers, and I get the same feeling reading their English site.
https://prehistorischdorp.nl/en/plan-your-visit/what-is-ther...

So, what did I do in those two hours besides making 200 photos?
-Passed the market place, made a lot of photos of the blacksmith;
-Noticed the arena was a patch of grass with a tent and hobbyhorses.
-Moded to the Frankish section with the fireplace and a lots of kids in costume. In the Frankish farm it is possible for kids to dress up in medieval costume (as in, linen, square and only top dress and/or shirt), but god that looked adorable. Also there was a weapon set for kids to try on for size and weight, and wooden shields/swords for playfight, and all that stuff..
-Went to the archery setup and missed three arrows. Was fun though.
-Walked back and noticed there was a chapel with a medieval style cemetary (= wooden crosses), took more pictures
-At the potters only 1 family at a time is allowed (Corona), and it's empty. I go in and find that here it is possible to make your own pottery. With spinning disk! Hey that's one I'd love to try - unfortunately as soon as I dip my fingers in clay, three kids walk in. I have to leave due to Corona rules.
-Next to that is a stone throwing game, but as soon as I want to try some woman with kid pushes me out of the way to let her kid throw stones. Seriously. To throw with rocks.
-The sheep stable normally has a sheep, but now it's just a big plush sheep due to Corona.
-Behind the stone throwing is a pull ferry (basically you have a wooden raft, you step on it, and pull on the rope that's attached to one end to advance.) It was too popular to have a go every time I checked.
-Climbed to the top of the Roman Watchtower, took pictures and had to leave because it's so small and only one exit and Corona.
-A lot of little paths are closed due to Corona, most farms have a one-way route. With the smaller locations this gets awkward.
-The bronze and iron age square is a huge activity hub - besides the few farms and treehouse and pig sty (without actual pigs) there's wood splitting, fibula making, loam amulet making, wheat grinding, canoe peddling... I make a fibula and decide against getting myself dirty with the loam amulet making, but it looks like fun!
-The best photo opportunity is at a Frankish oven - one of the free-roaming chickens hops into it and finds a nice place to hide. Unfortunately I couldn't make a photo but such chickens are convenient. Now we just need to train them to eat rosemary sauce and pluck themselves before they climb in.
-At the Holy Oak there are some musical instrument replicas of the Roman era, but I don't get a chance to play. At the Hunter's camp a woman gives a fire making demonstration - I shoot some film but my camera gives in unfortunately. It's very crowded and not many people still do the 1.5 m thing.
There's a spear throwing activity at the oak - I got quite the action shot!
-I visit the various farms. They're a bit spartan with information - the museum has an app with audio tour and TimeViewer but I can't download that on my old phone.
-I head back to the market square, where there's a block building activity, a guess the age of this item game, hoops, stilts and numerous other games. The tilting at the ring and Quantain looks tantalizing!
-Unfortunately the crossbow shooting is proving too popular. I visit a fortunately quiet museum store, have fun browsing. I find a nice necklace but the only one left is the one that was on display and somebody broke the chain. The shop attendant gives me the pendant for free. I also come out with a medieval replica bracelet, another necklace with pendant (compass), a postcard, a 12th century Endehoven coin replica, a postcard and a handful of gems that I got from the gumball machine with a large "THIS ISN'T CANDY" sign.
-I have some fresh ginger tea in a quiet corner. The family at the table before me are waiting for their pancakes - as they arrive, the mother has to gather all the kids and temporarily leave the table - a jackdaw spots the opportunity and gets a good chunk of apple pancake.

Other activities are a barefoot path, Nine Men's Morris, and a sandbox for archaeological excavating (the staff put stuff in there for kids to find).

Went to the Dutch Lithography museum in Valkenswaard, where they had a gorgeous Mucha exposition!

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13 Dead End Drive, that seems to be an interesting and funny game.

Prehistorisch Dorp looks great and amusing. We've got the same kind of thing in different regions here, it can be pretty interesting and exotic.

I'm now on holiday for 3 weeks. Don't know exactly what I'm gonna do, yet. I'll start with doing sports and music, and I'll see if I can go somewhere around the country.

If you feel like exploring The Netherlands we could meet up, I have vacation until Wednesday .

I don't know about The Netherlands, but I'll probably spend a day in Belgium, with a girl-friend of mine. Unfortunately, it will be next week-end.

I don't know ... these people on holidays!

Am baking baguettes for the first time since... well, ever. Let's just see how the dough's proofed...

Yeah, let's see that! One of these days, I'm gonna try making my own bread.

Baguettes aren't as easy to make. Or, well, they are, but one thing is having the key ingredients, one of them is really hard to come by. (T45 flour in The Netherlands is pretty hard to obtain)

Ho, ok. Dindn't know that. Why is it so difficult to get?

Aside from Corona? Unfortunately the Dutch don't label their flour in the way that is done in France - we either have bloem or patentbloem (in English it would be flour and strongflour). Bloem is protected but patentbloem (the "better" flour for baking) isn't. Because of the lack of indication on the package it's unfortunately a matter of trying out.

ha, ok, I understand.

So... hot...

Yes, so fecking hot!!!!

I can see the ice cubes melting in my lemonade... pfff...

Hahahaha. ok.