Team Valley Girls has been so busy making hilarious and creative videos (in our unbiased opinion, of course), that we haven’t had time to blog but here we are again. 

Currently we are on a train from Amsterdam to Brussels studying our challenges for today which include something to do with  the world’s only French Fry Museum (Brugge) and a Contemporary Art Museum in Ghent (which Judie happens to be familiar with and has longed to return to, you should excuse the hanging preposition). 

To catch up, Cologne was a beautiful city with a huge, gorgeous Gothic cathedral as its centerpiece (we were never lost, we just looked up, saw the cathedral and got our bearings).  

Our first challenge was the Chocolate Museum where in a burst of creative energy – and the lack of an accommodating tourist participant – it hit us that Fran was actually a tourist so she she became our 3rd interviewee, in the guise of Imama from Iran.  Her performance was truly inspirational. The Envelope please.

Then it was Judie’s turn at the Museum of Fragrance where the challenge was to do a wrap-up in the style of an American perfume commercial.  Move over Kate Moss, the other Envelope please.

Everyone met at the train station early that evening and headed for our next surprise destination – Amsterdam.

Arriving in Amsterdam late that evening we had a chance to visit with our friend Dorit, (and miss yet another meal – we’ve existed on bread and cheese for the last week) wife of Derek, the actor who lived in Judie’s cabana for a year.  He is back to being a famous actor in Europe and in fact that night was appearing in an out-of-town play so we didn’t get to see him until the following day for lunch.  How much fun was it to sit in a restaurant with Derek and feel all eyes upon us?

In Amsterdam our challenges included a visit to the Bols Liqueur headquarters where we had a blast as we got blasted.  We tasted many, many liqueurs and made a Rap video. 

All in all the trip so far has been fantastic with lots of challenges that have been as interesting as they have been difficult. This trip is not for the unadventurous or timid.  Every day there are 10 or more challenges, some very far away and some quite complex.  Since having fun is our goal, we haven’t done as many challenges as most of the others, but have tried to make our videos as quirky and enjoyable as possible, but I guess the judges will be the judge of that.

And it’s been fun interacting with our teammates and readjusting our first impressions with reality.  This is a high-energy group, full of good humor and good sportsmanship (for the most part).  Group psychology is an interesting thing to observe.