There’s just something very ironic about the following photo which Marco gave me a few days ago. It is taken from the inside of a bus, and focuses on an advertisement.
1. “Summer schedule returns next week!”
2. We’re going to promote this with a picture of a smiling happy family at a beach!
3. Don’t look out the bus window, or you might see the dreary rain-filled day which lies in stark contrast to this promise of sorts.
I would take a picture of the flowers outside of my NY apartment, but they have been scorched due to the heat and no longer resemble anything with vibrant color. (However, I feel like doing a cheer… it’s been over a month, but tonight the apartment is finally cooler than 80F/26C.)
So instead, here are some colorful pictures from Madurodam. It’s been a while since I showed any Madurodam photos!
The landscaping of Madurodam is its own reason to visit, in my mind.
Above, a typical kid doing the balance beam routine. It reminds me of the thing children liked to do when I was a kid: don’t step on a sidewalk crack, or you’ll break your grandmother’s back. I like to think I did this perfectly – as no harm ever came to her back.
The title of this blog post is sort of a play on words, since it deals with flooding at the Centraal Station in the Hague, but also some new widget options that WordPress is offering.
First off, Marco sent me a link to a video of the flooding at the Centraal Station. It’s a short 15 second clip. Basically, they have been renovating this station for about two years — it was a mess the last time I was there. They removed the roof this weekend to continue their refurbishing, but forgot that they were in the Netherlands.
There was heavy rain over the weekend. And a building without a roof. Eek. Thankfully it’s mostly concrete floors.
Second, I was pleased to see that WordPress has added some new widgets. Inclding one that I have already implemented called “Blogs I Follow”. You can show a list/grid of images of the most recent blogs you followed.
Things I noticed:
1.) Since it is ordered the most recent blog you followed first, it makes more sense to keep the number low (depending on how many blogs you follow every day and how often old blogs drop off the list). I would much prefer if this was a random list so that refreshing the page would show new blogs. I was really looking forward to going to my favorite blogs and hitting refresh a lot…
2.) It seems to bleed into my Milestone widget (the 5 months countdown). But I will leave it be for now and see if anyone else notices.
3.) It’s prettier than I expected, and the images are slightly larger than I expected as well.
There are more widgets mentioned so go take a peek!
Perhaps someone in charge over at Rijswijk read my last post about the fountain being… well, erm… groen (green) and realized a cleaning might be in order.
Dive in…
We shall see. If it holds true to form, it will be back to green within 48 hours of being refilled anyway.
I fear that I will have to zero out my ‘studying Dutch for # straight days‘ counter, as I didn’t officially do anything yesterday. (Well, besides listen to Gers Pardoel and Lange Frans a fair amount.) But the Dutch reading sessions with Marco are going strong, with one on Wednesday, a short one on Thursday, and another scheduled tomorrow.
* * * * *
Just looked up after watching the end of a Mets game and saw the box score. Apparently they have a player with a last name of Nieuwenhuis (~new house) though he was born in California. Interesting.
Heat: Two days of soaring high temperatures where frying eggs on the sidewalk is not completely out of the question. Both were 36C+ with temperatures feeling like 40C+ (105F) today.
But only two days’ worth. It breaks tonight, and then the thunderstorm rolls in. Of course today the bus was a bit late due to an accident around the Lincoln Tunnel, so standing at the bus stop in that kind of heat for 40 minutes was… not fun. (Of course, this is where I have to admit the driver of my bus occasionally reads this blog, so if you stumble across this post Mr. bus driver, I know that you are not to blame! :))
Heat: Here’s hoping the Miami Heat don’t win the NBA championship tonight. I would at least like it to be a series.
Not Heat: Continuing the fountain theme of the last few days, here’s another picture of the fountain at Rijkswijk. Marco took it for me last month.
Would you jump into this fountain on a 36C+ day?
The amusing thing about this fountain is they do clean it about a few times a year… and it goes back to green within 2 days of the cleaning. It’s near the Bogaardplein.
Here is another Euro 2012 decoration, straight from Marco’s camera. It’s rather unfortunate that the Google Street view car wasn’t passing by this week, otherwise this larger than life decoration would have been immortalized for all time… or at least 3-4 years.
I am not surprised to see that this is nailed down, less someone try to steal it by pushing it down the street. How fast do you think it would take before they get caught? “No, officer. This is my exercise ball, I swear!”
Go ahead. Kick it. I dare you.
Marco visited the Binnenhof last week to take a picture of the fountain for me (an area I have mentioned a few times).
Binnenhof fountain
As I mentioned in a previous post, Euro 2012, the European soccer championship, is coming. “Hup Holland” is a sports cheer. Marco got me a picture of the festivities:
Decorations for Euro 2012 in the Hague this coming Friday (June 8) The lower banner has been edited slightly to remove the street name (just in case).
Remember when I mentioned that I was sending Marco and Roger a package (t-shirts and food, mainly)? Well, I had no idea that Marco was secretly getting a package together for me at the same time…
I love unexpected packages!
Sometimes a simple picture is best when the day has been long!
City hall (stadhuis) in the Hague
For me, the Hague’s city hall (stadhuis) will always be intrinsically linked the city’s public library, as they are so close to one another. Don’t forget to hug your favorite librarian this week!
Life in the Hague 