Marco and I visited the Royal Palace of Amsterdam. It is sometimes used by Queen Beatrix during state affairs.
Prior to my visit, they had been renovating the interior of the palace, from 2005 to 2009. When I visited, they were working on the outside of the palace. They have since finished (last month).
Royal palace of Amsterdam, the facade hidden from view during renovations
I’ve never been a good cook. Heck, I’ve never been a cook. I have been known to believe the microwave was about to blow up, or the oven, or… So when I moved to the East coast to get my Masters at Rutgers University, I wasn’t too worried about not having anything but a fridge, freezer, and microwave.
I’ll admit it was an interesting arrangement, but the apartment was cheap enough. I lived off sandwiches most of my time there, generally PB&J or turkey with…LOTS of mustard. Most of my food and groceries came from the deli up the street. There really wasn’t a proper grocery store in New Brunswick. I could either walk a mile to K-Mart (a department store with some food) or Rite Aid in a completely different direction. Still far away.
During the first summer that I spent in the Netherlands, we did the expected canal ride in Amsterdam. It’s sort of like being a first time tourist in NYC and visiting the Statue of Liberty. I’ve managed to avoid going up to the top of Rockefeller and the Empire State building… somehow.
But I was definitely looking forward to the 1 hour canal ride. I went with Marco, his mother, and our friend Roger (the die hard NY Rangers fan… Let’s go Rangers!). Luckily we managed to be one of the first ones on the boat, so we had the pick of what seats we wanted.
The public library of Amsterdam is useful for more than just library related activities (or for borrowing a computer to let someone know your phone is currently dead). It also provides a great view of the city from the 6th floor.
Construction around Amsterdam public library
Well, I am not sure how lazy a Friday can be after working an 11 hour shift… but now that that is behind me, the night does seem lazy.
Madurodam figure, relaxing in the sun
The picture above is from Madurodam, a miniature city of typical Dutch places in a 1:25 scale. I have many, many pictures of it from the trip I took two summers ago… but I will save those for another blog post. But I did like the picture above, and it seems apt for a Friday. Even if it’s not summer currently.
In the Netherlands, land is at a premium. It’s a small country that still boasts about 17 million people, so you need to find a place for everyone and everything.
Including playgrounds for the little ones.
First, I want to mention how amusing it is to be subscribed to a dozen or so Dutch blogs and see how most of them talk about the weather. Snow, cold, and the prospect of elfstedentocht (elf-steden-tocht, 11 city tour). It’s a rare event where the canal ice freezes up enough for ice skating through 11 cities to take place. It hasn’t happened since 1997.
Over here, I am just glad we’ve only had two snowstorms: the Halloween one which knocked out my power for 5 days — just a few inches of snow — and one a few weeks ago, about 5 inches.
Today’s topic is de bogaard in Rijswijk, a shopping area near the Hague which you can get to by bus. I visited it twice. The first time I had someone with me, the second time I traveled there alone.
It’s been a crazy day, but it’s nearing the end. I will say the most random thing of the day was learning to use the JAWS screen reader to help a student find scholarly articles. The craziest was confronting another bus passenger (from a nearby psychiatric hospital, no less) about the laws of momentum and perhaps he would like to hold on to his cup of coffee, rather than letting it spill all over the floor?
Perhaps I’ll make a cup of koffie (coffee) later. But it’ll be straight – the only time I add anything is when Marco is around and we make french vanilla coffee. Yum, vanille suiker (vanilla sugar).
Marco was kind enough to take some pictures of some places in the Hague that hold special or fun memories for me.
De passage (lit: the passage. Sounds like French; pa-sage, two short a’s) is one of my favorite places to visit in the Hague. It’s a small shopping area famed for its covered shopping streets and glass ceiling. Although the architecture is befitting of its 1882/1928 dates, the stores inside are definitely modern.
Near the area which houses Buitenhof and Binnenhof is the Grondwetbank (lit: Constitution bench). Upon it is inscribed the first article of the Dutch constitution:
Allen die zich in Nederland bevinden, worden in gelijke gevallen gelijk behandeld.
Discriminatie wegens godsdienst, levensovertuiging, politieke gezindheid, ras, geslacht of op welke grond dan ook, is niet toegestaan.
Life in the Hague 