Rijswijk

Swings (Or: Is Central Park safe at night?)

From Marco…

Every now and then I pass a set of swings on the way to work.
I’m reluctant to call it a playground despite that there’s also one of those sort of rocking horses next to it. It’s really nothing more than these swings and that horsey. No grass or anything, just some sort of rubber padding.
But I guess it’s better then nothing.

Niki asked me the other day to be on the look out for picture ops.. So today when I walked past the swings I decided to take a snapshot and share this fun story: Back in 2009 when I was vacationing at Niki’s place, we went to New York (as we often do *grin*)

We ended up at Central Park, entering from Columbus Circle (for those in the know). As we entered this young woman approached us and asked if the park was open at night for joggers. I was somewhat speechless to hear that question. Not something you’d expect her to ask. The park is a large place, I don’t think you want to be running around in it at night by yourself.
Now for some reason I remembered seeing a sign saying it closed at some point of the evening, only allowing people on the main roads. So we sent her off with that knowledge.

Niki and I proceeded into the park itself. It had just rained so that nice smell of wet grass and trees was everywhere. We walked past a playground and Niki wanted to go on the swings! 🙂 Since it had just rained and it was already around 7pm there weren’t any kids there at that moment. So I just sat on the swings (gotta stay cool) while she actually erhmm..well…swung I guess the word would be.
She did warn me that she had to be careful to not do that for too long or she might get sick. And sure, at some point she suddenly stopped before it was too late. It was a very random but fun few minutes there on those swings. A very good memory. It actually reminds me of another story from the same trip but I’m going to have to keep that one for another time.
A hint: It involves bugs.

Categories: Rijswijk | Tags: | 2 Comments

In motion (Or: Spinning art in Rijswijk)

Marco was able to get some good pictures of a curious looking art installation which was placed in Rijswijk near the Hoogvliet supermarket. I have included both pictures so you can see the motion of both the skaters and of the small ledges they stand on.

I really have no idea what the art is supposed to symbolize. Maybe it hypnotizes the viewers so that when they enter Hoogvliet they buy more…

Happy Friday, everyone!

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De Bogaard fountain (Or: Closed for cleaning)

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.

 

Categories: Rijswijk | 2 Comments

Heat (Or: Would you jump in this fountain?)

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.

Categories: Rijswijk, Sports | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Don’t trip (Or: Larger than life Euro 2012 decoration)

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.

Categories: Rijswijk, Sports | Tags: | 4 Comments

Rijswijk (Or: Where I act like a confused American)

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.

Continue reading

Categories: Rijswijk, Transportation | Tags: | 3 Comments

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