Posts Tagged With: Flowers

Just outside of Dublin (Or: Glasnevin cemetery and National Botanic Gardens)

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Niki

Just after Marco and I visited Kilmainham Gaol (the prison mentioned in the last post) we hopped on bus 40 around the corner to go north of the city to Glasnevin cemetery and the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin. From Kilmainham it was about a 40-45 minute ride (from the city center it would probably be closer to 25 minutes). They are right next to each other and connected so that you don’t have to walk all the way around along the main road to get to the other.

Statues near the center of the cemetery, The tower in the background is called O’Connell tower and it stands over the tomb of Daniel O’Connell.

It doesn’t show as well in the photos I have selected, but some parts of the cemetery are very, very crowded, with no space between grave markers. This part was a bit older and much less crowded.

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Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Dublin, Flowers, Vacation | Leave a comment

Flowers for a compliment (Or: Albert Heijn)

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Niki

Last week my mother-in-law and I made a stop at Albert Heijn. She had a coupon from the Allerhande (the Albert Heijn recipe book) for a discount on Senseo coffee. The coupon itself was good from mid-March until today but she hadn’t had much luck finding an Albert Heijn with the item in stock.

When she asked at the customer service desk for this particular Albert Heijn (Grote Markt 55A) whether they had the item in stock, the worker looked in the back for the item and whether or not it might be re-stocked soon. When she couldn’t find it, she offered a few different options. My mother-in-law was quite pleased with this service and remarked about how the service at this Albert Heijn was better than at her own. At this remark we both received flower bouquets, a quite unexpected move.

Here’s a picture of mine, though I’m sorry for the blurriness. I tried to sharpen it a bit, but it didn’t quite work out:

Categories: Everyday purchases | Tags: Albert Heijn, Flowers | Leave a comment

Springtime flowers in The Hague (Or: Sun!)

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Niki

Lately the temperature has been climbing up – bit by bit, with lapses back into cold rainy days from time to time, but it is definitely springtime. It’s still generally in the high 50s or low 60s, but it is an improvement. Usually!

Along with most of our days off (holidays) falling in April-June, this marks the time when outdoor events begin. For example, yesterday was the Dag van de Haagse Geschiedenis (in Dutch, Day of History of The Hague). Next weekend is the Life I Live festival (Dutch | English). This festival is found throughout the center of The Hague, on nine different stages, from 7pm to 1:30am. It falls on King’s Day eve, the night before the King’s birthday.

How do I feel about spring finally being here? Well, here’s a cappuccino smiley to show you:

Of course the forehead makes it look slightly evil… just don’t feed it after midnight.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Flowers, Spring | 1 Comment

“I’m sorry”s (Or: A bundle of tulips)

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Niki

If Monday’s journey includes a stop to Utrecht Central, you might just be presented with a bundle of tulips by an NS worker (NS being the main train company in the Netherlands). The official reason for this is to promote “random acts of kindness”

Of course, the more cynical train riders would say that the timing is a bit suspicious as NS had a lot of sensor issues earlier in the week at Utrecht Central. This train station is more or less in the middle of the country and the main transfer point for trains. The delay due to the sensors completely halted traffic for a few hours, but the effects were felt far into evening rush hour. Delays were easily 90 minutes to 2 hours.

In continuing with the random acts of kindness theme, the NS recommend that if you receive a bundle of tulips that you pass it on to someone else to brighten their day. The article says that this isn’t the first time that they passed out tulips to train passengers, so perhaps it is just a a nice gesture after all…

Categories: Transportation | Tags: Flowers | Leave a comment

Gardens (Or: MCH Westeinde, hospital)

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Niki

Today I went with my mother-in-law to the hospital for her scheduled eye operation. It went well, but feel free to leave her well wishes here or on Facebook. 😉 Betenschap!

It was in total about 90 minutes (as there were a few folks before her) and a bit of time in the cafeteria afterwards. I took the time to read a bit. I had charged up the phone and tablet but ended up not needing them at all. Go paper books!

On the way out I took a moment to take a picture of the indoor garden. It is near the entrance, a level below you, but visible as you cross over the bridge.

Pretty! It was just missing the small waterfall…

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Flowers | Leave a comment

Birthdays (Or: Flowers, balloons and key lime pie)

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Niki

Over the weekend we had a birthday party for Marco (slightly delayed since some of our friends were out of the country). Since it was his 40th I decided to be slightly evil and buy some themed balloons. “Keep calm — you’re only 40” balloons, to be precise.

Very colorful – not quite the rainbow I was going for, but it works. One of the guests also dropped off flowers…

Marco decided to show off his creative baking side by making key lime pie using Keebler graham cracker crust (recipe here).

And of course he added his own touch by freezing some of the raspberry syrup mix into Captain America shield molds. Yum. And crazy…

Categories: Friends&Family | Tags: Birthdays, Flowers | Leave a comment

Picture of The Hague (Or: Someone’s front yard)

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Niki

Sorry I have not posted much lately – I’ve been a bit under the weather (though if you happen to be either of my parents reading this, I’m fine. Marco takes good care of me ;p).

But anyway — here’s a picture of a front yard somewhere in The Hague! I can’t even remember where I was anymore, as I took it a few months ago.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Flowers | 2 Comments

Canals and flowers (Or: Visiting Utrecht)

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Niki

A few weeks ago Marco and I visited Utrecht. For various reasons it ended up not being quite what I expected but that can be chalked up to two things: the weather wasn’t that great and we went on a Monday, when a lot of things ended up being closed. We mostly stayed in the center of the city and looked at stores (board game stores, comic book stores and similar) rather than doing too many cultural things. I do wish we could have stayed until it got dark, though, as I would have been able to see the Trajectum Lumen. At night certain areas of the city are artistically lit, with guided tours provided on Saturdays.

I did get some good pictures, though. Here are a couple:

Utrecht canal, typical Dutch bike in the photo frame

stares down to the canal level on Oudegracht (a main street in the central area). A lot of restaurants are at canal level, so you take the stairs down to reach them.

close up of some flowers in Utrecht

Items at “It’s a Present” gift store

“It’s a present” was actually a pretty cool gift shop even though we didn’t buy anything. It had some really random items for sale, including what you see above. The only negative was that the shop was small, so they had to expand vertically – there’s technically three small floors, but sometimes the stairs can be a bit tricky to navigate.

Categories: Utrecht | Tags: Canals, Flowers | 7 Comments

Gardens of The Hague (Or: Hidden places)

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Niki

A few weeks ago I went on a tour of The Hague which was organized by Gilde Den Haag’s SamenSpraak program. It was pretty cool – I think we hit about 10-12 spots in The Hague which weren’t that well known. Here are some random pictures from the gardens:

A bit chaotic, but a pretty garden none the less.

This sort of reminds me of a typical American background (well, typical for those who like to do some landscaping).

A cool tree – though to me it looks more like an old man who is having trouble staying upright. Or me on a wild hair day…

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Flowers | Leave a comment

Surprises (Or: White roses from Marco

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Niki

Apparently I have already written a blog pot with a similar title (I had to add in “white” to this one). I guess I am just not creative enough…

Marco randomly surprised me a few days ago with a bouquet of white roses:

Of course the other surprise is I haven’t managed to kill them yet. (I did manage to kill a different set of Dutch-themed orange roses within 36 hours last year. Sad.)

Categories: Marco&Niki | Tags: Flowers | 2 Comments