From a few weeks back, when Marco and I took a day off to visit Amsterdam:
Note the “I am Amsterdam” art installation (climbable at your own risk!). Besides the Rijksmuseum we also visited the American Book Center, an English language bookstore, and Eichholtz Delicatessen, a great store for American (and international) candy and snacks.
As I mentioned in my last blog post, Thursday was a holiday here in the Netherlands – Ascension Day (40 days after Easter). It was also Liberation Day (Dutch | English). For most people, that is only an official holiday every 5 years (2015, 2020, …) so most people had the day off because of Ascension Day.
But the reason Thursday was so great was the weather – 18c, or low 60s. A great day of sun that almost everyone got to enjoy. Since Friday we’ve been in the 70s.
Marco and I went to Hometown Coffee where I again ordered my iced mocha coffee. Yum! Marco got a blended cappuccino. Due to the good weather we decided to take a walk. Somewhere along the way we decided to go to the Palace Garden (Paleistuin in Dutch) where we found a bench to soak up some sun and watch the kids play on the playground.
And that’s the thing – good weather is precious here in the Netherlands and something to enjoy. The city comes alive in this time, with the outdoor cafés crowded, every table in the sun taken. It’s a great time!
(And here is a shoutout to my mom on this Mother’s Day!)
Some time ago I was walking past the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague. As you might be able to guess from the name, it’s an art museum. I’ve only been inside once so far, to see a Delfts blauw exhibit. That is blue and white pottery made in the Delft area since the 16th century.
Pretty, huh?
The weather is turning colder this week. About 50 degrees Fahrenheit, when it should be closer to 60 for this time of year. It’s hard to believe it will be Christmas in a few months!
I still have some more Dublin photos to post but I wanted to take a quick break and post some pictures from places a bit closer to home. I’ve wanted to post these for a while but never got around to it for whatever reason. First is the city hall of Gouda which Marco and I visited back in May (although most of the day was spent in Utrecht):
The second photo was taken by Marco a few months ago as he passed though the Centrum (downtown area) of The Hague. The lights through the church windows at the Nieuwe Kerk (“New church”) caught his eye.
Marco and I went to Utrecht on Saturday. We had previously gone to Utrecht last year but we made the mistake of visiting on a Monday — most shops tend to be closed or have reduced opening hours on Mondays. Plus the weather was bad and their was construction around the Domplein so it was not quite what we hoped.
This time it worked out for the better. Marco and I had train ticket vouchers (dag weekend vrij / one weekend day free pass) that needed to be used this past weekend. We first stopped at the VVV office (a tourism office) to pick up a €5 walking tour booklet.
Here are some of the pictures we took along the way:
A statue on the Domplein commemorating WWII. Behind is an image against the side of the wall, but it almost creates the illusion that you are looking inside the church itself.
Actually in the place where the statue currently is you could previously find the nave of the church, but that part of it was destroyed back in the 1600s.
(Above) Also in the Domplein, you have the Pandhof, a garden area dating back to the 14th-15th century (restored in the 18th century).
The Domtoren (towers) – from a bit further away. It rises above the city, and if per chance you are standing in a spot where it can not be seen, more than likely it can be heard. The church bells were all but continuous when we were in the area.
Academicgebouw, Utrecht University
Above you have the main academic building of Utrecht University, built in the late 19th century.
If you didn’t know the Tour de France was starting in Utrecht this year, well, now you do. 🙂 Stage 1 and stage 2 will be held in the city.
And finally, Marco’s favorite joke of the day:
“Every time I hear that dirty word exercise I wash my mouth out with beer.” / “Elke keer dat ik hoor dat vies woord ‘exercise’, was ik mijn mond met bier.”
A few days ago I came across another opportunity to do a sand-related post! The Hague has been celebrating Prinsjesdag this summer. One way they have been doing this is by creating a temporary sand art tourist attraction (read more in Dutch). This is quite similar to the photos I was able to grab in 2010 while here on vacation.
This year there were three sculptures done:
a sculpture capturing the arrival (“aankomst”) of William I in Scheveningen in 1813.
a sculpture of Willem I, with the older look on the left and a slightly more modern full body view on the right
sand sculpture about Prinsjesdag 2014, with the golden carriage in the front and the modern skyline of The Hague behind (words below are “200 jaar koninkrijk” or a celebration of the Netherlands being a kingdom for 200 years).
a sideways look at all three sculptures together
This past weekend the weather was quite beautiful in The Hague – 15/16C or around 60F. Yesterday Marco and I went for a short walk in the city, past the restaurants which seem to have exploded overnight in terms of outdoor seating, the Grote Kerk (below) and around the Buitenhof before heading back to the Grote Markt street to finish up our grocery shopping at Albert Heijn and charge my OV-chip card – something I do weekly thanks to needing the tram to get to work.
Here is one of the photos I took:
Grote Ker, Den Haag
Beautiful blue skies. Good times! And how nice for it to actually happen over the weekend for a change.
Here’s some pictures of The Hague that I took over the last few weeks. The first one is a building across from the Noordeinde Palace, one of the three palaces for the royal family. Of course, I mostly took the picture because the window covers were a lovely shade of blue!
I also ended up taking a picture of a canal, though I forget where it was at or where I was going at the time. The flowers dominate the photograph, almost hiding the water completely:
Of course, as I already mentioned this is from a few weeks ago, before the weather went all cold and rainy!
Before there were chapter books like Het geheim van de verliefde hulpkok, there were picture books like Tien kleine heksjes (10 little witches). Marco and I had gone to Amsterdam Public Library, and we stopped at the children’s section for this photo.
You can see more pictures of the children’s section of the library by looking at one of the first posts I wrote for this blog.
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.
Life in the Hague 