Den Haag

Den Haag (The Hague) is a city south west of Amsterdam, which is known as the Netherlands' seat of government, although it is not the capital city. Queen Beatrix lives and works in that city, and the UN has its judicial court system there. All foreign embassies and government ministries are located in The Hague, so it was no surprise when Erika called us to say she was attending a government conference there.

We decided that although our time together would be short, we would make the trip to Den Haag to see her. Getting to that city involves flying into Amsterdam and then taking a train. We booked a flight out of Prague on Friday evening, and agreed to meet Erika at the Amsterdam airport on Saturday AM. That meant that we needed a place to stay Friday night, and we opted to find one in Amsterdam.

We checked with Chris, who has colleagues in Amsterdam, and we stayed at a hostel called the Windsor. It is located in the Red Light district, which pretty much guaranteed a party in the streets all night. The Windsor's bar is a Belushi's bar, as in the Mosaic House, and we were treated like royalty. The burgers were fantastic!!

Street scene by the hostel.....

Imagine all those people speaking at the top of their lungs (which they did) all night...

Ah, love those canals.....

The party noise worked somewhat like a whitenoise machine, so we were able to sleep. We noticed that the noise stopped about 5 AM, which is when we got up so that we could meet Erika's 7 AM arrival. The train trip is only about 1/2 an hour, so we arrived in The Hague about 8:30 AM. One of the quirky things we discovered is that on weekends, restaurants don't open before 10 AM, and some not until 11. We were starving upon our arrival, and it took some walking and some charming conversation from one of Erika's colleagues to get breakfast (in a pub, no less) before 11 AM!

The Hague is a beautiful city with a mix of modern and old architecture, and some very grand residential areas.

Near Erika's hotel...

The Parliament buildings....

Tom's sense of humor.....




And you may have noticed we are wearing jackets. It was cold! When we left Prague Friday evening, I was dripping with sweat as it was in the high 80's. When we stepped off the plane in Amsterdam, it was in the high 50's. What a change! It did get into the low 60's during the day, and the sun was very hot but it was quite windy which made it very uncomfortable without a jacket.

After we left Erika to her conference activities on Sunday afternoon, we took a quick trip to the beach.

I wish getting to "thin" was this easy...

The boardwalk - sort of like New Jersey....



A sand sculpture.....


And then it was time to head back home. We had noticed all weekend that the entire country seemed to be decorated in orange in support of the Netherlands soccer team that is playing in the World Cup. (They won their game today as a matter of fact.) Even the restrooms at the airport sported bright orange toilet tissue! And, for those diehard fans who have to travel during the games, the airport even has a large screen TV at the entrace so that you can check those scores one last time.

Mosaic House and Belushi's Bar

Saturday at school

Ah, the joys of working on a Saturday! Each year our school puts on a special day known as Summer Fayre. Since summer weather seemed to be eluding us up to this point, I was somewhat sceptical for our changes of good weather. However, I was told that it NEVER rains on Summer Fayre, and this year was no exception. It was quite hot and very sunny - just perfect weather for fun and games outside.

There were many booths set up (usually run by the teachers) with various activities for the children to enjoy. My luck- of- the -draw this year was cookie decorating. We set up our table in a very shady corner and provided the kids with their sugar-shot for the day! Icing, sprinkles, gummy things, M & M's - all on top of a yummy sandwich cookie.


There were also booths with gently-used items for sale (couldn't resist a few books), and a few outside vendors (couldn't resist a few bottles of wine, either). There was plenty of food and drink, and I think all involved had fun.

Bouncy castles, bungee jumping, and pony rides in this direction.....

Food, vendors and games this way....


and some fellow teachers enjoying the sun....