Our Rijswijk-Den Haag-Scheveningen Day

Make up any reason whatsoever for a photo hunt and we'll be there! Make it as important as picking up my new residence permit, this time for 5 years, and Astrid will even take off a day from work to make a celebration of it.

And that's exactly what we did a week ago Friday when we drove first to Rijswijk (past Delft) and then through Den Haag to the Scheveningen beach, where we spent the rest of our day (click on map to enlarge).

When I made the same trip to Rijswijk a year ago, to pick up my one-year permit, I took the train because we didn't yet have our car, Granny Towanda. You might remember that Delft was only 4 minutes away by train, so I made my own celebration by visiting that famous city, writing about it on my Vision & Verb post. When they give you a lemon, make lemonade!

This time, having Granny Towanda and Astrid with me made all the difference in the world.

First of all, we're having so much fun with the TomTom, our Christmas present to each other. How did we ever live without it! You wouldn't believe how much less stress there is in the car now. HA! Seriously, it has revolutionized the way we travel. It's so detailed it tells us what lane to be in and what the speed limit is, how fast we're driving, how many minutes it'll take us in the present driving conditions, etc., etc. Of course YOU already knew all about this. But did you know the TomTom was invented in 1991 by two Dutch guys named Peter? Seriously.

If you look at the map above, you can see that Rijswijk is a suburb to the east of Den Haag. So after our 30-min. stop to park the car, go get my new reseidence permit, take a potty break, and get back into the car again, we were on our way into the center of Den Haag (cityscape above).

One day we will photo-hunt Den Haag/The Hague but, that day, there was a planned demonstration with thousands of students protesting new college tuition hikes, so we said "No, thank you" and continued on to the coast, the playground of their rich and famous. What an irony.

That coast or beach is in Scheveningen where the Kurhaus Hotel is...part of Den Haag's playground. We hardly blink our eyes anymore when we "come as we are" into such places. What are they going to say: "We don't like your money!" Besides, it so happens we were the only ones there for our koffie en appletaart met slagroom, just before the lunch hour. By the way, I STILL think of this as eating dessert first, but for Astrid it is still only something lekkers (delicious) for koffie break. Besides, once a week will never kill us.


After our koffie break (priorities), we did a a quick run-through of the main restaurant of the Kurhaus Hotel, oohing and aahing. I'm guessing many rich-and-famous, heads of state, and dignitaries have eaten in that place. And no wonder....


...because following a nice meal, what to do but mosey on outside to the beachfront and look back on that architectural beauty....


...followed by a nice walk on the Scheveningen Pier nearby. Talk about a photo op!


As above, so below. Take your pick...two worlds apart. Most of the pier shops were closed because of so few tourists out-n-about. But we're not big shoppers, so no matter for us.
We just did our camera thing and were in heaven.


From the pier, looking south along the beach, we saw the Hoek van Holland (Hook of Holland) 18 km away (top photo above)...the waterway that takes you to Rotterdam, Europe's largest port. The dark line in the foreground is the rock jetty of the harbor into Scheveningen, which was our goal for that early afternoon, eating up the calories of our koffie met appeltaart.


More than anything else, Astrid wanted to walk the beach. We both got what she wished for!

When we happened upon the sandy floral bouquet (above), Astrid said it was probably from a funeral at sea...as in the scattering of someone's ashes, like her father's. It was a tender moment.




And then, just before reaching the harbor entrance, we looked back and caught the sky doing a number on the pier. Did I mention this is one of the things I love about the Netherlands: its skies!


At that same moment, the same skies were doing a number also on the lighthouse there at the harbor. I had captured it just minutes before (bottom left image above) when things were 'normal.' This is one of the reasons why I never worry if the sun isn't shining when we photo-hunt.
Why would you ever need sun with skies like that!


Several steps, shells, and photos later, about 40-minutes' worth, we finally arrived at the harbor entrance. Lucky for us, a Dutch Kustwacht (coastguard boat) was just entering as we arrived
(bottom right-hand image above...click to enlarge).


I'm such a glutton for these harbors, even if they're for fishing vessels instead of for recreation boats.
I'll take whatever I can get.


There at the harbor, by the way, stand these two monuments.
The one on the left is Lady Scheveningen, the patroness of the fisher-women, mourning for those who never returned from sea. The statue was created by artist Gerard Bakker in 1982.

The other monument a stone's throw away, with the pier in the background, commemorates God saving the Netherlands on 24 August 1865. But I can't for the life of me find what that's about. If you can, please let me know! It caught our eye because Astrid's birthday is 24 August!
[Addendum: check Dutchbaby's comment below for the answer!]


By then it was time to walk all the way back to where we had started at the Kurhaus Hotel, but not before Astrid celebrated the day by serving up a multi-fish lunch at a harbor café. See the white truck above? It sits at the long warehouse dock just meters away from the beach and harbor, loading or unloading the gazillion fish captured every day. And yes, haring is a specialty of this country...one for which I've not yet acquired a taste.
Maybe one day.

One last little tidbit: if you could say the word SCHEVENINGEN with a believable Dutch accent during The War, you would have been saved from getting killed. That first syllable is the killer: sch is pronounced like the sch sound in Schiphol Airport (in Amsterdam). The closest approximation in English would be SKAYveningen or SKIphol. Just add a bit of gutturalness to it and you've got it down pat...sure to live another day.

Another day and another photo hunt!

Last Impressions of Hawaii

As you'd imagine, there was so much to see and do and feel in Hawaii. I have written about some of it, especially through Nicholas' eyes, since he was staying with us. I have two more albums which I'll include here (the island life, boats, etc.) and here (the flowers and birds, etc.). Here's a smattering of what's in the albums:

We stayed in the Sheraton Waikiki there in the background, right next door to the Royal Hawaiian, of which you can see a hint of pink. There was always some kind of boating activity going on there! It was a popular starting/ending spot for different sea excursions.

Sometimes I would watch these excursions from our 15th-floor hotel balcony. I have always loved to watch how things work!

Everywhere we walked there were flowers and tropical life. Not to be resisted!

The ever-looming Diamond Head is a focal point all along Waikiki Beach. It stands there proud against all skies and/or visitors passing by.

We took a couple daytime excursions to places away from Waikiki Beach, to the other side of Diamond Head, and saw a different side of island life. Different but similar. The sea is the sea!

You can't see the Diamond Head lighthouse from Waikiki Beach, which is reason enough to get away and start wandering. I LOVE LOVE LOVE lighthouses!

Amy's special flower since her first visit to Hawaii 2 years ago is the Plumeria. I remember being in Hawaii with Bill many eons ago and buying Plumeria perfume. I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree!

One of our day trips was to the Kahala Resort not too far away where we were able to see the dolphins playing around during an instructional class. It was almost as fun to be the spectators...

...And to see more of the natural island habitat they had on display there. Donica is the Turtle, you may remember. HONU is sea turtle in Hawaiian. They can grow to be as big as me and her.

Always there was time to meditate and to see others doing it as well. How can you NOT slow down in a place like that and just BE! Maybe next time I'll go back and leave my camera at the hotel some of the time!

In a couple more hours I will close the laptop and be off to the airport for my direct flight to AMS, arriving tomorrow morning at 7:30a. Donica is there waiting for me...3 weeks since we last saw each other in Hawaii. It will be good to be "home" again.

And I'm glad to say that I turned the corner on Thursday after my knee surgery and now feel on top of the world again. I will not overdo it, I promise, but I will push myself to get back to full range of motion once again. Thanks for all your care and best wishes!