This weekend

We're off to Utrecht again for the weekend, and Rene has booked us into a 'secret' hotel for Friday and Saturday nights - love the intrigue! On Saturday we're dining with the former neighbours, an eclectic group of lovely people, some of whom have left the street like we have.

If you missed the Facebook link, Utrecht and Dutch society was written about today in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - it makes fascinating reading: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12059/1213032-51.stm


This is from 1880-1890.


There's a tiny part of the bridge in this present day picture - the old medieval city centre has remained quite intact, escaping the bombing of WW2 that destroyed much of Den Haag's historic centre.

Boulevard Scheveningen

Yesterday Rene and I took the bus from outside the rented apartment towards the beach at Scheveningen.  It is a challenging word to pronounce, and during WW2 if a civilian was thought to be a German soldier passing themselves off as Dutch, the Resistance would ask them to say something like (in Dutch) 'the ships arrived in Scheveningen harbour', and if they failed first time they'd be shot.  There's a serious amount of phlegm in that phrase :)

We had tea at the beautiful kurhaus, an elegant hotel from the 1880's, then meandered along the esplanade as far as we could avoiding the multi million euro extension and creation of a dyke running one kilometre along the shore.  You can detour onto the beach, quite some way out to sea, around the backside of the beach works.  They are working on the beach during winter and the esplanade during summer.  Now two years on, there is just over one year's work left to complete it.

Sadly it was also announced yesterday at the information booth on the beach that the Spanish architect of the project, Manuel de Sola-Morales, had died at his home in Barcelona.  I read this today for myself; Rene heard the news in Dutch and didn't think it worthy of mentioning to me in English - I have to live with this 'filter' of knowledge and it can be a teeny bit frustrating at times because I would have thought it to be a monumentally massive bit of information - yet not mentioned at all.

Anyway, the project continues and will be a favourite walking area of ours in the future, plus there will be great seafood restaurants and outlets  everywhere, and of course (how could I forget) pavilions set up along the beaches from March until September with food, drinks and general revelry right on our doorstep (OK, maybe 15 minutes walk away).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92Ur2RXb1r8&feature=player_embedded

The beach has been extended 70m farther into the sea and you can appreciate the finished product better in this video:

http://youtu.be/ZSIKlkJQqws

weekend

Had a lovely weekend with the family near Eindhoven in the south.  Family Dings have a weekend like this a couple of times a year and involves cafes, walking in the forest, cafe, then dinner - this time a lovely Italian meal.  We slept at Rene's younger brother Jack's home (and Svetlana) and in the morning chatted over a late breakfast, then played different games with Anneke, their nearly 7 year old daughter.  The 72 memory cards from Tweety and Sylvester were polished off by Anneke in no time at all (amazing visual memory) and then whilst we snacked more games came out, and of course Rene showed Anneke his DS with a camera and special effects (as well as games) on it. 

Around 3:30 we headed to the station and upon arriving there found the Den Haag line was disrupted by track work (surprise!) so we took a Schiphol train towards Amsterdam (heading north instead of west) and of course we had to change at Utrecht to go west to Den Haag, then Rene had a thought to call ahead and see if any friends might be heading to our old cafe, and sure enough, we arrived at Ledig Erf at 5:30 and met Paul, his long time friend, and later Geert and Rosemarie - who both visited us in Brisbane - arrived separately and they were hugely surprised and happy to see us.  Great three hours!  Oh, I must mention Paul's girlfriend who also arrived there to go to Paul's place for dinner - she is a fascinating woman to chat with. 


Rene and I had a quick meal before heading to the station for the late journey back to Den Haag - a very nice weekend indeed!

Gillard's Win!

Woke up to the news that the Oscars were already announced AND Julia Gillard had won the standoff against K Rudd (71/31).  The Artist and Meryl Streep were sort of foregone conclusions as far as winners were concerned, but not so the political story leading every bulletin coming out of Australia. 

I must say I was surprised that it was so conclusive and I hope it means that people can concentrate now again on policies and not personalities.  Some Dutch people I have spoken with are aware of the clash of leaders but not necessarily the background leading up to it.  The surprise resignation of a young 40yo senator/minister in the wake of the turmoil has saddened me somewhat since I thought Mark Arbib was a shining light - but perhaps he's just as sick of the nonesense as the rest of us are?

Art Gallery Extension

The Mauritshuis gallery featuring the famous 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' is undergoing a significant improvement between now and 2014.  The Hague's most famous gallery is to be almost doubled in size. Plans are featured in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3TNPPoPYm0&feature=player_embedded

Social update

We're off tomorrow to Eindhoven for a family outing, staying at Rene's brother Jack's home.  The whole family gets together occasionally, and we go out to dinner and socialise - very nice indeed.  We're travelling by train.  The building (below) is called 'The Blob' housing shops on the ground floor, offices above and a bicycle parking area beneath.  We saw it nearly finished when we last visited two years ago, looking forward to seeing the controversial finished product.

The following weekend we're off to Utrecht where our former neighbours will get together for an afternoon and evening of talking, eating and drinking.  We last saw them NYE 2009.  Exciting too!

Oh, nearly forgot - in June friends of ours from Brisbane are swapping their home for one in Lannion, Brittany (925km from here) which has five bedrooms and a pool.  We've been invited for a while too - more excitement!

We have three (yes, three) sets of new visitors added to our already large list.  How very thrilling!  Just as well our new place will be large - by Dutch standards - and we have just found out our container isn't arriving on the 25th but now is on the 8th of March.  We ought to be able to have it delivered to our new home without having to go into storage first.  It becomes available around 6 or 7 days after landing and clearing customs.

As I look out of the window there is high cloud shrouding the skyscrapers in the city centre but the rest looks bright but hazy. Could be worse...

12:30am Friday

Not long in from a big day out and about.  We were to have another more detailed inspection of two properties. Met Rene on the tram (he cycled into the Centrum first) and we went for a walk around Statenkwartier.  Came across a restaurant called 'Flavors' on Willem de Zwijgerlaan off 'The Fred' and had a delightful sandwich plus beer for lunch (www.flavors.nu) - definitely want to try their spare ribs one day, they sound superb. The place was buzzing!

Continued walking, walking around the streets, then crossed the canal to Vogelwijk (our prospective home neighbourhood) and walked right to Duinord and the beach, then along back towards the harbour and back towards Statenkwartier where we had a coffee (not very good) at a pavilion, then met up with our friend Isabelle prior to the makelaar arriving.  The apartments were inspected again, plusses and minuses considered, then we left the bloke and the building and Isabelle, Rene and I walked off back to her favourite cafe for drinks and discussions.  That was around 4:45.....we left her at 10:40 after countless beers and some very good pub grub (I had duck spring rolls followed by vegetarian pie with wild mushrooms and stilton - excellent!)

Rene and I got a tram back to the city and he left me at Centraal  Station to cycle home whilst I had to go back by bus (waited 25 minutes) and by the time I got in he'd already been in 25 minutes - I know, get a bike Owen, but just not quite yet......

Showered, rested, happy with the day, loving the complex we're probably going to buy into, and above all a great night at the pub.............I'm off to bed a very happy chappy.

Tot ziens

This is the beachside area near where we want to buy - Scheveningen Harbour. 

We are actually just below the picture, but it is close by to walk, and of course cycle.

Slept soundly!

OK, it's a relative term for me - 'soundly' means I only woke a couple of times, sipped some water, noted the time, went straight back to sleep.  For me that's 'sound'.  Reason?  We are finally narrowing down our choices, and it is between two new apartments  -  places where we can imagine our furniture in place.

Here, some nice places just have no way of easily moving in furniture - some would require windows removed and fork lifts to be used from the street - and I kid you not, it does happen every day here.  Imagine tiny twisting staircases - often in places that have the living UP the stairs and sleeping DOWN the stairs - when you are local you just cope, but many delightful places we saw failed often when one considered getting our stuff inside the house..............so, although the 1930 place in Duinoord was so very, very nice - one level, elevator access - we are going for brand new in the area known as Vogelwijk - vogel means 'bird' and 'wijk' means suburb.  It's on the edge of Statenkwartier and is a 9 minute walk from lovely cafes, and beautiful shopping streets moments away.  The harbour is 10 minutes away (less by bike) and in summer is the setting for many, many terraces where folk just go to enjoy the beach, water and the weather.

Speaking of weather, it is currently 8, sunny and quite warm sitting in this window.  It will turn colder this weekend, but no rain to speak of.  Maybe we'll see 10 this afternoon, but really quite pleasant late February weather.  One month of winter left, so looking good so far!

Just read that my old school in Brisbane was evacuated today because of fumes, and one teacher taken to hospital for checks.  No children were affected, but I have yet to hear more from the school.  Glad it wasn't major!

We're escaping for lunch out and a walk around our potential new neighbourhood before inspecting our two choices at 4pm with a makelaar and a friend.  No doubt we'll end up at a cafe for the evening - much nicer than drinking at home (which we mainly do here now).

NB These are artist impressions - real pics to follow.

What 45sqm looks like

Yes, I know I'm prone to exaggeration but this is what our apartment (flat) looks like. Rene took them and we didn't tidy up (sorry) but you get the idea. My new computer looks like it's about to swallow the entire living room.

Decisions, decisions.....

This is the front entrance (there are three entrances in all) of our apartment complex in Den Haag. Very impressive 1930's building of quite charming dimensions. We think now we are not going to go for 'old' but we haven't finished weighing up the pros and cons.

Another disturbed night - and I was sleeping on the couch! Yes, I snore, and the only solution currently is the couch (or the hallway outside the apartment!) I couldn't switch off my mind regarding houses to buy, so there I am - slept fine for a couple of hours, then awake, dry throat, check time...it's a sort of ritual. I'm in the dark, awake with my eyes closed, thinking about room sizes, neighbourhoods, which trams/buses needed to get to the five schools I have available should it be horrible weather and I decide to not cycle....and so it goes on. Then there's that bit where you really get annoyed with yourself, mutter out loud with hushed expressions about settling and sleeping....and so on. Finally, a couple of hours later, sleep finally happens, you wake up hours later in daylight and feeling less than rested. Two nights in a row now, but a solution is at hand - decision time is here - after many, many viewings, we are going back for a second time to see two new apartments in a brand new complex near the harbour, following calls back and forth today between Rene and the makelaar. There is a good rebate on the asking prices, and we both really like the complex and the area. Resolution within days is believable; whether I sleep soundly tonight is another matter.
I was also amazed to watch live on Sky News Australia, streamed on my computer, Kevin Rudd's decision to quit as Foreign Minister. I like the guy, but I'm also a bit in line with Wayne Swan, the Deputy PM, who says that Krudd is unreliable and has lost many of basic Labor principles that are the essence of being different to the Opposition. I know my way to the Australian Embassy, and I may soon see the interior as well. Imagine, in Queensland; local government elections, a state election and the prospect of a federal election all within a few weeks/months? I'm thinking I'm happy to be away from it all.

First civil unions in Queensland take place on March 5. The comments from Joe Public below the Courier Mail article today on line are both scary and humorous. I know the sky won't fall in on the 5th, and I also know that if there is a God, that entity will be all forgiving and all embracing - so good on the Queenslanders who are taking this historic step. Rene and I are fortunate to have a married status here in Nederlands that is totally legal and equal in every respect to that of a straight couple. It is 'marriage' as defined in Napoleonic Law - a legal state of being. The Dutch who wish to have their civil ceremony blessed by the Church have a separate ceremony in a religious setting, sometimes days after the civil ceremony, but the only way to be regarded as 'married' is for it to be conducted by the State. I like that!

I've been looking at the weather in Queensland lately, and it is typical for February with high temperatures, humidity and regular storms. Would you believe that on BBC news the other night SE England has been declared officially in drought, with low rainfalls and higher temperatures playing havoc with the dams. Even here, over the past three weeks, we haven't had all that much rain. Yesterday afternoon coming back home it was 10C, this afternoon as I type it is 8C and quite windy. Oh well, spring officially starts here on March 21st so not long to wait.

Mon Feb 13

Missed this one out - oops!


Monday Feb
13 - Den Haag

This
evening I'm feeling quite tired. We had
a full day viewing five properties and walking, walking, walking. The first
property was Parkstraat 69 and I quite liked it - owned by a now retired French
couple who sell special valves to the oil industry (it's a living!) The town house was used as a residence and
office and would be great with a little bit done to it - but not sure about it.

After a
coffee it was walk, walk, walk to the next makelaar at the next property. He was very good as well and took us around
in his rented (waiting for a new BMW lease vehicle) Citroen C1 - the size of a
suitcase on wheels - very nice for ultra basic transport. We saw a regular house (not happening!) then
an apartment in Archipel (the islands area) which was nice but not enough boxes
ticked. We then went to an apartment
complex opposite the Australian Embassy on Laan van Meerdervoort that we really
liked (garden plus terrace and car park space) but apparently someone has an
offer on it subject to the sale of their home and so we make an offer and the
person decides if they want to go on with the purchase, or not. Great spot and you'd never know a significant
road was outside the complex. This we'll
follow up. Then on to a penthouse of
only 115sqm with a terrace of 70sqm on the 10th floor overlooking
Statenkwartier and Scheveningen. Nice, but not large enough. We went back to the office and got some
details of a new apartment complex right near the harbour so later in the week
(Thursday??) we'll investigate those.

Back into
the Centrum - walk, walk, walk - we went to MediaMarkt and bought a filter
coffee maker (Philips, of course) with a thermos carafe - it's old fashioned
but we like our brewed coffee - forget espresso machines and Nespresso thingamajigs
- just coffee and filter papers and bloody good coffee in quantity every
time. I also bought an all in one
desktop computer (Asus) operating on Windows 7 and a 1080 monitor/hard drive
combined in one unit. It was a challenge
bringing everything home on the bus, but we did it. Then we had to go out again and do food
shopping because we were weighed down before with 'stuff'.

Now I know
why I'm feeling tired.....

Friday - Rene sick

Poor old Rene is crook with a cold, and he's been sleeping and lying around all day. I went to the shops, and along with a trip to the bottle shop later in the day, we've both been having a rest. Tonight I did a stir fry chicken in Thai green curry with white and wild rice. Very nice indeed. Rene ate all of his generous serving so he must be starting to improve. Tomorrow I want to go back and see if there's a layout of an apartment that I/we prefer most of all. It comes with two parking spaces (we'll only need one) but our guests could park easily. Yesterday we walked into around 10 apartments in the one complex, and after a while you forget what was what. Being Dutch, these apartments have to be painted, floor coverings put down plus a kitchen installed by the owner. The toilets and bathrooms are included.

Last night Rene's niece Lotte and her flat mate came around for dinner. It was a great success - three courses served as stylishly as we could. Great evening. The girls are heading home to the south this weekend for Carnivaal - the biggest party in town! In the Catholic south every community has a celebration some four days long with parties, dinners, sing a longs in cafes and general merriment, plus a big parade in every town. A great prelude to Lent. Nothing like this happens in Den Haag, but eight years ago I went to one in Weert in Brabbant, and they certainly know how to have a great time.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
This evening the news was full of the Dutch Prince buried by an avalanche in Austria around midday today. He is stable but serious in hospital in Innsbruck and is fortunate that he had signalling gear on him. I think he was buried for around 20 minutes.

Thursday Feb 16

Saw possibly the apartment we might buy - 145sqm, nice area, down by the harbour (yes, I know I said we'd never go there). Just read that a new European School of The Hague - opening August - is in the neighbourhood. That would make four or five campuses to seek casual work.

Wed Feb 15

The box with the net equipment arrived - Rene toiled and we now have the net on! Marvellous!

Tue Feb 14

Tuesday Feb
14 - Den Haag

Valentine's
Day - how did you mark it? For me,
around 6:30pm starting to tear up describing how wonderful it is to be with my
man in Nederlands, in front of a female friend.
I had one more beer after that, and then called it quits.

We had a
late start to the day (always nice) and headed off to our only appointment of
the day in the Statenkwartier. We had
four properties to view, and only one met most of our requirements EXCEPT it
had only one full bedroom - not enough room.
A fabulous apartment in a great spot and beautifully renovated - if we
needed just room for two it would have been PERFECT but, alas, we really need a
full second bedroom at least.

We have
many more to see tomorrow.

Seeing as
though we were in Statenkwartier, we called our friend Isabelle for a drink at
her favourite cafe. Three hours later, a
few tears - such a romantic sap I am - we're off to a Thai for dinner -
fabulous! Tram arrived at the stop as we
got there; bus was at the station when we alighted from the tram, in the house
within no time. Great day! Good night!

Sat Feb 11

Saturday February 11 - Den Haag

We bought a crate of beer this
afternoon on the way home for A$12.40....yes, German beer....24
bottles....'Warfteiner'.....euro9.99 on special. Amazing!
Oh, there was a three euro deposit added, but still....incredible! Want to know more? A crate of Heinekin was even less!

We received mail from Ziggo, our
cable company that explains that we'll probably be connected on Wednesday. We also get an HD thingummyjig for our
television, but I don't think this TV is going to be using it since it is very
nice but the old squarish shape. I plan
on buying the biggest TV possible (OK, not really 'that' big) when we have the
house chosen and I intend watching the London Olympics live - all of it! - and
things like the BAFTA awards which are on TV tomorrow night from London (but
we'll be away visiting the south).

We saw our first Dutch fire
today. Not the one in a fireplace but a
real fire in a building. OK, it was a
small fire in a sort of kiosk-type building at Kijkduin, but it had two police
vehicles arriving separately (the first one at ridiculous high speed) and
followed by two separate fire appliances, then a fire supervisor's 4WD. The little shop was selling fish and chips,
and it appears that it was a fat fire that got out of control. It influenced a neighbouring shop/stall and
it was all happening at Kijkduin, one of the prettier dune beach areas south of
Scheveningen.

To get there we took a bus from
right outside our apartment building (#23) and it took almost 50 minutes to get
there, going in a giant U shaped route through Voorburg, then Rijswijk,
swinging back towards the sea and finally arriving at the terminus in
Kijkduin. It was a beautifully sunny
morning and a balmy -2C at the beach, and the North Sea once again (just like
the other day) was beautifully calm.
There would have been no way in Hell that Rene would have done the trip
if he got to choose, but I encouraged him to do it because we have to become
familiar with our locale, and we had nothing else to do - I've already
mentioned Dutch real estate folk don't do weekends.
We had a lovely coffee and a slice
of apple cake at a sandwich restaurant which looked marvellous. It was still not quite 12 and we didn't feel
like a proper lunch, but I'd love to come back and try something from their
menu - what was coming out of the kitchen looked fabulous! After a walk, the fire excitement and
deciding that Kijkduin's real attraction was in the summer months, we walked
towards a tram line around 1500m away - of course one had to negotiate slippery
paths, so whilst sounding not that far away, we approached the walking with a
certain degree of caution.

We caught our first Randstatrail
tram - a sort of light railway - which took us into the Centrum and delivered
us to the underground Grotemarkt station.
It was our first time in the station (we had walked above and around it
often) and I have to say it is very nicely designed. It continues the
underground tram line under the city hall (there's the Spui Station) and comes
above ground by the time it reaches Den Haag Centraal Station. I remember it taking ages to build and of
course ran over time and over budget, but it frees the streets above and is a
seriously impressive people mover since the trams are virtually 3 carriages
long as opposed to 2.5 of an ordinary tram, and I think wider with 2+2 width (a
regular tram in 2+1 wide). I think there
are plans to put another route into the city with this higher capacity light
rail tram, but platforms and other alterations have to be done, but it is
planned to happen soon.

We went to 'Out of Australia' shop
to buy a gift for Maike's birthday. What
do you buy a 19 year old girl? Ear
muffs, of course, made from Australian merino wool - very smart and so
practical too!

Next we went to the City Hall
library (bibliotheek) and used their free wifi for both of our computers, and I
did my emails and some stuff, read about the floods out West in Queensland
(poor St George!) and felt sort of connected for a short while. That rain out west just doesn't seem to want
to quit.

On the way home Rene checked
timetables and bought tickets for the train tomorrow. We plan on leaving here at 11:24 on the bus, an
11:54 train to Tilberg then a 1:15 bus to near the house of my brother in law
in Bladel. This may well be the only
time we use public transport to go anywhere distant because we will have a car
when we know where we are going to live.

....and that's about all folks!

Oh, forgot, we saw a green parrot,
wild, in the back garden of a house we looked at yesterday. Apparently this is not an unusual sight these
days, but it was cute looking but SO out of place.

(4 hrs. later) Just watched a
concert by Adele from the Royal Albert Hall recorded last September. It was on NED3, without ads, and was bloody
brilliant. Love that girl!

Fri Feb 10

Friday Feb
10 - Den Haag

Today was a
quiet day, much the same as other days lately.
We met a makelaar at Kleine Nobelstraat and inspected a very nice
apartment almost in the centre of town on two levels - had a lovely three
bedrooms layout on the lower level BUT the living area upstairs was just too
small for our furniture. The car park in
the basement is accessed via a car elevator, and there was also loads of
storage space. We then went to a double
upstairs house that was very nice in so many ways but just didn't really grab
us both. It had actually been renovated
three years ago and was nicely done seeing as though the owner actually wanted
to live in his renovation after it was completed unlike the other renos we've
seen so far done just to make a quick buck.

We walked
home following that visit for lunch and then Rene shopped and I went and
arranged more visits for Monday and Wednesday at a nearby makelaar. I noticed that in the next block from our
place is the Austrian Embassy in a very nice, but unpretentious, building part
of a long terrace. The major nation's
embassies bye and large here are quite large and in prominent inner city
locations.

Rene cooked
chilli con carne tonight in a new frying pan bought from V & D this
morning. It is Dutch manufactured, not
far from here in Zoetemeer, and was quite expensive but so much better to use
than what we have here in the apartment.
New definition of 'desperate' - viewing (and not really minding) the
film 'Get Smart' and laughing out loud a couple of times. Yes, you guessed it; the long promised net
connection didn't happen today. Roll on
Monday.

Point of
interest: Australian real estate agents
do their best selling and viewing on a Saturday, and sometimes Sundays. Not here.
Real estate is strictly Mon - Fri in Nederlands, so we have no viewings
tomorrow so a whole day to go around and see more places in the city. Sunday we're off to the south for a
birthday/family day. Haven't seen the
family since we were last here two years ago. Should be lovely.

Thurs Feb 9

Thursday
February 9 - Den Haag

This is
quickly being composed at 11:30 - HOORAY!
We have watched 'The Bourne Identity' tonight on RTL7 - the landlady
rang Rene today to explain when the cable should be connected (Friday she
hopes!) and also explained that since we don't have a 'normal' TV - it's a
B&O (Bang and Olifsomething) it requires mastery of a remote control to
make other 'mere' remotes tremble. I
stayed in the city a couple of hours longer after Rene headed back home and
when I came in the TV was working with around 20 free channels, but when we get
internet and cable MORE channels will appear (apparently).

Today after
a late start we took a #23 bus to Thereisa Straat and walked around the
suburb. It's quite nice, and one of my
schools is situated in this area, but the Centraal Station and city office
blocks are really separating it from the main part of the city, but it is close
and very walkable (let alone moments on a bike). Whilst walking we came across the NH hotel
Rene's niece is working in as part of a tertiary course she's completing. We popped in, but she was busy when we rang
and couldn't see us. Further along the
road we came across another local makelaar, called in, and left with several
property descriptions to contemplate. I
have to say that the majority of makelaars and staff we've met have impressed
me a lot - especially sine they started from such a low status in my mind.

We then
took the same 23 bus in the opposite direction to Scheveningen, the beachside
suburb and most popular place in Nederlands in the summer. After lunch we walked along the esplanade and
recoiled at the ugly collection of buildings surrounding the jewel of Den Haag
- the Kuurhaus. This incredibly elegant
hotel would not be out of place in Paris, and the interior is stunning BUT the
incredibly unsympathetic mish mash of architectural styles surrounding it makes
the area a B- as far as aesthetics are concerned HOWEVER all is not lost. 3km of the esplanade is being remodelled by a
Spanish architect to incorporate walkways and so on on top of a functioning
dyke designed to protect the suburb from the severe winter storms. It is due to be completed by Feb 2014 and
looks quite impressive.

Today as we
walked alongside the North Sea it was like a mill pond and it even began
lightly, occasionally snowing - and continued at least until I got home at
5:30.

We walked
on to the harbour, then detoured towards a makelaar from yesterday on 'The
Fred' where we were to pick up some more suggestions for properties. A tram to the Centrum ensured a speedy return
(the transport here is bloody brilliant) and Rene and I parted company so I
could do some grocery shopping on my own for dinner, and while I was at it I
looked into some stores and streets we hadn't been in before. The Passage is an elegant mall or arcade of
very swanky stores with prices to match.
It is beautiful to look at, although the emphasis is seriously on female
fashion.

I wanted a
casserole tonight for dinner. Easier
said than done. I managed to make a
curry beef and vegetable hot pot with sliced potatoes on top and baked (first
time using the oven) to perfection.

Afterwards
we watched the movie, and following my shower I'm finishing off this
entry. The morning kicks off at 9 -
better get to bed.

Wed Feb 8

Wednesday
February 8 - Den Haag

Not long
back in from a long day doing the rounds of meetings etc. We left home at 9am and returned just after
5:30, carrying shopping and still carefully walking the now melting icy
streets.

We are
getting to know so much about our newly adopted city by walking the
suburbs. Today we walked (this is for
the information of people reading this who know or want to know about the city)
from our apartment on Van Elkemadelaan in Benoordenhout to an agent in
Hubertus-Park on Badhuisweg, then to an agent in Frederik Hendriklaan in
Statenkwartier - got a bit lost but found our way there eventually. We then had time before a viewing, so bought
some things for lunch and went off to our friend Isabelle’s apartment for a hot
lunch, and then she accompanied us on two inspections. We then took a tram ("thank
goodness!" sang my feet) to Java Straat in Willems Park and met with
another makelaar.

The final
part of the day was heading on foot into Centrum and firstly having a well-deserved
beer or two in a cafe then to my 'home away from home' - Hema, where I bought
four coffee cups (we only have two - and we have a dishwasher) and a serving
spoon (our flat owner thinks a ladle is all you need - weird!) plus a couple of
wooden spoons for cooking. Oh, I nearly forgot, an egg flip - how in God's name
do you call an apartment furnished without one? We're dining at home this
evening on chilli prawn pasta and salad followed by a French crème brulee -
yum!

Still no TV
or internet - possibly another eight to ten days! Shit!

PS Dinner
was great (love Chef Rene) and following
that we went through an envelope of places recommended by a makelaar just down
the road - he had put them in our mailbox.
We have a short list of eleven we will discuss with him in the
morning. Some appear too good to be
true, and of course we don't have the net on to double check locations
etc. I turned down looking at a
perfectly good house yesterday purely because it was opposite a school. Any teacher reading this will immediately
agree with my decision.

Tue Feb 7

Den Haag
Tuesday February 7

Still no
internet or TV connection but we at last got the second set of apartment keys
from the landlord's mother (it's only been promised since last Friday). I'm wondering if even the application to
reconnect the cable has gone through? I
wouldn't mind being given a job # to somehow follow up over either phone or
internet (from a kiosk or a friend's net).

Today we
visited three makelaars and make progress in getting viewing appointments
arranged. More agents to visit tomorrow,
plus Thursday, and we're also fitting in some viewings. The largest problem will be narrowing down
the field because there is SO much to select from, and our price range covers
every style of residence imaginable.

My
favourite on paper is an apartment described as a penthouse, but not as large
as penthouses usually are in Australia.
This one has 115 sqm, not huge, but has a 70 sqm terrace around two
sides. It's on the 10th floor near
President Kennedy Laan and is on the boundary of Duinoord and Statenkwartier. We'll inspect it on Monday, along with some
very nice ordinary houses and maisonettes.

Did a lot
of walking today, again in the snow, and since it snowed last Friday but hasn't
since, the existing snow has become very icy and slippery making it a challenge
to walk, look, cross roads and avoid cyclists - thank goodness I don't try to
chew gum as well!

We've been
looking and looking for cafes around this area of Benoordenhout but alas to no
avail - my idea of popping into the local a few times a week as we did before
in Utrecht is not coming to pass in this leafy and pretty part of Den Haag, and
today we discovered why...around 1920 a baroness sold the land occupied today
by Benoordenhout to the local government with a caveat on it stating that no
bars or cafes could be included, and it can't be overturned until 2020. Well, we are going to look at a house close
by a lovely little shopping centre we discovered last Sunday that is still in
Benoordenhout BUT close to the western boundary so that cafes and fascinating
places like that are just a short walk away across six lanes of traffic, a
canal and two tram tracks (these wide and busy roads are quite rare here). The HQ of Shell is around the corner, so I hope
the house is not overpriced for what you get....we'll soon see.

This
evening we ventured into our neighbourhood to have dinner at a lovely
bar/restaurant called 'Runners'. It was
delightfully warm and cosy and quite busy for a Tuesday night. We got a
recommendation for a house to look at in Kijkduin, but I haven't got the chance
to check it on the net, and I'm afraid it would be probably out of our price
range, but this is a very up and coming part of the beach to live in - maybe
just a little too far away. We'll see -
tomorrow we have three appointments, at 10am, 11am and 3pm. The 11am one is on Frederik Hendriklaan
(known locally as 'The Fred') so I see a delightful lunch in one of the very
many lovely places along that street.
Roll on tomorrow!

Sunday Feb 5

Sunday
February 5 2012 - Den Haag Nederlands

We have
just spent the first 24 hours in our rented temporary apartment in a very nice
area, Benoordenhout, just north east of the Centrum. The streets are wider, frontages larger and
the cars suggest that much money resides in this area.

We haven't
got everything working right - and the heating is one of them. When I reckon the radiators ought to be
shovelling out heat they are cold, then one side heats and not the other, and
the first time we were here yesterday morning it was SO sunny that the rooms
were actually too hot. Today it is fine but cloudy.

Another
awful inconvenience is the lack of cable (it'll be very soon, but how long
nobody knows). With TV comes internet,
so we are dipping back into the Ice Age with cold outside and nothing to stare
at but the walls of the cave! I miss
just not having the net, but I'll get over it.

Walking
around the neighbourhood in the snow this morning we happened upon a delicious
looking shop selling not only great coffee and cakes but also cheeses (its main
purpose) and delightfully presented delicatessen items. The lovely lass behind the counter told me
that the evening temperature two nights ago had been -17C, the coldest in Den
Haag for 24 years (oh joy of joys, they waited until I arrived to start
breaking records again!)

We have one
bedroom with a bathroom/laundry leading from it, a toilet off the hallway and a
living room with a kitchen (small but adequate enough). The building complex dates from the early
1930's and has lots of fascinating details that evoke another era.

Yesterday
(Saturday) we moved from the hotel into the apartment, immediately headed for
Albert Hijn (Coles/Woolworths equivalent) to load up on things we didn't need
in a serviced hotel room. Once back home we had lunch, then got a bus to Den
Haag Centraal Station to head to Utrecht for the evening. The weather dictated train rather than car,
so by chance we met our friend Isabelle also heading to Utrecht for the
weekend. Normally she drives her
Porsche, but the weather was not suitable, so she lowered her standards and
slummed it on the train. She was about to text that she was in the middle of
the train when we just happened upon her by coincidence. Due to the weather the
fast InterCity trains weren't operating, plus the Sneltrains were also not
operating, so we were in a very new Sprinter train that proceeded to stop at
every station between the two main points (around 11 compared to only one for
the InterCity).

When we
arrived at Utrecht we had not only a full train from Den Haag but even more pax
squeezed onto the train because at Gouda we came across hundreds trying to get
to Utrecht because the Amsterdam/Urecht line wasn't working. I'd forgotten the
occasional cockup that so personifies Dutch Rail.

Isabelle is
Paul's sister, and Paul is Rene's best friend since his days at university.
Isobel has been living in Den Haag for 10 years, but Paul has always seemed to
have lived in or around Utrecht. He
does, however, work in a town near The Hague and drives there every day. Once
nearly at our old watering hole (Ledig Erf) Isobel headed to her brother's to
drop off an overnight bag, and we headed for what turned out to be an extremely
busy cafe.

The Ledig
Erf changed hands just as we left at the end of 2004 after 26 years in the same
hands. A couple of years ago we came
across the changes to decor and clientele so it was no big surprise to see the
physical changes, but the clientele to me seemed younger. None of our old friends were there (no, we
hadn't told them we'd be coming this weekend) so Rene and I had a beer then
Isobel and Paul arrived. It was lovely
to see Paul again, and Rene really seemed to light up when he walked into the
pub. Several drinks later we left for an
Italian restaurant across the canal close to Paul's apartment. Would you believe Rene spotted a lady having
dinner with friends who had the shop beneath the apartment we had rented for a
week two years ago. As we left I popped over to say hello - it's a small country!

Coffee at
Paul's apartment before heading off was very nice indeed, and we have temporary
custody of a Nespresso machine courtesy of Isabelle (Paul had been repairing it
for her). We left the two of them to go
to an over 40's disco and we went off into the cold towards Utrecht
Centraal. We walked and walked and as we
were perhaps 800m from the station a passing bus stopped and the driver
beckoned us aboard for the final warm ride to the station. Lovely gesture!

The return
train was again an all stops and took an hour, and the midnight bus from the
slush covered bus station seemed never to come, but finally a ten minute
journey dropped us near home and the final trudge through the snow to our
handsome building. This freezing weather is to last at least until next
weekend. *^*#@&!

Tomorrow
morning we have an appointment to become registered in Den Haag now that we
have an address. Then Rene contacts the
removalists and we become legal enough to have the container imported and not
returned back to Oz. Now to find a
permanent home - not that easy a job, but we are getting to know so much more
about this small fascinating city of 500 000 freezing folk.

Den Haag Monday Feb 6

Den Haag
Monday February 6

Still no
internet or TV - a friend here in Den Haag said not to expect it too soon but I
don't think I can wait that long. Did my
emails at the City Hall in a cafe on Rene's computer. Still not the same as
having access 24/7. Nobody, but nobody,
here has an unsecured wifi - how untrusting of them!

Got
registered today at a building that appeared to have no name other than the
number 24 outside. It was in the
Statenkwartier, near The Hague Museum. Took a bus and a tram to get there -
Rene is getting a bike next week, Owen will wait just a little bit longer (the
cyclists are very cautious on the icy roads at present). The city is actually very small indeed and
quite walkable when the footpaths aren't so slippery.

We ventured
after registration back into the Centrum, shopped for some things at Hema and
also bought a wifi printer/scanner thingamajig from Media Markt (the Harvey
Norman of Nederlands). A quick shop at
AH (Albert Heijn) and it was back home - even catching the bus with the same
driver who took us into the city in the morning - cheerful chap! A little wave from him to us as we trudged
off back to our (now warm) apartment.
Yes, while we were out the two huismeisters investigated our cold
radiator and courtesy of a well placed thump with a hammer we walked into a
very warm apartment - remember the building dates from 1931'ish.

Rene made
appointments with several makelaars over the next few days, so we have a full
agenda of viewings. How exciting! We're going to have to be very diligent on
the note taking after every visit because I'm sure we'll start glazing over
after a dozen or more places. They know
we don't want steep, narrow stairs. We'd
like 3+ rooms, at least two toilets and one bathroom, although we did state
that a second badkamer wouldn't be dismissed lightly (very rare here, but they
do exist). Close to transport, not too crowded a street, blah blah blah! I wonder when they show us some offerings how
much they listened. Makelaars and used
car salesmen are of a one kind, and unfortunately I really don't hold them in
very high regard, however I'm prepared to be impressed beyond belief by the
performance of these various makelaars - but I'll tell you about them in
hopefully positive terms later on. I
have to say that our dealings with the rental agency ladies was very positive -
and I might add that they do loads and loads of rentals here in Den Haag - the
place is loaded with itinerants looking for accommodation. On our final visit to the agency a young woman
(I thought was a student) was signing off on her apartment - she was Portuguese
and spoke English almost without accent.
She was here for an internship. I
was amazed she had come straight from the airport with her luggage and found a
place on the spot...alas, no, she had been here twice before (popped over from
London) and had lined it up well in advance.
That's nice if you live close enough, but Brisbane isn't that close
by. Having said that, the people that
bought our house had been flown business class by her employer to Brisbane a
month before coming over to look for a house to rent for the first 12
months. I gather the circles I move in
never have those opportunities.

We decided
to walk up to the local Gal & Gal, a sort of BWS store. Prices of beer and spirits, as well as wine,
seem to be appreciably less than in Oz.
The fun thing is trying the various wines from other countries other
than Australia. Australian wine is
fabulous, and throw in NZ Marleborough whites and you have my idea of wine
heaven BUT in Oz there are not many opportunities to sample wines from other
regions of the world, so we have Spanish and South African wine to polish off
as well as a crate of Heinekin. Rene
also bought some scotch since there was no way with 92kg of luggage we could
manage any duty free purchases on our trip here.

I'm cooking
tonight. No, nothing exotic but at least
it is at home. Rene cooked last night
and it made the sort of gezellig atmosphere so loved by the Dutch. I don't give a damn about TV, but I miss my
internet. Oh, at the hotel I couldn't stream ABC iView because my ip address is
outside Australia, so I'll have to work out how to get an untraceable ip
address that will allow me to see my favourite ABC shows - oh, I can get the
news streamed, but there's lots more I'd like to see to make me feel at home.

....and now
you're up to date with happenings in Den Haag.

PS Just
finished cooking dinner. Discoveries: no
egg flip, serving spoons, wooden spoon (I think Rene deliberately hid them...I
know he loves his beatings) and only two coffee cups. I know we have loads in the container, but I
need to survive these first two months so it's back to Hema tomorrow.

Diary entries

There will be several diary entries posted starting tomorrow. These were written when we didn't have the net on. I have a spare tablet notebook computer that I bought as an interim 'computer' whilst we transitioned from Australia to our new home. Now the net is on I have bought a whopping large Asus 23.6" screen self contained PC - a little too large for this small living room but will be fine in our new home.

New entries from Nederlands

Greetings from The Netherlands. 2012 has begun with a massive move from Brisbane to The Hague. Den Haag is quite an international city and Rene and I are slowly settling into the place. I'm moderately familiar with Den Haag but Rene wasn't really at all, so we've both been learning as much as we can by walking (and walking), using trams and buses to explore the city and generally get settled.

The biggest initial part was leaving Brisbane with 92kg of luggage to check in to Virgin Australia - they were kind enough to not charge excess - we were premium economy to Abu Dhabi with them, then Etihad economy to Brussels. Virgin was superb value, great service; however Etihad was totally full - cramped - tres ordinaire!

My sister in law and her husband - Claartje and Jan - were there to meet us and they drove us to our hotel in The Hague. We booked four nights, but we added two more since it was taking ages to find a short term furnished apartment. We moved in on the Saturday after we arrived and it was an effort to settle into a very small 45sqm place after our 300 back in Brisbane.

We have a small kitchen leading off from the living room. A hallway leads to the front door, a toilet and the one and only bedroom. A very good bathroom leads from the bedroom and this has a washing machine and drier. Adequate, and situated on the third floor of a large complex built around 1931. The suburb, Benoordenhout, is very attractive but dull. There isn't a cafe in the whole suburb, due to the wishes of the baroness who sold the land in 1920. We have a bottle shop so all is not lost, but the cafes are elsewhere. We intend buying in one of those areas.