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.
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