Den Haag the Hague

A reader once asked for a post about Den Haag if I ever happened to travel there.

And yes, I did go for the weekend, so here the post I promised.

Unfortunately I have hardly any pictures of the city, and what more unfortunate - I don't have that many nice words to say either. Had a hotel booked for 2 nights but spent only Friday evening in the Hague, the rest in Rotterdam.

China town

First impressions of Den Haag were pretty lame.

The city looked dull. A mixture of "lets go by the sea in Bristol", US Spring break and the touristic look of the Canary Islands. It was dirty and looked dangerous. The first thing we saw when we got there was police and ambulances in an enclosed area. What had happened, I don't know.

As Spring break was mentioned, you can imagine how packed the beach was.

Tens of beach clubs+restaurants, just like at the beach of Zandvoort+Bloemendaal.

An amazing 5 star hotel surrounded by McDonalds, and all kinds of touristic looking restaurants and snack bars... Why, oh, why.

What was good about the city is that they do have quite a range of shops. What caught my eye most was Pull&Bear! Why don't we have that in Amsterdam?

(though, I have to say Rotterdam is far better for shopping...)

Personally, for a city/town with beach, shops and nearby citylife - I'd go for Haarlem+Amsterdam rather than Den Haag. If you are thinking of going on exchange to Den Haag, I'd think again. Probably you would find yourself liking Haarlem, Rotterdam or Breda much much more.

A sales woman in Rotterdam said Haag does have nice areas too but apparently me and my mum didn't find those places. The Hague was a disappointment, but I'm sure it has its' goods as well as its' bads.

x

Linda

Keukenhof

On Friday morning we made a visit to Keukenhof with mummy.

Me not being the biggest flower fan and my mum loving flowers...uh, what a combination.

Keukenhof is really beautiful and impressive, though. I wish I could take my granny there some day. She would love it!

The only picture mum would let me put on of her. ;-)

The flower park was packed of people. Thankfully the queue went fast and we got in with only a less than 10min wait.

Some flowers that even I found nice and pretty. ;-)

Actually this one I really liked (and the one above) as they reminded me of a coconut. I named them "the coconut leaf flowers".

Keukenhof is a great place to go and spend a sunny day to together with family. They have flowers, animals, food, a windmill, play areas, etc.

Unfortunately it is open for only like 3 months a year - so you have to make your visit precise. :-)

For more information...their webpage is here.
With even Swedish translations. Where's the Finnish one? ;-)

Outfit of the day:

New River Island blazer

New H&M short top

Granny's old shorts ;-)

H&M backpack

<3

Linda

I AM DAM

Thursday

Lovely breakfast at V&D's La Place. I just love that place. If I haven't yet mentioned: they do a lot of organic and natural foods and beverages!

Outside, in the warm, viewing the amazing Haarlem at its' Spring best.

The pick and mix salad spot is heavenly. A big thumbs up. Maybe time for a new visit this week with my next guests.

Next in line was Amsterdam and The Van Gogh Museum.

How on earth does the world have so many people to make long queues everywhere?

Due to a Museum Card donation that me and Ellu got on her stay, me and my mum were able to skip the queue and go straight in. What a smile we had! Hhaaa.

And thankfully we really didn't have to wait in line for hours since the Van Gogh experience was nothing near to interesting or fun. As Jaleh had commented my previous post: "warning! unless you're really into van gogh, don't go there! booooring."

I totally agree with her comment.

There was one painting that I could say was nice. That was the black army shoes one.

But oh well, at least I've done the have-to-do stuff in Amsterdam: The Van Gogh Museum.

Ah, and finally got the must-do "Iamsterdam" -pictures taken at Museumplein.

And what is a trip to the Netherlands without visiting the one and only Sumo sushi&grill?

Green tea ice-cream!

After the fillingkilling Sumo it was time for a rest at Vondelpark. I've never seen any park as full, ever.

Followed by shopping! Might have found a little something from River Island and Monki.

While in H&M mummy got a bit confused about the changing rooms. Paskamer?

Check out Finnish to English translation: paska and mer(i), and you'll catch my drift.

Love,

Linda

Amsterdam from up high

As it's Amsterdam, the title of this blog post might give some mixed thoughts...so let me explain.

I guess it's an Easter thing, as it seems that all cities I've visited this week in Holland have had a funfair going on.

On Wednesday I called up Vendela and her brother: "Hey hey hey, I really want to go on this ride and see Amsterdam from above. It's just too high that my mum won't join."

I got the two to join me and so we went. Up, up and go!

It was so cool! (Unlike the price of the ride...) High up, checking out the Dam, looking at all the tiny people as they made their way to the station, trying to spot the buzz of the red light without luck and feeling the wind give a nice fresh feel to the hot hot hot day.

Oh, and yes, the ride was these swings that go up and around! I've never seen them go so high up, though. An Amsterdam high special? Jooookes.

After, I took mum for lunch to the cutest cafeteria, which we also went to with Ellu.

The usual - CoCo and pancake. YUMMM.

Plus mum's bacon salad. I might have had a little bite...

We were going to go to Anne Frank's house, but oh the queue! It's massive. I really, highly, recommend to go there the first thing in the morning. Queue a bit before it opens. Or then just wait in line for 45min at any other time of the day.

Might have had a break from life. And queueing. Hello world!

Fed up with waiting, we decided to go do a quick round to a few shops.

And check out the RLD ofc!

And go for "a coffee", in this case: ice-cream.

Cafe option nro1 wasn't that tempting with a little birdie at the hoods, too.

Cafe nro 2, which was also visited with Ellu, was amazing as always. This time: mango + ACAI (!!) ice-cream. Oh, and btw, they make their products out of organic milk. I have to check out the name of the place next time.

In the evening we did make it to Anne Frank's house, which I found really interesting.

For all non-museum+art gallery+etc fans, just like myself, I think Anne Frank's house is probably the best and most interesting option in Amsterdam. Unless you are into the history of beer and want to check out the Heineken Experience.

And for the Finn's + others that understand

Loppukevennys:

Ja että ihan patsas omistettu lausahdukselle.

x

L