The Binnenhof in Den Haag
The Binnenhof is the complex of buildings in the centre of Den Haag where the Dutch parliament meets.
Note the really high security of two officers in a 4×4.
Gluten-Free Meals in Holland
When it happened the first time at a cafe near the Watersnood Museum, I just thought it was a nice gesture. But when it happened last weekend, I thought it could be part of an encouraging trend for coeliacs.
Cafe Restaurant Landbouw
But last week at the Cafe Restaurant Landbouw, for the second time I got gluten-free bread with my meal. So it was frozen and had been warmed in an oven or a microwave.
It was a nice gesture, that rarely happens in the UK.
Cambridge to Holland via Paris
I left Cambridge at 19:00 hours on Tuesday and took the Dover Dunkirk ferry, stopping overnight on the A1 to Paris. It was a crap Mercure and I’ll be posting something later on my blog about it and the non-Eclipse of 1999, where a Belgian weatherman told me to go to the wrong place. I don’t think they’ve given it a proper once-over since.
I then drove into the centre of Paris, did Montmatre, had a meeting and then left at 4:17, only to get stuck in traffic on the Periphique. I arrived at my destination five minutes over five hours later having done about 625 miles from Cambridge most of it at about 130 to 140 kph. How many 18 year old cars could do that? Most of it during the day was with the top down, which was perhaps a bit ambitious, but then top down is the only way to travel for safety, as the visibility is so much better.
The only problem was the peage, as to get the ticket, I had to get out. And I had a very irate Belgian behind me. They always seem to be in a hurry. And then around Lille and towards Gent, the Belgian road signs leave something to be desired. It’s called logic! Like the signs say follow Gent and then they call in Gand or even miss it off completely. They even manage to give Lille in France a completely different name!
Perhaps, I should write to that nice von Rumpy Pumpy, who heads the EU and complain about his country’s signage. On the other hand, perhaps the Belgians drive like lunatics all the time, as they are forever getting confused by their signs?
Dish Ran Away with the Spoon
This story is from the Daily Mirror.
A woman tunnelled out of jail using a spoon.
The attractive un-named 35-year-old – doing 18 years for trying to murder her sister-in-law – was called “a dish” by local newspapers.
Her lawyer Ludo Hameleers said: “She would have been released in 18 months. She just couldn’t wait.”
The woman, who had served 12 years, dug the 30ft tunnel from a cellar of her Dutch jail, hid the soil in her trouser legs and then sprinkled it around the yard – a ruse straight from classic PoW tale The Great Escape.
This is the complete story, so apologies to the Mirror.
On the other hand, this was repeated word-for-word on the BBC.
Cashpoints on Belgian and Dutch Motorways
I needed some euros on the way home and couldn’t find a cashpoint on the motorway.
Beware! After all, most garages and motorway services in the UK have them.
Wandering Around Haarlem
It was cold in Holland at the weekend, as you can see from these pictures of Haarlem.
The interesting picture is that of the statue of Laurens Janszoon Coster.
It is claimed that he invented printing with movable type a few years before Guttenberg. So that is why I am interested, as that was my father’s profession!
Wandering Around Willemstad
I went to Willemstad a few years ago to see an old friend and last week in Holland, when I went to the Watersnoodmuseum, I passed the town and paid a second visit.
Watersnoodmuseum
This is a museum at Ouwerkerke in the Netherlands, dedicated to the North Sea Flood of 1953.
It is an impressive museum that opened a few years ago.
It is actually built inside four giant Phoenix breakwaters or caissons, that were originally built to be part of the Mulberry Harbours used for the D-Day invasion in the Second World War. They had been used to plug one of the last gaps in the dykes in November 1953. The construction of the caissons is clearly visible, both inside and outside.
Having lived in Felixstowe as a teenager some years after the disaster, it somewhat saddens me that we have no museum to the floods in the UK. Thirty eight people died in Felixstowe and I can still see the marks of the flood on the walls of the houses in my mind.
Being a Coeliac in Holland
I travel to Holland quite a bit and to Den Haag in particular. In fact, I’ve just come back from a few days in the Dutch capital.
So how do I manage as a coeliac in Holland?
On last Friday, I went for lunch in a cafe in Amsterdam called Puccini. It’s in the Staalstraat fairly close to the Amstel River and the Town Hall and the new Music Theatre. Most of the food was the usual bread offering, but they gave me a delicious salmon salad with no problems. Just remember that gluten-free is gluten-frij or gluten-fry! At least if they know about gluten, you will get food without a problem.
I would say that the level of knowledge in restaurants and cafes in major cities is about the same as in London or Cambridge.
But the biggest help is Albert Heijn. This is the Dutch equivalent of Waitrose or an upmarket Tesco Metro. You don’t have to know your Dutch, as every one of their own label products is labeled with the gluten-free symbol, if that what it is. If you’re still not sure, you can usually check the ingredients, even if they are in Dutch, as food names seem to be similar, even if the spelling is unpronounceable.
The Anonymous Widower 