Royal Visit to NYC

The upcoming NY400 Week celebrations will be highlighted by a unique six-day visit of the Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima of the Netherlands to the City of New York. It brings back memories of another Royal Visit, fifty years ago. Her Majesty Queen Beatrix – then Princess- stole the hearts of the New Yorkers [...]

I’ll Take Manhattan…

The area that is now Manhattan was long inhabited by the Lenape tribe. In 1524, Lenape in canoes met Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first European explorer to pass New York Harbor, although he did not enter the harbor past the Narrows.
It was not until the voyage of Henry Hudson, an Englishman who worked for the [...]

He has arrived…

interklaas, also called Sint-Nicolaas in Dutch and Saint Nicolas in French is a traditional holiday figure in the Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles and Belgium, celebrated every year on Saint Nicholas’ eve [December 5] or, in Belgium, on the morning of December 6. The feast celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of, among other [...]

Sweet Tooth…

At many Dutch parties, the very last surprise in Sinterklaas’ special burlap sack, is chocolate initials, the first letter of each person’s name. There will be one for each person—the first given to the youngest child, then on up to the oldest person present. These letters, melk [milk], witte [white], or puur [dark] chocolate, are [...]

Congratulations…

to Her Royal Highness Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands on her 70th Birthday

Yes, I am a royalist of the House of Orange
that’s why today the header is coloured orange
ORANJE BOVEN!

Tradition…

Oliebollen (Dutch Doughnuts)
Makes 12 servings
Oliebollen, is a dutch pastry similar to a doughnut. It is typically a deep fried pastry filled with raisins and dusted with powdered sugar. Some modern variations serve them topped with berry filling, but this is a traditional recipe. Oliebollen are a traditional treat on New Year’s Eve in the Netherlands.
Shopping [...]

Deer Force 1…

Deer Bearforce 1 and their Xmas songs [3.34 min]

Oldest family company…

Over 4 centuries the rope-factory of G. van der Lee of Oudewater is in business. The factory opened its doors in 1545 and is the oldest family company in the Netherlands.
Top 10:
1. Touwfabriek G. van der Lee from Oudewater, since 1545
2. Tichelaars Koninklijke Makkumer Aardewerk- en Tegelfabriek from Makkum, since 1594
3. Koninklijke Klokkengieterij Petit & [...]

Tradition…

As soon as you turn 50 years old you become a ‘Sarah’ or an ‘Abraham’ here in the Netherlands, today it is my sister’s turn to become Sarah. Marijke, congratulations on your birthday and many happy years to come.
I usually say: “two thirds of your sell-by-date is over, try to stretch the last third part as [...]

New Food Fair

Knowing that I can not eat more than I can chew I went today to the New Food Fair on Haarlemmerdijk and Haarlemmerstraat in the center of town. Both streets are well known for their wide range of restaurants but also for their specialized food shops. I only needed some bread and a small [...]

Noah’s Ark?

This is exactly what it looks like! Noah’s Ark floating through Amsterdam. The giraffe is life-size but a dummy. The ship was built in 18 months near Alkmaar and is on its way to Rotterdam.
Thomas Schlijper took this shot, he’s a freelance photographer, visit his website for more shots.
Click the picture for a larger view, [...]

El Hema…

Last Friday an unusual exhibition opened in Post CS in Amsterdam. One of the Netherlands most famous department stores HEMA got a temporary Arab copy at the former postoffice near Central Station. Almost every art piece is for sale…
Ofcourse I can write about it… but the original designers do a far better job, so see the transformation [...]

Amsterdam Demography…

In the 16th and 17th century non-Dutch immigrants to Amsterdam were mostly Huguenots, Flemings, Sephardi Jews and Westphalians*. Hugenots came after 1685’s Edict of Fontainebleau, while the Flemish Protestants came during the Eighty Years’ War. The Westphalians came to Amsterdam mostly for economic reasons.
The first mass immigrants were people from Indonesia, who came to Amsterdam [...]

Water? WATER !!!

Since the length of the Amazon kicked the Nile of the first place of the worlds longest rivers, a Dutch newspaper produced a top 3 of longest rivers in the Netherlands.

Maas 126 km
Dommel 126 km
IJssel 125 km

The river Maas starts in France and is called Meuse there, the river Dommel flows through the Duchy of [...]

Queensday 2

Today HRH Queen Beatrix visited the cities of Woudrichem and ’s-Hertogenbosch [Duke's Forest], Den Bosch as we call it is the province capital. This city was once one of the main cities of the Duchy of Brabant, the northern part of the Duchy is in the Netherlands, while the middle and southern part is in Belgium and partly [...]

Quintessentially Dutch

If the temperature stays below freezing for long enough, the ice in Friesland gets so thick that the whole province can be traversed on skates. If the ice is strong enough to hold all the competitors, officials will organise an Elfstedentocht. This legendary skating marathon is a gruelling 200-kilometer journey through the eleven cities of Friesland. [...]

Dutch Landscape

The Dutch coast is protected from the North Sea by an almost 300-kilometre-long stretch of dunes and dikes. The Netherlands’ scenic coastline has its own characteristic flora and fauna.

The rolling countryside of Limburg is a popular destination for holidaymakers and hikers. The winding country roads and hedgerows lend a quaint touch to this largely man-made [...]

The secret of success

The secret of the Jostiband Orchestra remains a riddle. They are the largest orchestra of intellectual disabled in the world; the group from Zwammerdam in the Netherlands makes music for more than forty years and with great success. The orchestra gives concerts, nationally but also internationally and nobody can formulate how the Jostiband Orchestra shows [...]

Does size matter?

To stay close at home… did you know the Netherlands are about half the size of Scotland. And a bit further down the road… Tasmania is 1½ times bigger and the same goes for New Jersey USA. The only BIG difference is we have more inhabitants than those places.
This is a picture of the Zeeland Bridge. [...]

Did you know… part 2

that the International Court of Justice [ICJ] and the Permanent Court of Arbitration [PCA] is at the Peace Palace in The Hague
that the Netherlands has approximately 480 inhabitants per square kilometer
that the Netherlands has at least 15,000 km of cycle tracks, in my area “Waterland” at least 550 km
that the Netherlands still has about 1,000 traditionally working windmills
that Amsterdam [...]