A Dutch Spring

When I was deliberating whether to return to the Netherlands or not after my winter break in the UK, Mr T assured me that the Netherlands was due to have its hottest spring ever. As luck would have it, it appears he is right. Last weekend although not quite as hot as certain parts of the UK,  the temperature hit 22 and the Dutch flocked to the beach.

We were early birds, determined to beat the rush. Catching up with old friends from Haarlem we  headed to Scheveningen on the bikes for brunch. It doesn’t take much for the Dutch to strip off (as I have learned to my cost since joining the Health Club) and the sun worshippers were already stretching out on the sand as we settled into one of the many pop-up beach restaurants.

A typical Dutch breakfast - and all for me!!

Scheveningen was packed. Trams were sardine cans, off-loading day-trippers in their thousands, but of course it was a one-day wonder. By Monday the temperature had halved and it was back to coats and scarves.

A Dutch spring is of course most famous for the tulips. The previous week I’d met up with friends from the US who were spending a few days in Amsterdam. I’d offered my useful travel tips which included booking their tour of the Anne Frank house five years in advance to avoid the three hour queue and visiting the bulb fields. Fake news travels fast – they’d been informed the first week in April was too early to catch the tulips.  Fortunately with my insider knowledge I was able to put them right. It always helps to know a local.

(not wanting to mislead this is actually a picture from last year but you can get the gist)

And talking of locals, I’ve been continuing my exploration of The Hague and encountering the wildlife at close quarters. Like most Dutch towns and villages, the Hague has a deer park, which seems quite a bizarre thing to find right outside the main central station, but there you go. 

All countries have their customs, and it will soon be time for Kings Day, where everyone wears orange, plays loud music and drinks a lot, and then it will be Bevrijdingsdag, which is a Liberation Day celebration which also involves (funnily enough) lots of drinking and loud music, followed by graduation day in June, when schoolbags are hoisted onto flag poles (and probably also involves lots of drinking and loud music).  By then, hopefully, we’ll also have had another hot sunny day.

More locals out for a stroll