Nothing Like The Last Minute

It had been a while since I had been to the Netherlands to see my grandmother and I had a yearning for some Mergpijpjes (kind of like a petit four only with marzipan rather than fondant) and with a bank holiday on Monday, we decided to make use of the time.  Okay, truth be told this was an 11th hour trip.  Really we woke up Saturday morning, had a cup of coffee, got to talking and by noon we were packed, had a hotel and train reservation and were on the road.  7 hours later we were there.  We traveled one hour by car to Dover and drove our car onto the train that took us through the Channel Tunnel and 35 minutes later we were in France.  We then traveled though France to Belgium and from Belgium to the Netherlands.  Although the weather was beyond lousy, we enjoyed our time with Oma and seeing a few sights in The Hague. 

For anyone interested, we stayed at the Novotel in the center of  The Hague and it was really nice.  It is right across from the Binnenhof (the location of Dutch parliament) and attached to the Passage (a shopping arcade built in 1885).  The hotel was clean and served a very complete breakfast buffet.

Sunday we bought our Strippenkarts (long tickets used for public transportation) and rode the tram from the city center to my grandmother's flat by the dunes of the North Sea.  The kids loved the tram ride, watching the giant waves and eating lots of Stroopwafles (a cookie that is two thin waffles with a caramel like syrup in the middle) with Oma. 

We had a bit of time to show the children a few things in the city and Laney was, of course, particularly enthralled with Princess Maxima and Queen Beatrix.  Having just celebrated Queen's Day on Friday there was plenty to see.  We walked over to the Noordeinde Palace, but Laney was disappointed when I told her we could not go in and say good afternoon, or even "goedemiddag" (she was working on her Dutch). 

Although there was no tea at the palace, Laney did get the royal treatment from her brothers which more than made up for the lack of hospitality from the Dutch royalty. 

We had a nice log weekend and the kids are already planning a return visit, which is probably for the best because if left to me who knows what will happen.