My OperaDen Haag (Or "The Hog")
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 8:27:39 PM
Boy, those Dutch are some bicycling fools . . . I just got back from Den Haag (The Hague) tonight, and I used to think that the Norwegians in our area were bicyclers--now I know they are just amateurs.
I flew down to Amsterdam yesterday, then took a short train trip to Den Haag to participate in a couple of budget meetings held at the NATO C3 Agency (NC3A) which has a facility there. European trains are so much better than anything we have in the States--smooth, fast, and a good alternative to a rental car in much of Europe. Once in Den Haag, checked into a "boutique" hotel, which apparently means overpriced with a license to display weird, melted aluminum shapes as modern art throughout the place. But it was next to the train station and convenient.
Taxis to/from the NC3A compound--all taxi-drivers in Den Haag are apparently swarthy, immigrants with limited English skills, but we did get there/back. Dinner at a little Italian restaurant--a calzone with ricotta cheese and spinach (Elizabeth would be proud of me).
Then the next day (today) a couple of more meetings, train to Schipol airport, and KLM back to dark Norway. Pouring down rain, and naturally my NATO transportation wasn't there. Luckily my traveling companions also had NATO transport for them, so I jumped in with them and we took a detour to Sandnes.
Dinner at home (chicken catch-a-tory). Although why someone would want to catch a tory vice a patriot I have no idea (in the context of chickens). Turned away a halloween-er "wannabe" (we discourage the practice in the States, and I'm sure not going to encourage it in Norway).
On to a 10 x violas orchestra concert in Stavanger (Timothy's instructor was one of them). Very nice renditions of various pieces including Pachelbel's artillery piece.
Pouring rain still, back home. Elizabeth likes the puzzles I got her for her birthday, but she may need to join a local chapter of "puzzlers anonmymous". All for now.
By the way, the Dutch are on average the tallest people in the world. Maybe it's linked to all the bicycling?
