Post by Ella Christiania is a “micro nation”, or perhaps one could call it an independent municipality, within Copenhagen. Founded in 1971 when some folks decided to put down roots on an abandoned military base. One can imagine a group of young, hippiesh libertarians rebelling against the corporate world. The laws in Christiana are simple…
Author: Ella
Practical matters: Public transport Copenhagen
Post by Ella. As is usual in Europe, there are trams, busses, trains, metro galore. In Holland and here in Copenhagen, navigating public transport is made so much easier with Google maps. Google knows all is seems. Google can give you all your transit routes, number and names of stops to traverse, where and how…
Arrival Denmark
By the time we got to our new apartment in Copenhagen (we flew from Amsterdam), it was time to pick up some groceries and feast on hearty pumpernickel, herring, lox, Tzatziki , tomatoes, Gorgonzola, olives, havarti and some Vinho Verdi. A global feast. And that’s it. Time for a night off to stare at all…
And thank you again Esther
Post by Ella. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we fly off to Copenhagen leaving our old friends behind. We closed out the afternoon and evening with a trip to Delft (15 min by train), enjoying a glass of wine (non-alcoholic beer for Grubb) in Esther’s garden, followed by a tasty black rice / vegetable / shrimp casserole prepared…
Grubb gets his herring
Post by Ella. The herring stand we remembered from our last visit to Den Haag at which we got broodjes (herring in a roll with your choice of onions and/or mustard) and a seagull swooped in and nearly got a nip of my herring, was still there. Grubb couldn’t resist. And there was a grey…
Rotterdam
Post by Ella. As you can tell by the latest several posts, we spent the day in Rotterdam. It is a vibrant, busy city with unique architecture. we were here for the first time on our last trip to the Netherlands and decided we really enjoyed the place. Rotterdam’s history begins in 1270, when a dam…
Reflections in Rotterdam
Thank you again Esther
We planned to spend the day in Rotterdam and Esther suggested we visit the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen. This is the world’s first publicly accessible art storage facility. 173 years of art collecting. More than 152,000 objects housed together, arranged in fourteen storage compartments with five different climates. This place is amazing and Grubb will…
Our Den Haag apartment
Our ground floor, one bedroom apartment is at Papestraat 3 in Den Haag. It is full of natural light from tall windows fronting onto a small garden area. It is comfortable as in the bed is comfy for sleeping and the couches are comfy for sitting. The apartment is in a pedestrian only area and…
There is a reason we don’t stay in Amsterdam
Many tourists stay in Amsterdam and take day trips to Delft, Haarlem, Rotterdam, We much prefer to stay in Delft or Den Haag and make a day trip to Amsterdam. It’s not that far. From Den Haag central station, you can be in south Amsterdam in 40 minutes or so by train. Anyway… Today was the…
Vermeer’s Delft with Esther
Post by Ella We go to see the big Vermeer exhibit tomorrow in Amsterdam so it was fitting that today we visited the Museum Prinsenhof’s exhibit on Vermeer’s Delft. Esther met us at Cafe Barbaar in Delft for cappuccinos and pastry. Then the three of us strolled to the Prinsenhof just a few feet away….
Albert Heijn
Post by Ella One of the biggest grocery chains in the Netherlands is Albert Heijn. Akin to a Ralph’s or Smiths. If we need a little bit of this and a little bit of that, we go to Albert Heijn. Last time I was here (in 2016), I brought my Albert Heijn shopping bag home…
OV Chip Cards
This is what I love about the Dutch. So practical. One card can be used to ride trains, trams, busses, ferries all over the Netherlands. We found the simple“anonymous” OV chip card that can be topped up with credit over and over again to be invaluable. The card itself expires in 5 years. We stopped at…
Catching up with Esther in Delft
After coffee, We made our way to Delft to meet old friend Esther. She invited us to spend the afternoon and evening (which included a home cooked meal). Esther had suggested we take the tram to Delft instead of the train. It is only 17 km between Den Haag and Delft. We did take the…
Touch Down on King’s Day
Post by Ella First of all, we feel a bit thrown off by how smooth the travels were. Both flights (ABQ to ORD then ORD to AMS) departed early and landed early. Passport control in Amsterdam was efficiently fast. We were able to immediately catch a train to Den Haag (The Hague, our final destination)…