Heaven in The Hague

Can you choose a better moment to visit good friends that live at 1 km from the beach than last weekend ? All heat records were broken...woohoo 28 C in mid april. Awesome, super cool. Excellent timing to drive to Scheveningen (the beach side of The Hague).

So all set in a little top and my white light skirt and some sunscreen we drove north to the Netherlands! Going back there always brings loads of memories and nostalgia for Jan and me, since we both lived there and we met each other over there.

As was to be expected, Scheveningen was very very crowded but we were smart enough not to attempt to drive up to the full parking lots and get stuck there in the traffic jams that lasted all day. Somehow the Dutch have the habit to go and stand in line for a parking lot that is full and they wait until sufficient people have left the parking lot , so that they can enter and park. How depressing is that on a sunny day in the morning??? Who would leave early anyway? I don't get it at all. When living in my appartment at the beach in 2001, I remember being stuck once for one hour in such a traffic jam at 100m from my garage that was just after an entry of a parking lot. I had to wait until 10 cars had left the parking, so that the cars before me could enter it. It drives you nuts!!

But now we parked in a residential area just before Scheveningen and walked in the sun towards our friends' house.

It was a fabulous day in the sun and it was HOT! Traditionally we had to finish our day at the beach in one of the many "strandtenten" as we've done so often in 2001. And traditionally we went for only a drink, but we stayed until after dinner ...until it really got too chilly to stay much longer. Unfortunately this time I still had to drive 2 hours home, rather than walking 2 minutes to my ex-closeby appartment. Some things never change, but other things do I guess. I don't think that 6 years ago Kristel and Arnaud would have thought they would be still sitting there in 2007 expecting their second child and Jan and I being a couple as well :). Would we still come all together to the beach in Scheveningen in 5 years??? Who knows?

l