Interesting Sights in The Hague...

The roads were blocked off near the AWC over two weeks in advance of the Nuclear Security Summit, which welcomed 58 world leaders including President Obama. Jimmy was pleased that his morning commute to work was timed perfectly to witness Obama’s motorcade pass under a bike bridge. The girls were pleased that the many road closures resulted in school closing for two days. I was relieved that there were no terrorist attacks.

 I just love this statue of eating herring.

I was bummed to see the iconic Scheveningen Pier shuttered closed after no buyers stepped forward to save it after bankruptcy of the main tenant.

After massive flooding in parts of the UK, much of which was blamed on the lack of dredging of the waterways, I was happy to see that the Dutch continue to regularly dredge the canals.

Beach Hut Construction...

For the first time, I actually managed to get to Scheveningen Beach in time to witness the beach huts being constructed. What an amazing construction project! The pieces of each restaurant are stored in shipping containers on farms over the winter and then rebuilt each spring.

I’m always amazed by the elaborate decorations in the restaurants. Check out the size of the vase that was about to be placed near a restaurant entrance.

This hut was already fully set up and full of customers on this chilly, but sunny day in early March.

The Necropolis...

Sally, John and I made one final stop before heading to the house at the Necropolis de Maipes, a lava field from 3,000 years ago that the indigenous Guanches used to build burial mounds.

This model in the archaeological museum depicted the construction of the tombs, which once numbered around 700.

Another great trip with great friends came to an end. In a way, it was also the end of an era as David heads off to university next year. Here’s hoping we can still manage to pull off family vacations together for years to come!

Another Great Hike...

Success!

While they never did manage to find a path to the waterfall that we’d viewed all week from the house, they did successfully find a smaller waterfall.

Silly Ashlynn and Jimmy didn’t let the cold water scare them away.

Final Day of Hiking...

Veronica captured this beautiful rainbow over Agaete early in their hike.

They took a different path determined to finally make it to a waterfall.

Agaete Revisited...

We were fortunate on our final day that the owner allowed us to stay in the house until it was time to leave for our evening flight. Once again, we split up with Jimmy joining the kids. John drove us back to Agaete so we could walk along the waterfront.

Like Galdar, Agaete had natural swimming pools.