The Coolest Cooling Tower...

I must confess that I was nervous walking up the stairs, but once I got inside I was just amazed at how cool it was.

There were plants growing in some of the troughs and some graffiti.

There was also this really cool hole at the top. 

We weren’t alone. Some Belgian guys were filming with a drone. 

After we had a nice chat with them, they surprised us by offering to let us try their virtual reality glasses to see what the drone saw as it flew at top speed up and out of the tower. They suggested that we sit down because the experience can cause vertigo. It was incredible!

Here’s a link to the video that they produced that day.

A Family Selfie

A Cooling Tower in Charleroi...

After visiting this abandoned cooling tower in Charleroi in 2015, Jimmy and Veronica were excited about showing it to me.

According to an article in Slate, the plant was built in 1921 and closed in 2007 due to its high carbon dioxide emissions.

Across the river were more abandoned buildings. In fact, Charleroi is so full of them that this city in the French-speaking region of Belgium has earned the unofficial title of Ugliest City in the World.

We were clearly in the right place considering we were in the area because of the Brussels Manneke Piss H3 Zombie Hash. Rather than driving down with some other hashers, we borrowed Gillian’s car so we had the flexibility to do some urbexing before the hash.

Last Shoot of 2017...

In late October, Ashlynn did another unpaid shoot. This time it was for a photographer’s portfolio and it took just a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. She looks pretty angry here...

....and pretty intense here. When I shared these photos with her Paris agent, she labelled them “beauty shots” rather than “high fashion,” and said they would not be useful for her portfolio.

It is unfortunate that Ashlynn has been unable to build up her portfolio here in the Netherlands per the standards set in Paris. Hopefully this won’t make things too difficult for her when she goes in September to castings for Paris Fashion Week

Big Hair Gone Wrong...

This is a short story of a downside of modeling. On September 11, Ashlynn took half a day off of school to do an unpaid shoot for a hairstylist. Ashlynn hadn’t been in front of a camera in awhile, so figured it was worth doing, especially since the woman committed to paying for her transport. Ashlynn sent us this behind-the-scenes photo.

It is now five months later and not only did the hairstylist never reimburse Ashlynn for her transport, but she never sent the photos to her agent. This was the only one I was able to find online. I have asked her agent multiple times to follow up with the client, but to no avail. All I can do is cross fingers that this will be her only experience of being taken advantage of.

Early Morning in The Hague...

Walking back to Den Haag Centraal before the stores even open was a rare opportunity to take a few shots in places where there usually seems to be a constant flow of people. Here is the empty Passage...

...and the nearly empty Nieuwe Passage.

Twice that day I found bikes parked right in front of No Bike Parking signs. This spot was just across from the train station with clearly lots of people ignoring the request. 

These hand drawn signs on a small residential street in Delft were polite enough to be in both English and Dutch, but appear to be a complete failure.

More Views...

It was very cool to get a different perspective of the city...

...such as noticing the Nepalese prayer flags on this rooftop.

Kevin Coellen, the photographer leading the tour, is a young German guy going to university in The Hague. He pulled out this sphere and let me take a shot, but clearly I had no idea what I was doing. 

Here is the view looking straight down at the church built in the 15th century.

Here is the tower as seen from the ground. It was originally built in the 15th century and then rebuilt in 1542 after a lightning strike. It is 303 feet (92.5 meteres) tall.

This tower is part of the old town hall, built in 1564, when The Hague decided to spend its money on a fancy building instead of city walls. 

Where’s the Sun?

Unfortunately, the sun never did make an appearance, but it was nice to see the sky lighten.

As you can see, I took a lot of photos.

Despite being the third largest city in the Netherlands, somehow The Hague still has a small city feel to me. However, from this viewpoint, it seems to just keep going on forever. 

Despite no longer being the editor of Going Dutch, I am still always on the lookout for potential cover shots.