Hashing in Late Autumn...

Surprisingly, we convinced Ashlynn to join us for an AH3 Hash in Amsterdam Zuid. Someone captured photos of the three of us as we were heading to the beer break in Beatrix Park.

Temps were still above freezing, but we still appreciated the hot spiked chocolate at the end.

Leiden and Amsterdam....

Ola, Nick and I spent the day after Thanksgiving in Leiden. We started with a trip to the De Valk Windmill Museum.

After climbing down all the windmill’s ladders and going to lunch, we went to a microbrewery where we were shocked when a generous Dutch woman gave us one of her beers after she overheard the bartender telling us that he had just sold the last one of what we tried to order. That night Ola and Nick headed to Amsterdam...

....where we met up with them at a pub the following night. Earlier that day, Jimmy and I happened upon an antique shop that reminded us of the Room of Requirements from Harry Potter.

We had dinner at the Foodhallen (Food Hall), where I enjoyed a soy hot dog with hummus and popcorn.

I said something to the Dutch woman next to me after noticing the name on her glass (which happened to be the name of the road where I grew up) and she suggested that I take her glass home although it wasn’t exactly hers to give away. In an example of how crime feeds upon itself, rather than rejecting her offer, we decided that taking home one glass wasn’t enough, so bought a glass of bubbly and took that glass home as well. I felt very guilty, but love our new glasses.

While walking across town to meet Ola and Nick, we came across a wall plastered with ON ON posters. We never figured out what it was actually promoting, but was definitely a fitting background for a photo of a couple of hashers.

Thanksgiving....

Normally we don’t do much for Thanksgiving since it’s a normal school and work day, but this year we had two celebrations. The first was Hashgiving in Rijswijk, where we ran a very fun hash trail by following photo clues rather than the usual flour and chalk.

Opee and I did several down-downs for being Americans and helping to cook.

Opee baked several pumpkin pies and I made homemade cranberry sauce plus mashed potatoes.

I didn’t take many photos of the change in seasons this year, so the giant tree in front of our house will have to suffice.

On Thanksgiving night we were thrilled to host Ola and Nick, who made their first visit to Holland since she moved to Germany in April and stayed with us for two nights. We were also happy that they didn’t seem to mind that we were serving a plant-based meal.

GLOW Some More...

Coming in a close 2nd place was Windows projected on the Catharina Church, which was built in 1867.

The colors and designs were very vivid and cheerful.

The city was mobbed with people, but it was easy to walk the 3.75-mile (6-kilometer) route to see the 21 installations. Frankly, my photos didn’t do justice to many of the projects. 

These two sets of lights were not part of the official festival, but just some local stores that got into the swing of things.

If you’re interested to see more of what we experienced, check out this two-minute official time-lapse and you’ll see why I’ve already marked my calendar for next year’s festival.

GLOW Eindhoven...

After doing some calculations, we realized that it was cheaper to upgrade our train cards to a monthly subscription that gives us free weekends starting on Fridays at 6:30 p.m. and ending on Mondays at 6 a.m. It has been so liberating not having to put the train fare into the equation anymore when we plan our weekends.   

One of our first trips that we likely wouldn’t have made due to the train fare was a two-hour journey to Eindhoven to experience their annual one-week light festival called GLOW. It was awesome! The theme was The Source, as in the source of light. Eindhoven has been a source of light for the entire world since the founding of its match factory in 1870 and the Philips Light Bulb Factory in 1891.

In fact, one of our favorite installations was a light show called Blob the Bulb projected by Philips onto a store.

It was a seven-minute show set to music that transformed the building over and over into different colors and designs.

This wasn’t actually part of the festival, but I thought it was an intriguing mural. 

Another Night in The Hague...

It was dark as I left the host hotel for the Holiday Bazaar, so I took the opportunity to take some night shots. Could this be a ghost trying to steal one of the rental bikes?

The stork is a symbol of The Hague and is prominent during the holiday season.

This new mural at the edge of a tram tunnel is in honor of Chuck Deely, an American who lived and played guitar in The Hague for the final 20 years of his life. We saw him regularly playing near Den Haag Centraal or in the shopping district.

I’ve seen this new space-age tram tunnel from the ground, but haven’t ridden through it yet.

On Saturday evening I met Jimmy at Mingle Mush. He’s wearing his black backpack while waiting for our pierogies (Polish dumplings).

Another Early Morning in The Hague...

As the Treasurer for the AWC, I was obligated to volunteer for the entire weekend of the Holiday Bazaar rather than just for one shift. The hours were long, but keeping track of all of the sales over the weekend with the Assistant Treasurer was rewarding (don’t worry, we didn’t skim the profits but rather managed to balance the books to the penny). 

So I found myself heading into The Hague with my camera early in the morning again. Here’s the Plein...

...the entrance to the Binnenhof (Parliament)...

....and the Ridderzaal (Knight’s Hall).

I was disappointed to see locks on these railings at the Hofvijver and hope that they will be cut off.

I love the contrast of modern buildings towering over the 17th century Binnenhof.