The Not so Small Town Square is Very Impressive…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The first trip we made to Mechelen (the one in the rain) was the trip where we had a little more time, our friends were dropped off at the location of their appointment earlier than planned because we had arrived earlier than expected.

Knowing that  Rotterdam and Antwerpen can be notorious for traffic jams during rush-hour, we had left the Hague at 7.15 in the morning, hoping to either miss the worst of the traffic or have allowed extra time in case we got stuck somewhere.

The Fates smiled on us on this occasion as traffic flowed smoothly past Rotterdam and we encountered a delay of only half an hour at Antwerpen: a far cry from other occasions when we have been stuck on the ring road there for between one and two hours.

The only downside was the weather, not really the best for exploring what looked like a very interesting city centre.  We persevered and found a car park and then set out on foot and only a street or two further discovered an huge city square that was dominated by a cathedral at one end and a castle-like stadhuis (city council building) at the other. Once again I’ve combined the photos from the good weather later trip with the earlier bad weather one so you can get an idea of how the view looks on the different days.

Since our first visit was only days after Easter, the locally famous “Pas Ei” (Easter Egg tree) was still up… complete with hanging ornamental Easter eggs. Himself wants to see if there are  any shops open, specifically so that we can take some waffles  chocolates and beer back to the Netherlands but first there’s a funny statue in the corner that I’m off to check out…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Apparently Stripes are The Latest Thing this Season…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

This is a largely photographic post… Stripes, stripes and more stripes of amazing colour.

Even narrow strips of land along the roadside, between a canal and a farm are packed solid with blooms. The air is pungent with the smell of perfume, the colours are fresh, bright and there are cyclists and people stopping everywhere to admire the views.

We even noticed a number of tour buses travelling ridiculously (and unlawfully) slowly on the motorway behind us probably in response to tourist pleas to try and catch some elusive photos of the bulb fields en route to their next destination.

Also something funny: at one point where we stopped to take photographs we caught sight of a chicken in the tulip field just across the canal. It didn’t falter or dally  but marched resolutely right the the very end of the long field, and entered the last row of tulips and fussed around there: it probably thought it’s owner will never find her eggs here, sadly she will probably return later in the next days to find them scrambled simply because she’s hidden them so well. Needless to say, the nearby town of Noordwijk has planters full of tulips all down the streets… and it’s clear that stripes are very much in fashion this season, along the Dutch coast just north of the Hague.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The Pain of Reaching the Extraordinary Beauty of Full Bloom and then Facing Decapitation…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We have turned off the motorway and found a suitable small road that by coincidence runs parallel to the motorway where we can retrace our way back home but at a slower pace and with stops for more detailed photographs.

Himself has a few hours free this (Monday 6th May) morning but knows a client is due to arrive with work after lunch so we are hurrying a little to make the best of a few hours free time and a beautiful day.

Growing tulips from seeds is a time consuming and difficult business, it takes toughly six years to achieve.

Nature provides a quicker method by producing bulbs that will split into two plants during their cold winter months underground and can be harvested in the spring. The splitting process however requires that the plant puts as much energy as possible into the magic of the multiplication process and not into generating and maintaining the flower and subsequent seeds. Other flowers are highly prized for the seeds but not tulips… the production of seeds invariably  means a poorer quality bulb, and thus a poorer quality bloom from that bulb the following year. Since world-wide sales of some three billion Dutch grown tulips depend on consistent quality of the flowers they will produce the following spring, machines are employed in growers fields to decapitate the flower heads before the seeding process can take place. This of course means that if you want to see tulips out in full bloom you have to be in the right place at the right time.

Many factors determine the exact time that the blooms will be decapitated: this year the flowers arrived very late because the warmer days of spring came roughly one month later than normal. Rainfall, temperature and the amount of sunshine then determine how fast the bulbs bloom and for how long.

The sudden rise in temperatures in the last week or so have seen tulips out en masse, but some are starting the process of producing seeds already so the machines are already in some fields chopping off their heads.

Luckily not all of the blooms on display today are unfortunate tulips waiting for their turn at the guillotine  Himself (the gardening guru of the family) informs me that the other little plants here are Hyacinths… Not only do they  look amazing but they smell fabulous too. If only I could present you with photographs that gave off the same heavenly perfume as we were greeted with as I opened the car door to step out and take photos…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The bulbs were being checked by people walking systematically though the fields… I assume they were checking how far along the seed forming process was…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The decapitating machine is making steady progress down the right hand strip of blooms…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Off with their heads!  (ouch!)… I felt sorry for the poor flowers.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

It’s as “pretty as a picture”… and I have the picture frame to prove it…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Break Out Your Sun Glasses, Spring Rolls Up Late …But Parties Hard With In Your Face Colours…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

My mother in law has been asking Himself for weeks to take her to see the local bulb fields in flower.

Unfortunately for her  the European Spring slept in this year and arrived roughly a month later than usual so there were no flowers to be seen in March and the first blooms only came out in force in late April.

In the last week or two the weather has suddenly changed for the better and we  have been treated to some beautiful sunny days.  The bulb fields are now blooming  at a frantic rate and with temperatures rising there is a chance that the petals will have dropped if we leave  catching a good view of them too late. (Most of these  plants are wanted for the valuable bulb beneath the ground and not the blooms we can see above it, so the petals will be left to drop, or the blooms will be beheaded with machines but amazingly none of these will end up as cut flowers in vases. (potpourri anyone?) I’ve taken a few more days annual leave so that I can sort some major family events and luckily, Himself  who works as free-lancer, had a break in workflow yesterday that allowed him to take a few hours off  on a sunny Monday morning. This meant we quickly  arranged to pick up my Mother in Law and soon headed out of the Hague, past Wassenaar in the direction of Katwijk and Noordwijk.

At first we were on the motorway and not being able to pull over and stop meant getting tantalising fleeting glances of bright colours…  there were masses of cyclists on many of the smaller paths and cycleways as people come from all over the region to enjoy cycling along the bulb routes, enjoying the amazing colours and taking zillions of photographs. Naturally I was equally keen to get my camera out, so as we made our way out towards Noordwijk we also started looking for a few good side roads that would allow us to pull over and enjoy a closer view of the flowers.

First however, here are some of the fleeting views I got from the motorway … and I noticed that we were not the only ones enjoying the colourful views.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

An Unexpected Meal For Two almost Thai’s Us Up In Knots…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

It often happens that one of our kids has a play date somewhere for a few hours but it’s fairly rare that both of them are out of the house at the same time.

If we arrange a babysitter it is because Himself and I have a special event to attend and so it’s even rarer  that we find ourselves without kids and no actual appointment to go to and a few free hours to ourselves.

Recently I took some annual leave and spent most of it organising kid stuff,  and helping out several family, friends and neighbours who required  sudden and urgent  help due to life throwing them some nasty and unexpected “curve balls” ( I use this phrase without knowing it’s exact meaning but I like the way it sounds). One suffered a cancer scare and needed an immediate operation to remove a very large tumour (luckily benign, but unluckily so large as to be interfering with other bits of anatomy and causing pain), Mother In Law had problems with her pace maker, another friend has visa issues, and we had house troubles when the electricity and computers (at different times) failed for no apparent reason.

We had fingers in pies all over the place, after-hours repair specialists in,  and extra kids all over the place, as we cooked extra meals, provided  taxi service  and baby sitting services. I’d put my back out and after my physio hammered on all the spots where it hurt, loosened up enough to walk like an 80 year old instead of a 120 year old.  (We went to see one of my Sister in Law’s in a performance and I was embarrassed to see that my 90 year old mother in law was walking faster than I was).

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

One weekend,  after a busy day  my sister in law phoned. They had been out  and about, were reasonably close to our place and her kids wanted our kids to visit and play, could they swing by our place and collect them for an evening  please?  The kids were already pleading for us to say yes and within half an hour we were suddenly and unexpectedly child free.

There were leftovers that  needing finishing in the fridge  but we looked at each other  and grinned: dinner out!!!  just the two of us, alone! … and preferably somewhere that didn’t  serve pizza or kid friendly food.

We instantly decided to head to the beach for dinner at one of the restaurants on the Promenade. We had tapas in mind.. or anything else that contained a ton of herbs, spices or shot of the exotic.  It was the first evening with decent weather for ages, we were still a good two kilometres from the beach when we got stuck in a traffic jam and it became clear that every man, woman and their dog had the same idea we did.

Twenty minutes later we had advanced so little down the street that I still had the same pretty building in view of my camera lens, albeit a photo in the rear view mirror instead of  from the front windscreen.  This was ridiculous.  Agreement saw us turning off into the nearest side street at the first opportunity and  high tailing it away from the hordes heading to the  beach as fast as we could.

Next came the problem of finding a restaurant … for some reason it appeared that every place we saw was Italian… we went towards the centre of town but they are digging roadworks all over the place and between my back and my foot I wasn’t  feeling like negotiating the detours and hiking to my dinner destination.

It was still very early in the evening and several places looked promising but a quick look at menu boards outside  left us less than inspired. We figured out we didn’t fancy Chinese food, or Greek or the Egyptian shawarma places.  More roadworks lead us all over the place. I’ve lived in this city for twenty years now and on this evening we drove down more streets that I’ve never been in before than I have in the last ten years in total.

We end up driving down the Laan van Meerdervoort (the longest street in the Hague) and see a restaurant by the Conradkade. More menu card reading… it’s packed outside and all the nice seats in the sunshine  have been taken by people smoking like chimneys and the menu sports mushrooms in almost every meal, a no-go for me since I’m allergic to the blighters.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

We are about to give up and go home to our fridge full of leftovers when Himself spies a menu board just around the corner. “ Thai Restaurant De Sampan”… hmm, sounds like just the ticket.  We go inside, it’s small and quiet so we take a seat by the window and wait to order.

Drinks are ordered and we patiently wait to be offered a menu.  Instead we receive a small plate of krupuk  (prawn crackers) and a spicy dipping sauce. Ok… we are hungry so we begin to nibble. I’m just about to ask about the whereabouts of the menu card when suddenly two bowls of soup are placed on our table.

Surprised, Himself  blurts out that “Sorry, we haven’t ordered soup and we were just waiting for the menu card please“.

Then all is revealed:  this place has no menu in the conventional sense. There is a set menu for a set price that changes every day of the week and every customer gets what’s on offer that day. The soup has mushrooms in it, we quickly explain my allergy problem and ask if  more than just the soup contains mushrooms. Luckily tonight’s menu doesn’t and they even have chicken soup without mushrooms that they bring instead.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

After the soup we are presented this the option of rice or noodles and choosing rice, receive four small bowls each that contain identical contents. Everything including the soup was spicy,  I can handle  a “reasonable” amount of heat and it was good for me most of the time. I got about three mouthfuls of chilli peppers during the meal that were distinctly  out of my comfort zone, but with an extra order of rice to help defuse the fire, I actually really enjoyed my meal.

Himself,  more seasoned when it comes to heat said only the odd mouthful was decently hot.  Dessert afterwards was very simple and refreshing: strawberries and whipped cream.

The service was very good (something not to be expected as standard in the Netherlands) and we enjoyed our relaxing meal for two very much.

I wouldn’t necessarily rate this as haute cuisine, it’s a small menu cooked decently, this is more of a place where you’d go when you want a break from cooking at home and want to  know you will enjoy  your meal, rather than a a place where you’d  plan a  really special event menu that will blow your socks off and probably has a price tag to blow your budget as well.

It’s a meal you can enjoy and leave happy rather than disappointed… true it’s Economy rather than First Class, but you definitely get your money’s worth and it’s Economy done very decently indeed.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

This Spark Box Has me Jumping For Joy…

Gemeente Den Haag (The Hague City Council) commissioned various artists to paint up Electricity substations around the Hague as part of a local beautification programme and I loved the improvement  so tried to find and photograph as many of them as I possibly could.

This one is situated at the intersection of Newtonstraat and Suezkade and not only livens up the area but also bought a smile to my face. In fact this substation box is one of my top five favourites so I hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed visiting it and taking them.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

A Nice Day Out, But in The End Not Best Suited to Both of Our Kids…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

I’m rounding up the last photographic items of our visit to Plaswijkpark … we didn’t get around all of  the park by any means, partly because of the weather and because I still can’t walk longer distances easily without a really decent rest in between.

There’s a building  just  down the path from the monkey enclosure where you enter by a “crazy door” with offset out-sized hinges that’s a bit of a mind bender at first glance.

There is a long hallway down the inside of the building and off  it are several areas which are mostly for very young kids: giant  duplo style-blocks, a massive ball bath, and another area with click-it-together style bricks. Kiwi Daughter I have the place to ourselves and are rather pleased to take a rest from walking and the rain and decide on a whim to try and divide the balls in the ball bath back into their separate colours.

We throw balls all over the place like mad things until we are joined by Himself and Little Mr. who laugh at our endeavours and tell us to expect the semi neatness to last only until the next visiting kid jumps in and destroys our handiwork. We say we know this and don’t  mind, and sure enough, five minutes later a group of small children arrive and immediately throw themselves headlong into the balls, wildly mixing them again.

It’s still raining so we are then issued with a summons by Little Mr. who wants to enlist the whole family to use all of the out-sized duplo blocks to make one building.

My contribution is to sit on the long seat/wall that keep the blocks contained and to shove the blocks closer to Himself and the kids who are gathering and building with my walking stick. We manage to complete the task and some other children join in at the last minute to help.

Little Mr. strikes some over the top I’m-a-superstar style poses with the work of art we’ve just created (those photos are not included here for reasons of internet privacy) and I manage some photos before the other kids rush back to swarm all over it.

The drizzle had abated a little and everyone is hungry so we head off to the one restaurant near the entrance that’s open (the other restaurants aren’t open so early in the season) and  warm up with fries and coffee/ hot chocolate etc.   Whilst we did all have fun here, it’s very  clear that this playpark is far  more suited to Little Mr’s age range rather than Kiwi Daughters. She liked a few things like the trampolines, the bathtub air propelled balls and the monkey’s but was a bit bored with the rest.

I think this would be an excellent place to come back to in the summer,  but maybe when Kiwi Daughter is spending a day doing something else more suited to her own age and then Little Mr. could brings a few friends his own age and really enjoy a full day out. In summary:  if your kids are eight years of age and under, they will probably find this place totally to their liking… if they are eleven or twelve years of age and over they will probably have outgrown the vast majority of the attractions here and would be happier somewhere different.

It’s been a nice family time out… “different”  with the less than great weather, but well worth the experience.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Even Rain Clouds Have Silver Linings….

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

One good thing about going on an early morning visit to a family attraction Park on cold, grey and wet day in early April  is that sometimes the crowds appear to have woken up, looked out the window at the bad weather and decided they would rather stay in bed.

Their loss is our gain: we now have a boat ride with a friendly and chatty boat driver who’s delighted to have a few passengers, even if it is only the four of us.

What first looks like a large lake is in fact a series of connected waterways and islands, there are expensive permanent homes dotting the shoreline and some equally expensive holiday houses (although not all of them at in the best of states).

Land is scarce in the Netherlands and a little semi secluded bolt-hole with water access so close to the centre of a major city is a luxury item and a hot ticket if you can find it. Experience with property here tells me that even the more run down places will be worth decent six figure sums so the prices of the larger permanent homes will definitely come into the “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it”  category.

Many of the holiday homes are in little islands so boat docks are the transportation parking areas, no doubt very busy in summer.

Yes, ok it’s raining and the view would be better with sunshine and blue skies, but there’s also something very relaxing about the novelty of having a boat ride like this all to yourself,  we can ask all the questions we like of the friendly skipper, who’s a fund of local knowledge.

The kids of course want to know about the iron tower close to the dock,  some local residents who thought it would be better scrapped but it’s now protected because it’s an old fire department watch tower and getting on for 100 years old.  Sadly for the kids the metal work is no longer safe enough to allow the tourist hordes to climb it, basic repairs keep it in shape but  it would simply cost too much to bring it up to standard for opening to the public.

Once we get back to shore and disembark, I notice an older couple waiting to board… like us they will have the boat entirely to themselves…  even rain clouds have a silver lining.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Monkey Business For Both Ape and Kid…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

With the Royal Party done and dusted, the public holiday over, a decent percentage of the nation nursing a hangover and orange clothes in laundry hampers all over the Netherlands, it’s time to get back to “life as usual”.

Therefore I’m returning you to my Plaswijkpark series of posts and one of Kiwi Daughter’s favourite subjects at the moment: monkeys.

There are a small amount of exotic animals here, it’s not primarily a zoo per see, they are more an addition to their main attractions rather than the main attraction itself.

We start by going in and finding that there’s also a “monkey style” entrance for kids who might like to make a monkey-like entrance… Kiwi Daughter was a bit old and far too tall for it to be honest but since she’s an ultra skinny wrench she still got around the obstacle course ok. In warm weather the apes can use the exit chutes and go play on the artificial island out the front if they wish, but the day we went was cold and drizzly so it was hardly a surprise to find them all preferring the heat inside behind panes of thick plexiglass.

It was harder than I thought to get photographs, but I did my best and Kiwi Daughter also managed a few from  top viewing “bubbles” arranged in the wall for kids to look through as they negotiate the monkey walkway.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwi Daughter)

(photograph © Kiwi Daughter)

(photograph © Kiwi Daughter)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

I usually think of thin tails on monkeys but these dudes have tails to rival any feather duster…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Apparently There Was a Party Taking Place Yesterday… ???

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

As a staunch Republican citizen of the Netherlands on the Day that the country celebrated the retirement of a Queen and the installation of a King,  I drew the line at wearing bright orange but was delighted to join my husband and kids at one of the many traditional flea markets on the streets.

This year we arranged to meet up with five sets of friends at a location reasonably central  to most of us, and four of these families turned up  in the end.

All the kids played together with newly bought toys from the street market and the parents tried to sell off some old toys that our kids swore blind they would be the ones selling, but after the first hour and a half they got bored and slithered out from selling duty leaving all the parents to take over for the rest of the day.

I came home early because I’d been up late baking the night before, had serious pain in my foot because of a lot of standing and walking and needed a nap  because I then spent the evening doing what all good Dutch Republicans do… went off to a French Patisserie class and spoke French all night. Ok, so yes it was still a big  event in Dutch history, so I buckled and took from photos of the Dutch TV coverage before I went out and of the BBC news when I got back.  Therefore here’s a mostly  pictorial post about what the rest of the Netherlands was celebrating yesterday…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Above photo, Beatrix is still Queen… then she signs the abdication document … and isn’t any longer…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The Crown is present as a symbolic item only, Willem-Alexander, like the other Dutch Monarchs before him, doesn’t ever get to wear it. Not even on the day of his inauguration.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Kofi Annan and wife amongst official guests (but there were over 2000 of  them so I’ve only photographed a couple who were on the screen at the moment I had the camera in my hand) Since Willem-Alexander got to choose the guest list there were no Heads of State of State or Presidents attending (they are more of this mother’s guest list material) Instead, he choose all of the worlds Crown Princes and Princesses… waiting heirs to thrones as he was before today.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

There for show only…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

The Dutch commentator wryly remarked that Prince Charles also attended the inauguration of  Beatrix 33 years ago, so has seen two in the Dutch circle of friends become monarchs but still isn’t one himself.  She then made a comment about how very much older Charles is than Willem Alexander and continued: The English Queen is “still going strong”.  (Ouch, even I thought that was maybe rather a low blow.)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Apparently the Thai princess, heir to the throne is rarely seen in public…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

And apparently the Japanese wife of the Emperor is seen so exceptionally rarely in Public in Japan that 80 photographers are here to photograph her here today (she’s very reclusive and also didn’t attend the Farewell Gala and dinner given by Beatrix and attended by zillions of heads of state on Monday evening)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

There’s a walk to be made between the building where the abdication took place and the church where the inauguration takes place… Willem-Alexander’s three young daughters lead the royal family (followed by “Oma” (grandmother) Beatrix)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Amalia, at nine years of age became the world’s youngest heir to a throne today…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

No longer “Queen” Beatrix, but now “Princess”Beatrix… (or elderly lady about to enjoy her retirement).

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)