Three weeks ago I reported about the arrival of Sinterklaas and shared photos of the parade. This Saturday (December 6) we celebrated his nameday with the family. Lots of candy, lots of presents, accompanied by poems. Some of the gifts from Sinterklaas were hidden in special surprise packages*, as is the tradition:) We had loads of fun, here are some pictures:)


Ruben and his grandma wait in anticipation after the reveal of the pile of presents, while Gayleen is fixing food.


Benthe listening to Jaap reading a poem, while others are a little distracted;)


Gayleen is reading a poem; judging by the laughter it's a bit of a naughty one:-D


Legs for grandma Ina because she had vein stripping surgery....


In the poem Sint says he wants to see her own cutting skills, since she put cuttingboards on her wishlist;)


Lots of jokes were made when she put the legs over her knees; what kind of doctor did she see? *gigglesnort*


In the end she managed to find the clue hidden in the legs, telling her to look for another present inside the operatingtable; a calender from Oxfam.


A surprise package and poem for me!


An old fashioned phone, I guess because I still don't have a cellphone;) Poem mentioned fanfiction and spending a lot of time on the computer. Present was a white mouse to go with my Macbook White \o/


Sint made a tropical Island for Jaap, because of the family-trip to Bali; in the palmtree he found earplugs to use on the plane (although other suggestions were made;)


Grandma reading a poem for Ruben, who's making faces at his dad because of the funny text (a childfriendly naughty word was used, indicating the headphones inside)


The Chinese surprise package for Hans refers to the long trip he made with Benthe.


Disappointed response from Ruben when he's told the book inside does not have pictures "Dat is niet voor mij!" - "That's not for me!", but it actually is; take a look at this video on how his mom and dad will have to read it to him :-D


Fortunately he got another present he could play with right away. We went for a walk in the woods to test his new car. Fun!

After dinner and more hanging out together, we said our goodbyes. It was a great day:)

Last but not least, have a look at my loot:
From left to right: chocolate letter J, a card-holder on a chain, the white mouse, a bookmark sheep, marsipan candy figures, Tony's Chocolonely caramel/seasalt, a skull with loose teeth, a telephone "earphone" so I can use my still not existing cellphone like a regular homephone, a thriller (chosen for the skull cover;), skull door knobs (did you discover the theme yet?) and a CD from Lily Allen: Sheezus. \o/ Thank you, Sinterklaas!

* Want to know how the legs and some other surprises were made? There's a post about that in my LiveJournal! (It also includes a closer look at the marsipan candy:)

On Saturday November 15 Sinterklaas arrived in the Netherlands. We went to welcome him in Scheveningen harbour and then watched the parade in The Hague. Here are some photos!


The first boat filled with presents and Pieten... no Sinterklaas yet


The Pieten threw lots of pepernoten and marshmallows! Ruben even caught some in his hoodie!


There it is: the big boat with Sinterklaas, can you see him?


Look at all these faces filled with anticipation *grins*


Yay! Hello, Sinterklaas! *waves*


So. many. people.


Final view of Sinterklaas before he got off the boat and on his horse for the parade. We take a break from standing in the rain and take the tram into town for a quick lunch before we catch up with Sint again. (The parade takes four hours (4!!!) to travel through all the neighbourhoods)


The stork is the symbol of The Hague:)


From the citycenter we took a bus to get back on track and find the best spots for the parade. Came across this gorgeous fountain.


And when we walked around we saw this DivaPiet; she sang opera songs!


Found a good place to wait; just when this car announced the parade would start in five minutes...


Such an amazing parade with bands playing, Pieten on bikes and donkeys and... look!


A big old firetruck!


Wahey, so cool!


Of course we were all really waiting for Sinterklaas...


There he is!


Oooh, it is a little intimidating;)


*waves*


Bye, Sinterklaas!


As a special finale there was a very loud train, or as Ruben called it a "treinauto!" - a trainCAR! Lots of steam and a very loud horn.
The end.

One more photo though. Because at the end of the day, brother Jaap accompanied brother Hans and me to the tram and we made an alp that I'd like to share:


Me and my "little" brothers:)

J.

Traveled to The Hague on Wednesday October 1st for an evening with my brother, my sister in law and Stephen Fry... Okay, fine it was a global cinema event, so we watched him on screen while he was doing his bookpresentation from the stage in the Royal Hall in London. I arrived in The Hague around 16:30  (4:30 pm) and would meet up with the brother and sil for dinner, so I had some time to walk around the area before settling down with a book (by Stephen Fry, obviously:)
Anyway, I made some photos so you can walk along.


Spui with officebuildings (near trainstation) in the distance


Love these type of buildings, dating back to the 1920s (if I remember correctly:)


Such cool sculptures


If only I'd had a ladder to see eye to eye.


I also love that they kept the old buildings and simply moved the new fast-food restaurants in.


This part of the delicatessen passage was opened in 1929 (there was a plaque stating this;)


View of the Buitenhof; the outside of our parliament building; inside there is a big cobblestone square, called 'the Binnenhof; that's where all the big political decisions are made.


A sand sculpture commemorating that the Kingdom (koninkrijk) of The Netherlands was founded 200 years ago. Recognize the big buildings behind the golden carriage?


The guy on the throne is Willem I; behind him in the distance you can see a statue of Willem II


And there you have King Willem II up close; the original statue was given to him by the people (...) in 1853. This is a replica.


Saw a couple  magnificent birds


I think this is a Caspian Gull (Pontische Meeuw) - they spent the winter up North:)


Amazing wingspan


How cool is this portrait of old socialist statesman Drees? (Prime Minister of the Netherlands from August 7, 1948 until December 22, 1958) Check out that shadow!


Gate to the Binnenhof, entrance to the parliament buildings. The Binnenhof is open to the public 24/7.


The stork is the symbol of The Hague.



My destination for this evening: Cinema Buitenhof, also a gorgeous building.


We had dinner at Havana, a Cuban restaurant nextdoor to the cinema. I had spareribs (sweet) - G. had the spicey version and brother J. went for satéh:) All delicious.


Time for Stephen on the big screen, live from London, shown all over the world:)



Stephen with J., G. and self!


Scored a signed copy of his new book. <3