Den Hauge

Ok... In Holland.. everyone speaks hairball I think. It's so funny listening to people talk because they always sound like they are getting ready to cough up a hairball. HA! I wish it was a more beautiful language.. I mean, even saying the word gezellig (cozy, warm, comforting) sounds like you are coughing up a hair ball (HA-zell.. or something like that, I haven't quite mastered that one) but such a nice word and they butcher it. Oh well. I get a kick out of it..and sometimes I literally laugh out loud when one of the kids says a word. But then they laugh at me when I try and pronounce the number 9. lol. Lot's of laughter around this house. I love it. They aren't super affectionate people, but Maurieen gives me a hug every now and again. It's quite nice. They seem to be generous people as well. For instance.. silly me did not bring an actual rain coat.. DUMB MOVE! If you come visit, make sure to pack your rain coat. It rains ALL THE TIME here... Seriously. It's crazy.. however it does decide to quit once the kids get home and you can't go anywhere then.. oh well. But back to my story, so I don't have a rain coat so I am borrowing Camille's poncho for now, but Maurieen offered me her's to use along with anything else. And they offered to buy my train discount pass. So nice. They seem very willing to work to make my stay as enjoyable as possible. And the food.. oh my goodness! So delicious! I think I will get very fat very fast if I don't ride my bike all the time and if I just eat all the good food all the time. I might have to diet with her during the year sometimes. Lol...Today Camille rode our bikes in the rain to Den Hauge.. it's about 15 min by bike. And it's pretty flat the whole way there.. however we went through this beautiful forest.. Oh it was sooo nice! Very quiet, but there were lots of people walking their dogs and riding their bikes through there.. it was nice because even though you were in the middle of town, you were in the forest so you couldn't really hear the cars and buses on the other side. And the path goes right onto the Palace grounds. That was kind of cool. It goes right in front of the gate. So of course I stopped and took pictures like a good tourist would :o) The guards looked at me funny, but who cares. I figure they get lots of people who come to take pictures of the palace. We also rode past Parliment, but I didn't get a picture of that b/c it was raining and there were tons of people so there wasn't a place to park my bike. Ha.. I just read that sentence. That sounds so funny.. " I didn't have a place to park my bike" oh gosh. OK.. getting distracted here, sorry.
(this is the palace ---> )
We also went to this delicious coffee shop.. actually it's the only one in Den Hauge that will give you a latte with any flavoring in it.. all the other ones are just plain latte's... I think I will visit this place often.. and then we went to a great little cafe. Oh it was SOOO good!!! They have fresh baked bread with perfectly seasoned meats and homemade chutney on the bread. So good. I had a smoked chicken sandwich on a brown roll with apple chutney. It was absolutely the best sandwich I've ever eaten. period. mmmmmmmmmm.
Tomorrow Camille and I are going to take the train into Amsterdam. Its going to be so much fun! I can't wait!! I'll post some pictures probably tomorrow night.. right now I don't have enough pictures to make it worth posting.. but I'm sure tomorrow I will :o) Hope you are all doing well!!