Den Haag (The Hague) - Kijkduin Park

We arrived on 9.September in Den Haag (The Hague) and the nearest campground was in Kijkduin Park. It was about 20-25 minutes by bus from The Hague city center. But, that's jumping ahead a bit.

First, there's the issue that we're right on the coast. Second, the campground initially told me they only have pitches that are 10m x 10m. We are 10.5m in length. Another employee joined the conversation and the offered to let us stay "in the back" of the park, where they are planning to build cabins and it would be OK if our RV overhung the parking spaces in front of the pitch. Next, the pitch number... 666... I should have known something would go awry.

We immediately got the front tires stuck in the sand. Huh. Guess the receptionist failed to mention that the ground is soft and heavy vehicles should beware. Do know, we had gotten oiut and walked around. There's heavy grass growing over the sand and it feels deceptively firm. Guess you just can't turn your wheels on the stuff. The few folks camped around us stepped out to watch. For some strange reason, I had decided to wear a skirt that day (it's travel day, why not?). I only wish I had thought to take a picture - we were up to the middle of the wheels in sand and were backed up against a light post. No one bothered to help - they were more amused to watch us. Thank goodness for the front jacks, the autoleveling system and Dan's quick thinking. In about an hour, we were able to slowly inch ourselves out (an hour and a lot of lifing the front of the RV with the jacks, pushing sand under the tires with our bare hands, lowering... to sink again for an inch of movement).

While we were getting the RV unstuck, the kids were off playing nearby. I got to see Megan climb her first tree... isn't this cute (sorry, it's a little blurry) - or at least, I got to see Megan in the tree for the first time. She claims a school friend taught her how to climb them. She invited me to join her, and because I declined, she's now convinced that it's because I don't know how to climb trees and that it's her job to teach me!

Overall, it was a little like visiting Ocean Shores, just on the North Sea. While the map above makes it look like we must have had a great view of the ocean, we were sheltered by sand dunes. The weather wasn't that cooperative and the first four days, the wind blew something fierce. In fact, we found ourselves at the beach, being sandblasted by the wind... the kite surfers were having a great time, but no one else was out.

On our first venture in to the city, we found a sale on bikes and purchased two folding bikes along with child carriers. Note - the intended use of the folding bikes is NOT to add child carriers - the frames aren't really strong enough. But, we do and it's concurred by a clerk in the store that what we want to do is possible, though not pretty. We wrangle the bikes and child carriers back on the bus and back to the campground (picture me... one folding bike that wants to open, one child seat, one child... manuevering on a bus by myself as Dan and Megan had taken off on his bike for the final stretch back to the camp site... talk about not pretty. =) ). Anyway - it is a great solution, inexpensive, and we are finally mobile!

Good thing the territory is mostly flat - we are now on a single-speed bike, with an additional 30-40 lb each - kind of starts to let us know what Matt and Gretchen must feel like biking around the world.

The city itself is quite beautiful. We have limited time to explore and limited patience for museums - but are enjoying the beautiful parks, fountains and buildings.

Interesting thing about Internet connectivity. Just because you have an Internet connection doesn't mean you can send or receive email. We signed up for a 7-day pass and could browse just fine. Dan was able to change his settings over in outlook and send/receive email, but we were not able to send from Hotmail and were not able to log in at all to Google. Messenger worked and through some workarounds, Dan was able to make things work around day 6. Note - tech support never really responded to our emails... after we sent a complaint, about 4 days later Hotmail services worked, but I was still unable to access Gmail or Blogger.

The other fun development is we found a solution to our expensive calling needs. Every call to the US on our pre-paid cell phone was costing about 5EUR to initiate, followed by about 4EUR per minute. Dan initially tried out Skype, but after having some difficulties, gave Windows Live Messenger a try. We’re now able to make phone calls to the States for about 3c/minute US as long as we have Internet connectivity.

Laundry continues to be an interesting exercise in both patience and expense. We again encountered a dryer that won't dry ... and wound up hanging the clothes in our shower with the oil heater running. If you ever have a video conference with us and see laundry hanging all over the RV, know that it's raining outside and the dryers didn't do their jobs!

The pool and playground at our park are most popular with the girls. They love the free time to run around and be loud kids. Megan's school work is progressing and in spite of her objections, she's picking up reading quite quickly.

I finally understand "reclaimed land" - once you see the extensive use of canals and homes sitting on little island plots with a canal running down the middle of the neighborhood that's higher than the house, it makes a very memorable impression. I have to admit to getting a little freaked out the night that the wind blew so hard that it sounded like waves crashing up outside the RV. The next day was when we first heard about the massive earthquakes that shook Indonesia (click here for the USGS Link to one of the many quakes during this time period).