Julia’s Journical

Scheveningen, the Gold Coast of the Netherlands. The first time we went there Lindsay and I walked there, it took us about 6 hours because we went via Madurodam…so it actually took us about an hour. 

My first impression of Scheveningen was “this is a beach?”

actually it was the strand along the beach, but it was so bright and glarey that we made a quick get away.

The next week we went out to celebrate being married for 6 months! Lindsay and I caught tram no. 9 to Scheveningen to catch a movie. We saw Night At the Museum 2, it was fantastic. Afterwards we went back to the strand alongside the beach to grab some dinner. It was about 9.30pm and still as bright as the afternoon. We sat done at a really nice looking terrace called Crazy Pianos. We ordered some food and sat watching lighting from a storm far out at sea and enjoying the atmosphere.

Suddenly the storm out at sea wasn’t at sea at all. The sky got darker and darker, the lighting closer and closr, the wind colder and colder. It started sprinkling, so we pulled out table in under the cover of a umbrella. Then it started pouring and were invited to the table of a spanish man and his elderly mother who were further under cover than us. I missed his name because suddenly the storm was on us, the umbrellas were flying all over the place, thunder lighting, heavy rain and people screaming! We ran inside the bar with all the other people who had been sitting on the terrace. The poor waitresses were trying to find their patrons and seat them at tables so they inform the kitchen of the change of table numbers! Our waitress clutched at us, and sat us at a table.

Inside the storm was forgotten, and we found out why the bar was called Crazy Pianos, 2 grand pianos were on a stage and had been built sort of intertwining with each other! The 2 pianists were playing and singing well known songs and were very entertaining. It turned out one was from Sydney!

After dinner and dessert, we listened the music and waited for the storm to calm down enough for us to make a quick break for the tram. At the tram stop we had chocomel!

We made it back to Beer’s just as the storm started up again. We lay on our bed and watched the lightening out the window.

Lindsay took this photo. It was probably the biggest storm I have ever witnessed. We were woken up at 4am by the hugest clap of thunder ever.

Beer found one of his deck chairs from the roof of his house had blown off and landed between 2 *very* expensive cars! Amazing luck!

We had decided that we in fact did like Scheveningen and thus rode back there when we were on our explorations by bike!

There are bars and terraces along the sand

they are dismountable and are put up each summer and taken down for the winter

We wandered along the waters edge,

The sand was packed with people, all in their teeny tiny swimmers, none of them swimming.

we walked towards the pier while I sung ‘under the boardwalk’

unfortunately I only know the line ‘under the boardwalk’, so after singing that line several hundreds times I decided it was more of a pier than a boardwalk so stopped sining.

At the end of the Pier was a pancake restaurant and we hadn’t had lunch yet. So we ordered a pancake.

and yes that is a lump of butter on the pancake!

We sat next to the blue umbrella at the restaurant,

no the other blue umbrella. We were looking down directly at the water.

But we spent more time looking up at the bungy jumping

we walked back towards land

the big hotel in the middle is called the Kurhouse, it looks so amazing 

We rode further…north or maybe south? and found a pier to ride out on so we could have a better view of the pier at Scheveningen

Lindsay had a lie down,

while I sat down on something that wasn’t a bike seat!

a few days later we decided to go back to Scheveningen it was a public holiday and so everyone else in the entire world decided to be there as well.

it felt like the show bag pavilion at the Easter show, we could only just push our way through the crowds!

so being the crowd hating Australians that we are, we made another quick getaway.

A few days later we went back to the harbour at Scheveningen with Beer who was taking us out to dinner as a good-bye treat!
It was the most classy restaurant I have ever been to! I loved it!

We were really sad to say goodbye to Beer. We loved every minute with him!

but don’t be too sad for us, we are seeing him again on Friday! yay!