Yesterday we found an unusually large selection of American grocery products at a regular supermarket in the Hague, here in the Netherlands. The store is Coop Van Dijk on Ursulaland 80-82 (see on Google map). There used to be an American school nearby, which is now gone, but the owner still likes to keep importing the American products, which fill an entire aisle in the store. More »

Until today, European law dictated television channels across Europe to have no more than twelve minutes of advertisements per hour, and in no more than three separate commercial breaks per hour. Today, EU countries decided to let go of this rule and allow commercials to be spread in more, smaller breaks, but still with a maximum of twelve minutes per hour. The change still needs approval from the European Parlement. More »

On Saturday we drove to IJmuiden (25 km west of Amsterdam) and walked down the South Pier, which stretches 3 km into the North Sea. It was very windy and cold, but the pier was filled with dozens of fishers and birders, and we saw some new birds ourselves. More »

On our holiday in South Florida two weeks ago we wanted to make some dives at the beautiful coral reefs of John Pennekamp State Park, so Amy had picked out a well-rated dive center on Key Largo: Rainbow Reef. We are fairly new divers (we had 17 dives in the Red Sea and the Netherlands prior to this trip) so we opted for a guided dive. Well, that was a huge mistake; apparently being a dive guide at Rainbow Reef means pulling out and scaring off as much wildlife as possible, in order to (we assume) ultimately get a higher tip. More »

Rescue workers near the Frisian town of Marrum (145 kilometers northeast of Amsterdam) struggled yesterday to save a herd of one hundred horses stranded for days on a tiny island after a storm earlier this week turned their pasture into sea. Eighteen horses have already drowned, and the rest have spent two nights huddled together in knee-deep water. More »