Following our record-breaking heat in July and the record rainfall of August we are now experiencing the warmest September in 300 years, according to the Dutch weather agency (KNMI). More »
Last Saturday was Open Monumentendag, or Open Monument Day, in the Netherlands. Leiden goes a step further and celebrates Openmonumentendagen, or Openmonumentenweekend, opening up over 30 monuments, museums and historical buildings for the entire weekend. Each year the tourist bureau in Leiden also publishes a guide for visitors, with suggested walking or cycling routes. More »
This Sunday, 17 September, the center of Leiden will be closed to all car traffic. The city is closing the streets for an autovrije dag, or car-free day. Each year across Europe and the rest of the world such car-free days are organized; this year marks the first time Leiden will be closed to car traffic since the 1970’s. More »
We’re having another extreme weather record-breaking month here in the Netherlands. After the extreme heat of July, we are now having one of the wettest Augusts ever. As of last Friday, we have had thirteen ‘heavy rain’ days this month. Over 50mm of precipitation in one day is considered a ‘heavy rain.’ More »
Earlier this month we decided to try changing our two-square-meals-a-day (plus snacks) cats into free-range eaters. Alex had a small setback last week when she gorged herself and then barfed everything up. Other than that incident things are going smoothly and Arby and Alex seem to understand that they can eat whenever they want to. More »
Our cats, Arby and Alex, have been driving us completely crazy the last few months with their obsession with food. They have been meowing hours before dinner time and begging for food all throughout the day. Trying to sleep in on the weekends has been disastrous; one or the other cat starts jumping around our bed at 5am or earlier, pestering us to get up and feed them. Finally this week we decided we’ve had it and started an experiment to get them to be ‘free eaters.’ More »
The Dutch national weather agency (KNMI) has already announced that July 2006 will go down in the record books as the hottest month ever. It has been so hot that the announcement was made more than a week before the end of the month. More »
This Saturday 15 July marks the 400th birthday of Leiden native son and master painter Rembrandt van Rijn. The Leiden city museum, the Lakenhal (cloth guild hall), is inviting all residents of Leiden to celebrate the birthday with coffee and cake. More »
We like to camp over weekends in the summer, but the hassle of setting up a small tent for a short getaway can make a short camping trip less enjoyable. When we first saw the 2-Second tent by Quechua at Decathlon, a sporting-goods store, we had to try it. Now we have the 3-Second Air tent and we love it. Here is a short review of both. More »
The Almere-Buiten branch of the Dutch supermarket “Plus” has introduced special shopping baskets for single customers. Shoppers who use a purple shopping basket are indicating to other shoppers that they are available. More »