Quite close to where we live, there is a beautiful dune area that stretches all the way from Scheveningen to Katwijk aan zee, a fishing village about 15 kilometers to the north. When Rihanna Gaga was less than one year old, I used to make long walks around here, sometimes all the way to Katwijk. She would sleep in her stroller, or sometimes sit upright to look around her. She wasn't really impressed by the nature around her, often only becoming more lively when we walked into urban areas.
Today, her attitude is different - she tells me she really likes the 'mountains', as she calls the dunes, and the trees with their colourful autumn leaves. 'Listen,' I tell her, 'do you hear that?'
'No, I can't hear a thing', Rihanna Gaga replies.
'Exactly. It's completely quiet here. No cars, no people, nothing.'
This information impresses her and she exclaims: 'Wow!'
Because it is very quiet. The dunes' soft curves keep out any noise from outside, giving the place a solitude and peacefulness that can, sometimes, be slightly eery. I'm riding a bicycle, Rihanna Gaga is sitting on a child's seat attached in front of me. A large plastic windscreen prevents the rain from blowing in her face, but she is not disturbed by the rain or wind anyway. She's very much enjoying herself.
We're on our way to Boerderij Meyendel, a pancake restaurant in the heart of the dunes. It's a bit further than I expected and Rihanna Gaga becomes a bit impatient. One of her socks is bothering her and we need to stop, so that I can adjust it. As I do so, I remember that as a child I was bothered by those little pieces of thick thread inside my socks right at the roots of my toes. Apparently, things have not improved since then - but I promise Rihanna Gaga that one learns to live with them. I'm slightly out of breath, some of the dunes make for steep uphill cycling and I am out of shape - something I'm working on, having taken our return to the Netherlands as an opportunity to also start working out in the gym again.
But finally, we arrive at Boerderij Meyendel, which offers shelter from the cold and the rain. I'm surprised to find that the place is quite full of people, despite the weather - where do they all come from? Most of the visitors are pensioners, but there are some young people as well, wearing hiking clothes and looking very healthy. Boerderij Meijendel is clearly decorated to make it look as 'gezellig' as possible - that untranslatable Dutch word that denotes a specific kind of coziness, of doing things together in a pleasant mood, of comfortable normality. Everything is wooden, with red and white curtains and a fireplace in the middle with comfortable chairs around it, as well as a television screen broadcasting a fireplace. Rihanna Gaga wants to sit by the window, next to a dog that has her interest. By chance, this also places us close to a corner with toys and books for children, next to which a couple with a boy of Rihanna Gaga's age is sitting.
But first, we go and order our food. Meyendel is a self-service place and we buy ourselves a Leffe Tripel, an apple juice and a cheese and ham pancake. The drinks we can take to our place, for the pancake we have to wait. We're given a disk that will light up and buzz once the pancake is ready. We settle at our table, drinking our drinks and chatting about how nice the place is. Then the disk signals that our pancake is ready. I get up and fetch it from the counter. Rihanna Gaga devours a few large chunks of it - which is quite remarkable, because before we left our house she insisted on eating a slice of bread. Soon, however, she wants to go and play with the toys, just like the boy who has also finished his pancake. She wants me to come with her, but I tell her to take her dinosaur instead as I want to finish the pancake first.
The dinosaur is a new treasured possession. Last Saturday, we went to an exhibition in nearby Leiden that included Europe's first Tyranosaurus Rex skeleton, as well as moving model dinosaurs. It was a hit: Rihanna Gaga loved the exhibition and I have rarely seen her engage in such an intense way with what she saw around her as when she faced the roaring and moving model dinosaurs. The skeleton was less interesting to her, although when we asked her to pose in front of it for a photograph she did so at first, but got the creeps when she looked over her shoulder to find the empty eyesockets and gaping T-Rex mouth, full of sharp teeth staring at her. At the shop at the end of the exhibition we bought her a pluche dinosaur, fulfilling a promise I made to her when we left Tunisia. Because she really liked dinosaurs, I told her that I'd buy her one once we got back to the Netherlands.
I've heard that the couple and their son are Swedish, so I tell Rihanna Gaga to ask for the boy's name in Swedish. It's a good icebreaker and for the next hour or so, the parents and I chat in Swedish while Rihanna Gaga and the boy play with the toys. There is, however, little interaction between them - Rihanna Gaga has set her eyes on a My Little Ponies house that he is playing with, so he wisely choses to ignore her advances, fearing - and not without reason - that she wants to take the nice pink structure away from him. I tell her she can offer him to play with her dinosaur, in exchange for the pink house, but this is one step too far. In that case, I tell her, she'll just have to wait her turn.
Just like our other visits to restaurants lately, Rihanna Gaga makes quite a few visits to the toilet. After the Swedes have left, she tells me she wants to continue to play, so I go and get a tea. She walks with me and tells me she's 'quite hungry' again - by which she means she has seen something that looks tasty to her. In this case, that is a large chunk of apple pie. I tell her that's a bit too much, but instead we could have a smaller piece of cheesecake and she agrees. We return with the mint tea I got and the cheesecake. More interesting than the cheesecake are the branches of mint in my tea - an alltime favourite for Rihanna Gaga, and she eats every single mint leaf in my cup. Then, we eat the cheesecake together while she plays with some toys and I read a little.
It's getting dark and it is time to go After a last visit to the toilet, we put on our coats and are on our way back to Scheveningen through the dunes that are even more eerily quiet in the twilight.
Today, her attitude is different - she tells me she really likes the 'mountains', as she calls the dunes, and the trees with their colourful autumn leaves. 'Listen,' I tell her, 'do you hear that?'
'No, I can't hear a thing', Rihanna Gaga replies.
'Exactly. It's completely quiet here. No cars, no people, nothing.'
This information impresses her and she exclaims: 'Wow!'
Because it is very quiet. The dunes' soft curves keep out any noise from outside, giving the place a solitude and peacefulness that can, sometimes, be slightly eery. I'm riding a bicycle, Rihanna Gaga is sitting on a child's seat attached in front of me. A large plastic windscreen prevents the rain from blowing in her face, but she is not disturbed by the rain or wind anyway. She's very much enjoying herself.
We're on our way to Boerderij Meyendel, a pancake restaurant in the heart of the dunes. It's a bit further than I expected and Rihanna Gaga becomes a bit impatient. One of her socks is bothering her and we need to stop, so that I can adjust it. As I do so, I remember that as a child I was bothered by those little pieces of thick thread inside my socks right at the roots of my toes. Apparently, things have not improved since then - but I promise Rihanna Gaga that one learns to live with them. I'm slightly out of breath, some of the dunes make for steep uphill cycling and I am out of shape - something I'm working on, having taken our return to the Netherlands as an opportunity to also start working out in the gym again.
But first, we go and order our food. Meyendel is a self-service place and we buy ourselves a Leffe Tripel, an apple juice and a cheese and ham pancake. The drinks we can take to our place, for the pancake we have to wait. We're given a disk that will light up and buzz once the pancake is ready. We settle at our table, drinking our drinks and chatting about how nice the place is. Then the disk signals that our pancake is ready. I get up and fetch it from the counter. Rihanna Gaga devours a few large chunks of it - which is quite remarkable, because before we left our house she insisted on eating a slice of bread. Soon, however, she wants to go and play with the toys, just like the boy who has also finished his pancake. She wants me to come with her, but I tell her to take her dinosaur instead as I want to finish the pancake first.
The dinosaur is a new treasured possession. Last Saturday, we went to an exhibition in nearby Leiden that included Europe's first Tyranosaurus Rex skeleton, as well as moving model dinosaurs. It was a hit: Rihanna Gaga loved the exhibition and I have rarely seen her engage in such an intense way with what she saw around her as when she faced the roaring and moving model dinosaurs. The skeleton was less interesting to her, although when we asked her to pose in front of it for a photograph she did so at first, but got the creeps when she looked over her shoulder to find the empty eyesockets and gaping T-Rex mouth, full of sharp teeth staring at her. At the shop at the end of the exhibition we bought her a pluche dinosaur, fulfilling a promise I made to her when we left Tunisia. Because she really liked dinosaurs, I told her that I'd buy her one once we got back to the Netherlands.
I've heard that the couple and their son are Swedish, so I tell Rihanna Gaga to ask for the boy's name in Swedish. It's a good icebreaker and for the next hour or so, the parents and I chat in Swedish while Rihanna Gaga and the boy play with the toys. There is, however, little interaction between them - Rihanna Gaga has set her eyes on a My Little Ponies house that he is playing with, so he wisely choses to ignore her advances, fearing - and not without reason - that she wants to take the nice pink structure away from him. I tell her she can offer him to play with her dinosaur, in exchange for the pink house, but this is one step too far. In that case, I tell her, she'll just have to wait her turn.
Just like our other visits to restaurants lately, Rihanna Gaga makes quite a few visits to the toilet. After the Swedes have left, she tells me she wants to continue to play, so I go and get a tea. She walks with me and tells me she's 'quite hungry' again - by which she means she has seen something that looks tasty to her. In this case, that is a large chunk of apple pie. I tell her that's a bit too much, but instead we could have a smaller piece of cheesecake and she agrees. We return with the mint tea I got and the cheesecake. More interesting than the cheesecake are the branches of mint in my tea - an alltime favourite for Rihanna Gaga, and she eats every single mint leaf in my cup. Then, we eat the cheesecake together while she plays with some toys and I read a little.
It's getting dark and it is time to go After a last visit to the toilet, we put on our coats and are on our way back to Scheveningen through the dunes that are even more eerily quiet in the twilight.
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