Carlton Beach Hotel

There's a strong wind blowing over Scheveningen this Sunday morning. Rihanna Gaga tells me she doesn't like the wind and asks me if I do. I say that yes, a strong sea breeze is can be pleasant at times. 'Well, I don't!' she replies, adding: 'I like rain!'. We're on our way to breakfast today, because tomorrow I'll be gone for three days for a personal leadership training that is part of my new job. I'm not sure what to expect. I'm wary of the term 'leadership', especially combined with 'personal', but it is especially the prospect of being gone for three days that I'm not looking forward to.

Today, we're going to have breakfast at the Carlton Beach Hotel, a nice looking place at the northern end of the Scheveningen boulevard. When we arrive, the place is buzzing with activity. It seems there are a lot of guests this weekend - Monday would probably have been a better moment to visit. I ask if there is a table free, and there isn't. Even the waiters seem slightly overwhelmed and they tell me to wait for a bit, so we sit down at the reading table. After  a while, a waiter tells me that they've decided to open the restaurant as well, and that I can sit there. This is a good solution: the restaurant is a kitschy but cozy place, covered in Christmas decorations, with Christmas songs playing in the background. We pick a nice table with a view on the dunes, beach and the sea beyond.

Rihanna Gaga loves the Christmas trees and the decorations, especially the lights. Yesterday, we went to buy a small plastic Christmas tree and covered it with silver and golden decorations. This morning, she didn't really want to leave the house, too busy turning the lights in the small Christmas tree on and off and taking care of one of her baby dolls. Only when I told her that they'd probably have croissants, she finally decided to come along - croissants are among their favourite foodstuffs. On our way here, she told me she wanted to eat corissants and drink chocolate milk. By the time we arrived, she was quite cold so I asked her if she wanted a hot chocolate - to which she replied enthusiastically. 

The breakfast is a buffet.  We walk around, picking what we want - not forgetting the croissants and the hot chocolate for Rihanan Gaga. The food is mostly basic supermarket fare - nothing really special here - but there is a nice selection of sausages and cheeses and your omelettes are made while you wait. We get a nice pile of everything and return to our table. Rihanna Gaga loves the hot chocolate - this is the first time she drinks it - and devours two croissants. She also has a bit of egg and then wants some more croissants. Unfortunately, those are finished. When I tell her so, she demands that I pick her up so she can see for herself. She looks around the table, concludes that the croissants are indeed finished and then asks for a bread roll. I ask her what she wants on it and she says 'sprinkles'. Sprinkles are fine, I say, but just as at home, she'll have to eat some bread with healthy stuff on it before she can eat the sweet sprinkles. So, she picks some cheese as well.

Back at the table I slice the bread roll in two parts and cover one with cheese and one with sprinkles of the coloured kind. Rihanna Gaga kind of struggles through the cheese, spending a large part of her time rolling around the floor, playing with her dolls and generally avoiding the bread with cheese until I ask her whether she wants the sprinkles - then when she nods, I remind her she first has to eat the cheese. Finally she's there and eats the bread with sprinkles as quickly as she ate the bread with cheese slowly.

Then we're done. I pay at the hotel's reception (€22,50). Rihanna Gaga tells me she wants to go to the beach, but changes her mind as soon as we're outside: the wind is still blowing strongly.