We're about halfway through the four months during which there are no
beach clubs at the Scheveningen beach. But - that doesn't mean we can't
go to a beach club, luckily! Two beach clubs stay open throughout the
entire year. Or actually, one beach club and a surf school that also has
a beach club attached to it. We're visiting the latter this Monday
morning.
At first, Rihanna Gaga didn't want to go. My
mother - her grandmother - is coming to visit us today and she was
looking so much forward to it that she didn't want to leave the house.
However, my mum's train is delayed and to kill time, I decide whe should
go anyway. Rihanna Gaga accepts this, on one condition: she wants to
take her toy stroller with her bear in it. When I oblige, she follows
this with another demand: she wants to walk. I try to talk her out of
it. Hart Beach,
the place where we are going, is quite a walk. But she's adamant - until
the end of the street, where she gives up by saying her leg is hurting
(which is her way of accepting defeat without losing face).
I put her toy stroller in the bags of our bicycle and I put Rihanna Gaga in the bicycle seat. She puts her bear in front of her and talks to the animal, showing it what there is to see on our way. By bicycle, Hart Beach is a short ride. We cycle pass the remains of the huge fire that the people of Scheveningen put up on New Year's Eve. It's still smoldering, two days after the huge, 34 metres high pile of wood was set ablaze, and workers are busy cleaning up what is left of it on the beach, shoveling remains away and spraying water over the last remains of the fire. Rihanna Gaga is intrigued by the whole thing. Yesterday, we walked on the beach and saw the fire still burning bright, and on New Year's Eve we woke her up and went here to watch the impressive fireworks that accompanied the setting alight of the pile of wood. Now, the fire is gone and she wonders where it went.
When we arrive, I put Rihanna Gaga back on the ground, giver her her toy stroller, put the bear in the stroller and we walk to Hart Beach, which contains a clothing shop, a surf school and a restaurant that's open during the daytime. Hart Beach has the same friendly incrowd surfer atmosphere as Meneer Chocola. Everybody seems to know each other here and almost everybody has that typical bright surfer attitude about them: bleached hair, stubby beards, clothes that look at the same time nonchalant and effortlessly cool. There's a large amount of parents (mostly mums) with kids - probably because of the school holidays and because Hart Beach is very, very child friendly, with a big chest full of toys and lots of colouring books.
The decoration is
completely wooden, with funny details such as copper fishes hanging
from the ceiling, and a poster of a surfer walking towards a sunset with
the text 'endless summer'. Rihanna Gaga is immediately at ease (indeed,
it would be impossible not to be at ease in this place). We pick
up some toys from the toy chest and then settle for a small table in
the closed veranda opposite the bar. Hart Beach is large, with little
nooks and crannies to sit in around a larger main space. We order the
'Hart Beach surfy breakfast' (€9,90) and while we wait, Rihanna Gaga
draws a little in one of the colouring books, plays with a toy zebra and
toy car that some other kid left, while I read. It's a chilly day today and at times, there's some rain. That doesn't stop the people of the surf school. Several men and women in swimming wear walk by on their way from a swim or a surf in the sea to the showers and they do so so casually that at first I don't really register what's going on. When I do, I point out to Rihanna Gaga that they've just swum in the sea. Rihanna Gaga shivers: 'Brrr, too cold!' she laughs. Yesterday, we watched the annual New Year's dive, a big media event during which thousands of people take a dive in the cold January sea. Here, it seems, that's a daily routine.
Rihanna Gaga is distracted by some girls at another table, whom she watches intently. I can sense she'd like to go over to them, but doesn't dare to. At a certain moment, she asks me to come with her, but I tell her it's better if she does that on her own. She decides not to and is content to play with her bear and toy stroller. People keep pouring in, smiling at each other, hugging, wishing each other happy new year. Two women sit down at a table next to us and start chatting to Rihanna Gaga. At first, she's not very responsive, but when she can talk with them about her favourite colour, she opens up. It's an important issue to her. Her favourite colour is green (and red, too, but not as much as green). Mine, she tells the women, is purple (it is indeed, although until Rihanna Gaga asked me about this essential information, I hadn't considered it in about 28 years. Children have a way of making you realise again what matters in life). She asks the women what their favourite colour is and carefully considers their answers.
Then breakfast is served: a croissant, a slice of bread with a large amount of bacon and eggs on it and thick yoghurt with fruits and muesli, with a cappucino for me. For Rihanna Gaga we've ordered a hot chocolate (€2,50). Rihanna Gaga declares that croissants are her favourite food and starts eating this one right away, not noticing the woman anymore who tells her that croissants are her favourite food too. We eat our breakfast and my mum phones me to tell me that she'll be at our place in about 45 minutes. That leaves us time to have a second drink. I order a Coco Loco smoothie (coconut, pineapple and apple - €5,50) and Rihanna Gaga takes an apple juice (€2,50). The smoothie is like the breakfast: fresh, tasty and healthy. The little one plays a little while I read and then it's time to leave. Rihanna Gaga is in a great mood and eager to get home: a whole day ahead of her with her grandmother is really one of the best things she could be looking forward to.
At first, Rihanna Gaga didn't want to go. My
mother - her grandmother - is coming to visit us today and she was
looking so much forward to it that she didn't want to leave the house.
However, my mum's train is delayed and to kill time, I decide whe should
go anyway. Rihanna Gaga accepts this, on one condition: she wants to
take her toy stroller with her bear in it. When I oblige, she follows
this with another demand: she wants to walk. I try to talk her out of
it. Hart Beach,
the place where we are going, is quite a walk. But she's adamant - until
the end of the street, where she gives up by saying her leg is hurting
(which is her way of accepting defeat without losing face).I put her toy stroller in the bags of our bicycle and I put Rihanna Gaga in the bicycle seat. She puts her bear in front of her and talks to the animal, showing it what there is to see on our way. By bicycle, Hart Beach is a short ride. We cycle pass the remains of the huge fire that the people of Scheveningen put up on New Year's Eve. It's still smoldering, two days after the huge, 34 metres high pile of wood was set ablaze, and workers are busy cleaning up what is left of it on the beach, shoveling remains away and spraying water over the last remains of the fire. Rihanna Gaga is intrigued by the whole thing. Yesterday, we walked on the beach and saw the fire still burning bright, and on New Year's Eve we woke her up and went here to watch the impressive fireworks that accompanied the setting alight of the pile of wood. Now, the fire is gone and she wonders where it went.
When we arrive, I put Rihanna Gaga back on the ground, giver her her toy stroller, put the bear in the stroller and we walk to Hart Beach, which contains a clothing shop, a surf school and a restaurant that's open during the daytime. Hart Beach has the same friendly incrowd surfer atmosphere as Meneer Chocola. Everybody seems to know each other here and almost everybody has that typical bright surfer attitude about them: bleached hair, stubby beards, clothes that look at the same time nonchalant and effortlessly cool. There's a large amount of parents (mostly mums) with kids - probably because of the school holidays and because Hart Beach is very, very child friendly, with a big chest full of toys and lots of colouring books.
The decoration is
completely wooden, with funny details such as copper fishes hanging
from the ceiling, and a poster of a surfer walking towards a sunset with
the text 'endless summer'. Rihanna Gaga is immediately at ease (indeed,
it would be impossible not to be at ease in this place). We pick
up some toys from the toy chest and then settle for a small table in
the closed veranda opposite the bar. Hart Beach is large, with little
nooks and crannies to sit in around a larger main space. We order the
'Hart Beach surfy breakfast' (€9,90) and while we wait, Rihanna Gaga
draws a little in one of the colouring books, plays with a toy zebra and
toy car that some other kid left, while I read. It's a chilly day today and at times, there's some rain. That doesn't stop the people of the surf school. Several men and women in swimming wear walk by on their way from a swim or a surf in the sea to the showers and they do so so casually that at first I don't really register what's going on. When I do, I point out to Rihanna Gaga that they've just swum in the sea. Rihanna Gaga shivers: 'Brrr, too cold!' she laughs. Yesterday, we watched the annual New Year's dive, a big media event during which thousands of people take a dive in the cold January sea. Here, it seems, that's a daily routine. Rihanna Gaga is distracted by some girls at another table, whom she watches intently. I can sense she'd like to go over to them, but doesn't dare to. At a certain moment, she asks me to come with her, but I tell her it's better if she does that on her own. She decides not to and is content to play with her bear and toy stroller. People keep pouring in, smiling at each other, hugging, wishing each other happy new year. Two women sit down at a table next to us and start chatting to Rihanna Gaga. At first, she's not very responsive, but when she can talk with them about her favourite colour, she opens up. It's an important issue to her. Her favourite colour is green (and red, too, but not as much as green). Mine, she tells the women, is purple (it is indeed, although until Rihanna Gaga asked me about this essential information, I hadn't considered it in about 28 years. Children have a way of making you realise again what matters in life). She asks the women what their favourite colour is and carefully considers their answers.
Then breakfast is served: a croissant, a slice of bread with a large amount of bacon and eggs on it and thick yoghurt with fruits and muesli, with a cappucino for me. For Rihanna Gaga we've ordered a hot chocolate (€2,50). Rihanna Gaga declares that croissants are her favourite food and starts eating this one right away, not noticing the woman anymore who tells her that croissants are her favourite food too. We eat our breakfast and my mum phones me to tell me that she'll be at our place in about 45 minutes. That leaves us time to have a second drink. I order a Coco Loco smoothie (coconut, pineapple and apple - €5,50) and Rihanna Gaga takes an apple juice (€2,50). The smoothie is like the breakfast: fresh, tasty and healthy. The little one plays a little while I read and then it's time to leave. Rihanna Gaga is in a great mood and eager to get home: a whole day ahead of her with her grandmother is really one of the best things she could be looking forward to.
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