We got up at 2am due to jet leg, had a bowl of cereal, watched 2 episodes of Entourage on the laptop and went back to bed for a couple hours. We had to be up early because we had to drive 2 1/2 hours to The Hague (Den Haag) which is the city where the government resides to apply for our residency. We forgot to buy coffee filters so I walked to the cafe down the street to get us some coffees for the road when I found out that most stores are open 9am-6pm (what is the point of a cafe if you don't serve coffee until 9 am?!?). We needed coffee badly so we stopped at a Shell gas station on the way. It took us about an hour to get a coffee because we didn't know how to run the machine which was in Dutch and didn't have the right coins.
We were finally on our way. We passed through Eindhoven, Rotterdam, etc. and finally made it to a suburb of The Hague where the Immigration office was. The appointment took a total of 15-20 minutes and the lady told us since we made the trip all this way that we should go to both the Hague's City Center (similar to a downtown) and the beach on the coast. The city was fabulous . . . cobblestone streets, old buildings, tons of shops and restaurants, etc. We enjoyed some shopping and a beer at the American Cafe. The beach was also fun and not what I was expecting. It reminded me of a vacation/resort town with many different restaurants along the beach. Below are some pics. While walking the street by the beach we stopped in to use a restroom when a guy asked for 0.50 Euros . . . what?!? . . . we found out that you have to pay to use the public restrooms in the Netherlands! Note to self: go to the bathroom before you leave home!
When we got home it was quite late and Jamie opened what we thought was a second mini fridge to get a beer and found our beer frozen and it had blown up all over the place! Guess the fridge is an extra freezer! Oh well . . . you live and learn! Good Night for now.
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