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Tulip season is coming! It’s time to visit the Keukenhof

Emma Brown
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Tulip season is coming! It’s time to visit the Keukenhof

It’s tulip season!

It’s the season we have all been waiting for. We’ve already written an article on a guide to tulip season (check it out, it’s pretty rad). We’ve also posted a million and one pictures of the tulips in the past. Check out this photo article, bliss! There can never be enough tulip articles. But what else is there to know about tulip season? And how to do visit the Keukenhof?

*More of my lovely Keukenhof shots

tulips
So pretty!

What’s the deal with Tulips?

The Dutch love their tulips! Originally from the Ottoman Empire, the tulip soon made its way to the Netherlands in the 16th Century. During the Dutch Golden Age, the tulip bloomed (literally)! Everybody wanted them. Tulips were used as money at one point, that’s how valuable they were.

Nowadays the Dutch export their tulips all over the world and we are blessed with seeing the tulips fields bloom for harvest. Then we have amazing gardens to explore. It’s definitely worth a visit the Keukenhof – it’s one of the best.

tulips
Look at the tulips fields ready for harvest!

Visit the Keukenhof

keukenhof
The Keukenhof gardens

If you’ve never been to the Keukenhof, then you need to go this year! Never heard of it? Well, Keukenhof is a flower garden showcasing loads of amazing spring flowers – especially the beloved tulip! The place is huge and there is barely a piece of land which hasn’t got a flower planted into it. It’s really unique to Holland and thousands of visitors visit every year.

visit the keukenhof
So. Many. Flowers.

Keukenhof in 2018

The Keukenhof opened yesterday (22nd March) to 13th May. This year (the 69th edition) the theme is ‘Romance in Flowers’ – therefore there are romance gardens and a cupid’s garden. The perfect place to take your other half, if you’re after some Dutch romance. Not in love? Never mind, there are plenty of other gardens to cast your eyes on.

Best time to go to the Keukenhof

Last year I went to the Keukenhof at the very start of April and honestly, it was too early. Of course the flowers were out and the tulip fields surrounding the Keukenhof were in full swing, but they weren’t at their prime. As the weather has been pretty weird, I would recommend going much later. The coldness has probably stunted the growth of the poor things. End of April – very start of May is probably about right. Want to go now? No worries, there will still be lots of lovely tulips!

windmill
There’s even a windmill at the Keukenhof!

Where else can I find tulips?

In some cities around the Netherlands – especially Amsterdam (one is planted for every Amsterdam citizen at this time of year) and flower parades such as the Bulbflower Parade (from Noordwijk to Haarlem). To buy? At every flower stall in the Netherlands and almost every supermarket. You won’t miss them at this time of year!

tulip fields
You could always drive/walk/cycle around the tulip fields like we did! 😉

Are you planning on going to the Keukenhof this year? Let us know in the comments! And don’t forget to join our Facebook group – it’s good, I promise. 😉 

And check out our video on how to see the tulip fields for free:

Stuck on what to do this weekend in the Netherlands?

Emma Brown
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Stuck on what to do this weekend in the Netherlands?

Looking for a day trip?

So if you were following our weather forecast for the past week and our current weekend forecast, you’ll see that this weekend is going to be another dry and sunny one. Shock, right! Well unfortunately, it’s not going to last. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Here’s 3 things you could do this weekend to make the most of it!

*Enjoy my pretty pictures

1) Go to a beach bar in Scheveningen

It’s March, so that means the beach shacks are up in Scheveningen! This is my most favourite thing to do. So what, if it’s not that warm right now – the beach bars have got that covered. There’s fires, blankets and umbrellas to keep you dry and warm. And of course the beer will do the trick too.

beach bar
I don’t go down here often…promise.

My personal favourite is “MOOD” beach bar, just opposite the Grand Hotel Amrâth Kurhaus. It’s comfy, has a great selection of food and drink and also fire pits. What more could you want?

mood beach
“MOOD” beach bar… nice huh?

2) Visit the Keukenhof

The Keukenhof opened its doors for us yesterday and the tulips are just waiting to be seen! The Keukenhof offers a LOAD of tulips, other spring flowers (such as daffodils), beautiful gardens to walk through and delicious food.

keukenhof
Look how cute it is!

Last time I went they were selling loads of bulbs, so you can plant your own at home. Also they were showing people how to make flower chains to wear around their head and necks. Even if flowers aren’t your thing, I’ll guarantee you’ll enjoy it all the same.

keukenhof
So. Many. Flowers.

3) Visit a museum

We’ve already spoken many times about getting to know where you live. But it’s true. You tend to go further afield and forget what’s right on your doorstep.

Recently I visited Museum Rotterdam (I wrote about it too) and learnt a lot about the history of the city. It’s a great way to pass the day, yet learn something at the same time. Some museums have outside exhibitions or if not, there’s nothing stopping you from going for a nice walk once you’ve done. Make the most of the weather…remember!

museum
Maybe exploring a museum is more up your street?

Have an amazing weekend all, and don’t forget to let us know in the comments what you’ll be doing this weekend!

There’s been a suspected terrorist attack in the South of France!

Emma Brown
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One dead in current hostage

A story is currently unfolding of a suspected terrorist attack in Trèbes, in the South of France. There is currently a gunman (who has allegedly swore allegiance to the Islamic State), taking hostages at a local ‘Super U’ supermarket. The hostage has already killed 1 person. They are unsure if anybody else has been injured or killed. Police are at the scene and are currently dealing with the situation.

Location of Trèbes: Google maps

Shots fired at police

There has also been reports of a French policeman, who was shot just before the hostage took place. Luckily, the policeman does not have life threatening injuries. They are unsure whether it is linked, but it sure does sound like it.

Terror attacks

This is not the first and probably not the last terror attack that will hit France. Not to mention other areas around Europe (and the world). My homeland, Britain, has been targeted many times over the past year. Hopefully at some point soon, this will come to an end. Dutch authorities are always making sure that this does not move to the Netherlands.

We hope the situation is resolved soon. We’ll keep you updated.

Like DutchReview? Don’t forget to join our Facebook group!

Yay! It’s going to be sunny in the Netherlands this weekend!

Emma Brown
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Yay! It’s going to be sunny in the Netherlands this weekend!

Sun…again!?

It seems like a bit of a trend, with me telling you this every weekend. Like we always say – it’s been a weird as hell winter. However, yet again, it’s good news! It’s going to be a lovely weekend! Before you get too excited, it’s not going to last. So make sure you get out and enjoy yourselves…Spring is coming, and so is the rain (don’t forget the clocks go forward on Sunday night)!

Here’s a DutchReview low down of this weekend, so you can plan your days ahead.

What on earth is that bright thing in the sky!?

Saturday

Saturday is looking like a lovely and sunny day – with a few crappy clouds coming and going every now and then. Don’t panic, no rain is forecast over the whole country! Temperatures will be as low as 2 degrees celcius (don’t worry that’s at night) and as high as 11 in the day.

Sunday

Another lovely day for us all! Slightly better than Saturday (more sunshine hours) and the perfect day to go out for a nice walk or a cycle. No rain for this day and only a chance of cloud. Temperatures as low as 4 degrees celcius and as high as 10.

dutch weather
Ooooo… sun! Source: Weerplaza

Next week

I wish I could tell you that the weather is going to be like this weekend, but I’d be lying. Monday isn’t too shabby, but the rest of the week is looking wet, wet, wet. We’ll keep you updated at the start of next week. But believe me when I tell you – get out this weekend and make the most of it!

Stay tuned for our ‘what to do this weekend’ article.

What are you getting up to this weekend? Let us know in the comments! After more great Dutch stuff? Then don’t forget to join our Facebook group!

Zwarte Piet discussion is so nasty that no town wants to host Sinterklaas’ arrival

Emma Brown
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Zwarte Piet discussion is so nasty that no town wants to host Sinterklaas’ arrival

No-one to host Sinterklaas

With the Zwarte Piet discussion getting more pressing every year, it appears that the penny has finally dropped. The NTR, who broadcasts Sinterklaas’ arrival to the Netherlands every year on TV, is concerned because no municipality has come forward to host him this year.

Will a 66-year-old TV tradition end?

Over the past few years especially, people have taken matters into their own hands and protested at this event. Whole motorways have been blocked (preventing protesters), riots have started and police have stopped protesters in vehicles in the past. They are still not going quietly. The municipalities have realised this and that is why nobody seems to be jumping at the chance to host him, like they may have done in the past. NTR has written to the Dutch society of mayors in a desperate bid for someone to come forward. So far, no luck.

Not only does this cost a lot of money to police, but also it doesn’t send a great message to children, at why police are trying to keep people out. Maybe NTR need to get the hint that nobody is willing to be a part of it any more.

Soot, eh?

Why’s everyone so unhappy?

I probably don’t have to spell this one out to you, but the discussion has got nasty surrounding Zwarte Piet. Blackface has been seen as deeply offensive, not just in the Netherlands, but many countries all over the world. The soot argument just isn’t cutting it any more. We could go on for days and days about the argument surrounding Zwarte Piet, but we’ll leave it up to you to decide.

What do you think about this Sinterklaas news? Let us know in the comments! Also, don’t forget to follow our Facebook group – you know you wanna. 

3 surprising (or not) things about the municipal election results

Emma Brown
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3 surprising (or not) things about the municipal election results

Municipality election results

With every election, there is always at least something that surprises you (or maybe not in this case). Try as people might to predict all of the results, they don’t always go as planned, for parties and citizens alike. So here are 3 things that may have surprised you with this years election results.

1) Groep de Mos won in The Hague

Well this left a lot of political upset within The Hague and was a very surprising result. MP Richard de Mos, who was a former PVV member ended up being the biggest independent party in The Hague, much to everybody’s surprise. D66 were kicked out of the hot seat this time around. It’s funny because by not being elected for past parliamentary elections, this caused a rift between him and Geert Wilders, causing him to start a rival party. Well, that somehow pulled off this year.

2) Leefbaar won in Rotterdam

Okay, so this has happened many times before, but this time round there was a lot of promise that it was going to be different. Keep an eye out for Rotterdam they said – it’s going to be an interesting one. Turns out that Leefbaar are still the largest party in Rotterdam. They did lose 3 seats, but everyone was expecting a much bigger loss this time. What on earth happened there? It was a surprising non-surprise.

3) Geert Wilders underachieved (sort-of)

Geert Wilders did ‘OK’ – he gained a seat in every municipality they signed up for (he only tried in 3 municipalities last time), but you can tell he’s secretly disappointed considering he tried all over the country. Overall, they haven’t done great, in comparison to their promise. The same goes for VVD – although they gained slightly, they haven’t ‘trumped’ like promised (get it). It definitely helps also that Groep de Mos more than likely stole Wilders votes in The Hague. Although it’s disappointing to see the parties gain some form of momentum, they are still underachieving to what they’d hope. So I guess that’s some positivity that we can take from that. We haven’t had a Brexit or Trump s**tstorm just yet anyway. Geert Wilders is at bay… for now.

geert wilders
A classic…

What has surprised you in the election this year? Let us know in the comments! Also, don’t forget to join our Facebook group for more Dutch stuff… you know you wanna.

Another Brexit loss: The Dutch are even making British passports now!

Kirsten de Bouter Shillam
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Another Brexit loss: The Dutch are even making British passports now!

Not again!

Oh dear, oh dear. The Dutch have done it again. First it was EMA and then it was Unilever. Now Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto have won a bid against British firm De La Rue, to make the new British passports. Isn’t it ironic? The contract for the new UK passports goes to a Franco-Dutch company…

Britain right now

Brexit and its ongoing EU negotiations in Brussels rarely leave the news these days (including DutchReview, sorry-not-sorry). It’s almost to a point that it is easy to partially switch off to the background noise of it. It is most likely that for the next 12 months the power tug-of-war will be fought endlessly, whilst many companies choose with their feet.

What’s all this about changing passports?

Before Britain joined the EU, they had a blue passport. It’s been burgundy ever since being part of the EU. Once they decided to leave the EU, this was going to be restored to blue and gold passports. This is set to go ahead from Autumn next year.

The catch? British firm De La Rue don’t be printing them. It’s become a bit of a joke because they want to change the passports back, but Britain can’t do it. It’s also pretty ironic that EU countries are making the post-Brexit passports, and not Britain themselves.

british passport
The Dutch are set to make this…

Franco-Dutch firm deal results in job losses

There is also a worry because as they have lost the £490m deal, it could result in many job losses, AGAIN. Understandably, everyone is pretty p**sed at this. Having the passports printed by a Franco-Dutch firm is a bit of a kick in the teeth. As a result there have already been appeals against the decision. People aren’t happy that it’s not going to be British-made, which was the point of restoring its sovereignty through a new blue passport. Also, this decision would not be allowed if tables were turned – nobody in their right might wouldn’t support their own businesses. Of course, with job losses on the way, this really is the icing on the cake. Well done, Brexit.

What do we think?

Needless to say that in the boring ducking and diving of those negotiations it tickled me greatly that a new contract had been given out for the printing of the new UK passports. Not long ago there was huge uproar that the new passports were going to go back to being gold and blue, rather than the standard burgundy. According premier May these colours were absolutely right, as they had always been the UK’s choice of colour. Confirming that “after we leave the EU we should choose the passport colour we want, not what the EU wants.” You can see the courageous political statement this makes…

I don’t seem to remember this huge cost of new passports (design and print) to be mentioned anywhere during the Brexit campaigns. Now it turns out that it isn’t the UK firm that is winning this contract worth £490m deal, but a Franco-Dutch company has clinched the lucrative deal.

So, the contract for post-Brexit UK blue/gold passport has gone to a Franco-Dutch organisation whilst they are still arguing about where they will be manufactured. My guess is somewhere on the border between Spain and Portugal. 😉

Any more?

Watch this space! This certainly won’t be the last you’ll hear of the Dutch making some gains from Brexit. The Brits may lose some more business yet. This is more sad news to my British ears.

“Oops, I did it again…I’ve stolen your jobs, got lost in the Brexit game, oh Brexit, Brexit.” 

What do you think of this passport fiasco? Let us know in the comments! Also, don’t forget to join our Facebook group – you know you wanna.

Co-authored by Emma Brown and Kirsten de Bouter Shillam

Man attempts suicide by jumping off the balcony at Dutch parliament

Emma Brown
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Attempted suicide in Parliament

Police are investigating what has just happened at a public gallery in the Dutch parliament (Tweede Kamer). According to police in the city, a 65-year-old man, believed to be from Groenlo, has attempted suicide by jumping from the public gallery with a cord tied around his neck. All activity has now stopped in the parliament, until it is known on what an earth happened.

Tweede Kamer

So, what happened?

So far what we know is that the parliament was currently in discussion about dealing with organised crime, when there was a loud noise and commotion started. A guy had jumped off the public gallery.

The cord which was tied around his neck, was then tied to the stands in the public gallery and then this was used to try and commit suicide by hanging. The guy was then immediately taken to hospital. Since then, Tweets have circulated about the incident.

It’s definitely no coincidence that this has happened the day of the election results, but the true cause right now, is still unknown. We’ll keep you updated – and hopefully the guy is going to be okay.

Don’t forget to join our Facebook group for more Dutch stuff!

Close Referendum Result for new Intelligence Law in the Netherlands

Emma Brown
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Close Referendum Result for new Intelligence Law in the Netherlands

Referendum result on new intelligence law – that sleepwet

The exit polls were correct yesterday when they predicted that the result was too close to definitively call. It ended up finishing pretty damn close, with only a 1.7% difference (80% counted).

The vote is currently on 47.2% for the vote on the new intelligence law, and 48.9% against the new law (4% were blank votes, how about that?). Does this mean that the new intelligence law won’t be implemented? Unfortunately not – which kinda makes the whole thing pointless.

 

Wait, what? What’s this intelligence law?

Where have you been?! (Nah, I’m kidding, you could be an international who wasn’t able to vote). Well, yesterday people voted on whether MIVD and AIDV (intelligence and security services) should have more power. What does this new power do? It meant that the intelligence services can store DNA samples for ongoing investigations and they are to be able to hack associates (even innocent people) of suspects, not just the suspect themselves. This also meant that they can tap phones and computers and hack other technology on a much, much larger scale.

Why won’t the referendum make a difference?

Well we weren’t meant to have a say anyway. It’s only because so many people petitioned, that a referendum was granted. However, it still doesn’t make much sense as CDA’s Buma has already said that the vote won’t stop the law from being implemented. So the referendum itself was pretty pointless. Maybe if we’d have seen a vote strongly opposing the new law, it may have made a difference (we can hope). However, seeing as the vote was so close, we can safely say that this new law is going to be implemented on 1st May 2018, as planned.

The point of that was…?

What are your thoughts on this referendum result? Let us know in the comments! Also, don’t forget to join our Facebook group, for more Dutch things 😉

The Election Results in the 4 Big Dutch Cities: what happened?

Abuzer van Leeuwen 🇳🇱
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Municipal election results of 2018 in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht:

Oh boy, are you all still a bit hung over from that democratic party? So now all is said and done, let’s have a good look today to see who your new municipal overlords are. We’ll start with the four big Dutch cities. Here are the municipal election results of 2018 from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht.

Municipal election results in Amsterdam 2018:

The good folk at the NOS have developed a nifty app with all the results nicely displayed, here’s Amsterdam:

There are two trends to be dissected here. The first and the main trend for a lot of Dutch cities. D66 is losing a bit and the GreenLeft is winning a bit, and nowhere is this easier to see in Amsterdam. The GreenLeft is now the biggest party and D66 came in second, you shouldn’t expect any big changes to come from that – both parties fit nicely into a coalition (yes, we have those coalitions in municipality councils as well).

The second trend? 3 seats for the long-arm-of-Erdogan party: DENK – sadly this immigrant counterpart to the PVV wins in a lot of cities where they participated.
There are also 3 seats for the rightwing Thierry Baudet cult of the Forum for Democracy.

Nothing shocking in Amsterdam, you can see that green liberal coalition coming from a mile-away. What happened in Rotterdam?

Municipal election results in Rotterdam 2018:

Rotterdam was heavily contested this year but in the end the results are pretty straightforward. The rightwing oriented local party of Leefbaar Rotterdam won fair and square and got 11 seats – a bit less than last time, but still a signal that they’re the most popular party in town. Everybody else comes in at 5 seats.

Well, not everybody else of course, again a big win for DENK – really worrying this trend. And there are also 2 seats for the PVV, they couldn’t and didn’t really put up a fight in the end in the port city. But still, it shows that Rotterdam is somewhat divided over identity and immigration issues.

The coalition will probably be Leefbaar Rotterdam with something like the VVD and D66 throw into it, not much will change in Rotterdam.

Municipal election results in Utrecht 2018:

Nothing shocking from Utrecht as well. D66 loses a bit and the GreenLeft wins a bit, just like in Amsterdam. You should know that the image you now get is in no way representable for the rest of the Netherlands, cities like Amsterdam, Utrecht, Leiden, Delft and Haarlem are all big Left-liberal bubbles. The rest of the country sees the CDA, local parties and the VVD being the big dogs.

Municipal election results in The Hague for 2018:

That weird abbreviation up there is a newish party: ‘Groep de Mos’ with foreman Richard de Mos.

This guy:

Richard de Mos quit the PVV years ago because found it too racist, he’s pretty well-liked in The Hague because he is such a loveable ‘Hagenees’ and now he and his party takes the pie in The Hague and swoop in for 9 seats. Pretty crazy!

I guess you can compare them a bit to Leefbaar Rotterdam. ‘Right’ on security and immigration, but a bit leftish on social issues like welfare and care.

So that’s it for now, we’ll be sure to return to you with more election aftermath awesomeness later today.

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