Obama: Truly Gezellig in The Hague

Nuclear Security Summit I56A1197

Truly Gezellig in The Hague

I’ve seen some of the Nuclear Security Summit 2014 here in The Hague and took a bit of video and some photo’s at the final press conference where Obama thanked the Dutch for a well organized summit and showed he knows a Dutch word “Gezellig” that many English speaking people claim is not so easy to translate….My idea is that the following English words give some meaning to gezellig: Cozy, snug and intimate cover it more or less.

After the press conference the president was induced to being photographed in front of the Victory Boogie Woogie, the latest and unfinished painting of Piet Mondrian, who died in New York before he could finish this painting. This painting is in the collection of the The Hague Municipal Museum of Modern Art (Gemeentemuseum).

Obama bij de Victory Boogie Woogie

Happy Birthday John Cage

Happy Birthday John Cage from HappyHotelier on Vimeo.

This year the 100th Birthday of a famous American composer, John Cage, will be celebrated.

This Birthday cake installation for John Cage I found in an exhibition in the Museumsquartier of Vienna that I visited quite unexpectedly earlier this week. I made a small piece of video so that you get a feel of why all small loudspeakers were used to decorate the cake.

Featuring more than hundred different works, “MEMBRA DISJECTA FOR JOHN CAGE: Wanting to Say Something About John” is an homage to John Cage, whose hundred birthday is being celebrated around the world in 2012. The Latin term “membra disjecta” in the exhibition title indicates John Cage’s method of working with a scattering of elements from various sources. The subtitle refers to a multiple that John Cage created in Marcel Duchamp’s honor after his death: “Not Wanting to Say Anything About Marcel.”

If you happen to be in Vienna shortly a must visit exhibition!

Below is a trailer for an memorial of John Cage in The Hague on March 10, 2012:

New five star Grand Hotel Amrâth Amsterdam opened

Amrâth Exterior
Amrâth Exterior

On June 8, 2007, only a couple of months later than planned, the new five star Grand Hotel Amrâth Amsterdam opened in the beautiful historic Art Deco building, the “Scheepvaarthuis” (The Shipping Companies’ Building) once belonging to the rich Amsterdam shipping companies.

The shipping companies have long disappeared, and their ships no longer proudly sail the oceans of the world. But the Scheepvaarthuis still stands, completely intact, as a beautiful monument to those times.The romance of the sea and the building’s creators can still be seen and admired, given shape in authentic materials of the time.Within this space and ambiance, a grand five-star hotel is being created with all the respect due to the monumental beauty of the building. It is a new lease of life for the Scheepvaarthuis! The grandeur of the past is being combined with modern-day comfort and luxury – technically perfect and benignly comfortable. The guests are accommodated in the past as well as the present – in a unique artwork as well as the most
beautiful luxury hotel in modern-day Amsterdam.

So far the quote.

It has 160 rooms and 15 suites which will be available as of December 2007. It is located on walking distance of the Central Station and has some beautiful views on the Historic Shipping quarter with the still active Dutch Royal Marine basis (yes blocked out on Google Maps) and the

Scheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam
Dutch Historic Shipping Museum wit “Amsterdam” replica

Historic Shipping Museum of Amsterdam with its replica of the VOC (Dutch East India Company) trader “Amsterdam”. Alas, for the time being the shipping museum is closed due to an extensive renovation.
Last edited by GJE on December 5, 2011 at 5:09 pm