The Happier the Hotelier, The Happier the Guest
This is the last official portrait of Queen Beatrix as Queen of The Netherlands. On April 30, 2013 she will be succeeded by her Son, Prince Willem-Alexander.
The beautiful portrait is by Frank van Beek.
The Queen celebrates her 75th birthday today in private.
Happy Birthday Queen Beatrix!
Currently H.R.H Prince Willem Alexander of The Netherlands (left) is clean shaven. He will be the first King in over 100 years after his mother H.M. Queen Beatrix (right) will abdicate in favor of him on April 30, 2013. However according to a funny FacBook page Zonder Baard Geen Koning (i.e. No Beard? No King!) which started yesterday and collected some 20,000 likes in its first 24 hours, Willem-Alexander has still 90 days to grow a nice beard.
On October 27, 2012, one year after I shared the speculations about Steve Job’s unfinished super yacht, his Super Yacht Venus has been unveiled in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands ( a stone’s throw from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport) at the Dutch Royal Feadship De Vries yard.
Reportedly the yacht is operated via 7 Imacs. Very daring, I would say, to trust the software so much to have it reign a super yacht. Although I know Oracle’s Larry Ellison reportedly developed his own software to do same with some of his super yachts.
Source and photo’s: The Dutch language blog One More Thing
Traditionally on the third Tuesday of September our Queen makes a tour through The Hague in her Golden Carriage. Before the two houses of Dutch Parliament, the Second Chamber or House of Representatives (150 representatives) and the Senate or First Chamber (75 senators), in a Joint Meeting, she voices the Speech of The Throne, highlighting the plans of Dutch Government for the coming Parliamentary Year and declares the new Parliamentary Year open. The Dutch Minister of Finance then presents the Budget for the next year. One could compare it with the State of The Union Address in the US or the Speech from The Throne in the UK.
This year the whole ceremony is a bit weird, because we’ve just had General Elections and tomorrow will see a completely different Second Chamber then today. Also the budget has been prepared by a government that is demissionary which means it operates but has resigned. The newly elected Parliament will (hopefully in a short time) form a new Government. Politically sensitive subjects are not handled by a demissionary Government.
The Dutch name for the day is “Prinsjesdag” or Day of the princes, as it is customary the childs of the king (or queen) sit in on the ceremony next to the Queen. In recent years only Crown Prince Willem Alexander sits in.
Here you see the Golden Carriage leaving the Ridderzaal at the “Binnenhof” were Our houses of Parliament have their seat. Photo via Wikimedia by Dutch Ministry of Defense (R J Essink).
Rather than resting on its side standard or a back standard, it rests on its front standard in front of a shop in The Noordeinde in The Hague.
Off course when I hear or see “Lola” I associate that immediately with the famous Kinks song “Lola“, but this is not about that Lola and maybe I’m too old for you to remember this;-)
The name of the shop is Lola Bikes and Coffee soon daringly being opened officially in the posh Noordeinde in The Hague directly opposite the Lion’s Den of the huge Dutch coffee brand Douwe Egberts.
The owners of a bicycle rental shop a couple of houses away from this new shop have taken the initiative to combine renting bicycles with selling extraordinary nice new bicycles while serving coffee in a trendy bar and also combined with the repair shop in the back of the bar. Clever and daring. I wish them a lot of success!
They’ve issue a trendy Bicycle magazine already. Their web presence is limited to a FB page for the moment but will come soon. I had a feeling the owner (left) was discussing the website with the designer….and through the window you can just see the coffee Goliath’s name (Soon to be divested from Sara Lee).