Saturday - Celebrate the National Tulip Day in Amsterdam

Despite the chilly weather and the snow, today it's the official start date of the Dutch tulip season.

To celebrate, a specially arranged tulip garden with more than 200.000 plants is set up on the Dam in Amsterdam and between 13.00 and 18.00 and people are allowed (in fact, encouraged) to pick their bunch of tulips.

Join the event on Facebook and get there before 12.30 to reserve your spot in the queue of the tulip pickers.

Whoever takes the best picture of the event wins a flight over Keukenhof and the tulip fields!

http://www.mooiwatbloemendoen.nl/alles-over-bloemen/tulpendag-2013

Friday - Join the Writers Unlimited festival in Den Haag

"Writers Unlimited" is a literature, music and theatre festival taking place in Den Haag from ahem...well yesterday, till Sunday.

More that 100 Dutch and international writers, intellectual, journalists and artists will meet in The Hague for performances, plays and discussions.

Among the highlights, a conversation with Amos Oz and a debate on the future of Indonesia.

http://www.winternachten.nl/winternachten/allenieuwsberichten.php?taal=engels

Thursday - Stock up calories with a bossche bol

Cold weather, walks in the snow, temperatures below zero: that calls for a nice coffee with cake!

A very popular dessert in Holland is the bossche bol: a large choux pastry case, filled with whipped or Chantilly cream and covered (almost entirely) in dark chocolate.

It takes its name from the city of Den Bosch, which is the short version of 's Hertogenbosch (literally "the Duke's forest).

The place to go is a patisserie called Jan de Groot, not far from Den Bosch central station....however, and I am a bit ashamed to admit it, I also like the Albert Heijn version...

Wednesday - Go skating on the natural ice (or at least, watch the professionals doing it...)

When the temperature stays below 0 for some days in a row the excitement and sense of expectation is almost tangible all over the country.

Everyone is wondering if the ice will be hard enough to be able to held the Elfstedentoch (the Race of the Eleven Cities) but unfortunately, it the last several years it hasn't been cold enough for enough days and the enthusiasts have been waiting since 1997.

Last year it seemed for a moment that the ice would hold: instead the weather improved and it became warmer, therefore too dangerous.

However, there are still plenty of other skating opportunities especially in the Northern part of the country.

Yesterday the first natural ice marathon of the season has been held near Groningen but more are scheduled for today and the coming days.

Even if you are not able to skate yourself, the landscape, the skaters and the thrill of walking on ice, are all ingredients for a very memorable day out!

http://schaatsen.nl/topsport-natuurijs

Tuesday - Go for a walk in the Winter Wonderland

No matter where you are, today you should go for a walk in the snow.

That's what we are planning to do today during the lunch break.

Parks, bits of woods, dunes...anything will do. Soak up some Winter magic, snap pictures and engage in a snowball fight!

Good spots in The Hague are the Haagse Bos, the Clingendael and the Scheveningen Bossen. In Amsterdam try the Vondelpark and for Utrecht either walk in the park along the canal around the city centre or try the little but cute park in Oog in Al.

Monday - Have an hot drink with a view in Wassenaar

The beach and the dunes of Wassenaar are a popular destination in Summer, easily reachable from The Hague by bike.

However there is a spot in Wassenaarseslag that is best enjoyed in Winter, when the sky is the colour of lead, the waves are fierce and the shrimps-eating crowds of the Summer are just a remote, dreamlike memory...

On the top of a dune, with a view that on a clear day stretches from Rotterdan to Katwijk and beyond, the Brasserie De Badmeester with its glass veranda is for me the perfect spot to enjoy a cup of coffee and a slice of cake while marvelling at the fury of the elements. There are not many places in Holland where you can see things from a certain height!

Don't go there for the menu, go there for the view.

http://www.debadmeester.nl/

Sunday - Walk (almost) on water in West Brabant

One of the method of defence invented by the Dutch during the centuries, to make up for the paucity of natural defence features, was a system of forts, sluices and canals built in the 17th Century in the Eastern part of the country, that would have allowed the area to be flooded in case of enemy attack.

It obviously never served the Dutch very well, however it left behind an interesting system of forts, many of them open to the public, that make for an interesting day out. I have visited several near Utrecht and Amsterdam.

Next on my to-do list is the Fort de Roovere, near Halsteren in West Brabant which has only recently been connected to the mainland, thanks to pretty impressive sunken bridge: the Moses Bridge.

Fitting name, since it's almost invisibly parting the water...

Moses Bridge