Saturday - Full Moon Festival

Tonight in Tilburg, with all female DJs line up and the bonus of a good cause.

1 euro of every purchased ticket goes to "Because I am a girl", a charity supporting the financing of the education of underprivileged girls all over the world.

Good music + good cause = nice Saturday afternoon.

Ah yeah, as a bonus, it takes place in a park and  it's not going to rain tonight!

http://www.fullmoonfestivaltilburg.nl

Friday - I like Chopin

Classical concerts in Botanical Gardens, that's what the Hortus Festival is all about.

Tonight, Chopin in the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam.

The actual festival starts on the 17 July but these teasers are already quite tasty indeed...

http://www.hortusfestival.nl/

Thursday - Shop it like it's hot

Time to go wild and keep the Dutch economy turning during the Shopping Night in Den Haag, with a mega pimped up koopavaond and shops open untill midnight.

Catwalks on the Grotemarktstraat, goodie bags to be won, free magazines and make up re-touchs in the Haagse Bluf plus entertainment starting with B (don't ask...) on the Grote Markt.

Beware of pickpockets and the occasional Thursday evening street fight.

Wednesday - Little church in da hood

Pauluskerk is a church not far from Central Station in Rotterdam that has been controversial in the past for the very open minded and tolerant approach of its minister, especially towards drug addicts.

Now it may become controversial for its architecture, since this is how it looks like after renovation.

Although there are a lot of Rotterdam haters out there, I personally quite like the building and find it fits very well in the general redevelopment of the station area.

Tuesday - Warm comfort farm

Another cool thing about living in NL is that, even when you live in a city, the countryside is never too far away.

The Terp is a farm in Gelderland whose main activity is the production of organic pumpkins for supermarkets.  Those small round one that you have surely seen at the AH when the season comes.

Not only that: for 50 euro per year (+ admin costs) you can adopt one of their cows, get to see it twice per year chez the farm and get a 4 numbers of the newsletter magazine Koevoet (Cowfoot).

http://www.cvdeterp.nl/NL_home.asp

http://www.adopteereenkoe.nl/

Monday - Leiden open air poetry museum

While walking around Leiden you may chance upon a poem, sometimes written in Dutch, often in another language, painted on the side of a building.

They are part of a project started in 1992 and include a grand total of 101 poems scattered across the town.

Here's a list (in Dutch):

http://www.muurgedichten.nl/wandeling.html

Apparently, several other cities around the world followed Leiden's example and started similar projects too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_poems_in_Leiden

Sunday - Sail away, Sail away, Sail away

This is not the massive Sail event that takes place in Amsterdam every 5 years, however Den Helder being the HQ of the Dutch navy, one can expect it to be up to standard.

OK, although theoretically it is the second day of summer and sun and warmth would have been preferable when it comes to spending time at sea, it's probably still worth a visit, especially to see the large boat parade this afternoon.

As a British friend once told me: there's no bad weather, just wrong clothes.

http://www.saildenhelder.nl