The Verkeers Informatie Dienst (Dutch traffic information services) announced today that, in the first three months of this year, the length of traffic jams in the Netherlands has increased by 19.2% compared to last year. More »

Here are some nice random photos of the city of Leiden in the Netherlands, where we live. Leiden is the birthplace of Rembrandt van Rijn and has the oldest university in the country. There are lots of canals, church spires, narrow alleys, and monumental buildings. More »

Rembrandt van Rijn was born in Leiden in 1606. This year the city celebrates the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth with different museum exhibits, festival events and other special expositions. In February we walked a part of the Rembrandt City Tour, and followed in the footsteps of this young artist. More »

The first Subway in Holland opened in Eindhoven on 4 March 2000, and since then another 31 Subways have opened across the country. The sandwich company’s goal is to have 210 stores in this country by 2010, almost as many as the current 225 McDonald’s that we have here. More »

On Sunday we visited the Lakenhal, which houses the city museum of Leiden. One of several special temporary Rembrandt anniversary exhibits was taking place: Rembrandt’s Mother: Myth and Reality. More »

Since Coca-Cola introduced new types of bottles in the Netherlands they are now the same as those in Belgium. However, the Coca-Cola Company bottles here have a deposit of €0.25, but that is not the case in Belgium. Since the introduction Belgians have been crossing the border en masse to turn in their non-deposit bottles at supermarkets for €0.25 each. More »

Today, in the Dutch town of Etten-Leur, the world record of the largest number of people to jump rope simultaneously was broken. The original British record from 2004 of 2,350 people was broken today with a new total of 3,426. More »

On Thursday the city of Leiden began placing a huge billboard near the Centraal Station. When complete, the billboard will be 1100 square meters in size. The board will promote cultural events in Leiden, with the image of a huge bookshelf holding books with titles related to themes such as the celebration of Rembrandt’s 400th birthday this year. Leiden’s museums and landmark buildings will also be featured. The billboard will be located between the train station and the center of the city, so visitors will see it as soon as they arrive in the city. More »

The Rembrandt-themed Dutch Ice Sculpture Festival, an attraction in Leiden since December, has been a huge success. Nearly a quarter million people have seen the ice statues so far. The festival will close this Sunday at 6pm. At 5:30pm a group of blind and legally blind persons will be able to feel the sculptures. During the run of the festival, touching the sculptures by the public was not allowed. More »

Dutch bird hobbyists, who keep chickens, geese and ducks as pets, are giving their birds to local petting zoos and children’s farms out of fear of bird flu. At farms and petting zoos in cities like the Hague, Apeldoorn and Leideschendam, the pet birds have been tossed into the yard by their owners!