The Hague, The Netherlands

It's 8AM when I leave Leiden and set out for The Hague, the third largest city in the Netherlands with over 500,000 inhabitants. Cycling on a paved two-way bike lane running alongside a highway I spot smoke pouring over a forest of trees. Thinking it could be a house on fire I make a turn at the next opportunity. To my surprise the smoke is belching out of a fired-up steam locomotive.

 Turns out I stumbled upon a train museum but, it won't be open for several hours so it's off I go.

So, the seat of Dutch government resides here as well as parliament, Supreme Court, the king, foreign embassies but, Amsterdam is constitutionally the capital of the Netherlands. The building complex to the right of the water fountain houses parliament.

Behind the water fountain in the previous photo a huge temporary stadium has been erected (seating 5,500). It's big doings as tonight is the finals for the Beach Volleyball World Championships.

 This fountain stands inside a complex next to Parliament.  

 Crowns suspend above several shopping streets in The Hague's old town area. I had no idea why.

Now I do. Right on this shopping street stands Noordeinde Palace. It's the "working palace" for King Willem Alexander. Although nice, it's not as massive as others I've seen during my travels around Europe. But then again, looks can be deceiving. Tourists gather and take photos here but, most don't bother to hike several blocks and go around to the rear. It's huge on the backside with several wings jutting out. Unfortunately a heavily wooded park prevents one from snapping photos.  

 Some buildings are home to unexpected delights.

 This is the Peace Palace. Built in 1913 it houses the International Court of Justice

Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, is headquartered here with almost 1,000 employees.

Adjacent to Europol stands a building housing the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. This is where the likes of Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic are currently on trial for war crimes. I wasn't sure if the trials were actually being conducted in this building. The answer is yes, thanks to asking a guy locking his bike outside the building. Turns out to be Luke Fadem, Legal Officer, Appeals Division, Office of the Prosecutor AND, a fellow Californian.  I told Luke this stint would look good on his resume.

Spotted this window display at an office furniture store. Wow, that bike seat chair allows one to pedal while working at a desk.

So, when a foreign embassy gets a new ambassador, a horse pulled carriage is sent to the ambassador's residence. The new ambassador is picked-up and whisked away in style to the "working palace".

A red carpet is rolled out along with a small band and honor guard. The ambassador is ushered into the palace where he presents his/her credentials. The ceremony and pomp keeps tradition alive as well as giving tourists like me photo opportunities.

 Part of the bike parking area at The Hague central train station.

The Netherlands is home to some large sandy beaches. The most famous being the seaside resort of Scheveningen with its pier, esplanade and lighthouse.

 Note the sculptures.

 Esplanade (no cycling allowed).

 Beach volleyball.

Parking for cars, though cycling to the beach is by far the preferred method of transportation by locals. From The Hague's city center one can also hop on a tram for the three mile ride to the beach.

 This lighthouse dates back to 1875.

 Had to stop to say "hi" to this chef outside this bakery.

Glad I stopped as these fried treats with apple filling and drizzled with powdered sugar were still warm.  Absolutely fantastic as I wolf down three! I told the owner I'll be back tomorrow for more of these bad boys. Turns out these treats are normally made only once a year (New Year's day) and were made today to celebrate a street fair going on. So if I return tomorrow you won't have them? When the owner answers "no". I tell her, "you better give me two more for the road".

Didn't know the North Sea was home to expansive beaches.

Leiden, Netherlands

My bike and I flew into Amsterdam from Geneva then, cycled from the airport 15 miles past pancake flat farmland to Leiden (population 125,000). Temperatures are in the high-80's and learn right away how the locals keep cool---cruising the canals in liquor laden boats. Large ice chests filled with beer, wine and spirits are clearly visible as they pass under bridges--with Heineken, of course, being the beer of choice (Heineken was founded in Amsterdam).

 Having a boat or a buddy with one is a must.

 Leiden's city hall.

 One of several windmills in the town center.

 The train station has a half dozen designated areas to park your bike.

Absolutely amazing number of bikes. Leiden is home to Leiden University, dating back to 1575, it's the oldest university in the Netherlands.

 One of several city gates (from 1600's) still standing

 The other city gate (1600's)

 The Netherlands likes to build weird buildings. This one has a wooden man built into the structure.

I've seen quite a few of these kind of buildings (colored exteriors) in France and the problem is, they don't age well as colors fade.

 Ah, here's another chief greetings visitors entering his pastry shop.

 It's only a five mile bike ride from Leiden to the beaches.

 Quite a few cozy beach towns.

I cycled around this well-to-do canal-laced area a few miles from Leiden. Why? A while back I read a newspaper article mentioning one of Vladimir Putin's daughters living with her boyfriend in a two-story, high-security penthouse apartment building fronting the river. I found the building.

Sunday bike ride in Le Locle past Swiss watch facilities Part 2

I bicycled around the world for more than 20 years visiting the head offices of over 4,000 companies. In 2003/2004 I visited more than 100 Swiss watch companies. On a sunny Sunday 10 years later I decided to cycle past some of the watch companies visited in Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds to see if buildings were renovated, added on to or offices relocated.  Go to my website: www.corporatetrivia.com, then click on the "Watches and Chocolate" heading to read the stories of my first visits. This is Part Two of my Sunday bike rides with the earlier post of the Geneva area being Part One.  

Nestled in narrow valley in the Jura Mountains, this is the road leading into Le Locle (population11,000).

 Pretty nice looking town hall building.

 Across from the town hall you've got flowers.

This is Zenith, a mish-mash of office and factory buildings some dating more than 100 years ago to a mere 40 years ago. LVMH owns the brand.

Another view of the main entrance to Zenith. Actually, they couldn't tear down some of old structures if they wanted to as they're protected (historic). Zenith is one of only a handful of watchmakers that can use the word "manufacturer" in their name. Zenith produces their own movements.

This multi-building complex stands on the top of a steep hillside and houses the corporate offices/factory of Tissot.

 Tissot is part of the Swatch Group.

 Montblanc occupies this good-looking villa located almost directly across from Tissot.

This level, added under the Montblanc villa, with its floor to ceiling windows is obviously a watch workshop. I received a real crummy reception back in 2004 which wasn't the norm when visiting Richemont brands.

The colors of Ulysee Nardin's buildings are still blue. Though this year (2014) the company was bought by Kering, the French luxury goods firm.

This is a light industrial park on the edge of town and it's some kind of production facility for Audemars Piguet.

Across the street from Audemars Piguet is Choco-Diffusion, a chocolate company visited back in 2004.

Choco-Diffusion specializes in "tourism" chocolate--such as miniature milk cans filled with pieces of chocolate. See their stuff at airports and tourist shops. Quality chocolate isn't what you're buying.

Looking through the office front doors at Choco-Diffusion I spot this pile of gold chocolate bars. Business must be good as up the road a mile I see they have a new warehouse building. One summer I cycled around Switzerland and Belgium visiting chocolate and cookie companies. This was one of the few companies that let me depart without any samples.

Pass by this production facility for Breguet on the outskirts of La Chaux-de-Fonds, population 35,000.

 Thanks to the closed gate, I can't get a closer look at the Breguet facility. Part of Swatch Group.

 Wow, this lone building wasn't here 10 years ago.

On closer inspection I see it's Cartier. Nice looking structure. I take my camera out and start snapping pictures when a voice comes over an intercom located near the red gate telling my I'm not allowed to do that. Yeah right. He says he'll call the police. I told him to go ahead.

 Cycling around the perimeter of the fenced-in Cartier site I see this farm building inside the fence.

Looks like it was recently renovated. I man who lives up the hill from here comes down and talks to me. Says Cartier uses the barn for entertaining and media events.

When I visited Greubel Forsey back in 2004 they had offices near downtown La Chaud-de-Fonds. Now, they've relocated to a light industrial park close to Cartier. Pretty cool looking complex with a converted barn connected to a modernistic structure.

Still remember from my visit in 2004 that the prices of their timepieces STARTED at $300,000 and there was a waiting list. Richemont owns a 20% stake.

Jaquet Droz has this new structure directly across the street from Greubel Forsey. Didn't have them on my list to visit back in 2003/2004. Why? Well it seems the name Jaquet Droz was resurrected not that long away. By who? The Swatch Group.

Watch companies spend lots of money on marketing. One of the tricks I found they do is exaggerate their length of time in business. For instance, Google "Jaquet Droz" and up pops a result from their website saying "since 1738". Well, that part is true but from 1788 to 2000 the company went kaput. In 2000 Swatch got rights to the name and Jaquet Droz had its rebirth. Quite a few watch companies have done this where they find a long dead watch name, buy the rights, start the brand up again, then in their marketing make it seems as though the company has been in business since the 1800's.

This is some kind of new production facility for Patek Philippe.

Side view of Patek Philippe building. Notice the structure is bounded by farmland. The man who walked down from a house up on the hill says the remaining farmland is protected so, this industrial park area can't be expanded

Not too far up the road leading to La Chaux-de-Fonds I find this complex for Breitling.  This is not their head office.  I received a very, very crummy reception from them at their offices near Bienne.  

Louis Vuitton and Dior have offices here.

Tag Heur is in this building. Used to be in the town of Marin. Horrible, horrible treatment from snotty receptionist back in 2002. Part of LVMH.

Production facility for Ulysee Nardin in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Graham and Arnold & Son were in another downtown La Chaux-de-Fonds building when I visited in 2004.