I’d always wondered about the Dutch King and Queen’s hometown, more so when a work colleague who lived there told me some interesting stories about the place. Given its royal pedigree, I half expected to bump into a noble or two but the people I saw were as low key and normal as anyplace else. It was a nice, quaint, little town in any case and close enough to the beach that after a coffee pitstop in the center, it was only a short drive to a stretch of beach on the North Sea. It was blustery but sunny, and along with some like-minded people not a bad place to pass some quality time away. Despite my tropical island beach inclinations, I’m glad to say I’ve finally found what’s beautiful in the mostly rough and not exactly fine beaches of Northern Europe. Shows what seven years of living here can do.