// I’M A PRIVATE ROOM / 2X 1P BED
Hello I’m the
A.J. van der Pigge
Room
Own bathroom and a shared toilet.
I’m a private room. I have two single beds, my own shower and sink. They couldn’t fit in a toilet, but don’t worry there’s one just outside the room. I have a street view from my window. I’m located on the first floor of my boutique hostel.
// Hello I’m A.J. van der Pigge. I’m one of the first pharmacies in Haarlem. I specialize in herbs, ancient recipes, and herbal medicine. If you walk through the city, you will see a big building, there used to be a big department store called ‘Vroom & Dreesman’. They tried to buy up the whole block to build their new store. But I wouldn’t budge. They begged me to sell, but I stood firm. Eventually they had to build around me, which they did. Now about a 100 years later, 170 years old, I still exist. Not only do I still exist, I was crowned purveyor to the royal household in 1999, and am now a national monument. Above my front door you’ll see a ‘gaper’. Gapers served as a sign for pharmacists to attract customers, but also as a quality indicator of the store. The mouth of the gaper is not open to yawn, but to take medicine. The grimace of many yawners is explained because the medicine tasted nasty.
