A few weeks ago I was in Rijswijk (a nearby city) and I spotted a stork sunning themselves in a nearby park:
It was in the same area that I spotted a nest a few months ago:
New competition in The Hague (Or: Dirk supermarket)
We now have a Dirk supermarket in The Hague city centre, since this week. It is at the Torenstraat (Tower street). It is in the location where Rock Palace used to be, a store where you could buy all sorts of musical instruments including guitars.
There isn’t much supermarket competition in The Hague city centre. Everywhere is Albert Heijn, with a few Jumbo supermarkets here and there. But now we also have a Dirk (pronounced Dyerk, with a bit of a y sound).
Marco and I decided to visit this weekend. The first thing we saw was this sign:
Translated, it reads “By Dirk you don’t need to horde groceries to get savings”. Although the verb to horde, hamsteren, will always make me think of the corona pandemic, where people were warned not to horde groceries and supplies when the pandemic first hit. Most people didn’t listen.
The store technically should have cheaper prices, although most of the products are the same as other supermarkets. The location is a bit on the small side with narrow rows that quickly cause congestion issues. But the worst part is that they only have one cash register with a worker and four self-service checkout points. Definitely not enough in the weekend or during prime time hours. The space for the self-service area wasn’t designed that wisely (the Jumbo in the city centre has six self-checkout points in half the space, for example). But it might be a good location to visit during the quieter hours, maybe.
Rrrollend food truck festival (Or: Enjoying the sun)
We finally have some good weather here in the Netherlands! Unfortunately “good weather” in this case is about 19-20C, or 64-68F. But we take what we can get.
This past weekend was the Rrrollend food truck festival, this time by the Hofvijver. I am not sure if this is the first time that it was held there; usually it is at the Lange Voorhout or by Maliveld. People were enjoying the weather. Some were even sitting by the water, although maybe that was just to find a good seat — it was pretty crowded there after all. But dangling your legs over the water is a nice way to enjoy the sun.
A few weeks earlier Marco and I were at Anne & Max, a (chain) café found throughout the Netherlands. Check out the cool pattern on the cappuccino:
The cake in the background was a lime cake, but it was a bit drier than expected. It was still a fun time with Marco, though.
Anyone feeling patriotic? (Or: A box of cupcakes)
Check out these red, white and blue cupcakes which I spotted at an expat store in the Mall of The Netherlands (yes, NL jumped on the bandwagon as every time I hear of the name I think of the Mall of America).
Sometimes with overly American branding I have to wonder if it was actually produced in the US or not. Companies make something that sounds American, they put an American flag on it and brand it American. But if you look closely you will see it was made in Europe.
And check out that price. €9,99 or $11.20. For 8 cupcakes!
Another thing that is very expensive here is a box of Cheerios. Those are also about €10 each, unfortunately.
Categories: The Hague
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Tulips at the Spuiplein (Or: A few photos from last month)
I forgot to post a few photos that I took last month of the gorgeous tulips by the Spuiplein in The Hague (in the city centre). In the background you can also see the artwork that commemorates M.C. Escher on the wall of the city hall. I posted about that at the end of March.
And here is a close up of the tulips:
You have to love the color!
Flags at half mast (Or: Remembrance Day and Liberation Day in the Netherlands)
A few days ago I found myself near the Peace Palace in The Hague. This was on 4 May, otherwise known as Nationale Dodenherdenking or National Remembrance of the Dead day. You have a few monuments to the war near the Peace Palace. One of them is The Hague Resistance and Liberation Memorial which commemorates those who lost their lives in The Netherlands during WWII. Here is the official website for the Memorial (in Dutch).
And on 5 May the Netherlands celebrates Liberation Day, which in comparison to the more somber Remembrance Day is a day for festivals and celebrating one’s freedom. A lot of cities hold festivals on 5 May.
Pictures from the festival in The Hague (at the Malieveld), in Dutch at indebuurt.nl.
And because I couldn’t not take a photo of it, here is an impressive looking tree which is also near the Peace Palace. It is huge! I would love to sit under its shade and read a book for a while.
Categories: Culture, Holidays, The Hague
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King’s Day in The Hague (Or: Flags everywhere)
Today is King’s Day in the Netherlands. At the very least, it is a nice day off! It celebrates the birthday of King Willem-Alexander, although most people use it as an excuse to head into town and enjoy a lot of good music and alcohol. (Seriously, walking into the local supermarket, the first thing on display was six-packs of beer. They know where their money is made!)
Dutch flags on display for the holiday with the Grote Kerk (“Big Church”) in the background.
You can also check out the King’s Day Google doodle. The doodle celebrates tompouces, a pastry which is normally pink. Unless it is King’s Day, and then it is bright orange.
Chilly but sunny start to King’s Day after a busy night of partying from dutchnews.nl. The day before King’s Day is known as King’s Night and most of the major cities have music festivals. For instance last night The Hague had The Life I Live festival in the city centre.
There are two main activities on King’s Day: 1) The king and his family always visits one city each year. This year was Rotterdam. 2) A lot of cities have “free markets” (Vrijmarkten) which is basically a huge garage sale – one day a year everyone in the nation is out selling things. Or buying things. On that day people can clear out all of their junk and old items and sell them in specifically designated spots in each city.
Here is a live blog from NOS (the national news channel). It is in Dutch but at the very least you can check out the pictures to get a sense of how crowded it was/is!
And here is the live blog from the local news service, Omroep West, also in Dutch. But Google Translate is your friend. (And mine too, sometimes.)
The first signs of spring (Or: Tulips have been spotted)
On my way to Kelly’s Expat Shopping last weekend I spotted a lovely bunch of flowers planted along the sidewalk:
It is a good reminder that spring is coming, although it certainly hasn’t arrived yet. There have been a few days of full sunshine and blue skies, but it quickly turns cold and grey again. We were promised good weather this week but then the wind direction changed, coming from the east rather than the sea to the west. Brrr.
Speaking of spring… you have a few more days to pick up free seeds in preparation for National Seeding Day. This is possible due to an initiative from The Pollinators (article in Dutch). The goal is to have more flowers which are bee friendly.
If you are here in The Netherlands, don’t forget that King’s Day (April 27) is fast approaching. See also this article about the holiday at dutchreview.com. The night before (aptly named “King’s Night”), The Hague celebrates with The Life I Live festival with lots of little podiums throughout the city centre.
Healthy birthday cookies (Or: Is there really such a thing?)
Tomorrow is my birthday and I decided to spend it going to work. Eek.
Actually, yes, but I am taking Friday off. Part of the reason I am going in tomorrow is because it is the monthly post-corona “common office day” where everyone is asked to come in so we can remember what we look like in person. (I kid, I kid. I see most of my coworkers once a week.) Since everyone is in the office together tomorrow we decided to do a potluck lunch. Aka a lunch where everyone brings something in.
Since I am not much of a cook, I decided to bake cookies. Unfortunately, I am not much of a baker either, so Marco was of great help there.
I chose a recipe for oatmeal cookies with banana (no sugar added):
This was originally a Dutch recipe (original website). As happens every once in a while, I had to look up what havermout is. Apparently it is quick cooking oats, which just brings up childhood memories of my parents eating oatmeal for breakfast.
The recipe contains quick cooking oats, raisins, almonds, cinnamon powder, baking powder, banana and apples. I chose Granny Smith apples as those are nice and sour, and I added some lemon zest for a flavor contrast.
I am not going to lie. The cookies look a bit ugly, but I made them (with a lot of help from Marco!).
April Fools in The Netherlands (Or: Tulips that fight back)
As usual, there were a lot of April Fools jokes made yesterday in The Netherlands. Here are a few examples:
Unfortunately it is just an April Fool’s joke. Tourists are notorious for trampling tulips just to get the perfect selfie. In response to this The Tulip Barn in Hillegom created a “selfie garden” in 2021 to allow visitors to take photos in a specially created area, complete with Dutch props. That is pretty cool, actually.
The tweet below is in Dutch, but it basically says that elevator accidents caused by drunk passengers have increased by 24% since 2020. Therefore, the Lift Instituut in The Netherlands has banned elevator use by people who have had more than two glasses of alcohol (thereabouts).
And finally, if you’re an international living in The Netherlands with a bike, prepare to get a biking license…
I guess it is a good thing I don’t have a bike, right?
Categories: Culture, Holidays
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Life in the Hague 