Flowers and rain (Or: Lilac bushes)

Posted on May 18, 2026 by Niki

Recently Marco compared this photo of a lilac bush in The Hague:

Just a bit of spring while we wait for summer. For the longest time we had some decent weather and not much rain, but the last week or so has been rain, rain, rain. We have a few more days of this to go, but it looks like the long holiday weekend (off on Monday for Whit Monday) will feature some nice weather, with highs around 22-24C or 71-75F. For the Netherlands, that’s pretty good! I am looking forward to soaking up some sun myself.

279 flights delayed at Schiphol as security queues, border checks disrupt operations from nltimes.nl

MV Hondius arrives at port of Rotterdam; Hantavirus risk “low” for world population: WHO, also from nltimes.nl

The Japanese Garden at Clingendael is open until June 7 (denhaag.nl)

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Cheesecake Company expansion (Or: Double the sweetness)

Posted on May 10, 2026 by Niki

Roger recently snapped a photo of the Cheesecake Company‘s expansion:

It’s nice to see that they were able to expand the store, as didn’t have as much seating area in the previous setup.

They are on Torenstraat, across the street from the Grote Kerk (church). In case you’re wondering, this was the company that provided Marco and I’s wedding cakes. We kept it simple. The two flavors were strawberry and cappuccino (or maybe it was chocolate cappuccino, I’m not sure anymore. Whatever it was, it was delicious!).

In other news:

  • The Europa Experience is now open on the Grote Marktstraat where MediaMarkt was perviously located (just off the main shopping area, so prime real estate really)
  • BlowUp Jubilee returns on Friday, May 22 with inflatable artwork found outside around The Hague’s city centre. See my 2024 post about it.
  • Medi-Market opened on Spuistraat 7. It’s a discount drugstore (skincare, shampoo, over the counter medication, etc.), apparently even cheaper than the discount drugstores we already have.
  • The Japan & Korean Food Festival will be at Zuiderpark from Friday, May 22 through Monday, May 25
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One of my latest favorite things (Or: Steamed buns from the Asian store)

Posted on April 29, 2026 by Niki

Marco purchased these frozen buns from the local Asian store, Amazing Oriental:

The inside was chicken with scallion onions. They don’t look like much, but they are quite tasty if you like bread, since the outside was more like a crunchy bread than the soft bao bun that I am used to. It was a nice change of texture. I will definitely be buying these again!

Lately I’ve been going through my illustrated copies of Harry Potter, starting over with book 1. These are the illustrated versions by Jim Kay, with the first five out so far.

In honor of that, here’s a news article for the other book lovers out there: Places in The Hague for book lovers!

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Year of the horse (Or: Legos in the Mall of the Netherlands)

Posted on April 21, 2026 by Niki

Last month, Marco, Roger and I visited the Mall of the Netherlands to check out the new Takumi location, which offered sushi as well as the usual ramen. The sushi was pretty good but the service was a bit “off”, probably because of being located in a mall. It didn’t quite have the same feel as the other locations.

Before that we also visited the Lego store in the mall. Here are a few photos of the sets they had on display. This first set was for the Year of the Horse (Chinese New Year).

They also had a cool looking aquarium:

I am not really a fan of Legos, as I am not that creative, but I do enjoy seeing what others have built. If I had to choose I would prefer to put a jigsaw puzzle together! Even that takes ages…

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Storks and nests (Or: Spotted in Rijswijk)

Posted on April 13, 2026 by Niki

Last month while visiting Rijswijk I spotted a stork walking around in the grass. I snapped a photo of their adventure (with a good zoom, to not disturb it):

I remembered that I had seen storks in this area before a few years back. Sure enough, I turned around and the nest was in the same place, high up at the top of a building. The area underneath the nest looked cleaner back then, though…

I also spotted some cherry blossom trees:

And a close up:

Very pretty, if you ask me!

If you will be in The Hague at the end of the month, don’t forget The Life I Live festival is soon approaching on Sunday, April 26. This a free event held the day before King’s Day in The Hague’s city centre, with a handful of podiums set up at the Grote Markt, Lange Voorhout, Kerkplein and Plaats. The full program is also available at indebuurt.nl.

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100th anniversary (Or: Bijenkorf in The Hague)

Posted on April 7, 2026 by Niki

Bijenkorf in The Hague celebrated its 100th anniversary over the weekend. Marco took a lovely picture of the decorations on the outside:

Of course the decorations are in yellow and green, the colors of The Hague flag.

And because I think they are awesome, here’s a look at some of the stained glass inside the staircases. One great reason to skip the elevator:

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Rylee’s Sandwich Club (Or: A new lunch place by Holland Spoor)

Posted on March 26, 2026 by Niki

A few weeks ago Marco and I went to Rylee’s for lunch. I saw it listed on indebuurt.nl and just had to go. It was delicious!

Marco and I split a garlic steak sandwich (pictured above). I probably could have taken a better picture, but trust me, it was delicious. The brioche baguette was a definite highlight.

Marco ordered an iced mango matcha, while I had an iced mocha frappuccino.

For whatever reason, I haven’t had an iced mocha frappuccino in years. I was practically dancing in my chair!

We then split a large chocolate cookie as dessert, although I don’t have a picture of that.

I can definitely recommend Rylee’s if you want a quick, easy sandwich or coffee for lunch and you are in the area. They don’t have the menu available on their website yet, so you can check out sites like Uber Eats to see what they offer.

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A good way to commemorate (Or: 50th anniversary 10km CPC medal)

Posted on March 16, 2026 by Niki

A colleague of mine ran the 10km at the City-Pier-City (CPC) run over the weekend. The starting point was at the Malieveld and it went away from the city centre, towards Scheveningen. I thought the medal was too gorgeous not to share:

It has, a nice, solid weight with a lovely finish. I am not sure if they are usually this pretty or if it was because it was the 50th anniversary of the run. Some of the buildings featured include (I think) the Haagse Toren, the Hoftoren, the Kurhaus, the ferris wheel in Scheveningen and the Ridderzaal.

Luckily the weather was good yesterday. Earlier last week it looked like it would rain most of the afternoon. Though my colleague did mention that there were so many people there that it was hard to find anyone as even WhatsApp wasn’t working well. Ticket sales were really fast this year, with almost everything gone after the first day, so it makes sense that the event would be quite crowded.

In other news, here is your “What the…” news story of the day:

Defense employee arrested after large haul of military equipment found in home from nltimes.nl. “The search of the residence on Bilderdijkstraat uncovered weapons, bulletproof vests, helmets, field beds, tents, knives, tools, tablets, ammunition, and cash. Two buses were used to try and remove the items, but a fully loaded Defense truck was later called in due to the volume of material. The total number of items seized has not been confirmed.”

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Across the road (Or: A misty dag in The Hague)

Posted on March 10, 2026 by Niki

Earlier this week the Netherlands had a few misty mornings. It was pretty interesting to see most of The Hague’s skyline gone.

Here’s a random picture of the mist, near the Paleistuin.

Here’s a bonus picture of a very quiet moment in De Passage, the covered shopping area in The Hague’s city centre. The flowers in the middle were a nice touch.

It’s a pretty quiet week here. Unfortunately, spring seems to have disappeared again, as the temperatures are more around 10C/50F. The random misty mornings make it colder, too.

Here are some random events coming up:

Sunday, March 15: City-Pier-City (CPC) run, with distances of 5km, 10km and a half marathon.

Sunday, March 15: St. Patrick’s Day festival at the Grote Markt. So you can run in the CPC and then have a nice cold one.

Municipal elections, March 18: information from The Hague International Centre (I will definitely be voting, since I can actually vote in this one!)

Last Sunday of each month, e.g. 29 March: salsa and bachata lesson outside the Bijenkorf on the Grote Marktstraat at 13:00. So random I just had to mention it.

See more events at DenHaag.com.

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Spring is coming (Or: Chai lattes and lots of cinnamon)

Posted on March 3, 2026 by Niki

This weekend Marco, his mom and I went to Urban Cafe on the Spui. This is the Urban Cafe across from the Central Library, in the former furniture store Hulshoff, which left last year.

Complete with a tiny cookie (it’s quite normal to get one of those in Netherlands). This one came with almost too much cinnamon powder….

Spring has definitely arrived in the Netherlands, with temperatures around 14-16C (56-60F) here in The Hague. More sunshine, more warmth, more blue skies!

Spring arrives with record-breaking weather across NL from dutchnews.nl

Warmest March 2 since measurements started; More weather records on the way from nltimes.nl

Bring on the warmth!

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