I recently saw the Christmas tram riding around in The Hague. It was the second time I have spotted it this year, but this time I was able to stop and take a picture.
Don’t you think the Santa hat on top is cute? Apparently it has 6,300 lights on it and it also plays Christmas music non-stop. Haha. (I wouldn’t mind, though. It isn’t like you are in the tram that long.)
You can check out ovzoeker.nl to see where the tram is riding. The URL looks for HTM tram #3109.
Also, if you are in The Hague, check out the Royal Christmas Fair, which is open on the Lange Voorhout until December 23.
Today when walking through De Passage I noticed that Dutch flags had been raised. After a second it clicked ー today is Princess Amalia’s 22nd birthday (Wikipedia). She is next in line for the throne.
Although you can’t see it that well in the photo, one of the big clues was the strip of orange also hanging by each flag, for the royal family.
Last week, the Christmas tree arrived in De Passage, a covered shopping area in The Hague.
This is in the older part of De Passage, outside of the Apple Store. The older part meets at this point. De Passage is designed in such a way that the Christmas tree is visible from everywhere.
Here is a photo from a bit further away, to give you an idea of how the area looks:
It’s a great place to walk through, especially when the weather is bad. The older part is a bit cold in the winter, but the new part closer to Grote Marktstraat is much warmer.
If you click the “De Passage” tag at the bottom of this post, you’ll see similar blog posts about this part of The Hague.
Recently I was walking along Prinsestraat in The Hague and I noticed some eye-catching art in the window at the art gallery Chiefs and Spirits:
Pretty cool, huh? I also squeeze my toothpaste tube to get every last bit out, so I enjoy it even more because of that, I think.
The Hague’s official website has a list of art galleries in city. For instance, De Affiche Galerij, or loosely translated, the poster gallery – it’s found in tram tunnel at Grote Marktstraat. Most people walk right on past, myself included usually. I need to stop and check the posters out more often!
Well, not real giraffes of course. But as part of De Betovering (an art festival for the youth), there were performers walking through the city centre a few weeks ago dressed up like giraffes:
And a close up:
Apparently there was also a hippo, although I didn’t see that one. You can read more about De Betovering on the official website, which translates to “The Enchantment” in English. The event was from 17 October to 25 October, during the autumn school holiday.
If you can, don’t forget to vote tomorrow! The vote is for the Dutch House of Representatives. In theory for the next four years, though the government seems to collapse faster than that lately. Of course, you need to have Dutch citizenship to vote, so I won’t be voting in this one. I do plan on getting it, but at this point it is easier to wait and do the option procedure, which I can do once I have lived here at least 15 consecutive years (and because I am married to a Dutch citizen for at least 3 of those years). So that would be after December 2027. Time flies…
The holiday window decorations are now in place by Bijenkorf, a high-end department store here in The Hague. Here’s a look at one of the windows:
The window reads: “Ook 100 jaar geleden bezorgde de Bijenkorf al aan huis”, or “100 years ago, de Bijenkorf was already making home deliveries”.
I found a news article which mentioned that their Christmas departments opened on 11 September (!). It’s early, of course, but going to Bijenkorf to look at Christmas ornaments and other decorations is a tradition for a lot of families. It sort of reminds me of the mall scene in A Christmas Story, only there is no Santa!
Here is a reminder of how blue and bright August looked…
On the plus side for October, the oliebollenkraam is back! An oliebol is like a doughnut (in fact, an oliebol was the inspiration for donuts – see also Wikipedia). I believe the stand opened on October 1, the first date it is legally allowed to open. Here is a photo from October 2:
And this year they have a large message on the back, visible from far away:
It is quite bright and draws you in. That’s a good thing, since the stand is at the end of the shopping street. Visibility is key.
The website of the stand is available at https://www.dehaagscheoliebollenbakkerij.nl, although it doesn’t seem to be completely loading for me at the moment. But still – oliebollen!
A few weeks ago I noticed a rather well-formed rainbow in The Hague’s city centre. It was quite prominent and colorful.
Here it is on the Prinsestraat, near the Chinese restaurant Zheng (on the right side, just past Prinsestaete).
Here was the rainbow in the city centre, near Sting, a clothing store. Sting is the building in the middle with the colorful bricks. The building itself received the nickname De Snoeptrommel (or candy jar) years ago. I’m sure you can see why.
It was a good photo, although the tram lines got in the way of the rainbow a bit.
Shortly thereafter, the rainbow was gone. It lasted somewhere around 5 to 10 minutes in total. But it was nice to see!
On the way back, I spotted a cat playing in the dirt on the same street, Zoutmanstraat. Unfortunately it was a bit too distracted to look my way, as it was acting like a dog and rolling around in the dirt. It looked like it was having the time of its life! (Maybe it just had an itch it wanted to scratch, who knows.)
In other news… it is quite touristy, but in September you can ride a swan boat in the Hofvijver (indebuurt.nl, in Dutch).
Or, on Tuesday, September 16 you can visit The Hague to watch the ceremonies around Prinsjesdag. Here’s a description from DenHaag.com: “Prince’s Day (Prinsjesdag) is the traditional start of the parliamentary year for the Senate and House of Representatives in The Hague. On the third Tuesday in September, King Willem-Alexander will deliver the Speech from the Throne in which the government announces its most important plans for the coming year. Prior to the reading of the Speech from the Throne, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima will travel in the Glass Carriage, followed by other important members, with a driving tour from Noordeinde Palace via Lange Voorhout to the place where this year’s speech from the throne will take place.”
Of course, most of the plans are always leaked a few days in advance, so…
Life in the Hague 