Foto’s

Through the centre of The Hague (Or: Tourist tram)

Posted on August 22, 2021 by Niki

Side note: it is getting way too easy to use the British spelling for some phrases, like “centre” instead of “center”. Hmmm.

Below is a photo of the tourist tram riding through the centre (!) of the city. The Grote Kerk (literally “Big Church”) is off to the left, just out of the photo. I’ve posted a picture of this area a few times after its renovation a few years back. It looks a lot better with the greenery and stone walkways than it used to look.

Here is a photo of the church from the air (pre-renovation), from monumentenzorgdenhaag.nl. And here is information on the tourist tram, from denhaag.nl in English. Unfortunately it is a bit overpriced, but for tourists it could be nice.

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5 years later (Or: End of an era)

Posted on August 19, 2021 by Niki

In 2016 the Eat Company café hired Sophia den Breems (official website) to add murals to the side of their restaurant.

Here is a link to the image I took of the first mural, winter 2015-16. I think it was my favorite.

Here is the second mural, summer 2016.

Here is the third mural, fall 2016. That photo was taken in October 2016, almost 5 years ago. But no new mural ever came after that. We were perpetually stuck in fall for years.

Imagine my surprise when I rounded the corner this week:

An end of an era, I guess. And it doesn’t look like anything new will be coming in its place, considering the worker was covering up more than just the mural itself. Who knows…

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Almost as tall as a front door (Or: Sunflower on Vondelstraat)

Posted on August 17, 2021 by Niki

Here is a photo of a very tall sunflower. It’s hard to pass by without noticing it!

Maybe I should start taking a photo every month to see how tall it grows… I suspect it will soon be taller than the front door behind it.

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Architecture in the city centre (Or: Peek & Cloppenburg)

Posted on August 10, 2021 by Niki

I took this photo recently of the building facade by the clothing store Peek & Cloppenburg (official website in Dutch).

This is quite typical of buildings in the Netherlands – and usually the architecture is from long ago, predating the current store at the location by decades. However, in this case the architecture was indeed designed for the Peek & Cloppenburg building (monumentenzorgdenhaag.nl, in Dutch). That article mentions that it was designed to be a counterweight to the architecture of Bijenkorf across the street (denhaag.nl, in English).

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Shortcuts (Or: Through a small alleyway)

Posted on August 7, 2021 by Niki

I’ve posted a few times about the small “alleyway” street that goes by the name Bagijnestraat, not far from the Tweede Kamer. My favorite post was about the art on a garage door last May. Actually, if you click on that blog post link you will see just how many bikes are cluttering up the alleyway… which is the subject of today’s post.

A few months ago Marco, Roger and I cut through this alleyway and we noticed the “no bikes here” signs for the first time. Each sign is in a different language. For example, here is Spanish (no bicicletas aquí):

But – kind of funny, here is the German sign (wo ist der bahnhof?):

That doesn’t say “no bikes here” in German. It actually says “Where is the train station?”. That is a reference to a 1985 short, satirical Dutch film by the same name (the actual skit is only 2 minutes). Read more at this vpro.nl link (in Dutch). It is a common joke between Marco, Roger and I: “wo ist der bahnhof? …do is der bahnhof.”(Where is the train station? There is the train station!) See also the 2 minute skit at YouTube in Dutch.

As you can see, there are also plaques with a poem in the alleyway. Here is the start:

If walls had ears / and streets could cry / then resonating in the Bagijntje [street] / is an endless story. Of course it sounds better in Dutch!

Categories: The Hague | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Upcoming clouds (Or: Plein 1813)

Posted on July 27, 2021 by Niki

Here is a photo of the Plein 1813 monument just outside of The Hague’s city centre. If you take tram 1 to the Scheveningen beach you will ride past it, as the tram lines pass by on either side.

The slightly darkening clouds are a bit of a warning for the weather this week, although this photo is from a few weeks ago. It rained and thundered so long yesterday that I delayed my near-daily trip to the grocery store until after work. There was one moment of thunder – hitting right as I stood by a slightly ajar kitchen window – that made me jump. In a good way. Today it poured while Marco and I were making dinner, and it provided a lovely backdrop of noise. But there is more rain than not this week, with cooler temperatures hanging on for a while. It’s a bit crazy to realize when parts of the US are experiencing temperatures closer to 36C (100F). We are lucky if we hit 20C (68F).

In other news, all from the English site dutchnews.nl this time:

Panamanian ship carries massive dead whale to port of Terneuzen. The sperm whale was so large the ship didn’t even notice until they pulled into port. Yikes.

Dyke breach in Zuid Holland, was it cows or crayfish? American crayfish are definitely turning into a huge pest in the Netherlands. With no natural predators, their population is growing quickly.

Two more Dutch sites added to Unesco cultural heritage list. The Hollands Waterlinie defence lines were also recently added to the list.

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A garden for the pharmacists (Or: Behind open gates)

Posted on July 24, 2021 by Niki

On Alexanderstraat, a street in The Hague, you have the Koninklijke Nederlandse Maatschappij ter bevordering der Pharmacie. Oh, what a mouthful. Translated that is the Royal Dutch Society for the Promotion of Pharmacy, an organization for pharmacists.

But what I always notice is the lovely garden outside the front door:

Their name is so long you can’t even properly fit it into one photo:

Marco and I watched the opening ceremony for the Olympics on yesterday. I can definitely say that the time difference isn’t ideal. It started at 13:00, so good luck watching that properly and while trying to work. Most of the action happens after 02:00 and ends in the early afternoon. It definitely doesn’t feel like a true Olympics (also because there are a lot less fans attending). C’est la vie.

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Fully vaccinated (Or: Yay!)

Posted on July 21, 2021 by Niki

I am now fully vaccinated. I received my second shot (Pfizer) this afternoon. The location was less busy than when I received my first vaccination on 21 June, but that week the Netherlands vaccinated just under 1.5 million people and this week there are around 1 million appointments. I think the main difference is that there are less people getting their first shot and more getting their second, but vaccine deliveries could also be playing a small part.

We still have at least 3-4 weeks to go at this rate, if you consider that the Netherlands opened vaccinations to the general population based on birth year. I’m 38, so there’s still at least 20 years behind me waiting for their second shot. If you also consider that vaccinations were only recently opened to 12-17 year olds, you could imagine this going on for another 2-3 months at a reduced rate.

Above is the sign by the vaccination location, the Broodfabriek in Rijswijk. Literally translated as “the bread factory”, which it used to be years ago. In recent years it is an event center and this year it is rented out to The Hague’s Public Health department for the vaccination program.

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Mosaic tile benches (Or: By the Peace Palace)

Posted on July 18, 2021 by Niki

Here are some photos from benches by the Peace Palace:

Usually the area in front of the Peace Palace is teeming with tourists, but it has obviously been quiet in the last year.

In other news: Flash floods cause havoc across Europe – in pictures from theguardian.com. Most of the pictures are from Germany, where over 150 have died, although the southeast part of the Netherlands has also had flooded areas and evacuations. Most residents have been allowed to go back home, though.

Cow survives 100 kilometre swim downstream in river flood waters from dutchnews.nl. Thanks to her fame, the owner has promised she won’t be slaughtered (source from nos.nl in Dutch).

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World Peace Flame (Or: Monument by the Peace Palace in The Hague)

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Niki

Here is a photo I took of the World Peace Flame and the World Peace Pathway (around the flame) by the Peace Palace in The Hague:

(if you look closely, you can just see the flame within the blue stone)

The flame was created by seven nations and brought together in Wales, before being returned to the original countries. In that way there is more than one world peace flame. Here is a list of monuments at the official website.

The pathway was created by every country and region of the world (each one donated stones to create the pathway.

The plaque reads: The World Peace Flame: In July 1999 seven flames from five continents were united to create the World Peace Flame. The World Peace Pathway: 196 nations joined together in cooperation and unity to create the World Peace Path. Opened 27 April 2004. Please add your prayer for peace as you walk around.

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