Foto’s

Horse-drawn carriage rides (Or: Another sign of Spring)

Posted on March 7, 2021 by Niki

I returned to the Malieveld for a long walk for the first time in months. It is a large grass field just outside of The Hague’s Central station where events are held. It reminds me of last fall when they were setting up for the carnival. Apparently that was in September – time really does fly, it seems.

On the way to Malieveld I spotted a horse-drawn carriage:

While you do have the opportunity to take horse-drawn carriage rides, it is not something you see every day. I only see them a few times of the year. I am also pleased to report that I walk at the speed of a slow horse-drawn carriage, apparently. Or actually I was slightly faster. I think they turned right before entering the Malieveld to go into the Koekamp, probably to let the tourists take pictures of the deer. (Feel free to click the link again if you want to see cute pictures of deer.)

In other news: Dutch clubbers hit the dancefloor for study into easing lockdown from theguardian.com. If I remember correctly this is one of the events where the tickets were gone in 20 minutes. You have to have a negative test to enter the event, and there is also random “fast” testing at the door as well. In theory you also need to get yourself tested within 5 days after the event, but not everyone does. During the event you are divided into groups, each group with a different level of corona measures (face mask, no face mask, concessions at seat, you can get concessions yourself, etc.) Each visitor has to wear a device as well to track their movements. It will be interesting to see what data comes out of it.

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Still a construction zone (Or: Amare in The Hague)

Posted on March 6, 2021 by Niki

Last week I mentioned the new building they are constructing on the Spuiplein: Amare, a new cultural complex that will house various establishments: Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Zuiderstrandtheater, Nederlands Dans Theater and the Royal Conservatory (so an orchestra, two theaters and a music school). At the moment the planned opening is September 2021.

As I mentioned last week, I’m also looking forward to having the space in front of the building back – it has been a construction site since 2014 I think. Time flies…

And here is something a bit crazy (but in the end, similar to a desert mirage):

It was exactly a really interesting article with a diagram explaining how it was possible. If you have a moment, go check it out.

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Weird Hofvijver mystery (Or: Random chemical truck)

Posted on March 5, 2021 by Niki

Imagine: you are walking past the Hofvijver last week Friday when all the sudden a truck appears, backing up into the Hofvijver:

They back up slowly. Beep, beep, beep. As the hose is automatically lowered into the water, you start to wonder if they should even be there or if it is some evil plan to poison the water supply. Should you tell someone? The side of the truck reads Kaweco, but a Google search doesn’t give much help. Unless maybe it is a slurry tank from kaweco.com? Who knows. It is one of life’s minor mysteries.

On a related note: Sinds de coronacrisis is er meer beveiliging op en rond het Binnenhof (Since the corona crisis there is more security at and around the Binnenhof), from ad.nl. I have always found it cool that you could easily spot the Dutch prime minister walking around The Hague without security. A coworker of mine said she was biking a few months ago and suddenly he was biking right next to her. They exchanged pleasantries and then went their separate ways. Hopefully it stays that way in the future, that Dutch politicians don’t need to be surrounded by security all the time.

Happy Friday, everyone! As always, it has been a very long work week and I am glad to be able to relax for the next few days.

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Former Hudson’s Bay building (Or: The name is still there)

Posted on March 4, 2021 by Niki

Generally the name of a former store does not disappear until the new store moves in. Here is a look at the old Hudson’s Bay building on the Grote Marktstraat (large pedestrian street for shopping):

Hudson’s Bay is a previously Canadian, now American company which opened locations in former V&D buildings (English Wikipedia) back in 2017. Unfortunately Hudson’s Bay only lasted about two years, having closed all of their locations around the end of 2019. The stores just did not take off in the Netherlands, having lost 184 million euros in the Netherlands (article from nos.nl in Dutch). No one knows what will come next for these locations, unfortunately.

Categories: Shopping, The Hague | Tags: | 1 Comment

A different look (Or: The Ridderzaal in the Binnenhof)

Posted on March 2, 2021 by Niki

Last week I snapped a photo of the Ridderzaal from the side (here is how it looks from the front, as most tourists photograph it):

This area is also public, of course. Not many people end up on this side, though. The Ridderzaal is most well known for Prinsesdag (Little Prince Day, English Wikipedia) in September where the King gives a speech from the Ridderzaal. You can read more about the Ridderzaal at the English Wikipedia page.

In other, strange news: California doctor performs surgery while appearing at video traffic court appointment from sacbee.com. I’ve heard about emergency surgeries but still…

Tuschinski Amsterdam uitgeroepen tot mooiste bioscoop ter wereld from nos.nl (Tuschinski Amsterdam named “the most beautiful movie theatre in the world”) by British magazine Time Out. You can also check out the English Wikipedia page for the movie theatre. I have never been there, of course. But it is pretty cool that a movie theatre owned by Pathé, a Dutch chain, could be named the most beautiful in the world.

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Waiting in line at HEMA (Or: Pickup is allowed)

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Niki

In the afternoon you will usually see a handful of people waiting to pick up a package at HEMA (official website, or check out the English Wikipedia page). It sells housewares and clothes, mostly made under their own label.

Under the current corona measures you are allowed to pick up packages at non-essential stores, although later in the week you will also be able to make an appointment to shop at a non-essential store. The rules are pretty strict, though; only two customers at a time per floor which is not helpful for large stores.

As you can see a few people are waiting for a package in this photo. Technically the pickup point needs to be outside, but it is actually just inside the first of two sets of automatic doors. If you look closely you can just barely see the white cart with three shelves and a blue bag – there is a customer inside picking up her order. And at least this way you don’t get rained on while you are paying for your order!

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Spring flowers at the Lange Voorhout (Or: A burst of color)

Posted on February 28, 2021 by Niki

First we had snow at the Lange Voorhout, and now a few weeks later we have beautiful spring flowers.

Or a close up:

The purple, yellow and white flowers bloom every year for a few weeks and always bring a bit of color to the area. Check out where Lange Voorhout is on Google Maps. It is around the corner from the Binnenhof, Tweede Kamer, and the Hofvijver (pond).

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A stone opinion poll (Or: New look for the Spuiplein)

Posted on February 27, 2021 by Niki

At some point in the future “Amare” at the Spuiplein will be complete. That is the name of the new educational and cultural complex at the Spui (amare.nl, mostly in English with some Dutch) which should hopefully open its doors in September of this year. I’m mostly rooting for it to open so that we get the plaza in front of it back, although the new building will encroach on that space a bit. Here is a photo I took of the plaza fountain way back in 2012. The Spuiplein is right next to city hall.

Last month the city put in some stones near one of the entrances to city hall and held a poll: which stone do you like better for the Spuiplein? (twitter.com). The stones will also be used for the nearby Turfmarkt street and the city hall atrium. I was glad to see that at least half of the responses on Twitter shared my opinion: we don’t care, just give us whatever stone is the least slippery. That is my #1 concern.

And here is a look at the general area that will get the new stone (the atrium in front of city hall, Spuiplein and Turfmarkt):

Here is to a less slippery stone!

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Activity at the Binnenhof (Or: Walking past the Tweede Kamer)

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Niki

First off, the Dutch court of appeals have ruled that the curfew is indeed legal (article from nltimes.nl in English). Not that it mattered, since the Dutch government also pushed through a curfew law “the legal way” while waiting for the appeal to be heard. For the moment the curfew lasts until 15 March, though the number of cases has been going up for over a week so it might not be lifted at that time.

Today I decided to take a walk past the Tweede Kamer (Dutch House of Representatives). This is actually a very ordinary action to do, as the Tweede Kamer is right in the centre of the city and a lot of it is publicly accessible.

At the moment I’m standing on the Plein, with the statue of Willem of Orange behind me to the right (I wrote a blog post about him last week), looking at the one of the entrances to the Tweede Kamer. You can see a few military police agents and vehicles – this is perfectly normal. There are always military police if the Tweede Kamer is in session.

For the photo above I zoomed in. I assume you are allowed to take pictures but it is seems kind of rude. At least this way you get a sense of how they look without being able to recognize them. Normally I (and everyone, really) walk right past them, with the only difference being in corona times I try to keep my distance a bit more to be polite. But it is a public area and a public street, so it is fine to be there.

I also noticed that there was going to be a press conference in the Binnenhof, although I didn’t stick around to hear what it was about. There were gates set up and public waiting.

Normally I would walk from left to right (through the pictured gate) but since there was a potential press conference about to start I took a rarely used entrance instead to avoid people. I blogged about it some time ago.

Press conferences happen pretty frequently, so I don’t pay much attention. I do try to keep my distance and make sure I am behind the cameras, since it is possible to accidentally end up on the 20:00 national news in the background of a shot if you are walking around The Hague’s city centre.

My suspicions about a possible press conference were confirmed when a Red Bee media van pulled up. Although to be honest I have never heard of that company.

While browsing through NOS when I got back I saw that the press conference was with the Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate, reminding restaurant owners that they would not be able to open terraces and would be fined €4,000 if they did so. They are closed under the current corona measures (article on nos.nl in Dutch). The original image of the minister giving the press conference was replaced with a more generic image later, however.

And that’s a normal walk through The Hague’s city centre. Happy Friday, all.

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Walking in sunshine (Or: Apparently this is the warmest 21 February ever)

Posted on February 21, 2021 by Niki

As usually happens these days, the Netherlands broke another record today with the warmest 21 February ever (article from omroepwest.nl in Dutch). The previous record was 14.8C (59F), although temperatures are expected to rise to 16-17C (60-62F) today.

I took a walk this morning around the city centre, stopping to take a photo of the Plein and the statue of Willem van Oranje:

There were plenty of places to soak in some sun today. You can check out the boulevard webcam at scheveningenlive.nl. Fairly busy, both in terms of pedestrians and traffic.

In other news: Investigation started as cargo plane showers metal parts on Limburg village from dutchnews.nl. (Coincdentally I read a similar thing happened in Denver, with a passenger plane.)

Also omroepwest.nl (Dutch website) has a handful of photos of places covered in ice a few weeks back and the same places after the ice melted.

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