Foto’s

Words of wisdom (Or: Quotes in unexpected places)

Posted on May 4, 2020 by Niki

A few days back I snapped a photo. It shows a quote on the side of the tram viaduct leading into Centraal Station:

Een leven zonder boeken is onleefbaar – Erasmus / A life without books is unlivable – Erasmus

So true, so true. The National Library is around the corner, hence the quote.

Today marks the 8th week of working from home. Dare I say that it is becoming a bit… normal? It will be a bit difficult returning to work, both in terms of figuring out the social distancing rules at work (I suspect a lot more people will be taking the stairs) and in figuring out the public transportation situation (I suspect I’ll be walking more).

But my main concern is getting outside enough – it’s obviously getting a bit busier in the streets so it requires a bit more creative timing. Early in the morning or later in the evening. I’m exaggerating a bit, but not completely. On the other hand, it does mean I get to learn even more about The Hague. Time to get an encyclopedic knowledge of little known streets that still provide enough distance to pass each other when someone does walk your way.

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Herengracht in The Hague (Or: Mostly empty on Sunday mornings)

Posted on May 3, 2020 by Niki

Here is a photo of the street Herengracht in The Hague, not far from Centraal Station.

If you keep walking, you’ll come to the Korte Poten street, with the American Book Centre (or the “ABC store”, as some call it). They are open for limited browsing and order collection only. In the same area on your left is the Tweede Kamer (House of Representatives in English, literally “the second room”). And just a bit farther is the Centrum tram/bus stop which is of course a ghost town these days.

A few news stories about animals today:

Japanese aquarium urges public to video-chat eels who are forgetting humans exist (theguardian.com)

After four months of waiting, a baby panda is born at Dutch zoo (DutchNews.nl)… this was after 16 years of campaigning to bring pandas to The Netherlands for breeding purposes. Talk about the long game!

The urban wild: animals take to the streets amid lockdown – in pictures (theguardian.com).

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1.5 meters (Or: Social distancing at the local Asian store)

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Niki

Here is a quick photo taken outside of the local Asian store, Amazing Oriental. Sometimes it is busy enough that you just gotta social distance yourself. There are small bits of caution tape along the wall letting you know where to stand.

Kudos to the store for keeping a manageable amount of people inside at the one time – you’re only able to enter when the worker brings back a free shopping cart. It was also a relatively fast moving line as the average wait was only two or three minutes.

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#HoudjeHaags (Or: Sign by Sostrene Grenes)

Posted on April 29, 2020 by Niki

Here is a sign spotted a few days ago by the Sostrene Grenes store:

I’ll admit I just thought it was a nice sign in the corona times, but Marco explained that it also a pun on the existing phrase ‘Houd je haaks!’ which is said when someone leaves. It means something like ‘Stay safe’, ”Keep well’ or ‘Take care’. The two phrases–Houdjehaaks and HoudjeHaags–sound very similar when spoken aloud, but of course #HoudjeHaags is the phrase Dutchies from The Hague would use.

And if you’re interested, the city of The Hague would like to sell you a t-shirt with that phrase, with a bit more than half of the proceeds going to charity.

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Flowers (Or: A bit of color, up close and from afar)

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Niki

Happy King’s Day, everyone! First, a picture of a mural in the city centre:

This mural is found at the entrance of what used to be one of the Amazing Oriental franchises until a few months ago. It’s in the Markthof, a small shopping area, at the entrance across from Momiji sushi. This one shouldn’t be confused with the larger Amazing Oriental franchise that is underground on the Grote Markt street. This store still exists but without the Amazing Oriental branding.

Not the best picture I’ve taken, but I needed to adhere to social distancing rules. This picture shows about 2/3rds of the mural.

Are you interested in seeing a short time lapse of tulip fields blooming, taken from a European Space Agency satellite? Check out the view at www.esa.int.

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Spiegel, spiegel aan de wand (Or: Poetry about the coronavirus)

Posted on April 25, 2020 by Niki

Marco spotted this poem on the side of a building in The Hague city centre. It’s across from the MediaMarkt (to the left of the photo is the Rootz restaurant).

In English it reads:

Mirror, mirror on the wall
I want to walk on the beach, hand in hand

I want to greet people on the street
and give a hug to the neighbor
with whom I talk

I want to eat something with others
without having to measure 1.5 meters

I want to look at how the tulips bloom
and stand in line for a party

I want to enjoy the spring sun
and walk with friends around the block

But for now we need to call each other
and be nice, even if it is with a small gesture

And then—before we know it—
we’ll be with each other again…

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Serenity (Or: Between the Binnenhof and the Mauritishuis)

Posted on April 24, 2020 by Niki

Happy Friday, everyone! Here is a photo I took during a walk yesterday:

On the left you have the Binnenhof, on the right you have the Mauritshuis, an art museum. Perhaps you know its most famous painting? The Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Johannes Vermeer.

In the background, the water leads to the Hofvijver pond, of which I’ve taken countless photos of over the years.

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Supporting local businesses (Or: Takeout? Delivery?)

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Niki

Okay, I’ll admit I’m not a big fan of delivery. I would gladly do takeover over delivery any day. I think I am in the minority, though!

Check out the sign by the local Momiji Sushi and Momiji Ramen. They are special enough to have two websites and two entrances (normally) – even though they are run by the same company and you can walk from one part to the other.

A sign saying they are open for both takeout and delivery, and giving their opening times.

I am definitely a fan of the color work on that sign. I think maybe I’ll suggest we get some sushi… or ramen… this weekend. Yum!

Fun side note: “Ramen” means “windows” in Dutch. Let me tell you, Marco loves to make jokes about their windows every time we walk past. (I love that. Usually…)

Support your local business and stay safe, everyone.

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Protect the art (Or: Jantje statue with face mask)

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Niki

Last night Marco and I went for a walk, a bit later in the evening around 20:00. While the weather was turning cooler it was still a nice walk through a fairly peaceful city centre. Actually, when we walked through the (deserted) Binnenhof what I noticed the most was the silence – not even the birds were chirping.

One thing we noticed was a face mask on the statue of “Jantje” or “Little John”:

Jantje was a boy who died at the age of 15… in the year 1299. He’s part of a Dutch children’s song about The Hague. If you ask him where his father lives, he’ll point with his finger to the Binnenhof, as his father’s estate used to reside in the space where the Binnenhof now stands.

Marco remarked on the dislocation of the finger – most likely a lot of people touch it due to the song.

And here is a bonus picture taken by Marco:

That’s a great angle, if I say so myself.

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Good Friday (Or: A bit of sun and relaxation)

Posted on April 10, 2020 by Niki

Happy Friday everyone! ☀️ We made it to the weekend.

I would also like to give a shout to my mother who has an irregular job which is not only Monday-Friday – hope you’re getting some time off here and there!

It has now become routine to check the numbers from RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment) in the afternoon, as they release statistics about the coronavirus deaths and hospitalizations around 14:00 every day. They seem to have increased their server load in the last week or so as the site doesn’t freeze around that time anymore.

RIVM Statistics in English

Note: The Netherlands has increased testing capacity in the last week, so the number of confirmed cases is going up due to that. They are now able to test healthcare workers outside of hospitals, including workers who work in home healthcare.

The statistics regarding ICU beds can be found at NICE (National Intensive Care Evaluation) although that page is not available in English. Daily numbers are released sometime after 16:00 each day. Also note the time stamp at the top of the page is whatever the time was when you visited the site, not the last time that it was updated. But keeping an eye on the ICU beds is important is this country as we needed to quickly increase our numbers to be able to handle the expected strain in the ICU.

In either case, the numbers aren’t complete yet as some hospitals send in their reports a day or two later. For example our country generally has a higher number of deaths on Tuesdays as they include deaths over the weekend and on Monday.

Here’s a photo from The Hague Centraal train station earlier this morning:

Care for each other, keep 1.5 meters distance

ProRail is responsible for the infrastructure and capacity of the rail transport lines, while NS (which I mention sometimes in this blog) is responsible for most, but not all, of the passenger transport in The Netherlands.

And a look at the current tram schedule at the train station:

At the moment, trams operate every 20 minutes during the day on a weekday and every half hour in the weekend.

Stay safe!

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