Here’s a look at the Grote Kerk’s clock tower at night:
Foto’s
Flowers and sweets (Or: Marakesh bakery)
A photo taken a few months back, of a local bakery by the Holland Spoor train station, Marakesh bakery:
A very Spring-like photo, which is timely considering the weather of late. On the one hand we’ve had a few storms – storm Ciara two weekends ago and storm Dennis last weekend. In the United States these storms would be better known as winter storm Kade and winter storm Mabel. It’s interesting to think about how far these storms travel.
On the other hand the photo is ‘timely’ due to the fact that storm Dennis brought along warm temperatures, helping break the record for the warmest February 16 by 03:20 in the morning (around 56F) with temperatures in the southeast maxing out around 63F. The only problem is that the storm brought along a lot of rain and wind. The rain is luckily gone, but like the first storm the wind will hang around for a few more days.
So don’t let go of your hat just yet…
A sea of red paper (Or: Chinese New Year)
Happy Chinese New Year! Yesterday The Hague and countless other cities across the world celebrated the holiday, signaling the start of the year of the rat.
Most amusing for me was the sea of red paper left behind from the parade:
New Year celebrations – Chinese or otherwise – are always a good excuse to set off some fireworks.
And here’s a look at one of the mini parades, led by a group from Nijmegen:
And another photo:
I don’t know… the year of the rat? But they are the first zodiac animal, and are seen as a sign of wealth in the Chinese culture. So there is that! If this is your zodiac sign, be proud of your ratliness (note: I made that word up).
Sanquin Bloedbank (Or: Puzzle time!)
Some months ago I was able to choose a gift for donating blood for the 15th time. I could not pass up the jigsaw puzzle that I saw – a 500 piece puzzle from Jan van Haasteren!
It’s specially designed for the Dutch blood bank, Sanquin and not available in stores.
Highlights include: the Sinterklaas in the upper right in the elevator, next to a prisoner stealing the pelican (Sanquin’s mascot), the guy in the business suit in the middle donating blue blood, and the gnome sitting patiently in the donation area on the right middle. Oh, and the gentlemen on the left side with the green shirt who is taking advantage of the policy of free snacks for blood donors.
Here’s my finished puzzle:
And on to the next one, considerably more difficult: an Escher jigsaw puzzle.
Cappuccino, cappuccino, cappuccino (Or: Cappuccino muffin with your coffee)
Last week Marco and I stopped by Urban Café for an afternoon coffee. My eyes were instantly drawn to the cappuccino muffin, which did not disappoint:
It went well with my creme brûlée latte (right) and Marco’s pumpkin spice latte (left). And we had a lovely view of the street Spui while we enjoyed it.
Fireworks over The Hague (Or: Happy New Year!)
The Netherlands has survived its night of fireworks. We did see one drunk guy (still holding his bottle of alcohol) walk up to a police car waiting at a stop light and talk to police agent for a few minutes. Maybe he was simply wishing them a happy New Year, who knows. By the time we crossed the street the police car was on the move again.
There is also a YouTube video available from user VerdierMedia PuntNL where he/she uses a drone to capture the fireworks over The Hague last night. Check it out!
Holiday Mickey (Or: Christmas in The Fred)
Holiday Mickey Mouse would like to say hi:
This is in the Fred (an important shopping area and an international/expat area of The Hague).
Categories: The Hague
Leave a comment
Purple and gold (Or: Christmas tree in De Passage)
Here’s a look at this year’s Christmas tree in De Passage (The passage):
And a close up of the Christmas ornaments:
No bikes allowed (Or: Christmas shopping in The Hague city centre)
Okay, I’ll admit – I don’t have a bike in the Netherlands so I am a bit biased with this post. However I was thrilled to hear that the shopping street on the Grote Markt would be closed to bikes this weekend+Monday and next weekend+Monday (article in Dutch). On a normal day it is dangerous trying to cross the street to get to the shops, but during Christmas…? Forget about it.
I’ll be honest – tourists and those not from The Hague have no clue where they should walk, which just angers cyclists even more. And I don’t think most cyclists know that there’s no official bike path on that street and that they should be adjusting their biking based on the movements of the pedestrian, and not vice versa.
If you’re interested, you can watch a time lapse of them re-doing Grote Marktstraat back in 2015. I will admit the street is much more beautiful now than it was, but the old street made it much more obvious that you were crossing a bike path.
Oh, and it’s still extremely busy in the city centre even without the cyclists!
Christmas lights at the Bijenkorf (Or: 2019)
It’s become a tradition – take a picture of the Christmas lights at Bijenkorf (a high-end department store – the name means beehive).
Here is 2019:
This year you have the addition of a digital advertisement board — which caused a bit of controversy when they were installed because of the noise and light pollution they caused. Things seemed to have died down since then, though.
Bijenkorf’s window displays are always a hit with the shopping crowd – each different than the last.
