Recently Marco and I ended up leaving the house together in the morning, as he had to catch a train to Utrecht for work. As we were walking, we were passed by a fruit seller riding his cart. It caught my eye because the road was so bumpy I was amazed that none of the oranges fell off…
Later on in the day Marco sent me a photo. It turns out the fruit seller was selling his wares at Centraal Station. It’s a bit blurry, but you get the idea:
Bikes really are the “transport of choice” around here!
On Twitter I found reference to a web portal called Haagse Historie. The website went live yesterday, but unfortunately it is just in Dutch (but that is why we have website translators, right?). The website must be good – the front page currently links to the ‘Haagse Beeldbank’ (The Hague image bank). The first time I opened the website I was greeted with a lot of tram pictures. Little known fact (maybe): I’ve fallen in love with trams and spend way too much time checking HTM‘s website, the bus/tram provider for The Hague and surrounding areas.
The web portal links to various websites like Haagse kaart, Fonds 1818, Haagse Herinneringen (Hague memories), and more. It also tries to find photos of your search term. If you’re not sure what to put in, try putting in your street name! I found a photo of my street from the early 1900s.
There is actually a lot of archival websites for The Hague. The Hague maintains a list, although the page is in Dutch. Finally, the website also mentioned that they opened a fifth Historisch Informatiepunt (HIP) in the Central Library on the 4th floor. It’s another way to research the history of The Hague and its neighborhoods.
Recently Marco and I explored the neighborhood (Rabbijn Maarseplein) just outside of Spui/Grote Markt, past Hema. I came across a statue of a woman:
I am not sure why the flowers are there, but I suspect it has something to do with World War II. There is also a nearby monument to Jewish children who perished due to the war. Amsterdam’s public transportation was recently stopped for one minute to remember the February 1941 strike in protest of the prosecution of Jews (Dutch | English).
But I am actually not finding much about the statue of the woman online. Does anyone know anything further?
Marco and I just visited the statue of Haagse Harry (Dutch wikipedia) which was unveiled earlier tonight. The statue can be found above the Grote Markt tram tunnel.
Who is Haagse Harry? A character in a Dutch comic strip who lives in The Hague and speaks The Hague dialect (plat Haags). Here’s an article about the unveiling of the statue (English | Dutch). The author, Marnix Rueb, passed away in 2014. His family used the prize money from a posthumous award, The Hague Culture award, to finance the statue.
If you want to see an example of the Haagse dialect, you can check out this dictionary (a random Google link). The news article about the statue’s unveiling was also written in the dialect. They also translated a good portion of denhaag.nl into Haags in a mirror site (though I don’t know how long that link will work).
There was a contest to determine what the text on the t-shirt would say. It ended up being “Kap Nâh!! Lekker belangrijk”.”Kap Nâh” is “hou op”, or in English “Stop it”. It’s also the name of the first album of strips released. “Lekker belangrijk” is “very important”, but said sarcastically.
And of course, here’s a view from behind. Typically Dutch…
Guess what I am currently doing at 12:11 am? Watching the Super Bowl on our Apple TV via the CBS sports app!
The best part is that it is through CBS so you get access to the commercials as well. For a few years we had an NHL app and the commercials were blocked on there due to it being shown internationally.
Marco and I both have the day off tomorrow so we can stay up extra late, provided the stream cooperates. But it is fun to be able to watch NFL again, and fun to see the commercials. I’ve missed it. For a few years we could see the big game on Dutch TV but with Dutch commentary. It sucked. They spent most of the game explaining how football worked. (Looks like it is available again this year through Fox, still with the horrible Dutch commentary.)
But we will see how long this lasts. The stream keeps failing. Grrr. 🙂
Recently I attended an after New Years party. Here is a look at one very pretty lamp, shrouded in darkness:
Unfortunately no one knows where it was purchased.
Earlier in the month I was walking around the Grote Kerk area in The Hague when I came across holiday decorations at one of The Hague’s more popular restaurants, ‘t Goude Hooft. (Full disclosure: I’ve never been to this restaurant. I only know it as the restaurant where all of the outside seats face outwards, to view the trams and people walking past. It’s slightly eerie.)
You know you’re in The Hague (or the Netherlands in general) when you have advertisements at the bottom of the photo imploring bicyclists keep the entrance to buildings free/accessible. It is quite crowded in that area.
Similar to a post I did last year – here’s a look at the line of people waiting for oliebollen on New Year’s Eve. Oliebollen is a sort of doughnut covered in powdered sugar.
Waiting for Godot (and oliebollen)
And be a look at the stand itself (voted #1 this year in The Hague):
This was around 12pm – Marco said the line was about twice as long (by the library) around 2pm. Crazy. This year they even had a street organ playing music for those waiting, which was a nice touch.
Fine jaarwisseling! Happy New Year!
Today I briefly visited Bijenkorf, a department store, to take a picture of the tree they always have. This isn’t any tree… it stands 4 floors tall, with the base actually above the ground floor (so you could peek under the tree, technically). This was this year’s design:
And a close up of the design (the gold items are large, round boxes):
I must admit it does not really feel like Christmas eve. I think it has to do with the fact that I even worked today. Just a half day, though. I am not completely insane.
Fijne kerstdagen!
The Hague currently has an issue with the amount of bikes it has lying around, especially in the city center. Over the last year or so The Hague has opened a handful of new bike parking areas, including under the public library. Future work will be done at The Hague’s two train stations (Centraal station and Holland Spoor).
One of the more crowded areas in the city center is by Hema, where the amount of bikes has doubled over the last few years. The city has started putting free bicycle covers on every bike in the area for advertisement purposes:
It says “Put your bike in a free, guarded bike park”
Each bike also gets an advertisement on one of their handles, complete with a map of the nearby free, guarded bike areas in the neighborhood.
The trick is that it is free for the first 24 hours – if you do not remove your bike at the end of the day you need to pay to get it back. This in theory prevents the rider from using the area as a free storage area for a few months (only in theory, as some people just never come back for the bike).
Life in the Hague 