Foto’s

Koninginnenacht 2013 (Or: The Hague)

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Niki

Last night Marco and I went out to enjoy Koninginnenacht, or the night before Queen’s Day. (If you live in The Hague you should really drop the ‘t off nacht, but I digress.) In The Hague you have several stages set up throughout the center of the city, with 7 stages this year. You have various musical acts throughout the night, generally lasting 45 minutes to an hour each.

Even Google got into the Queen’s Day festivities…

Hovering over the Google logo gives you: Queensday 2013: Best wishes to King Willem-Alexander!

Marco said that a few years ago (or so) they made the cardinal mistake of only having a few stages and advertising a rather popular band to the main stage at some point in the night. The result was chaos as hundreds of thousands of people tried to converge on the main stage. Since then, they have increased the number of stages and used slightly less popular bands.

Hommerson Casino Koninginnenacht The Hague 2013

Hommerson casino decorations

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Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Koninginnedag, Life I Live festival, Music | Leave a comment

Good weather (Or: Dutch carnival in The Hague)

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Niki

Yesterday Marco and I went out for a walk due to the nice weather. We had no idea where we were going, but somehow we randomly ended up at a carnival being held near Buitenhof. De Haagse Koninginnekermis Kermis (The Hague queen’s carnival, for Queen Beatrix). There was a lot of people there due to the nice weather and it being a Sunday.

advertisment for the carnival, through May 5

rules for the carnival

1. No bikes or scooters on the carnival grounds.

2. Make use of the toilet facilities on the grounds.

3. No alcohol on the grounds, only in designated areas.

4. No drug use or selling on the carnival grounds.

5. No dangerous weapons or worn weapons

6. Deposit your trash in the trashcans present

7. If you see someone needs help, stay (by them) and call 112 (i.e. 911)

8. Always follow the instructions listed on the rides

9. Think of the environment

food stand

go fish at a Dutch carnival

Iedereen altijd prijs = Everyone always (wins) a prize.

haunted house

I get dizzy just looking up at this (very high) spinning ride. It goes in circles, with riders at each ends. Sometimes flips.

Just pretend you’re on the spinning tea cups…

Water, water, everywhere. But you’ll stay dry. Lie down and relax in this giant bubble of a ride.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Weather | 2 Comments

Over twenty years (Or: WWE in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Niki

Earlier in the year we found out that WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) was coming to the Netherlands. It has been about 21 or 22 years since they have been in this country. So Marco took the day off and he and I went to Rotterdam in the afternoon to do a bit of shopping before the show at night, though we didn’t end up buying anything.

First we went to Selexyz, listed as “one of the largest bookstores in the Netherlands”. The arrangement of the store was pretty interesting… you had an elevator that either went up 3-4 floors or down to the basement. But each of the floors had mini-levels, with stairs connecting them. So Marco and I went all the way to the top (as he has done with Roger many times before) and slowly worked our way down taking the stairs. But they didn’t really have anything of interest in the Talen section (languages)

After that, we headed off to the MediaMarkt, which also boasted that it was one of the largest in the Netherlands, if not the largest. We were amused by what we saw:

Apparently there was a WWE autograph signing, although the names there aren’t the higher level wrestlers. Out of curiosity we went upstairs to where it was at, but the place was packed. (Good luck to the shoppers who actually wanted to find a product up there!)

After that, we walked back to Rotterdam Central Station to meet up with Roger, and then took the tram onwards to where the event was taking place. After having dinner at Subway, we went on to the arena, called Ahoy Rotterdam, or simply Ahoy. The name reminds me of Chips Ahoy cookies…

Link to the wrestling results

The wrestling event itself was pretty good. Some other friends of ours arrived so in total we had 7 seats together. The crowd wasn’t quite as vocal as I could have hoped, and at times it was hard to see (sucks being short!) but otherwise it was a lot of fun.

One of the wrestlers – Daniel Bryan, with his crazy beard.

The other guy Bryan wrestles with (on the same team), Kane. Yes, that’s a red mask he’s wearing.

Categories: Rotterdam, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Snakes alive! (Or: Brandslangen)

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Niki

One of the random Dutch words that amuses me is brandslang (literally: fire snake, translates as fire hose).

sign for a fire hose in the building where my classes are

I predict a few problems if someone is shouting for help after seeing a snake and the listener thinks it is just a hose and ignores them. I am sure it is all in the tone, though!

Categories: The Hague | Leave a comment

Bird nests (Or: The A in Hema)

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Niki

As I was walking past Hema a few days ago, just after 8AM, I noticed something peculiar in the A of the logo. A bird nest:

A closer look:

Good choice for a nest — the capital letter (A) offers the most protection from predators.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Birds, HEMA, Spring | 6 Comments

Muzenplein (Or: A face out of nowhere)

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Niki

Great weather today! At least 20C/68F. So Marco and I went outside later in the afternoon when the weather would be warmest. We did some shopping and then made our way to Lebkov, a café.

Along the way we found ourselves at Muzenplein (somewhat close to Central Station). I took a pretty cool picture of…well:

Slightly unexpected. It reminds me of a very (very) large statue that fell into disarray, with only the face remaining. And also of the poem Ozymandias.

And some pictures of Lebkov from a few weeks ago during another coffee visit… what can I say, I liked the florescent pink rocks.

And the seating (fixed into the ground) and the sanding down of the concrete floor, like swirling marble. Very pretty.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Art, Cafes, Lebkov | Leave a comment

Turned upside down (Or: Carnival in Rijswijk, the Netherlands)

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Niki

A few weeks ago, I met up with Marco in Rijswijk to check out the carnival that was in town (for a few days around March 21ish). We were using a free “pass” we received in the mail from HTM, one of The Hague’s public transportation providers. Once you activate it (at the front of the bus or tram) you can travel for free (for that one day) on HTM buses or trams in the city, or similar. Unlimited trips and transfers.

Of course, Marco’s ddn’t scan properly, but we ended up having no further problems. The bus driver wrote the date on it, but that wasn’t that much proof. (If you get caught without paying the fare for the tram or bus, you get a fine of at least a few hundred euros, I believe. So always best to be careful.)

We also ended up going to Zoetermeer, which is an area just outside of The Hague – but in the opposite direction

Here are some pictures from the carnival…

Overview of the carnival from above.

The crazy high flying ride. It was possible to flip your cage as well, if you were (un)lucky. The group we saw as we were leaving was doing that.

Kiddie coaster. Actually slightly intricate, with the two different levels. Anytime I see coasters like this, I am reminded of a small black dragon one that I went on when I was pretty tiny. It was even simpler than this I think – just one level high, about 6-7 feet tall. I remember screaming for mom a bit when I went over that (now so tiny) hill. ;P

Skeeball! In the Netherlands. Marco was a bit surprised to see this, although he said he hadn’t been to carnivals in some years. (YouTube video – note the different point totals for each hole. The “bucket” section at the bottom gets you the least points. That’s the one where most of the balls fall just because you missed hitting the higher holes.)

A car carousel of sorts. Note the kid wearing a coat. It was windy!

And finally, we have a ride to spin you around some. Needs more Tilt-A-Whirl! (YouTube video – note: there is a wheel in the middle. The faster you turn it, the faster the entire compartment spins around the edges. That’s why some whip around faster than others.)

Categories: Rijswijk | 4 Comments

Zoetermeer (Or: Easter tree displays and restaurants)

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Niki

A few week ago I went with Marco’s mother to Zoetermeer. We went to the shopping area (Stadshart) near Zoetermeer Centrum, mostly to shop and have lunch. We ended up having lunch at Napoleon Brasserie where I had the bal gehakt, which is mainly a meatball sandwich – of sorts. It was pretty decent, although I was expecting there to be some juice alongside. But no, just the meat and the bread (and some mustard packets).

What can I say – I liked the candles!

I also took a picture of an Easter tree display in one of the stores (maybe Blokker, not sure). You can buy little birds, butterflies, and similar to hang on an Easter tree as decoration.

Now if only Spring would come for good. It snowed a little bit yesterday! Though not for long and nothing stuck.

Categories: Everyday purchases, Zoetermeer | Tags: Restaurants | 1 Comment

Hello Kitty (Or: A display inside an Asian store)

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Niki

Yesterday we made a trip to a few different places to get food for our Easter dinner – gourmetten! Definitely one of my favorite meals. We bought a collection of gourmetten meats for €10 at Albert Heijn. (Similar to this, but not quite.)

Another place I went was an Asian store in the center of The Hague. Recently I noticed they had a Hello Kitty display in the entrance of the store:

And since this is a random picture blog post, here’s a picture of a guy in gold:

Taken in the Spui shopping area in The Hague. He was quite smart – instead of getting gold on his face he decided to wear a gold helmet/mask instead.

Categories: The Hague | 1 Comment

Colors (Or: Entrance to the Dutch Ministry of Justice)

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Niki

Last weekend Marco and I went walking around random parts of The Hague. One of the things we came across was the Ministry of Justice building. Check out the entrance:

If you like color, this is apparently the place for you! What other colorful buildings have you seen?