Foto’s

De Bogaard fountain (Or: Closed for cleaning)

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Niki

Perhaps someone in charge over at Rijswijk read my last post about the fountain being… well, erm… groen (green) and realized a cleaning might be in order.

Dive in…

We shall see. If it holds true to form, it will be back to green within 48 hours of being refilled anyway.

I fear that I will have to zero out my ‘studying Dutch for # straight days‘ counter, as I didn’t officially do anything yesterday. (Well, besides listen to Gers Pardoel and Lange Frans a fair amount.) But the Dutch reading sessions with Marco are going strong, with one on Wednesday, a short one on Thursday, and another scheduled tomorrow.

* * * * *

Just looked up after watching the end of a Mets game and saw the box score. Apparently they have a player with a last name of Nieuwenhuis (~new house) though he was born in California. Interesting.

 

Categories: Rijswijk | 2 Comments

Heat (Or: Would you jump in this fountain?)

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Niki

Heat: Two days of soaring high temperatures where frying eggs on the sidewalk is not completely out of the question. Both were 36C+ with temperatures feeling like 40C+ (105F) today.

But only two days’ worth. It breaks tonight, and then the thunderstorm rolls in.   Of course today the bus was a bit late due to an accident around the Lincoln Tunnel, so standing at the bus stop in that kind of heat for 40 minutes was… not fun. (Of course, this is where I have to admit the driver of my bus occasionally reads this blog, so if you stumble across this post Mr. bus driver, I know that you are not to blame! :))

Heat: Here’s hoping the Miami Heat don’t win the NBA championship tonight. I would at least like it to be a series.

Not Heat: Continuing the fountain theme of the last few days, here’s another picture of the fountain at Rijkswijk. Marco took it for me last month.

Would you jump into this fountain on a 36C+ day?

The amusing thing about this fountain is they do clean it about a few times a year… and it goes back to green within 2 days of the cleaning. It’s near the Bogaardplein.

Categories: Rijswijk, Sports | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Don’t trip (Or: Larger than life Euro 2012 decoration)

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Niki

Here is another Euro 2012 decoration, straight from Marco’s camera. It’s rather unfortunate that the Google Street view car wasn’t passing by this week, otherwise this larger than life decoration would have been immortalized for all time… or at least 3-4 years.

I am not surprised to see that this is nailed down, less someone try to steal it by pushing it down the street. How fast do you think it would take before they get caught? “No, officer. This is my exercise ball, I swear!”

Go ahead. Kick it. I dare you.

Categories: Rijswijk, Sports | Tags: | 4 Comments

Binnenhof oddness (Or: What’s going on?)

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Niki

Marco visited the Binnenhof last week to take a picture of the fountain for me (an area I have mentioned a few times).

Binnenhof fountain

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Categories: The Hague | Tags: | Leave a comment

Hup Holland (Or: Let’s get this party started)

Posted on June 2, 2012 by Niki

As I mentioned in a previous post, Euro 2012, the European soccer championship, is coming. “Hup Holland” is a sports cheer. Marco got me a picture of the festivities:

Decorations for Euro 2012 in the Hague this coming Friday (June 8) The lower banner has been edited slightly to remove the street name (just in case).

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Categories: Sports, The Hague | Tags: | 2 Comments

Unexpected packages (Or: Tea and chocolate refills!)

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Niki

Remember when I mentioned that I was sending Marco and Roger a package (t-shirts and food, mainly)? Well, I had no idea that Marco was secretly getting a package together for me at the same time…

I love unexpected packages!

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Categories: Food, The Hague | Tags: , | 3 Comments

Stadhuis (Or: Ooh! Kijk! De bibliotheek!)

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Niki

Sometimes a simple picture is best when the day has been long!

City hall (stadhuis) in the Hague

For me, the Hague’s city hall (stadhuis) will always be intrinsically linked the city’s public library, as they are so close to one another.  Don’t forget to hug your favorite librarian this week!

 

Categories: The Hague | 1 Comment

Cool down (Or: Through the maze of water)

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Niki

Spuiplein fountain in the Hague

This is the fountain where Marco and I tested our luck, near Spuiplein.

During one of the trips, Marco, his mother and I were going somewhere in the Hague (I forget where). Marco and I sort of didn’t realize where we were walking, and soon found ourselves entering this area. His mother was paying more attention and laughed at us as she walked around it.

We had time to turn around – but Marco did not. So I did not. It was a tense 12 or so seconds where I wondered if I was about to get inadvertently soaked. It wasn’t that warm of a day, so this does not sound as fun as it could be. But no – neither of us got soaked and we got through it in one piece.

As we walked out the other side, Marco’s mom was still laughing at us. Pfft!

Categories: The Hague | 1 Comment

Warm weather (Or: Seashells on Scheveningen)

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Niki

Over here in the New York area, we are finally going to get a bit of a warm spell. The last few days have been rain-filled and dreary. Unfortunately, it will probably be a bit cooler tomorrow and Saturday than it appeared earlier this week (we were originally promised 80 degree/27c temperatures!).

But I was reminded of the beach at Scheveningen. Here is another photo – this time of a few of the seashells we collected.

Scheveningen seashells

I kept a few of the seashells on the shelf by the TV. Ah, memories.

Categories: Scheveningen | 2 Comments

Queen’s Day (Or: The Hague looks… crowded)

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Niki

Obviously I am on the wrong side of the ocean to be showing you pictures of Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day), but Marco took some pictures to show me what it is like. I won’t go into detail, except to say that it is the celebration of Queen Beatrix. And it’s a day where everyone loves to wear orange (well, moreso the tourists). You can read an offiical publication for the Hague’s celebrations at the website, haagsekoninginnedag.nl. When Marco sent me that link, he spent a bit of time muttering about why they were mentioning Chinatown, since it is only a street and a half, of which only half of the shops are actually Chinese!

One of the more interesting things for me is the vrijmarkt, or free market, where anyone can sell their wares. Here are some of the pictures Marco took:

Oranje! Go books! (ik wil het oranje boek)

Marco was also kind enough to give a short description of his thoughts about the holiday:

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Categories: Culture, Holidays, The Hague | 6 Comments

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