As a continuation to my last blog post, here is a look at some magnolias in another park in The Hague, this time Huijgenspark. You can read more about the area (in English) at DenHaag.com.
Here is a beautiful close up:
Gorgeous, right?
The area even has its own Little Free Library.
As you might expect, the bench behind it gets vandalized a lot. See also denhaagfm.nl (article in Dutch).
The Zeeheldenkwartier is an area near the centre of The Hague, near Kelly’s Expat shopping. See also Google Maps. I recently took some photos of the star magnolia trees in the area:
You have to be quick with these – the trees have already started to lose some of their leaves. Here’s another look, with a monument to a politician, Hendrik Goeman Borgesius (English Wikipedia) in the foreground.
And finally, some very realistic looking graffiti:
See also this blog post about turtles in the same area, but in August.
Okay, I am exaggerating a bit. But if you were thinking of getting a good picture of the flags at the Hofvijver here in The Hague, thank again. There is currently construction on the tram tracks in front of the area. And that’s ignoring the nearby construction which means the Binnenhof is closed until at least 2028 (dutchnews.nl).
In the meantime visitors can visit the Information centre binnenhof Renovation – see also denhaag.com in English. You can find the information centre at Plaats 22, not far from the Binnenhof (Google Maps).
While walking recently I came across a group of Egyptian geese (admittedly, I had to use Google Images to figure out what type of goose it was). See also Wikipedia in English.
And here are all of the young walking near the water of the Hofvijver:
And as a bonus, here is the Haags Jantje statue in the same area. He is pointing to where his father works, at the parliament (Binnenhof). The boy referenced died in 1299 at age 15. You can read more about him in English at expathollandinfo.nl.
Personally I really like his (temporary) spring outfit. in his left hand he has some of the yellow flowers. In his right hand he has a crocheted bird and he also wears a crown of crocheted birds. Someone definitely went to the trouble to dress him up for spring.
It is finally starting to feel like spring around here. On Thursday the temperature was around 16C/60F, although that was definitely the exception and not the norm. But the flowers have started to bloom, and coworkers are starting to talk fondly about the clocks changing at the end of the month to give us more daylight in the evenings…
It’s cherry blossom season in the Netherlands (but not for long!) from dutchreview.nl. Apparently you can find cherry blossoms in the Bankastraat, Prins Hendrikplein or near the Peace Palace. I haven’t really been on the look out – I only know of the more famous cherry trees in Japan or Washington D.C. – but maybe I should go have a look this weekend?
Sunday is also St. Patrick’s Day, which will be celebrated on Sunday in the Grote Markt from late afternoon to just before midnight. Read more at stpatricksdaydenhaag.nl.
In other news—I don’t think this will work but you have this over at The Guardian: ‘Would you like to explore with a spliff?’: Amsterdam tries to deter troublesome visitors with quiz.
And finally, here is a random photo of a poster from Extinction Rebellion I saw at a tram stop earlier this month. The group wants to block the A12 highway near Centraal Station again in April.
It reads:
Are you forgetting to sponsor the fossil industry?
Complete your tax returns before July 14. You contribute fairly, while big, dirty companies barely pay any tax. We give them 39.7 to 46.4 billion euros in subsidy – on average 5,000 euros per taxpayer. That way they can keep the billions in profits but not suffer the consequences.
Do you want to protest this? Visit belastingstaking.nl [belastingstaking = tax strike]
Actually, what caught my eye was the government logo at the top, just barely visible. It definitely looked legitimate until you read the text.
De Passage (a covered shopping area in The Hague’s city centre) has received a new coat of paint. Black paint around the trim to be precise. Every day they paint a bit more, leaving “wet paint” (English) and “nat” (Dutch) signs in their wake. Woe be the person who doesn’t notice…
One place that might have caused some issues was the angel wings photo opportunity area. I found the “nat” sign there amusing for some reason.
Another fun thing in De Passage is the Valentine’s Day promotion. Even though the holiday has already passed, the promotion is still available:
In English: Valentine’s Day in De Passage. Win a romantic one night hotel stay in De Passage or a box of chocolates worth 75 euros. Take a photo, share it on social media and tag @depassagethehague. (Yes, De Passage does have one or two hotel rooms for special occasions.)
Here is a look at where you take the photo, in the centre of De Passage. This is where the Christmas tree is usually at during the holidays.
Like I mentioned, it’s still up and available if you want to try your luck!
In the nearby city of Rijswijk there’s a shopping area called Bogaard stadscentrum or “Bogaard city centre”. There’s a small indoor shopping area and lots of shops on the outside as well. The area had a bit of a downturn, especially when the Mall of the Netherlands opened, but there has been some work to restore it. Part of the plans including removing some of the shopping area to add more housing instead, which makes sense.
Here’s a look at an interesting piece of art on the way back to the tram stop:
Unfortunately I don’t have too many details about it. It is cute, though!
In the Zeeheldenkwartier (literally “Sea Heroes Quarter”) neighborhood they have set up a really nice looking Christmas tree. The color and pattern of the lights alternates often – some days it is all blue, some days it is blue and white, and some days it is red and white.
The tree stands in the middle of a larger rotunda with trams and cars whizzing past on either side. At least, during busier times of the day then what is captured above…
There are also a few stone sea turtles near the base of the tree which you can just barely make out. Here is a previous post I did about the turtles.
Today (December 3) is the Netherlands’ first day of snow. We won’t get a lot – somewhere between a good dusting to about an inch. It’ll probably disappear tomorrow as there is rain predicted tomorrow. Still, it does make for a white world, especially outside of the city. Although the snow didn’t start until after the sun went down so I don’t have any good photos this time around.
Here’s another photo of the Christmas decorations in De Passage lit up:
And here are a few articles I thought were interesting reads in the last week:
‘How do you reduce a national dish to a powder?’: the weird, secretive world of crisp flavours from theguardian.com. I thought it was a great read, although it doesn’t have that much to do with the Netherlands. But there is one reference: “Once the computers have done their job, the data makes its way to Wood. If she’s lucky, she can repurpose an existing flavour. In 2010, Lay’s launched Patatje Joppie in the Netherlands because of the nation’s love of Joppiesaus, a curried mayonnaise. Wood says the same flavour exists as Honey Mustard in other parts of the world. ‘We can play with the naming, because what you call something has a really big bearing on what people think it is.'” Admittedly, I have never tried that particularly flavor. It’s still going strong, though. Oh, and they say Germany loves the paprika (bell pepper) flavor. I am here to tell you that the Netherlands loves it just as much.
Another article I liked was over at Omroep West, although it’s in Dutch so Google Translate is your friend here. It talks about all of the weird, silly things that happened at voting locations in The Hague during the national elections a few weeks ago: Stempas van overleden vrouw en bijdehante fotograaf, gekke dingen tijdens verkiezingen in Den Haag, or, Voting ballot from deceased woman and wisecracking photographer, crazy occurrences during the elections in The Hague.
The Christmas tree in De Passage has arrived! As always, its home is at the center of De Passage (the old part of the shopping area, at least) since that part forms a sort of Y. You can thus see the tree from everywhere in De Passage.
And here is a close up of the decorations for this year:
The tree will be lit on Thursday, November 30 at 18:00 (see the official website’s homepage).
Here are some other Christmas trees in De Passage in past years: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.
Life in the Hague 