The Hague

Christmas tree in De Passage (Or: 2021 edition)

Posted on December 16, 2021 by Niki

It must be December because the Christmas tree is back in De Passage! (aka The Passage, a covered shopping area in the city centre of The Hague).

The cool thing about De Passage is that is more of a triangle shaped hallway. As you can see above the tree is placed at the intersection of those three parts, so it is always visible when you enter.

Oh, and a few months back they did remove the greenery which was separating the walkway in De Passage (corona measures). Though I wouldn’t be surprised if it came back. Yesterday one of the local Albert Heijn supermarkets had a security guard posted outside the entrance checking that everyone was wearing a facemark and this evening a local Jumbo supermarket had a line of about 15 people waiting to get in, probably because they started putting a limit on the number of people who could be inside at the same time. I haven’t seen those measures since the first half of 2020.

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Christmas, De Passage | Leave a comment

Lots of alarms going off (Or: Testing the emergency system)

Posted on December 9, 2021 by Niki

Every first Monday of the month at 12:00, the test system goes off here in The Netherlands. It uses an air raid siren which always reminds me of my childhood. Why, do you ask?

The air raid siren sound that is used is the same sound that was used back in Chicago where I grew up. But there it was the tornado siren, warning of impending doom. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but not by much. You don’t ignore tornado sirens in the midwest of the United States.

But the last decade has brought a new sound into the mix during the first Monday of the month at 12:00 — your phone also bleats out a shrill sound about 4 or 5 times. The warning system is called “NL Alert” (crisis.nl in English). “Luckily” the telephones are only tested twice a year, in June and December. Now imagine my phone making that sound, and Marco’s phone, and Marco’s work phone… All. at. the. same. time. BEEEEEEEEEEP!

Oh, and the air siren was still going on outside.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s a very useful system. It was credited for helping save lives during the flooding in July of this year in the southeastern part of The Netherlands. It is also used locally if there is a large fire and nearby residents need to close their windows, etc. It it just so loud at times! And it makes me think there is a tornado coming…

Categories: Daily Dutch living, The Hague | Leave a comment

Christmas lights at the Bijenkorf (Or: 2021 edition)

Posted on November 26, 2021 by Niki

Here is a look at the outdoor decorations at Bijenkorf here in The Hague (Bijenkorf is a high-end retail store). These lights and decorations go up every year. Actually the lights were already up when Marco and returned from the United States back in late October, although the window displays weren’t ready for a few more weeks.

The lights:

And here is a look at some of the window displays. They change every year and usually draw a crowd (though less of a crowd this year and last year, of course).

It is hard to believe that it is almost December…

In the meantime, the current corona wave is still going strong, with intensive care units filling up. There was another press conference tonight, a week earlier than originally planned. Here is a look at the measures that go into effect Sunday morning, in English at government.nl.

There was another “noise” demonstration near Central Station this evening; the press conference is held in that area so the people outside try to make as much noise as possible to get heard on television. See also some images at regio.15 (text in Dutch). There were some pretty grim demonstrations last week so this time the military was present instead of the police. This demonstration went rather peacefully though, especially in comparison to the riots last week in Rotterdam (theguardian.com).

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Bijenkorf, Christmas | Leave a comment

New mural by the Eat Company (Or: Apparently it wasn’t the end after all)

Posted on November 18, 2021 by Niki

A few months ago I wrote a blog post about the mural by the Eat Company being painted over, after 5 years of sitting stuck in the “fall” theme. At the time it seemed like the end of an era.

A work colleague sent a tip last week that a new mural had unexpectedly appeared recently:

Although I do need to take a closer look during the day – it looks more like a giant (weatherproof) sticker than a painted mural. The texture is really nice, though.

(The stork shows up in a lot of imagery around The Hague; it is part of the official coat of arms – see also English Wikipedia.)

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Eat company, Graffiti | 2 Comments

Big chocolatey sprinkles (Or: MEGA kruidnoten!)

Posted on November 2, 2021 by Niki

Unfortunately these beauties weren’t available when Marco and I traveled to America a few weeks ago:

It is a new offering from the Dutch grocery store Albert Heijn: a large kruidnoten (English Wikipedia) covered in lots of chocolate and sprinkles. They are quite delicious, but also quite hard. I fear a bit for my teeth. Considering Marco and I brought about six random flavors of kruidnoten to America, I think my parents and brother would have also appreciated trying this version. If only it had appeared last month…

In other news: corona cases have been rising since about 3-4 weeks ago. The rise started the week before our trip, so it was weird to see the numbers double in the single week we were gone. The Dutch cabinet held a press conference this evening to announce additional measures, a bit of a turnaround from their last package where they got rid of almost everything including social distancing. Highlights are:

the Dutch access pass (aka the CoronaCheck app) needs to be shown at more locations. You can receive an entry QR code if you are vaccinated, you tested negative for the virus in the last 24 hours or you have recently had corona. A valid QR code is now required for a café’s outside terrace (it was previously only required for dining inside). It is also required for events where seating is assigned and at gyms, museums, conferences, etc.
face masks are now required indoors for public locations which do not yet require the Dutch access pass (like supermarkets, libraries, amusement parks and retail stores).
booster shots will be given for people aged 80+ from December and for people aged 60+ from January 2022.
the advice is to work from home half of the time. For about a month the advice to work from home was completely removed, but as you can see that didn’t last long…

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Oliebollen (Or: It must be October)

Posted on October 2, 2021 by Niki

Last year it was a huge decision to let the oliebollen stands open a month earlier, on 1 October, due to missed income (no festivals were being held, etc.). This year they also opened a month earlier, from yesterday. But this was more of a surprise as it wasn’t splashed everywhere on the news. The stands are usually allowed to be open between 1 November and mid-to-late January as oliebollen is a treat for Christmas and New Years.

But it is good news to see that the stand is back in the city centre, at the end of the Grote Markt shopping street (across from the public library). And perhaps they will be allowed to stay here; they moved to this spot some years back due to the construction around the Amare building. But construction of the Amare building is complete (previous blog post) so that is a good sign for the oliebollen stand.

In case you have no clue what oliebollen are, here is the page on English Wikipedia. Just try and read that without drooling.

Categories: Culture, Food, Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Oliebollen | Leave a comment

Chess tournaments (Or: Spotted at Rabbijn Maarsenplein)

Posted on September 29, 2021 by Niki

Last weekend I spotted a chess tournament in full swing at Rabbijn Maarsenplein. How pre-corona!

I didn’t have time to stick around, unfortunately. But it had definitely drawn a big crowd (especially on the other side of the tables).

And in other news:

Dutch scientists may have solved mystery of why some twins are identical from theguardian.com

Campaigners head to court to have cats kept indoors from dutchnews.nl (due to how many protected bird species and other small creatures are killed each year).

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Centrum | Leave a comment

Open house by Amare (Or: Also, new greenery)

Posted on September 7, 2021 by Niki

This weekend was an open house at The Hague’s newest building, the Amare cultural complex (Amare.nl, in English). It was part of the UIT Festival (uitfestivaldenhaag.nl, in English), a festival which kicks off the 2021-22 cultural season in The Hague. Some of the events are in person, some of the events are virtual. The first events at Amare are planned for later this month, including events by Nederland dans theater’s “Skin of the mind” (ndt.nl, in English).

They have planted new (temporary) plants in front of the complex, opening up the space a bit for the opening day and removed part of the gates. It is so nice to have more space in this area again! The construction zone was taking up a lot of it (and still is, on the left side of the building).

Last week Marco took a few photos of the plants being added:

And an hour later it already looked like this:

Quick work! And even a radio for some tunes.

Categories: Culture, The Hague | Tags: Centrum | Leave a comment

Through the centre of The Hague (Or: Tourist tram)

Posted on August 22, 2021 by Niki

Side note: it is getting way too easy to use the British spelling for some phrases, like “centre” instead of “center”. Hmmm.

Below is a photo of the tourist tram riding through the centre (!) of the city. The Grote Kerk (literally “Big Church”) is off to the left, just out of the photo. I’ve posted a picture of this area a few times after its renovation a few years back. It looks a lot better with the greenery and stone walkways than it used to look.

Here is a photo of the church from the air (pre-renovation), from monumentenzorgdenhaag.nl. And here is information on the tourist tram, from denhaag.nl in English. Unfortunately it is a bit overpriced, but for tourists it could be nice.

Categories: The Hague, Transportation | Tags: Centrum, trams | Leave a comment

5 years later (Or: End of an era)

Posted on August 19, 2021 by Niki

In 2016 the Eat Company café hired Sophia den Breems (official website) to add murals to the side of their restaurant.

Here is a link to the image I took of the first mural, winter 2015-16. I think it was my favorite.

Here is the second mural, summer 2016.

Here is the third mural, fall 2016. That photo was taken in October 2016, almost 5 years ago. But no new mural ever came after that. We were perpetually stuck in fall for years.

Imagine my surprise when I rounded the corner this week:

An end of an era, I guess. And it doesn’t look like anything new will be coming in its place, considering the worker was covering up more than just the mural itself. Who knows…

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Eat company, Graffiti | Leave a comment