The Hague

Bikes and canals (Or: Canal by Denneweg)

Posted on July 3, 2021 by Niki

Happy Saturday, everyone!

I took a few photos of the canal by the Dennewegbrug. “Denneweg” is the street name and “brug” is Dutch for bridge.

And in other news, there was a demonstration today at Malieveld, not far from The Hague’s Centraal station. The name is Blijf van onze kinderen af, or “Stay away from our kids”. The article is from regio15.nl in Dutch, with lots of photos. including a photo at the end of one very smart ice cream seller who knows he will do good business here.

The reason for the demonstration? The Netherlands recently decided that 12 – 17 year olds can be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine if they wanted. 16 and 17 year olds can independently choose for the vaccine, while younger kids need their parents’ permission. The first shot would be given now and the second shot would follow during the first month of school. Appointments for anyone born in 2004 could be made since yesterday, with 2005, 2006 and so forth following next week.

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New ice cream flavors by Sla (Or: Would you try it?)

Posted on June 28, 2021 by Niki

Here is a photo Marco took for me on Saturday when we went out for a walk:

Sla is a “healthy food” type restaurant that you can find in the Netherlands. The sign reads:

“New by Sla! Vegan ice cream. Raspberry, mango passion fruit, avocado coconut and… head of lettuce! You just have to try it!”

Oddly enough I am actually intrigued by the lettuce ice cream… are you?

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Who has right of way? (Or: Grote Marktstraat in The Hague)

Posted on June 2, 2021 by Niki

The Grote Marktstraat is a very busy shopping street in city centre of The Hague – I blog about it sometimes. It is actually somewhat contentious because the city added a lane down the middle back in 2014 when this area was re-paved. The “street” was intended for emergency vehicles or local business vehicles (re-stocking the shops), although the later is restricted to the early morning hours. The “street” is a bit lower than the rest of the area, so bikers have used it as a bike path as well. Which makes sense. On the plus side it also meant that you only had to worry about getting run over when you were crossing this “street” since bikers and vehicles would stick to this area only.

Here is a photo of the area when it was under construction back in 2014 (but after the “bike path” was finished):

Even though the lane wasn’t painted red (what usually signals that it is a bike path in the Netherlands) it was definitely used as a bike path as soon as it opened.

Flash forward to this week, when the city has decided that “yes, it is a bike path (…for now), but pedestrians still have right of way”. (Yeah right, I don’t want to risk my life seeing if that is true!)

As you can see above, the notice that pedestrians have right of way has been painted into the area where bikes ride, in at least 5 spots. It’s actually a bit of an obstacle course until the paint dries, really…

See also this article from denhaag.fm (in Dutch) which has the blue and red image in better detail.

In other news… does anyone have a clue who the cardboard cut out is? Apparently there are a few examples of them in the city centre. I thought at first it was a politician, but maybe not.

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Ice cream sculptures (Or: Sunshine by Holland Spoor)

Posted on May 29, 2021 by Niki

On my way back from my hair dresser’s appointment yesterday I stopped to take a picture of an ice cream sculpture. The sculpture is from Mado, a Turkish restaurant right by the Holland Spoor train station. Apparently this restaurant gets horrible ratings on TripAdvisor, but it is still a photo opportunity…

It was great weather with blue skies yesterday. Here is another photo of this area I took last year (also with lovely blue skies).

Good news: we are speeding along with vaccinations. Yesterday anyone born in 1974 or 1975 could book an appointment for a vaccine (Pfizer/Moderna), today 1976 (Janssen).

And in other news: King’s golden coach goes on display at Amsterdam Museum, June 18-February 27, article from dutchnews.nl. Apparently the golden coach will be on display in the central courtyard, housed inside a glass box. Could be interesting.

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PvdA office in The Hague (Or: Old school advertisements)

Posted on May 28, 2021 by Niki

Here is a photo of the political party PvdA’s office (Partij van de Arbeid, Labour Party… English Wikipedia page). There are lots of old school advertisements to be seen:

Here are some of the slogans:

Zeker zijn van een vaste baan = Assured of a full-time job

Kies voor kwaliteiten, kies een PvdA-vrouw = Choose for qualities, choose a PvdA woman

In geouwehoer kun je niet wonen = you can’t live in chatter (? perhaps something like you can’t live by your words alone… it’s a famous phrase from a well-known PvdA leader, Jan Schaefer)

News of the day #1: Concerts, festivals can start from June 5 as Netherlands moves ahead with lockdown easing from nltimees.nl

News of the day #2: Dutch cabinet wants to relax most lockdown restrictions by June 30, also from nltimes.nl. In other words, they want to move step 5 (21 July) to step 4 (June 30) and relax both sets of restrictions on June 30, if the numbers allow.

Happy Friday, everyone!

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A splash of purple, a splash of blue (Or: Graffiti in The Hague)

Posted on May 26, 2021 by Niki

Are you in the mood for some flower graffiti?

And another one:

if you look closely at the window you will notice the blinds in the upper left are also spray painted… Hopefully that was with permission!

The Dutch health ministry said that the lockdown easing on 5 June–step 3 of the opening plan–will likely go ahead (article from nltimes.nl). Also from nltimes:.nl: Netherlands to host opening stages of La Vuelta in 2022. There will be a team time trial and two opening stages in Utrecht, Den Bosch and Breda. Which means more opportunities to see images of Dutch cities on tv!

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Art in The Hague (Or: She belongs to no one but herself)

Posted on May 22, 2021 by Niki

Here is another piece of art found on the Achterom street:

I looked up the phrase “She belongs to no one but herself” and found this page for the “She project” at hansmahler.nl in English.

A while ago I posted about a poll that the city held to determine what stones would be used for the Spuiplein and in front of the city hall once the construction of the new cultural complex was complete. At the time I noted that most of the answers were “we don’t care, whatever is least slippery”. It is quite hard to walk there when it rains.

I did of course forget that a lot of skaters love that area because the current stones don’t have any grip. There is also a lot of echo in that area, so they might like the loud sound when their boards slam on the ground over and over again… Anyway, they are not pleased that it seems the city will be going for stones with more grip. Their wheels get stuck in the stone and the board doesn’t react the same way as before. Problem is that it is also an area a lot of people walk through to get from the city centre to the central station and vice versa, so it will be interesting to see what the city does.

The skaters will hold a “Save Spui” demonstration on Saturday, May 29 at 14:00. See also this article at omroepwest.nl in Dutch.

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Graffiti in the Achterom (Or: Woman with red hair)

Posted on May 21, 2021 by Niki

This graffiti can be found at the corner of Achterom and Kissemstraat, not far from The Passage. It is the same street where you can find the adorable cat graffiti. Or try this cat graffiti post. Because we can never have enough cats, right? (Actually, I’m more of a dog person.)

I don’t know if this graffiti has a title. But it definitely draws your eye as you walk past. The red hair is cleverly painted up until the edge of the wall, forcing you to glance down this side street to see all of it. It is almost impossible to miss.

Happy Friday, everyone!

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At her feet, flowers (Or: Statue in The Hague)

Posted on May 19, 2021 by Niki

Here is another photo of flowers for you, randomly placed at the feet of a statue in The Hague. Who knows why? These are quite beautiful flowers, though.

I’m partially posting this article because I like the title: The gym before breakfast on a cafe terrace: What changes today from dutchnews.nl. Today is the first day of step 2 in the government’s plan to reopen society. Some gyms opened at 00:01 this morning, and cafés are now allowed to open from 06:00. So the title makes sense.

And here is some good news for the Netherlands: Corona patient numbers down by nearly 150, cases drop 25% in a week, also from dutchnews.nl. The last time we had such a large drop in patient numbers was January 1. That feels like a lifetime ago.

The Netherlands has a long way to go in comparison to other European countries. However we are getting there, helped in part by the vaccination program speeding up (we are closing in on 150,000 vaccines given each day).

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Muzenplein (Or: Sun with a bit of shadow)

Posted on May 18, 2021 by Niki

The Muzenplein is a hidden gem not far from The Hague’s Central Station. Marco and I went for a walk this afternoon after work to get a bit of fresh air and sun. The Muzenplein did not disappoint.

There is just a bit of shadow at the bottom, obscuring the flowers. The city has planted these tulips all over the city centre to give it a bit more color. Here is a closer look:

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