To celebrate the second day of Christmas in the Netherlands…
I was in Bijenkorf last week and noticed they put in their Christmas tree for the holidays. It’s so large (four floors high) that it is difficult to get a complete photograph of. But to give you an idea:
A look at the tree from below, standing on the ground floor
I love the blue theme!
And a look at the tree from above
Last year’s Christmas tree was a red and gold theme.
To celebrate the first day of Christmas here in the Netherlands, here is a look at the Christmas tree within De Passage:
The fun story being this tree – in 2013 there were rumours that the Christmas tree would no longer come back because it ruined the view of the incoming Apple Store, but it was still present in 2013 (the Apple Store wasn’t open yet) and luckily present in 2014 and 2015.
And here we are in 2016! (This year I heard from someone that it wasn’t that Apple wanted to ban the Christmas tree so it didn’t ruin the store view, but that they wanted to decorate it themselves but the other stores were against that. Makes sense, but probably just another rumor.)
Marco and I were walking past the Nieuwe Kerk (translation = New Church) when we noticed the lights illuminating it – blue, white and red:
I am not sure what the exact reason was even after looking through Google, but we decided to take a picture anyway. Especially with the Christmas lights around the plants! I can’t believe it is almost Christmas…
Much like my 3 years in the Netherlands anniversary post last year, I will post another oliebol themed photo:
This is a photo of a pop-up store near the Grote Markt. Here’s an article about it in Dutch – Pop-up oliebollenfabriek opent deuren in Den Haag. I confess I hadn’t quite understood the concept until reading the article. Alongside the traditional oliebollen and appelbeignets, they also sell champagne oliebollen. Except that it’s just in the name – there’s no actual champagne inside. The difference is in the sugar that they use. Some examples of the types of sugar they use include limoncello, salted caramel and chocolate sugar. In total there are 10 different types of sugar you can choose from and some samples for you to taste.
I can’t believe it – four years in the Netherlands already!
A few days ago a coworker of mine showed me a few pictures she had taken around The Hague. As she comes from a warmer climate, she loves to see how Christmas is celebrated here — not that The Hague is that cold. Her favourite pastime seems to be visiting Christmas markets, which is pretty cool.
The first picture she took was of the holidays Coca-cola truck in the city centre:
And the other one she took was an awesome picture of the holiday lights at the Plein. I just love the hazy moon:
In the middle, to the left of the Christmas tree, you can just make out the statue of Willem the Silent, which I previously blogged about.
Marco made some pizza last night:
But this pizza wasn’t what it seemed. This pizza is actually a dessert! The pizza dough is white cake, while the cheese is a yellow cream (it was already yellow, but yellow food dye was added to make it an even brighter yellow). The pepperoni is actually strawberries, though in this case it was preserved strawberries out of a can because they tend to be darker in color. There is a bit of pineapple to look like onions, as well as a bit of mandarin to look like orange peppers. The “spices” on top of the cheese is actually shaved chocolate.
I never would have thought pizza would go so well with coffee! Here’s a look at his other creation, a dessert “hamburger and fries”.
Nijntje (known as Miffy in English) is a small white rabbit who stars in a series of Dutch picture books drawn and written by Dick Bruna. Marco and I were walking past C&A, a clothing store, and noticed the following advertisement:
Apparently the exclusive rights to the Nijntje clothing line has moved from V&D (a store which closed early this year) to C&A – read more at this article in Dutch.
I am officially posting on my brand new computer! I picked it up on Wednesday night and it looks gorgeous. I have missed being able to easily make blog posts, and now it is even easier – turn on Bluetooth between my iPhone and MacBook, and I can transfer photos without any extra cables! Of course, the move to a Mac has been an interesting one, but that’s what I have Siri for, right? At least she knows where to find various settings…
(Speaking of which, it was very disconcerting to hear a male Siri! That was one of the first things I switched…)
I recently went into Bijenkorf (rather than just staring at their pretty Christmas trees outside) to have a look at their holiday section.
Very contemplative…
Below is a look at some of the Christmas trees on offer. This year (maybe for the first time since I moved here?, they did not have the large Christmas tree near the front of the store). In its place was a Piet hanging from the ceiling. I was not able to get a picture of it, unfortunately.
Say hello to the party tree!
Bijenkorf does like to colour-coordinate their Christmas trees!
A bit too pastel for my tastes, but I can see how others would like it.
Christmas items for purchase at Bijenkorf, The Hague
Until next time!
Last week I took some photos of the Christmas trees by the Bijenkorf (a department store). This week I was able to take a few photos of the lights along the Grote Markt street:
The new tear-shaped lights the city put in earlier this year look really nice!
Lights by the entrance:
And a look at the lights in the other direction, towards the movie theater and Primark:
Oh, and today a coworker brought in 12 oliebollen (sorta doughnut-y pastry that is usually made with raisins inside and covered in powdered sugar). They started selling those on November 1st… It is always something to look forward to!
Last week Bijenkorf (an upscale department store) put up their Christmas decorations. See for yourself:
They also put the lights up outside of the building (here is a photo from 2013).
In other news – I finally ordered a new computer! As you can see from this photo of a library book, I am switching from PC to Mac.
If you ignore that one semester in college using a Mac and QuarkXPress for a student job, it will be my first time using a Mac. And yes, it might be geeky but the book has been helpful explaining the differences in keys and in the dock at the bottom of the screen where all the program icons can be found.
Although I have a few more weeks to wait, the computer can’t come soon enough. I wanted to write this blog post on my netbook, but Chrome errored when I tried to open it. I restarted my computer but it has been stuck on a blue screen which says “getting Windows ready – don’t turn off your computer”. For a half hour. Heh…
Update: it came back after 45 minutes, although Chrome is still erroring. Oh well! That is a problem for another day.
Life in the Hague 