The Hague

Football (Or: Police and ADO Den Haag fans square off this Saturday)

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Niki

Quick. Name one thing you do NOT mess with in the Netherlands.

…if you guessed football you would be correct.

In most if not all European countries, football is the sport. Fans eat, sleep and breathe football. Sometimes viewing multiple games on multiple devices (television, smart phone, tablet…) at the same time. It is a way of life.

Unfortunately you can expect issues if you try to get in the way of that. Even if you’re the police. The police have been striking at various times over the least few months. I wrote about it back in May when 1,500 police officers protested around the Binnenhof. Of course it makes sense – they just want better pay. It’s not that much different from the farmers striking in Belgium and France by driving really slow on highways and obstructing traffic.

But, again… it’s football. You just do not mess with football, people. Someone forgot to tell the police that. Most of the opening games for the Eredivisie are postponed due to police planning to strike during the scheduled game times – police actions which threaten not just ADO Den Haag’s game but also other games across the country this weekend. (Note: Dutch police threatened to strike during the opening days of the Tour de France in Utrecht, but that did not go through.)

Now ADO fans have a plan of their own. ‘Wij geen wedstrijd, hun geen staking‘ which translates to “No game for us? No strike for them.” The plan is to have as many people as possible meet at the Plein in The Hague at the scheduled time of the game. A large group of people would require a similarly large police presence, which means that at least some of the police cannot strike during their planned strike time. It is an interesting tactic if you think about it!

From Volkskrant.nl (linked above, Dutch article)

Categories: Culture, Sports, The Hague | Tags: ADO Den Haag, Football | Leave a comment

Flags at half staff (Or: MH17)

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Niki

Marco and I had a date night tonight – we chose to go see Inside Out at the Pathé movie theater at the Buitenhof. But beforehand I snapped a picture of the flags at half staff at the Buitenhof, commemorating the one year anniversary of the MH17 downing.

Hard to believe it has been a year already.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Binnenhof/Buitenhof | Leave a comment

Tram advertisements (Or: Anyone want to go to Scheveningen?)

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Niki

As a side note I must say that I am proud to be able to spell Scheveningen without having to look it up. It definitely has to do with the weekly visits to Scheveningen to practice my Dutch with my taalcoach from SamenSpraak.

When riding around in a tram this summer I noticed an advertisement for taking the tram to Scheveningen:

The tag line reads: “Have fun at the coast of The Hague”. The two lines underneath say:

Strolling on the boulevard and lounging at the beach pavilions
Fun events? Look at “Discover it with HTM” at htm.nl (the tram website)

What caught my eye was the verb flaneren. I hadn’t seen it before so I had to look it up. There’s a few different English translations like to stroll, to amble, to saunter – all relaxed way of walking. But the Dutch definition suggests a bit more: lopen om gezien te worden, or walking to be seen. There is no compact verb to express the two parts together in English (I think). Maybe “to strut” but that isn’t quite the same.

I thought it was pretty cool. Flaneren!

Categories: Scheveningen, The Hague | Tags: Advertisements, HTM | 2 Comments

Huge pans (Or: Would you like paella with that?)

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Niki

A while ago Marco and I were at DOK, a cooking store in The Hague. I could not resist taking a picture of this…

The tag read 120cm (about four feet). Yeesh!

Categories: Food, The Hague | Tags: DOK | 2 Comments

A busy weekend (Or: Events in The Hague)

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Niki

This has been a very busy weekend in The Hague. Let’s see…

Friday: Shopping night in The Hague. I didn’t take any pictures myself, but the official website posted pictures up on Facebook. The theme for the night was Sand in the City. Although a lot of people (like Marco and I) just walk around, many of the shops are open to midnight. Generally shops in The Hague close around 6pm (maybe 7pm) except on Thursdays where most are open until 9pm.

Saturday: Night at the Park – traditionally the night before Parkpop in the Zuiderpark, this paid entry concert included Duran Duran, UB40, K’s choice and more.

Sunday: Parkpop – a free concert held every year (also Zuiderpark). Some of the names include Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Frans Bauer and more.

Also on Friday the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships began. Games are being held in The Hague as well as in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Appeldoorn. The Hague will be hosting the finals as well.

Marco and I took a walk this afternoon getting some pictures of the volleyball areas:

Beach Valleyball court map 2015 The Hague

Map of various tournament sites around the center of The Hague

Warm up courts Beach Valleyball 2015 The Hague

Warm up courts at the Spui

Valleyball courts Beach Valleyball 2015 The Hague

One of the courts was actually built in the water of the Hofvijfer by the Buitenhof. Cool!

Beach Valleyball courts at the Hofvijfer 2015 The Hague

A look at the courts on in the Hofvijfer, from the other side.

Quite a busy weekend! And it looks like the temperatures will be rising next week (25C/77F or hotter, 31C/87F on Wednesday). Yay!

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

A bit closer to home (Or: Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague, City hall in Gouda)

Posted on June 27, 2015 by Niki

I still have some more Dublin photos to post but I wanted to take a quick break and post some pictures from places a bit closer to home. I’ve wanted to post these for a while but never got around to it for whatever reason. First is the city hall of Gouda which Marco and I visited back in May (although most of the day was spent in Utrecht):

The second photo was taken by Marco a few months ago as he passed though the Centrum (downtown area) of The Hague. The lights through the church windows at the Nieuwe Kerk (“New church”) caught his eye.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Centrum, Tourist attraction | Leave a comment

Yet another try for Spuistraat 19-20a (Or: SoLow XXL)

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Niki

Spuistraat 19-20a used to be a bookstore by the name of De Slegte. Many years ago, that is – Marco used to get his used textbooks there. Then a few years ago it was taken over by another bookstore, Selexyz. Then last year or so it became Paagman’s, yet another bookstore. See a pattern yet? Then Paagman’s moved to Lange Poten… So that particular location seemed rather cursed.

In early May a new store moved in – this time a SoLow, a discount store. It’s pretty decent, with a mix of normal discount items and random items that they just happened to get in stock that month.

XXL is definitely the correct term – it’s pretty large inside. I do recommend giving it a look if you live in The Hague. It is also good to check out for Halloween costumes as well closer to October.

Here’s a bonus picture of the neighbor’s cat napping in the garden:

Categories: Shopping, The Hague | Tags: Cats, SoLow | Leave a comment

A sea of orange (Or: Politie action around the Binnenhof)

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Niki

This morning I was met with a sea of orange. There were lots of police officers setting up for a protest around the Binnenhof (parliament offices in The Hague). Reports say that at its height there were 1400 police officers on hand. I even received an email from the American consulate — basically they send out emails to interested citizens about any protest that happens in Amsterdam or The Hague. In this case the police were protesting for better pay (a 3.3% increase) and a lowering of the retirement age which currently stands at 67 years.

The beginnings of the sea of orange – there were of course many more police around the corner by the Binnenhof and Buitenhof

The email also clarified who was wearing what – police wearing an orange vest over their uniform were protesters. Police wearing a red vest over their uniform were protest leaders. And finally you also had active, on-duty police officers wearing just their police uniform.

Here is an article in Dutch and an article in English.

Categories: The Hague | Leave a comment

Irodion, Greek restaurant in The Hague (Or: Desserts and city views)

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Niki

A few weeks ago Marco and I went to a Greek restaurant with my father-in-law and his wife. We went to Irodion, a restaurant which has recently re-opened on the Grote Marktstraat (it used to be at another nearby corner, but construction forced it to move so it was closed for a time). They have a snackbar on the ground floor and a restaurant on the first floor.

The best thing about the restaurant is the view of the Grote Markt plein. (It looked like most of the tables next to the window were four seaters, so keep that in mind.)

And here is a look at the bar:

The food was comparable to the Greek restaurant we usually go to, Athene. In both places you generally have the option of a salad bar to go with your meal, plus the typical Greek choices. If anything this menu was a bit easier to get through, as they had less combinations listed (though the same food on offer). Athene does give you a complementary chilled shot of ouzo, a licorice alcohol served as aperitif.

The desserts were pretty nice. First the dame blanche:

There is so much whipped cream you can’t even see the vanilla ice cream! And of course it comes with a rather generous serving of chocolate sauce to pour on top.

Here is the baklava dessert:

The cool thing about the presentation is the orange slice, although it is hard to tell why from this angle. It is a full orange slice cut in half so that one half is draped on one side and the other on the other side, with the peel connecting the two sides.

Categories: Food, The Hague | Tags: Restaurants | 1 Comment

Springtime flowers in The Hague (Or: Sun!)

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Niki

Lately the temperature has been climbing up – bit by bit, with lapses back into cold rainy days from time to time, but it is definitely springtime. It’s still generally in the high 50s or low 60s, but it is an improvement. Usually!

Along with most of our days off (holidays) falling in April-June, this marks the time when outdoor events begin. For example, yesterday was the Dag van de Haagse Geschiedenis (in Dutch, Day of History of The Hague). Next weekend is the Life I Live festival (Dutch | English). This festival is found throughout the center of The Hague, on nine different stages, from 7pm to 1:30am. It falls on King’s Day eve, the night before the King’s birthday.

How do I feel about spring finally being here? Well, here’s a cappuccino smiley to show you:

Of course the forehead makes it look slightly evil… just don’t feed it after midnight.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Flowers, Spring | 1 Comment