Yesterday was Veteran’s Day in the Netherlands. Marco and I went and checked out the local parade after hearing dozens of helicopters flying over on their way to Maliveld (where they had a lot of activities going on – we ended up not going there).
‘Veteranen, ingezet in dienst van de vrede’ – veterans deployed in the service of peace
People standing on benches trying to get a better view (it’s normally a well populated bus stop)
Last night Marco and I went to Shopping Night in the Hague downtown area. The shops are usually open late until 9PM on Thurday nights in this part of The Hague. But for this special event, the shops were open until midnight. In addition, some stores were offering discounts which got higher each hour that passed, with the steepest discounts between 11PM and midnight.
Though Marco and I just went for the experience and the fresh air – we didn’t end up buying anything in the end.
The front page of the website says:
Ik had een favoriet jasje, knalkleuren en lekker gek, totdat ik op de tv zag dat een minister hetzelfde jasje droeg…
I had a favorite jacket, bright colors and quirky, until I saw on the tv that government official wore the same jacket…
crowds gathering in the main shopping areas
“Bus stop Glam bus” – free restyling. If you put your in the list for a certain time and waited, you could get a free restyling. Not sure what company was offering it.
just a pretty picture as night falls
In the main walking area, they set up a fashion stage. Models would come out and display the latest fashions that were available for purchase.
Shop ’til you drop!
I decided to take a few photos of the windows at the library where I work. It’s a small library staffed by volunteers, after the much larger neighborhood library had to close due to budgetary reasons. But at least this way the children have somewhere close by to check out books.
It is a bit hard to see from this angle, but in the right window you have a large green ‘B’ (since the word for library in Dutch is bibliotheek). The B is made up of lots of smaller Bs – look at the top to see it best.
A few random Dutch words I learned today:
coloring page = kleurplaat
glitter = glitter (spelled the same, but with the hardcore ‘g’ guttural sound)
I must also admit that the window above does not convey the prettiness of the yards (tuinen) outside the window. Very green!
Yesterday Marco and I were at Central Station in The Hague to drop off a friend who had visited for a few days. He was leaving The Netherlands to head to the next leg of his journey – Munich, Germany.
Marco pointed out the roof above us and I decided to snap a picture. Central Station has been the site of a few long-lasting construction projects, including some that are not yet done. But at least the finished product in this area looked really good.
More on the roof’s construction (now finished).
Yesterday Marco and I were taking a walk and actually saw a marching band walking through the center of The Hague, playing music! How random and unexpected. It’s likely that it was part of the Ut Hague Notûh festival that took place yesterday afternoon, which was much larger.
The two songs they played while we stood around and watched were “Walking on Sunshine” and “Let it Be” from the Beatles.
The other amusing thing was that the entire thing seemed unofficial – technically they were marching on the main biking path (the red bit), so a lot of bikers had to go around.
There was also a bag pipe group which we heard first, but they were already further up the road and not the direction we wanted to go in. Perhaps next year!
One thing the Dutch like (for the most part) is their gardens, or tuin(en). These pictures were taken near where my Dutch lessons are, although you can’t see the college building from here.
And a closeup of another flower bush.
It has been cold the last week and a half. And there has been a lot of rain lately! But to be honest, before that there wasn’t much rain, just cold weather… Maar ik ben nu een echte Nederlander. Ik klaag over het weer!
But I am now a real Dutch(wo)man. I complain about the weather!
I definitely wasn’t expecting to see this random bit of art when Marco and I were walking through Schilderswijk (= painter’s district) in the The Hague. One of the many neighborhoods.
What drew my eyes first were the arrows leading up…
The month of May seems to be full of holidays within the Netherlands. Saturday the 4th was Dodenherdenkingdag (Remembrance Day). doden = (dead, plural), herdenking (remembrance), dag = day. This is the day to remember all of the dead in wars or peacekeeping efforts since World War II began. For The Hague, the local church bells began ringing at 7:45 until 8:00PM, when two minutes of silence are observed.
The following day is Bevrijdingsdag (Liberation Day), when the Dutch celebrate the country’s liberation from German occupation in World War II. There are a lot of festivals around various cities, so Marco and I decided to visit the one in The Hague and check out the music. Here are some of the pictures:
US army tanks on display at the entrance
one of the stages. Did I mention the weather was gorgeous?
view of The Hague’s skyline
school bus converted into “American” food stand. (A lot of things labeled American truly aren’t…)
Yesterday I took advantage of American Book Center’s trade-in day and turned in a hardback book for Marco – George RR. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons. Marco prefers paperbacks, but he couldn’t wait for the paperback to come out. Now that he does have that, he had no use for the hardback version and wanted to give it to someone who could use it.
After that, I wanted to go to the library. To get there, I used some narrow streets (nothing more than a public alleyway, really) to cut across. I found Muziekcafé Paraplu.
Considering it’s in the middle of a narrow alley, you really need to know that it exists to find it.
Last night Marco and I went out to enjoy Koninginnenacht, or the night before Queen’s Day. (If you live in The Hague you should really drop the ‘t off nacht, but I digress.) In The Hague you have several stages set up throughout the center of the city, with 7 stages this year. You have various musical acts throughout the night, generally lasting 45 minutes to an hour each.
Even Google got into the Queen’s Day festivities…
Hovering over the Google logo gives you: Queensday 2013: Best wishes to King Willem-Alexander!
Marco said that a few years ago (or so) they made the cardinal mistake of only having a few stages and advertising a rather popular band to the main stage at some point in the night. The result was chaos as hundreds of thousands of people tried to converge on the main stage. Since then, they have increased the number of stages and used slightly less popular bands.
Hommerson casino decorations
Life in the Hague 