The Hague

Alleyways (Or: Muziekcafé Paraplu in Den Haag)

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Niki

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.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Cafes | 1 Comment

Koninginnenacht 2013 (Or: The Hague)

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Niki

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 Koninginnenacht The Hague 2013

Hommerson casino decorations

Continue reading →

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: Koninginnedag, Life I Live festival, Music | Leave a comment

Good weather (Or: Dutch carnival in The Hague)

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Niki

Yesterday Marco and I went out for a walk due to the nice weather. We had no idea where we were going, but somehow we randomly ended up at a carnival being held near Buitenhof. De Haagse Koninginnekermis Kermis (The Hague queen’s carnival, for Queen Beatrix). There was a lot of people there due to the nice weather and it being a Sunday.

advertisment for the carnival, through May 5

rules for the carnival

1. No bikes or scooters on the carnival grounds.

2. Make use of the toilet facilities on the grounds.

3. No alcohol on the grounds, only in designated areas.

4. No drug use or selling on the carnival grounds.

5. No dangerous weapons or worn weapons

6. Deposit your trash in the trashcans present

7. If you see someone needs help, stay (by them) and call 112 (i.e. 911)

8. Always follow the instructions listed on the rides

9. Think of the environment

food stand

go fish at a Dutch carnival

Iedereen altijd prijs = Everyone always (wins) a prize.

haunted house

I get dizzy just looking up at this (very high) spinning ride. It goes in circles, with riders at each ends. Sometimes flips.

Just pretend you’re on the spinning tea cups…

Water, water, everywhere. But you’ll stay dry. Lie down and relax in this giant bubble of a ride.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Weather | 2 Comments

Snakes alive! (Or: Brandslangen)

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Niki

One of the random Dutch words that amuses me is brandslang (literally: fire snake, translates as fire hose).

sign for a fire hose in the building where my classes are

I predict a few problems if someone is shouting for help after seeing a snake and the listener thinks it is just a hose and ignores them. I am sure it is all in the tone, though!

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Bird nests (Or: The A in Hema)

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Niki

As I was walking past Hema a few days ago, just after 8AM, I noticed something peculiar in the A of the logo. A bird nest:

A closer look:

Good choice for a nest — the capital letter (A) offers the most protection from predators.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Birds, HEMA, Spring | 6 Comments

Muzenplein (Or: A face out of nowhere)

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Niki

Great weather today! At least 20C/68F. So Marco and I went outside later in the afternoon when the weather would be warmest. We did some shopping and then made our way to Lebkov, a café.

Along the way we found ourselves at Muzenplein (somewhat close to Central Station). I took a pretty cool picture of…well:

Slightly unexpected. It reminds me of a very (very) large statue that fell into disarray, with only the face remaining. And also of the poem Ozymandias.

And some pictures of Lebkov from a few weeks ago during another coffee visit… what can I say, I liked the florescent pink rocks.

And the seating (fixed into the ground) and the sanding down of the concrete floor, like swirling marble. Very pretty.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Art, Cafes, Lebkov | Leave a comment

Hello Kitty (Or: A display inside an Asian store)

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Niki

Yesterday we made a trip to a few different places to get food for our Easter dinner – gourmetten! Definitely one of my favorite meals. We bought a collection of gourmetten meats for €10 at Albert Heijn. (Similar to this, but not quite.)

Another place I went was an Asian store in the center of The Hague. Recently I noticed they had a Hello Kitty display in the entrance of the store:

And since this is a random picture blog post, here’s a picture of a guy in gold:

Taken in the Spui shopping area in The Hague. He was quite smart – instead of getting gold on his face he decided to wear a gold helmet/mask instead.

Categories: The Hague | 1 Comment

Colors (Or: Entrance to the Dutch Ministry of Justice)

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Niki

Last weekend Marco and I went walking around random parts of The Hague. One of the things we came across was the Ministry of Justice building. Check out the entrance:

If you like color, this is apparently the place for you! What other colorful buildings have you seen?

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Moss-covered tree (Or: Near the Grote Kerk)

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Niki

Last week when Marco and I went to an ING bank to open an account, we walked past the Grote Kerk. I was able to take a lovely shot of a rather majestic tree.

This tree fits in rather well with the urban landscape – it’s in the middle of the city, but you still have cobblestone plaza and old trees growing through the cement.

Categories: The Hague | 1 Comment

Snacks (Or: Kelly’s Expat Shopping)

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Niki

A few weeks ago, I went to Kelly’s Expat Shopping in The Hague. I was looking for a few surprises to give Marco for Valentine’s Day. Originally I wanted to go there because the website said that they had sour nerds in stock, but that proved to be wrong unfortunately.

The store was bigger than I expected, and the aisles were definitely wide enough. Since it was my first time there, I took my time looking up and down the aisles to make sure I didn’t miss anything good.

I did end up getting him five things – a bag of sour skittles (to replace the non-existent nerds), Frank’s hot buffalo wing sauce, a small bag of Synder’s Jalapeno pretzel bits, Welch’s grape jelly, and Jack Daniel’s spicy barbecue sauce. The main one was the barbecue sauce, since it is classified as a liquid and thus can’t be ordered from America or the UK. You can bring it over in luggage, though. The grape jelly is good for peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, since it is hard to find jelly in this country. Mainly they just have jam, which is a slightly different taste.

Since there is currently roadwork going on this year, I was not able to take tram 17 like I said planned, but instead had to take tram 3. It just meant a bit further of a walk. But due to that I was able to get this image:

It’s a candy dispenser, repurposed to sell polished rocks. You can see a sign underneath with a list of the various types of rocks available.

Ignatious Parish, a nearby church

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Expat | 3 Comments