I am still not quite out of the eastern time zone yet… suffice to say Marco and I woke up quite late again. Both of us thought it was much earlier in the morning than it actually was when his alarm went off.
After lunch we decided to go out for a bit to see the city, and also to pick up some stamps for Christmas cards and go to Albert Heijn for some more provisions. My new second home!
Along the way we stopped at El Passage (The Passage) and looked at some of the stores. We also stopped to get a picture of the Christmas tree that they set up in the center:
If you look up at the top you can see that the area is technically enclosed (there is material above the other hallways which prevents rain getting inside).
While we were there, we stopped at Selexyz, a bookstore I always manage to drool over and enter because, hey, I am a librarian after all.
a shot of some of the Christmas decorations in the Hague Selexyz bookstore
As you can see in the background, they have the “cliché” of using books to make a Christmas tree. At least they wrapped them! It seems that this particular store will be merging with De Slegte down the street, which is a secondhand book store. Should be interesting…
Along the way, Marco secretively led me to the stroopwafels vendor and bought me a nice hot stroopwafel. A large size too. We then toured the area looking at phone shops to buy me a phone, though at the moment we are still browsing.
When we got back we had dinner. Greek seasoned chicken stuffed into pita bread pockets, with potato bites on the side. Later on in the night, we watched Iron Man, a first for me. It was particularly enjoyable because I turned on the Marco commentary track to help me understand all of the little comic book references. ;p Our snack during that was a little bit of chili cheese Fritos chips (from America – smuggled from my parents’ hometown) and Bolognese Lays brand chips, an Italian flavor — see the Dutch selection of Lays brand chips.
All in all a fun night!
