Every year in April, Malieveld is host to the King’s Fair (Konings kermis), a fair leading up to the King’s Day holiday on April 27. Last weekend I was walking past and took a picture of the ferris wheel in a distance.
As with every photo taken in the Netherlands, you need to have the obligatory bicycle somewhere in it. The grass is actually greener than I would have expected, considering we haven’t received much rain lately…
This year, King’s Day will be on Saturday, April 26. The holiday marks King Willem-Alexander’s birthday (April 27). Since it falls on a Sunday this year, it will be celebrated on Saturday instead.
You can already get appropriately orange apparel at HEMA:
This kid’s t-shirt is available for purchase online. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, HEMA has a few characters that are associated with their brand.
They also have some of the more normal merchandise available for purchase:
The Hague will also be host to “The Life I Live” festival on Friday, April 25. The full schedule of artists will be posted on their website on April 15.
The Hague celebrated Chinese New Year today in the city centre. This holiday is always celebrated on a Saturday in The Hague, although Chinese New Year was on Wednesday this year.
We are now in the year of the snake, in case you’re wondering.
I was in the area this morning while they were setting up for the event. Here is a photo of the rooster:
Here is the snake (the star of the show this year!):
Here is a photo of the rabbit, with the Nieuwe Kerk (new church) in the background:
As you can probably see from the photos, it was a very sunny day (one of the few sunny days this month). And finally, here is a photo of what I think is a dog…:
And in other news, Dutch supermarkets want to print labels in English to combat rising prices from nltimes.nl. The supermarkets argue that the Netherlands labels could be accessed via a QR code. I don’t think I agree with this one. English is indeed everywhere in this country, especially in the larger cities. However not everyone can speak it, especially the older generation. The local expat store, Kelly’s Expat Shopping, posts signs saying Dutch labels are available on request, but their target market is obviously English speaking.
It will be interesting to see what happens with this one.
It’s January, so Albert Heijn has started selling chocolate Easter eggs (Who needs Valentine’s Day anyway?):
The yellow ones are white chocolate, blue is milk chocolate and red is dark chocolate. The ones on the right side are mixed bags – for example, the purple ones are a mix of praline eggs.
Some noteworthy upcoming events in The Hague:
Did you know 2025 is the year of the snake? (Almost. Chinese New Year is 29 January.) The year when you were born determines zodiac sign you are, for the most part (travelchinaguide.com). Mine is pig/boar…, which means you can probably guess what year I was born.
In The Hague we are lucky enough to have some Asian grocery stores. The biggest one is Amazing Oriental which has a few stores in the city centre. I took this photo of this year’s commemorative stuffed animal:
If you spend 30 euros you can get one of these, while supplies last. The supply only last a few weeks, so it is better to get them while you can if you’re interested.
Kudos to Amazing Oriental for making snakes look cute, too…
Last night I took a few pictures of the holiday lights by Steltman Jewelers, with the statue of Johan de Witt (English Wikipedia) in the foreground.
This was taken a bit after 17:00, as darkness was falling, but before the Netherlands turned into the warzone they are known for on New Year’s Eve. If you don’t know what I mean, check out this four minute video from last night’s fireworks in The Hague, but make sure you turn down your sound first! Or check out the bonfire and (legal) fireworks celebration held in Scheveningen on Monday. It should have also been last night, but it was moved forward a day due to high winds last night.
Here is a close up of the holiday lights:
Happy New Year’s! Have a great 2025.
A few days ago I came across a Christmas choir performing in De Passage (a shopping area in The Hague’s city centre):
They were singing for Artsen Zonder Grenzen (the Dutch branch of Doctors Without Borders). And, as things go in this modern day, they even had a QR code as well where you could donate – see the paper at the bottom of the image.
At the crossing of Venestraat and Gravenstraat, near the Grote Kerk, you can find a Christmas decoration in the form of The Hague’s coat of arms (well, at least the stork):
And here’s a close up:
Venestraat (the street the camera is pointed at) also has some nice Christmas lights above the street. It’s pretty nice to walk along it as the sun sets.
Marco was kind enough to take some photos of Bijenkorf’s Christmas tree for me earlier this week. This is a Christmas tree which starts on the 1st floor (2nd floor if you’re American) and goes up to the 4th floor. It is an interesting design this year:
And here is a close up of the ribbons hanging in the tree:
If you are interested, you can also see Bijenkorf’s Christmas tree in 2023 and 2022.
Additional Christmas decorations have been added to ‘t Goude Hooft since the last blog post I wrote:
And here is a close up:
It has been looking pretty festive in the city centre these last few weeks!
Life in the Hague 