This year HTM in The Hague decked out a tram for the holidays. Here is another look at the tram, showing off the lights at night (a picture in the daylight can found in this blog post). Tram 1 runs between Scheveningen and Delft.
Last year HTM placed a piano at the Spui tram stop.
Blog post title is a reference to a quote from The Simpsons: “Celebrate the independence of your nation by blowing up a small part of it!”
It’s that time of the year again. Time to buy fireworks!
Of course the Dutch take New Year’s celebrations to the extreme. A fireworks complaint hotline had 17,000 complaints within 2 days of it opening (10 days before New Year’s). The American government emailed their usual warning to US citizens in the Netherlands (link from 2014, but it’s pretty much the same this year). The city website has safety measures, which includes a list of fireworks-free zones in The Hague.
And yes, the prices in the flyer above are insane!
Merry Christmas all!
To celebrate the holidays, here is a photo of the card that Marco’s dad and his wife made and gave us:
(We’ve had it for a while but on the off chance that another relative reading this blog would get a copy, I decided to hold off on posting it.) At the bottom of the photo you can also see the box it came in.
Another Christmas-y photo – Roger made a tiramisu dessert in a wine glass for his family’s Christmas dinner. Here is the yummy result:
I can say Marco and I had the pleasure of being guinea pigs twice for this dessert so he could get it just-right for today’s big unveiling.
Today I briefly visited Bijenkorf, a department store, to take a picture of the tree they always have. This isn’t any tree… it stands 4 floors tall, with the base actually above the ground floor (so you could peek under the tree, technically). This was this year’s design:
And a close up of the design (the gold items are large, round boxes):
I must admit it does not really feel like Christmas eve. I think it has to do with the fact that I even worked today. Just a half day, though. I am not completely insane.
Fijne kerstdagen!
On Thursday I went to the Christmas market here in The Hague. It is by the Hofvijfer (Buitenhof), although tonight is the last night. And the craziest stall there? One selling ugly Christmas sweaters.
And here’s a look at the Christmas tree in De Passage:
I’ve written about the Christmas tree a few times, back when the Apple store’s impending arrival threatened its existence, and when it came back (unexpectedly). It’s come back in the two years since, so it looks like it is here to stay.
Two more nights, and then it is Christmas!
I realized this afternoon that it was the 3rd anniversary of my arriving in the Netherlands (18 December).
2012 post || 2013 post || 2014 post (n/a)
Three years already! Time has flown by. And each year seems warmer then the next. Silly global warming…
Here are some random Christmas photos. A stand for oliebollen:
Christmas lights at Bijenkorf, an upper end department store, in The Hague Centrum (see also last year’s post):
Christmas lights at The Hague, Spui (Centrum), by the movie theatre, across from V&D:
Christmas lights at Bijenkorf in Amsterdam:
Happy Friday, all!
Here is Marco and I’s Christmas tree this year:
And earlier today we were at his fathers. I spied something on the living room table which reminded me of the National Lampoon’s Christmas vacation movie:
i.e. The scene where the Clark’s family follow him into the woods to get a Christmas tree, walking through knee high snow and driving presumably hours to get there, only to realize they had no way to cut the tree down.
(the next scene shows them driving home, the huge tree bundled on top of the car, tree roots dangling at the end…)
A few weeks ago Marco and I went to Kelly’s expat store for eggnog. This is a traditional drink which is served in Canada and the United States during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. It’s a milk drink with egg mixed in. You also have some types with alcohol mixed in as well.
We actually picked up this carton for one of my friends, my “taalcoach” (language coach) from SamenSpraak. I’m actually not a fan of eggnog but maybe he will be!
Marco and I went to Marks and Spencer for coffee and noticed along the way that the Christmas items were out. It’s not November yet, but I am sure Christmas items have been out by American stores for at least a few weeks. Halloween and Thanksgiving be damned, of course.
I have to admit that the Christmas tree cookie by the coffee was a nice, cute touch:
And the Christmas section included ornaments, Christmas cards and wrapping paper and snow globes and…
I didn’t buy anything. But I do like looking. Marco, the good husband that he is, rolled his eyes politely but came along.
One interesting thing about the Netherlands is how most of the holidays fall in the early summer. For example:
April 5 &6: Easter Sunday, Easter Monday
April 27: King’s birthday
May 5: Liberation day (public holiday every 5 years– 2010, 2015, 2020…)
May 14: Ascension day
May 24/25: Pentecost
And that’s it until Christmas. America has July 4th, Labor day in September, Thanksgiving in November… Everyone looks forward to the start of summer here, but it is all downhill after that! And then there’s vakantiegeld (vacation money), an “extra” paycheck equivalent to roughly a month’s salary which almost everyone gets in May. Of course, it comes from the taxes you paid the rest of the year, but yeah… vacation time!
Marco and I will be visiting Dublin for a week in June. Should be fun to finally see more than just the international terminal of Dublin’s airport!
On another note, I am hoping it begins to warm up here soon… the mild weather is lovely in the winter but during the summer it is easy to get jealous of other countries. The typical summer high here is (only) 65F/19C, give or take. Brr!
See more about Dutch holidays at this link.
Life in the Hague 