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Lady on the bench (Or: Statue in The Hague)

Posted on July 10, 2019 by Niki

Not far from the Peace Palace you can find a lady sitting on a bench, watching the world go by. And not just any lady, but Anna Pavlovna of Russia, Queen Consort to the Netherlands back in the 18th century. She married Willam the II in 1816 and had five children. If you read the Wikipedia page you’ll notice how odd it is to have a statue here – apparently she wasn’t a fan of the Netherlands and preferred instead to be in what is now Belgium (or better yet, Russia). But okay, the statue itself is still very beautiful.

A bit dusty, but a very pretty statue. Added in 1999 by the Russian architect Alexander Taratynov.

A bit further along the path you come across the Peace Palace. I had a bit of luck that day in terms of weather – no grey skies that day. (Unlike today!)

Blue, blue, and a bit of red flowers…
Categories: Culture, The Hague | Tags: , | 2 Comments

New Papa John’s location (Or: More pizza by The Fred)

Posted on June 30, 2019 by Niki

“The Fred” or De Fred is a neighborhood in The Hague, a shortening of the street name Frederik Hendriklaan, where the heart of the neighborhood can be found.

Last Monday a new Papa John’s pizza location opened on The Fred. It’s the first one in The Hague, although there are already locations in nearby Delft and Zoetermeer. It’s originally from the United States.

Waiting in line for free pizza

And of course (like what Dunkin’ Donuts does with new locations) the first 100 visitors that day received a free pizza.

“Free pizza for the first 100 visitors — we ❤ The Hague”

I’m actually not much of a fan of Papa John’s pizza, although admittedly I haven’t had any in years. I’m more of a thick pizza/thick crust person. But some of my friends do like it, so to each their own!

Categories: Everyday purchases, Food, The Hague | Tags: | Leave a comment

Rolled up ice cream (Or: Rrrollend food truck festival)

Posted on June 2, 2019 by Niki

It’s that time of year again! The Rrrollend food truck festival has returned to The Hague. Today was the last day, although they will be back at Lange Voorhout from August 9th to the 11th.

The highlight of this excursion this time around was the rolled up ice cream (Wikipedia), which I have never had before. The food truck was manned by a team out of Rotterdam (Facebook). It is a semi-solid ice cream made of cream, milk and sugar. The trick is that it is placed on a cold surface (chilled to -20 degrees) while it is being worked on. Check out this photo from the Wikipedia page:

Photo from Wikipedia user Thomson200 

Once frozen, you can roll up the ice cream as shown above.

Our mango mix rolled up ice cream from Friday
Today’s forest fruit rolled up ice cream. The rolling up didn’t go as well, but it was just as delicious!
Categories: Food, The Hague | Tags: , | 2 Comments

European elections 2019 (Or: Time to vote)

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Niki

Well, time for Dutchies to vote that is. As an expat, I can’t vote. Every five years, European elections are held for the European parliament. 751 seats, of which 26 are for the Netherlands; 29 after UK leaves the EU.

Check out how long the candidate list is (!):

Voting list taped up at The Hague city hall

Voters receive the same list, just a bit smaller (but not that much smaller – it’s still almost impossible to fold back up!)

Only UK and the Netherlands vote today. The rest from the European lands vote tomorrow or in the weekend. Therefore official results won’t be announced until Sunday evening, although exit polls started coming in a few minutes ago. Should be interesting…

Categories: Daily Dutch living | Tags: | Leave a comment

Delft blauw in The Hague (Or: Mini statues)

Posted on May 14, 2019 by Niki

The Delft blauw craze will never quite go away. Recently I was visiting Frederik Hendriklaan or the Fred, as the locals call it. I stepped inside Kaatje aan de Rein (Facebook page), a gift shop.

I had to think of my mother-in-law when I spotted these tiny creatures, made in the style of Delft blauw:

They are similar to the two playing cats she purchased at the Gemeentemuseum, a local museum here in The Hague. You can see a picture of the two cats here.

Categories: Everyday purchases, Shopping | Tags: | 2 Comments

Day of Remembrance (Or: Jewish monument of The Hague)

Posted on May 2, 2019 by Niki

Today was a Holocaust Day of Remembrance in The Hague for the Jewish population. There was a small ceremony held in the city centre in the afternoon to remember those who were lost during WWII.

The Jewish monument in The Hague – at Rabbijn Maarsenplein, a Jewish neighborhood prior to WWII

You can read more about the monument at the official website (nl | en). Also something interesting: some of the flowers came from various embassies, including Germany, Austria, and Israel. Others came from citizens.

Categories: Culture, The Hague | Tags: | Leave a comment

Avengers: Endgame (Or: Seen it!)

Posted on April 24, 2019 by Niki

Just got back from the midnight showing. Totally worth it!

Categories: Friends&Family | Tags: | 2 Comments

Happy Easter! (Or: Bunny butts?)

Posted on April 21, 2019 by Niki

Happy Easter! Here is a card that Marco and I received:

The card was designed by Marco’s father and his wife.

Both Marco and I were amused by the bunny butt…

Categories: Friends&Family, Holidays | Tags: | 1 Comment

Warm weather (Or: Who needs a jacket?)

Posted on April 20, 2019 by Niki

Yesterday I had the day off so I went for a walk. The weather has been great for the Easter holiday: 70-75F with a ton of sun. One of the places I walked through is the Binnenhof, a place mentioned a lot on this blog. I like going there and watching the tourists, actually. It’s weird to live somewhere that tourists visit. So I go there and watch the families and friends excitedly taking photos of this and that…

Here is my photo, with the beautiful blue sky behind.

Categories: Culture, The Hague | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

SET restaurant in The Hague (Or: Experiencing Japanse cuisine)

Posted on April 14, 2019 by Niki

A few weeks back Marco, Roger and I went to SET restaurant in The Hague. We have been there a few times, but every time I went we have just had the lunchtime bento box. This time we sampled from the sushi side of the menu. We also sampled a few Japanese drinks: Calpis (a soft drink) and cold sake.

The blue plate really ties it together… In the foreground is sushi with eel, in the background shrimp.
A look out the window from our seat. The restaurant is near the Grote Kerk (Big Church or St. James church).

I loved where we were seated. It was its own cubby hole. The table was also sunk into the ground a bit (you had to step down to get to it) so it made it seem like you were sitting on the ground without actually sitting on the ground.

And we can’t forget the dessert! So cute.

Ice and sand chocolate dessert

The chocolate sauce drawing was a nice (unexpected) touch. My dessert was called Ice and sand chocolate and was chocolate ice cream. It was quite frozen, which did give it a sort of crumbly texture, so the “sand” part of the name definitely made sense. It was quite tasty.

I can definitely recommend this place. Everything we have had there is delicious, from the drinks to the sushi to the bento boxes. And now I can add the desserts to that list!

Categories: Food | Tags: , | Leave a comment

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