Last week I celebrated another birthday. Here’s a look at some (but unfortunately not all) of the highlights…
First, a bouquet of paper flowers made by my father-in-law and his wife. Still wrapped:
Unwrapped:
A close up of the butterfly. Do you see what the roses are made of? Wrapped chocolate and the best paper you could make flowers out of — 5 euro notes!
Yesterday was my birthday. Fun times were had all around, between sharing a beer with Marco after work (we went to the Plein) to doing gourmetten with Roger that night.
I will have a few other photos later, but for now check out what Marco did:
Sticky notes!
In the morning I woke up to sticky notes everywhere. My favorite hiding place was on the toilet paper roll (not visible until you use it) and in my jacket sleeve, so that when I put my jacket on it popped out. There are 34 notes in all — numbered, thankfully — which read:
“Mijn lieve Niki, weet je dat het jouw drie-en-dertigste verjaardag is vandaag? Ik ben blij dat wij dat samen vieren want ik hou echt heel veel van jou! Je rare man – Marco (34 alvast voor het jaar dat nu begint).”
“My lovely Niki, do you know that it is your 33rd birthday today? I am happy that we can celebrate it together because I love you very much! Your silly husband – Marco (34 in advance for the year that now begins).”
Awww!
Marco and I went to a voting center in the neighborhood to vote on the Ukraine referendum (ABC news – English). Well, he voted – I can’t yet. The weather turned pretty bad in the late afternoon, with pouring rain at times, but luckily it had mostly died by the time we went out.
I’m not a very political person, but basically the referendum is about a trade agreement between the EU and Ukraine, with some opponents saying it is really a thinly veiled stepping stone towards Ukraine asking for EU membership.
Voting card (or “Stempas” in Dutch)
In the end there wasn’t much to report on – while we had gone to a voting place which should have been a rather popular choice, there was no one else around voting at the time. (Which was to be expected – it remains to be seen if the Netherlands will get the 30% of voters needed to make this vote count, whatever the result is. But if they mange that, it would be “just barely”). Marco says the voting card only asked one question – to state if you were for or against the referendum. It was over before we knew it!
“Your behavior in the voting area” – The images are probably enough, but 1) Have your voting card and ID card ready 2) Don’t block the view of the voting bureau workers 3) Only one person per booth
Interestingly, the voting card said that voters only needed to have an government-issued ID that was valid through April 6, 2011 – that is, 5 years ago. And no, it wasn’t a typo.
Marco says he will take me along for next year’s vote, for the Dutch elections. That should prove to be more lively.
In June of this year, The Hague will begin a hop-on, hop-off tram service aimed at tourists (Article: English | Dutch).
From the English article: “The Tourist Tram, in historical cream with a green trim, is launching in June. The route connects the historic city center, the planned museum district around Lange Voorhout, the Vredespaleis and the Kurhaus together. It will also travel through the international zone, the Gemeentemuseum and Omniversum and go all the way Scheveningen.”
Tickets will cost 14 euros, or 18 euros per day, while kids under 12 can ride for 5 euros for two days. I thought that was a bit pricey considering a day ticket for HTM (The Hague’s bus and tram service) costs 6 and a half euros per day, but it looks like this tourist tram includes an audio tour which is in several different languages, including Haags (The Hague’s dialect). The route also links together a lot of tourist hot spots, so you only have to board one tram and you don’t have to research all of the routes. That could be a big plus for tourists.
The tourist tram that will start running in June (photo: Maurice Haak / Den Haag)
The tram is mainly intended for the summer months, traveling every half hour between 09.30 and 17.30. After the summer, it will only be in service on weekends or holidays. Hopefully it is a good enough investment that they can expand service a bit!
On Sunday Marco and I went to Hometown Coffee. It was Easter but a lot of cafés and restaurants were open regardless. This cafe is close to Spui Buitenhof (a movie theater) and Popo’s, a Mexican restaurant.
I ordered my favorite drink there: iced mocha coffee on the rocks. Yum!
Last year Gemeente Den Haag (e.g. city hall) created a video showing a time lapse of the construction around the Grote Marktstraat. It is just under 3 minutes long. Among other places, it can be found on YouTube. It’s kind of cool to look back and remember all the craziness the construction caused…
Grote Markstraat is the large shopping street in The Hague which has been under construction for the last few years. There is an event on Thursday night (Den Haag verlicht) to mark the completion. The final act will be turning on the lights (literally – the lights were just hung up last week). They will be turned on around 20.45. There will also be music, dancers, DJs, drum bands and food trucks. Oh, and the shops are open until 22.00 (although on Thursdays they are usually open until 21.00 anyway).
And here are some more photos from Boston. The first is a sculpture found in Boston Common, Make Way for Ducklings:
And a photo of the Boston public library:
We also went to the JFK Presidential Library (well, we just went to the museum). It was a lot of fun, and now I can say I’ve visited a presidential library!
And a look at the JFK presidential library from inside:
After that we visited the Edward M. Kennedy Institute which is a building right next to the JFK library. The institute was opened to the public last year and is used to teach the public about the inner workings of the senate. It includes a to-scale replica of the Senate Chambers where mock votes are held every hour for visitors to participate in (our mock vote was regarding the minimum wage law currently in consideration). The replica chambers sit in the middle with displays around it. Since it was just completed, tablets are used to provide additional information and to interact with the displays. It’s quite modern.
Until next time!
When I saw this on sale at Albert Heijn (our local grocery store) I just had to take a picture:
Granted, I know it is food and I know a lot of people like the taste. I’ve been trying to get more into seafood, but I haven’t got past the safer sushi options or salmon yet. Maybe someday (but, okay, I doubt it!)
Though it does remind me of the kraken in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Oh, and Albert Heijn also sells insects if you are interested… Just saying!
This is actually a photo from last week, but I didn’t get around to posting it then so I decided to post it today.
First, the photo:
And now the context:
One of my coworkers usually eats an apple or two a day. Last month during lunch I noticed she peeled her apple, so I asked her if she was going to eat the apple skin. She said no, so I ate it. Perhaps a bit weird (?) but green apples tend to be more on the sour side, and I do love sour food. (Ever had cucumber slices in vinegar with a bit of lemon juice thrown in the mix? It’s awesomely sour.) But anyway, it’s like eating apple chips – there’s always a bit of apple mixed with the skin.
So these days if she eats an apple she always puts the skins on a separate plate and brings it to my desk. She told me on Wednesday that she wouldn’t be in on Thursday, so we joked about my missing the apple skins.
Lo and behold, when I came in on Thursday there was a whole apple on my desk with the note “Happy almost Friday! :)” I liked the note so much I actually placed it under the receiver on my work phone, so when I make calls I see the note.
(P.S. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!)
Recently Marco and I ended up leaving the house together in the morning, as he had to catch a train to Utrecht for work. As we were walking, we were passed by a fruit seller riding his cart. It caught my eye because the road was so bumpy I was amazed that none of the oranges fell off…
Later on in the day Marco sent me a photo. It turns out the fruit seller was selling his wares at Centraal Station. It’s a bit blurry, but you get the idea:
Bikes really are the “transport of choice” around here!
Recently Marco and I explored the neighborhood (Rabbijn Maarseplein) just outside of Spui/Grote Markt, past Hema. I came across a statue of a woman:
I am not sure why the flowers are there, but I suspect it has something to do with World War II. There is also a nearby monument to Jewish children who perished due to the war. Amsterdam’s public transportation was recently stopped for one minute to remember the February 1941 strike in protest of the prosecution of Jews (Dutch | English).
But I am actually not finding much about the statue of the woman online. Does anyone know anything further?
Life in the Hague 