Here are a few photos from the New Years Eve celebrations this year, taking sometime after midnight. It definitely seemed like most people did their fireworks before midnight rather than after. There were still a lot of fireworks going off — I just didn’t get any good photos of those!
Behind Bijenkorf, in the city centre (close to Chinatown)
And what would a blog post be without a photo of a small New Years Eve fire:
Also behind Bijenkorf. Someone had just thrown something in to it, so it was flaring up for a moment.
And finally, here’s a link to a drone video on YouTube someone made this year of the New Year’s Eve celebrations here in The Hague. They also made a video of last year’s fireworks extravaganza as well.
Every year on New Year’s Eve, Scheveningen and Duindorp build huge bonfires, one trying to outdo the other. They are actually right by each other, with Scheveningen on the north side of the beach and Duindorp on the south side.
The above picture is from Scheveningen in 2015-2016, when it captured the Guinness World Record for largest bonfire at 8,695 cubic meters. And Duindorp had the record the year before that, to give you some idea of the competition (!).
Here is a link to a drone video of the preparation earlier last week. The cool thing is you can see the other bonfire rising up at the other end of the beach as well. The preparation was not without some hard feelings this year. For instance a truck with pallets for Duindorp accidentally drove to Scheveningen and unloaded the pallets there. The article also goes on to say that Duindorp reached its maximum height and was told to stop, while Scheveningen was at a similar height but was not told to stop building. For that reason, Duindorp started adding more pallets overnight, but stopped again when morning broke. And the article also mentions that some youth in Duindorp were threatening “builders” for the bonfire in Scheveningen who happened to also live in Duindorp.
So you can see that things were a bit riled up this year, which led to the bonfires being higher than they should have been (safety wise). But everything was approved and went ahead last night, and when the bonfire in Scheveningen was lit, it was spectacular.
And then the wind quickly changed direction, and two things were brought with it (video from nu.nl): a rain of fire descending on the beach and nearby houses, and tornados of fire. Actual tornados! One of the beach tents started burning and the fire department cleared out the boulevard as no one wanted to get out of the way for emergency vehicles. They had to use a bit of force (and police dogs) to get everyone to clear out.
Credit Regio15.nl, Ruben van Essen. Original article, with more photos and videos
Here you can see some of the damage to the surrounding area. Luckily there were no injuries. The fire department did an exceptional job keeping some of the more important buildings wet throughout the night (including the Old Church) to keep them safe.
On a happier note, the Scheveningen beach was also the site of the New Year’s Dive this morning. I was smart and just watched it on TV – that’s enough for me!
As mentioned in a few months back, the oliebollenkraam (= stand to sell oliebollen) has temporarily moved to the Grote Markt due to construction around the Spuiplein. I suspect the move has been good for them and they are making much more money where they currently are. They are consistently voted one of the best stands in this providence.
Oliebollen is sort of like a doughnut and covered in powdered sugar. They are traditionally filled with raisins, but you can get them without raisins as well these days. They are eaten around New Years Eve, although you can also find them at carnivals throughout the year.
Here is a look at the line around 10:30 this morning:
And a close up, to show you what the stand looks like:
So the lines weren’t too bad at 10:30. This is what it looks like around 14:30, just four hours later:
There’s still three lines, give or take, and they stretch just to the edge of the tram/bus area. Compare that to the lines in 2014 and 2015. Of course that is at the old location, where it is easier to just have a single line.
I suspect the crowds will be greatest around 17:00, when everyone is out of work. However by then festivities will also be starting at our place so we won’t be going outside until closer to midnight, for the fireworks.
One gift that made Marco laugh (for a long time I might add!) was made by Marco’s dad and his wife:
The gift: two bottles of “melted snowman”
How cute is that? We now own two melted snowman! Complete with the melted ice (safely stored in a water bottle) and a tiny plastic bag containing his hat, nose, eyes, and mouth. Hehe!
Another craft from them was the yearly Christmas card – check it out!
Keeping company with the 2018 Christmas caed is an old tin (which previously had Lebkuchen in it) and a fully decked out library.
And a much deserved close up of the Christmas card, so that you can better see the intricacies of it:
A photo of the Christmas tree at the local Media Markt here in The Hague:
Media Markt is “the” electronics store of the Netherlands, a chain that started in Germany. According to Wikipedia, it’s the largest electronics retailer here in Europe, and the second largest worldwide after America’s Best Buy. The one thing to get used to is that most or all of the stores are franchises, so the price might differ between stores.
Media Markt is also known as the place to go during the BTW-vrij week, which usually happens around the end of January. BTW-vrij = Media Markt deducts the taxes from the price so you don’t have to pay it.
I don’t know, this probably happens in other countries too. However, the first time I remembered encountering it was after I moved to the Netherlands.
Last night, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was on TV. It started at 8:30pm and ended at 10:30pm. Or so I thought… Around 10:20, I turned to Marco and said: “I don’t understand how this movie is going to end in 10 minutes. Kevin is just starting to prepare his offensive against those two robbers.” Marco thought for a moment and said: “Oh. I know what they are doing”, in a slightly offended tone. We looked it up:
Eek! It doesn’t end at all at 10:30. The TV provider just decided to skip a few programs in between. With a sinking heart, I realized I’d have to stay awake until 11:55pm to see the whole movie. I’m no spring chicken, so I decided there was no second half of the movie for me.
It’s not the first time this has happened – I remember our friend Roger mentioning how he hates that, since he would change the channel during the “intermission” programs and then forget to go back – but it was still annoying.
Oh well. My parents (and most of the US, who are able to watch the 24 hour TV marathon) will be happy to know there is a copy of A Christmas Story on the table, waiting to be watched. Repeatedly. It’s tradition!
Pictured above are three ornaments from the early 1980s. On the ornaments are cherubim. Dad bought them for Mom way back when, and I was able to take them with at some point after moving here. So now they go on our tree!
Captured at Albert Heijn, the local grocery store:
Lots and lots of wine bottles… someone must have had a party! This is by the bottle return area (the bottom part pictured here is for returning a beer crate), so I assume wine bottles don’t have a deposit on them. I am not much of a wine drinker (besides the occasional prosecco) so I’m not sure.
Still, kudos to them for leaving them behind without making a mess. Although it does mean work for Albert Heijn to get rid of them.
Life in the Hague 