To celebrate the second day of Christmas in the Netherlands…
I was in Bijenkorf last week and noticed they put in their Christmas tree for the holidays. It’s so large (four floors high) that it is difficult to get a complete photograph of. But to give you an idea:
A look at the tree from below, standing on the ground floor
I love the blue theme!
And a look at the tree from above
Last year’s Christmas tree was a red and gold theme.
I am officially posting on my brand new computer! I picked it up on Wednesday night and it looks gorgeous. I have missed being able to easily make blog posts, and now it is even easier – turn on Bluetooth between my iPhone and MacBook, and I can transfer photos without any extra cables! Of course, the move to a Mac has been an interesting one, but that’s what I have Siri for, right? At least she knows where to find various settings…
(Speaking of which, it was very disconcerting to hear a male Siri! That was one of the first things I switched…)
I recently went into Bijenkorf (rather than just staring at their pretty Christmas trees outside) to have a look at their holiday section.
Very contemplative…
Below is a look at some of the Christmas trees on offer. This year (maybe for the first time since I moved here?, they did not have the large Christmas tree near the front of the store). In its place was a Piet hanging from the ceiling. I was not able to get a picture of it, unfortunately.
Say hello to the party tree!
Bijenkorf does like to colour-coordinate their Christmas trees!
A bit too pastel for my tastes, but I can see how others would like it.
Christmas items for purchase at Bijenkorf, The Hague
Until next time!
Last week I took some photos of the Christmas trees by the Bijenkorf (a department store). This week I was able to take a few photos of the lights along the Grote Markt street:
The new tear-shaped lights the city put in earlier this year look really nice!
Lights by the entrance:
And a look at the lights in the other direction, towards the movie theater and Primark:
Oh, and today a coworker brought in 12 oliebollen (sorta doughnut-y pastry that is usually made with raisins inside and covered in powdered sugar). They started selling those on November 1st… It is always something to look forward to!
Last week Bijenkorf (an upscale department store) put up their Christmas decorations. See for yourself:
They also put the lights up outside of the building (here is a photo from 2013).
In other news – I finally ordered a new computer! As you can see from this photo of a library book, I am switching from PC to Mac.
If you ignore that one semester in college using a Mac and QuarkXPress for a student job, it will be my first time using a Mac. And yes, it might be geeky but the book has been helpful explaining the differences in keys and in the dock at the bottom of the screen where all the program icons can be found.
Although I have a few more weeks to wait, the computer can’t come soon enough. I wanted to write this blog post on my netbook, but Chrome errored when I tried to open it. I restarted my computer but it has been stuck on a blue screen which says “getting Windows ready – don’t turn off your computer”. For a half hour. Heh…
Update: it came back after 45 minutes, although Chrome is still erroring. Oh well! That is a problem for another day.
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!
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 are the Christmas lights that Bijenkorf put up a week or two ago:
The decorations are not actually strands of individual lights, but rather sections of net which descend down the entire length of the windows and have the lights woven into them.
In other news, I officially got the news last night that I passed all four sections of B1, so it is on to B2! There are two sections starting next month, both Tuesday/Thursday nights. One starts the 14th and one starts the 21st. The class will be done by the end of June. That seems like a far away date right now… but it is really not.
Grote Kerk, Den Haag
A random picture of the plaza surrounding the Grote Kerk (lit: big church). Note the cobblestone paths and the barely visible tram rails behind the gentleman. I’ve been told that tram rails tend to be just the right width to get your bike wheels caught in…
Life in the Hague 