On my way to Kelly’s expat store, I walked through Achterom street and decided to take more photos of the cat graffiti. Consider it a continuation of a previous post earlier this year.
My favorite, a bit of a prism effect:
Especially the eyes.
How frustrating. It’s just like untangling Christmas lights. Sometimes it’s better to just buy a new set.
Is it just me or do those eyes above look human?
And finally, a photo taken to the left of the previous photo.
It’s a great little side street to wander down (it crosses through the Passage shopping area, from denhaag.com in English).
The Hague has presented its tentative plan for how the Spuiplein will be transformed once all of the construction is complete in a few months. First, here is a reminder of how much area the construction is taking up in front of Amare, the building in the back:
Een plein met groen, water, zitjes, bankjes en plekken voor kleine evenementen. Zo moet het Spuiplein worden volgens het eerste ontwerp https://t.co/7JI0gAyi6w
Translated it reads: “A plaza with green, water, sitting areas, benches and places for small events. This is how the Spuiplein will look occurring to the first proposal”. Between the green and the benches will be a long water basin (pictured above). There will also be open places to allow small events like street theatres, musical performances from university students, ballet or a movie in the open air.
Of course, the building (Amare) still needs to be delivered. Haags stadsbestuur dreigt met boete als bouwer Amare opleverdatum niet haalt from omroepwest.nl. In other words, The Hague is threatening to fine the builder of the Amare if they don’t deliver the building on time to the city (1 July 2021). …opps?
Yay, we have reached the weekend! Did you know the Keukenhof, the largest garden in Europe, is now open on a limited basis? Keukenhof, cultural sites start welcoming visitors again from nltimes.nl. It is part of the government’s testing expansion (Netherlands to allow small crowds at football matches, theaters this month, also nltimes.nl). You can see the full list of participating institutions and dates at rijksoverheid.nl (in Dutch). The visitor needs to have a negative corona test that is not older than 40 hours. The tests are free but you need to go to certain locations to get tested and you must have the CoronaCheck app.
One of today’s 5000 Visit Keukenhof visitors is Daphne, a tour guide with whom we often work together. Please enjoy some of her live photo’s of the most beautiful spring park in the world! pic.twitter.com/ArzvrJZORQ
In other news: Rotterdam, The Hague announce bid to host Tour de France start from nltimes.nl. The bid would either be for 2024 or 2025. Rotterdam would host the opening stage, with an additional stage from Rotterdam to The Hague. The previous time the Netherlands hosted a few stages was back in 2015, when Utrecht was the host twice.
And Fietsers weg uit de Grote Marktstraat? Dat kan, maar gaat ten koste van parkeerplekken from omroepwest.nl. (Removing cyclists from the Grote Marktstraat? That is possible, but it will come at the cost of parking). The city has determined that it is possible to remove cyclists from the shopping area of the Grote Marktstraat, the large shopping street in The Hague’s city centre. This is because cyclists can use the parellel streets of Gedempte Gracht and Gedempte Burgwal, but 54 parking spots would need to be removed in the latter street to make sure cyclists have enough room.
Of course, the article then goes on to say that there is a possibility that cyclists can cycle tvia the Grote Markstraat before 11:30 daily, when the shops open. But that just means people won’t know the difference and will keep cycling through the area no matter the time of day. Although the city did successfully manage to ban scooters from using the Grote Markstraart so I guess anything is possible… we shall see!
The Hague has replaced the “keep to the right” stickers on the Grote Markt with spray painted versions. Well, the old stickers are still there but most of them are half torn off or trampled. So “replaced” is probably not the most accurate description.
The photo above was taken at the Grote Markt, just before Bijenkorf (so just before this photo which I posted over the weekend).
Ever Given sets course for Rotterdam after six-day Suez blockade ends from dutchnews.nl. 400 meter ship gets stuck in the Suez canal at a part that was only 300 meter wide. 6 day blockade occurs. Opps? Interesting fact: most of the ships that were stuck behind this one were also destined for the Rotterdam port, meaning there are three delays: waiting for the ship to get unstuck, waiting to get through the Suez canal, and waiting to get unloaded at the port in Rotterdam.
No more free plastic bags in fresh produce section of Albert Heijn from nltimes.nl. That makes sense. I am only surprised it took so long. I already have a reusable bag for fruits and vegetables – Albert Heijn has sold them along side the free plastic bags for a few years now – but sometimes it is easier to use a plastic bag (especially when you get two types of things that both need to be weighed).
This morning I took a photo of the line to enter Bijenkorf, a high-end department store. There weren’t too many people in line yet – it was only 11:00 – but there was a large amount of space roped off on the Grote Markt shopping street.
The not-quite-readable sign says “Welcome! Access only allowed with appointment. Scan the QR-code to make an appointment.” (QR codes have definitely become more popular during the corona crisis.) In the Netherlands you need to make an appointment at least 4 hours in advance. Non-essential stores can have 1 person per 25 square meters, with a maximum of 50 shoppers in the store at one time.
The sculpture is called “Veelhoofd” (Many heads) and it was created by Joep van Lieshout. The art in The Hague’s city centre moves around a lot – the sculpture was initially installed on the Spui (stroom.nl, in English) around the corner back in 2010.
Marco took a photo of the “Fridays for Future” demonstration last Friday in The Hague’s city centre. Fridays for Future is an international climate movement (English Wikipedia).
The demonstration took place in the Hofplaats, right next to the Constitution bench I have blogged about a few times.
The Hofplaats is really close to both the Tweede Kamer and the Binnenhof. Off in the left corner of the photo is the “secret” entrance to the Binnenhof which I blogged about earlier this year.
Rabbijn Maarsenplein is a neighborhood in The Hague’s city centre which used to be well-known for its Jewish population before World War II. Most Jews did not survive. A few years back the Jewish Monument Foundation moved the 1967 memorial to this location, giving it a more prominent space. It depicts a family seeking protection, with a Holocaust victim at their feet. I have posted about this memorial a few times. The name “Amalek” comes from the biblical verse from the book of Deuteronomy: Remember what Amalek did to you… don’t forget, with Amalek representing the enemy of the Jews.
There are usually flowers at the base of this memorial, but this time the careful placement of a single white rose caught my eye:
Next week is the 2021 Dutch general election to elect members of the Dutch House of Representatives. The election is officially scheduled for Wednesday, 17 March, however due to the pandemic you are also allowed to vote on 15 and 16 March.
I say “you” because I can’t vote – you need to be a Dutch citizen to do so. That’s fine, though. I am allowed to vote in the municipal elections (and curiously, the local water board elections). For the municipal elections the eligibility is simpler: as a non-EU citizen I need to be registered in the municipality and live in the Netherlands for five uninterrupted years.
I will admit that since I cannot vote in the upcoming elections I have not paid much attention to Dutch politics, although I did do my research before the municipality elections I voted in a few years back.
The Netherlands is full of advertisements like this: a huge board that shows all (most?) of the eligible parties for the upcoming election. As you can see some parties prefer to show the party leader (the first few squares) whereas other squares rely more on text or slogans.
And me being me, I did make sure to get a shot of tram 16 in the background. This was in the city centre. Behind the tram is Primark (English Wikipedia), an Irish “Fast fashion” retail store. I have bought a few things there over the years, but you can see the difference in quality because everything is so cheap. Although I did find one of my favorite Christmas decorations there a few years back. That was definitely a good purchase!
I returned to the Malieveld for a long walk for the first time in months. It is a large grass field just outside of The Hague’s Central station where events are held. It reminds me of last fall when they were setting up for the carnival. Apparently that was in September – time really does fly, it seems.
On the way to Malieveld I spotted a horse-drawn carriage:
While you do have the opportunity to take horse-drawn carriage rides, it is not something you see every day. I only see them a few times of the year. I am also pleased to report that I walk at the speed of a slow horse-drawn carriage, apparently. Or actually I was slightly faster. I think they turned right before entering the Malieveld to go into the Koekamp, probably to let the tourists take pictures of the deer. (Feel free to click the link again if you want to see cute pictures of deer.)
In other news: Dutch clubbers hit the dancefloor for study into easing lockdown from theguardian.com. If I remember correctly this is one of the events where the tickets were gone in 20 minutes. You have to have a negative test to enter the event, and there is also random “fast” testing at the door as well. In theory you also need to get yourself tested within 5 days after the event, but not everyone does. During the event you are divided into groups, each group with a different level of corona measures (face mask, no face mask, concessions at seat, you can get concessions yourself, etc.) Each visitor has to wear a device as well to track their movements. It will be interesting to see what data comes out of it.
Last week I mentioned the new building they are constructing on the Spuiplein: Amare, a new cultural complex that will house various establishments: Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Zuiderstrandtheater, Nederlands Dans Theater and the Royal Conservatory (so an orchestra, two theaters and a music school). At the moment the planned opening is September 2021.
As I mentioned last week, I’m also looking forward to having the space in front of the building back – it has been a construction site since 2014 I think. Time flies…
And here is something a bit crazy (but in the end, similar to a desert mirage):
Life in the Hague 