Here are some beautiful blue origami swans for you:
This was at the Nespresso store in The Passage.
You can also see blue Nespresso cups in this close up:
Based on the pattern on the blue cups, I suspect that the flavor is Tokyo vivalto lungo, which has “delicate floral and fruity notes”. I’m not a big fan of Nespresso, though. I’d rather have a regular sized cup of coffee than an espresso.
On my way to the grocery store this morning I took some photos of this year’s Christmas tree in the Passage:
A new detail this year is the plants down the middle, to help remind people to stay on the right side while walking. It will be interesting to see if the plants are still around next year at this time, or if they really were just temporary during the Covid-19 crisis…
And here is a close up look. I found it a bit weird to be walking past stores today. For the most part everything was closed, but it felt more like a Sunday rather than closed for five weeks. Most of the stores had their lights on and there were not many signs in the windows saying they would be closed for a longer period of time.
Strangely enough when I walked past Peek & Cloppenburg (a clothing store), they did seem to be open. However maybe I saw incorrectly. The lights were on, the doors were wide open, and there were a few people going through the sweaters… so who knows.
Happy Friday, everyone!
De Passage (literally “The Passage”) added plants last month to help shoppers walk on the correct side.
Each set of plants is about a meter long so it does create a natural divide between shoppers walking in different directions. The Passage has come a long way since having tiny arrows by the entrance.
And because it’s a beautiful area, here’s a look at the Apple store:
It’s right in the center of De Passage, where the Christmas tree is placed each year.
And now for some cute news: The panda cub born in the Netherlands earlier this year will be 100 days old on Friday. It is tradition that its name is revealed on the 100th day. The possible choices are: He Kang, He Shun, Fan Xing, Dan Qing, and Zing He. And for your one minute of cuteness, here is a video made by zoo:
If all goes well, vistors can view it sometime in October.
Over the last few weeks more and more streets have received directional arrows to let people know which side of the street to walk on.
Above is the Venestraat, one of the shopping streets in the city centre. It’s a bit wider than the nearby Spuistraat, which has been named one of the 20 possible areas of concern in the new ‘one and a half meters community’ we find ourselves in (omroepwest.nl, article in Dutch).
Above is a look at The Passage, which has improved its one way traffic markers in the last month or so. When I last blogged about them in mid-May there were only tiny arrows at the entrance, much smaller than those you see above. So there have definitely been some improvements in The Passage.
In other news – after many months of sunshine and mockingly good weather, it has finally begun to rain. Technically parts of The Netherlands are experiencing drought-like conditions (nltimes.nl), so I suppose it’s probably a good thing. Even though we’d need more than a few days to fix that.
I’ll admit that The Passage is an often blogged about place for me. I’m definitely a fan of the “grass wall” they put in the newer part of the Passage:
Let’s see, in other news:
Last week Marco and I went through The Passage, which serves as both a passage between shopping areas in the city centre as well as being a shopping area in its own right.
There were stickers in the ground reminding visitors to keep appropriate distance from one another:
These signs weren’t that big, but they were big enough to catch your eye for sure. What I was less impressed with was the attempt to create one-way walking areas near the entrances to The Passage, as the arrows were tiny, hard to see and easily ignored. In fact, I watched two people walk right over them in the wrong direction, not a care in the world.
I do think the one way arrows will need to be ‘improved’ in the coming weeks as this part only gets busier and busier. They should have been more of them, with clearer lines in the floor. Also perhaps a dividing line that went straight down the middle for the entirety of the shopping area. But we will see how it works out in the coming weeks and months.
Four working days into the new reality: a look at De Passage (“The Passage“), the oldest shopping centre in The Netherlands.
This was taken yesterday morning around 10:00. Quite empty, considering shops would normally start opening around then. In the far distance, not quite viewable, is the entrance to Bijenkorf. Yesterday they announced that they would be closing all stores in The Netherlands for the foreseeable future (article – scroll for English). The day before that, Ikea closed all of their physical stores. They did this out of necessity, since so many customers were coming to the stores due to everything else being closed (article in Dutch).
The prime minister announced during an evening press conference that visitors would no longer be welcome at nursing homes (article in Dutch). Exceptions would be made for residents who are expected to pass away soon. There are also warnings from the Dutch healthcare system expects at least 500 to 1,000 patients in the ICU next week. As of today there are 210 in the ICU. Therefore they have begun moving some of those patients to other hospitals, freeing up beds in the harder hit parts of the country (article in Dutch).
A group of students have also begun providing unofficial translations of the Dutch public broadcast NOS, in an aptly named Facebook group NOS in English.
Stay safe, everyone.
Here’s a look at this year’s Christmas tree in De Passage (The passage):
And a close up of the Christmas ornaments:
Well, even those windows need to be washed.
An early morning photo from the inside of De Passage (Dutch Wikipedia article) while the windows were being cleaned.
This covered shopping area was first opened in 1885, making it the oldest shopping centre still in use in the Netherlands.
Recent photos that I took of Hop & Stork in De Passage, a covered shopping area in the heart of The Hague. The creations they can make with chocolate are just insane…
Dressed up and on your way to a fancy Christmas soirée…
Tasty!
Life in the Hague 