Posts Tagged With: Summer

Cooler days (Or: Suddenly there was rain)

Posted on August 19, 2026 by Niki

The weather has shifted over here in The Netherlands, with rain every day since late Sunday evening. This morning featured some moments of the sky opening up and rain gushing out. Let’s just say it as relatively dry as I was preparing for work. I was starting to wonder if I could get away with walking to work when it started to rain a bit more. So I took the tram. Between the tram and the office entrance (less than 2 minutes walk) my poor rain jacket was getting soaked.

But – we finally have some rain again! This week and next week is just rain, rain, rain… but with cooler temperatures as well. The apartment is finally cooling down a bit. Of course, two weeks of rain won’t help the effects of the drought, but it can at least help.

Here’s more photos of flowers from Marco. This time of a flower by Amare.

and another photo:

In other news:

Online sleuth links Amsterdam’s “Lucky” to Canadian cold case from dutchnews.nl (although it is most likely not the same person who went missing in 1993)
Criminelen verdienen miljoenen aan blikjes zonder statiegeld, meldt EenVandaag (Criminals earn millions with cans without a deposit) from nos.nl
Temu and Shein orders drop in the Netherlands after EU tax from iamexpat.nl

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Flowers, Summer, Weather | Leave a comment

The raincoat breakdown (Or: When Dutch summer forgets the script)

Posted on August 11, 2026 by Niki

The Netherlands (and a lot of Europe) is in the middle of a drought. Hopefully we get some rain soon!

Historic drought: rivers reveal hunger stones, warships and mammoth remains from euronews.com

Drought, irrigation bans impact Dutch football; Amateur clubs can’t train on dry fields from nltimes.nl

Video: Zeppelin heading to Utrecht cuts flight short over heat in cockpit also from nltimes.nl (the zeppelin took off from Germany to measure air pollution in the Netherlands last week, but had to cut its flight short due to overheating equipment)

Climate crisis-driven heat ‘sucking soils dry’ as extreme drought hits Europe from theguardian.com

In other news, here is a picture of a butterfly bush (unfortunately without any nearby butterflies), also known as Buddleja davidii.

Categories: Daily Dutch living, The Hague | Tags: Flowers, Summer, Weather | Leave a comment

Flower by Amare (Or: Summer days)

Posted on August 4, 2026 by Niki

Marco took some photos of the flowers outside of Amare, a multi-use building for culture, education, music and dance. Of course, my favorite is the one with the tram in the background!

Marco also pointed out that if you look closely you can spot a bee at the bottom of the sunflower. You can also see some benches; this is the perfect place to sit when you don’t mind a bit of sun.

Here’s a photo of some pretty purple flowers, because, well, purple.

We can’t really complain too much this summer. We did have a heat wave in June, but lately it has mostly been temperatures of 25C/77F, although yesterday and today were around 31C/88F.

Tip for those in the Netherlands: there will be a partial solar eclipse (about 90%) on Wednesday, August 12. Article in Dutch.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Centrum, Flowers, Summer, trams | Leave a comment

Vondelstraat (Or: Flowers in The Hague)

Posted on June 24, 2026 by Niki

Last weekend, Marco went to Kelly’s Expat Shopping. Along the way, he snapped a photo of some flowers on Vondelstraat (straat = street).

Back in 2021 I took a photo of a nice, tall sunflower on the same street. While at Kelly’s, Marco got me some Cheerios, yellow mustard and sour cream & chive pretzels. Yum!

The temperatures are rising here in The Netherlands. Europe swelters under deadly ‘Omega’ heatwave, more records expected (Reuters). Things are pretty bad in France, with Paris seeing temperatures of 41C or 105F. Luckily, things will finally begin to cool down in southern Europe later tomorrow and Friday — which of course means the heat is coming our way! We don’t have it as bad as Paris though. Today was 33C/91F in The Hague, with temperatures rising to around 35C/95F Friday here in The Hague.

To give you an idea, it’s currently 28C/82F in the apartment. But, if you aren’t used to air conditioning it really isn’t that bad (except when you’re trying to sleep – that is indeed annoying). Air conditioning still isn’t common in the Netherlands, although it is of course increasing in popularity thanks to summers like this.

Check out the live blog about the weather (in Dutch) at nos.nl.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Flowers, Summer, Weather | Leave a comment

Colorful graffiti (And: Sizzling temperatures)

Posted on July 1, 2025 by Niki

Last week Marco and I had Friday off so we were exploring Binkhorst, an industrial part of The Hague a bit more to the south of the city centre. I managed to find some graffiti. First, some frogs!

I also found graffiti of a woman’s face. It was quite striking, although my preference goes to the frogs since it was so unexpected.

The woman looks like she could be an evil villain, like Harley Quinn or a younger version of Cruella De Vil.

At some point we had to cross the canal. The best way to do that was over a very steep bridge. Steep because each step was quite narrow, too narrow to fit my (already tiny) feet on without hanging over the edge. Here’s a link to the Google Maps image but you won’t be able to see well how steep each step is. Like most Dutch bridges, it comes with a groove on each side for you to more easily transport your bike across. It did the job, though. We got across. And Marco was a gentleman and went before me to catch me if I fell! (Or at least we would fall together. Haha.)

In other news, the Netherlands sizzled like a pair of eggs in an overcooked frying pan today. The Hague got to around 35C (95F) at the worst point. To be fair, we only had a few days of really high temperatures. Things are already supposed to cool off tomorrow as the wind changes and a storm rolls in. Hopefully with some thunder and lightning…

Here’s an article from regio15.nl in Dutch about how the weather was so hot today, the tram rails started shooting upwards (!). There were also a lot of issues with bridges getting stuck and not opening due to the heat. There’s also a live blog about the weather over at NOS, one of the public broadcasters in the Netherlands.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Graffiti, Summer, Weather | Leave a comment

What summer needs (Or: An ice cream cone from the Ijskabinet)

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Niki

What do you do on a warm summer evening? You go get ice cream, of course.

The Ijskabinet (literally “ice cabinet”) is an ice cream store in The Hague’s city centre, across the street from the Buitenhof/Hofvijver. They have been there since 2019 but this was our first time.

I knew I wanted a cone, but I quickly opted for a decadent chocolate cone. Then they asked if I wanted sprinkles, and I said yes, thinking they meant the sprinkles would be on top of the ice cream. Nope…

Apparently that meant sprinkles on the cone itself (Lekker! Tasty!).

I got coffee flavored ice cream and Marco got two scoops: yoghurt and lemon meringue pie. Mine was great and hit the spot. Marco liked his as well, although he said the lemon meringue pie flavor could have been stronger.

Ijskabinet does not have a working website, but they do have an Instagram page. I get the impression that the flavors change day by day, so you just need to walk in and see what they have. There is ample seating outside because it is right next to the statue of Johan de Witt which has nice seating opportunities at its base.

Categories: Daily Dutch living, The Hague | Tags: Desserts, Summer | Leave a comment

Overlooking the Hofvijver (Or: A relaxing place to be)

Posted on July 19, 2024 by Niki

Here’s a photo I took of the Hofvijver last weekend:

I suspect the area was crowded today. Our summer is apparently two days long: today and tomorrow the temperature is around 28C/82F, before the temperature drops back down to 21C/69F on Sunday.

Did you know there is a live webcam of the beach at Scheveningen available at strandweer.nu? (strandweer = beach weather). Of course the sea itself is still pretty cold, considering the summer hasn’t been overly warm, yet.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Binnenhof/Buitenhof, Centrum, Summer, Weather | Leave a comment

Summer, sun! (Or: Even the deer at Koekamp are feeling lethargic)

Posted on June 26, 2024 by Niki

The Netherlands has finally gotten a mini heat wave – it’s only the second (or maybe third) time that I have gone outside without a jacket on this year. Yesterday and today was even shorts weather! Unfortunately the good times only last through tomorrow, as the weather will turn a bit cooler again from Friday. Just in time for the weekend…

Here’s a look at the Koekamp, not far from The Hague’s central train station:

And here’s a look at the deer on the other side of the fence (they are a bit further down the path on the photo above, but not really visible):

Interesting fact: in July of 2022 there were plans to create a visitors centre in part of the Koekamp, although I’m not sure if those plans are still moving forward or not. Hmmm.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Summer | Leave a comment

Photos of September days (Or: Summer is holding on)

Posted on September 28, 2023 by Niki

I must admit we have had a lot of luck this summer with good weather, especially in the second half. (The first half could be eloquently described as rain, rain, rain.) With that being said, you can tell fall is approaching, with less sunlight and shorter days in general.

Here is a photo I took of Lange Voorhout, with the leaves on the ground:

And here is a photo from the Paleistuin (Palace gardens):

The building pictured is called Koninklijke Verzamelingen (Royal Collections). The website describes it as “the accumulation of objects and sources of information that members of the houses of Nassau and Orange-Nassau, and people around them, have gathered and kept over many centuries.” You get the idea.

One good thing about the approaching colder season? It’s much easier to sleep! Air conditioning in homes isn’t that common here so it can get warm at times. But now you can get onder the covers and make yourself nice and toasty.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Centrum, Summer, Weather | Leave a comment

Walking through the dunes (Or: Enjoying the sun in Kijkduin)

Posted on September 14, 2023 by Niki

As mentioned in the last blog post, the weather was great all of last week. On Saturday Marco, Roger and I took advantage of this by visiting Kijkduin, a beach which you can reach with either bus 24 or tram 3. I am not a huge fan of buses so we went with tram 3 even though it was a longer walk.

Our first stop of the day was Wagamama. That is a British restaurant chain which focuses on Japanese-inspired Asian food. I didn’t take any photos of the food this time, but I did snag a photo of the artwork on the wall before we left:

Cute, huh?

After that we took a walk through the dunes. It was about a 45 minute walk. But considering it was a bit later in the day – after 6 – there weren’t too many crowds. Here is a photo I took of the pathway through the dunes, near the beginning of our walk:

I like how the path curved into nothingness. Pretty quickly more and more sand began to appear on the path and the concrete wasn’t always even, but it was a fun walk. We ended up at the tram stop for tram 12 (as was our plan) just in time to snag it before it started its route. The best part was by the time we got off that tram the sun had started to lower a bit and the sky subtly started to change colors as the evening set in.