From dance to theater, from museum to music hall, from folklore to poetry and film: the whole cultural palette of The Hague
Marnix Rueb was the author who gave the Hague its own strip hero, Haagse Harry, or The Hague’s Harry. Marnix died Oktober 23, 2014. January 26, 2016 a statue of Harry was placed in the city centre. As you can see has it a special FaceBook like hand at the back as ever as anarchistic as Harry was.
If the longer and warmer days were not indication enough of the city’s awakening, then the flurry of press releases about the forthcoming awakening of The Hague is a sure sign that the days ahead will be different. No more crawling into winter slumber after a days work, no, the City and the weather are enticing us out of our homes and onto the streets.
Announcements about the Festival Month of June, when for a month long we will be confronted with an embarrassing wealth of choice when it comes to music, has now been given an appetizer. In May a new initiative will hit the streets and wet the appetites of Hague residents. Culinary The Hague will take place for the first time from the 2nd through the 8th of May and foodies can take part in a culinary tour of the city. For the fixed price of 59.50 you can enjoy a four course meal, in four different restaurants – on one evening!
Wait, there is more, for the adventurous gastronome. After you reserve your ticket you will be told which of the four participating restaurants will be serving you which course, and while traveling from one to the other you will be given a route to follow, which will take you through some of The Hague’s historic points. Information about your route, what you will see, and where you will eat will be sent to you by email following the purchase of your ticket.
And, if this were not enough – each course includes a drink!
The participating restaurants are: Restaurant Des Deux Villes – Restaurant It Rains Fishes – Restaurant Dekxels – Decibels – Restaurant Max– Restaurant Han Ting – Brasserie Buitenhof
Den Haag City Marketing and its partners have outdone themselves with this inspiring initiative. For more information, and more importantly to reserve your seat & tour visit www.ontdekculinairnederland.nl – be creative though, or use google translate – the site is only available in Dutch ….
Bon appetite, and dare I say, happy travels!
PS The June Festivals include: The Royal Beach Concert (June 4th & 5th), Shopping Night (June 23rd) , Parkpop (June 26th), Den Haag Sculptuur (June 6th through to September 1st), Vlaggetjesdag (June 11th), The Hague Jazz (June 17th – 19th) , Festival Classique (June 14th – 19th) and Dutch Veterans Days (Nederlandse Veteranendag) (June 25th). As of April 18th www.thehaguefestivals.com will have all the up to date information.
We were in the city center this Saturday and just happened to stumble accross the Chinese New Year parade. It was fun to catch the fireworks and see the rabbits and dragons in China Town.
‘ZOOM, eyes on Dutch fashion’ is a visual journey through the history of Dutch fashion from 1950 to the present. The exhibition consists of over 150 photographs work with the crème de la crème of all Dutch designers, photographers, stylists and models. If you are fashionista then make sure you visit this exhibition when you are in The Hague.
Location: Le Magasin de la Mode, Haagsche Bluf 43, The Hague
Website: residencedelamode.nl/en/programma
Coined as Puttin’ Op The Ritz DJ Socrates and DJ Ome Steef organize a Swingin Jazzy Dance Night at De Combinatie, Lange Beesten Markt 108 in The Hague from 22.00 hr (10.00 PM) until 02.00 AM.
The event has its own FP page with some good tunes to get in the mood.
DJ Socrates announces:
Those ingredients are: a nice funky warm place for dancing, another DJ with equal enthusiasm for dancefloor jazz and off course.. lots of new exciting music! I’ll be playing the hottest Electro Swing tracks out there and Ome Steef will be focusing on the old school sound, with the best Big Band Jump, Dixie, Latin Jazz & beyond. I too look forward to some classic sounds.. One of my heroes Louis Jordan, will definitely be in the mix with his infectious boogie woogie!
I’m sad I can’t afford to go myself.
The Hague was recently in the news, but I couldn’t find a video to embed. So this is a bit late but still worth posting.
The Dutch government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte has announced it wants to economize on the Dutch orchestra. The members of the main orchestra demonstrated in their own musical way at The Hague central station
NICB is a bank with head office in the Hague. Because it celebrates its 65th birthday it offers entrance to 20 musea of The Hague for Free on October 31, 2010!
They opened a special (Dutch of course) site: NICB Open Museum Dag
Participating musea are:
source: Hofstijl
STET – Stichting The English Theatre – promotes and produces professional English-language theatre for the international community in The Hague and surrounding areas.
STET is the brainchild of Elske van Holk who worked for the Southwark Playhouse, a famous studio theatre on the London Fringe. She was a part of its production team for six years where she learned the ropes and trade of theatre production. She started STET in June 2006 upon her return to The Netherlands, having identified the need for a good high quality English-language theatre in The Hague.
The English Theater has been involved in over 20 productions in the past three years. The locations where the productions are often performed add a special charm to the performances.
Ashley Ramsden’s A Christmas Carol was performed in one of the oldest and best-preserved almshouses in The Hague “Het Hofje van Wouw” (1634). The open-air performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the Mowgli Stories (aka Jungle Book) by the British theatre company Illyria, sometimes accompanied by champagne picnics, at the Oranjerie of Duivenvoorde Castle from late August have now become a tradition for many.
STET’s oncoming production, The Guildhall Graduates 2010 – Young Talents from London, takes place on 29 September to 3 October at the Branoul Literair Theater in the Maliestraat, The Hague. Three young graduates from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama will perform their graduation solo pieces. Collaborating with Drew Balch (viola), the monologues are written and directed by the actors themselves as part of their final examination requirements.
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is one of Europe’s leading conservatories. It boasts of Daniel Craig, Joseph Fiennes and Ewan McGregor among others as its alumni.
More information and online bookings can be found on their website www.theenglishtheatre.nl
If you say “Hopje” or “Hopjes” in plural, a Dutchman will associate it with The Hague immediately. Foreigners may associate it with a typical Dutch candy.
As the Dutch words “Haags” or “Haagsch” and “Haagse” or “Haagsche” mean “something or someone from The Hague”, a Haagsch Hopje is a coffy candy from the Hague.
Wikipedia has an English Language and a Dutch language lemma on Hopje. Former links with The Hague Daily Photo Blog, a blog sadly discontinued by its author Lezard, but still worth while a visit. I took the second photo from it.
Hopje’s History is also Typically Haags
It is named after baron Hendrik Hop who used to live in The Hague. His doctor advised him not to drink coffee, but he craved coffee like many of us. According to some sources it happened entirely by accident as Hop left a mixture of coffee and sugar simmer too long on his stove so that a heavily caramelized substance was left in the cup. He asked baker Theodorus van Haaren, who lived on the ground floor, to create coffee lumps that he could dissolve in water as a coffee alike drink. After some experimenting, van Haaren created a sweet made of coffee, caramel, cream and butter.
Where else than in The Hague could a Baron cause the invention of a candy?
Noteworthy is the hopje became so popular as a candy that there were many brands, each claiming being the producer of the original hopje. Rademaker’s is one of the brands that still survive, but Haagsche Hopjes are being made in Breda nowadays.
The Hague used to have a Museum dedicated to its Hopje, but that has been closed since 1998.
Absolutely The Hague! 