American in The Hague - The ROYAL Christmas Fair and other adventures

My Dutchie and I went to the lovely Dutch city of The Hague for a weekend. It's lovely to visit there this time of year-we stayed at the historic Hotel Des Indes and went to the Royal Christmas Fair, among other things. I also noticed some interesting cultural differences and facts about this city that I share in this video.
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I like to share my experiences of an American expat in the Netherlands. I describe both the unique and everyday aspects of Dutch culture, and life in Holland while enjoying every bit of it!
Blog website: www.dutchamericano.com
Instagram: DutchAmericano
Get in touch: [e-mail]
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[@jasper265]

You should definitely call it Den Haag. Not because you have to, but because you get to show off your great pronunciation!

[@alicevanhuijzen-vandenbran6646]

When you are in The Hague, you have to go to Panorama Mesdag. That's a painting of 120m in circumference and 14 meters high. And it's like you step back in time to Scheveningen in 1880. And than also tell them Alice send you guys.❤ Btw love your videos❤

[@MusicJunky3]

Did you realise when you left the hotel ,the building on your left used to be a palace which they now turned into a art museum / gallery ?! And then further down the street that big grey building on the left that used to be the American Embassy not so long ago ?! Fascinating stuff right ?!😵‍💫

[@nataslived7029]

You’ll have to call it ‘‘s-Gravenhage now😉

[@GabberPinda]

Da's killing voor een Amerikaanse 😅

[@eddys.3524]

Well, Hotel Des Indes is famous... also in Dutch Politics. Governments were formed there.. and occasionally also fell...

[@DutchAmericano]

We were drawn to it for the history!

[@dutchman7623]

@@DutchAmericano The hotel is famous for visits NOT with your legal partner. 😉

[@eobi-edobi4275]

Hotel des indes, WOW, very chique, some famous historical people, stayed there. quiet expencive, enjoy you stay. Royal, is about the palace around the corner, and the Esher Museum next to hotel des Indes, was a residence of a former queen, maybe next visit ??

[@ronaldderooij1774]

The nickname of Den Haag is "Hofstad" meaning City of the Court. And indeed Maxima sometimes does shop in that street you showed. Fun fact, before the Netherlands existed, The Hague was the seat of the Counts of Holland and thus the capital of (North and South) Holland (not Amsterdam). That is why it is still the seat of government of The Netherlands. Amsterdam is the capital since 1815, when the King proclaimed it as such. Some say he did that to tease Amsterdam for being too republican.

[@dutchman7623]

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was the first Konijn van Holland, and confiscated the Town Hall in Amsterdam to be the royal palace in his capital. But you are right about the somewhat problematic relation between the royals and the capital.

[@tonp2284]

@@dutchman7623 You are aware that "Konijn" means "Rabbit" in Dutch??😅

[@denniseijs]

​@@tonp2284I bet it was done by auto(in)correct. 😂

[@speerboom]

⁠@@tonp2284The king of Holland was French (because Louis Napoleon Bonaparte) and he had a heavy French accent. When he would say ‘koning van Holland’ it would sound like Konijn van Holland because of his accent, which is why he’s known as Konijn van Holland.

[@Man-in-the-green]

Den Haag heet de Hofstad omdat er ‘een hof’ was/is. Het Binnenhof oftewel kasteel. Niets met court te maken fantast. 😂

[@70ed81]

Very nice,...I hope you had a wonderful time and wishing you Merry Christmas in advance.😉

[@hellmuthschreefel9392]

Love your videos Eva. Keep up the good work.

[@DutchAmericano]

Aw, thank you!

[@NaomiClareNL]

Amsterdam may be the formal capital of the Kingdom of the Netherlands but Den Haag is the real capital with the residence of the royal family, parliament and government, embassies and some fine international institutions. All in all, Den Haag gives off its own vibe compared to Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht. PS Huisje boompje beestje is going well I hear 😛...

[@eelsing1]

Great vid as usual. So interesting to see my hometown through your eyes, glad you had a nice stay.

[@eelsing1]

You may want to look up the wiki about Des Indes, especially the Notable Guests list. 😉

[@fern8003]

I thought exactly the same. Funny to see your own city/ country through someone elses eyes

[@gordonwallin2368]

Yay! Happy Holidays to you both. Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

[@lkruijsw]

Note, there is only one reference in the law that Amsterdam is the capital. The constitution says that the King must ascend to the throne in the capital Amsterdam.

[@ruudvisser712]

I recognized that bit about several nationalities working together. At my fave shop in Den Haag, the American Book Center, I know staff comes from Brasil (2x), Czech Republic, Indonesia, Panama and several Dutch staffers had their cradle across borders as well because of their parents working abroad...

[@eliseakerboom]

O, that’s fun. I just got back from the Christmas Fair this afternoon. Really liked it, luckily it was dry. You staying at Hotel des Indes is great.

[@Bramfly]

Hotel des Indes is great indeed, never stayed there overnight, however lots of tea drinking in the lounge and cocktails at the bar. Exceptional food, though pricy, as well

[@PH61a]

There are a few royal palaces in Den Haag so the city is royal for sure. International, sure: all embassies are in Den Haag (not in Amsterdam) and of course the UN International Court of Justice.

[@_r0bert]

Funny to see you in my Royal hometown (and the hotel where I happened to work for a while).

[@sewthuis9659]

hou van jullie ALOT

[@royklein9206]

Next year you guys should visit a german christmas market for the ultimate experience!! And for more Mondriaan visit my town Winterswijk where he lived. We have the Mondriaanmuseum here. Do you have a cold btw Ava? your voice sounds a bit different.. :) In ieder geval, heeele fijne kerstdagen!!

[@erikmulder2574]

Looks beautiful, Den Haag during Christmas time, okay, you too 😅. Have fun, and Den Haag is good for shopping 🛍️

[@arnoblokker5562]

Kan je ook een keer een vlog in het Nederlands doen, of de halve vlog. Het lijkt me wel eens leuk om te horen hoe je Nederlands is nu je al enkele jaren in Nederland woont????

[@nicollevisser8141]

Ja dat zou leuk zijn!

[@whukriede]

As always, heel erg sweet, dear Ava!

[@damouze]

I am glad to hear you had a great time in Den Haag and I am not surprised the first thing you went for was an oliebol! They are quite delicious, aren't they?

[@hanhenderikse]

Nice you enjoyed your "Royal" stay in The Hague 😜

[@jaccovermeulen2762]

you knew how to pick this

[@bastonor]

This was funny, over all 🙂

[@qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq54]

i was thinkin mona lisa makes strange noises late at night

[@daphneschuring5810]

You moved again!🥳

[@Suteruni]

Not sure how it is now but Den Haag used to be a bit 'stuck up' or posh. Rich folks from there ( or even worse, wannabees) brag a lot, so funny. We even have a typical dutch dessert called "haagse bluf" , it is all air 😅 Been there a few times and loved it. Glad you do too !

[@Stars_Falling_93]

The Christmas fair looks a lot nicer at night. I was there Thursday afternoon and found it quite underwhelming.

[@celsus7979]

Rummy is how you pronounce yummy with a mouth full of oliebol.

[@DutchAmericano]

😅😂

[@mymemeplex]

1:07 Is that thing on crooked or is it the light?

[@mediocrebastard]

Geweldig dat je De Hagedis hebt gevonden

[@j0hnn13K]

There's also something like a "Royal seal of approval" that certain stores, companies and brands are allowed to carry, usually it is symbolized with a little crown on packaging or in their logo. For instance, oil company Shell has this Royal title, but also Albert Hein, Jumbo, and the famous "Wilhelmina Mints" all carry the Royal badge. (just to name a few of MANY) But i guess Den Haag is "extra Royal" hehehe, technically you can run into a Royal there at any time of day, (in reality, you won't ofc) so slap on a Royal badge and pretend Royalty visited. ;)

[@eobi-edobi4275]

I believe Shell lost its royal name when it moved out of the netherlands. same as DSM

[@j0hnn13K]

@@eobi-edobi4275 oh, i was not aware of that, ty for the correction :)

[@cheapworldtraveller]

You should call it by its original name... 's-gravenhage

[@daphneschuring5810]

You visit the Royal Christmas Market today? I missed you then :(

[@charlesvanderhoog7056]

Oliebollen = Dutch donuts (in American English). I just learned that from a restaurant Michelin star inspector.

[@DutchAmericano]

Oh really?! Interesting!

[@damouze]

@@DutchAmericano The legend goes that when the Dutch colonists arrived in New Netherlands (more or less what is now New York) they brought their recipe for oliekoeken (another name for oliebollen) with them. The British colonists, enamoured with their taste tried to copy them but never got them to fully cook well, so they cut out the middle part. Thus, the doughnut was born. Dough-nut. Dough nut. The true story is a bit more complicated. In fact, Max Miller did an entire video on the doughnut.

[@corneliusantonius3108]

You said "Dutch wife" and it made me think of John Cleese.

[@frankgeurts3912]

Lot of breaks😮

[@sefbauwens5764]

Yes, Den Haag is definitely "koninklijk." I studied at the ROYAL Academy Of Art there.

[@DutchAmericano]

Fancy!!

[@jwenting]

@@DutchAmericanonot really. The classification "royal" is granted to a company or institution by certain members of the royal family for providing them with goods or services. Used to be some members would sprinkle the title around a LOT, and in some towns near royal residences nearly every store and school carries the title as a result. Since about 10 years there are stricter rules attached and only a limited number of companies in each sector can be granted the title in any given period, and the title is no longer permanent but expires after (I think) 5 years. Old titles remain in place however, as they were granted before the new requirements were put in place. For them the only ways to lose the title are being taken over by a foreign owner (as only Dutch owned companies can hold the title) or if they go out of business or are bought out (as the title doesn't transfer to the new owners).

[@jbird4478]

@@jwenting No, it's not. The "royal" label is something an organisation or company can simply apply for. There's a number of requirements, like it has to exist for at least 100 years, and it has to have some sort of national significance. Officially it is approved by the Royal House, but of course it practice it is just some government bureau that handles it. The Christmas fair in the Hague interestingly does not actually have this approval, which might be why they exclusively use the English word "royal" even in the Dutch marketing.

[@flamingspikes9568]

What are your tips for learning Dutch?

[@patrickhendrikskingston9303]

The King lives in the Hague so that's why it's the royal city

[@moshemordechaivanzuiden]

Chique de prique de tralala: very deftig. This is where diplomates used to lodge. I don't know if they still do.

[@jonk6092]

Dat was geen oliebol

[@johnveerkamp1501]

SPA WATER IS HET LEKKERSTE WAT ER IS. I specifically bought a machine to make it from tap water. HEERLIJK !

[@EdwinHofstra]

Je bedoelt bruiswater? Spa is gebotteld bronwater.

[@jacques7799]

Hotel des Indes? OMG! Incredible history. Did you know Mick Jagger, Micheal Jackson and Prince stayed here?

[@paulpleijs]

And a lot of mice...

[@ericdere]

Can you pronounce 's-Gravenhage? It's apparently the official name.

[@user-xu3gt4ri6m]

No. Born and raised in The Hague ( schilderwijk, then city center ). We call it Den Haag or "DHaaag" if you speak my dialect of haags. Still a throat breaker for english speakers with that heavy G at the end.

[@EdwinHofstra]

Even to a non-Christian like me, royal christmas fair sounds kind of sacriligious. I think it's just a clever marketing play on the Dutch word royaal, which may literally mean the same, but is used in the sense of 'bigger than usual', with jovial undertones. Een royale portie = a big helping. They're trying to suggest that their oliebollen are bigger. 😂 You probably picked up on the fact that 's Gravenhage is the country's seat of government, so most embassies are there. But there are more reasons for it's multilinguisity: 1) The city has three distinct city dialects. Flat (yes, we use that word a lot, we're a flat country, here it means colloquial) Hagenees, which is very much a South Holland dialect, posh/fancy Haagsch, usually described as 'speaking Hollands with a hot potatoe in your throath', and, since the ever growing polisphagous city of Den Haag annexed Scheveningen, also a slice of the coastal dialect, shared by Holland's fishing towns. Hagenees and Haags both use a lot of fancy words, from the time that the court language was French, but Hagenees more or less deliberately mispronounces many of those. Eg. Serieus (French for ernstig) may be pronounced like zere neus (sore nose). How would you translate "hè wil seireneus genaume worre"? Haags and Hagenees are distinctive enough that they are instantly recognised throughout the country. 2) The city is also the administrative centre, meaning a lot of (former) civil servants call it their home, including those that served overseas, who in turn include many who were native to those overseas territories and entered Dutch civil service.

[@EdwinHofstra]

In that respect, you might enjoy visiting the tong tong fair (formerly the pasar malam besar) on Malieveld, Den Haag next May.

[@BrazenNL]

I thought you were integrating very well, and then you say you don't want to complain …

[@DutchAmericano]

😂😂😂

[@Emphyrio7]

But can you say _'s-Gravenhagen..._ 😮

[@whukriede]

Iederen kan dat!

[@EdwinHofstra]

​@@whukriedeVandaar dat ze de naam in WO-II gebruikten om te horen of iemand een Duitse infiltrant was.

[@RAMDH]

A few international/European bodies that are based in The Hague Internationaal Strafhof, International Criminal Court (ICC) The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Vredespaleis: Internationaal Gerechtshof en Permanent Hof van Arbitrage, International Court of Justice and Permanent Court of Arbitration International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, (IRMCT) Europol European Police Office Eurojust The European Judicial Agency Het Europees Octrooibureau, European Patent Office (Headquartered in Munich) De Haagse Conferentie voor Internationaal Privaatrecht (HCCH) The Hague Conference on Private International Law I'm sure I forgot to mention a few

[@patrickhendrikskingston9303]

The way you say oliebollen is even more accentless than when a Dutchman say oliebollen👍

[@HannibalPim]

It's not a city, it's a village with way too many pretensions. :-)

[@Guytaryn]

🦩I enjoy my residence🎉❤😂see you tomorrow?🌲

[@juloedtb1420]

Den Haag, s'gravenhage or The Hague in English, is not trying to be a royal city, It IS the royal city of the kingdom and the Capital of the province of South Holland. It's also called the royal court since our King Willem (William) Alexander (King Willem IV of Orange-Nassau) lives and works here and thus the government and parlement resides here as well. It's the only royal court and government in the world, that is not located in the capital of the country (Amsterdam), like other countries where kings, presidents, and governments reside in there capital city. Btw, Amsterdam is not the capital city of the province of North Holland, Haarlem (Harlem) is! The Hague is this international because all the foreign ambassadors and ambassadorial personnel are residing in The Hague. Therefore they are quite good at speaking Dutch in the first place bc they work with local residents of the country. Too bad you didn't show the Prison Gate and the attached museum, right across from the old main entrance of parliament, where some (in)famous Dutch governmental leaders and others have been imprisoned, hanged or decapitated. Right by the old entrance of parliament aka binnenhof (innercourt) is one of the best herring stands in all of The Netherlands. Too bad you haven't tried them, they're really good and around this time of year, they also have a very good "oliebollen" stand across as well. Good video, hope you'll visit our beautiful city more often. Ps. Don't forget about the awesome sandy beach and dunes on Scheveningen, its boulevard (boardwalk and pier), entertainment, old village centre and the old Kürhaus hotel (more than two centuries old, anno1818).

[@lordsleepyhead]

Hotel des Indes? Look at Mrs. Moneybags over here...

[@gijsbertusvermeulen85]

You sleep in hotel desindes it is not a low budget hotel

[@BlueStarDragon]

Congrats with buying a house

[@eefaaf]

You know, paardenvijgen zijn geen vijgen.

[@JPM160658]

“Hotel des Indes” is a French name and should be pronounced as such. Means “hotel of the Indies”. Please don’t Americanize every foreign word you encounter.

[@denniseijs]

You should have used the alliteration. PaardePoep. 🤣 And The Hague, Den Haag. Now try 's Gravenhage. (des Gravens hage)