17 October, 2013

Den Haag (The Hague)

TL/DR: mini-Netherlands, fries, and Escher

So, this is quite a late post but I've been (thinking about) working on my final essays for my classes that are due next week and obsessively reading War and Peace (SO GOOD).  But here it is, as promised, mah trip to da Hague!

Sunday, 13 October

Let me just say that if you think you've been in a bad rainstorm, you ain't never been in a Netherlands rainstorm (or maybe you have, so you know what's coming).  I biked 15 minutes to Centraal Station at 8:30 a.m. and by the time I got there, my socks were squishy and my scarf was dripping and all kinds of other unpleasant things were happening in 47 degree weather with high winds and literally constant rainfall.  At least 12 hours of rain that day.  By the end, all of my clothes were stuck to my body, and the wind was blowing so hard that I probably would have gotten home faster if I had walked my bicycle.

Bottom line, I would have taken more pictures had I not been worried about soaking my camera.  Apologies in advance.

Our first stop was in Madurodam, a miniature replica of the Netherlands.  If you know me, you know I'm all about some miniature replicas, so this place was pretty neat.  I was trying to keep my hands warm and some parts of me dry so I don't really know what most of these places were supposed to be (sorry guys!), but have a look-see anyway :)








AJAX football stadium


Crops!  Tulips, cucumbers, roses, and more (that I don't remember...)



All the boats, trains, and busses moved.  




The baggage belt moved all the tiny suitcases along!




DUCKS


Dam Square :)



Mini-cheese market :)



And here you can see one of the only pictures I have of my friend Bek from London.


Lunchtime!  This place, Jack Snack, was rated the #1 fries place in The Netherlands and Belgium.  Our bus driver brought the owner on board to say hello.


Poor angle to demonstrate how HUGE this portion was.  The cone was about as long as my head if that helps.  Toppings included pindersuis (peanut sauce), mayo, curry ketchup, and Oorlog ("war"- a mixture of all of the toppings available).


Jack Snack himself (I don't know if that's his real name, but that's his award the bus driver is holding behind him).


Our bus driver, being a Haag native, wanted to show us everything.  He took us on a walk to see parliament and some important statues.  (The Netherlands is the only country in the world where the government is located in a city besides the capital, in this case, Den Haag.)  Because of the rain, I didn't really take too many pictures, but I took this picture for all my gaybeans back home :)  The bus driver said that the reason they are displayed is because all the members of parliament are gay.  A quick Google search reveals that this was probably a "joke" but enjoy the picture anyway:


Escher Museum!  Cool chandeliers, Islamic art (because of the similar focus on geometry), and yes, I got postcards from here as well :)  The building used to be a palace, so some of the rooms have photographs of what they looked like before they housed Escher's work.

* Side note: that mall I was in during the scavenger hunt is called The Beehive (in English), and Escher designed wrapping paper for them back in the day!  I don't have any photos of it, but yeah, just a fun fact.



Brollies in the lobby (small fraction)



Brolly on the ceiling























Light fixture in the stairwell


Part of the interactive section of the museum


Other artists with similar styles were exhibited as well:



And then we went home!  Never have I slept so soundly on a bus...must've been the weather.  For 20 Euro, this was a freakin' sweet deal.   Glad I went :)

No comments:

Post a Comment