13-18 July We left left Rotterdam for a fairly easy cruise to Den Haag. Lot's of bridges but many we didn't have to request to be opened as we were lower than the closed bridge height. Around Delft we had to get the bridges opened and ended up in a convoy of about 5 boats. Coming into Den Haag we were the only boat and the last two bridges had double red lights on them - meaning that they were closed. It took a few photo calls to get onto the correct people, but they were happy to open the bridges for us, and we arrived in the harbour. We had been a little apprehansive as to what we would find, and whether there would be room for us. But, in the area marked for visitors, there was only one other boat, which looked like it was a local anyway. In all the time we have been here there was only one other boat - a cruiser - which only stayed for a couple of hours and then left. We haven't seen a harbour master either. Our mooring is behind a high school which is on holidays so it has been a fairly quiet place to stay. On Saturday we cycled 30 minutes back to Delft and had a look around, including a boat cruise and a walking tour. It is tradition that the royal family get buried in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft and we were able to see the mausoleum of the Prince William of Orange-Nassau, the first Stadsholder of the united provinces of the Netherlands. On Sunday we went to the Maritshuis which is now a museum with paintings from the Golden Age. When we arrived they were serving coffee and tea and cake in the front courtyard in celebration of Rembrants 400th birthday. Inside were many great paintings including three Vermeers, among them "Girl with a Pearl Earring", and a few Rembrants. The building used to be a palace of a prince of the Orange-Nassau's and so was an interesting building in itself. On Monday we went to Madurodam in the morning. This had 1:25 scale models of important Dutch buildings and industry. We recognised many of them and it was quite interesting. In the afternoon we went to the beach at Scheveningen. It was a warm day (about 28 degrees) so we did go for a swim in the North Sea, and also had a look around the pier. On Tuesday morning we had a look at the visitors centre of the Peace Palace, where the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration are located. It was very interesting. The building itself and the gardens look lovely but they are only open a few weekends a year and we missed it. Although Den Haag is the seat of government and the King and his family live here, it is not the capital of the Netherlands which surprised me (it is Amsterdam). The whole Binnenhof complex, which houses the parliament, is a mix of old and new buildings. We saw it a few different times, and decided to do a guided tour on Tuesday. It was quite interesting to learn more about the Dutch government. On the tour we saw the nights hall which is where the king gives his speech every budget day in September. We also saw the room that used to house the House of Representatives, an other antechamber that has the portraits of all the Speakers of the House, and the new chamber of the House of Representatives - needed when the number of representatives went from 100 to 150. We had a small book describing a guided tour of Den Haag from the Tourist Information office and we saw segments of the tour over a few days. It is a lovely city with a nice mix of new and old. On our last morning we went to the Haagse Markt - that claims to be the one of the largest multicultural markets in Europe. We had a nice time and the fresh food looked great and was cheap.
4 Comments
Richard Switzky
18/7/2018 04:18:28 pm
Love reading of your exploits - as always the pictures are superb
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Howard
18/7/2018 05:39:14 pm
Thanks Richard ... She does take a good photo. Trust you and Virginia are well.
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junona jonas
18/7/2018 05:35:13 pm
lovely Girl with the Pearl Earring
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Karen Melchior
19/7/2018 04:30:24 am
Delightful journal. Your eye for detail and composition is remarkable!
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