Photos of The Hague (Aug 7th)

The Hague is the last city that I visited with J and where I said goodbye to her. We arrived there on a Sunday, and hence the city was substantially quieter than any of the cities I'd visited up to then and many places (tourist attractions and shops) were closed for the morning or day.

The first place we hit was the Binnenhof or their parliament buildings. It was very quiet on the grounds. At the back was a large pool featuring several sculptures, including one that looked like Gumby striding through the water, and another that was an iceberg and freely floated around.

One of the more curious things we saw here were these pillars embedded at some pedestrian street ends that would raise and lower to allow cars to pass. Tourists in vehicles had huge issues with these - it was amusing to watch them drive up to then back away from these things, as the locals tried to instruct them in the correct manner to approach them.

We wandered in the antique market in front of the Het Palais (The Palace) for a while before going to see the Escher exhibit that was currently featured there. J picked up some Indonesian containers (if memory serves) while I found a kiddie version of Le Petit Prince in Dutch.

The Escher exhibit was amazing. I never even knew he was Dutch - he preferred the Spanish and Italian countrysides but his roots are evident in the woodcut Dag en Nacht or Day and Night.

After the exhibit, we made our way to Vredepalais or Peace Palace where the International Court of Justice is held. On the way, we passed a number of embassies including Cuba and Malta, but we did not spy the Canadian one.

Finally, we sought refuge in a coffeeshop to warm up and dry off since it had been raining on and off all day, though it never poured. In the few coffee places we went tea was invariably served in clear glass mugs while coffee was served with small glasses of water to rehydrate you. Drinks also came with a small sweet item such as candies or tiny cookies.

After saying bye to J at the train station, I head to Amsterdam for my final night in the Netherlands.