The Hague

March 13, 2011- Today was our Sunday excursion to The Hague, or Den Haag in Dutch, which is the governmental capital of the Netherlands while Amsterdam is the official capital.  Den Haag is where all the government buildings, the Queen’s Palace, and the International Court of Justice which is also known as the Peace Palace.  

Professor Hoeksema joined us for this excursion since he finally arrived in the Netherlands.  Upon arriving in The Hague, we first started walking around the city.  This city had a much different feel than the other cities I have been too.  For one, this city had trees everywhere!  

Trees are very rare in downtown Amsterdam and it is nice to see a change of scenery in a city.  We first walked to the Binnenhof which is where all the parliamentary buildings are located.  

Inside of the Binnenhof

Outside of the Binnenhof

This is the equivalent of the capital building with MUCH less security as we could freely walk in the center courtyard.  

At the center of the courtyard was the Ridderzaal, or the Knight’s Hall.  This building looks like a large church but is primarily used for as the place where the Queen makes her annual speech on Prince’s Day.  All the parliamentary buildings are located around the Ridderzaal.  Next we went to the Mauritshuis, a museum which paintings from various artists.  

The most famous painting there is the Girl with the Pearl Earring which is apparently made famous through a movie that came out recently.  There was absolutely nothing special about this painting in my opinion.  There were only two cool paintings in that museum which made it worth it.  The first was Adam and Eve in Paradise.  This painting so many details and symbolism in it that it was fun to look at and was easily my favorite.  The second painting was The Bull.  This painting was really interesting because it seemed almost life-like.  The bull looked 3D and seemed as if it was actually in the room!  

After the museum, we walked to the Peace Palace.  

This is the International Court of Justice where all international crimes are tried and is also the judicial location of the UN.  Afterwards we walked to the Palace.  I did not get a good look at the palace itself but I saw the Royal stables.  

These stables were not ordinary stables as it looked like a huge mansion.  We walked through the park located behind the stables.  

There was a pond and also a bunch of flowers growing.  

Today was the first day where flowers seemed to be blooming and it was beautiful.  After walking back to the van, we continued on our way to Scheveningen, a suburb of The Hague.  This place was a huge resort town along the North Sea.  

We walked on the pier and went to McDonalds.  I hope to come back here in a month or so when the temperature warms.  This excursion was my favorite thus far because I love walking around new cities and exploring.  Plus these cities are completely different from any place I have been before.