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Published: December 6th 2006
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On Nov 11, I went on yet another WINGS International Student excursion. We went to Den Haag (Dutch name for The Hague, as is " 's Gravenhage"). We left early Saturday morning on a bus. We got in in the afternoon, and wandered the city for a short while. Its very small (less than 500,000 people), and not actually a city at all. It was purposely chosen as the seat of government as a tiny village, so no existing city would have undue influence or benefit. This means that nearly everyone in the city works for goverment in some capacity, which also means its not the most exciting city in the world, but it is fancy. We got to visit the
Binnenhof ("Inner Court"), which is the center of Dutch government, where the Prime Minister works, and where Parliment is located. Each year the queen addresses Parliment in the same way our President addresses congress to give the State of the Union. She arrives in a golden horse-drawn carriage, and it is a big to-do with fancy hats and all. Some how they pack all of Parliment, and all of the cabinet along with all of their spouses and just about
Medieaval Ridderzaal
"Knights' Hall" Looks like a church, but never was nor ever meant to be one. anyone else in a high level of government into the
Medieaval Ridderzaal ("Knights Hall"), where the queen gives her 15 minute address from her throne then leaves again. Every Dutch citizen has a right to go to the address, but because only about 15-20 more people can fit in, one must write a letter every year for 7 years, requesting permission to go. If you miss a year, you have to start over with another 7 years, and if you successfully send one in all 7 years, but you aren't chosen in the lottery for seats, you have to write for 7 years all over again. Worth it to see the queen in her fancy hat.
After the Binnenhoft we got on the tram to
Scheveningen, a beach town just outside of Den Haag (unfortunately no "Watch the tramcar, please" a la Wildwood, NJ, just bells and squeaky wheels to warn of impending pain). Scheveningen is the most popular beach destination in the Netherlands, and has a big enclosed pier with a restaurant, casino, bungee jumping and an arcade at the end, and shops in the middle. The wind was terrible, though! And it was quite cold... We had
Queen Beatrix's Throne
Sorry about the lighting... impossible to get right, I tried forever. tea at the fancy
Kurhaus Hotel and Restaurant, then braved the wind and sand for a trip to the beach and pier. Then we hopped the trams back to Den Haag.
For dinner we all ate together at a restaurant, and I had delicious vegetarian stir-fry. We then went to a bar for drinks and dancing. I headed back to the hostel with a group at 2:30. On Sunday we woke up and after breakfast took a proper tour of the city. A group of us split from the tour because we wanted to see the
Mauritshuis Museum. There was a big collection of pieces by Rubens and Brueghel, who (I didn't know) actually worked together to create one painting. Little is known about how it was done, but they've learned a surprising amount based on studying the paint itself, and they can see who painted what first. There are actually times when one would completely paint over something painted by the other. Brueghel, who painted the landscapes, animals and plants, would sometimes scale his backround to force Rubens to paint his imposing figures smaller than he would like to. It was fun to learn about, and I can
just imagine the catfights they may have gotten into. The resulting paintings were the best of both worlds, however, with the best of each artist being portrayed.
The Anatomy Lesson of Doctor Nicoleas Tulp by Rembrandt was there, too! It is one of my top 5 favorite pieces ever, and seeing it in person was so great. No reproduction can do justice to the photorealism in Tulp's face, and the size is quite imposing. I spent at least 15 minutes in front of it.
After the Mauritshuis, we caught up with the tour at headed to the
Panorama Mesdag. A panorama is a painting style popular in the late 1800's where the painting is done in a 360 degree circle around the viewing point. The Mesdag was a panorama of the sea from Scheveningen in the 1800s. By spinning around, you can see the sea and boats on shore, the Hague, the village of Scheveningen and back to the beach on the other side. You're seeing it from a platform surounded by sand and 1800s beach props like lost shoes and fishing nets. The sand platform drops off almost imperceptibly to a 4 foot gap (which you can't tell
Moo
How progressive! Female cow (with udders) in a male suit! And I'm kissing it! Love these openminded Dutch! is there) and blocks the view of where the painting begins. Above the platform is a thatched roof blocking the view of the top edge of the painting and the skylight which lights the painting more naturally. It gained popularity as a way to play with the senses, and was a very popular attraction at fairs, though now most have been torn down. It was pretty cool to see one.
Lastly, we went to one of the oldest prisons in the Netherlands,
Gevangenpoortje ("prison gate"). It's also the first Dutch jail (it was a relatively new idea to house prisoners temporarily near the court to avoid having to transport them back and forth to the prison all the time.) The jail/prison was rough! The cells were just slightly bigger than the room I live in here, and held 15 prisoners! They got bread and water once a day, and the water was taken from the canal that the toilet dumped into. Class justice was prevalent, however, as rich people could pay to stay in what could only be called a suite. There was a fireplace, good food and wine, a really nice bed, a window and a candle. Even
Look at those modern, pretty government buildings!
The tallest white building is the home of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The two red ones on the right are home to the Dutch Ministry of Public Health, I believe. paintings on the wall! The tourguide repeated over and over, if you had money, you ate and drank well in the prison. Unfortunately for the other prisoners, their cells were right next to the kitchen... an added bonus of always smelling what you can't eat. On the upside, sentences were only ususally a week or two (likely because the prisoners might start dying off if they stayed any longer). The prison was equipped with a torture room, and now as a museum also holds the public execution tools used in the square across the street, just outside the Binnehof. The usual "I'll torture you until you confess so I can execute you" rules applied. One thing that I hadn't seen before amongst execution tools was a wooden sword, which the guide explained was for the wealthy who could pay to avoid execution, but were instead whacked with a big wooden sword on the neck. I'm not sure if the wooden one would be all that much better with a likely broken neck, hemorrhaging jugular or crushed esophagus, but I guess its worth a shot.
We ended the day with "poffertjes," 1.5 inch diameter pancakes, doused in butter and powdered
sugar, then hopped on our bus back to Groningen, exhausted. It was really a great time, and especially nice because I got closer to Marta and Alice, because none of my best friends at the time went, and it forced me to branch out. Now Marta, Alice and I hang out a lot, and I love them!
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