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Published: June 21st 2017
Het Binnenhof
Het BinnenhofGeo: 52.0677, 4.32697
We got up and had another fantastic breakfast before making our way to the station for the train to Den Haag. A train arrived just as we did so we quickly hopped on and found two empty seats in a remarkably empty, comfortable carriage. We were almost into Den Haag and no one else was in the carriage when along came a ticket inspector. That was no problem as we had our tickets. Apparently we were sitting in first class with second class tickets! We had no idea that there even were two classes on these trains. When we purchased the tickets at the station, at a manned ticket counter, we weren't asked which class we wanted. No wonder the seats and carriage were so comfortable! Fortunately the ticket collector was quite happy so long as we changed to a second class carriage.
We arrived in Den Haag and had some trouble working out which direction to go. I had an off-line map and walking tour on my iphone, but they were doing so much work around the station so the streets and station looked totally different. By following signs we finally worked out where we were and headed
Noordeinde Palace, Den Haag
Noordeinde Palace, Den Haag towards Het Binnenhof. We wandered around, taking a few photos here and there and kept walking towards the Noordeinde Palace, window shopping along the way. After yet more photos, we went to the Panorama Mesdag. This was quite amazing, I absolutely loved it here. I highly recommend anyone spending time in Den Haag to have a look at this amazing panorama. Such a shame that we couldn't take photos inside.
After the Mesdag, we headed to the Peace Palace for some more photos before boarding a tram to Delft. We caught the tram to the Brassserskade stop where we paid a visit to the Delftse Pauw pottery. After a very short wait they organised a free tour in English for the two of us. It was fascinating to see how the pottery was made, particularly the painting and the colours. It became quite obvious why the prices were so high in comparison to the made in asia pottery that was all over Amsterdam. We purchased a candlestick holder as well as a charm for my Pandora bracelet as souvenirs here. It was such a lovely day that we walked all along the canal into Delft which
took around thirty minutes. We loved watching some of the bridges open up to allow boats through along the way.
Once in Delft we spent some time looking at the lovely canals, the architecture and generally soaking up the ambience of the town. The Delft Markt was surrounded by cafes so we chose one and had a very enjoyable pork schnitzel with salad and fries, along with a bottle of wine. It was so pleasant sitting in the square, sipping wine and people watching. Very reminiscent of our time in Paris.
We then headed to the station, amazed and the number of bicycles parked there, and boarded the train for the return to Amsterdam – obviously making sure we were in second class this time! We were quite tired when we arrived so caught our one and only tram in Amsterdam to quickly get us back to the Banks Mansion in time for yet more wine and cheese. I think there was a theme here.
That night we browsed through a book of restaurants and activities provided in the lounge at Banks and chose a restaurant from there. We were in the mood for fish, so decided to eat at Lucius.
The hotel made a reservation and we walked there and had a sensations meal – I had halibut with veal sauce, which sounds weird but was amazing, and Gary had the seafood platter which was massive. Our meal at Lucius, with wine, was €110.
After our dinner we decided that we had to have a look at the Red Light District. I had a self guided walking tour on my iphone so we used that to get to the area, but then just wandered around. Can't say I really liked the idea of looking at almost naked women in shop windows, but it was certainly interesting. I think Gary may have been slightly more interested than me, but of course he wouldn't admit to that ...
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