Tuesday June 2nd, 2009. Shuffling off to the train station Tuesday morning delivered quite a shock. We needed to board an 8:40AM train to rendezvous with Rudolph in Den Haag at 9:30A, but our first train was running four minutes late – unforgivable! The realization was that we had been traveling all over the Netherlands on two non-working days, so perhaps we could grant a little leeway during rush hour. Remarkably, the sign boards on the platform advised you that things were running slow and advised us precisely of the delayed arrival time.
During the Den Haag connection we finished up our baguette and Gouda, without coffee, so caffeine was at the top of the agenda after greeting Rudolph in the station. It was another sunny day and Rudolph set the tone by offering wonderful detail on the surrounding skyline as we sat outside at the Ooievaer café. From here we set off towards the first stop of the day, the Peace Palace, where Rudolph had arranged a tour for us at 11AM. You can only witness the grandeur of the Peace Palace, home of the International Court of Justice, through a guided tour and Rudolph had not been inside since childhood. We went through security and Rudolph had a spirited exchange with a guard: he had arranged our tour via e-mail using his native tongue and so they put us in with a Dutch group! But things were quickly put to rights and off we went.
Our tour guide was Kathleen, a Belgian, who walked us through the magnificent interior which defies description. Art pieces and exotic construction materials have been donated by nations across the globe. Italian tiles, dovetailed oak ceilings from the US, Ming vases from China, Turkish carpets, rosewood furniture from Brazil…you get the picture…incredibly beautiful. You’ll have to take my word as photography is not permitted once you enter.
A touching story involved a scene painted on the ceiling of one of the chambers featuring Irene, goddess of Peace. Irene’s face was modeled after a gardener working at the Palace by the young man charged with creating the mural, due to his infatuation with her, and the happy ending is that they got married. Touring the Peace Palace would prove to be one of the highlights of our time in Netherlands, an inspiring destination.
Peace Palace in Den Haag
After the tour we took a walk past the royal carriage house and the Binnenhof, the complex of buildings where the Dutch government congregates (Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, but The Hague is where government sits), with Rudolph providing informative overviews. Our tour proceeded through a park that seemed quite familiar, because we had already seen it through Rudolph’s brilliant photography. On the fringe of the park was the entrance to the Escher Museum, which I had expressed an interest in seeing. But the weather was too nice to squander it indoors, so we proceeded to an outdoor café for lunch with intentions of heading to the Den Haag neighborhood of Scheveningen afterwards.
Scheveningen is a seaside resort, a short tram ride from downtown during which Rudolph taught us how to use strippenkaarten - a strip card you use to get around by bus or tram in the Netherlands. You can pay cash when you jump aboard local transportation, but it is a lot cheaper to buy a 15 or 45 strip card at the neighborhood convenience market. A neat feature is that I could use the same card for both Kim and myself; the confusing part is that you need to know how many zones you are crossing. Determining this remains a mystery to me, but you can just ask the driver after sharing your destination.
At Scheveningen (I used the mnemonic “shave a ninja” to pronounce it correctly), Rudolph introduced us by pointing out the grand Kurhaus, a massive hotel opened in the nineteenth century. The Kurhaus was originally a seaside health spa (the obvious translation is ‘the cure house’) that almost succumbed to the wrecking ball in the 1970’s. Although it dominates the view, Rudolph pointed out how the surrounding modern high rises (built to accommodate tourists) had completely blighted views of the ocean.
Scheveningen
On foot we trekked much of the pier towards the dunes and views of defense bunkers built by occupying German forces during WWII. Our tour guide (lol) went on to explain how the dunes supply Den Haag with a high-quality, natural supply of filtered water. From the dunes we rode the tram to the other end of the waterfront to check out the kite surfers and lighthouse of Scheveningen and then walked about the inner harbors before the long tram ride back to Rudolph’s home.
Here we met Rudolph’s charming wife Jacomien, who was busy in the kitchen preparing a fabulous meal for us. Kim joined Jacomien in the kitchen while I received an in-depth introduction to Dutch politics as the election for their EU representative was this week. Holy confusion, Bat Man – I’ll be the first to tell you there are problems with our two-party system in the US, but it certainly isn’t as overwhelming as a 17-party system!
Rudolph and Vance in the sun at Scheveningen
Dinner featured rijsttafel, Indonesian cuisine with a Dutch twist. Realize I do terrible injustice by trying to describe this, but it was something like a buffet, with a big bowl of rice surrounded by tons of separate dishes: spicy green beans, tofu, meat balls, freshly pickled cucumbers, prawn chips and tiny shrimp with lettuce were just a few. Candle powered heating plates were laid out to warm most of the dishes and you placed a portion of whichever you liked beside your rice and perhaps added some sambal (a spicy sauce), and enjoyed. The only caveat was that you are not supposed to mix things together, which diminishes the flavor of each dish. It was a terrific meal savored over more conversation.
Kim and Jacomien had much in common: both with Friesland ancestry and a love of sunflowers among other things. Rudolph and I had to fall back on a sick sense of humor, lol. It was a very pleasant evening and I was touched that our hosts went out of their way to conclude with a dessert I could enjoy – light ice cream and fruit…I usually sit on the sidelines during this course. Kim received a cool gift as well – Rudolph had earlier helped her identify a treat a friend wanted us to bring back (Haagse Hopjes), and they presented Kim with a couple bags so we wouldn’t have to go searching. The dinner was a relaxed ending to our splendid day in Den Haag, which will be treasured always.
No comments:
Post a Comment