We’re in Rotterdam and today we are going to take the train to The Hague,
best known of course as being the location for the International Criminal Court.
So we’re going to go explore that and the rest of it.
We just arrived at the train station in The Hague and it was really windy in Rotterdam.
It was crazy.
But the sun has come out so this is perfect for us to go out and explore.
So it turns out it actually is quite windy out still.
But it’s fine.
It’s not going to cramp our style.
No.
We’ve just arrived at this museum called Mauritshuis
and there is a collection here of paintings by all the Dutch masters,
including one painting in particular that I think you will definitely recognize.
We just saw one of of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings called The Anatomy Lesson from 1632.
I didn’t realize it was here in The Hague but I can remember being like 5 years old at school
and sitting in a circle in art class and learning about that painting.
I didn’t realize that Rembrandt was only 25 years old when he was asked to paint it.
It’s just so, so cool to see it in person and bigger than I imagined it would be.
There’s one particular painting that we’re looking for.
I think she’s in the next room.
There she is.
I had no idea that when you came to The Hague you could see The Girl With A Pearl Earring.
Yeah.
If you don’t know this painting it’s from 1665.
It’s Johannes Vermeer’s most famous painting.
Hands down.
And, seeing it in real life now, I didn’t realize that her eyes kind of follow you like the Mona Lisa.
And she has this expression on her face - also like the Mona Lisa -
that’s just kind of inscrutable and you feel that she’s looking at you very pointedly saying something
but you don’t know what she’s saying.
At least that’s the feeling that I had and as I was walking back and forth across the room
her eyes definitely felt as though they were following.
Following.
Which is just the weirdest sensation that this painting from the 1600s…
Quit looking at me!
…is trying to tell you something, staring at you.
Yeah.
But we all have that feeling, I’m sure.
So seeing The Girl With A Pearl Earring was fantastic.
So if you come to The Hague don’t miss that ‘cause that is so cool to see!
Next we’re going to a museum with art of a completely different kind.
Yeah, I’d say.
Of M.C. Escher
who you’ve probably seen his drawings of…
Staircases.
Yeah, they look mathematically impossible his depictions of these crazy scenes.
And we’re going to this museum that’s all dedicated to his art
so I’m excited to see it.
Me too.
It’s called Escher in Het Palais.
That was really interesting.
Yeah, it was.
I didn’t really know what to expect but they had a lot of his art
and you could kind of see the progression of his graphic design, which was really interesting,
and then the building itself is apparently the former winter palace
of Queen Mother Emma of The Netherlands.
That was another little bonus there.
Yeah, there’s a lot of history just with the building itself which was neat to see.
And it was cool for me because as a kid I loved M.C. Escher
His drawings were just so mind-bending.
I didn’t…I couldn’t grasp them.
Yeah, kaleidoscopic in a way when you’re looking at them.
Yeah.
I also think it was neat just to see those two galleries
with such different kinds of art in them back to back.
Totally.
Yeah and so now we are going to see the International Criminal Court.
The sun is coming out.
It’s not as windy so hopefully this will hold.
We just found this crazy little frog.
Another thing we didn’t expect to find in The Hague.
He’s so cute.
Of course I didn’t think we could visit The Hague without coming to the International Criminal Court.
This is a place where individuals who have been charged
with the most serious and gravest of all crimes that affect the international community -
crimes of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity - they are tried here.
We’ve just come out after visiting the ICC and we both got visitor’s passes,
went through security.
Obviously the security here is very high.
And there weren’t any sessions on right now while we were here but they do have public galleries
where you can actually go and, if it’s an open session,
you can hear and see the trial as it’s going on.
So unfortunately we didn’t get to see that but if you’re here at another time
check the calendar ahead because that’s something that you could see
which would be really, really interesting.
We got to check in and see the building
and then there’s an exhibition about the history of the International Criminal Court -
why it exists, since when, what it does,
who it’s funded by, who it serves - all of those kinds of things.
So I thought this was super worthwhile to come and see.
Definitely worth the stop.
I couldn’t personally have come to The Hague without visiting the ICC
so this was time very well spent and I feel like we learned a lot.
We’re at the pier!
We keep hearing from people that the pier is really nice in The Hague
so we felt like we had to check it out.
Yeah, I never associated this with the beach.
No.
I mean I always thought of the International Criminal Court and -
Not the beach!
- everyone in the Netherlands says,
‘Oh yeah the Hague. It’s this lovely beach town, seaside resort.’
Not what we think of.
It’s chilly today but it’s still really pretty and there’s birds and
this is a really nice way to top off the day.
It’s dinnertime.
We’ve made our way back downtown from the beach area
and we got this restaurant recommended to us called Jamey Bennett
so we’re going to head in there and get some food.
That was an absolutely incredible dinner at Jamey Bennett.
Yeah, I feel like we had been out in the cold all day
and it was so nice to just have this really long, cozy meal.
They had a fire inside and the lights were dim
and the whole idea is that you share plates
so we got to share all of our little things that we ordered
and finish it off with an amazing dessert
and a cup of coffee which was, again, so cozy.
I think that’s what we were craving so -
I think we decided that our favourites were - well, for me the ceviche.
That was really good.
That was so good.
But the salmon sashimi was my favourite.
You loved the sashimi, yeah.
And the dessert which was cheese and nut bread with this apple syrup which was delicious.
Yeah, I mean don’t get me wrong - everything was absolutely amazing.
Yeah.
But if we had to pick favourites.
I know.
That’s what I would pick.
It was a really nice way to end what turned out to be a really, for me, surprising day in The Hague
because I feel like before we came my main idea about what The Hague was
was the International Criminal Court.
Yes.
‘Cause in my head the two are inseparable.
The same.
And then it was just nice to discover that, of course, there’s so much more there.
The beach - I had no idea it was known as this beach town.
I had no idea that those Dutch masters’ paintings were there,
especially The Girl With A Pearl Earring which,
I think is arguably maybe the most famous Dutch painting in the world.
I would argue that it’s one of the most famous paintings in the world.
And then that famous Rembrandt painting so
the whole day was just nice surprise after nice surprise after nice surprise
so it was nice to end with that cozy dinner and, yeah, I don’t think I’ll forget it.
And, for me, I loved seeing the M.C. Escher artwork
because as a kid I just absolutely loved his art.
It just boggled my mind to look at and so to see it in person was really neat.
So hopefully you guys enjoyed that too.
Maybe there were surprises for you as well.
Leave a comment if something did take you by surprise.
Can I say ‘surprise’ any more times?
-No. I don’t think so.
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