In spite of our mutual exhaustion, none of us slept well through the night. We were all up by 8:15 and heading out to Den Haag for our walking tour. Our guide, Joao, was adorable and informative. Here is some of what we saw:
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| William I of Orange |
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| Street art (this and next 2 photos) |
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| The Binenhof (where the government operates), currently closed for renovations |
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| Built in 1500s |
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| Oldest mall in the Netherlands |
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| The stork is the symbol of The Hague |
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| Here's a painting of the stork on a building |
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| This lion was the former symbol of the Hague |
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The Palace where the Kings (including the current one) work.
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| Our tour guide |
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A former church now used for concerts and other events
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After all of this walking, we were ready for lunch, so we quickly found a cute cafe. David had tuna, while Adele and I had sticky, crispy chicken. All very yummy!
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| The tuna |
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| Crispy, sticky chicken |
Next on our agenda was MC Escher in the Palace - a museum dedicated to the artist MC Escher, who's famous for his optical illusions. Queen Emma lived here!
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| Some of Escher's most famous paintings (and next 3 pictures) |
There were also some interactive exhibits.
There were also some really interesting chandeliers.
And Queen Emma welcomed us warmly!
We then walked through a small park with an interesting sculpture, and went to the Mauritshuis Museum. Unfortunately, the most famous painting usually housed there, is currently on display in Japan. Here are a few paintings we saw, mostly Rembrandt, as he's my favorite!
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| Sculpture in the park (which was also having an antique fair). |
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The cover of a book was as close as we could get to seeing the real thing.
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After all of this, we headed back to our rental apartment, and we all took short naps. Then we found a restaurant to have dinner, and managed to make a reservation on a website in Dutch! Food was terrific! David had soup and we all shared cauliflower hummus and smoked salmon. David loved the glass his beer came in and asked if we could buy one, but they gave it to us!!
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| Smoked Salmon, half way eaten |
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| Adele's Salmon |
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| Sue's duck |
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| David's bitteballs |
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| Our restaurant, Brasserie Polderfabriek |
A few things I forgot to mention yesterday.....
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| New and old windmills |
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| The spiral staircase leading to our apartment (try doing this after a few drinks) |
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| Speaking of drinks.....Adele and I each had a giant gin and tonic! |
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