Utrecht, The Hague, Rotterdam #5: The Hague
Slept in. Was able to today. Needed to today. I like this hostel. I trust this hostel. So much so, I'm not using lockers and leaving all my stuff on my bed. The company's laptop included. Stay updated to find out whether it gets stolen, I have an email subscriber link now on my homepage.
Got dressed. Went to find breakfast. Ended up in a small Vietnamese restaurant serving vietcoffie and bánh mì. When in Den Haag... I wonder around with no real purpose for a while with the Netherlands' greatest export singing in my ears. Anouk that is. Apparently she's coming here soon. I saw a poster promoting it. Not to brag, but I already saw her in '09 at Suikerrock. I found this high quality video of part of that concert on youtube just now. Oh to be 7 again...
I decide to head to the painter's neighbourhood, schilderbuurt, thinking it could be full of murals and galleries. Turns out it's a fatbike-infested residential area, where football is strictly forbidden (these plaques were everywhere). I wasn't planning on playing, but not having the option feels like utter fascism. I did find a cool record shop, where I bought my first Frank Zappa album. Actually it's a The Mothers of Invention vinyl, called Just Another Band from L.A.. Result! In addition, I got a cheap copy of the self-titled Emerson, Lake & Palmer album. Bought it for the Lucky Man track.
In the afternoon I head for the Mesdag Panorama-museum. The place was recommended to me by someone I met at work. The panorama was painted by husband Hendrik Willem Mesdag and wife Sientje Mesdag-van Houten, both of whom specialised in depictions of the North Sea. The point of the panorama used to be to provide the impression of being in the painted environment. Back then it was the only way to see what other places looked like. The illusion was enforced by the path and staircase leading to the panorama being completely darkened. I found it magical. The immersion is complete, as you cannot see the edges of the painting, which circles around you. For more details I refer back to the wikipedia page. They need the traffic.
It's raining now, so I'm sitting in Lola's lobby, typing up my day, listening to the F1 broadcast. I thought of going to visit the house of hypocrites, but the tours were sold out. Imagine that.
I realise I haven't said anything about The Hague itself, so here it is: it's lovely. A super clean town with beautiful buildings everywhere. An architect would have the time of their life, I think, because every building seems to have its own particular style. I am no architect so I can just describe them as pretty or nice, sometimes as really nice. I'll make a page here with some pictures: (see page). It feels like a city for foodies as well. Because of the large number of expats, all different types of foods are available, inexpensively priced. Thankfully so, because I don't think my hostel has a proper kitchen. I'll lie here and say that if it did, I would have cooked chicken and rice to save money. The large number of foreigners also means that, like in Amsterdam, everyone is constantly speaking English. Even the cycling Dutchies. Thank the Almighty for that.
The biggest, most interesting tourist attraction in The Hague is sadly closed for renovations. The Binnenhof, centre of Dutch political life and the oldest parliamentary complex in Europe still in use today, has been made completely invisible by scaffolding and tarp. A pity because I'm not coming back for it and the small visible parts look beautiful. You can find a foto of the back of it in that aforementioned picture page.
Antonelli on pole!
Forgive the delay in posting. Yesterday evening I returned to the bistro-bar I mentioned in the last post. Café de oude mol. The aim was a pastis and a table to write on. The result was a conversation with a group of local Dutchies and an end to the night I cannot totally recall. More reflections on this in my next post.