exploring netherlands: the hague

we spent our first day in the netherlands daytripping it north of rotterdam to the hague which sits alongside the north sea on the western coast. its population is nearly half a million and is a very popular summer destination for the dutch. our motivation for visiting scheveningen beach was for the firework display that was planned during our stay. the weather forecast was a mix of sun and cloud with very mild temperatures in the mid teens but we chanced it anyways. in under an hour, we arrived at the hague via train and were greeted with some very ominous clouds and grey skies as far as the eye could see.

the_hague_pics017 — beatrixkwartier station aka: the fishnet stocking

we passed some time grabbing a very expensive but tasty bowl of pho and since the weather wasn’t cooperating, visited the mauritshuis for our first museum visit in weeks.

the_hague_pics019 — one of haha’s final 12 euro bowls of pho. europe is an expensive place to be if you’re addicted to vietnamese food

the maritshuis is a modest two storey building with the entrance being on the underground level. its so unassuming that we even walked past it twice while looking for it. it is famous for works from vermeer, rembrandt and a bunch of other dead artists that haha knows better than me.

the_hague_pics013 — there was more normal stuff though…

the_hague_pics003 — and some creepiness to boot

the_hague_pics004 — i don’t know about you but i’d have a hard time photoshopping that let alone painting it a few hundred years ago

the_hague_pics005 — johannes vermeer’s famous girl with a pearl earring being admired by one of the tight pants posse

the_hague_pics006 — hey look… no asians to wade through!

there was also a temporary exhibit that was quite… different. upon walking into a bright room with vaulted ceilings, all the pictures were on the floor, facing away from us and angled towards the intersection of the wall and floor.

the_hague_pics014 — trying to picture myself crawling through that dog door

this exhibit was about picture framing and the artist created replicas of famous pictures’ frames. slightly unconventional but all frames are not made equal and there are all sorts of mounting and stretching nuances that i had no idea about. the infamous mona lisa was even a subject and this frame stuck out from the rest

the_hague_pics007 — a weight sensor on the replicated frame of the mona lisa to detect any possible swaps of the artwork

the_hague_pics008 — i have to assume that the ‘this side up’ sign means that somebody actually hung the mona lisa upside down at least once

we bailed on trying to make the beach work out so we strolled around town before making our way back to rotterdam for dinner. the hague is a very easy daytrip to make from rotterdam and should be even easier to access from various areas of rotterdam once the new metro line is added.