Den Haag

The next day my friend and I ventured out to Den Haag and to the sea-side resort of Scheveningen, located directly on the North Sea.  It being a particularly windy day, the clouds were moving fast and taking all sorts of shapes like they do in the paintings of the old Dutch Masters.


It was amazing to see the amount of traffic in the sea: big tankers moving across the horizon.  I was fascinated to see the oil rig standing alone way out in the distance.  From the shore (and in my zoom lens), it looks more like an alien spaceship poking out of the water.

Scheveningen has a boardwalk (and only the hardcore were out walking on it) that goes out to a pier.  Along the walk are several restaurants that were basically empty.  One provided us refugee from the cold and I had one of many Dutch specialities: a large flat pancake (more like a crepe) with chunks of bacon in it that one then pours a dark syrup onto it.  The dark syrup is somewhere between molasses in color and golden syrup in taste.  

One of the most impressive buildings along the beach is the Kurhaus, built between 1884-5.  It was always a fancy hotel that included a concert hall. Probably the most famous concert: the Rolling Stones on August 6, 1964.  The lobby is full of black and white candid photographs of the Stones.  At some point, it burned, was rebuilt, and then fell into disrepair, only to be saved because it was named an historic building.  It was completely renovated and the Queen reopened it as a very fancy hotel in 1979.

After our Dutch pancake treat, we ventured out on the beach and I dipped my shoe into the North Sea-- you couldn't have paid me enough to dip my actual toe.  It was way too cold for that, though we did see some crazy man in a water suit trying to surf.

We left the beach and rode the tram back into Den Haag to the Peace Palace.  Built in 1913, it is century old and built by Andrew Carnegie to house the International Courts of Justice (ICJ).  It was conceived at the First Hague Peace Conference in 1907 as the palace for world peace.  There is a fountain in the driveway area that has the word "peace" craved into the stone in all the world's languages.  I find it ironic that one year after it was built World War I started....

From the Peace Palace, we went to the Gemeentemuseum, having to cross President Kennedy Blvd.  It made me pause to think about JFK, as the 50th anniversary of his assassination is in a day.

The Gemeentemuseum is the art museum that has the largest Mondrain collection in the world, as well as several of the old Dutch Masters, including Rembrant's "The Anatomy Lesson" and the "Young Bull" by Paulus Potter.

And though we aren't supposed to take photos, I couldn't resist to snap a non-flash photo of Kandinsky, my favorite.

One of the special exhibits was on Coco Chanel and it was a frenzy in the rooms.  Women everywhere were looking at Coco Chanel's life and her fashion, her hats, her jewelry.  It was a fun exhibit that even included a place where you could put on some fake Chanels and do a photo shoot, complete with the big lamps and background.

 The exhibition ended with a room of Chanel's Little Black Dresses.    It was very fun to see how the LBD has changed over the years, while still retaining some of Coco's original elements: calf-length, simple, and elegant.

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