Europe 2022 – The Hague, The Netherlands

By Kathleen Ennen / July 15, 2022

The Hague – 12-15 July, 2022

12 July

Off to The Hague today. We walked the short distance to the train with enough time to get some lunch stuff. I brought along the left over salad and Anne bought a sandwich in the station. We went to Plat 11 but learned after waiting a while that it was changed to 14. We dragged our luggage up and over to the next platform and finally boarded and found seats.

It’s a 6+/- hour journey with 2 changes to get to The Hague. We travelled along at nearly 100mph so it was hard to see much of the passing German countryside. It’s mostly agricultural with horses, corn and wheat fields. As we got farther into the Netherlands we saw more and more cows.

We got to our flat right in the heart of the old city. It’s old, and slanted!!! The stairs are very steep, narrow and spiral…. We were thankful that our host, Jessica, lugged the big suitcases up the stairs to the first level, 2 stories. There’s another level above where the two bedrooms are. We didn’t take too much up there and had to slowly descend/climb in the middle of the night. We did discover handles to grab on the interior pole of the stairway that made it easier.

Jessica recommended a nearby seafood restaurant for our first dinner here. Harpoon – turned out to be a great choice. Small plates. We choose sourdough bread, mackerelle fillets, delicious octopus with a wonderful sauce and “fish no chips” which was hake. We had a second plate of the octopus. Very good!!!

It was a very hot night – the flat was hot and the fan only helped a little bit until the early morning when it finally cooled down some.

We asked both Jessica and our dinner waiter what they’d recommend for our short visit here. Both were pretty clear – the Mauritshuis Museum, the beach and when we queried they agreed with Delft. Both the beach and Delft are reachable via Tram/streetcar No 1 which is about 2 blocks from the flat.

13 July

Anne wanted to step out for breakfast and as it was a beautiful sunny, clear, not too hot day we wandered a short ways and found a nice spot on the street.

We organized ourselves for a day out and found our way to the museum. It’s small and very easy to see without getting too overwhelmed. Much of the works are by Vermeer. There are others as well, and also a few contemporary photographers with similar subjects offered in contrast. My favorite for that was an old oil of a young girl writing a letter placed adjacent to an artfully lit photo of a young girl doing effectively the same thing on her phone. The caption closed with, “did she send the text?”

The museum is a beautiful classical house with a canal/lake behind it. The fountain and geranium planters made a very nice spot as we walked along it. After the museum we found Tram No. 1 and headed out of town for 20 minutes to see the beach area.

It’s very touristy with many on the beach restaurants between the walkway and the beach itself. There are a couple of points where you can walk out on the sand. We walked towards the harbor area. Once there, we realized we were in the outer area, we had to walk another 10 minute to get around it, and an area of construction and industrial activities to get to the inner harbor. There were many people and kids out on the sand and some in the water.

We walked along the boardwalk area for quite a while. We saw small boat racing with spinnakers up and large ships off in the distance. We don’t know if they were queueing up to get into Rotterdam. Along the way was a collection a very funny whimsical character sculptures. I particularly like the sleeping froglike creature with backwards facing feet.

Once we got to the inner harbor area we saw lots of boats and found several restaurants to consider for a late lunch. It was perfect!!!! Sunny warm, we’d walked a lot and decided a cold beer would be tasty, and an order of mussels, dark bread, and fries. Sitting in the sun and being warm for the first time on the trip was a pleasant way to spend some time. We headed back to the flat with a 10 min walk to the No 1, and a 20min ride to the stop near us. The beer resulted in both of us taking a short nap!!!

Not sure whether we’ll have a small dinner or maybe an ice cream, but the evening is nice. It’s cool. There’s a breeze blowing through the open windows and someone is practicing on a horn – maybe a saxophone? They are in a nearby flat. Not great music but it’s not bad either!!!

Tomorrow we’ll be back on Tram No. 1 and ride to Delft which is fairly close as well.

14 July

We had breakfast in the flat of the muesli, yogurt, and fruit that we’d obtained over the last day or so. The No. 1 tram stop, the same as yesterday is 5 minutes from the flat. We headed out in the opposite direction to Delft, about 35 minutes away. We say lots of canals, mostly small, and I spotted some sheep on a golf course. They pollute less than grass cutting gear!

The central square near one of the large churches was full of pop up shops of everything. Fast food for take away, produce, fabric, clothing, etc. We visited a permanent shop on the fringe of the square and found a terrific array of flavored gouda cheese. The pesto one was good!!! Anne bought the Tzatziki one and I bought an aged version. We sampled several flavors and got a short lesson on cheese making. It was fun talking with the staff.

We entered the large church on the edge of the square that Anne knew of as she wanted to climb the tower. Nearly 900 steps!!! Very narrow, and steep spiral stairs with 3 landing areas. It was bit close when trying to pass someone going the other way. I found, rather than try to maneuver on the narrow inside of the spiral (as everyone seemed to want to stay put at the wider side of the stairway) I would hug the center “post” and tell them to move around me. I felt more secure holding on to something and letting them pass, than trying to pass on the inside where the step were only a few inches deep.

We had great views at the various levels and took lots of photos. The top was very narrow and Anne, afraid of heights, found it too hard to take photos. We could see cities in the distance and expect them to be Rotterdam and The Hague. It’s possible we were also looking at Amsterdam as it’s only 40 miles away from Delft.

Delft has some very pretty things to consider for souvenirs, but I really don’t want to just buy stuff because it’s pretty and from Delft. I don’t need any tea towels but they were a real contender in the pretty blues of delft patterns. I did find a fabric shop in the square and bought a meter of delft like cotton fabric with a blue pattern with boats and other things and some red highlights. 8 euros. I’ll think of something!!!

We stopped for lunch before heading back on Tram No. 1. The smoked salmon is so good that I don’t mind having it almost every day! Then we stopped at the chocolate shop for some ice cream. I had salted caramel which was rich and creamy and Anne had the very dark chocolate sorbet. She made the better choice. Not sweet at all.

Tomorrow we are off to Amsterdam to stay on a house boat near the central station. 3 days, 4 nights will give us a day’s more time to explore or maybe just relax on the deck and watch boats and people.