Fietstocht naar het strand (Bike trip to the beach)

The weather today was absolutely phenomenal: sunny, maybe even 80°F! Naturally, there was no better place to go than nearby Scheveningen Beach in The Hague, especially since today Schollenpop, a free pop music festival, was being held there. Apparently the entire population of the Netherlands had the same idea.

North Scheveningen from De Pier
I didn't really know where the music festival was and figured I would hear it when I arrived, but this was not so. (Hey, it's a big beach.) While looking for it, I was easily sidetracked into exploration. In the past, Laura and I have basically visited the central portion of the beach, but this time I ventured to the north side where everything starts getting glitzy. I walked, for instance, over the top of De Pier, an interesting pier/shopping mall/casino/bungee jumping structure. (Yes, that is a person dangling on the end of that bungee line in the picture at right.)

It naturally turned out that the music festival was on the complete opposite side of the beach from me, and in fact was not even accessible via the beach itself. In a country with tons of waterways, dikes, etc., this situation often happens: you're standing at point A and you can see point B - heck, you might even be able to talk to someone at point B - but you've got to ride a mile to get there. When I finally did arrive, there was decent music, abundant sunshine, and cheap beer. Life was good.

Schollenpop!
After tiring of the beach, I made my way back home (by bike) through The Hague, which is probably the least fun city to ride a bike through in all of the Netherlands because it is really spread-out and has lots of car traffic. This results in bicycles, like cars, having to stop at lights every ten seconds. Luckily, the Hague is a particularly cultured city that features some kind of sculpture or memorial at roughly those same intervals. On the Lange Voorhout (a famous street in town), for instance, I saw some cool sculptures by Mexican artist Javier Marín.


It was a nice day in the sunshine. When I got home, I thought I'd end it by picking out a nice dinner at the grocery store. I settled on what I thought from the picture on the package to be a ready-made shrimp stir fry. Unfortunately, when I got it home, I discovered I had bought 400g (that's 0.8 lbs!) of frozen crawfish. Lessons learned:

1. This (bad karma) is what I get for not putting more effort into learning Dutch
2. Rivierkreeftjes is Dutch for crawfish.
3. Don't ever eat 0.8 lbs of crawfish in one sitting again.

The Girl with the Pearl Earring

Today we rode our bikes to Den Haag to the Mauritshuis Museum to see The Girl with the Pearl Earring. The bike ride was wonderful; the air was crisp and the sun was shining. Tulip like wildflowers were just starting to bloom up along side the canals and paths to Den Haag.

This trip was inspired by my earlier viewing of the movie and visiting the Vermeer Center in Delft. After learning about Vermeer's life in Delft and his superior skill in painting light, I knew I had to see the famous painting in person. The painting is magnificent. The audio guide calls her the Mona Lisa of the Netherlands, but I think the Mona Lisa is the Girl with the Pearl Earring of Italy. She just shines on the canvas; the light and luminosity is amazing.
She may be the hallmark of the gallery, but the rest of the collection is quite impressive. The gallery houses two other paintings by Vermeer - a lovely landscape of Delft and one of his first works, Diana and her Nymphs. In addition, there are a dozen Rembrandts, a couple Ruebens and van Dyck (famous wedding portrait painters) and an interesting painting by Willem van Haecht. The painting, Apelles painting Campaspe, is a painting of hundreds of paintings - or an art gallery. The picture below isn't the same painting, but is done in the same style. The level of detail in the mini paintings was amazing - he had to be a master at many techniques.After we finished with the museum, we rode back to Delft enjoying the sunshine and flowers on the way.

Marike Jager in Den Haag

While Laura's mom was visiting in January, she was interested in taking home a CD from the Dutch music scene. We popped into a music store and all really liked the first CD the store clerk suggested, "Cecilia Trigger," by a Dutch artist named Marike Jager. Both Marike herself and her album have since been nominated for an Edison Award, which is like a Dutch Grammy. Laura and I decided to go see her play at Paard von Troje in nearby Den Haag (The Hague) on Thursday. The venue was nice and the show was a lot of fun.

Also, because I know you're wondering: many/most Dutch music artists actually sing in English. So, although we had very little idea what she was saying when she spoke to the crowd in Dutch between songs, we could definitely enjoy her English lyrics.

Snow boarding, Anecdotes

Yesterday my whole research group went snow boarding and go-kart racing at an indoor facility in Den Haag (The Hague). It was a blast! I'm dying to get on a snow board again so I can add some steering skills to my existing ability to remain upright. (It's tough when you can stay upright at high speeds but can't steer very effectively ... snow boarding in the mountains would surely end with me plummeting off the side of a mountain.) I also found out two illuminating pieces of information yesterday with regard to customs here, which I thought I would share.

After spending Monday and Tuesday giving people handshakes and "Best wishes for the New Year" like a good transplant, I was told last night that January 6th is generally the statute of limitations on best wishes. I noticed people still doling them out today, though, so it must be more like a guideline than an actual rule.

I think Laura and I have well-documented the regular occurrence here ("here" meaning "on the European mainland") of cashiers expressing disdain when given inexact change - for instance, a purchase of €3.90 paid for with a €5. Several of my Dutch coworkers let me in on the secret - apparently the reason cashiers are so tightfisted with their change is because banks here charge businesses money to get the change in the first place. Whether it is a substantial amount of money or businesses here are tightwads remains a mystery to me. (I know that when I worked for Radio Shack, I got change from the bank for free.)

Peace Palace

On Tuesday, dad and I rode our bikes to Scheveningen Pier and back. It was a quiet day on the North Sea, but I can imagine the crowds and activity on summer weekend.













On the way back we stopped at the Peace Palace in The Hague. The building was completed in 1913 and was designed to be a place to arbitrate disagreements between states, international companies, and treaties. Currently the building houses the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Hague Academy of International Law, International Court of Justice, Carnegie Foundation, and Carnegie Library. However, contrary to popular thought and my own, it is not where they try war criminals. This building is only for matters of the states and international organizations.


While the building was paid for by Andrew Carnegie and designed by the French architect Louis M. Cordonnier, the interior design and decor is a collaboration between the many countries that make up the UN. I wish I could post pictures but photography was not allowed inside; so you will just have to come visit and see for yourself.

The room that impressed me the most was the "Japan Room". The walls were decorated with handwoven tapestries that 48,000 people worked to complete. The front of the room had four 600 year old Ming Vases that were in immaculate shape. The "Japan Room" is where the council meets to go over administrative items and such, and so each country has its own chair for its diplomat/ambassador to sit in. On the chairs are hand embroidered crests of each country. The floor covering is the second largest, single piece Turkish rug - and despite all the foot traffic over the years is in surprising wonderful shape.


Outside of the Peace Palace is The World Peace Flame Monument. In the center is a flame that was lit from a torch from all seven continents. The flame is surrounded by The World Peace Flame Pathway. In the pathway there are 196 stones, one from each of the United Nation states and 6 others, brought by their ambassadors/diplomats from their home country. We looked for the stone from The United States on the map of the monument, but someone had crossed it off the diagram.

To the North Sea or Bust!

And bust we almost did.

Armed with bikes, the camera, a blanket, and a Fiets map that proudly proclaims "Miles of bike paths with easy to follow signs," we headed off to the North Sea. Anticipating a short seven mile ride, we hoped to stop off at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague and be on the beach by lunch time. Somewhere along the way we missed the sign for Route 44 - most likely because a group of rowdy teenagers spray painted over it and any other surface nearby.

Unfortunately, by the time we realized the lack of signage, we were happily biking through Leidshendam and a few miles north of The Hague. Turn around. Pedal. Pedal. Pedal.

Rijswijk? What? Isn't that city south of the Hague? Turn around. Pedal. Pedal. Pedal.

Ahhh! Those buildings with the colorful local nicknames...Finally The Hague!

After a trip through the Gemeentemuseum - which was quick mostly due to the fact that our stomachs were eating themselves by around 2pm - we continued on to Scheveningen. The name "Scheveningen" was used as a password by the Dutch resistance during WWII because even though the Germans could learn Dutch, their native accents prevented them from correctly pronouncing the name of this seaside town. (We just called it "the beach town".)


We quickly dropped the bikes off and headed to a seaside cafe to enjoy lunch and a beer. The cafes were full of groups playing board games, couples lunching, and old people laying out. I think we saw more people in their swimsuits in the cafes than on the beach.

After lunch, we laid out our blanket on the beach and relaxed while watching kite flyers, surfers, and little kids playing in the surf. Since the water is in the 60s year around, we skipped a dip in the ocean.

In a hurry to get back to Delft for the tragic Clemson game, we followed road signs back and were making great time. Until a sign directed us to go left directly into a building.

What???

Our 14 mile ride that somehow ballooned to 28 miles.

Den Haag (The Hague)

Yesterday we briefly saw some sights at The Hague. One of the first sights we happened upon was the US Embassy, which was embarrassingly fortified and boring looking. It was the only embassy we saw, in fact, that had a 12 foot tall wrought iron security fence. Should Laura and I need US government protection during our stay, we need not fear the angry Dutch, automatic weaponry, or long range missile attack when inside the embassy's walls.

After browsing an antique fair, we visited the M.C. Escher museum. Although M.C. Escher gathered most of his inspiration during stays in Italy, he was actually a Dutchman. The museum contained a number of his most famous works. The work pictured at right, which was on the front of the museum building, is the well-known "Day and Night."

We walked through the courtyard of the Binnenhof, the heart of Dutch politics. The first components of the complex were first built around 1230. The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy and we will be revisiting the Binnenhof on September 18th, the day Queen Beatrix arrives in her golden coach to open parliament.

We spent several hours walking about town, which was an attractive mix of old and new. The two pointy buildings and the dome shaped building have colorful local nicknames.