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| Blarney Stone Pub, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, March, 2012 |
So a Yank, a Brit and an Icelander walk into an Irish bar in Amsterdam - The Blarney Stone. What was to have been a beer or two before bed turned into several Kilkenny draughts (the irony - kill Kenny - is not lost on me) and a short stumble back to the hotel at about 1:45 AM. As the Irish say, really good craic (Gaelic for good times, not potent cocaine). The Brit, Neil, owns a company that facilitates work visas within the EU for non-citizens (but citizens of another EU nation) within a given country. Ivar, a tall redheaded Icelander, is an IT guy who works for a company based in Amsterdam, though he is based in Reykjavik. We traded rounds and stories along with the authentic Irish barmaid, Jillian.
I woke up at about 7:30 AM this morning (Tuesday). I woke up again at about 9:30. A quick shower, then I decided to return to the scene of the crime for the full Irish breakfast that was advertised for €10, including tea.
The breakfast was very good and the fatty, salty breakfast meat was just what my slight hangover needed. Jillian was at the bar again, and she gave me the passcode for the bar's WiFi. I used it to look up my train for Den Haag with my DB Navigator app (DB is the German railway, but they have a great online database for all of the European rail timetables.) Next train to Den Haag Centraal was at 11:19, and would take about 45 minutes to reach Den Haag. I walked to Amsterdam Centraal, bought my Dagretour for €21.30, and hopped on the train.
The train station in Den Haag is the ugliest one I've been to in Europe so far, and half of it was under construction. It, like Haarlem's, was located about a 10 minute walk from the tourist stuff. the Hague is the political capital of the Netherlands, where the two houses of the Dutch parliament sit and where the Queen has her official residence and her actual one.
One of the coolest things I wanted to see was the Binnenhof and the Ridderzaal, where the Parliament sits and the Hall of Knights.
This twin-spired edifice in the courtyard of the Binnenhof behind the gold gilt water fountain is the Ridderzaal - the Hall of Knights. It is supposed to be beautiful inside, with banners and equipment on display. Unfortunately it wasn't open to the public today, because preparations were being made inside for some state occasion.
Outside the Binnenhof, to the left as you're facing it, is a little manmade lake teeming with waterfowl, including seagulls, ducks, Canadian geese and swans. I walked across the "bridge" pictured above and then the whole length of the lake to my next destination - Haags Historisch Museum.
It, too, was under construction, but open.
The museum described and celebrated the history of The Hague through paintings and artifacts. Oddly, the topmost floor was almost entirely dedicated to some rockband I've never heard of -- do you know who The Golden Earrings are?
After the museum I grabbed some lunch at an outdoor cafe and watched the world pass for a bit. I had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and salad. Service was really slow despite the place not being that busy. It was about 66 degrees and sunny, so I didn't mind so much.
My next stop took me to Paleis Tuin, which is a public park which abuts the backside of two royal palaces.
The park was busy with parents and children just enjoying the fair weather. From my viewpoint, though, the guidebooks greatly exaggerated the quality of palace-viewing from the park. It was neat, however, to see Spring coming up all over.
I hopped a train back to Amsterdam and arrived back at my hotel at about 6:30 PM. Overall, the Hague was OK, not great. Now, if you wanted to browse fancy shops and boutiques then Den Haag would be your place. I was expecting a little more in terms of royalty-related stuff, but there really wasn't much.
It's now just after 7:00 PM and I'm starving, so I think I'll go out in search of food. No late night in a bar tonight, that's for sure!!
Rotterdam tomorrow.
Location:Den Haag,The Netherlands
Mighty fine collection of food pictures so far. Bon Appetit may have an opening for a fotog.
ReplyDeleteOK, OK. Last time people liked the food pictures. Tomorrow I was going to brave one of the herring stands and show a picture of me eating it, but now I guess I'll pass...
DeleteDon't let me dissuade you. A good herring can be used to eat but also to chop down a tree or a shrubbery. A picture may be worth a thousand herring.
DeleteKen, I am shaking my head in disbelief..
ReplyDeleteIs it because you don't remember the famous eighties rock band Golden Earring? Twilight Zone...Radar Love...I know you were just a child in the 80s, and you probably did not read "Teenbeat," but what about all those Friday nights of "Back to the 80s Friday Night" on the radio? I guarantee that once you remember Twilight Zone you will not be able to get it out of your head :)
Or, am I shaking my head because I once again have to introduce you to a little bit of magic called Google? Google. It is what all the kids are using these days when they don't know something. When you get back home, I will explain it. Again!
Hope you are having a great time!
You must not be too busy in the office to have the time to chide me so thoroughly ;-)
DeleteI don't have ready access to the Internet except at my hotel, so I couldn't look the band up while at the museum. When I got back to the hotel, I just couldn't remember how to Google...Actually, funny story, Google is in Dutch when you go to the website from here - it's Gjoogle. I did use YouTube to find the band, and I DO recognize the songs. I was just way too young to party to that music, unlike you...
Yes, I'm having a great time and I can't believe it's only the end of my second day!
Penken! You told me this would be easy. Grrrr. So far I have lost my flippin' comment five times as this profile thingy is not working for me. Alas, all those good things I had to say. Great pictures but oh my, did you use a flash in the museum?! Lol. The Hall of Knights looks like it must have been architecturally beautiful. Take a close up next time you get that near to something so medieval-ey. Food pictures are good. Desert pictures, now that's where the money is at :) Loving the details-look forward to vicariously traveling with you. Any goth chics there? Dar
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't flash anyone or anything in the museums - just a high ISO setting on my camera and a slow shutter to maximize the light that's there.
DeleteAlmost everything here is architecturally beautiful. The Hall of Knights had a beautiful shape and proportion, but was otherwise unadorned. There are some really Gothic buildings around (that should be especially true in Bruges, Belgium later the week).
Goth chicks, however, are pretty hard to come by here, though many have multiple piercings. I don't think you can simultaneously be a Goth and ride around all day on a bicycle - there's just something wrong with that picture.
Thanks for commenting!