Den Haag

On Easter sunday we made our way to Den Haag - the final destination of the three day journey :)

Although many of you might think that perhaps Den Haag is the capital of the Netherlands, the truth is that even though it is the seat of the Dutch government and parliament, the Supreme Court, and the Council of State, in fact the constitutional capital is Amsterdam. The Queen lives at Huis ten Bosch, which is located in the city. All foreign embassies in the Netherlands and 150 international organizations can be found in Den Haag. Due to it being the localization of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, it is one of the major cities hosting the United Nations.

deer in a park

@ Binnehof

@ Binnehof

Interestingly (or perhaps not so much) the stork is the animal that represents the city. Being a stuffed animal lover like myself, of course I had to bring one back.

As we walked the streets of the city, we came across a small shop that had in its windows the following sign: "30 Abril Sardinhada". We realized one thing as we read this... a Portuguese shop! It had many Portuguese brands and foods we had not seen in months :P

@ Portuguese embassy

@ Peace Palace

We had promised ourselves that if we went to Den Haag we would also make time to go to Scheveningen Beach :D And we did! The weather did not scream 'beach!' but we were really excited to finally see the beach after a few months. Tradition is tradition, so after having touched the Pacific waters more than 10 years ago, this time I also touched the waters of the North Sea. 

I was in Den Haag and Scheveningen seven years ago, and even though at the time I did not visit much of the city, I still remembered the beach :) That's got to mean something, right? This trip is definitely worth it - I have a feeling we left without seeing all Den Haag has to offer...

Rotterdam & Delft

This day started out particularly cold... The wind made every non-covered part of your body freeze. 

First stop: Rotterdam

Rotterdam is quite modern and it is also the second-largest city in the Netherlands with one of the largest ports in the world. Recently it has also grown into a major international commercial center. 

@ city hall

On May 14th, 1940 during the German invasion of the Netherlands in WWII, there was an aerial bombardment which destroyed much of the city center. The goal was to get the Dutch to surrender by breaking the Dutch resistance and help the German troops fighting in the city; however, negotiations had been successful so there was no need for bombs but there was some failed communication on the German side.

This means you can still find some old buildings such as the city hall, yet most of them are very modern. In the picture above, outside the Museum of Rotterdam you can find a depiction of the city from 1940 - with what was destroyed and what was left.

Erasmus

modern architecture

Of course one of our stops was the Erasmusbrug. Despite all the construction around and also throughout the city, it was quite an enjoyable trip.

@ Erasmus bridge

tulips :)

More leftover time on the second day, which is why we decided to add Delft to our initial plan. There was more time for Delft than there was for Gouda - which was fortunate because we were able to still find shops and churches open for us to see. Part of the experience of a tourist is also to buy souvenirs :D

Second stop: Delft

@ bike parking

For 2€ only we were able to climb to the top of the Niewe Kerk where we got a spectacular view over the city. It was a challenge to climb all the way to the top, with very narrow stairs  which seemed to go on for ever... But we made it!

view from the Niewe Kerk

blauwe hart

Delft is know for its center being like the typical Dutch town - with canals. You can also find the Delftware (blue pottery) here. In my house there is a wall full of things that have been hung over the years from places we have visited. One of the conditions of these objects is that they can't say where they were bought but they must be able to represent something about the place. So, here I bought a small plate made of Delftware and which has a traditional picture of the Netherlands - tulips, a windmill and a girl dressed in the traditional clothes :)

Utrecht & Gouda

My apologies, this post and the following ones are a little overdue... Patience to upload the pictures and discuss them has not been present in my spirit. But, here it goes.

So during Easter break, a group of us decided to take the opportunity to get to know the country we are living in a little better. There were other groups that decided to go visit other countries, but I think those can wait for later... better seize the chance to get to know more that the Dutch people themselves :) 

First stop: Utrecht

This city was described by my teacher of Dutch as Amsterdam but with less tourists :P

 bike parking at the station

 the group but me (I'm the one taking the picture)

First time I saw one of these! A 3 person bike! Very cool...

Initially we were going to spend the whole day in Utrecht, however, since we carefully planned everything there was still enough time to hop on the 20 minute train to Gouda and take a look around the city of cheese :P

Second stop: Gouda

Curiously enough, we found out that Erasmus also spent some time in Gouda, which is why in a little part of the city you can find a bridge with his name and his statue. Of course we took a picture there!

Another windmill! Actually it was 2 :) Not bad... Living in the land of windmills and having pictures of a total of 3 windmills. I have seen more, of course, on the train rides...

@ city hall

The old city hall, built around 1450, is one of the oldest Gothic city halls in the Netherlands.

All in all (which basically means, despite the weather) it was a well spent day :) The company was good and even though it was pretty tiresome to walk around in 2 cities, we managed to come back in one piece.

Frustration

It's frustrating when you want to do things but can't because you don't know how it works, what are the rules and how everything should be done...

So I've come to the conclusion that the Dutch have a lot of rules. A LOT. Seriously. And they don't explain anything, because they assume you're from here and you know everything... Here's a clue - we don't! I've been living in the Netherlands for 2 months now (yesterday was that important mark :D ) and that means I don't know how everything works.

I had a dentist's appointment a couple of weeks back - kind of an emergency because part of my fixed retained detached from my teeth. Besides the fact that I had to register twice at the dentist's office because my first registration 'disappeared', after the appointment I asked what I had to do in order to pay. At the reception desk I was asked if the doctor had mentioned anything, with a negative response from my part, I was told I could leave. I thought it was strange but soon I forgot about it. A week ago I received in my mailbox an invoice and an 'acceptgiro' regarding that appointment. Interesting how I wasn't told anything... I'm used to having everything explained, in some situations even too many times. When I went to the office last week, the dentist and respective secretary were on vacation so I had to wait until today. Meanwhile I asked if it was normal to just send all the papers regarding payment, through the mail. The casual reply was 'yes'... Well this would have been nice to know beforehand.

Today, I casually went into the office but apparently I have to pay in cash :S So I'll have to make another trip tomorrow or another day. Because, honestly, today I'm a little fed up!

There are things that should be explained, knowing that a lot of the students on campus are foreign... If this had been done, I could have already taken care of this awhile ago...

Frustration...

1 day, 4 cities

This Saturday was pretty busy :D An idea came around a could of weeks ago concerning a visit to 7 cities in the Netherlands called Hanseatic cities. These include Kampen, Hasselt, Zwolle, Hattem, Deventer, Zutphen and Doesburg. The initial plan included all 7 cities but after realizing that it wasn't in fact a feasible option, it was altered a couple of times until we finally decidade that we would visit Kampen, Zwolle, Deventer and Zutphen - all reachable by train :)

After gathering a group of about 12 people, we left at 7:30am (with 3 of us having been left behind and catching the train 30 min later). 

A rainy weather awaited us in Zutphen where we were greeted by the IJssel after exiting the train station. 

@ market

@ city gate

First time I saw tulips besides in the market! :)

The next stop was Zwolle, the province capital of Overijssel. It is a city surrounded by the river and shaped similarly to a star. They even bake a bread with it's shape... 

@ city gate

@ city walls

After lunch we headed for Deventer. There we also made a pit stop to 'chill' for awhile... Time flies by fast when we're having fun :D

@ de Waag

@ market

A windmill!!!! Finally :) After having been mislead into thinking there was a windmill in Zwolle (it said so in the tourist maps scattered around the cities), I was hoping that we could see (and find) the windmill in Deventer. And we did! So, this is the traditional Dutch photo :P

Next and final stop was Zutphen. It was ideal to have done this after the hour change last weekend because it means that daylight lasts longer... So the whole time spent in Zutphen was done with the sun still in the sky.

The weather changed during the day, giving us some opportunities to enjoy the sun. However, since we were always so close to the water, the wind made it a very cold day...

My initial plan was to return and head to a party after dinner and after watching slbenfica vs sc braga, yet, I was able to fail this enormously because I was dead tired... It was just one of those days when I just needed to crawl into bed and sleep until there was no more sleep left. My eyes were closing while watching a pretty exciting game, so imagine...