A few days spent in The Hague was a great way to see some more of the Netherlands and to recharge the batteries. We checked into the hotel very early, thanks to the cruise efficiency in disembarking everyone by ten am(!) which meant the room wasn’t ready for us. We left our bags in the very fine Crown Plaza, Promenade Hotel and went for a walk. The park next door had a WW2 monument, it seems nowhere was left unharmed by the war. We walked through the park and along the canal. It was Sunday and families were out and about walking, running, cycling and boating. The Dutch are certainly very active.
We walked to the nearby Madurodam, a miniature village. It is home to a range of 1:25 scale model replicas of famous Dutch landmarks. Madurodam was named after George Maduro a Dutch law student from Curaçao who fought the Nazi occupation forces as a member of the Dutch resistance and died at Dachau Concentration Camp in 1945. He was posthumously awarded a medal for courage. The park was set up by his parents in his memory as ‘the little city with the smile’ a happy place to remember their son.
It was a great tourist attraction covering Dutch culture and landmarks.
Mark looked like a giant beside the miniature buildings. But the tulips and clogs were built in reverse 25.1 and towered above us!
We spent hours there. There was a restaurant for lunch and a playground. There were indoor exhibits on how the Dutch reclaimed land and built on it. The area where the airport now stands used to be a lake. It was the site of many shipwrecks and was called the ‘Shiphole’. The land was drained and reclaimed. An airport was built there on the new land but the old name remained, now the Schipole Airport! There was also a sports exhibit on Dutch success on the football field. It was interesting to see videos of Holland taking on Ireland and England in the European cup 1988 when they took the cup.
The hotel was near Scheveningen Beach. We took a walk on the beach the next day and had lunch in a beach club. There were some great sculptures on the boardwalk advertising the nearby museum.
The Mauritshuis art gallery was on our list of places to see in town. We spent an enjoyable hour there. The building was beautiful, near the palace. The museum housed some Rembrandt and Vermeer Art. We saw The girl with the Pearl earring, the goldfinch, the Anatomy and the bull.
Princes day preparations were underway. As we walked through town we saw barriers stacked and seating for the parade being set up. We passed the Palace, the lake with fountain and the Peace Palace with the eternal flame burning from the spark of flame from five continents. As we headed back to the hotel through the park we passed many cyclists and joggers enjoying the evening commute.
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