Den Haag

Hello friends, this week I had an opportunity to go to Holland for a couple days.  I took the Thalys train from Paris Gare du Nord to Rotterdamn Central and then took a taxi to work.  I was with a couple colleagues, and we decided to stay in nearby Den Haag (The Hague).  Dutch public transit has easy local trains and trams to navigate the city to and from work in nearby Zoetermeer.  The view below is from my hotel room at a NH Den Haag - the white triangle thing is the tram line...

The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government and parliament, but the city is not the capital of the Netherlands (which is Amsterdam). Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands lives and works at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague. Most foreign embassies in the Netherlands and 150 international organisations are located in the city, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.  The Hague is one of the major cities hosting the United Nations, along with New York, Vienna and Geneva.

We didn't have much time to explore the city, but we did walk all over the first night trying to find our host (who was waiting with a beer in one of the squares - just not the square we were heading for).  As a result, we did walk through the parliament building.  Overall, it was an attractive city with lots of charm (at least the areas we walked through).  Very quiet on a Tuesday night, I will say.  All the squares were full of empty tables.  We enjoyed a very nice dinner at an Italian restaurant - what is it about Italian food.  Anywhere you go in Europe, you can always find good Italian restaurants!

And, in walking to and from the train each day, we got a good feel for the area - cyclists dominate.  You must watch out as there are clear bike paths next to pedestrian sidewalks.  There are also stop/go signals specifically for the bikes.  It appears that many, many people ride their bikes and then take a train.  Or maybe just ride their bikes the whole way!  (Picture is Dutch version of Park-n-Ride)

My second night, our host invited us to her house for a barbecue.  She drove us via the scenic route - lots of canals, fields and cattle/sheep.  Everything is lush green as you can imagine.  I noticed the soil in some areas was very sandy - I'm not sure if that is typical, but the vegetation seems to be more than you usually find in coastal areas.  Also, very narrow roads - if someone is coming the other way, then one of you must pull to the side as the other passes.  Usually the shoulder falls off dramatically (as you are driving either on a dyke or next to a canal!).  We had a great time at dinner, which consisted of about 4 or 5 different barbecue courses (hamburgers, chicken, sausage, shish kabobs...), and some very good beer (Belgian, not Dutch!).

Thursday night, I got a ride to the Rotterdam Central station from our host in her Porsche!  Thalys is a Belgian train line, I believe.  Very nice and high speed - takes about 2 1/2 hours from Rotterdam to Paris.  Best of all, you just get to the train station 20 minutes before you need to leave (as opposed to an airport).  Seats were comfortable, wifi (if you want it), a snack or light meal.  I liked it.