Day 7 - Adventures in Den Haag

Today started with a very nice breakfast at my ‘hotel’. I say ‘hotel’ as it is kind of more like student digs; it is a chain called ‘The Social Hub’ (previously known as ‘The Student Hotel’), whose whole premise is to provide spaces for people to stay, live, study, socialise etc. There are lovely communal areas and, it turns out, excellent breakfasts!

I then walked into the city centre, which had very similar vibes to a standard British high street (TK Maxx, Primark, Subway….). My plan was to go to the Binnenhof, the Dutch Parliament, but it is undergoing fairly significant renovations. To keep us tourists happy though, they have erected a temporary viewing tower. Obviously, I went up it as I seemingly like climbing lots of stairs of tall things.

It was then off to the Mauritshuis, Den Haag’s famous art gallery. The audio tour led me well, with excellent nuggets including how these angry tortoises are not very accurate, as tortoises do not have teeth….

I also particularly enjoyed the expression of this dog


Hidden in the corner of…

I did some good learning about Rembrandt, and obviously enjoyed the highlight of the gallery, Vermeer’s ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring’. It is actually a bit unnerving how she seems to be looking at you wherever you stand.

After a little down time, I decided to brave the tram system to get to the wonderfully named Bingoal stadium, home of ADO Den Hagg. AFO Den Haag just so happened to be playing Norwich City in a pre-season friendly. I decided to stick to national loyalties and was a Norwich fan for the day, joining the couple of hundred hard core travelling fans.

It was hardly a classic match. Den Haag hit the crossbar, but that was the closest we got to a goal in a very pre-season 0-0. Still, fun was had and I enjoyed my time as an honorary Norwich fan.

Now back at the hotel, I am digging out my running kit for parkrun in the morning!

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