Who, me?

One of the happier moments for me so far on this trip took place at the Hague train station. I was standing outside with the luggage, while DH went to get the tram tickets. A woman came up to me, with a clipboard, and starting speaking Dutch to me. I stared at her, “Um, I only speak English.”

“No? You don’t live in Holland?”

“No, but you have totally made my day if you’re telling me I don’t look like an American tourist.”

She looked me up and down, “Oh no, you look like a perfect Hollander.”

YES!

Das Haag

Leaving Amsterdam, and our fabulous B&B, we are currently in Das Hague, or in English, the Hague. This city has a different feel, a little less picturesque in terms of old canal houses, but there’s the Royal Palace. First on our agenda was the Mauritshuis. Museums are often closed on Mondays in Europe, so we needed to squeeze this in. The structure itself is beautiful, as it is part of the palace structure. This museum was high on my list purely for the two Vermeer’s; The Girl with the Pearl Earring and The View of the Delft. At the risk of sounding sentimental, and un-academic, I loved them. Almost cried, kind of love. (Yes, I’ve come close to tears looking at some artworks. Yes, I know I’m weird.) The View of the Delft had subtle texture to it that prints just do not pick up. (No cameras were allowed, and quite honestly, with the lighting and the glass, there would be no way I could get a good photo without a glare.) And the light, oh, Vermeer captured it dead on. DH knew I didn’t want to go, so he claimed “his feet hurt” so we could sit and look at them some more. I have a bad feeling I’ll be looking at some Raphael, or Titian in Italy and mutter, “Well, he’s no Vermeer” and get attacked by a hundred Italians.

Afterwards we went to the North Sea. I was surprised to find a sandy beach, in England the “beaches” along the Chanel are often filled with pebbles, not sand.

No, it was not what I would call warm, but it was relaxing to walk along the sand at sunset.