On Thursday I went on a day trip with my class to Haarlem and then the Hague, Netherlands. Haarlem is very close to Amsterdam; about 20 minutes. This is where Harlem in NYC got its name. The town is very small and quaint and we walked around a lot, learned some interesting things about its history, most of which I don't remember, and enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was probably the nicest day we have had in the Netherlands so far! We visited their Oude Kerk (old church), saw the oldest museum in the Netherlands, and had lunch overlooking the city. After Haarlem we went to the Hague to visit the International Criminal Court, which was really really cool. We didn't go in the actual courtroom, but we saw the one where the international criminals are tried and charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. It was weird to think that just a couple weeks ago, Bashir was sitting in that seat being delivered preliminary charges for what he did in Darfur. I really enjoyed it and I felt honored to have been able to see such an important place for our global society. We weren't allowed to take pictures except for in one room so I only have a couple from there, which obviously aren't up yet. I enjoyed hearing all about how the court works. It is independent and has grown so much since it started in 2002 - it began with something like 10 people and now there are over 800 working there or something. I also really liked seeing that French is the other main language used at the ICC other than English, along with Arabic. Nice!
On Friday afternoon I left Amsterdam with Caitlin, Megan and Brittany to go to Texel. It is an island off the mainland in the middle of the North Sea, and I got the idea of visiting there from my Amsterdam travel book. The idea was to go and rent a tent, camp on the beach and hang out there for awhile the next day. We tried doing reservations and stuff beforehand but we couldn't figure out the phone recording and internet wasn't working. We decided to just go...it wouldn't be crowded, who goes to a random island in the North Sea in the summer?
....Apparently, a lot of people. We get there, and people we are asking for directions all tell us we probably won't find anything in De Koog (the town we wanted to stay in, right on the beach). So we are like..there is no way they have NOTHING. We go to the campground and say we need a tent, and the staff member proceeds to tell us they are totally booked, and so are their affiliates. We ask if there is anything she knows of in De Koog and she says "I think it is rather impossible." Mind you, we had taken a 1.5 hour train ride, 20 min bus ride, 30 min ferry ride, and another 20 min bus ride to get there, so we really didn't want to go back. We debate buying a tent and pitching it on the beach until we are told if we do that we will end up in the police station. So we go back to the campground and say can you please help us? And the girl goes to ask her boss. She comes back and says they have places. I think they just lied to us the first time but she could tell we were desperate. So we BUY a tent from the camping place for 50 euro. Haha! And we get a camp site in the campground. We had come mostly prepared but extremely bare-bones compared to everyone else in the campground. This is place where people come in the summer for like a week, similar to Myrtle Beach for the Dutch and Germans or something. So all the people have legitimate camp sites, with like trailers or tents and all this food, fences, chairs and tables, etc. etc. and here come the Americans with a couple blankets, bathing suits and towels and that was about it. We put up our tent (thank goodness I have been camping a lot because the other 3 girls have not!) and our spot turned out to be pretty great. You could not see the sea from it because the dune making the barrier between sea and land was very tall, but we had great views of the campground and setting sun. I loved it! Breathtaking. We went into the main strip of De Koog for dinner and hung out at some bars, but called it a relatively early night. It started to sprinkle when we got back, and Brittany and I decided to walk to the beach with our cheap (crappy) but expensive (15 USD) flashlight. On the way we ran into a guard or something who told us not to go because someone got struck by lightening last year. Always adventurous, I said let's go anyway, so we did. We get to the beach and our flashlight goes out! Perfect. It was pitch black in the campground but once our eyes adjusted I knew we would be able to find it back. Brittany was really scared so we didn't stay at the beach long. The rain was only sprinkling but the thunder and lightening were getting closer. When we got back to our tent the storm looked really cool and we felt safer so we stayed outside for awhile. I wanted to take a picture of the lightening so I concentrated FOREVER to get one. I had to time it just right, and it took about 30 black shots before I actually got one! It was worth it though; awesome picture. Then we went to bed in our 3-person tent with 4 people inside. :)
The next day we woke up pretty early to check out of the campsite. We put our stuff in the reception area, went into town for breakfast and snacks, and then went to the beach! It was a beautiful, perfect beach day. The culture of this beach was very different from that of American beaches. First of all, tops were not required. There were several middle aged women walking around with nothing on top. More children than I had ever seen like this were running around naked. In general, it seemed like people were much less self-conscious about their bodies and who was looking at them, and I liked it. We laid out and went in the North Sea and I wanted my Dad to be there! It was hot and sunny, but the water was refreshingly cold and that's just how he likes it. I was thinking about all the times we have swam in the ocean and it was a great feeling. I love the water! Later that afternoon it was time to head home so we said goodbye to Texel. It was a wonderful little trip and one of my favorite things I have done in Europe.
Yesterday (Sunday) I went to Delft, birthplace of Johannes Vermeer and world-famous town for its Delft pottery. I went alone because I wanted to go to the Hague later that day, but Caitlin and Megan got a later train and I ended up running into them on the street. Delft is tiny :). We went to one of the only
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two active Delft factories and saw how they make the stunning pottery. I went in the Vermeer museum, Het Prisenhof (where William of Orange, the father of the Netherlands was assassinated during the Spanish resistance) and also spent a lot of time just walking around the town. Nieuwe Kerk, which houses the mausoleum of William of Orange and many other Dutch monarchs, is beautiful! Later on, I caught the tram to the Hague. I went back there for one reason - to see the Mauritshuis, a world class museum featuring the Dutch masters. Specifically, View of Delft and The Girl With a Pearl Earring are there. The latter is one of my favorite paintings - I have studied it, read books about it, written about it, everything...and to see it in person was amazing. They call it the "Dutch Mona Lisa" but it was so much better than the Mona Lisa. It is simply beautiful. Vermeer is known for his talent with light and this is truly a perfect example. The Mauritshuis is in my top 3, or maybe even 2, favorite museums. It was very intimate, yet ornately decorated for an art museum. I ended up visiting the Binnenhof, where the Dutch royal family first lived when The Hague became their official residence. I also saw the giant statue of Willem the Orange. I liked going there by myself - it was peaceful and I could take my time doing what I wanted. I came home last night and Caitlin and I booked the rest of our travel stuff for after Amsterdam. It's my last week here and I am appalled at how fast it went. I don't want to leave!-Kaylan
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