Saturday, April 16, 2011

A Tour of the Hague

Maybe I'd been told this, but I didn't remember:  did you know that Den Haag means "The Hedge"?  There was a wall of hedging around the Hague when it was a settlement, and that's how it got its name.  Ada told me that this morning at some point after a leisurely breakfast.

The boys and I wanted to go on a minor shopping trip this morning, so Erik dropped us off at the local shops.  We stopped in the grocery store, which was...huge.  No other word for it.  It's about 4 times the size of our Coop, which is about 8 times the size of the alimentari that we frequent in Todi.  I mentioned this later to Erik, and he said that it's about 1/6 the size of the average grocery store in the States.  Huh?  I guess our perspectives have changed!

We had a lovely walk back to Schimmelpennincklaan and the girls arrived shortly thereafter.  Here are some pictures of our walk:

The Shops along the Street

I love the architecture!


Another Shopfront


The Hague is known for its greenspace.



I love turrets.

Must have been quite a party when they put together THIS display!

Heading back

The gardens on the walk are lovely.

These houses are about 100 years old or so, according to Erik

Rooms in bowfront windows -- just charming!

We were greeted by the master chef!

The boys in the garden

We went with all the kids to the Panorama-Mesdag, which is an amazing feat of engineering, project management, and artistic ability.  Mr. Mesdag, a wealthy Netherlander, decided to paint a panorama of Scheveningen, a beachside town which neighbors the Hague.  He had a building specially constructed with a glass dome roof (to let in ambient light) in a cylindrical form.  He then had tracks built around the inside perimeter of the building. 

He went to Scheveningen and perched inside a glass cylinder about 1' high (placed at eye level).  He then made sketches of landmarks around on the glass.  He took the cylinder back to the hall, and (having stretched 15' tall canvases around the perimeter) mounted it in the center of the room.  He referred to the sketches regularly to ensure accuracy. 

Within 4 months, his team (consisting of himself, his wife, and four friends) had completed the painting.  It is a stupendous representation of Scheveningen in the late 1800s.  This particular spot has a high "wow" factor.  No photos allowed in the building, but Erik and Ada took us on a tour of some high points in the Hague afterwards -- and this included the vantage point from which Mesdag created his painting.
Erik pointing out some of the landmarks we saw in the panorama
Another landmark.  And, no, it wasn't cold -- I don't know why Ashley was doing that.
As we continued on the tour, Erik decided to become an Italian:  he swerved onto the sidewalk and parked in front of the houses of parliament.  Not that any policemen are likely to be around those buildings....  We hopped out, looking around surreptitiously to see if anyone was paying attention, and dashed in to see one of the oldest standing buildings in the Netherlands. 

We left Ada with the cars to explain everything to any policemen...

It dates to the 12th century!
 
Everyone posing on one second's notice...

Houses of parliament plus tourists

Brickwork in the walkway to the courtyard

The adorable octagonal room is the Prime Minister's office. I would never get anything done in that room, it's so beautiful!

This is a statue of the present queen's mother.  Erik's company was responsible for the granite monument around and behind her!

The queen's palace
As if that weren't enough, we also went to Madurodam...but that's another post (and we still owe you one on Keukenhof!).

Love,

Alexandra

3 comments:

  1. Looks like Erik was making soup....did he bring out the Maggi? I love the Panorama Mesdag! The day we were there the QUEEN passed by with a whole carriage parade! Cool!
    Can't wait to see Madurodam!

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  2. My little darlings. Delighted to see you enjoying the birthplace of your grAndfather or great grandfather as it may be. Technically the town is actually called DES Gravenhage or simply apostrophe s
    Which I do not know how to do and that means hedge of the lord which is much more noble don't you think.?? Can't wait to see you....G F

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  3. Ada had told me about s'Gravenhage, but said that it's the old name and is now used as an area of the Hague. According to Wikipedia, it is either name. Pick your expert. But I think that by any name, it's lovely....

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