Today I show you nearly all the pictures that I took while being on a trip in
The Hague. This excursion was suggested by the lecturer of the
Dutch Present-Day Society course, drs. Emmeline Besamusca. We met in the
Utrecht Centraal station hall, and we took the train to The Hague, passing by
Gouda. We arrived round 10 am and we then walked to the city's most famous square, simply called "Plein". There you can see a statue of the "
Vader des vaderlands",
Willem van Oranje.


There was a flee market on that day.

A view of the street where the
Mauritshuis and one of the Parliament (or '
Staten-Generaal') entrances are located.

On the right you can a banner with
Vermeer's
Girl with a Pearl Earring, aka "the
Mona Lisa of the North" or "the Dutch
Mona Lisa").

The
Ministry of Silly Walks. … Erm, no, of Justice.

The group is slowly entering the Parliament; we had to pass a security gate.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the building, though. So here's the façade.



Yeah, even
Burger King outlets are located in beautiful historic buildings…


Heading for the
Binnenhof.


Of course, if you aren't yet in the Binnenhof, you're still in the Buitenhof…

Thee
Ridderzaal (i.e. Knight's Hall), where the queen holds her
annual speech at
Prinsjesdag.



Walking past the
Minister-president's office.

The Mauritshuis.




The hofvijver.





A streetcar on the
Lange vijverberg.


One of the statues that you can find on the Lange vijverberg:
Jantje from the song In Den Haag daar woont een graaf.
Drs. Besamusca tells us about the boy and even sings the song! (From Wikipedia:)
- In Den Haag daar woont een graaf,
- en zijn zoon heet Jantje.
- Als je vraagt waar woont je pa,
- dan wijst hij met zijn handje,
- Met zijn vingertje, met zijn duim,
- Op zijn hoed draagt hij een pluim,
- Aan zijn arm een mandje,
- Dag mijn lieve Jantje.

Statue of the (famous)
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, victim of one of the only political murders in the Netherlands.



Statue of
Willem II van Oranje on the Buitenhof.

I'll show you the rest of the pictures tomorrow.
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