To den Haag

We spilled off the ferry, somewhat bleary-eyed, at 0700 English time after a short but comfortable night. We'd had a meal after the ferry got under way at 2300 and we're in bed before 0100. An announcement that breakfast was being served came much too early at 0530 and was ignored but there was no getting back to sleep.

After a while, our phones recognised that we were in a different country and connected us to the local network. We decided that den Haag/The Hague was a suitable destination for our first day on the continent, and off we wobbled. Beautifully wide cycle paths led us out of the Hook of Holland and northward. After playing in the traffic in England, this felt like a different planet. Bikes everywhere. Mostly passing us. More than half were electric. We mostly followed the coast route (LF Kustroute, also part of EV12) before heading off route into town.


After settling into our hotel, we went for a wander around in search of dinner. A hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant exceeded all expectations. Day two involved a visit to MauritsHuis, to look at some pictures.



The exhibits were a strange mix of classical and contemporary interpretations of some of the classics:




This modern interpretation of the four Marys proved too much for Facebook's 'pornography' filter (and probably for a few ardent Christians, too, I suspect). It's a shame that FB is not so clever when it comes to removing misinformation - but, there again, misinformation sells...


And, of course, the girl we had all come to see:




This last one was staged: I asked these young ladies to pose, looking at the picture. Of course, being staged, there is no inner meaning to the shot :(

We like the feel of den Haag, and the Dutch people in general. The only disappointment was that when we went back to the Thai restaurant, we found that it was closed on Tuesdays!

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