Day 8 - Den Haag

Photos to come soon!

I’d been looking forward to this day the entire trip. Today, we go to Den Haag, or The Hauge. Dan Haag is the home of the Dutch parliament and, more importantly in my opinion, the Peace Palace. But I’ll get to those later on.

We woke up bright and early to catch a train from Amsterdam Centraal Station. Since it was so early, we decided to wait until we reached Den Haag to get breakfast. I soon regretted that decision, since I have trouble waking up properly until I’ve had some coffee. But I was able to focus enough to take this weird picture of Brea’s reflection on the train.

Eventually we made it, and we made it to a place Brea had researched the night before, Happy Tosti. Tostis here are basically fancy grilled cheeses, but much healthier. We each ordered basically the same thing, which was the Happy Breakfast. That included yogurt with granola, half a tosti, orange juice, and either a coffee or tea. I got a double espresso and Brea had tea, but otherwise we eat exactly the same meal. The tosti we ordered was a goat cheese, apple, honey, arugula, and walnuts. Brea got without walnuts, or course. I didn’t take a picture, but it tasted really good. I’m going to miss the cheese here a lot when we have to leave. I’m not sure  what they do to it here, but I don’t think I’ve had goat cheese or gouda like what I’ve eaten here. Maybe we’ll have time to stop in a cheese store and bring a couple blocks back with us.

After breakfast, we hurried to the Peace Palace. For those that don’t know, countries all over the world come to Den Haag to settle international disputes. The Peace Palace is where all of that takes place. Czar Nicholas came up with the idea to have a place in the world where countries could come together and settle issues peacefully, rather than building bigger and bigger walls and weapons, which of course inevitably lead to land disputes and war. He and many other member nations decided that Dan Haag would be an excellent location, and started work on the Peace Palace in the late 1800s. By 1913, the Palace was completed, and those in it attempted to fulfil its function of solving international disputes that might lead to war. Almost as if on cue, the first world war began just one year later, frustrating the purpose of the Palace. Today, the Palace is much more than a fancy place with nice art. It has many functions, including international arbitration, and housing the UN International Court of Justice. Arbitration is the process by two countries, or at least one country against on other person, ask a group of 3-5 arbitrators to settle an issue between them. The decision is binding, and there is no appeal. Whatever the panel tells them to do, they must either do, or forever be known as a country whose word can’t be trusted.

The Peace Palace, like many other beautiful places, does not allow photography, so you’ll have to trust me when I say this building was flawless. Most of the building material and artwork was donated from countries which were, or are, members of the International Court. The marble in the floors, for example, was donated by Italy, many of the ornate doors and walls made of wood were carved and donated by Brazil, wall tiles (Delft tiles) and stained glass, along with the grounds the Palace stands on, were all donated by the Netherlands, massive tapestries donated by Japan, the largest Turkish ornate rug in the world donated by Turkey, and there were a ton of pieces donated by Czar Nicolas of Russia, since he was the one that came up with it. Each piece had an incredible and inspiring story. One piece donated by Russia, a vase, was carved from the very valuable material green jasper, which alone makes this piece worth a small fortune. It weighs 3.2 tons and required a whole new foundation to be constructed under it. A statue in the main entrance from the joint efforts of Chile and Argentina is particularly interesting. The two counties were preparing to go to war. They both believed there was nothing either country could offer to stop the war, but agreed to try one last ditch effort with arbitration in the Palace. Almost impossibly, they came to a peaceful resolution, and melted the guns and ammunition they were going to use against each other into a statue of Jesus. That statue sits on the border of the two countries, but a replica is displayed in the Palace. It caused a but of an uproar because no one really though Jesus belonged in a court for justice, which is supposed to be totally unbiased. But it represented such a great success story that they let it stay. Another interesting piece includes the painting in the arbitration court room. The painting shows Lady Justice standing on top of Mars, the god or war, to keep him down. I thought that was a nice image to keep in mind for the years to come.

Our tour guide told us about a recent arbitration in the Court. Apparently, Phillip Morris, the maker of the Marlborough brand of cigarettes, discovered that by relocating their headquarters from the US to Hong Kong, they didn’t have to comply with international law banning brand names on cartons sold in many countries. Australia didn’t like that, because it was a loophole that was never meant to exist, so they asked Phillip Morris to come to the arbitration court, which they did. After about 2.5 years of arbitration, Phillip Morris was forced to change their packaging to be more complaint, but not 100% compliant, with the international law. I asked, and it turns out 2.5 years is pretty short for this building when it comes to cases. Arbitrations typically are shorter, but a case in the International Court of Justice can last up to 10 years sometimes. Which makes sense, when you think about it. If your only other option is war with another country, you’re probably willing to spend a lot of time and money in court to make it go away, if at all possible.

I personally could’ve spent all day in the Peace Palace. It was beautiful, and represented all that peace could and should be. Each member country joined this group, and each country donated their most beautiful materials and art, because of what this building must portray: that the value of peace outweighs all else. When properly nurtured, peace brings more wealth and prosperity to the world than war. By making the Peace Palace the most beautiful building in the world, I think the world recognized that value, and understands that this most noble pursuit. It made me believe that maybe world leaders don’t want to go to war as much as I thought. Maybe they’re genuinely pursuing peace before choosing war. It was inspiring to see so many countries making such a strong statement. On our way out, we saw a tree with hand written “leaves” with the wishes and wants of kids all over the world. Most of them just wanted to help end wars one day. Maybe I’m being idealistic, but where’s the harm in hoping that could happen?

Next, we headed for our tour of Dutch parliament, but first we stopped for some lunch. Yesterday I had my first herring sandwich, and today I had my second. Much like these fish, I’m hooked. I felt bad that Brea couldn’t have one because she loves them so much and she turned me on to them in the first place, but my guilt is quickly overcome with that first oily, flaky bite of raw, fresh fish. I’m going to have as much as I can before we leave.

The tour of parliament was pretty interesting. It’s a large-ish complex called the Binnenhof with buildings dating all over the place. The original building was a hunting castle from the 1200s. Later, the House of Commons and the Senate were each added when King William decided to give them the power to run the country. There were displays of royal processions, fancy clothes, and some history of the building. Everything as in Dutch, so I have no idea what it said. Our tour guide took us first to the old castle building called the Ridderzaal. This building doesn’t get used much. Typically, they only use it to open Congress in September of every year. Otherwise, it just sits quietly. I thought it was weird for them to be displaying the crests of countries that came together to form the Netherlands, or had a hand in making the Netherlands a country, but Brea thought it was an ok thing to do. I guess it depends on our views of history. The stained glass in the Ridderzaal displays the crest of the people of the Netherlands, which differs from the Royal Crest. The only real difference between them is that the royal crest has the lions facing the crest, and the crest of the Dutch people has the lions looking outward. Either way, the lions looked really creepu with their tongues hanging out like that. I would have to say, though, that this room had one of the most magnificent roof structures I’d ever seen. It really did look like someone took a huge ship and turned it upside down. No nails were used, only wooden pegs. The ceiling also had faces which were meant to make the parliament-ers behave themselves, otherwise the faces would report their misdeeds to God and punish them. There are currently no confirmed reports of God striking any Dutch politicians down, I believe.

Next, we went to the senate room. We weren’t allowed to take pictures in this room, but that’s ok because it was pretty plain. The paintings were nice, but nothing special. Also, there’s no interesting stories behind them because art historians can’t agree on their history or meaning. Each of the three most recent generations of art historians in Den Haag believe they mean something different, or depict a different group of people. I guess being an art historian is a harder job than I originally thought.

Finally, we went to the House of Commons. This is where every law in the Netherlands begins. Either a Representative in the House proposes a law, or a minister does, and they vote on it. If the vote passes, the law goes to the Senate. If they agree, then the King signs it into law. Very similar to America, except it doesn’t seem like there are joint counsels between the House and the Senate. The Senate basically has veto authority and that’s it. Another different between the US government and the Dutch is that ther House of Commons always has 150 representatives, and the representatives are voted in based on the proportion of people in that political party. There are currently 13 political parties represented in the House, most of which are in either the Labour Party or the Socialist Party. Other noteworthy parties include the party opposed to animal cruelty with three members, the Green Party with about a dozen members, and the Christian parties, comprising a total of about 20 members (no separation of church and state here). We weren’t allowed to take photos here, but they didn’t make us lock up our cameras this time.

Next we went to the Mauritshuis, an art museum displaying paintings and sculptures from the “Dutch Golden Age.” The most important paintings in this museum were three paintings from Vermeer. Only 36 Vermeer paintings exist, and they’re widely considered to be the best when it comes to shadows and the play of light on objects. I have to say that Girl with a Pearl Earing, one of Vermeer’s most famous paintings, does an incredible job with shadows and light, but I personally liked View of Delft the most. He accomplished the same thing with the clocktower in that painting as he does in Girl with Pearl Earing, just on a smaller scale. Here’s a small sampling of what we saw at this museum.

Finally, we went to dinner with Brea’s friend Courtney, who lives in the Netherlands with her family now. She treated us to some authentic Dutch pancakes, which where delicious. Toward then end of dinner, she and her kids told us about some flavors of Fanta that we’d never had before. Apparently, they only sell these flavors at select locations, one of which is the Amsterdam airport. So Brea and I got on a return train that went though the airport and stopped for some Fanta and Chocolate. The flavors were Strawberry and Cassis. We’ve only had the Strawberry one so far. I liked it, but Brea thought it was too sweet. Good thing we got more chocolate to get the taste out of our mouth!

Update: I know it is Joel’s day to write the blog, but I wanted to add some more about meeting up with Courtney and her children. Courtney and I met at a summer camp when I was 12. Courtney was a counselor/instructor and was living in Pittsburgh. We kept in touch after the camp and I have memories of spending time with her and her husband Dan in their apartment in Shadyside, and as Courtney reminded me, going to the Pirates game. They even came to my bat mitzvah! A couple years later after having their first child, they moved out of Pittsburgh and eventually to Holland, back to the US and now are back in Holland. Thanks to facebook, we have stayed connected and I have gotten to see pictures of her and her children over the years.

As amazing as vacations are in general and as lucky as I feel to have the chance to travel all over the world, there is something special about meeting up with friends who live in that place, especially “long lost” friends. Even though Courtney and I are in very different stages in our lives, live on different contents, and haven’t seen each other face to face in about 12 years, we seemed to pick up right where we left off and didn’t run out of things to talk about. I have so many other things I want to say, but I’m not sure this blog is the place. I will just say thank you to Courtney for “crashing” our vacation and thank you to Louisa for inspiring us to be spontaneous and get off the train to find junky soda.