Delft and The Hague!

As promised, now I will talk about our trip to Delft and The Hague, which we sandwiched between our two days in Amsterdam!

The three of us girls had easily agreed on seeing these two extra towns in The Netherlands, but I have always had a desire to travel to them due to my love of Vermeer and his paintings. He was born, grew up, worked, and died in Delft and so to I was psyched to have the opportunity to see this town that undoubtedly influenced his work. Also, it is the setting of the novel Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier that is one of my favorites (and now I can put actual images to the scenes in the book!). As I previously mentioned in my last entry, I was really looking forward to seeing Girl with a Pearl Earring in person at The Hague, but as it is touring the States right now that won’t be possible. That was truly my motivation to visit this city, but we also decided we wanted to explore The Hague anyways, since we were so close to it. Delft is also known for its pottery- “Delft blue” is a known color and the city’s history is completely embedded in its production of this pottery.

We arrived in Delft a little after noon (it was about an hour and a half away from Amersfoort) and we set off immediately to explore it. We thought we were in the right area (pretty street, pretty church, pretty canal), but we ended up getting a little lost and had to ask for directions to the main square. Once we found it, however, it was breathtaking.

Shops surround the main square in Delft that is also bookended by a huge, gorgeous church and the Delft City Hall. People were enjoying the gorgeous weather on the square, there was a live band playing at one restaurant, all of the restaurants provide outdoor seating, and there was just a general festive atmosphere to the entire area.

The main square

Walking around Delft, one will find several beautiful canals and streets. According to Vermeer history lore, they either destroyed Vermeer’s house before he was famous or they forgot which one was his. We didn’t realize this at the time, so I spent a bit of time searching for “Vermeer’s House.” What is referred to as “Vermeer’s House” in Delft is actually a museum about his life, works, creative process, etc. It seemed really interesting, but we were also playing the poor-college-kids-traveling role and therefore decided to skip this museum and just absorb the city of Delft itself.

We ended up having a late lunch/early dinner at one of these outdoor seating restaurants and enjoyed the perfect weather and scenery. I also wanted to enjoy a Dutch beer but had accidentally ordered a Radler, which is not Dutch (by origin- it was the Amstel brand) and apparently is a “woman’s beer” according to our waitress. (She actually was a good waitress, that was just her English description when I asked about the types of beer they served.)

After our lunch we decided to continue our journey to The Hague before it got too late or before we became too tired. Upon arriving at The Hague, it has a very different feel to it than Amsterdam or Delft. With skyscrapers, it comes off as a very modern city, which makes sense, as it is the center of their government.

The Hague

Megan wanted to see The Peace Palace, and so we found it after about 15 minutes of walking (spoiler alert: there is a lot of walking in this entire trip). As it was a Sunday evening, the Peace Palace’s gates were closed, but we were still able to see it through the bars and enjoy the general peaceful atmosphere. It was actually really, really gorgeous.

The Peace Palace

Pretty gates

World Peace Flame

We then took a different route to return to the train station and ended up going by way of the Parliament building. This was another gorgeous piece of architecture and I was really pleased that we were able to walk through its courtyard.

Parliament

Before reaching the train station, we stopped for really delicious smoothies to refresh from our long, warm day of walking. Then, we returned to Amersfoort and rested up before our last day in Amsterdam and our overnight train to Prague- which will be the next entry!

Just a typical "parking garage" for bikes! SO COOL