The beach

On the next to last day we were in The Hague, I went to the beach. It was only about a 10 minute tram ride from my hotel. The beach itself was beautiful, but it was really built up, with lots of tourist shops and tacky food stands. Not that much was open -- it was very windy, which made it cold! But there were still some people out braving the wind!

This is one of the beach casinos. This one is built at the end of a long pier, and has a great view.

Some more people who are braving the elements. I saw a couple of people wading in the water, but they were wearing rain boots.

The grand casino at the beach.

On a good day -- when the wind isn't blowing at 30 mph -- you can go bungy jumping. Apparently, it is very popular!

Escher museum chandeliers

The Escher museum also has a number of amazing chandeliers. I originally thought some of them were made specifically for Halloween -- there was one of a skull and crossbones and another of a mummy -- but they weren't. The chandeliers were made specifically for the museum for its 5th anniversary, about 2-3 years ago, but a Dutch artist.


This spider is one of the chandeliers I thought was designed for Halloween.

I thought this umbrella was one of the most beautiful chandeliers in the whole museum.

This one is an artist's palette hanging between 2 other designs.






















This shark was the 1st chandelier I noticed.

Another spectacular chandelier.

Escher museum

The Hague has a wonderful museum full of drawing by Escher. Although he's most famous for op-art styke, or geometric, drawings, he also did some great portaits and of towns in the Netherlands and Italy.

I thought this was just a beautiful drawing.

This is a drawing of San Gimignano, Italy, which I visited a number of years ago.

This row of houses leads into the main square on Delft. The far row of buildings is city hall. I crossed at this intersection several times while visiting the town.

This is a town in Calabria, Italy, where (I believe) my brother-in-law's family is from.

Delft photos

Here are some photos from my trip to Delft. It is, obviously, a very photogenic town!

This is defintely the biggest shoe I've seen so far!

This very crowded cafe is on a bridge over one of the many canals in Delft.

Bike storage at the Delft train station.


This is definitely one of the most intersting stained glass windows I've ever seen!

One of the many denizens of the canal system in the Netherlands.

Advertising signs

The Dutch also use wonderful signs to advertise their bakeries, bars, and restaurants. Here's just a sampling, from Delft.

This is from a hotel, named after Delft's most famous resident. And one of his most famous paintings.

This was on a shop selling western wear.

A very nice parrot, but I don't remember what it's advertising.

I don't know what this was advertising either, but it was beautiful in the sunlight.

And this looked like a very nice little restaurant.

Delft, again

It's a beautiful day today -- cold and windy but sunny. Unfortunately, I had to work much of the day, but was able to walk around The Hague a little bit. Here are some photos from my trip last weekend to Delft. A number of the older buildings, as well as some newer ones, have wonderful designs above the window or on the walls. Here are some of them.

Amsterdam

I spent most of Saturday and Sunday in Amsterdam. It's a much larger city than The Hague, with tons of tourists (even though it's October!) and lots of backpackers. But it also has some great museums. I did tons of walking, but also managed to get to 4 museums. And we did a dinner cruise on the canals.

One of the many houseboats on the Amsterdam canals.

A busy canal.

Watching one of the contestants in a race Saturday afternoon.

Another team.

A close-up of some very tired rowers.

Delft -- The Old Church

The Oude Kirk -- or Old Church -- is plainer than the New Church, but just as beautiful. And it has gorgeous stained glass windows!

The Old Church has a large organ, similar to the one in the New Church, but it also has this beautiful small organ.

A partial view of one of the stained glass window. This one celebrates the Dutch sailing voyages.

A close-up of one of the stained-glass panels above.

For some reason, lots of the Old Church memorials and graves include skulls.
And in this case, a skeleton!

Delft -- The New Church

This was another beautiful weekend -- sunny and not too cold, although the wind was a little brisk. I went back to Delft with some co-workers, mainly to see two of the churches I couldn't go into last weekend. Both churches were beautiful inside, with wonderful stained glass! These are some of the photos from the new church, built between the 1300s and the 1500s.

The inside of the Nieuw Kirk.

The organ loft.

The newest stained glass window. I'm not sure what it is supposed to be, but it's beautiful!

One of the older stained glass windows. They were all destroyed in the 1500s and 1600s, and not replaced until the late 1800s. At least I think that's what I read.

One of the graves in the New Church.

Delft

Last Sunday was a beautiful day -- sunny and no hint of rain. And it was in the 60s! I went to Delft, where all the blue pottery comes from, just to wander around. It only took about 20 minutes on the tram. Delft has a gorgeous old section with several churches and museums and lotf of canals. I just wandered around with some co-workers. I want to go back since the churches were only open for services. They're open for tourists the rest of the week, but not on Sundays!
Like all Dutch cities -- or at least all that I've been to -- there are lots of canals.

Kayak'ers are among those who use the canals.

This is the new church -- built between the 1300s and 1500s -- on Delft's main square.





















The church steeple of the old church, which was started in the 1200s.

The Hague

Well, I'm on a new trip, this time to the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Iceland. We arrived in the Netherlands Thursday morning, and worked that afternoon and Friday. But Saturday I spent the day wandering around the city center in The Hague, and going to a museum. I made it back to the hotel before the rain started, too!
The Parliament building along the canal, with some of the newer -- and very modern -- architecture in the background.

Here's one of the entrances into Parliament square. It's nice -- there's no metal detectors to go through!

The Dutch seem to be big on juxtaposing new and very modern architecture next to buildings that are 300 or 400, or sometimes more, years old.

Some of the new buildings that over look one of many traditional squares filled with cafes.

An interesting rooftop sculpture.