The Hague

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• May 26, 2016
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The first stop on our grand tour was The Hague. We pulled into our first foreign campsite at 6pm on Wednesday 20^th April 2016. There was a stunning display of daffodils outside reception reminding us this was the land of flower bulbs and this be the season. We set up camp in what was to be our home for the next three days, taking down the bikes, unpacking chairs and tables, turning on the gas, connecting up with the mains electrics and checking out the shower block. This came to be our practical mantra for all future campsites as did the opening of a bottle of wine having completed the check list; whatever the time of arrival.

Our first day in The Hague was spent with its most famous resident; The Girl with the Pearl Earring. She certainly does not disappoint and amazingly did not have huge crowds around her. In deference to her presence I had worn the beautiful pearl earring Debs and Haj had generously given me as a leaving present. Obviously I wore both earrings, not wishing to spend the day with everyone telling me I had lost an earring. The Mauritshuis, where she hangs is crammed with many amazing works of art including several works of Holbein  that are as rare as Vermeer’s. We decided to buy museum passes which gives us access to almost all the museums and galleries in Holland for a period of 30 days. It has been a worthwhile investment and has enabled us to visit this and other museums several times during our stay in the Netherlands. After our fill of culture, we left the museum and cycled around the city ending up in the Zeehelden area where lots of lovely cafes enticed us into staying for lunch.

We called on The Girl with the Pearl Earring again the next day and also saw more of the museum’s glorious works of art. The Mauritshuis is in a square which also houses the lower house of the Dutch Parliament, each time we were in the square there seemed to be some organisation protesting outside the Parliament building. It was always peacefully noisy, usually colourful, especially the group demanding rights for Papua New Guinea, and encouraging to see that this was taking place. The effectiveness? We’ll never know.