We spent a couple of days in The Hague together with
Craig, Sophie and Elliot in what was best described as a “contained” apartment.
Retiring to bed and morning bathroom rituals became, by necessity, precisely
choreographed. As an added challenge, the apartment was accessed by a wonderfully
geometric, vertiginous staircase.
The architecture of The Hague appears quite
dissimilar to that of Amsterdam. It is much more like Brussels with many
examples of Art Nouveau and Deco styles including a marvellous glazed ceiling
shopping galerie.
One of the reasons for our visit to The Hague was to
see the apparently amazing tulip display at the Keukenhof Gardens. Due to
winter’s reticence in moving along, there were no tulips. Holland. Springtime. No
tulips? The closest we came to a tulip
was this remarkable ceiling in a department store on the Grotenmarkt.
As with many other European capital
cities, The Hague has its own controversial Richard Meier designed building. I
have always admired his minimalist, ultra-clean white style and this was not
disappointing. The city hall and library complex was also immense. The locals
have nicknamed it “The Ice Palace”.
The Hague having been the haunt of the other Ingrid
for a number of years, we were given a treasure hunt list of must-visit places
throughout the city. As some of you might imagine, it seemed to include a lot
of very impressive and uncheap shops and restaurants.
The Hague landscape is wonderfully punctuated by
canals (of course), extensive parks and myriad squares. Whilst most of the
latter are paved, some like the irregular shaped Lange Voorhout are
delightfully tree-lined and still impressive in their wintry nakedness.
On the last afternoon, Craig and I took a wander
around the port of Scheveningen which I recalled from a Half Ton Cup held there
in 1979. On the yacht club pontoons we saw the usual suspects, but the most
elegant “yacht” was the “Estrella”, a converted workboat now apparently used
for charter and parties.
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