Today, we took a day trip to The Hague, which is the diplomatic center of Holland. While Amsterdam is the capital of The Netherlands, The Hague is home to the Dutch parliament as well as the Peace Palace, which is what we visited. The Hague is kind of a mix of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, as it was filled with both older buildings like in Amsterdam and also modern structures like in Rotterdam, so it was interesting to see these in contrast to each other. We started out the day exploring on our own but then met up for lunch to have a taste of Indonesian street food, which is very common in The Netherlands, courtesy of Dr. Dukes and Pitt. While I did not really know what to expect given the lack of context on the menu, I heavily enjoyed my meal that was kind of a rice bowl that I customized. After lunch, we got to go through the visitor center at the Peace Palace where we learned about the significance of this structure to the entire world.

The Peace Palace is home to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Hague Academy, and a library. It spawned from the notion that too much money was spent on wars because people thought dying on a battlefield was the most honorable, when in reality war stood in the way of people and countries. The first peace conference in the palace ended with a publication of a book as well as a document that was signed, which record the creation of the court of arbitration to mediate between countries as well as the temple of peace for court. The second conference was to work out the kinks following the first and drew up the rules of warfare. The Court of Arbitration was set up in order to mostly resolve border or money disputes, but also gives advice when needed. There is also the International Court of Justice located in The Hague, which settles disputes between states, like international treaties and legal or border issues. The main difference between these two courts is the International Court appoints permanent judges whereas the Court of Arbitration chooses judges on a case-by-case basis. With the creation of these two courts, The Netherlands received more attention and respect, as it became a center for peace and legal action for the entire world.

After visiting the Peace Palace, we had more free time and decided to go down to the beach. We took the tram, although there was a protest going on that stopped some of the ones running. After making it down there and walking around, we noticed this place where it seems like people are encouraged to recycle, and specifically separate each type of material. I am not entirely sure where this stuff goes, but there is a clear effort to keep the trash off of the beach and out of the oceans, which is definitely a good thing.