5/18/25

Today, we traveled from Rotterdam to another city in the Netherlands – The Hague. After we arrived, we first went to the Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery to see the many works of art held here and learn about the history of this place. Two particularly interesting paintings we saw were “Girl with a Pearl Earring” and “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp.” After viewing the painting section of the museum, we entered the historical part. Here, the history of the house and the Nazi regime was displayed within a timeline; this timeline showed the brutal effect the Nazis had on not only people but art and culture. Additionally, we were able to see a piece of actual Nazi propaganda that was posted during the occupation.

After leaving the museum, we were on our way to lunch and stumbled across a Lego store. Interestingly, it did not feel like there were any differences between this Lego store and ones found back at home. The box labels were even in English!

For lunch, we had Indonesian food which is a staple of the Netherlands. Due to the former colonization of Indonesia by the Dutch, many Indonesian people live in the Netherlands and brought their food and culture over.

After the Lego store and lunch, we headed over to the Peace Palace & International Court of Justice visitor center. Here, we had the opportunity to learn through an audio tour about the structure of the Dutch government, the function and importance of international courts, and Dutch history. Ironically, the Peace Palace was constructed in 1913, just a year before WWI (1914). The peace palace and international court of justice are still in use, serving as a place for countries to mediate disagreements or violations of treaties.

Overall, while today was not sustainability related, we still learned lots about Dutch culture, history, and government.