Day seven of our trip in the Netherlands! I can’t believe we’re already halfway done with our trip. It’s gone by so fast, and I can’t imagine that on Friday we will be leaving the Netherlands. Today was so cool. We really did so much. 

We left for The Hague at around nine AM, and once we got off the train, we got to see some of the beautiful sites the city had in store for us. We wondered around bookstores, saw some churches, until we went to the Mauritshuis art museum where the Girl with a Pearl Earring art piece is. The museum was so beautiful. While the painting was gorgeous, there were many other paintings that I felt like also deserved the crowd of Girl with a Pearl Earring. My personal favorite was a painting of many paintings. I thought it was super cool and must have been so incredibly difficult to paint. We also got to see a live restoration of many paintings, and it was very cool to see all the workers hyper-focused on their section of the art piece. After the museum, there was a man handing out free mini Dutch pancakes, and they were so good! He had such a crowd, showing how amazing his food is every time. 

We walked around The Hague and got to go to the top of a lookout which made you climb 12 flights of stairs before arriving at the top. The lookout was so cool. I got to see all the areas of the Representatives and libraries, and I thought it was super interesting. I was too terrified to take my phone out of my bag, so photos are very limited on the lookout!

For lunch, we got traditional Indonesian food because Indonesia is a former Dutch colony, so there are many food areas across the country. In my opinion, learning about Dutch culture and the Dutch colonies’ cultures is very important. The Netherlands has a large portion of culture from its former colonies, and those cultures should also be represented. I wish we got to learn more about them on our trip, but even just eating Indonesian food is a good start to learning more about the former Dutch colonies. Mine was so amazing. I could not recommend anything more. I had also gotten boba, and I learned boba is growing continuously popular in Western Europe. The temperature was hot, so getting a light fruit tea was a must. 

After lunch, we got to see the Peace Palace. The Peace Palace was so cool because International law is established here! Both the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration are located in the palace, so seeing a major landmark for the safety of the entire world was so impressive. Another cool aspect of the Peace Palace was that Andrew Carnegie donated millions of dollars so construction could begin. Also, at the end of the tour, I learned that the designer of the Peace Palace actually won an Oscar for his set designs, and they even had that in the museum. It was very cool. 

We then headed to the beach of Scheveningen, where it was very windy. But even despite the wind and the clouds, we were able to see windmills just off the coast of the ocean. This was very intriguing, and I had never seen windmills in the water in the United States before. 

Today was so cool to learn more about Dutch history and culture. I believed a learned a lot about the Netherlands in The Hague, and I’m excited to see what tomorrow has in store for us.