This past weekend was one of the best I have had during my time in Europe so far. It all started on Wednesday afternoon when I decided to book a last minute trip to Amsterdam. With less than 2 months left during the semester and with plans for every weekend in April, I realized that I was running out of time to visit the closest major city to Brussels. I had also been meaning to visit my friend Sien, a student from the Netherlands that studied abroad at Richmond during the fall and lives in the Hague. We had talked about meaning up at some point but had yet to schedule anything. So with little time to spare, I arranged to meet up Sien on Friday afternoon and spend the rest of the day in The Hague before hopping up to Amsterdam for the rest of weekend.
Ironically, this weekend would start off with a CIEE organized trip to The Hague on that Thursday. Unfortunately, I wouldn't not be able to stay the night in The Hague, so I would have to hitch a train ride the next day.
For the CIEE trip, we had to meet at the bus at 6:15 am, a dreaded time slot for a a young chap like myself. Unlike the trip to Bastogne, I was able to wake up in time to catch the 3 hour bus ride to The Hague. Our first stop of the day was the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. To get in the correct mindset, the film "no Man's land" was played on the bus. No, not the Charlie sheen movie, but one with the same name about the Balkan war, specifically two young men from opposing sides who have to deal with each other while another lies on top of a pop up grenade that will detonate as soon as he moves. A depressing film where no one wins, it paints an adequate picture of the war, and shows how both sides were unpredictable and uncontrollable, NATO did basically nothing, and journalists were super annoying.
At the ICTY, we were able to sit in on the trial of Ratko Mladic, a general in the Yuoslav People's Army during the Bosnian War. A creepy individual, Mladic sat in the witness chair during the short stint of the trial we were able to see. We had been warned he like to eye certain audience members, which would have been quite the experience to witness but his back was turned to us at all times.
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| We were behind him |
Afterwards, Bill Tomjanovich, an American historical researcher working for the ICTY gave us a debriefing on the work being done there, some background of the conflicts in Yugoslavia, as well as reasons for and outcomes of the various trials held there. Getting to understand this branch of International law, there were some facts that stood out to us Americans in the audience. For one, the international justice system is a completely different ballgame. Indictees are not innocent until proven guilty but rather guilty unless proven innocent. The ICTY has tried over 100s of individuals, eventually convicting around half for their involvement in heinous acts during the various conflicts. We were shocked to find that many of those convicted for crimes that included murder and other unspeakable acts taken against fellow human beings, received sentences that only lasted from 8-16 years, which seems incredibly weak compared to similar crimes in America but as Bill informed us, this is more typical of European justice systems. We were also given a glimpse of the living conditions in which those on trial experienced, which to be completely honest were comparable or even superior to an American college dorm room (plus these guys got singles too). Despite the differences in punishment, it was an insightful experience in getting to witness an international court system. A little different from the Probate Court my friend Judge Boyle oversees. Unfortunately, because of he high class information and security at the ICTY, phones were not allowed and I couldn't get any pictures. It's not a highly aesthetic building but does resemble court offices.
From there, we journeyed to a more central part of The Hague to visit the Mauritshuis, an art museum dedicated to Dutch and even some Flemish artists of mostly the 18th century.
It is best know for hosting Vermeer's girl with the pearl earring.
Some other works included Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson:
And perhaps the most famous painting of a cow ever:
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| Moo |
Perhaps the most fascinating part of the museum was that it doubles as a retirement home. No, not really, but. I have honestly never seen so many elderly people in one place. I must have accidentally bumped into 5 different wheelchairs and 23 separate walkers. I also held a door open for 53 straight people so that was impressive.
We couldn't stay long as our next stop was the small Dutch town of Delft right outside of The Hague. Known for it's Delft blue, Delft is a more obscure but still stunning Dutch town flanked with canals:
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| Delft |
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| More Delft |
Our Program Director Michelangelo led us around the town, showing off the both the town's New church:
And Old Church, which was built just a tad crooked:
Despite the church fatigue, we were able to get a feel for the towns historical narrative including this house owned by one of the Dutch families
Afterwards, Michelangelo decided to give us a taste of the town. We were able to try some Fresh raw herring, a typical Dutch snack:
De scaled and with the intestines and head removed and garnished with onions, the herring is supposed to be eaten in a traditional manner:
For someone who isn't a big fan of fish, it tasted quite good. Although I wouldn't have more than a couple chomps. And much of the taste is balanced by the onions.
We then we're lucky to pluck a fresh hot batch of stroop waffles from the local market, which may or not rival the Belgian waffle in awesomeness:
After that sweet trip, we balanced it out with a couple samples of Dutch cheese. We tried local blends, including a farm cheese aged 2 months, another one aged for 2 years and a wonderful truffle oil cheese. No pictures, but this was the sign outside the door:
And this was the stores mascot:
Of course, I couldn't leave without trying some of the local beer, even though Dutch beer does not have a great reputation. To put it bluntly, Michelangelo, who is Dutch, described Dutch beer as "horseshit". I went with the summer variety of a local beer known as Hertog Jan. To my surprise, it tasted quite good. You could have told me it was Belgian and I would have believed you. Who knew there could be good beer outside of Belgium? We enjoyed a round sitting outside on one of the towns social squares right around sunset, a peaceful conclusion to a day of exploring the Netherlands.
Our day in the Netherlands was capped with a group dinner at a local Indonesian restaurant. Indonesian is actually quite the popular cuisine in the Netherlands for some reason, and ours was buffet style, so suffice to say, I went to town on it. No it wasn't Quan's but it was still oh so satisfying. We returned to Brussels for the night and the next day, I set back out by train to return to The Hague....
Which you can find out about in my next post. Yes, that's right a cliffhanger. till next time, Cheers.
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