"You all tak penat ke?" he asked.
"If we stay in, we'll fall asleep... and nanti get jet lagged. We might as well go jalan2 and see the place" I explained. "Don't worry... we've done this before" I assured him.
You see, we've just landed at Schipol airport that morning. Azlan picked us up and after some clever manouvering, we managed to put in all our suitcases and bodies into their car. I had to peluk the stroller all the way to Den Haag, hehe. Actually, Skinner and I wouldn't have minded at all to take the train and meet them there, but they insisted and we managed to somehow squeeze everything and everyone in.
After taking a shower, minum teh, makan biskut Albert Heijn yang sedap... I told Faz that we want to go see the city and after that head for Delft. Good thing that it was summer... the days are long. After some instructions regarding the tram system, belek peta and and instructions on how to buy ticket... "You should get the Strippenkaart, that's cheaper" was their advice... off we went!
Den Haag is the proper Dutch name for The Hague. It isn't very big... the 3rd largest city in Nederlands after Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Den Haag is actually the actual seat of government (the parliament is here) but it is not the official capital of Nederlands... you tell me, am confused myself. The Queen lives and works here... yes, Nederlands has a royal family, known as the Oranjes.
Those of you who are familiar with international judiciary system would know that Den Haag is also the seat of the permanent International Court of Justice (alaa you know... the place where Malaysia and Singapore will go to fight over Pulau Batu Putih). There are many other international legal organisations that are based here.
Since it was already noon, Skinner and I decided that we'll be very focused and visit the key sites je. Some of the places I wanted to see were the Mauritshuis and the Binnenhof. So with the aid of the guidebook, we explored the city. Nasib baik lah juga ada banyak sign boards :)
The first thing I saw as we got out of the tram station was this... it's a restaurant. Quirky name ;)Guided by the signboards, we went in search of the Binnenhof (the parliament). Sambil jalan tu, we heard bells and chimes ringing in a musical tune. Rupa-rupanya it's tanda menunjukkan waktu. Throughout Nederlands, the clock towers don't just go "dong... dong... dong...". Instead, they chime a tune... very nice :)
[You can listen to the tune - click on the file below. Tapi silly me had recorded it in portrait mode... so the image is "terbaring" ;p]
The streets of Den Haag are cobbled and narrow. You can feel that this was once (and still is) a rich and thriving city.
We finally found the Binnenhof. But before that, we had a makan stop kat McD dulu, hehe... lapar lah. I have to admit, rasa under-whelmed bila masuk the courtyard. The building was actually quite plain. No grandeur... no glittery decoration. OK lar, the place was big.
During the flight, I read an article about a father and daughter team yang always try to take interesting travel pix using a souvenir local to the place. So I tried the same with a postcard, hehe...
Next we walked around the building, then baru lah nampak the grandeur of the place. It sits next to a kolam... cantik rupanya :)
Moi seeking direction from a statue... patutlah sesat, haha!
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