Wednesday, August 15th:
One of the many reasons I LOVE Europe so much is, that in a matter of 2.5 hours, you can go from the Mediterranean Sea to the North Sea. Yesterday, I did just that.
I wrestled with whether or not I was going to try to squeeze Amsterdam and The Hague in, considering that I skipped them to go to the Olympics two weeks ago, but, as everything else in this trip, impulse won over common sense, and $300 later, I was on a Transavia.com (yes, there IS such an airline) flight to Rotterdam City Airport.
Now, of all the cities in Europe, WHY would I choose to go to The Hague!? Really, because, as a teacher, I know the city houses the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, the Peace Palace, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Basically, I was hoping to see any or all of those and bring resources back to my social studies department colleagues and my classroom.
Although I ultimately was not allowed to do a tour of any of those (you need to book the Peace Palace online and the ICTY was on recess...OOPS!), I did go to the Peace Palace Visitors Center and did an overview of the history of the Peace institutions that line The Hague. I also spent $45 on a fancy tie :)!
What I realized though is there is much more to The Hague than being a city for international law. It is really laid back, on the North Sea, with a lot of art and culture. Last night, I took a nap on beach and just strolled and enjoyed the serenity! No pun intended here, but, The Hague really is a peaceful city :) It is also more diverse than many European cities I have been to, hosts a small, but vibrant Chinatown, and, along with Copenhagen, this is the European city that I could see myself living in (although Boston is still number 1 in my books)!
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