Sunday, September 7th: Den Haag

Coming in for a water-landing, and splashdown!

"tape art" on the street

a couple demonstrates the Argentinian Tango

After spending the night in our 2nd Delft hotel we arose, had breakfast, and caught the train to Den Haag (The Hague) to visit two museums:  Mauritshuis and The Escher.  Mauritshuis is more than Johannes Vermeer paintings, but that was what we were focused on.  "Girl with A Pearl Earring", probably the most famous in the collection, always had a crowd.  "A View of Delft" was on the opposite wall of the same room.  It was great to view the painting today, when yesterday I was standing upon the spot where the house Vermeer created the painting in once stood!  I was so pleased that we had time to walk down the street and spend time in the Escher Museum.  I didn't allow adequate time for both museums when I came last year.  It is always a thrill to view art created by one of your favorites, and Escher is someone I admire greatly.  To view such a comprehensive collection of his work was very special, indeed.

We noted that there was some sort of festival just outside the Escher museum, so after leaving the museum we wandered around.  A large stage with a variety of performers was close to the museum.

At first, I thought it was a rock concert, but when we left the museum there were 2 dancers on stage.  

As we wandered we saw children playing, puppeteers, dancers demonstrating their specialty, etc..

I think we were seeing a performing arts fair, with professionals demonstrating their craft as well as the schools that taught them.  Alongside this was a flea market similar to what we saw yesterday in Delft, but with less street food.

Later, we sat outside and listened to a small jazz trio, then wandered down another street and managed to find our way into an exquisite restaurant.  We really did well:  the food was outstanding.

The day was partly cloudy and cool:  perfect!  After dinner we took the train back to Delft.  Tomorrow we will travel back to Amsterdam.